Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A60133
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Family religion in three letters to a friend / by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing S3666; ESTC R33838
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45,661
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120
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by a total neglect And for some Masters of Families I know not all Circumstances considered but the use of a good Form may be more advisable and more for the good of those with whom they joyn than to pray without One. All things should be done for Edifieation and for those to use a Form who cannot otherwise do so well is for Edification And Experience will prove that some cannot do so well without one I deny not but the Spirit of Grace is a Spirit of Supplication and ready to assist and enable us in some measure to pray so that if you neglect not the Gift that is in you you would increase in this and other Gifts by Exercise The Holy Scriptures will furnish you with Matter and Expressions and if you study your own Hearts and observe the state of your Family you will be competontly able to apply them And God will afford you that Assistance of his Holy Spirit which is needful As in the Case of Moses he excuses himself from speaking to Pharoah as God would have him because he was not cloquent but slow of speech The Lord said to Moses Exod. 4.11 Who veaketh the Dumb to speak Who hath made Man's Mouth Have not I the Lord Now therefore go and I will be with thy Mouth teach thee what thou shalt say His Call to speak to Pharach was Extraordinary and so was his promised Assistance from God Yours to Family Prayer is Ordinary and the Ordinary Help and Assistance you therein need you may likewise expect It is a greater Disconragement to others from the daily Worship of God in their Families that they are often composed of such Persons as care not to joyn in such Duties Or they are such Scoffers that it is a scruple whether they should be suffered to be present if they were willing Some had rather pray alone than indeavour or desire such Company they think they had better leave them out than have their presence who will not heartily joyn in the Requests that are made to God and who desire not his Grace or seek his Favour To such it may be said That it is the Duty even of wicked Men to pray to God and you know not what success their joyning with you may be attended with Some have dated their first Conviction and Conversion from Family Prayer and Instruction You knowing the Sins of those in your Family should be very serious in the Confession of Sin and God may touch their Hearts and give them Repentance However if you look to your own Hearts and do not regard Iniquity there the Wickedness of others in the Family shall not be laid to your Charge while you do what lies in you for their Recovery The Presence of Judas with our Lord and Saviour when he prayed with his Disciples did not render them unacceptable to God For I know says Christ to his Father thou hearest me always If you are sincere in your Worship the Presence of unworthy Persons will not obstruct your Acceptance with God Another Man's Unbelief will not prejudice thy Faith If you should scruple to pray in your Families on that account What think you of a Minister's Prayer in the Publick Congregation If any neglect Family Worship on this Pretence they are most likely to be such as refuse to come to the Lord's Table because of the Admission of supposed unworthy Persons But how is it that they come to hear the Word and join in publick Prayer in the Congregation while this Objection is stronger there than with reference to Prayer in their own Houses The Authority of Parents as to their Children is so manifest and their Duty to oblige them to join in the Worship of God is so plain that it is principally as to scornful or stubborn Servants that this Objection speaks And as to them unless they prove much otherwise than you thought they would you were greatly to blame in admitting such And after trial of other Means for their Conviction and Cure if they can be removed you ought to do it Psal 101.4 5 7. A froward Heart shall depart from me a Slanderer will I cut off He that telleth Lies shall not tarry in my sight or dwell in my House But where is the Authority of the Head of a Family all this while Should they not observe your Orders in Matters of Trade and Business you would quickly let them know you were their Masters And does that Relation signify nothing to them while they dwell under your Roof and are imployed in your Service Doth not the Fourth Commandment suppose a Master's Authority to bring his Family to worship God with him And your Concern for their Souls chligeth you to endeavour it There is one very common Objection that I fear has too much of sad Truth for the Foundation of it viz. That many of those who pray in their Families and read the Holy Scriptures there and keep up the Externals of Religion beyond their Neighbours do yet live no better than such as pray not their Children are no better than other Mens Children their Servants are no better than other Mens Servants they themselves no better than their prayerless Neighbours They are one thing on their Knees and another on their Feet They are as vain and worldly as proud and passionate as hard to the Poor as false in their Dealings as revengeful and inexorable as others c. Would to God there were no ground for this Objection Wo be to the World because of such Offences but wo be to them by whom they come Who can tell what unspeakable Mischief such do who keep up the Worship of God in their Families and yet walk disorderly in their daily Conversations Who begin with God in the Morning and keep Company with the Devil all the Day after What Stumbling-blocks do they lay in the way of ignorant Children and ungodly Servants and Neighbours who are acquainted with it They tempt them to be Atheists and deny God and make them question the Reality of Religion But whatever Hypocrisie any such may be guilty of in such like Duties it will not discharge you from the Obligation to perform them sincerely You may as well refuse to join in publick Worship because some constant Hearers are no better than some of those who stay away and turn their Backs upon all such positive Institutions However it is not the Fruit of their praying but the want of Seriousness and Sincerity which provokes God to leave them to the Power of Temptation It is not long of Christ and of the Holy Scriptures and of Religion and of Christianity that any professing Christians are so bad No Ruler was ever so severe against Sin as Jesus Christ no Law was ever so strict in the forbidding Sin as the Laws of Christ The Rule is streight and the Christian Religion is not to be blamed because some that profess it are not true to their own Profession They condemn themselves and dishonour