Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	worship_v	worshipper_n	7,267	5	12.9330	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61386	An antidote against distractions, or, An indeavour to serve the church, in the daily case of wandrings in the worship of God by Richard Steele M.A. and minister of the Gospel.	Steele, Richard, 1629-1692.	1667 (1667)	Wing S5382; ESTC R8661	121,210	256

Creatures Isa. 45.11 Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his Maker If a servant must not be frivolous before his Master when he is receiving his commands who dares be so before his Maker who can as easily reward or ruine us as I can turn over a leaf in this Bible This Himself gives for the reason of that dreadful curse Mal. 1.14 upon the Deceiver that having a Male in his flock offers to God a corrupt thing For I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my name is dreadfull among the Heathen Which of you will be thinking of your wives or children or ground when you are offering a Petition to a great King or run after Feathers when he is saying his mind to you Thou takest God to be such a one as thy self or else thou wouldest never do it Remember a great God must be worshipped with profound veneration and the most serious affections A man must worship God as if he were in Heaven Oh if thou wert there among those myriads of Saints and Angels with what care and humility and instance wouldest thou pour out thy heart to him or hear his words to thee 2. The Holiness of God is another Reason who is so sacred that an unholy Thought is abomination to him most especially in his holy Service Who can by an eye of Faith behold the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and his train filling the Temple And the Seraphinis crying one to another and saying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts Isa. 6.1 2. and suffer his heart to be ravisht away with transitory toyes in such a Sacred presence Are the Seraphims amazed at his holiness and we untransported Their thoughts are continually terminated upon him And should ours be allwayes flinching from him The Holy Lord of Hosts will not brook it If you will not sanctifie him he will sanctifie himself If you that worship him will not bear witness by your serious attendance to his Holiness He must bear witness to it by his Judgements on You which indeed are not allwayes visible but ever certain not a man in the Congregation but the Holy God is Sanctified by him or upon him Little do we know what invisible dreadfull effects there are of this daily in our Congregations And if our dear Redeemer did not stand as a skreen between us and his wrath the best of us would quickly feel the effects of his Displeasure 3. The Omniscience of God is a valid reason against Distractions Heb. 4.13 All things are naked and opened to him with whom we have to deal not only naked on the outside of us but cut up and anatomised in the inside That sharp and piercing eye looks through and through us and neither doth or can look beside us Whither can I goe from thy spirit and whither can I flee from thy presence shall the Husband fix his eye on his Wife and she that while dart her glances on her Paramour Is this reasonable or tolerable Get out of his sight and trifle on Steal into some corner where he sees you not and be truants and spare not Be but an Eye-servant to God and wee 'l ask no more Be serious while He sees you dally not while he holds you the candle A curious Eye requires a carefull servant Object But this is spoken gratis I see no body but the Minister and People seeing is believing I know no body that seeth me Answ. 1. No more doest thou see that faculty by which thou seest Is there therefore no such faculty Is there no spirits because thou never sawest them when did you see the wind and yet you doubt not of it Nay hath not he declared to thee what is thy thought Amos 4.13 in many a Sermon 2. There is another eye by which Gods Ordinary-Presence is seen which thou hast not That is an eye of Faith which if fixed in thy heart would quickly make thee cry How dreadfull is this place This is no other than the house of God and the Gate of Heaven If an hundred credible persons affirm they saw a Great man in the Congregation you would believe them though not seen by you and would conclude it your own inadvertency Hundreds there daily are that do avouch they saw felt heard imbraced the gracious presence of God and therefore conclude it your Blindness not his Distance that you saw him not SECT II. THE second Reason is taken from the Nature of his Worship 1. It is Reasonable Worship not only consonant to the Rules of Reason and backed by the most Rational Principles but must be managed as a Rational Act. Now it is a most irrational thing to converse with God without an Heart This is a silly thing as Hos. 7.11 Ephraim is called a silly Dove without Heart A Dove without spirit and a silly Dove without reason or judgement God had rather hear the roaring of a Lyon than an heartless prayer He delights more in the chirping of birds than in singing of Psalms without understanding for these do what they can and so are accepted but bruitish service from a reasonable Creature is intolerable Is it reason you should cry out for the spirit and think on the flesh be hearkning about another world and ruminating on this your eyes directed to Heaven and your Heart in the ends of the Earth the tongue busie and the soul idle the knee devout and the thoughts loose there is no coherence no reason in this When ye work work and when ye pray pray and do it with understanding 1 Cor. 14.15 What it is then I will pray with the spirit and will pray with the understanding also I will sing with the spirit and will sing with the understanding also Consider that else thou art as a mad man before God and God hath no need of mad men if one should come to thee about business of life and death and after a word or two therein should run from one impertinent thing to another would you not think him mad If thy thoughts were put into words and mingled with thy prayers what strange mad prayers would they be 2. It is spiritual-worship and therefore you may not be distracted in it Joh. 4.23 24. The true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him Others may seek to worship the Father but the Father seeketh such to worship him to wit that worship in Spirit and in Truth In Spirit and so not like the formal Jews In Truth and so not like the ignorant Gentiles And then vers 24. God is a Spirit and must be worshipped Here 's Must and Shall and Reason for it As a spirit can do nothing at eating so a carkass can do nothing at praying The elegantest tongues on earth cannot take one stroak at prayer no the soul must be in it and the soul must

my prayer is not the beginning of my punishment Though these be but small like the Sand yet being many as the Sand how can I stand under them I am ashamed yea even confounded for these reproaches of my duties Nay then saies God that hearkens behind the curtains all this while Is Ephraim my dear Son is not he a pleasant child I will remember him I will have mercy upon him When thou art ripe for Hell in thy own eyes then art thou ripe for grace and glory in the eyes of God No man shall ever be overborn with a sin he hates Go my blessed Spirit that hast melted him and mend him that hast softened him strengthen him he that laments his sin shall never languish under it The sacrifice of a broken heart doth please him though the sacrifice of a broken Christ alone doth satisfie him 2. Dispositively grief at heart doth help forward the cure of distractions and that by softening the heart and so fitting the same for the impressions of God's will When the Wax is melted you may turn and mold it which way you will So when the soul is melted by grief for these sins God Almighty may easily be heard and his counsel will be taken And also this godly sorrow as was before observed doth so afflict and make a mans heart to ake and smart that he will take some pains to prevent the like anguish again When they knock at door you 'l say O these are they that cost me dear at such a time non emam tanti poeniteo I feel yet the sad impressions of my late affliction for them I found a pardon no easie enterprize nor Repentance so pleasing a potion to brew for it again I would not for all the world much less for one vain thought or two nor for a thousand worlds together be under that anger of God nor feel one drop of his scalding indignation which I have perceived for these offences O Sirs where godly sorrow is in the power of it what carefulness doth it work what zeal what indignation yea what revenge It makes sin lye like a Mountain upon the soul musters up all the aggravations of sin and sets them home on the heart O to sin in an Ordinance against such a God! in the midst of my greatest business after such conviction vows and promises of exactness before him To offend both Father Son and Holy Ghost at a clap heart of stone dost not melt yea to offend the Angels of Heaven which holy spirits turn away their faces at our vanities in the Assemblies yea and offend the Angels upon Earth God's Ministers while that which cost them most serious pains is spoken to the air to wound my own soul in the act of curing it and increase guilt when I am getting it cleared to play the Hypocrite before the face of God the Judge of Heaven and Earth O wretched man that I am O my sin is exceeding sinful lend a tear O rend an heart O thou most high A broken heart today will be a good preservative against a wandring heart to morrow SECT III. III. ENgage the holy Spirit of God in thine assistance Joh. 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing Supernatural work cannot be done without supernatural help You may and ought to do what a man can do that is compose your selves and guard your senses but you cannot do that which only a God can do that is fly up and fix your hearts in Heaven Rom. 8.26 We cannot pray for any thing for matter as we ought for the manner but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us The Greek word signifies the Spirit over and above steps in and helps or as others makes vehement intercession for us We climb up the Ladder as well as we can towards Heaven but alas it wavers no stability till the Holy Ghost hold it at the top and draw and lift us up and then we get a sight of Heaven And you have resolved belike and been secure of a good frame but Prov. 28.26 He that trusteth to his own strength is a fool you have found no fixedness or liveliness in your spirits without the assistance of God He that prayes aright must pray in the Holy Ghost Jude v. 20 This also quickens and hears the soul whereby there is no room or leisure for distracted thoughts Hereby the soul is carried streight up to God and staies at nothing on this side Heaven yea by the Spirit 's blessed assistance Every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. O blessed frame when every thought is captivated to obey Christ there is none can deal with our spirits but the Spirit of God When the Word comes in the hand of the Spirit there is no avoiding it Then the reading one Chapter can convert as that Ioh. 1. did the learned Iunius yea of one verse as that 1 Tim. 1.15 did Mr. Bilney yea one sentence can comfort the heart as that Isa. 57.15 did the afflicted conscience of one that nothing else could satisfie thereby the soul is carried up as Mr. Tilleman the Martyr was in his devotions so that he saw or heard no body till after long search and great noise his persecutors took him up from his knees The heart is so carried upward to God that all the world looks as inconsiderable as a mote or atome at that time and not worth the thinking on And is entertained with that sweet content that it cannot wish to be any where else and therefore a by-thought is as un●welcom as base company to him that is busie with Nobles Beg therefore of God with earnest importunity at the entrance of every Ordinance for his holy Spirit and he hath said Luk. 11.13 He will give his Spirit to them that ask him Say Lord if thy Spirit go not with me let me go no further For as the Intercession of Christ is absolutely necessary for your acceptance so the Intercession of the Holy Ghost is necessary for your assistance The Spirit it self also making intercession for us with sighs that cannot be uttered Promise your heavenly Father that you will never willingly disoblige or grieve away his Spirit again Art thou dead cry Quicken me and I will call upon thy Name Is thy heart roving cry Unite my heart to fear thy Name Humbly plead his promise that he will put his Spirit and fear into your hearts that you shall never and if never then not in his solemn Ordinance depart from him and observe the gracious gales of the Spirit and when they clash not with the Rules of his holy Word lay hold on them and fall to duty It 's best rowing below when the wind blows fair above When thy heart is warm and in ure then do the business throughly And beware of grieving him between times let there be a coherence between prayer and practice let your whole life be of a piece lest he withdraw when you have most need of