Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	world_n	worship_n	worshipper_n	70	3	11.0638	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30305	The poor man's help and young mans guide containing I. Doctrinal instructions for the right informing of his judgment, II. Practical directions for the general course of his life, III. Particular advices for the well-managing of every day : with reference to his [brace] 1. Natural actions, 2. Civil imployments, 3. Necessary recreations, 4. Religious duties : particularly I. Prayer [brace] publick in the congregation, private in the family, secret in the closet, II. Reading the Holy Scriptures, III. Hearing of the Word preached, IV. Receiving of the Lord's Supper : unto which is added an earnest exhortation unto all Christians to the love and practice of universal holiness / by William Burkitt ...	Burkitt, William, 1650-1703.	1694 (1694)	Wing B5738; ESTC R34773	72,112	85

THE Poor Man's Help AND Young Mans Guide CONTAINING I. Doctrinal Instructions for the right Informing of his Judgment II Practical Directions for the General Course of his Life III. Particular Advices for the Well-managing of every Day With Reference To His 1. Natural Actions 2. Civil Imployments 3. Necessary Recreations 4. Religious Duties PARTICULARLY I. Prayer Publick in the Congregation Private in the Family Secret in the Closet II. Reading the Holy Scriptures III. Hearing of the Word Preached IV. Receiving of the Lord's Supper Unto which is Added An Earnest Exhortation unto all Christians to the Love and Practice of Universal Holiness By William Burkitt M. A. of Pembrook Hall in Cambridge now Vicar of Dedham in Essex The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower End of Cheap-side near Mercers-Chappel 1694. Imprimatur July 9. 1693. Ra. Barker TO The PEOPLE of my Charge IT is none of the least or most inconsiderable Arguments to evince and prove the Dignity and Preciousness of the Soul of Man that Almighty God has been pleased to Institute a Sacred and Divine Office in his Church on purpose for the Benefit and Advantage of it and to appoint a Distinct Order of Men his Ministers I mean whose whole Employ and Concern it is peculiarly to Watch over the Souls of his People and to be accountable to him for the same In this Delightful Service of God and of your Souls I have now worn out more than three Apprenticeships amongst some of you Endeavouring with my utmost Care and Diligence to excite the Careless and Unconcerned Sinners on the one hand and to direct the Weak and Doubting Christian on the other hand to the Practice of their respective Duties For it is hard to say from which Religion suffers most whether from the Want of Zeal in some or from the Mistakes of Zeal in others Besides my Publick Advices to you in God's House your Consciences can Witness for me that I have taken some Pains and if God continues my Health I resolve to take much more in the Duty of Private Inspection and Ministerial Conference with you in your own Houses in order to your Preparation for that Venerable Ordinance of the Lords Supper which to the great Scandal of our most Holy Religion is so shamefully neglected by multitudes of Persons professing Christianity of all perswasions amongst us Exhorting you also to set up Religion and the Worship of God in your private Families that God may dwell where you dwell But the Answer of many of you has been this We want Abilities we are willing but not able to perform those Duties without some Assistance In great Charity therefore to those of you who want such a Help as this and are willing to make use of it I put this small Paper into your Hand which I entreat you to accept both as an Instance of my Duty and as a Monitor of your Own Know assuredly Sirs it will be the Portion of many of God's Ministers at the Great Day I pray God it may never be mine to be called forth as Witnesses against their own People when Almighty God will thus interrogate us in the presence of Men and Angels Did you not Admonish this People of the sin and danger of a resolute Impiety did you not warn them of their Neglect of Sacraments and Holy Duties publickly privaeely personally Must we not plainly and faithfully declare that all our melting Entreaties and passionate Importunities could ●●er prevail with you to part with your Sins but you would choose rather to gratifie your Lusts than to obey your Reason Then will our Lord say unto us I pronounce you pure and Innocent from the Blood o● these Men Oh joyful Word to us But to Sinners will he say Your Destruction be upon your own Heads what could I or my Ministers have done more for you that has not been done therefore Depart ye Cursed into Everlasting Misery Oh doleful Word to them God grant tha● your and my Ears may never hear it Beloved it is your Commendation and my Comfort that when in this wanton Age a Spirit of Giddiness has possest the Minds of many that they are tossed too and fro with every Wind of Doctrine trying all things in deed but holding fast nothing you have been unanimous in this part of your Duty keeping close to the Publick Assemblies and continuing stedfast in the Apostle's Doctrine and Christian Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and in Prayers But know that the best Communion and best Religion in the World the holiest Doctrine and the purest Worship will be of no avail to impure Worshippers and impure Livers God grant therefore that you and I may Oblige our selves to such an Eminent and Exemplary Piety of Conversation in all the several Instances of our Duty as may render the Unspotted Religion of the Holy Jesus venerable to the World And may Almighty God who sometimes delights to do great things by weak means be pleased to succeed these well-design'd Endeavours of mine in order to your Advantage that so in God's House and in your own also the most solemn Acts and Exercises of Religious Worship may be performed by you with such a becoming gravity and sincerity of Devotion that the Name of our Holy Lord may be glorified your Souls comforted with the sense of Pardon and Peace here and everlastingly refreshed with Joys unspeakable and full of Glory hereafter so prayeth Dedham 1693. Your Affectionate Minister WILLIAM BVRKITT THE POOR MAN's HELP AND YOUNG MAN's GUIDE CHAP. I. Containing Doctrinal Instructions for the right informing of the Judgment NOthing concerns Mankind in general so much as the Salvation of their Souls This is the one thing Needful and that which they are obliged above all things to mind and regard But it concerns Poor Men especially to secure the Salvation of their never-dying Souls lest they be miserable in both Worlds for they tasting but little of the Comforts and Sweetness of this Life had need take Care above others that they miss not the Consolations and Happiness of the next Now in Order to every Man's Salvation hereafter three things are indispensibly necessary here namely a right Knowledge a right Faith and a Righteous Life Knowledge is the Foundation of our Faith and Faith the Foundation of our Obedience and Obedience the Condition of our Happiness for although a Man may know the Will of God and not do it yet he can never do it acceptably and not know it A wilfully Ignorant Man can neither Serve God nor be saved by him Towards the Attaining of this Knowledge and Belief which is so absolutely Necessary to Salvation the great things required are an Humble Sense of our own Ignorance a Teachable Disposition and Readiness of Mind to receive Instruction accompanied with an Earnest Invocation and fervent Calling upon God for the Promised Illuminations of his Holy Spirit More particularly the Chief and Fundamental

and keep them in such a holy humble joyful thankful Frame and Posture that God may have the Glory and We the Comfort of all our Religious Addresses to him and attendences upon him in the way of his Ordinances 3. Keep a Watchful Eye upon thy Heart when thou art engaged in any Religious Duty Never are our Hearts so apt to wander as at such a time and therefore they require a strong Guard How very backward is the Heart to Duty how naturally dead and dull in Duty how soon weary of Duty how many Pretences will our Hearts make to cause us to Omit Holy Performances or to render us heedless and lifeless in them therefore as good Nehemiah when building did Work and Watch Watch and Work so must we in Duty Pray and Watch Watch and Pray 4. Make Conscience of Glorifying God in all Religious Duties one as well as another Partiality is hateful to God in the Duties of Religion which have all a Divine Stamp upon them Many Complain of their deadness in Prayer and dulness unto the Word who never came to the Sacrament Wonder not at it God will not meet thee in one Ordinance if thou neglectest him in another We must not limit and bind the Holy Spirit to this or that Duty but wait upon him in all Almighty God is pleased to Communicate himself with great Variety to his Children at one time in this Ordinance at another time in that on purpose to keep up the Esteem of all in our Hearts and to engage us to Attend upon all Conscientiously in the whole Course of our Lives 5. Look that in all thy Religious Duties thou servest God with an holy Alacrity with a Spiritual Delight and Joy Joy suits no Person so well as a Christian and at no Season so well as when Waiting upon God in Religious Duties We have a Promise of it Isa 12. v. 3. With Joy shall ye draw Water out of the Wells of Salvation And we have also a Promise made unto it Isa 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteuousness that is Thou Acceptest him 6. Look that thy End in Attending upon Religious Duties be the same with God's End in Appointing of them Namely First that by them we should pay our Homage to him as our Sovereign Lord And Secondly That through them he may Communicate his Spiritual Blessings into his People's Bosoms 7. Above all take Care that thou dost not blot thy Holy and Religious Duties by a wicked and Unholy Life If thou intendest to foul thy Hands with Sins black work on the Week-day it is in vain for thee to wash them with Prayer on the Lords-day A little seeming Zeal at thy Devotion in the Church will not guild over the Weeks Miscarriages in thy Shop nor attone for thy Pride and Passion for thy Deceit and Fraud for thy Riot and Excess CHAP. VIII Of Glorifying God in Publick Worship IT is Confess'd by all Persons who have any Sense of God and Religion upon their Minds that they were made to serve and glorifie their great Creator by a constant Acknowledgment of his Sovereignty over them and their continual Dependency upon him Now much of the Honour of God and the Credit of Religion depends upon the due Performance of his Publick Worship this Glorifies God much more than any Private Addresses from the Family or the Closet both as it creates a greater Veneration and Esteem of God in the Minds of Men and also because Publick and Solemn Adorations are the most Illustrious Testimonies we can render to God of our Homage to him Besides how reasonable is it that we should own the God whom we serve in the Face of the World Not but that a Christian honours God highly and serves him Acceptably by his Family-Duties and Closet-Devotions But we do much more Glorifie him by our Publick Addresses Then we Honour God Eminently when we let others see conspicuously the high Esteem we have of his Excellencies and cause the Voice of his Praise to be heard amonst Men. The Honour that is done to Persons amongst Men is not done in secret but is always a Publick thing Honour me before the Elders of my People said Saul to Samuel in like manner we give unto the Lord the Honour due unto his Name when others are Witnesses of the Esteem which we have of his Divine Perfections by our Reverend Acknowledgment of him in his Publick Worship To excite you therefore to a diligent and daily A●tendance upon God in his Publick Worship as you have Opportunity Consider 1. That Publick Worship glorifies God most 2. He Accepts it best 1. Publick Worship glorifies God most because hereby a Sense of God and Religion is best kept up and preserved in the World which otherwise would be in danger of being lost If the Publick Assemblies fall Religion cannot long stand the Worship of God in our Closets will not do this because it is unseen What we do alone no Body sees nor is it intended that they should and therefore that cannot induce others to the same way of Glorifying God But when Men see a Body of Christians assembled together in an humble manner with Pious Devotion and submissive Reverence with bended Knees and Eyes lifted to Heaven paying their Solemn Acknowledgments to the Author of their being this strikes Men with a certain Awe and supports the Belief both of God's Existence and Pen●ficence also in the Minds of Men As for instance when we see a great multitude of poor People constantly waiting at the Gates of an House we presently conclude that some great and good Man dwells there whom the Poor wait upon Thus doth the Publick Worship of Pious Christians spread the Fame of God's extraordinary Goodness far and near whereas when few or none tread in the Courts of his House which were built to contain a multitude of Worshippers and to represent the inconceivable Greatness of that God who is therein worshipped this very much damps the Sense of God and Religion in the World and represents him after a poor and contemptible fashion Oh how unsuitable then is it that the Worship of such a superexcellent and transcendent Being as God is should be confined to our Closets and Private Houses when it is much more suitable and agreeable to his Nature that we Magnifie and Praise him as openly and as Publickly as possible we can that so we may not seem to Worship some little petty Deity but the Almighty and Universal Lord of Heaven and Earth 2. As Publick Worship glorifies God most so he accepts it best for there is nothing that Almighty God more delights in than in the joint Prayers and Praises of his People Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the Gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob No doubt the Prayers which good Men put up to Almighty God from under their Private Roofs are very acceptable to him but if a Christian's single Voice in Prayer be so sweet what

come 3. Let Secret Prayer by your self alone be constantly performed before the Work of the Day be Undertaken It is much better to go from Prayer to Business than from Business to Prayer in regard of the Minds freedom from Distracting Thoughts Because also if the World gets the Start of Religion in the Morning 't is hard for Religion to Overtake the World all the Day after 4. Let Family Worship be performed constantly and seasonably at that Hour which is freest in regard of Interruption and look that it be Reverently and Spiritually performed Call not then for the Cushion when there is more need of the Pillow 5. Then set about and follow the Labours of your Calling with Diligence and Industry He that says Be servent in Prayer says also Be not slothful in Business Rom. 12. and let the Day be spent in your Calling watchfully watching your Company you converse with and the Corruption which you find stirring in you but especially Watch against those Temptations which the Company you are with the Place you are in or the Work and Calling you are about may expose you to or lay you under 6. When about your Calling if alone improve the Time in fruitful Meditation and holy Ejaculations or short Prayers which are no Hindrance at all to your Worldly Business if in Company in such profitable Discourse as may tend to make thy self and others both Wiser and Better 7. In doing your Duty in the Labours of your Calling humbly depend upon God's Fatherly Care for a Comfortable Subsistence for thy self and Family and Compose thy Mind in all Conditions of Life to a quiet and steady Dependance on the Divine Providence being anxiously Careful for nothing but casting all your Care upon him that Careth for you 8. Heedfully Observe all the Passages of Divine Providence daily both towards thy self and others and those Providential Dispensations which thou canst not thoroughly understand awfully Admire 9. In all Places and in all Companies remember the Presence of God and walk continually as under the View of his All-seeing and Observing Eye Often consider that God is every where Present and then you will study to be every where Holy 10. Walk every day with an high Esteem of the preciousness swiftness and irrecoverableness of your Time and resolve to spend it in Nothing which you dare not Pray for a Blessing upon in nothing which you know must be Repented of before you Dye in Nothing which you would not be found doing if Death should surprize you in the doing of it 11. Look every Day to the faithful Discharge of the respective Duties of your several Relations as Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants and remember that much of the Life and Power of Religion consists in the Conscientious Practice of Relative Duties 12. In the Evening retire and take a View of your Actions the Day past Examine what good you have either done or received and bewail it as a Day lost in which you have not either Profited others or Advantaged your self CHAP. IV. Of Glorifying God in our Natural Actions viz. in our Eating Drinking and Sleeping IT is the Advice of the Holy Apostle 1. Cor. 10.31 That whether we Eat or Drink or whatever we do to do all to the Glory of God plainly implying that a Christian ought to perform his Natural Actions to spiritual Purposes and whilst he is feeding his Body must have an Eye at his Serving of God Eating and and Drinking to the satisfying of our Natures and not to the gratifying of our Lusts Our lawful Comforts without Watchfulness become our greatest Snares The first Sin that ever was committed entered the World by Eating Our first Parents pleased their Appetites to their Ruine which ought to make their Posterity afraid of all sinful Excesses to prevent which let the following Rules be remembred and observed 1. Raise not any perplexing Scruples about what you are to Eat and Drink to no purpose but only to your own Vexation Remember Christ has taken away that Distinction of Meats Clean and Unclean which was of old amongst the Jews and has given us a liberty of feeding upon all the good Creatures of God with Temperance and Sobriety 1 Tim. 4.4 Every Creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving Which hints a second Rule 2. Look that your Meat and Drink be blest and sanctified to you by Prayer and Tanksgiving Sit not down to your Food as a Beast to his Fodder without taking any Notice of the Hand that provides it for you Our Meat doth not Nourish us by its own Power but by Divine Appointment and therefore our Blessed Saviour tho' he was Lord of the Creatures yet did not sit down to feed on them before he lookt up to Heaven for a Blessing upon them St. Mark 6.41 Remember that the Creatures on your Table are God's Creatures and if you Convert them to your own Use without asking God's Leave you are bold Usurpers 3. Eat and Drink as in the Presence and View of God We are most apt to forget God at our Meals feeding our selves without fear Now the Remembrance of God's Eye upon us will Remedy this It is a memorable Expression which you have in Exod. 18. v. 12. And Aron and all the Elders of Israel came to eat Bread with Moses Father-in-law before God Where Observe 1. The Greatness of their Courtesie 2. The Graciousness of their Carriage Their Courtesie was great tho' Jethro was a Stranger and no Isralite yet the Elders of Israel honoured him with their Company and their Carriage was gracious they came to eat Bread with him before God that is in gloriam honorem Dei says one to the Honour and Glory of God They received their Sustenance as in God's sight and caused their Provision to tend to God's Praise 4. Remember that Reason and not Appetite is to be our Guide and Rule both for the Quantity and Quality of our Meat and Drink Not what Appetite likes best but what Reason and Judgment tells you is best ought to be received by you Meat and Drink have destroyed more thousands than ever Poyson did because persons are not so fearfull of these as they are of that If the Brute Creatures at any time eat or drink to any Degree of Excess it is to satisfie their Nature not to gratifie their Lusts But what an Abominable shame is it for Man instead of being governed by Reason to be inslaved by his Lust and to have his sensitive Appetite command his Rational Faculty 5. Take heed of making thy Table a Snare either to thy self or others This is done two ways 1. When our Meals are Incentives to Sin and our Food is made Fewel for our Lusts the Flesh is an Enemy too strong for us when we take away its Armour and fight against it but much more so when we our selves put weapons into its hand and provide it

to refresh both Mind and Body to which purpose the following Cautions may be Necessary 1. Look that your Recreations be lawful and such as have nothing of Sin in them We must not to Recreate our selves do any thing which is dishonourable to God or injurious to our Neighbour as they do who droll upon things that are Sacred and who make Back biting Discourse their Recreation 2. Look that your Recreations answer the End and Design of their first Institution not to pass Time away which we ought above all things to Study to redeem and improve Surely no Man needs to contrive how to drive away his Time which flies so fast of it self and is so impossible to recover But the true End of Recreation is the refreshing of the Mind and recreating of the Body to make them both the fitter for the Service of God in the Duties of our general and particular Callings Therefore 3. Be careful that your Recreations be short and diverting such as may fit you for Business rather than rob you of your Time He that makes Recreation his business will think Business a Toyle The End of Recreation is to fit us for Business not to be it self a Business to us 4. Take Care that Covetousness have nothing to do in your Recreations Let your End be meerly to Recreate your self not to Win Money for that will certainly bring you into a double Danger the one of Covetousness and a greedy desire of Winning the other of Rage and Anger at thy bad Fortune if thou happen to lose Covetousness will occasion thy Cheating and Cozuening and Anger occasion thy Swearing and Cursing and thus thou makest that which is lawful in it self unlawful to thee by making it an Occasion of sin to thee 5. Let not your Recreations be Costly and Expensive Some Persons have spent more in Gaming vainly than would Build and Endow an Hospital and maintain many Families comfortably little considering that they are only God's Stewards and must be severely Accountable to him for every Inch of their Time and every Penny in their Purse which is consumed in Sin and Vanity 6. Take heed that your Sports and Recreations be not Cruel We ought not to refresh our selves with Spectacles of Cruelty in seeing either Men or Beasts needlesly Tormenting each other That Enmity which is among the Creatures is certainly the Effect of our Sin What a Heart then has that Man that can take Delight in seeing the dumb Creatures Torment one another Is it not enough for thee to behold the Antipathies which thy Sin has put into the Natures of the Creatures but thou must barbarously make thy self Merry with their Miseries who in their kind are far more serviceable to the Creator than thy self 7. Remember young Men that God's Eye is in the midst of you when in the midst of your Sports and Recreations therefore be wise and moderate in the pursuit of them Do all things as in God's sight and you will do every thing to God's glory Respect ought to be had to God in all we do not in our Vocations only but in our Recreations also and the Remembrance of God's all-seeing Eye upon us will have an Universal Influence upon all our Actions 8. Take an extraordinary Care that your Recreations do not engross too much of your Precious Time which was given for Nobler Purposes Oh how sadly do some Young Men addict themselves to a Life of Pleasure Ease and Voluptuousness unworthily wasting the Flower of their Youth the Srength of their Body the Vigour of their Minds drowning in a bruitish sensuality the Fair and goodly Hopes of a Vertuous Education together with the Honour of their Families the Expectation of their Countrey and the improvment of their Parts as if Almighty God had placed them on the Earth as Leviathan in the Sea only to take their Sport and Past-time therein such Persons being Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God are certainly in a most deplorable State 9. But above all take heed of making the Lords-day your Day of Sports and Recreation This is a Crime of a tremendous Guilt Woe be to that Man which disturbs God's Holy Rest with his unholy Sports God's Holy Day calls for Holy Delights Isa 58.13 Not doing thy pleasure on my holy day Thou that art a poor Man and stealest Time from thy Family for Unnecessary Recreations on the Week-day this is Theft But to steal Time from thy Maker and Redeemer on his Day is Sacriledge of the two it is better to Plough than to Play to Digg than to Dance upon the Lords-Day CHAP. VII Of Glorifying God in our Religious Duties ALmighty God being more Honoured or Dishonoured by us in our Religious Duties than in all the Actions of our Lives besides it concerns us to be exactly Careful how we manage our Deportment in his Presence when we Worship at his Footstool and bow before his Mercy-seat If it be a Sin not to Aim at the Glory of God when Eating and Drinking at our own Table much more so when Eating and Drinking at his Table when we are performing the most tremendous Acts and Exercises of Religion How superstituously Devout were the Old Heathens in the Service of their Dumb Idols they thought nothing too good for their false Gods for whom the worst was not bad enough the Worshipper being better than the God he worshipped When they were going to offer their Sacrifices their Priests cried out in the Audience of the People Procul Oh procul este prophani Depart all you that are Impure and Prophane from the Holy Sacrifices of the Gods Oh where they so choice and chary in the Service of their dunghill Deities and shall not we exercise a more extraordinary Dread and Caution in the Religious Service of the living and true God Therefore to prevent sinful Miscarriages in Holy Duties the following Advices may be necessary 1. Labour to entertain in thy Mind awful Apprehensions and suitable Conceptions of the Majesty of that God whom thou art Addressing thy self unto Conceive of him in thy Mind as a God of such incomprehensible greatness and majesty of such transcendent Holiness and Purity of such Sanctity and Severity that he cannot behold Iniquity in any of his Worshippers without the greatest Abhorrency and Detestation and for that reason approach thou to him with a holy Fear with an humble Reverence and not without a trembling Veneration 2. Set not about Religious Duties without previous Preparaton In every Work whether Natural or Artificial some Preparation is necessary to bring it to Perfection In Works of Nature the Ground must be digg'd and dress'd plough'd and prepared before the Seed be cast into it In Works of Art the Musitian must string and tune his Instrument before he can play his Lesson melodiously Surely then in Holy and Religious Duties towards which our Hearts are naturally so backward and averse it concerns us to exercise a Preparatory Care to bring our Hearts into