Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n
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A56510
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Oeconomica sacra, or, A parænetical discourse of marriage together with some particular remarks on the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca.
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J. P.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing P62; ESTC R6
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38,180
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146
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their appointed Stations the Earth is Lowermost the Sea keeps his bounds the Air Aethur and Superaethur observe their Sphaerical apartments the Earth is our Habitation the Beast of the Field our Food Vegetables afford both Medicine and Nourishment and all things admirably useful and adapted for the service of man Psal 19.3 4. There is no speech nor language where their Voice is not heard Their line is gone throughout all the Earth and their words to the end of the World And are wonderful Indiciums of Gods Glory and goodness in their serving man and shall he only degenerate and prove Anomalous and Sceptical shall the best piece of the Creation prove the worst and unserviceable The noblest beings shew most Beauty in their operations and shall man that was created to admire the Wisdom and goodness of his Maker be silent and do less than the dumb pieces of the Creation God forbid The all-wise God hath communicated the sensible and eminent influences of his mercy goodness and bounty to the rational Nature of man that so Body and Soul jointly engaged might produce an harmony of Praise and Thanksgiving to the great Creator of the World wherefore did God give him his Tongue the Organ of Speech but to pray unto his Maker and with David O Lord open thou my Lips and my Mouth shall shew forth thy Praise God gave him his hands to lift them up in prayer to him Tendens ad sydera palmas and with David that his Prayer might come before him as Incense and the lifting up his hands as the Evening Sacrifice So also the Inorganical parts are to be chiefly imployed in our prayers to God Elevatio mentis ad Deum the Understanding Will and Affections without which prayer is insignificant 't is only the spiritual and fervent prayer that availeth which is called wrastling Gen. 32.24 Oratio essicax Beza and pouring out of the Soul to God and 't is that which is our indispensible Duty all the faculties of the Soul must be engaged herein to supplicate and adore the great God and intentionally with David exciting all within us to pray unto that God who gave us our Being and to Praise him for all our Mercies and Benefits Affectus operi nomen imposuit St. Ambros for 't is the lively affections of the Soul in a Duty that gives it a Name and makes it successful so Eliezer here pray'd unto God for his Masters Son And prayer is our Duty to shew our dependance on God In him we live move and have our Being our daily exigencies invite us to it Inf. Let us therefore pray daily for prayer is as useful to us as our daily bread and we are encouraged hereto for he filleth the hungry with good things and exhorted to pray without ceasing In all things let your Requests and Supplications be made known to God That some forms of Invocation and phraseologies are very prevalent Observ 2. So Eliezer here O Lord God of my Master Abraham and this expression is used to strengthen Eliezers Faith And we may learn from hence That upon particular wants and occasions we ought to use such Phraseologies which are analogous to Gods Promises or referr to our wants Thus Joshua after Israel had sinn'd Josh 7.8 9 O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their Enemies That was when they were pursued by the men of Ai which implies his earnest Expostulation with God to preserve his own People and concludes with this prevailing argument And what wilt thou do unto thy great Name The Prophet Hosea exhorts the Israelites to renounce in these Expressions their former Sins Hos 14.2 3. Take with you words and turn to the Lord and say unto him Take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our Lips Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands ye are our Gods for with thee the Fatherless findeth Mercy So Elijah prayed unto God 1 Kings 17.20 Hast thou also brought evil upon the Widdow with whom I sojourn by slaying her Son Which is as if he remembred God who commanded him to go to that Widdow for succour as we find in the beginning of that Chapter And we read of Asa 2 Chron. 14.14 when he went to Battle he used this pathetical way of expressing himself to God Help us O Lord our God for we rest in thee and in thy Name we go against this Multitude O Lord thou art our God let not man prevail against thee and so Jehoshaphat when the Army of the Heathens were coming against him he prayed unto God 2 Chron. 20.6 7. O Lord God of our Fathers art thou not God in Heaven and rulest not thou over all the Kingdoms of the Heathen and in thine hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee Art thou not our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this Land before thy People Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy Friend for ever Secondly In our Thanskgiving and Exultation we should admire and paraphrase on Gods power suitable to the Nature of our deliverance such was the Song of Moses after the Children of Israels deliverance at the Red Sea a paraphrastical Triumph repeating the manner of their deliverance and Pharaohs overthrow what pious Airs and Encomiums was chanted out by the thankful Israelites And what was Deborahs Song but the slaming Raptures of a rejoicing Heart And the twenty second of Samuel is a continued thanksgiving of David to God for his mercies and the 105 and 106. Psalms are a History of the deliverance of Gods People and Davids thankfulness for Gods Mercies Inf. Let us therefore remember the advice of the Apostle 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing give thanks for this is the Will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you And as we expect any blessings we must pray for them so also to improve what we have with thankfulness is the only way to have more Observ 3. That we ought to pray for each other 1. Here was good Eliezer praying for his Masters Son and 't is the Duty of Christians to assist each other with their Prayers The Apostle bids us make Supplication for all Saints and the Apostle prayed for those that had not seen his Face in the Flesh and how passionate was he for the prayers of of the People and conjures them For Christs sake Coloss 2.1 and the love of the Spirit that they should strive with him in their Prayers to God for him Tertullian calls it Rom. 15.30 An holy conspiracy to besiege Heaven this Conjunction in Prayer edifies the whole Church the Communion of Saints and is of advantage to every member nay even the wicked have a sense and need of the Prayers of good men so Pharaoh told Moses
Intreat the Lord your God to turn away this death only That is pray unto God for me and the prayers of Saints are very acceptable God would not hear Job's Friends Job 42.8 but says God My servant Job shall pray for you 2. This praying for one another does not terminate in personal Obligations but comprehends praying for Christs Church and People for the Propagation of his Gospel that God would give him the Heathen for his Inheritance and the utmost part of the World for his Possession and how pathetically did the Jews in Captivity express their zeal for the welfare of Jerusalem By the Rivers of Babilon Psal 137. there we sat down yea we wept when we remembred Zion and so to the end and for Nations it is St. Pauls exhortation 1 Tim. 2.1 That first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and all that are in Authority that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty Nay further we are commanded to pray for our Enemies Mat. 5 44. and Christ prayed for them that crucified him Luk. 23.34 Acts 7.60 Father forgive them and that Protomartyr St. Stepâ—â—â— prayed for them that stoned him And 't is the noble and heroick design of a gracious Heart to be serviceable to Church and State by prayer either to deprecate Judgments or obtain Mercies 1. To deprecate Judgements How did Abraham intercede with God for Sodom and God was pleased to answer him Gen. 9.32 That if ten righteous were in it he would not destroy it for tens sake And how Gracious was God to Jerusalem And I sought for a man among them Ezek 22.30 that should make up the Hedge and stand in the gap before me for the Land that I should not destroy it but I found none It implies Gods great respect for the righteous which Solomon styles fundamentum seculi an everlasting Foundation publick Spirited Persons are like Pillars to bear up Gods Wrath from the place they live in 2. To obtain Mercies so Elijah prayed for Rain in the days of Ahab and obtained it after three years Intermission and so Moses that great Master in Israel after God had reveal'd his will to him he cryed unto God for the Children of Israel and could bid them Stand still and see the Salvation of God and we all know what a glorious Victory followed Inf. Let us therefore upon the whole Pray for each other Gods Church and People that by the fervency and continuance of our Prayers we may either stand in the gap with Abraham or prevail with Jacob at least be found among the righteous that when Gods Judgments are in the earth God may say unto us as he did to Noah Come thou and all thine house into the Ark Gen. 7.1 for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation Observ 4. Prayer is the only way to obtain Mercies or divert Judgments How great Priviledge is it to be admitted into the Presence of some great Monarch but how much greater Prerogative hath the devout Christian that by fervent Prayers and ardent effusion of his Tears and Wishes may freely conferr with the King of Kings this penetrates the Clouds and Sphears and mounts us to the bosome of the great Benefactor and a Charm that if rightly performed prevails on Omnipotency Oratio pura coelos penetrans vacua non redibit St. Austin this Dove sent to Heaven often brings an Olive-leaf in his Mouth This fervent Prayer sayes St. Austin as it pierceth Heaven so it will not return without effect And not only our Duty but our daily wants put us upon this undertaking we are helpless Creatures of our selves and Prayer is our only refuge there is an admirable Oeconomy in the Divine Wisdome to bring man to his Duty and Happiness God tells us Ezek. 36.37 That for this he will be enquired of by the House of Israel to do this for them And 't is but highly rational to confess our dependance upon him that gave us being The Kingly Prophet elegantly describes Gods goodness to those that call upon him in 145th Psalm from the begining to the the end And certainly 't is no Mercy that is not worth seeking to God for but when sought and obtained it makes the blessing the more acceptable and obliges us to improve it with the greater thankfulness and sobriety we can never lose any thing by prayer for we are never out of Gods reach to relieve us if God please to answer us the Blessing is the more safe and sweet and if denyed we are the more humble and patient and content that God should be Master of his own bounty We have the Practice of Gods People recommended to our Imitation and the admirable effects of their Prayers recorded for our encouragement here good Eliezer prayes unto God for good speed he would not venture on it without Petitioning the Lord God of his Master Abraham and the good success he met with was the effect of Prayers Abraham tells him God would send his Angel before him and prosper his way which implies the strength of Abraham's Faith and his Servant after he had prayed V. 13 14. in the very next verses gives us a kind of Prophetick hint of what would come to pass and resigns himself up to the conduct of Providence Behold I stand here by the Well of Water and so on Non tentat Deum cujus instinctu ad hoc motus fuerat Junius in loc Junius observeth he did not tempt God because God prompted him hereto for such manuductory passages of Providence are but Preliminary to success and antecede the effects of our Prayers Signum quod statuit congruum fuisse erat enim signa bonae uxoris indolis affabilis hospitalis strenuae qualem noverat placiturum Isaaco Abrahamo St. Chrys in loc And St. Chrysostome well observes The sign sayes he which Eliezer pitcht upon was very agreeable for those things as affability and courtesie are the indications of a good Wife and such as would please Isaac and Abraham also David alludes to such antecedent Providences sayes God I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go and I will guide thee with mine Eye and such gracious dealings of God with his People are our great encouragement and the effects of Prayer's miraculous James 5.17 as if Elijah could shut and open Heaven at his pleasure Jacobs Prayer turned away the Indignation and Wrath of Esau and his four hundred men after Moses had cried to the Lord for the Children of Israel the Egyptians were drowned in the Red-Sea And after David had prayed unto his God 1 Sam. 17.37 That delivered him out of the paw of the Lyon and the bear he also delivered him out of the hands of the Philistine And when Elijah prayes unto God That the meal shall