Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	work_n	work_v	worship_n	275	3	6.7203	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85833	An exhortation to peace: with an intimation of the prime enemies thereof, lately delivered in a sermon, and newly published with some small addition, by Lionell Gatford, B.D. rector of Dinnington in Suffolke, now a prisoner in Ely-house in Holborne.	Gatford, Lionel, d. 1665.	1643 (1643)	Wing G333; Thomason E94_1; ESTC R2004	27,384	44

once suppose such a monster as the Poets faigned their Cacus to be whom for his insociable savagenesse they called semi hominem non hominem but halfe a man not a man one cujus regnum dirae speluncae fuerit solitudo whose lonesomenesse in a direfull cave was his Kingdome and whose wickednesse was so beyond other men's that like the Divell he had his name from it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that tooke pleasure neither in the winning society of a wife nor in the recreating sports of children one that would neither rule over others nor enter conference with them one that would give nothing to any but take from all whatsoever he could and could take whatsoever he pleased yet this horrid monster so abhorring all peace with others does by his very solitarinesse and detestation of all society declare plainly that freedome from all molestation and so peace is the prime scope and aime of all his desires And that I make not a fiction the uppermost step of my gradation suffer me to tell you that the very devils themselves what inveterate implacable cruelty soever they beare against the peace of men amongst themselves they conspire for peace and doe to all admiration conserve it Satan is not divided against satan Marke 3. and a whole legion of devils can dwell together as one in one man Marke 5.9 Nothing therefore is naturally more desirable then peace and there is none that hath all the impressions of nature so defaced in him but that some peace or other is beloved and desired of him how much more desirable then is the peace of Jerusalem as 't is the place of Gods worship and service and the seat of justice and judgment to all those that love either Where there is no peace the publike worship and service of God doth not onely lose its beauty and comlinesse but suffers much in its very essence and being One thing saies David have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord al the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord visit his temple or enquire in his temple Psal 27.4 but because David was a man of warre and the time of his reigne a time of warre he never could obtaine this his desire in any perfection though he were most zealous and earnest in it David never so much as thought of building an house unto the Lord till he had some respite from warre as appeares 2 Sam. 7.1 2. c. and when he did thinke on it God who knew his thoughts knew also that it was in a manner to no purpose for him upon whom warres were presently to returne to undertake that worke for neither could that worke it selfe be so well effected in such times nor the publike worship of God in that house if it should be built be neer so wel performed as it would be in more peaceable times And therefore observe how the Lord took off David from those thoughts as David himselfe relates it to his sonne Solomon 1 Chron. 22. v. 7.8.9.10 And David said to Solomon my son as for me it was in my mind to build an house unto the Name of the Lord my God but the Word of the Lord came to me saying thou hast shed blood abundantly and hast made great warres thou shalt not build an house unto my name because thou hast shed much blood upon the earch in my sight behold a sonne shall be borne unto thee who shall be a man of rest and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about for his name shall be Solomon and I will give peace and quietnesse to I frael in his dayes he shall build an house for my Name c. Behold David a man of warre though a man after Gods owne heart and his warres no other then what God had approved he was inhibited the building of an house for Gods publike worship and service onely for this reason because he had shed much blood and made great warres whereas the bloody reformers of these times cry up the laying of the foundation of their reformation of Gods publike worship in service in nothing but blood that the blood of those who professe the worshipping and serving of God in that publike manner and way for the sounding and erecting whereof many renowned Mattyres were willing to lose their blood so sarre are their thoughts from Gods thoughts and their wayes from Gods wayes Observe further how God to cleare his owne reason of forbidding David to build him an house that it was therefore therefore onely because he had made great warres and shed much blood at the same time when he inhibited David for that cause he gave commandement to his Sonne Solomon to build him an house for his name and alleadgeth the just contrary reason for that command viz. because he should be a man of peace and rest and one unto whom God promised that he would give rest from his enemies round about and give peace and quietnesse to Israel in his dayes And he indeed undertooke this worke and so prospered in it that he finished it in seven yeeres 1 Kin. 6.38 The inferences from hence are many and various according to the apprehension of severall Expositors but all that I shall urge from hence is but what I have already toucht That God by the very time appointed by him for the building of his Temple the place of his publique worship and service signifies unto us that times of peace are the onely times for his publike worship and service it selfe and that warres though never so just doe not onely hinder it but doe in a manner yea and in a great measure to prophane it and what I say of the times of peace and warre must of necessity reach to the places where peace or warres settle and therefore as the house for Gods publike worship and service was at first built in time of peace so 't was built in a City of peace in Ierusalem which is by interpretation the vision of peace God may I confesse be worshipped and served publikely in some Camps or Leagers yea in the midst of Mars-hill as 't is said Saint Paul once preacht Acts 17.23 But alas the worship and service that is usually performed unto God in such places hath scarce a rag of that beauty and splendor or a spark of that zeale and vigour wherewith it is adorned and inclined in places of peace unlesse they be such places of peace as doe not know what belong to their peace which indeed Ierusalem her selfe sometimes did not Luk. 19.42 How beautifull upon the mountaines saith the Prophet are feete of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace Isa 52.7 The Apostle appplies that saying to the Preachers of the Gospell Fom 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospell of peace c. The beauty and excellency of preaching the Gospell is such as

neither the Prophet nor the Apostle could expresse and therefore they cry out in admiration thereof quam speciosi pedes c. how beautifull are the feet of him or them that publish or preach peace and as there is beauty in the publike preaching the Gospell so there is beauty in the publike praying unto God and praising of him as also in the rest of Gods publike worship and service rightly performed and therefore is the whole worship and service of God in his house called as you heard but now by the kingly Prophet David the beauty of the Lord Psa 27. and the beauty of holinesse Psal 29.2 But beloved in what places is this beauty and excellency of Gods worship and service to be found Not in those places wherein the sound of the trumpet and alarme of warre are daily heard for what agreement hath the preaching of the Gospell of peace with warring and fighting or what entertainment can praying finde where killing and murthering are professed and who can hope to heare the voice of praising God where cursing and blaspheming his Name are so uncontrolledly practised 't is a short but a smart and pithy examination of the Souldiers Pater-Noster which Erasmus takes in his Querimoniae pacis I will adde but a little to it and by it you may guesse how God is worshipped and served in those places where such men keepe their Randevooze quid quaeso orat miles what I beseech you saith Erasmus does the Souldier pray or how Doest thou say Our Father O impudent mouth doest thou dare to call God father who art flying at the throate of thy brother to cut it or teare it out Doest thou say hallowed be Thy Name when Gods Name is by none more blasphemed and dishonoured then by thee and thy Comrades Doest thou say thy Kingdom come when none is a greater enemy to the Kingdome of grace and hath lesse hope of the Kingdome of glory then thy selfe Doest thou say Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven and yet when God tels thee that 't is his will that thou shouldst follow peace with all men and holinesse thou delightest in war and all manner of wickednesse refusing all just conditions of peace and adhortations to piety Doest thou say Give us this day our daily bread and yet takest away by violence and rapine all the bread and other necessaries of life that thy poore brother hath laboured for in the sweat of his browes Doest thou beseech the Lord to forgive thee thy trespasses as thou forgivest them that trespasse against thee when as nothing but thy brothers blood will satisfie thee and his too who never did nor would have offended thee didst not or hadst not thou first beyond measure provoked him Doest thou pray not to be led into temptation and yet accountest it pusillanimity not to venture upon any thing that thy lusts tempts thee unto And doest thou supplicate to be delivered from all evill and yet art never at rest from plotting and practising all the evill thy heart can invent making it thy trade of life to live all thy dayes in that evill of evils bloody warre What is all this praying but a mocking of God and blaspheming of his Name and how then can praying or any other part of Gods service be performed as it should in those places where warres rage when the actors in that bloody tragedy being the onely men of power and sway in those places are so flatly opposite in all their practises to what is commanded by God or desired from him I but will some Souldiers of these times say you are quite mistaken in us we doe not use the Lords Prayer at all but we pray onely as the Spirit teacheth us but what Spirit is it I beseech them Whose teaching they follow in their prayers when they lay aside and despise the prayers which the Lord Christ himselfe hath taught them Certainly 't is not that Spirit of God which helpeth our infirmities and when we know not what we should pray for as we ought doth it selfe make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 For that Spirit would never teach men to contemne and reject that prayer Christ by the same Spirit hath taught them but on the contrary would so instruct and quicken them in their powring forth that and other prayers now slighted by them that the using thereof once would more effectually prevaile with God and more feelingly comfort themselves then all the vaine tedious tautologising bablings that ever fall from them besides men taught by that Spirit would abhorre to appeare in any acts so repugnant to each clause of that prayer I confesse for my share that as where I call to minde the reigning sinnes of these times such as blindnesse of heart pride vaine glory and hypocisie envy hatred malice and all manner of uncharitablenesse fornication and other such like deadly sinnes sedition and privy conspiracy false doctrine and heresie hardnesse of heart and contempt of Gods Word and Commandement c. I doe not wonder to see and heare of such multitudes that startle at our set formes of publike prayer wherein these sinnes are set forth ript up and prayed against with so much plainnesse of expression and no lesse vehemency and ardency of devotion and to desire rather to use some loose prayers of their owne wherein they may take their owne liberty and pray against those sinnes as frees any suit whereof others are guilty not themselves So when I observe of what spirit many men are calling daily for fire from heaven upon their fellow brethren or stirring up what fire earth and hell can helpe them to kindle against them I doe not admire that even the Lords prayer also is which is composed of a spirit so much contrary to theirs laid aside by them But 't is a sad case in the interim that should either be given up to such a reprobate mind or live the least time in such an ungodly course of life as not to dare to use that forme of prayer which Christ hath prescribed or if they doe their very using thereof proves no better then a mocking or an abusing of him that prescribed it I doe not condemne all Souldiers nor all souldiers prayers the faith of that Centurion in the Gospell Math. 8. Acts 10. and the prayers of that Centurion in the Acts and the faith and prayers of many devout souldiers both before and since would rise up in judgment against me if I should so judge them and their devotions but the more devout souldiers are the more they will assent to truth propugned by me that warres are an enemy to publike devotion whatsoever interruption private praiers suffer by them I doe confesse we doe not read that ever David was more fervent or frequent in his prayers then when he was encompassed or pursued by his warlike enemies but then it must be also acknowledged that even in those times David prayed for