Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	spirit_n	true_a	worship_n	10,550	5	8.3726	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64466	A fast of Gods chusing plainly opened for the help of those poor in spirit, whose hearts are set to seek the Lord their God in New-England, in the solemn ordinance of a fast : wherein is shewed, 1, the nature of such a fast, 2, the testimony God will give thereunto of his gracious acceptance, 3, the special seasons wherein God will bear witness to such a fast, 4, some helps to faith that is shall be so, 5, why such a fast is so acceptable and succesfull, 6, how much this concerns Gods people in New-England : preached on a fast called by publick authority, on 26, 1[6]74 / by Thomas Thacher...	Thacher, Thomas, 1620-1678.; Mather, Increase, 1639-1723.	1678 (1678)	Wing T830; ESTC R9807	27,462	32

and those that are under the powerfull command of seeking his face should seek his face in vain but saith God I have not said to the seed of Jacob seek ye my face in vain Isa 45. 1● 2. The gracious promises that are before us are a sufficient security that a Fast that God hath chosen shall bring such gracious acceptation as those eight promises mentioned and also Psal 50. 15. Call upon me on the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me And so 1 Kin. 8. 38. with many other verses before and after and Christ himself also promiseth that whatsoever ye shall ask in his name he will do it for you c. John 14 14. 3. The manner of Gods dealing with his servants establisheth this truth unto us Psal 119. 132. 133. c. Be mercifull unto me as thou usost to doe to those that love thy name 4. That God doth not suffer the Fastings and the Prayers of others when they are hearty though not spiritual to goe without their reward The young Ravens shall not cry unto him but he will take care of them he respects a very Ahab that sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord 1 Kin. 21. 25. and yet v. 29. Because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his dayes And so when Nineveh humbled themselves he saved them from destruction though it was against the very grain of the soul of Jonah Jon. 3. 10 Lastly It must needs be so because there is nothing stands in the way to hinder it A Fast that God hath chosen removes all impediments that stand in the way of mercy the great obstruction is some sin committed or some habitual impenitency remaining for when the heart is truly humbled and broken the soul is prepared for some degree of mercy wherein the acceptation of the Suppliant may be made manifest Thus of the fourth general Head V. The next thing is the Reason why God will do thus for his people upon their fasting the Fast which God hath chosen I answer 1. Negatively not for any inherent excellency in their fastings and prayers or services for what benefit hath God by our humbling our selves laying aside our Ornaments so humbling our bodies or by our diligent attention to external actions but positively I shall give you three reasons of it Reas 1. Because it is a Fast that he hath chosen and therefore it is so succesfull were it of mans chusing it might be disappointed and yet God not dishonoured but he chuseth it and appoints it and now Gods honour lyes at stake for a gracious answer It was the glory of God in Israel to be manifestly near to that people in all they called upon him for c. Reas 2. Because the persons are accepted if such persons and therefore their offerings are accepted also The Petition of a favourite is not easily rejected by the Prince especially being such a Petition as his Prince hath chosen and appointed for him They are in a state of favour with God and therefore their Petitions must needs be successful The spiritual Sacrifices of this royal holy Priesthood are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5. Reas 3. Because there is an admirable misterious Communion between God the Father Son and holy Ghost and the right Suppliant or the person that fasts in the fast which God hath chosen for 1. there is not an holy prayer put up unto God but its Original is God the Father that prayer of Faith which proceeds from the heart of a Christian was 1. In the heart of God the Father and he through the Intercession and Mediation of his Son sends it down by his holy Spirit into the heart of a poor sinner and so stamps the Image of it upon the heart of the poor sinner that he believes and then the Holy Ghost that stamped it there takes it from thence and presents this through Christ unto the Father then the Fathers heart is to give forth the answer through the Intercession of the Son and to give notice of it to the Soul of a Christian by his holy Spirit And when thou hast received the answer the same Spirit works in thy heart to return praise and Thanksgiving by the Son unto the Father so that here is a marvellous spiritual mysterious Communion in this between God the Father Son and holy Ghost the poor believer therefore such fasting cannot be in vain Thus of the fifth general head 6. Of what concernment this may be unto our selves and truly it is of very great concernment We are the people that do succeed Israel We are Jacob. Gods people that are under the same profession as the Lord speaks of them here ver 2. that seek God dayly and delight to know his wayes this is our profession we are a Nation that seek Justice that is our plea that we must do right and not forsake the Ordinances of our God this I say is our profession that we are bound to hearken after Gods will and enquire after the Ordinances of Justice we are they that by our dayly practice in appearing before God in solemn Assemblies profess that we delight to approach to him therefore we are they that have need to take notice of this great and solemn Truth that the Fast that is not of Gods chusing will be ineffectual but that which is of Gods chusing will prevail and that to five or six ends 1. To build us up in knowledge there are great misteries contained in this Truth I shall touch those that are of present consideration 1. It teacheth you that there is a vast difference between duty and duty between religious performances and religious performances that which is spoken of fasting reaches through the whole body of Religion there is a prayer that God hath chosen and a prayer that God hath not chosen and so this or that Ordinance or observation there is that which God will own and accept there is that which he will not countenance nor bless our God is a God that will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth the manner and the end of our worship discovers what the nature of that service is or of that particular religious act which we put forth towards him look then to your own Spirits in your worship of God as it is said of the person worshipping so it is true of the worship he is not a Jew that is one outwardly but he that is one inwardly Rom. 2. last verse whose praise is not of men but of God you may be outwardly a Christian and inwardly an heathen in the sight of God all these are uncircumcised in heart sayes the Prophet when he reckons up the Nations together with Judah you may be a Heathen in heart whilest you are in the outward man a Christian your Circumcision may become uncircumcision before God alas what 's an outward Baptisme if your

undoe the heavy burthens and to let the oppressed go free c. Hence we may observe Doct. That a Fast of Gods chusing or such a Fast as God hath chosen will certainly bring seasonable pledges of Gods gracious acceptation When the heart is right for God and the Fast is ordered according to God it shall certainly obtain mercy and bring home help and succour from God Prayer especially extraordinary prayer is not only the Key of all earthly Treasures of Goodness which God hath laid up for the Sons of men on Earth but the Key of heavenly Treasures in Christ Jesus also I shall observe this method in managing this Subject 1. I shall open unto you the nature of a Fast and such a Fast as God hath chosen 2. I shall shew you those Testimonies which God will give of his gracious acceptation unto such a Fast 3. I shall endeavour to show you the seasons wherein God is wont to give and his people may expect such manifest Testimonies of his gracious acceptation 4. I shall labour to help your Faith with some invincible Arguments and demonstrations of this Truth and then the Reasons of the point and Lastly how much this concerns us a people so Circumstanced as we are 1. For the nature of a Fast you may take this imperfect diffinition or description of it not taken strictly only for an adjunct or means of worship but more largely as I suppose in my Text and so a Fast is an extraordinary part or act of Gospel worship wherein for a convenient Season we abstain from the comforts of this life and upon due examination of our wayes towards God and consideration of Gods wayes towards us we make a solemn and real profession that we justifie God and judge our selves we justifie God for the evil of affliction that we either feel or fear and judge our selves for the evil of transgression which we find within us or that ●ath passed from us we solemnly profess godly sorrow and repentance for the evil of sin we solemly profess that we seek mercy and grace from God in Jesus Christ to save us from our sin● and sorrows we solemnly profess that we with all readiness forgive others that have offended us as we hope to be forgiven of God and lastly we solemnly engage and bind our selves to reform the evil of our wayes and to walk before God in new obedience according to his word for the time to come There is much of Religion lyes in the right understanding of a Spiritual Fast Therefore I say first a Fast The very notion of a Fast speaks abstinence a Fast is that wherein a man denyes himself the use of ordinary things whereto he is accustomed and necessitated for some certain ends and for a certain season if there be not a denying your selves ordinary comforts there is no Fast and if not in order to worship it is not a religious Fast And therefore though this be but an adjunct of worship yet its an adjunct appointed by God to abstein from your ordinary comforts and that in three things 1. To abstein from meat and drink wholly if strength of nature will bear it if not so much as mercy and necessity will permit This at least is commanded of old Esth 4. 16. neither eat nor drink three dayes night nor day c. she appointed a three dayes Fast which those Countries might better bear and upon that extraordinary occasion they might not eat nor drink night nor day so Nineveh they must not eat nor drink they are forbidden not only wine but water Jonah 3 7. 2 It is a part of the abstinence requisite to this duty to abstein from our wonted Ornaments To adorn the body in the day of Fast is a transgression of the Rule of fasting Exod. 33. 4 5 6. there they are commanded to put off their Ornaments and they were wonted also to cloath themselves in Sackcloth now the rigour of this according to the darkness of those shadowing times is not exacted from us yet there is a proportion to be observed The King of N●niveh though but the King of N●niveh and not the King of Israel yet he layes aside his Robes and put on Sackcloth and that was a prevailing Fast for it was a self humbling Fast And they were wont also to sprinkle dust and ashes upon their heads and to express all manner of self despisings and self abomination If you be loth to put off your Ornaments then its an humbling and if it be an humbling you ought to abstein from them with other your ordinary comforts in an extraordinary humiliation 3. An absteining from all your lawful imployments and sports and recreations yea even the pleasures of a Married life 1 Cor. 7 5. Joel 2. 16. Let the Bridegroom come out of his Chamber and the Bride out of her Closet c. there must be no sports nor pastimes In a word such abstinence is required wherby the body may be afflicted Isa 58. 3 Lev. 23 29. 30. and Dan. ●0 2 3 12. Ezra 8. 21. And this abstinence must continue at least from Evening to Evening for so must you keep the Sabbaths c. not only your weekly Sabbaths but Fasting and Feasting Sabbaths Lev. 23. 32. from Evening to Evening shall you celebrate your Sabbath Its a vain shift to say this is spoken concerning Sabbaths only upon special occasions for it concerns weekly Sabbaths Lev. ●3 2 3. and these also 2. Now this very outward abstinence as an help to the worship in the day and so the whole Fast is a Gospel duty that is it is a duty directed unto under the Covenant of grace and not apperteining to the Covenant of works for the Covenant of works did not admit of any day of Atonement But it is the Gospel that appoints dayes of Atonement and it is required in the Gospel as our Saviour saith when the Bridegroom is absent the Children of the Bride-Chamber shall Fast the Bridegroom is Christ and the Children are Believers under the Gospel and when he is absent that is in Heaven before he returns again there shal●●e times of Fasting Math. 9 15. Can the Children of the Bride-Chamber mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them but the dayes shall come that he shall be taken from them and then they shall Fast and the Apostle gives direction how they should manage themselves in Fasting and Prayer 1 Cor. 7 5. and therefore it s a Gospel duty 3. But yet though a Gospel duty it is an extraordinary duty Fasting is not an every weeks duty in a constant Course as the Pharise thought Luk. 18. 12 saying I Fast twice a week God hath appointed six dayes for labour and one for a Sabbath and therefore for men to appoint to themselves constant Sabbaths besides the Sabbath of the Lord is will-worship and not acceptable to God This then is not for Ordinary but special occasions as first when there is some notable or eminent