Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	day_n	keep_v	sabbath_n	5,985	5	10.2345	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58134	An explication of the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer with the addition of some forms of prayer / by John Rawlet ...	Rawlet, John, 1642-1686.	1672 (1672)	Wing R356; ESTC R4882	40,637	120

they swear A. No this is but a vain excuse since sober and good men are easily believed on their bare word and common swearers are seldome thought to make conscience even of what they swear Q. Is it not enough to justifie these oaths that what is sworn is truth A. No for an oath must be taken only when we are lawfully called thereto in some weighty case which cannot otherwise be well determined Q. Who else may be said to take the name of God in vain A. They who are careless and irreverent in the worship of God and they who upon every light occasion cry out oh God or oh Lord when they have no sense nor thought of that glorious Majesty whose sacred name they rashly mention Q. What reason is urged to keep us from this sin A. The consideration of that vengeance which sooner or later God will certainly execute upon those who are guilty of this profaneness and contempt of his Majesty Q. What is the fourth Commandment A. Remember the Sabboth day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabboth of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy Son nor thy daughter thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant nor thy cattel nor the stranger that is within thy gates for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabboth day and hallowed it Q. What are you taught in the fourth Commandment A. The fourth Commandment teacheth us that it is our duty to set apart one day in seven for the solemn worship and service of God Q. What reason is here mentioned for the enforcing this Command A. Gods allowance of six days in the week for our worldly employments and his own example in resting on the seventh when he had made the world in six days before Q. Which day in the seven did the Jews keep their Sabboth A. They kept the seventh day which we now call Saturday Q. Why do we Christians keep the first day of the week A. In remembrance of our redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus especially of his Resurrection which was upon the first day of the week Q. What warrant have we for so doing A. The example of the Apostles and primitive Christians recorded in Scripture where this day is styled the Lords day the practice of the Church of God in all ages since as also the custom of our own Church and the commands of our Rulers both in Church and State Q. How ought we to spend the Lords day A. In the worship and Service of God both publick and private especially in meditating on and praising him for his works of Creation and Redemption Q. Are there no works lawful on this day A. Yes works of necessity and mercy whether to man or beast but we ought to abstain from such employments and recreations as either prevent the duties of this day or else hinder our due profiting by them Q. What is to be done in private that we may best profit by the publick service of this day A. We ought by prayer and serious consideration to prepare our selves before-hand for the publick worship of God and when we come home to meditate on what we have heard and Masters of Families ought to pray with and instruct those that are under their charge Q. Who are they then that do not remember this day to keep it holy but profane it A. They who without any necessity take journeys or follow their employments on this day or else spend the same in idleness and pleasure neglecting the service of God in publick or in their Family accounting it a burden to spend a day in works of Piety and devotion Thus much of the Commandments of the first Table which enjoyn the duties we owe more immediately to God Now follow those of the second Table which respect our duty to man What is the fifth Commandment A. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Q. What are we taught in the fifth Commandment A. The fifth Commandment teacheth us to honour our Parents obeying all their lawful commands succouring and maintaining them if they stand in need of our help Q. Are there none beside our natural Parents to whom we owe obedience A. Yes we are also bound to reverence and obey all those who by their place and power may well be called our Parents to wit the civil Magistrate and our Spiritual Pastours and Teachers Servants must be subject to their Masters shewing all diligence and faithfulness and we must give due honour and respect to all those who are in any regard our Superiours Q. What promise is made to those who keep this Commandment A. A promise of long life and prosperity so far as God shall see it for their good Q. What reason may be given why this promise was made peculiarly to the keeping of this Command A. Because obedience and Subjection both in families and kingdomes ordinarily produce that peace and quietness which tends very much to our happiness even in this world Q. What is the sixth Commandment A. Thou shalt not kill Q. What is forbidden in this Commandment A. The murdering of our selves or any other person Q. Is it sufficient if we abstain only from murder A. No but we moreover ought to abstain from all rash anger inward malice and revenge from railing and provoking language from quarrelling and fighting Q. But what if others shall injure us in word or deed may we not return the like to them A. No but we must bless them who curse us do good to them that hate us forgive and love our very enemies that so we may overcome evil with good Q. Is there then no way of seeking our own right when we are injured and abused A. Yes by just and lawful means we may seek our right but without any malice or revenge in our hearts Q. Is there any case wherein the taking away of a mans life may be allowed A. Yes in execution of publick justice upon malefactours in a lawful war or when we are constrained to it in the just defence of our own lives Q. Who may be said to break this Command by taking away their own lives A. Not only they who lay violent hands on themselves but all those who by immoderate eating and drinking or any such wicked and wilful course destroy their health and so shorten their days Q. What is the seventh Commandment A. Thou shalt not commit adultery Q. What is forbidden in the seventh Commandment A. The seventh Commandment forbiddeth adultery and fornication with all the occasions and beginnings of these sins Q. From what particularly ought we to abstain in obedience to this Commandment A. We ought carefully to abstain

of a Prince or Iudge and labour to be like affected whilst you are begging from God forgiveness of sins and eternal life Whilst you are blessing God for his goodness let your hearts be drawn sorth to the exercise of holy love and delight in him Inwardly thirst after that grace you pray for resolving with diligence to labour for it c. And by what I have now said you may plainly perceive that the sincerity of your hearts in prayer is to be known not so much by your present servour and affection as by your behaviour afterward and by the constant tenour of your lives He and he only is the true worshipper of God and prays to him aright who by his daily actions and endeavours doth manifest the same inward setled apprehensions and desires which his words express whil'st he is praying For instance you beg of God to take off your hearts from the world and all things here below and to increase in you a love to himself to his Son Iesus and to the glory which is above Now to manifest that you are sincere in this request you must do your part toward the obtaining of what you beg that is you must set your selves to the serious consideration of the vanity the shortness and emptiness of present things you must consider the nature of your own souls and the allsufficiency of God you must reflect upon the goodness he hath already shown the love of Christ in dying for us and the great and precious promises of the Gospel and by this means you shall find the Spirit of God working in you those graces which you pray for So when you pray against this or that sin to which you are most enclined and in danger of you must both use particular considerations against it and must keep out of the temptations avoid the place and company where you are like to be drawn to it c. Otherwise what do you but solemnly mock God As if one man should come to another and with a great deal of adoe beg his help in any labour and then run away and never set's own hand to 't Or as if a man should pray to have his house kept from burning and then straight way go and put fire to it In prayers for temporal mercies you do not do thus for beside praying for your daily bread you take pains to get it in your several trades and employments And do you think you are not bound to do as much for your souls as for your bodies Or have you promises of grace any more than of daily bread without endeavouring for it in the way God hath set you Nay rather whereas you are oft restrained from too much care about the world you are again and again enjoyned to labour for the meat which endures to everlasting life Ioh. 6. 27. For the Lords sake then beware of cheating your souls with that common mistake which is the ruine of thousands both of this party and that whilst they foolishly imagine that their much praying and hearing will serve turn for their salvation instead of an holy heart and life and so they are but devout in the Church or Closet it matters not what liberty they take in the market in the shop or at the Alehouse and when they have but said a good prayer in the morning they may do what they list all the day after or at least they can make all whole by praying devoutly at night How grosly do such men abuse themselves and their services who would by these excuse themselves from holiness when as one great reason of them is to help and strengthen us for strict and holy living And therefore have I endeavoured so to contrive the ensuing Forms that they who use them might even thereby find themselves instructed and engaged to be holy in all manner of Conversation For which there seems sufficient warrant in our Blessed Saviours own example in that most absolute Form which he hath given us whilst with the petition for that great and comprehensive mercy of the Gospel Forgiveness of sins he hath interwoven an engagement to that great duty which will prove us to be Christians indeed the forgiving of all those who who have trespast against us Let this then be firmly believed and deeply fixt in your minds that as you would be loth to take up with a parcel of good words from your servants every day instead of the work you set them so no more will God be put off with prayers Sermons or any thing instead of a sincere and hearty endeavour to render a constant universal obedience to his pure and righteous commands Christ himself hath plainly enough told us what 's like to become of all those who only cry Lord Lord and yet do not obey the will of God Mat. 7. 21. We must wash our hands in innocency and so compass Gods Altar if we would have our offerings accepted of him Psal. 26. 6. And beside our endeavours to glorifie God by offering up of praise we must order our conversation aright if ever we would see the salvation of God Psal. 50. 23. Of almost all men I know I pray God deliver my soul from the state of those who can pray devoutly be it with book or without and yet go on in sin securely But 't is time for me to conclude though I have much ado to confine my self on so needful a Subject To shut up all then who-ever thou art that readest this Let thy soul to use the Psalmists phrase Psal. 63. 8. follow hard after God in earnest prayer both in the Church thy Closet and thy Family and beside this do thou follow after peace and holiness Heb. 12. 14. in thy life and conversation so shalt thou certainly see and enjoy God in that glory where prayers shall be turned into everlasting praises Amen MORNING PRAYER for a Family MOst Holy and ever-blessed Majesty Thou renewest thy mercies upon us every Morning and every Morning we desire to renew our thanksgivings And here we are now come before thee humbly to offer up thanks and praise for our safety and refreshment this last night to thee the God of love who givest us daily cause to admire thy bounty and to speak good of thy name We acknowledge thee oh God to be our Maker and Preserver thou didst at first give us life and reason and from thee it is we have received all the comforts of life from the very day of our birth to this present morning Through thy goodness it is we have enjoyed any measure of health and strength and have been furnisht with things needfull and convenient for this present state Thy good hand of providence hath still been over us either in keeping us out of dangers and troubles or else in supporting and helping us under them or in delivering us out of the same For these and all other thy mercies at any time bestowed on us or ours or any of the Sons