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	world_n	write_v	529	4	4.9035	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89587	The strong helper or, The interest, and power of the prayers of the destitute, for the building up of Sion. Opened in a sermon before the Honorable House of Commons assembled in Parliament, upon the solemn day of their monethly fast, April 30. 1645. / By Stephen Marshall, B.D. minister of Gods Word, at Finching-field in Essex.	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1645 (1645)	Wing M790; Thomason E280_1; ESTC R200033	40,798	62

Die Mercurii April 30. 1645. ORdered by the Commons Assembled in Parliament that Sir William Massam do from this House give thanks to Mr. Marshall for the great paines hee took in the Sermon hee Preached this day at the intreaty of this House at St. Margarets Westminster it being the day of publique humiliation and to desire him to Print his Sermon And it is Ordered that none shall presume to Print his Sermon not being authorized under his hand-writing H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I appoint Stephen Bowtell to Print my Sermon Stephen Marshall THE STRONG HELPER OR The interest and power of the Prayers of the destitute for the building up of Sion Opened in A SERMON BEFORE The Honorable House of COMMONS Assembled in Parliament upon the solemn day of their Monethly Fast April 30. 1645. BY Stephen Marshall B.D. Minister of Gods Word at Finching-field in Essex JER. 29. 12. Then shall yee call upon me and yee shall goe and pray unto mee and I will hearken unto you PSAL. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thy eare to hear LONDON Printed by Richard Cotes for Stephen Bowtell and are to be sold at the signe of the Bible in Popes-head Alley 1645. TO THE HONORABLE HOVSE OF COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT THE Lord that now makes it his great work to build up Zion and settle his Arke there in its place hath made it your great honour that hee hath taken you into a partnership in so blessed a work Hee make it your happinesse that your Faithfull indevours being crowned with a blessed successe both the present and after Ages may deservedly call you the Repairers of the breach and restorers of paths to dwell in It is pity such builders should want either fair weather or a sure Scaffold to build on but you will not be discouraged whilest you think how in great repaires all use to lie on heaps and remember what the ablest of Gods Master-builders in this kind have met with it is enough that Jerusalems Wall may be built in troubleous times God can lay the beams of his Chambers in the water and Faith can plant Sycamines in the Sea it was a confused Chaos without form and void full of darknesse which this goodly Fabrick of Heaven and Earth was at first made out of and there were Evenings as well as Mornings all along in the Work however it went on each day adding distinction and beauty and the last perfection so that God beheld all and saw it to bee very good It is the same creating God that must order our present confusions and raise up our ruines in which your humble and faithfull Prayers will be more usefull then your ablest Counsels Moses Elias our Saviour the great builders and repairers of the Church are every one of them recorded to have fasted forty daies and nights when they were upon that Worke it much commends Prayer and Fasting to all who are at any time ingaged in a like service that was your businesse when this Sermon was Preached which if either in the delivery it did any whit help your Spirits then in prayer or in the publishing it may now or hereafter ingage you when you most diligently look to your Work more earnestly to look up to God in it it will bee the joy as it is the prayer of Your Servant in this great Work STEPHEN MARSHALL A SERMON PREACHED To the Honorable House of COMMONS at their Monethly Fast Aprill 30. 1645. PSAL. 102. 17. Hee will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer I Began the handling of this portion of Scripture the last publique solemn Fast before the Honourable House of Peeres and I then shewed that these two Verses doe containe two such remarkable circumstances which alwayes accompany the building up of Zion as doe justly render it the most glorious and excellent work in all the world most worthy of all mens observation and admiration so that all the Kings and all the Nations might well stand amazed at it and it deserves to bee writen that all the Generations to come may praise God for it the first is that when ever the Lord doth build up Zion hee doth appeare in his glory hee never shews himself more like himself never more magnifies those excellent perfections of his Wisdom and Power and Mercy and Holinesse and Truth then hee doth when hee builds up his Church This I handled before that Honourable House the last day at large and now this Honourable House having commanded my poore labours to bee a furtherance of your humiliation and prayer that you may be the assistance of God be carryed on the better in your great work of helping the Lord in building the Church while like so many Nehemiahs you are building with the Trowell in one hand and the Sword in the other I could not think of any more fitter more suitable or seasonable Theame then to goe on to open the second Circumstance which accompanies the building up of Zion which you have in these words When the Lord doth build up Zion hee will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer All the prayers that his forlorn and desolate people had been offering up many yeeres before when it may bee they despaired of ever meeting with any comfortable return they should now finde their Jubilee they should now have a full crop of all their seed gathered in with joy when the Lord doth build up Zion hee regards his peoples Prayers The summe of the Text is A gratious promise of Gods hearing his peoples Prayers Hee will regard the prayers of the destitute or hee will turn to them or hee will looke upon them hee will behold them the meaning plainly is hee will grant them thus that is first positively laid down secondly it is also laid down negatively Hee will not despise them and in this negative there is another affirmation rather stronger then the former for when God is said not to despise the meaning is hee doth highly value it with God non spernere is magnifacere as An humble and a broken heart O God thou wilt not despise that is thou dost highly esteem it so also here however these poore afflicted ones had imagined because God had made them no return that hee did scorne them and their prayers hee would now let them to their comfort know that all their prayers lay before him and were very highly regarded by him They had sown in tears they must now reap in joy now they should finde that their prayers were like so many Talents put into Gods bank which they should receive into their bosome with advantage hee would no longer cause their heart to faint with deferring their hope hee would now regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer Which gracious promise of God to regard the prayers of

rewarded abundantly I humbly commend this to your wisdoms and faithfulnesse God hath called you to this work it would be your great glory to have it done in your hands and it would not be for your honour to have it done by other hands but done it will be I assure you the Church will be reformed If you should altogether neglect it sit still and hold your peace or if you should make but a halfe worke of it a patched reformation help and deliverance will come from some other place No stone great enough could be laid in the mouth of Christs sepulchre to keep him from rising nor can any power prevent the building of Zion when the appointed time is come no not though all the Nations of the earth should be gathered together against it The remnant of Jacob shall bee as a dew from the Lord as the showers upon the grasse that tarryeth not for man nor waiteth for the Sons of men the work is upon the wheeles and there is one engine at work that will effect it if all others faile and that is the spirit of Prayer which what efficacy it hath for the building of Zion will appear in the last branch of my Text And that is the matter wherein God will regard their prayer When the Lord builds up Zion he will regard the prayer of the destitute that is hereby it shall appear that he regards their prayer because at their prayer he will doe it it shall be done as the fruit and effect of his peoples prayers which affords us this Doctrine That the Lord will have the building of Zion the reforming and repairing of the Church to bee the fruit of his peoples prayers this is the main scope then God regarded their Prayers when he makes all the world know that at their request and for their prayers sake he did now arise in glory to build up Zion the truth of this excellent lesson will appear even to a demonstration if you please but briefely to consider these three things First Gods Providences speak it so Secondly and so doe his Commands And Thirdly his Promises First His Providences speak it there are two Providences of God use to appear at the building of Zion which alone were sufficient to shew that Prayer is the great builder on our part that it is indeed all that we can doe God usually lets it come to such irrecoverable ruine that nothing we can do besides prayer is able to doe any thing that it may appear that on our part prayer doth all Nil nisi vota supersunt When all other Anchors are come home when all other Cables are brok when all other friends have forsaken and all props snapped apeeces that either prayer must doe it or they have nothing that is the time he ordinarily chuses to build up Zion as himself said Deut. 32. When hee saw their strength was gone there was none shut up or left who might be a helper then hee himself would judge his people and repent h●m for his servants So when they were as a woman with childe near the time of delivery the children come to the birth and no strength to bring forth not any in the earth to be a deliverer then they cry unto the Lord and he delivers them this is so plentifully to be found in the Scripture that I may forbear especially in these straights of time to produce particular instances Secondly The other providence is this That when God builds up Zion he then uses to powre out the Spirit of Prayer upon his people more then at any other times he then fils them with his Spirit which inclines their hearts to be vehement and earnest with him for that very thing Zephyrus vere flat this gale never blows so sweetly as at such times Jer. 29. Then you shall pray and I will answer In that day he powres out the Spirit of supplication and mourning upon all his people Then he makes all his people say with them Esa. 62. 1. For Zions sake I will not hold my peace and for Hierusalems sake I will not rest untill the righteousnesse thereof goe forth as brightnesse and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth And this is so sure a note of it that Gods people durst make Propheticall conclusions out of the Spirit of Prayer powred out as in this very Psalme The time to deliver her the set time is come How know you that Thy servants pity the dust of it thy servants are weeping and mourning before thee therefore the time of Zions deliverance is come take all the times of building the Church and you shall see that great builders have been great praying men Moses the great builder could fall down before God forty dayes and forty nights together David Solomon Elias Ezra Nehemiah all their prayers built more then their hands did Luther a mighty man in it and the Ministers who joyned with him indefatigable and potent in prayer yea the Spirit of Prayer uses to ebbe and flow in the Church according as God purposes to retard or hasten the work of the building of the Church insomuch as the Spirit of God drawing out the hearts of his people to doe that which he would have done doth Prophesie or foretell what God means to doe There uses to be such a concord and harmony between Gods secret purposes and his peoples Prayers their prayers as such expressions of his sacred will that they even seem to decree a thing by Prayer and God establishes it in Heaven the prayers of Gods people for the building of Zion is as a John Baptist before Christ only makes way for him as the Morning star which assures you the morning is at hand Now these two Providences Gods doing it at such a time as they have nothing left but prayer and this powring out the Spirit of prayer at that time do sufficiently tell us that God will have prayer to be the great Builder on our part Secondly His Commands speak it as plainly this is a good rule in Divinity Look whatsoever God Almighty commands us chiefely to doe in reference or relation to such a work that would he have us look upon as the great instrument on our part to effect it as when God commands us to beleeve for the forgivenesse of sins you may thence conclude that Faith is the great instrument of our Justification So when God commands us to attend upon the word for our Spirituall life for our comfort for our edification you may boldly conclude that the ministery of the Word is to be the great instrument of all these things And therefore because God above all that we can doe commands that his people should pray for the building of Zion you may conclude that he will have prayer the great instrument on their part for the building of it And God hath abundantly injoyned his people that they call upon him for it You shall