Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	lord_n	pray_v	supplication_n	2,811	5	10.3362	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89053	Britannia rediviva, or, a gratulatory sermon for his Majesties safe arrivall and happy restitution to the exercise of his royall government. Preached, at the desire of the magistrats and councell of Aberdene, on the XIX of June, which they had designed to be a day of solemne rejoycing within the city, for the mercy above mentioned, by John Menzeis, professor of divinity: and preacher of the gospell in Aberdene	Menzeis, John, 1624-1684.	1660 (1660)	Wing M1724; ESTC R230727	28,599	38

many others Surely these Lands have as much matter to blesse the Lord as ever a people if we had hearts to be about the duty aright After that Athaliah 2. King 11. had cut off the Royall seed and usurped the Crowne of Judah for the space of seven years one onely young child upon the breasts of the Nurse having thorow the mercy of God escaped the fury of that Bloodie Usurper When at length by the means of Jehojada the High Priest Joas is Crowned and the usurpng Queen received the deserved stroak of justice it s said v. 14. The whole Land rejoyced and Blew with Trumpets How much more have these Lands cause to rejoyce in the Lord who after such a barbarous and unparalleled Regicide after such a labyrinth and maze of confusions which within these few dayes to humane reason appeared inextricable who I say after all this is settling the government of the Nations upon the ancient foundations and hath reduced our Native and Gracious SOVERAIGN to sit upon the Throne of his ANCESTORS IT is promised as a great mercy Jer. 30. 21. Their Nobles shall be of thēselves their Governours shall proceed from the midst of them IT S a mercy to have a native Prince to rule over a people and not strangers They have not naturall affiction who do not with it and rejoyce in it Were not the fundamentals of Christianity strucken at in time of these late Confusions and a standing Ministry together with Gospel Ordinances like to be overturned And is it not a mercy so to have the Civill Government settled as all interests both sacred and civill may be secured Who then can deny but there is matter of rejoycing in the Lord if we had hearts to do it Christianly But we have cause to be jealous of our owne hearts lest the Lord be provoked by our carnall deportment on such a day It s my earnest exhortation to you in the name of the LORD I have also warrant to speak it in Our SOVERAIGNS name from his MAJESTIES Late Declaration that ye neither offend GOD nor dishonour your SOVERAIGN by debauching your selves to day Dear People be afraid to draw on wrath to day on the Lands or on your SOVERAIGN there is such a near relation betwixt Prince and People that the one smarts often for the others sin As the Apostle sayes Eph. 4. 26. Be angry but sin not So I today Rejoyce but sin not Let forth your hearts as much in rejoycing as you can providing yee guard against sin As there is no small difficultie so to be angry as not to go beyond bounds so I beleeve it hath its owne difficultie to get the heart rightly ordered in such dayes of rejoycing that we be not carn●ll but holy spirituall in the performance of the duty Wherefore That your hearts may be the better ballasted in Praising Rejoycing I desire you to joyne with it that other necessary duty of Praying Reasōs why earnest pray er should be joyned with our praises There be many Considerations to move us to be much in holding up the condition of our Gracious SOVERAIGN before the Lord by prayer This is 1. A duty laid upon all subjects by the Apostle I. Tim. 2. 1. 2. I exhort that Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Giving of Thanks be made for all men and particularly for Kings for all that are in authority Ancient Christians were much in this duty even under Heathen Princes as wi●nesseth Tertull. Apol cap. 39 Oramus pro Imperatoribus pro Ministris corum potestatibus pro statu saeculi pro rerum quiet● pro mora finis On this lait clause pro mora finis Tertull. himself cōmenteth cap 32. as is well observed by Pameliu● Dum saieth TERTULL clausulam saeculs precam●r differri Romanae diuturnitati favemus Were they so eatnest for the continuance of the Roman Empyre how much more ought we to plead with God for the perpetuity of the Brittish Empyre in his MAJESTIES Royall line 2. A spirit of Government is a speciall blessing from God Therefore we ought to be much in praying for it SOLOMON was a very hopfull Prince to whom many Promises w●re entailed Yet O so earnest as DAVID is in prayer for a spirit of Government to him Psal 72. 1. Give the King thy judgements O God and thy righteousnesse to the Kings son 3. No men are compassed with greater temptations then Princes and Great Ones And therefore They have the more neede of Remembrancers before the Thron of God 4. Who can be such Instruments of publick good as zealous godly Princes And therefore wee ought to be much in prayer for them And the rather 5. Seing the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water Hee turneth it whethersoever hee will prov 21. 1. A beleeving Supplicant can have more influence on the heart of a Prince though many hundreth myles from Cour● then Courtiers who are daylie admitted to his Presence When that wicked Haman was suggesting bad counsell to that great King Asuerus against the people of God Mordeeai's prayers defeated all Haman's contrivments they influenced Ahasuerus more then Haman's Court-sollicitations Beleeving supplicants have power with God Isai 45. 11. Ask of me of things concerning my sons concerning the works of my hands command ye me Blessed be God he who heares Prayer hath hearts of Princes in his hand 6. O what an unvaluable mercy is it when Prince and People concurre harmoniously each in there own sphere to maintaine and promove the publick interests of Iesus Christ in the Nations O how sweet is it when a Prince rules not only over the bodies but also in the hearts of subjects Divines observe Rob. Abbo● lib. de suprema potestate Regia Praelect 3. §. 2. Animae vocabulo requirere videtur Apos●olus ut non corporie tantuns obsequium sed animae queque voluntatem et affectum Principibus accommodemus upon that word Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers that subjects obedience to their Prince should be affectionat and cordiall from the Heart and Soule Ought we not then be much at the Throne of grace That the Lord would blesse Britaine Ireland with these rich mercies that thoughts of disloyaltie may be had in everlasting abhorrency by all his Majesties subjects Lastlie Hath not the Lord been pleading a very bitter and long Controversie with these Lands that in the view of the Nations round about have we not then cause to plead with MOSES Psal 90. 〈◊〉 15. 16. 17. That the LORD would make us glad according to the dayes wherein he hath afflicted us and the years wherein wee have seen evill That the Lord would make his WORK appeare unto his Servants his GLORY unto their children that the BEAUTIE OF THE LORD OUR GOD may be upon us that as Isaiah Prophecieth cap. 60. 18. Violence may no more be heard in our Land nor wasting or destruction within our borders but our walls may be called SALVATION our gates PRAISE For these things the Lord will bee enquired by us to do them for us Ezekiel 36. 37. O that a spirit of Prayer Praise wer poured out on hearts to day Onely let me againe obtest you in the Name of the Lord Jesus to beware of ranting debauching and of what ever may indispose you to these two great duties of the day Prayer Praise I close all with that word of Benajah concerning King SOLOMON A Gratulatory Conclusion I. King 1. 36. 37. After that Ado●ijah had taken the Throne by usurpation Bathsheba and Nathan came unto David who lay a dying regrating the matter Whereupon David commanded Nathan Zadok to anoint King SOLOMON for said he Solomō shall sit on my throne him have I appointed to be R●ler over Israel and Iudah Then said Benajah the son of Iehojada Amen The Lord God of My Lord the King say s● too As the Lord hath been with my Lord the King so be he with SOLOMON make his Throne greater then the Throne of my Lord King David So say I. As the Lord was with King David so bee hee with our Gracious SOVERAIGN The Lord make the Throne of KING CHARLES THE SECOND greater then the Throne of either David or Solomon greater then ever was the Throne of King CHARLES the I. or King JAMES the VI. then ever was the Throne of any Scotish English or British king Let him be CAROLO MAGNO major greater thē CHARLES the great Now to Him who is able to do aboundantly above all that we can think To the King Eternall Immortall Invisible the onely Wise GOD be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen Grata DEO ac REGI nullique libentius unquam Responsura sono Britonum Gens accinat Amen Et Reboaturis geminetur vocibus AMEN T. G. V. S.

made all our iniquities to meete on Him as so many violent streames of water meeting in one channell and this imputed guiltinesse of the Elect was the ground of His unspeakable sufferings But alas All the ●est of Mankinde beside our LORD are inherently sinfull even this holy Prince David so much renowned for his holines had his owne spots and these very foule Indeed if I should say that the greatest sufferers are alwayes the greatest sinners I should sin against the generation of the righteous for the Lord somtimes afflicts his owne more for the tryall of their graces then for the punishment of their transgressions as is clear in the case of Job Yet it is sin which renders us subjects capable of affliction So that Eliphaz word holds true IOB 5. 6. Affliction springs not out of the dust Sin is the bitter root on which affliction grows Reason se ∣ cond of the Doctrine A second reason The Lord exercises some of the sons of men with great and sore troubles to fi● and prepare them for eminent trust and services This was the designe of God in exercising Joseph with these many and bitter afflictions even to prepare him for the great trust he was to put upon him for He had appointed him to be a Prince and Governour next to Pharaoch in that mighty kingdom of Egypt Wherfore GEN. 50. 20. As for you said he to his brethren yee thought evill against me but God meant it unto good Before the LORD set David upon the Throne He would have him schooled by the crosse hunted like a Partridge and chased from Nation to Nation Thus the LORD fitted him for the trust to which hee was designed Hence ye● finde him resolving in Psal 101. when he comes to his Government to cloath himself with the z●ale of God for cleansing both Court and Nation of evill doers A sweet fruit of a sanctified affliction I desire confidently to beleeve that this hath been the designs of God in these great and sore troubles wherewith Hee hath been pleased to exercise our GRACIOUS SOVERAIGN to fit him for the Government and to prepare him to be an eminent instrument of His Glory in advancing the Reformed and Protestant Religion both at home and abroad And surlie a sanctified affliction is a speciall meane of God to fit men either for Civill or Ecclesiastick capacities Schola crucis sch●la lucis The schoole of the crosse is a school of light instruction Yea is it not said of our LORD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He learned by what he suffered Reasō third of the Doct. Take onely a hint of a third reason If great ones good ones were exempted frō crosses alas would they not be ready to say It s good being here But our Lord lookes upon an Imperiall Crown on earth as too low a Portion for a Saint Therefore the Lord is pleased to mixe water among their wyne that they may look pant after that Crown of righteousnes and Glory that fadeth not away The Lord had provided a better portiō for David then the Crown of Israel I trust also for our LATE SOVERAIGN of ever blessed Memory though bloudy hands did rob him of his life of an earthly Crown yet could they not rob him of that incorruptible Crown of Glory Nay by that horrid inhumane parricide they did hasten him to the possessiō therof I verily beleeve It was the lively expectation of and earnest breathings of his most precious soul after that Crown of Righteousnesse which did so strengthen him to possesse his soul with such admirable heroick and invincible patience under so long 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supra mo●● in sublimitate vulg lat Secundū excellentiam in excellentiam ARR. MONT. mire supra modum Eras In incredibilem modum Aug. in Psalm 93. per supergressū insuper Tertull. in Scorp cap. 13. Glori● excellenter excellentis Beza a tract of such barbarous and unheard of cruelties According to that II. Cor. 4. 17. 18. Our light affliction so faith cals sharpest afflictions when it eyes that hoped for Glory which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory While wee looke not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporall but the things which are not seen are eternall Whom would not the lively hope of this glory animat to undergoe any trials with patience Use first of Doct. I onely point at two words of vse and the first is Dear People take heed yee provoke not the Lord. If He spare neither the greatest nor the best of men when they sin against him how shall we escape If He smite Cedars like David with great and sore troubles shall shrubs like us expect impunitie The Lord by the rodes wherwith he exercises great Ones and good ones demonstrates how hatfull sin is to him in all persons Yea let Christ the Son of his love charge himself but with the trespasses of other men He shall not escape the Crosse Rom 8. 32. He spared not his owne Son Were this considered and seriously beleeved would wee da●e to offend this sin-revenging Majesty of God Surely when the Iudgements of God are on the land especially when he smyts great Ones good ones The inhabitants ought to learne righteousnes Is 26. 8. Use second of doctrin But my second word of use is judge not hardly I intreate you of afflicted ones The Lord may exercise a David who was a darling with great and sore troubles yet the Lord had a designe of love in all Davids afflictions and made it out so convincingly to Davids spirit that he professes to the praise of the Lords goodnesse Psalm 119. 71. It was good for him he was afflicted and v. 57. That the Lord in faithfulnes had afflicted him Luther was wont to say Ecclesia est haeres crucis and again Omnis Christianus est crucianus and againe I have not said he a greater argument against the Popes kingdom Quam quod sine cruce regnat then that he reigns without a crosse The holy man was so far from looking upon outward prosperitie as a Marke of the Church that he rather looked on it as a badge of Antichrist It hath pleased the Lord so to order that our SOVERAIGN is come to his Crown by the crosse This should be so far from stumbling us that it ought rather to raise both our prayers to God for him and our expectations of him the higher Our earnest desire to the Lord ought to be that it may more and more appeare that the Lord had a speciall designe of love to him in all his sufferings to make him the more instrumentall for his own glory for the good of these Nations What an hard beginning had illustrious QUEEN ELIZABETH clapt up in the tower of London carried frō prison to prison how oft was

House said he hath eaten me up O what zeale witnessed he in dancing before the Ark when he brought it up to mount Zion II. Sam. 6. 14. 15. and II. Sam. 7. What said he shall I dwell in Cedar and the Ark of God abide in Courtains And thereupon resolveth to build a Temple to the Lord. Rich preparations made he for the Work as may be seen I. Chron. chapters 28. 29. Yea would also have accomplished it if the Lord had not stopt him and told him by the mouth of Nathan That he would have the Hieron in Titum c. 1. Episcopinoverint se cōsuetudine magis quam dispositionis dominica veritate Presbiteris esse majores Temple built by a Solomon The Lord was so well pleased with Davids purpose That II. Sam. 7. 11. and 16. he promises to build David an house and to establish his Throne for ever The Lord honours those who honour him I. Sam. 2. 30. The surest way Princes can take for establishment of their Throns is to be zealous for and tender of the Interests of JESUS CHRIST his Truth his Ordinances his Servants and People Wee have therefore to day earnestly to pray That OUR GRACIOUS SOVERAIGN may be a zealous Defender of the Protestant CAUSE and Ordinances of Christ in their purity That Prelacy superstition Ordinances which at not of Divine institution may not creep in into the Worship of GOD within our Church Whittak ad ratione●● 10. Campiani Si preces pro mortuis damnare Episcopo presbiterum aequare sit hareticum nihil Catholicum esse potest Cum AERIO Hieronymꝰ de presbiteris omnino senfit illos cuim jure divine Episcopis aquales esse statuit Yet am I not of the judgement That Princes rights to their Crownes depends upon their erthodoxie in judgement I cordially subscrive to the pure Primitive Loyalitie of ancient Christians See Confess of Faith c. 23 art 4. who retained their allegiance under Heathen Arrian Emperours under Infidell Heretick Princes aswell as under these who wer sound orthodox in their judgements for as AUGUST said Qui regnare dedit CONSTANTINO Christians ipse dedit Apostatae IVLIANO Hee who gave the Imperiall Crowne to CONSTANTINE a Christian gave it also to IVLIAN the Apostate But blessed be the Lord we have not an Heathen Prince wee have not an Arrian Prince we have not a Popish Prince but a PRINCE Who hath constantly adhered to the Protestant Religion in the furnace of affliction notwithstanding Defensor almae qui fidei clues Vnius idem tu fidei Dei Vnius uniusque Christi Semper er●● es eri● professor O perge pergens tu perages manu Forti secundis usque laboribus Rem Christianam promovere Romuleo gravis Antichristo Decachordon concinens liberationem Britannicam Autore T. G. he was compassed with as many temptations as ever any Prince was assaulted with We have a PRINCE Who by his Royall Authority hath confirmed to us the Protestant Religion in its purity without the mixture of these humane inventions This is a Mercy for which we ar to magnifie the Lord to day that we have such a PRINCE under whom wee may enjoy the Ordinances of Christ in their Purity And though it were otherwise which God forbid yet Loyalty is still our duty as subjects But let us be earnest with the Lord by prayer That our GRACIOVS SOVERAIGN may be kept in the way of truth that he may be a zealous Defender thereof and of the Ordinances of IESUS CHRIST in their purity according to their first Institution This will make Him an Eminent BLESSING to his people and his people truely blest in him and will give strong ground of confidence of fulfilling the Promise in my Text That God will increase his greatnesse and comfort him on every side I come to the third and last branch of the Text in vers 22. Wherein David solemnly engages to bee forthcoming to the The third branch of the Text. Lords praise I also will praise thee c. Yee have heard David expressing his sense of his afflictions yee heard how his Faith hope did prophecie of an Out-gat● Now yee have Davids heart enflamed with love to God upon the confidence of this hoped for deliverance engaging to tune up a Song of praise yea antidating a song of Thanks-giving The words are exceeding sweet but time will not permit me to insist on them I intend onely after I have runne thorow them by a few explicatory hints to propose one doctrine from them There are five observable words in the vers Which we would Five observable words in it notice THE FIRST I will also praise thee as if he had said I have prayed and poured out my soul by supplication before thee And Faith hath brought me in a gracious returne of Prayer That there shall be a comfortable Out-gat therfore I ALSO will praise thee Prayer is a very fruitfufull duty It s the womb if I may so speak wherein the Praises of God are conceived Would yee have your Praises accepted to day let them not be disjoyned from Prayer It s sweet when these two Prayer and Praise go together I ALSO will praise thee The second word is Even thy truth that is Thy true and faithfull Promise O so precious as Promises are to them who improve them and especially to those who by a beleeving improvement find them made good Such will magnifie promises indeed even thy truth But then thirdly O my GOD It s sweet when faith in a dark houre can plead its interest in God David was under great and sore trouble yet Faith pleads its interest Hee is my God I will not say but faith in an houre of temptation may be sore shaken Saves not David himself Psal 31. 22. I said in my haste I am cutt off and I. Sam. 27. 1. I shall now perish one day by the hand of SAUL But these wer onely swooning fits of faith his faith recovered strength again The fourth word is I will praise thee with the Psaltery I will sing praise to thee with the harp IT was the custome of old in the Jewish Church to make use of these and other Musicall Instruments in the Worship of God as appears almost everie-where in this book of the Psalmes Of the forme of these Instruments see Ioseph lib. 7. Antiq. IUD cap. 10. POLYD VERGIL de inventoribus rerum lib. 1. cap. 15. HOSPIN de Temlis lib. 2. cap. 23. English annot on I. Chron. 13. 8. Also the epist to Dardanus de Musicis instrumentis among Hieroms works and from I. Chron. 13. 8. Though Procopius Gazaeus cited by HOSPINIAN de templis lib. 2. cap. 23. spares not to say Cultum hunc non a Deo traditum sed a Davide excogitatum fuisse That this Worship was an humane invention of Davids not a Divine Institution Too bold an affertion and very reflexive upon so holy a Prophet as w●a