Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	commandment_n	day_n	sabbath_n	21,308	5	10.2371	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50469	A present for servants, from their ministers, masters, or other friends, especially in country parishes. Licensed, Jan. 20. 1692.	Mayo, Richard, 1631?-1695.	1693 (1693)	Wing M1529; ESTC R214162	28,409	95

Liberty of Heart and Will in the work of your Master Not a Liberty to live in sin which is an Abuse of the word and a Liberty that is not in Heaven it self the Perfections of God are an Eternal Law to himself that he cannot lye or deny himself but an holy exemption from the Servility of Sin and a free propension to whatsoever is good that whereas before you could not pray you were bound up and fetter'd He has now brought you out of Prison that you may praise his Name That under any temptation to discontent in the Service of Men your Souls should be raised in Praise of your Great Master who has already entered you into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and will at last set you at liberty from the burden of this flesh and the Body it self at the last day from the hand of the Grave and will make all his Servants Kings and Priests to God and our Father Oh blessed are thy Servants that shall dwell in thy house for they will be still praising thee And blessed be his glorious Name who took upon him the form of a Servant and was himself bound to a Pillar That he might set us free Who has proclaimed Liberty by his Gospel and the opening of the Prison doors to them that are bound who has given us of his free Spirit and made us willing in the day of his power and here we offer up our selves our Souls and Bodies as our most reasonable Service We thank thee and praise thy glorious Name But who am I or what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 1 Chron. 29.13 14. And let none repine at being Servants who through Grace have such a Liberty and Freedom as this CHAP. VII The Hinderances of the Servants Calling 3. Want of Time real or pretended TO every Work there is an appcinted Time and every Duty has the special Season for it but here lies the Servants difficulty their Time is their Master's and his Work fills it up that they have not the leisure for Duties and Exercises of Religion that others have Others can read and pray as long as they will but Servants are called up early about their Work and tyred with it all day and what time then have they for Prayer Meditation or Covenanting with God Truly by the way to whom much is given of them God requires the more And they that have Estates and less necessary Business in the World must find more Time for the immediate Service and Worship of God than the poor Servant can But still one thing is necessary and they that have most Business in the World have Souls to mind as well as others Some indeed have Masters that do purposely allow them time and see that they spend it in Reading and other Duties and some whose Hearts God has inclin'd by Grace can find time to have their Hearts with God when their Hands are in the World and what sweet and Heavenly Meditations does their Plowing Sowing Reaping and other parts of their Work afford them Though they cannot be long at Prayer they endeavour to be the more fervent in it they go the more unwillingly from it and come to it the more chearfully again When they go into the Fields to their Work or come back they have as free a time as if entered into a Closet and the door shut about them But it is not thus with all some have rough and careless Masters that hurry them to bed that they may rise the sooner about their Work and think all time lost when that is not in hand and the slothful Heart is glad of the Excuse to silence Conscience which else would check them for living without Prayer and other Duties that they have heard press'd upon them offer them a Catechism they have no time to learn it others go to an Opportunity for Instruction but they cannot be spar'd to go with them Like Faelix they put it off to a more convenient time which yet never comes To remedy this sore Inconvenience there are these Two plain Directions 1. That they carefully avoid all those things that unnecessarily and sinfully take up their time and then they will quickly sind That want of Time is more a pretended than real Hinderance of the Servant's Duty To speak plainly to you How did such and such whom you know and perhaps have laugh'd at as too precise get their knowledge of the things of God How do they get time for Prayer and Reading and Examination of their Hearts Have not they as hard Places as you and as much Work on their hands and better done Is it not that they redeem and improve the time that you trifie and squander away Is it not known of some of you That some merry Meetings as they call them and drunken Bouts have first stolen away your Hearts and then steal away your Time And because you did not it may be come reeling home you think it nothing that you have wasted the good Creatures of God and the Time which he lent you for higher Ends. Oh how will this bite like an Adder when time shall be gone indeed and the Angel shall lift up his hand and swear by him that lives for ever and ever that time shall be no more and thou mourn at last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed and say How have I hated Instruction and have not obeyed the voice of my Teachers nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me Prov. 5.11 12 13. Do you think That this Plea will hold at last when all the Tribes of the Earth shall be gathered before their Judge and you stand trembling amongst the rest Shall it suffice to say I heard indeed the Calls of Grace but Lord I was a Servant and had but little time Will He not say Out of thine own mouth I condemn thee thou wicked Servant Thou knewest that thou hadst but a little time why then didst thou squander it away amongst thy idle Companions Why then didst thou sit up to such unseasonable hours at thy Cards and other Sports If thou dost indeed want time leave off thy Chat thy idle Stories that fill up the long Winter Evenings and other vacant hours and thou wouldst have it Yea better that thou shouldst work the harder and sleep the less that thou mayst get time for thy Soul before Sickness and Death overtake thee and thou cry in vain Call time back again Oh call time back again when it is too late and thou art lanching into the Ocean of Eternity 2. That Servants that want time all the Week do the more dearly prize the Lord's Day and improve the Seasons of Grace therein When by God's Consent you contracted with your Masters for your Time this Day He reserv'd for his own special Service And that Masters might know That the Commandment about the Sabbath was

for their Servants as well as themselves He adds this to the Law in one place That thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant may rest as well as thou Deut. 5.14 This is now the Labourers rest and see you lose not a minute of so precious a time Dispatch your Business the sooner the Night before shake off your Worldly Thoughts and go seasonably to rest that you may not lie abed longer on the Lord's Day Morning than at other times Oh think not when you say you want time to keep a Sabbath in an outward slothful rest as your Horses and other Beasts do Meddle with no worldly Business on this Holy Day but what is of Necessity and count nothing of necessity that hinders the Work of the Day and may be put off till another time If you have Masters that know the Worth of a Sabbath they 'll take care of you especially on this day not only to keep you from all Business that is not suited to the Day but to put you upon all Holy Exercises therein and how sweet is it to see Masters come to the Publick Assemblies furnished with their Train not suffering a Servant that can be spar'd to stay at home or lagg behind And if you have careless Masters that would have you make your visits or go journies on this Day because they cannot spare you on another rather deny your selves the Liberty offer'd you than be depriv'd of the Dearer Liberty of the House of God Above all avoid the prophane Feasts that yet are kept up in some places on the Lord's Day Let no Business of your own hinder you where it may be from attending Forenoon and Afternoon on the Publick Worship and that with Seriousness and Reverence as those that know into whose Presence you are come and beg earnestly for the Power of the Spirit to accompany the Word to your Souls Do not think the Sabbath is ended when the Sermon is done Let no wicked Companions perswade That you may find your own pleasures on this Holy Day Isa 58.13 Remember what an Inlet Sabbath-breaking has been into all Wickedness how many wicked Servants from cheating their Masters have been drawn to other Crimes and on the Gallows confess'd That neglecting and prophaning the Sabbath was the sin that exposed them to those Temptations which brought them thither Be you a Companion of them that fear the Lord and if you have none such to confer with about what you have heard as you go home or when you come there be the more by your selves double all the Spiritual Duties now that you have less time for on other days Be ready to give an account of your profiting if you are so happy as to have Masters that will examine you and count not the Day or the Duties therein a Weariness but call the Sabbath a Delight Admire the Kindness of God to poor Servants in appointing a Day on purpose for that which else you could hardly have found time for Look upon it as the Great Thanksgiving-Day Praise him for all his wondrous Works especially for your Redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ who when He had finished his Suffering-work did rise again from the Dead on the First Day of the Week and set his own Name on that Day That they that are tyred with their Labours all the Week may rest upon it That the meanest of his People may rejoice therein in hopes of an Everlasting Sabbath above where these Earthly Relations will cease and there will be no more Distinction of Master and Servant but all swallowed up in one Spiritual Relation to Him of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named and in one Holy Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever FINIS