Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	day_n	jew_n	sabbath_n	19,355	5	10.1747	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64375	A sermon concerning the wandring of the mind in God's service preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, February 15, 1690/1 / by Tho. Tenison ...	Tenison, Thomas, 1636-1715.	1691 (1691)	Wing T717; ESTC R20689	8,761	36

not repeating for example sake the Ministers proper parts such as Absolution and Benediction as the manner of some is Give him it in its place and in its season perform that sincerely which you come to do If any other thing be then thought of tho' in its general nature indifferent nay tho' good it is improper and takes us away from our particular duty at a time when we should solemnly perform it He for instance do's ill in God's Cause who reads the very Scriptures in the Time of the Prayers He that is in Honour and hath understanding of it he that considers how excellent a Creature Man is as God made him such a one will not be easie in doing any thing unseasonably and impertinently much less will he forgive himself for thinking with pleasure on God's Day only on his own six days Labours or which are much worse his Vanities and loosnesses of Life The wise man's Eyes are in his Head but a fools Eyes are at the ends of the Earth Endeavour therefore to attend on the Lord not as fools but as wise saying in this sense our hearts are fixed O God our hearts are fixed Now because we are subject to the Infirmity of giddiness and misattention and to an indulgence of infirm Nature and likewise to the Insults of that Adversary who studies to give the greatest interruption to us when we are most religiously imploy'd a meer dissuasive from wandring is not sufficient for us unless we also understand and use fit Helps against Distraction of thought And for Helps some are but pretended ones and will deceive us Others are real and will at least prevent much of our Distemper if they cannot wholly cure it First Amongst the pretended Helps which will deceive us I shall mention two The First is that of the Romanists who prescribe the use of an Image as a proper Instrument for the fixing the Mind by the Assistance of Sense Whereas by this means the Eye draws down the Mind from the Prototype to the Type from the Creator to the Creature and the Image is turn'd into an Idol and the Immediate Phantasm which is made by the sight of it is that which is most thought of and ador'd So that this second Object distracts the Mind instead of fixing it where it should be truly plac'd and gives it a diversion by those Bodily Appearances which do not at all appertain to the most high God whom we worship and whom only we should serve A second pretended Help against wandring of Mind is unpremeditated Prayer For the Novelty of it will they presume engage the Attention whilst that to which Men are accustom'd will be formally repeated To which it may be said that such as come in good earnest to serve God will attend much more to an ancient Service which is judicious and grave than to any new one which is raw and undigested That those who officiate being not inspir'd unless great Ability and long Use have given them an extraordinary Talent are distracted betwixt Invention and Elocution they are forc'd not so much to mind what they say as to study what they shall say and those who hear are distracted also betwixt Assenting and saying Amen and considering in a new Matter whether they can say Amen to it or not Nor can it be imagin'd that the Hearers should not rove if the Speakers do Wherefore not trusting to pretended Helps let us 2 dly make use of those which are real And they are many Our Infirmity of thought is help'd By some Order in thinking tho' it be not nice and Philosophical but such as we may learn even from common Catechisms and Sums of Christian Religion By freeing our selves as much as may be from worldly Incumbrance and by banishing Care which perplexeth the Mind and choaketh the good thoughts of it By preserving the Temper from being broken with Adversity through that evenness which proceedeth from Resignation to God By keeping the Affairs of the other days of the Week from intrenching too much upon those of the first so the Jews began their Sabbath about Midnight and how for Example sake is it possible for those to be undistracted in God's Service who come into a Church on the Lord's Day full of the Images of a Theater frequented on the Eve of it Further our Infirmity is help'd by a particular Application to God against wandring in his Service when we are just entring upon it By our immediate checking and recalling of our Thoughts as soon as we perceive them to be stepping aside and by taking a holy Revenge upon our selves especially in private in repeating that to which we less attended till we are satisfied in our attention to it It is further assisted by the consideration of the Majesty of him we worship by laying to Heart the moment of the Service it self and making it case of Life and Death eternal which will almost force us to attend to it By the Time consider'd as separated from common Use and servile Labour By the Place thought upon as dreadful or as God's especial Presence By the decency of the Place fitted for a Religious Assembly without variety of superstitious Figures such especially as we see in many Romish Churches where they serve for Pomp rather than Edification and for the refreshing of those to whom the unedifying sound of an unknown Language would else be very tedious Images and such-like Ornaments amuse the Fancy and draw away the Attention from the Service of God which is the Business for which such Buildings are erected and where it sufficeth if they be convenient clean and decent Furthermore our Infirmity is help'd by Scriptures and Services in a known Tongue for how shall a Man attend to that which he does not understand Also by the good Method and Order of that which is deliver'd and by liturgical Words well chosen and ready prepar'd For a Service which is well weigh'd and generally approv'd of and at hand for use leaves the Mind at more freedom for the exercise of its Devotion It hath nothing then to do but to add to good Words religious fervour of Mind which by the intenseness of it will keep off Foreign Ideas The Birds will not light upon the Sacrifice whilst it is flaming Nor are those frequent breaks in Liturgy inconsiderable Helps to the common People who are lost in a long-continued Service whilst they are able to attend to that which is short and after a small pause to renew their Attention to a following Ejaculation or Collect and to them those short Ejaculations which the ignorant revile as shreds of Prayer are real Helps of Devotion Last of all God by his Spirit helps the Spirit of Man in the use of good Means when with profound Humility and fervent Devotion he prays for it After all this let no Man excuse himself upon the impossibility of perfect steadiness of Mind The first Motions to wandring can scarcely be at all times