Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	den_n	house_n	thief_n	2,276	5	9.5409	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59072	God, the king, and the church (to wit) government both civil and sacred together instituted ... and throughout all, the Church of England ... vindicated : being the subject of eight sermons, preached ... / and now published by George Seignior ...	Seignior, George, d. 1678.	1670 (1670)	Wing S2417; ESTC R19835	158,466	284

was the Sermon upon the Mount But those seemed to be places not of his seeking whilst he went about doing good he designed no separation from the Jewish Church but as once or twice occasion offered and the people sought him out he could not but at the same time feed their Souls as well as their bodies But if you would observe him according to his custome St. Luc. 4.15 16. He taught in their Synagogues and was glorified of all he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his Custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath-day nay he gave diligent attention to and in some sort assisted in the Offices which were there performed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he stood up to read and delivering the Book to the Minister he expounded to them the Lesson that was then read in the course of the Jewish Service as I may so say the Gospel for the day for it was out of the Evangelical Prophet Esaias 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears was not all this a Regular and a Solemn Administration We find at another time St. Luc. 7.4 that Elders of the Jews thought it a good argument to move his compassion to restore the Centurion's Servant to health when they could thus plead for him that he was worthy for whom he should do this since he loved their Nation and had built them a Synagogue twice he whip'd the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple and overthrew the Tables of the Mony-changers that being a place to receive sinners not Publicans nay St. Mar. 11.16 He would not suffer that any man should carry any Vessel through the Temple even the Outmost part of it supposed to be the same in the Text Solomon's Porch and the reason of all assigned is this because the House of God is to be a House of Prayer and that not only to the people of the Jews but likewise unto all Nations why then should that House or any like it by any Nation professing Christianity be made a Den of Thieves thus you see how the Zeal of God and of Gods House did devour him Secondly By the way I cannot but observe let this Atheistical age think what they will of a Liberty that they may take of alienating and prophaning consecrated places even the Ground may be Holy it was the good will of God in the Bush that pronounced it so surely That sin cannot but be exceeding sinful which the Judge of all the earth while he was but in the form of a Servant did twice so severely punish with his own hands But to proceed let it be further said for our Saviour that he went always up to Jerusalem according to the custome of the East and in the midst of such a solemnity did he choose to be offered up a Sacrifice for the Sins of the world and though once indeed he was tardy and the Pharisees muttered amongst themselves what will he not come up unto the Feast St. Joh. 11.56 yet his presence immediately silenced all those Jealousies telling them and all the world that his Principle was Conformity nay to the last thus he witnessed to the High Priest whom in this he seemed to own as his Visitor a good confession St. Joh. 18.20 when he could plead in the same words both his Piety and his Innocence I speak openly to the world I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jews always resort and in secret have I said nothing From our Saviour's Practice we proceed to consider what was his Precept and that was this St. Mat. 23.2 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do as if they were the rather to be heard onely because of a due Succession and Administration continued amongst them however perverse the Pharisees might be in their lives they say and do not yet hear and observe them for they do not sit in the stool of wickedness but in the chair of Moses Nay however the circumstances of his life might occasion him once or twice to teach those that followed him in solatary places onely because they followed not that he called them after him for his intention was to go and pray by himself alone at one of those times nay his compassion was moved when he saw the people as sheep not having a Shepherd St. Mark 6.34 and therefore he taught them many things he did not design to lead them astray from their proper Pastors I say notwithstanding this not long before his death our Saviour forewarns his Disciples and in them all us of false Christs and false Prophets that should arise to deceive them St. Mat. 24.24 25. Behold I have told you before how careful he is lest they should be mistaken and in the parallel Text St. Mar. 13.23 Take yee heed behold I have foretold you all things if they shall say unto you Behold here is Christ or there is Christ believe them not and go not after them if they shall say unto you Behold he is in the Desart go not forth Behold he is in the secret Chamber believe it not Christ is not to be found in the Desart not in a wast and a howling Wilderness not in the confusions of Government Discipline and Order not amidst the confusions of those who have once and would yet again lead us through a Red Sea of our own blood but not to bring us into Canaan all their Promised Land is a dismal Wilderness and in it nothing but fiery Serpents a Generation of Vipers to destroy us No neither is Christ to be found in the secret Chamber the God of truth himself has said so surely then not amidst the private Junctoet and Caballs of the Rebellious and Disobedient though he was crucified betwixt two yet the benefits of his death are not to be dispensed in a Den of Theives Oh Then so long as Solomon's Porch is open be not deceived it is not Truth but error and sedition betakes it self unto corners The Apostles were also mindful of what their Master did and what he taught after the Resurrection they remembred his Solemn entrance into the Temple and how it had been written of him that the zeal of Gods House should devour him they therefore from his example rejoice to appear with multitudes in the House of God They were altogether with one accord in Solomon's Porch And so from our Saviour's we descend to the Practice of the Apostles and of the Primitive Christians how that they also did not usually assemble for the Worship and service of God in private houses or in solitary places so long as any but the outmost part of the Temple was allowed them to meet in True indeed Act. 2.46 we find the Disciples breaking their bread from House to House but then the Bread which was broken was broken in no other publique place besides and

their hands to the most high God in a most wicked and seditious Covenant though by Oath they were obliged to a Canonical Obedience that they would not onely destroy the hewers of wood and the drawers of water from amongst us but sacrilegiously take away both wood and water from the sanctuary leaving us nothing but a strange fire that would have consumed every thing that was sacred from the midst of us These men were like Saul of old of a most bloody house O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly let me not be united Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel in their anger they flew a Man a Man that was worth ten thousands of men nay two Men unto which the Ages before did never shew the like Moses and Aaron fell both under the same stroke in their self-will they digged down a wall broke through all inclosures to lay our Sion waste and for these sins unrepented of and still persisted in has not our Jerusalem been made a heap of Stones But blessed be our God who raised up Jacob when he was small and have we not seen with our eyes the reward of rebellious sinners God hath scattered them in Jacob they are at this day divided in Israel thus their sin of Division and Separation is the worst of judgments from Gods permission upon them whilst their hearts are hardned through their Disobedience and Vnbelief These are not like David men after Gods own heart the Zeal of Gods house devoured him yea and the Son of David when he twice whip'd the the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple but their Zeal has been to consume the house of God either to brake down the carved work thereof with Axes and Hammers to destroy all the Synagogues of God in the Land or to prophane those they leave standing some evil Angel or other appointed to hover over the Mercies Seat the Houses of Prayer made so many Dens of Thieves in a word these are like Saul in the New Testament before his conversion Philip. 3. As concerning zeal persecuting the Church not like St. Paul having embraced the Faith of Christ Zealous toward God in that which is good herein always exercising himself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward all men That in this Digression whither our unreasonable Zealots as evil workers have carried me I may not loose the scope of my Text These seditious Gnosticks who disturbed the Peace of the Church by obtruding upon the Disciples Mosaical rigours and so bewitching these foolish Galatians from the stedfastness of their obedience both Schism and Rebellion are as the sin of witchcraft had a Zeal for God St. Paul bears them witness but it was not according to knowledge or if they had as their very compellation signifies nothing less then Science yet it was falsly so called the understanding of all mysteries and of all knowledg neither was their Zeal mistaken or blind so much the worse for it was not according to Godliness since they were not careful to square their actions by that Rule of obedience which they did profess They were zealously affected but not well Bu● on the contrary while St. Paul fights it is the good fight of Faith does he contend earnestly It is for the word of truth which he had received for and delivered to them according to the Scriptures while he does withstand the adversaries to the face it is not his forward zeal or his pious eagerness but their back-sliding their frowardness and peevishness their Dissimulation and Hypocrisie was to be blamed for this he had secured in the first place that the thing for which he contended was just and good and this he was assured of to the last that having no sinister or by designs it was good to be always zealously affected which is the Third and last Thing In which zeal is good in relation to the Object when it is rightly qualified and stated directed to a good end because where there is such a pious care that the thing contended for be good there likewise we do charitably believe that the zeal is guided by a good intention not being over-byassed or over-ballanced by any sinister or by-respects The Pious Zealot is many times counted singular this may be a more charitable reason for the compellation then is usually urged He is indeed singular that is he is neither double-tongued nor double-minded the preparations of his heart are from the Lord. Some mens Zeal is not from an inward principle of Conscience but some outward reason or motive to incite them as was hinted in the close of the former Discourse either the thing for which they are so zealous makes for their interest or else they will make it so while their design is to get a name and to appear some-Body in the world or as bad nay worse then both these because it comprehends them both a sordid and an unworthy compliance for there is a kind of zeal in luke-warmness it self a Complemental congenial Religion in suiting our selves to the company with whom we converse changing faces with every one we meet is an hypocritical principle by which too too many act and walk amongst us These are they who would fain have every ones good word care not much to venture their credit to be evil spoken of in the cause of Piety they are altogether for a good they cannot go thorow a bad report and it is observable that such persons who do thus ambire famam court every ones applause seldom speak well of any but those with whom at present they are conversing their Detraction is as notorious as their flattery and be it for their advantage to steal into the heart to win upon the affections of some leading men of whatsoever Perswasion they are as good at their Satyricks as at Panegyricks they are furnished at all adventures and can as smartly declaim against as possibly not long before to another company they did ingeniously commend the same thing And sad it is but too notoriously apparent that such a humour as this doth transport many men in Religion it self who because of advantage can have Schism and Faction in admiration Men who have as different Behaviours as they have Habits suting themselves to the untowardness of those with whom they have to do rather then to the strictness of that profession to which they are obliged by all the ties imaginable these can urge the severity and Letter of a Law though it be for Uniformity strain it contrary to its meaning against any that will not comply with them in their luke-warmness that so they may have the less disturbance in the promotion and strengthning of schism and sedition This is their keeping wind-ward of the Law It is but their moderation to deviate from an established Rule pro hic nunc according to time and place to sute themselves to the humours of