Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
rest_n	day_n	great_a	sabbath_n	4,057	5	9.6615	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56705	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, April VIII, MDCXCII being the fast-day appointed by Her Majesty, to implore God's blessing on Their Majesties persons, and the prosperity of their arms both at land and sea / by ... Symon, Lord Bishop of Ely.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1692 (1692)	Wing P853; ESTC R22928	20,377	38

the Prophet Jeremiah speaks as if it was the thing for which fasting was immediately designed XIV 12. When they fast I will not hear their cry He doth not say he would not regard their fasting but give no Audience to their Prayers Which it appears by this was a great part of the imployment of such a day And therefore when the Prophet Joel had called upon them to blow the trumpet proclaim a Fast gather all together Elders and People great and small in the place before mentioned he subjoyns these words v. 17 to shew what it was for Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say spare thy people O LORD and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them Wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God For that purpose we are now assembled on this fasting day to put up our humble and fervent Petitions unto the Divine Majesty to cry earnestly to him for his Grace and Mercy for his help and assistance for good success of our Forces by Sea and Land for a blessing upon our selves and upon this whole Kingdom A very great work A most weighty imployment For which we had need seriously 〈◊〉 whether we be well prepared Are we fit to appear before the Lord of Heaven and Earth To be intercessors for a whole Nation To bespeak his favour in those great actions that are on foot among us and in the neighbouring world Can such as we hope to prevail for a gracious Audience of such important suits May we not rather fear that he should hide his face from such obstinate sinners That he should cover himself with a cloud as Jeremy speaks in his Lamentations III. 44. that our prayer should not pass through and that he should turn away from us when we spread before him our necessities or dangers and implore his pity on us Let us inquire and make a diligent search into our hearts whether we have not brought something along with us into his presence which may obstruct the passage of our Prayers to the Throne of Grace and render them ineffectual Which leads me to the third thing III. On their fasting days every man who hoped for acceptance with God was bound to search and try his ways to enter into the very secrets of his Soul and see what he could find there displeasing unto God which might cry louder for Vengeance than his Prayers could do for Mercy For which end their iniquities were declared and set in order before them by the Prophets if there were any and those that instructed them So I we read that Jeremiah sent Baruch in the place before named to read the words of the LORD in the peoples ears on the fasting day And this charge is given to the Prophet Isaiah as you will hear in the first Lesson appointed at Even Prayer LVIII Isa I. Cry aloud and spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins When you have considered the Chapter you will find he speaks of the day of the great Fast which was a Sabbath of rest to them on which they were to afflict their souls XVI Levit. 30 31. upon which he was to imitate the Trumpet which had called them together to sound a new Alarm in their ears to rouse them from their security to awaken them to a sight of their sins and move their Hearts to set themselves against them with all their might And of what sins doth he admonish them In the first place he takes notice of their vain pretences to Religion For though they sought God daily and heard the Law and observed the Ordinances of Divine Worship yea took delight in approaching to God as you read v. ● yet they continued in their open disobedience to the rest of his commands For they were notoriously unjust Nay many miserable Souls proclaimed their unmerciful Dealing and Cruelty Thy were full of Strife and Debate Hatred and Contention And so given over to voluptuousnes that on the very day of their Fast they sound pleasure as well as exacted all their labours v. 3 4. and could not forbear to speak evil one of another when they were all confessing their Sins to God Their hands were defiled with blood and their fingers with iniquity their lips spoke lies and their tongues uttered perverseness c. as you may read in the rest of the Chapter and in that which follows These Sins therefore the Prophet proclaimed in their Ears with a loud voice and told them it was in 〈◊〉 to Fast and Pray while these Iniquities continued and separated between them and their God so that he hid his face from them and would not hear LIX ● And do not our iniquities in like manner testifie to our faces as another Prophet speaks V. Hos 5. that is Are they not notorious though we should seal up our Lips and say nothing of them Nay search and examine I beseech you whether we be not worse than they Do we seek the Lord daily Dare we affirm this of our selves which the Prophet acknowledges they did Do we delight to know his ways as a Nation that doth righteousness and forsakes not the Ordinances of their God Can we say as he confesses of them that we ask of him the Ordinances of Justice and take delight in approaching unto God Alas alas these I fear are not become National Vertues but too many of us are like that People in Malachi's time who said of the Divine Service What a weariness is it What a burden is such a Day as this to us And what great numbers may we justly fear are now wallowing in their Sins when they should be rather humbling themselves before God in Dust and Ashes But let us suppose better things that we are a People who do not forsake the Ordinances of their God Yet Can we say that our Religion hath made a general Reformation of our Lives How often have we approached unto God and become no like● to him How many Fasts have we observed and forsaken no one Sin Are we not still as unjust and uncharitable as those that know not God Or Are we not lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of God Oh this love of Pleasure How easily doth it bewitch Mens Hearts and draw them from their Duty Idleness and Sports are apt to swallow up the most of their time Besides the Gluttony and Drunkenness the Filthiness and Uncleanness that are wont to attend upon a negligent and careless Life The Quarrels also and Contentions nay the Blood-shed and Murders which they many times commit when they are crossed in their Sinful Pleasures or contradicted in their Drunken Humours And what shall I say of the Oaths and Blasphemies where with such Mens Mouths are too often filled And there is still a worse thing behind which is putting forth of the finger