Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	spirit_n	worship_n	worship_v	1,464	5	9.7877	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43573	Closet-prayer a Christian duty, or, A treatise upon Mat. VI, VI. tending to prove that worship of God in secret is the indispensible duty of all Christians ... together with a severe rebuke of Christians for their neglect of, or negligence in, the duty of closet-prayer, and many directions for the managing thereof ... / by O. Heywood.	Heywood, Oliver, 1629-1702.	1671 (1671)	Wing H1762; ESTC R24371	90,506	148

true Gospelized Christian hath otherwise learned Christ 'T is true in the Old Testament dispensation after the erecting of the Temple Prayer was to be made at it or towards it as it typified Christ by whom our prayers are accepted But that holiness being ceremonial 't is now abolished by the Gospel Now that takes place in John 4.21 Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father i. e. God now doth not so much stand upon the place as the manner of worship that they worship in spirit and truth ver 23.24 Now is the prophecy accomplished Mal. 1.11 In every place Incense shall be offered to my Name Which the Apostle also asserts expresly 1 Tim. 2.8 Much hath been said in controversie concerning the holiness of places but this seems to be an undeniable argument against that Conceit that if some places be holy by the Churches consecration of them to holy uses then it followeth that other places not so consecrated howbeit applyed to the same holy use are more prophane and less apt to divine worship than places consecrated which would directly contradict the Scriptures last mentioned Eccles polit lib. 5. c. 16. Indeed Hooker teacheth that the service of God in places not sanctified as Churches are hath not in it self such perfection of grace and comeliness as when the dignity of the place which it wisheth for doth concur and that the very Majesty and holiness of the place where God is worshipped bettereth even our holiest and best actions Thus he Confer with Hart. c. 8. Divis 4. pag. 491. To whom we dare not subscribe but rather say with Dr. John Reinolds that to us Christians no Land is strange no ground unholy Every coast is Jewry every town Jerusalem and every house Zion and every faithful company yea every faithful body a Temple to serve God in But I shall not undertake a dispute upon this subject The duty of the Text clears it If God command and accept Closet-Prayer then he doth not make so great a matter of the place for this duty as some imagine since it cannot be imagined that Closet-Prayer can be performed ordinarily in a consecrated place as they call it and there being no such place where a duty can be performed to which God hath more expresly promised a reward than what is performed in a Corner or Closet and therefore we have no warrant to expect acceptance meerly upon the account of one place more than another Indeed there is a common practice of some persons which is to perform their private devotions in publick places For you shall see some at their entrance into a Church or Chappel whatever publick worship is in hand fall down upon their knees or put their hats or hands before their faces and so fall to Prayer I will not call this the sacrifice of fools but I judge it very unseasonable for we should joyn with Gods people in the publick Ordinances and prefer them before any thing that we can then undertake The original of this practice was Eo proposito Dominus ●…etat in conventu or are ut à conventu videatur Chrysost Ho. 13. op im perf sup Math. a conceit that the place was more holy than their own houses and that their Prayer shall be heard there rather than at home 'T is too sad a sign they had not prayed before they came thither I am sure it favours rankly of a Pharisaical spirit for this is the fault our Saviour here rectifies which was their private praying in publick places and in opposition thereunto directs his Disciples to the duty of the Text which is to pray in their Closets SECT II. The Nature of Prayer 2. WE may hence be informed concerning the nature usefulness excellency and efficacy of the duty of Prayer I speak not now of Prayer in general but in reference to Closet-Prayer And on that account there are two Consectaries hence concerning Prayer 1. It follows that Prayer is an immediate worship of God For what hath been said shews that we have to do immediately with God yea that a man alone singly hath to do with God therein it 's different from other parts of Gods instituted worship which doth necessarily require company as in preaching of the Word there must be hearers in the seals of the Covenant as in Baptism and the Lords-Supper there must be a society such a number as may be called a Church Hence the latter is called a Communion because saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.16 17. We being many are one bread and one body But it is not absolutely or essentially requisite to Prayer that there be a society one man or woman by him or her self alone may perform this duty of Prayer as acceptably to God as if in the company of a thousand Saints We deny not the publick or private Meetings of Gods people for Prayer but withal affirm that the nature of the duty is such that it may be performed solitary and alone Hence Schoolmen distinguish of Prayer Aq. 2 2ae q. 83 Art 12. that it is either Communis or Singularis Common or Singular Both have their place and use Though they lay great stress upon Christs promise in Mat. 18.20 promising to be where two or three are met in his Name which as we deny not so we assert the force of this Prayer of a single person according to the Text We give both their due without comparisons 2. Prayer cannot be stopt in its ascent to God All the persecutors on earth cannot hinder a soul's praying This is demonstrated two wayes 1. A Child of God banisht out of all human society may pray still Suppose a man were rejected by men and ejected out of all companies of men and were shut up in the Closest Prison or shut out in the remotest Wilderness suppose a man were in the Caves and Dens of the Earth yet still he might pray and be heard according to Solomon's Prayer that If Gods People were carried captive into the Land of their Enemies far or near yet if they repented and prayed unto God towards their Land and that House of God then he begs that God would hear them and God testifies that he did hear this Prayer of Solomon 1 King 8.46 48. with chap. 9.3 The passage to Heaven is as near and open from one part of the earth as another therefore David saith he will cry to God from the end of the Earth Psal 61.2 A notable instance for this we have in Jonah he was got into the bottom of the Sea as far from Heaven locally as one could imagine into a great Fishes belly which he calls the very belly of Hell and as he was then far from men so he looks upon himself as cast out of the sight of God and he pathetically expresseth his misery and hopeless state What doth he in this doleful plight Why he will look towards Gods holy

the word is necessary and so is this nor must the one justle out the other yea these secret duties help us to profit by publick Ordinances If dung be poured down on heaps in the field it doth no good it must be spread abroad before it make fruitful ground The plaister heals not except it be applyed so the Word must be spread on our hearts by serious and secret Meditation and Application or else it will never make our souls healthful and fruitful and then we must pray over it for the showers of divine grace to wash it and work it into our hearts Many Sermons are lost for want of souls taking them home to their Closets and turning them to Prayer I fear all will be little enough that Ministers can preach or write upon this theam I doubt still this work will be either totally neglected or negligently performed it s an hard work the spirit must travel in it and saith good Mr. Bains the Saints can indure better to hear an hour than to pray a quarter yea our trifling hearts will make any excuse to shift from this duty or shuffle it off nay though it be in exchange for another a sign the work is of God and tending much to the souls good or else Satan and our corrupt hearts would never so much hinder or oppose it P●or Soul it may be thou lookest abroad and seest much wickedness committed holiness persecuted thy God dishonoured many things out of order thou wantest a capacity to bring a remedy I must therefore say to thee as it 's reported Albertus Crantzius said to ●…her when he began to oppose the Pope Frater vade in cellam die Miserere mei Deus Brother go into thy cell and say God be merciful unto me so say I. Alas thy interest and influence reacheth but a little way to mend a wicked world though thou must seek to perform as far as thy place and calling extends but go thy way to thy God in thy Closet bewail thy sins and the sins of others plead with God for thine own soul Busie thy self about thyself set all straight at home take heed of that which the poor Church complains of Cant. 1.6 They made me the keeper of the vinyards but mine own vinyard have I not kept Oh leave other things undone rather than this great matter that concerns the affairs of thine own soul Mr. Fox tells us of one Peter Moyce a German Martyr being called before the Synod at Dornick Acts mon. 2. vol. lib. 8. fol. 1●2 they began to examine him in certain Articles of Religion to whom as he was about to answer boldly and expresly to every point they interrupting him bad him say in two words Yea or Nay Then said he If you will not suffer me to answer for my self in things of such importance send me to my Prison again among my Toads and Frogs which will not interrupt me while I talk with my Lord my God Oh Christian the time may come or is already when men may stop thy mouth and will not suffer thee to witness a good confession withdraw thy self from men and retire unto thy God who will make thee freely welcom to pour out thy soul to him in secret He 'l neither stop thy mouth nor stop his car he bids thee Open thy mouth wide Psal 81.10 And he tells thee His ear is open to thy cry Psal 34.15 That cast not ask such great things as he can and will give Only see thou beest a Child of God Naturalists tell of a precious Stone of an excellent vertue yet loseth all its efficacy when 't is put into a dead mans mouth so Prayer in the lips of a Saint or a righteous man availeth much but the Prayer of the wicked is not only ineffectual but abominable to God See to your states and then see that you pray aright for manner matter end many ask and receive not because they ask amiss Above all Soul in thy secret addresses to God take heed of a trifling spirit thou'lt find most ado with thy self herein our wanton spirits are loath to be pent up in the narrow room of a spiritual performance we love to take our liberty in ranging abroad to a thousand objects but Christian as thou lovest thy peace thy Soul thy God look to thy spirit in secret Prayer Do not trifle away thy time upon thy knees let not thy words freeze as they come from thee let no discouragements beat thee off the Woman of Canaan as one saith takes the Bullets that Christ shot at her and with an humble boldness of faith sends them back again in Prayer which indeed reach'd his heart and prevailed with God for mercy But I shall inlarge no more at present but refer thee to this small Treatise wherewith I have according to my poor talent laid before thee this great duty What effect it shall have I know not my God knows in whose hands the blessing of our endeavours lyes Get alone and pray over this Book and for the unworthy sinful Author as he desires to do for thee into whose hand this may come let our Prayers daily meet at the throne of Grace till our souls meet before the throne of God if thou receivest any good by this or any other work this poor worm hath handed to thee ascribe nothing to the instrument but all to the agent and efficient our good God from whom comes every good and perfect gift disdains not the work for the plainness of the stile it was purposely put in this dress for the vulgars benefit and if it or my self be exposed to censure for that 't is welcom I write not to please learned Scholars but to profit plain Christians whose spiritual good I prefer above any credit to my self I am sure there is none due there being few of my brethren but they transcend me in parts and learning But by the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15.10 Nor is that grace altogether in vain for as it hath helped me in labours so he hath in some measure blessed my labours though I be nothing the least of Saints not meet to be called a Minister Did those that read my labours know me they would be ready to despise my undertakings this I speak because my former book hath found such good acceptance and this is so much desired And that no man think of me above what he knoweth to be in me my heart hath been near fainting through discouragements from my great weakness had I not been supported many a time with that word in 2 Cor. 4.7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the Power may be of God and not of Man Whence I gather that God can make use of weak unlearned sinful instruments to do great works and he can use persons of mean abilities to accomplish his glorious ends in converting souls as well as the profoundest Clerks or wisest men on