Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	father_n	true_a	worship_v	5,831	5	9.4836	5	true

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

unprepared Heart To such an Heart the whole Duty is a Distraction When a vain and earthly Soul like a truant Scholar keeps out of his Masters sight out of choice and with content and is any where better than at his Lesson What little Rest would such a Soul find in Heaven Or what true delight can he take in the most holy presence of God above that can find no rest and sweetness in his presence below 3. Again some Distractions are long and do consist of a concatenation of vain thoughts when they do lodge in the heart The Lord still calling at the door and saying How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee These do much alter the complexion of the Soul and argue too deep an habit of vanity therein It is a true saying Though we cannot hinder the Birds from flying over our heads yet we may disturb their roosting or making Nests in our hair So though we cannot well hinder the sudden suggestion of a vain thought yet we may trouble its quiet resting in the Soul Yet such strange subtilty is there in us that we can keep God in play a long time yea when our selves are employed in a Prayer and be tampering with the world or sin all the while the soul never coming in till the Amen of a Prayer do awaken us But other Distractions are but short only a step out of the way and in again and the soul catcheth the faster hold of God And indeed when the soul doth follow hard after God as every one should do in his service though it stumble as it often happens to the most earnest in the way yet it recovers to its advantage being more zealous after The fall of the former being like that of the Swine who lyes still in her mire The fall of the latter like the Sheep that falling riseth and runs the faster And thus you have seen the several kinds of Distractions which was the second general Head CHAP. III. To Attend on the Lord without Distraction is our Duty SECT I. IN the third place I shall prove that to Attend upon the Lord without Distraction is our Duty which will clearly follow by demonstrating 1. The Possibility of it 2. The Necessity of it First It is Possible thus to serve our God the sluggard it is true finds a Lyon in his way to every Duty and nothing is possible because nothing is welcome There is no Duty so easie but can pose the negligent none so hard but is facile through Divine grace to the diligent Perfection herein I assert not but that we may attain it in the substance and security thereof is proved 1. From the Precept of God The wise and merciful God commands nothing but he finds or makes it possible He most truly sayes Viam aut inveniam aut faciam His commands are not snares but Rules yea and Helps When a Master commands power and assistance waite not on his Commands the Servants strength must perform the Masters will but here are the commands of a Father which when they outstrip his childs strength are still accompanied with his own assistance and the chair which the weak cannot bring in he helps to fetch himself Now behold the Divine Precept 1 Sam. 12.24 Serve him in Truth with all your Heart What truth is there while we appear to serve the Lord and indeed do not think upon him at all Or how is that with all the Heart while there is not half nor any thereof many times while we can pray and plot and think and look and begin our Devotion only at the end of the Duty Our merciful Father will not impose an impossible Law upon us It may by accident become impossible but it is not so in it self 2. In regard of the Power of God it is possible Ours is the Duty but his is the strength God and his servant can do any thing When you look on a hard task and your heart fails you advance your eye of Faith and you will find God the strength of your heart Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me loe here the omnipotency of a worm If all things that is all my duty then this among the rest But you will say This was an Apostle a Person of great strength and Grace yet still the Acts were from the man but the Strength was from Christ for the same person saith 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God Who though he be at the same time Terrible out of his holy places and darts his Curses on them that do his work negligently yet the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power to his People Blessed be God Psal. 68.35 He gives that is he is ready to give it out but alas his stock lyes almost dead by him and none sues to him in good earnest His Power is at your service and therefore serve your selves of it 3. In regard of the Promise of God This is Possible To every command there is a Promise The command finds us work the Promise ●inds us strength As to this some think that clause in our Magna Charta Ezek. 11.19 of One Heart is intended this way wherein the Lord promiseth an united heart to his servants An hypocrite hath more hearts than one an heart for his pleasures an heart for his pride here and there his affections are stragling now saith God I will give one heart There is another Promise Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me neither in whole nor in part unless fault be in your selves Now these promises are Amen in Christ and do belong to every soul that is in Christ who may claim and have the benefit of them 4. Add hereunto the Experience of many servants of God who by an habit of holy watchfulness have attained to considerable strength against these Wandrings Hope of relief makes many complain of their Distractions when fear of Pride hinders them from divulging their attainments And that which by the grace of God is possible for others with the same grace is possible for you SECT II. SEcondly It is necessary and therefore no doubt our duty to Attend on God without Distractions It not only may be done but must be done You will say They are happy that can do it but they may be safe enough that cannot Thus the inside and substance of Religion is counted an high attainment but not Duty I shall shew therefore that this soul-attendance on the Lord is necessary 1. It is Necessary to the Essence or Being of the Duty As the soul is necessary to the Being of a man the body is no man but a Corps without it even so a solemn Duty with a wandring heart is but the Corps of a Duty Lam. 3.41 Let us lift up OVR HEARTS with our