Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
lord_n earth_n heaven_n praise_v 10,465 5 8.7529 4 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A44142 The expediency of a publick liturgy, to preserve the reverence of publick worship a sermon preach'd at Bridgewater, for the satisfaction of an eminent dissenter / by Matthew Hole ... Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730. 1697 (1697) Wing H2409; ESTC R13394 21,400 32

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

THE EXPEDIENCY OF A Publick Liturgy To Preserve the REVERENCE OF PUBLICK WORSHIP IN A SERMON PREACH'D at BRIDGEWATER FOR THE Satisfaction of an Eminent DISSENTER By MATTHEW HOLE B. D. and Vicar of Stokegursey in Somersetshire 1 Cor. 14. ult Let all things be done decently and in Order LONDON Printed for Matt. Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleet-street MDCXCVII A SERMON ON PSALM lxxxix 7. God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him THESE Words are a brief Direction how to behave our selves in the House and Presence of God which we are here told must be with Fear and Reverence The occasion of them was from the Psalmist's deep and serious Contemplation of the Works of God together with those glorious Attributes and Perfections that shine so brightly in them The Meditation whereof fill'd his Heart with Joy and his Mouth with the Praises of his Maker The Psalm begins with a Song in Praise of his Goodness Vers 1. My Song shall be always of the loving Kindness of the Lord with my Mouth will I shew forth his Truth from one Generation to another And after some remarkable instances of it he breaks out in Admiration of his Greatness saying Vers 5. The Heavens shall praise his wondrous Works and the Earth shall sound forth the Glory of his Power In a word the infinite Wisdom Bounty Truth and Faithfulness of God appear'd in such lively Colours stamp'd upon all the Works of his Hands that made him in the Verse before the Text to cry out Vers 6. Who in the Heavens can be compar'd unto the Lord or what is he among the gods that can be liken'd unto him And then to imprint the greater awe and dread of him upon our Minds he adds these words God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in Reverence of all that draw nigh to him The Sense of which Words I shall briefly summ up and handle in this plain Proposition viz. That all our Addresses to the Divine Majesty must be accompanied with a Holy Fear and Reverence God is greatly to be fear'd c. In treating of this Proposition I shall not need to insist much upon the proof of it For the bare Light of Nature will teach us that the Worship of God is to be perform'd with the greatest Solemnity and Reverence For this being the Homage we are to pay to the Supream Being or the just Acknowledgment we owe to our great Creator Reason wills that it be done with all imaginable Deference and Humility And since we receive and expect all from him 't will farther teach us that the profoundest Reverence and Veneration we can pay to him must come vastly short of his infinite Excellencies and Perfections But if the Light of Nature and Reason were more dim and defective in this Point than it is The Light of Scripture would abundantly supply it for there we read many clear and express Precepts to this purpose The Royal Psalmist in our Text makes this to be a Tribute due to the infinite Greatness and Glory of our Maker God is greatly to be feared saith he in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that draw nigh to him And therefore he calls upon the greatest Persons even the Princes and Potentates of the Earth to serve the Lord with fear Psal 2. and to rejoyce before him with trembling Yea we find God Almighty challenging this Homage from us If I be a Father where is my Honour Mal. 1.6 if I be a Master where is my Fear saith the Lord of Hosts And elsewhere he threatens the Neglect and encourages the Performance of this Duty Them that honour me 1 Sam. 2.30 I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteem'd In the New Testament we are call'd upon to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Implying Heb. 12.28 that our Service cannot be acceptable unless it be attended with these things I shall therefore take this for granted as a Matter wherein we are all agreed that God is to be serv'd with Reverence and godly Fear The great things to be consider'd in this case are What this Reverence is and how it may be best express'd or perform'd in the Worship of God Accordingly therefore in handling of these words I shall enquire First Into the Nature of this Reverence that is requir'd in the Service of God and shew wherein it consists Secondly Into the Manner how it may be best observ'd and secured in the Publick Assemblies I begin with the First which is to shew the Nature of this Reverence and wherein it consists In order to which I say in general That Reverence is such a Religious sense of the Glory and Greatness of the Divine Majesty as engages us to behave our selves becomingly in his presence And this is partly Internal and partly External Internal Reverence consists in the aweful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning the Greatness of the Person we address to External Reverence consists in the decent Demeanour of the Outward Man by well ordering of our words and gestures in our Applications to him The former is the Reverence of the Soul and the latter of the Body both which are to attend us into the House of God and to be carefully minded in our serving of him 1. I say There is an Inward Reverence of the Soul that is to accompany Divine Worship And this consists in aweful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning him we draw nigh to This is hinted to us in the First part of our Text God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of the Saints That is our Minds are to be possessed with a profound and aweful Dread of the Divine Majesty in our approaches to him which the Apostle stiles a Godly fear And this ariseth from a sense of our infinite distance from God and of our daily and necessary dependance upon him For when we consider how vastly the great Soveraign of the World is above sinful Dust and Ashes and are so affected with the Thoughts of it as never to appear before him but with the deepest Humility and lowliness of Mind when we entertain such mean and abject thoughts of our selves and our own vileness as even to blush and be asham'd to approach so great a Presence when I say we have such a true sense of this infinite distance and disproportion between him and us then are we said to fear God in the Assemblies of the Saints and to have a Religious awe and dread when we draw nigh unto him Now to beget this holy Fear and Dread in us we are frequently in our thoughts to descend to a particular Consideration of the infinite Attributes and Perfections of our Maker and this will help to screw up our Minds to a due pitch of Reverence and Veneration for
5.1 when they enter into the House of God Josh 5.14 Joshua fell on his Face to the Earth and worshipped God And David calls upon Men to worship Psal 95. ● 7. and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker By which we may observe That Discalceation Kneeling and Prostrating were the usual Expressions of outward Reverence under the Old Testament 1 Cor. 11. 7. In the New we find uncovering the Head to be made a part of that bodily Reverence that is to be used in Religious Assemblies And our Blessed Saviour's Example hath made kneeling the proper Posture of Devotion For in all his Prayers to his Father Luke 24. ●1 we find him upon his Knees the Evangelists frequently relating That he kneeled down and prayed In our Days Vncovering the Head Standing and Kneeling are the proper Postures and Expressions of Reverence Hence we are wont to rise up to our Superiours and to be uncovered in their Presence as a Token of Respect to them When we offer a Petition to a Prince we do it upon our Knees To sit in the Presence of a great Man is reckon'd a great Rudeness and he that presents a Petition to a King in that Posture instead of an Answer will meet with nothing but Frowns and a Rebuke Now that which is irreverent and unmannerly when done to Men can never be any part of Reverence towards God For God as he justly may expects the best things that we have and will be serv'd in the humblest manner that we can Otherwise we incurr that heavy Curse denounced by the Prophet Malachi Mal. 1.14 against such as having in their Flock a Male will yet vow and sacrifice unto God a corrupt thing And therefore to sit at our Prayers as the manner of some is and to offer up our Petitions to God in a careless lolling and slovenly Posture as too many do is the rudest Affront that can be offer'd to the Majesty of Heaven and we may well think that such an Indignity will be one Day answered with the greatest Indignation God Almighty hath declar'd That he will not accept the blind or the lame for Sacrifice nor be put off with such rude and unworthy Services as would be reckon'd an abuse to an earthly Prince And therefore we find him thus upbraiding those that present him with such Offerings Go and offer it saith he to thy Governour Mal. 1.8 and see whether he will be pleased with thee or accept thy Person And sure they must have very low and mean Thoughts of God who think that Service good enough for him which would be thought saucy and unmannerly when done to his Creatures But our Text if well attended to would teach these Men better manners in all their approaches to their Maker For that tells them That God is greatly to be feared by the inward Dread and Awfulness of the Mind and to be had in Reverence by the outward Decency and Humility of the Body And both these are to accompany them to the publick Assemblies and to be carefully minded by all that draw nigh unto him And thus having describ'd the Reverence that is to be observed in the Worship of God I shall add no more under this Head but to admonish you to be mindfull of both parts of it in all your solemn Addresses to him that is to possess your hearts with awful Apprehensions of him and to compose your bodies into all the decent Postures of Humility and Adoration So shall you serve God acceptably with Reverence and godly Fear and thereby find Grace to help in time of need From whence I proceed Secondly To consider the Way and Manner how this Reverence may be best express'd and secured in the Publick Assemblies To this end we must note That there are but two ways of celebrating the Publick Worship and Service of God and they are either First By a Publick Liturgy or well-compos'd Forms of Prayer wherein both the Matter and Words are digested and prepared to our Hands or Secondly By Extemporary Effusions where both these are left to the suddain Conceptions of him that prayeth The former is the Establish'd way of the Church of England wherein she treads in the Steps of all Antiquity there being no Christian Church from the days of the Apostles to the present Age but what hath perform'd their publick Worship by a Liturgy or set Forms of Prayer The latter is the way of Dissenters who have herein broke off from the Ancient Practice of all Christian Churches and have been unhappily misled into it by the cunning Craftiness of some who lay in wait to deceive My Business then at present will be to examine which of these two Ways best tends to promote and preserve that holy Reverence of Body and Mind before describ'd that is whether by set Forms or sudden Effusions God is most feared in the Assemblies of the Saints and had in Reverence of those that draw near to him But before I enter upon the Discussion of this Point I shall prepare my way to it by premising these four or five things And the 1st is To assure you that I have no Design of offending or provoking any Person Jam. 1.20 well knowing that the wrath of Man worketh not the righteousness of God I call God to witness That my only aim is to inform and settle your Judgment aright in a Matter wherein your own Wellfare as well as the Peace Unity and Edification of the Church are so deeply concerned St. Paul bare Record concerning the Israelites that they had a Zeal Rom. 10.1 2. which yet in some things was not according to knowledge meaning That they had some mistaken Notions concerning the Law and the Righteousness of it wherein they needed better Information And therefore he not only prayed that Israel might be saved but instructed them too in the right way and method of Salvation And there are some likewise in our Days who may have a good Meaning towards God and yet may mistake their way and stand in need of a guide to direct their good Intentions And if by the Example of this great Apostle I shall endeavour to rectifie the misguided Zeal of such Persons and to help forward their growth in Grace and Knowledge I cannot doubt their kind Acceptance of my good Will and that they will candidly hear and receive what is so honestly meant and tender'd to them Let me therefore bespeak you in the Words of St. Peter to lay aside all guile and all malice 1 Pet. 2.1 2. and hypocrisie and envying and evil speaking And as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby 2. The next thing to be premis'd is That the Question at present is not about the Lawfulness of Forms of Prayer for this is now generally granted by all sober Dissenters and indeed 't were strange if it should not when our Blessed Saviour himself prescrib'd a Form and