Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	keep_v	lord_n	sabbath_n	4,573	5	9.3555	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36374	Reform'd devotions, in meditations, hymns, and petitions, for every day in the week, and every holiday in the year divided into parts.	Dorrington, Theophilus, d. 1715.; Birchley, William, 1613-1669. Devotions in the ancient way of offices.	1687 (1687)	Wing D1946; ESTC R10442	174,240	506

swallow their unwholsome sweets then alas it is that they most undoe us by feeding the humour of our fatal disease Vain at the best and very short of duration are the enjoyments of this world and after they have flatter'd us a while they betray our neglected Souls into an eternal ruin Thou art O Lord the only Anchor of our hope O Jesu unless thou save us we perish MEDITATION II. THus are they miserably tost up and down who float on the waves of their own Passions Their wearied Souls soon faint within them when they see the Lord has withdrawn his presence They seek him but in such distraction and confusion that they cannot find him they call upon him but he gives them no answer presently And now when all their fears are grown to the height and no means appear to sustain their patience when the proud waves beat violently against them and are ready to cover their little Vessel with despair and ruin then he awakes to their help if they have persisted to call upon him though he sometimes may slumber for a while to try their duty or punish their disobedience Though he may suffer for a while the fury of the tempest to lye upon them to show them their hopeless state if left to themselves yet when they still seek and implore his help his mercy at length hears their cry and pities their fear and danger And then his blessed voice commands a Calm and immediately the Sea and stormy winds obey him immediately his Sun arises in their hearts and with its gentle beams revives their hopes Then is their darkness turn'd into light and the clouds disperst into a bright day Then they recollect their scattered thoughts and range them again in their right order Often they look back on the dangers they have escaped and as often bless the mercy that delivered them Often they look forwards on the course they hold and as often sing with joy for their happy change Welcome again they say the easie yoke of Christ and the light burthen of loving our Saviour Welcome the holy exercises of sweet Devotion welcome the easie pleasant moderate heat of Soul-enflaming Prayer Now we discern this beauteous truth O may we print it deeply in our minds That the pleasures of Piety and Vertue are pure and constant and that infinite blessings attend to reward it But the pursuit of Vice is troublesome and intricate and finishes its course in an abyss of misery MEDITATION III. TAke care then my Soul to interrupt and break off the course of Vice by a timely repentance and a sincere amendment that it may not finish in thy eternal misery If passions do sometimes invade thee let them not rest in thy mind do not give way to their settlement lest they grow into rooted habitual vices Let not frequent and abiding Anger make thee contentious and malicious If any passion has ruffled thee call on thy Saviour for his aid that the Storm may not drown thee Call earnestly and labour diligently with thy self the mean-while to get out of thy danger If he sees thee rowing hard and striving earnestly against the waves he will assist thee And remember alwaies when his Kindness has given thee seasonable relief that thou take care not to lose this unhappy experience but learn wisdom from thy former miscarriage Reflect and find out where thy Errour was what betray'd thee into this disorder and fortifie thy self against that defect Carefully avoid all the occasions of sin and the importunities of such as delight in folly Avoid the snares of kind enticing Company and the dangerous infection of evil Example Set a strict watch continually upon thine Eyes and diligently keep the door of thy Lips. Govern all thy Sences that they do not seduce the mind and observe and govern every inward motion of thy Heart and Fancy When O my Soul did we ever follow our Passions but they instantly wrought our disturbance and did threaten our ruin Suppress then all temptations in their first approach when their power is weak and thy choice is in full liberty Remember how formerly their flatteries have abus'd thee and when they counterfeit again be no more deceiv'd Never look on the face of Pleasures as they come but as they go off when they leave nothing behind them but their venomous sting Let thy experience of the miserable Effects of yielding to their allurements make thee more wary in observing and more severe in repressing their first motions So shalt thou gain the best of victories while thou masterest thy own corrupt inclinations and conquerest thy violent passions So shalt thou enjoy an universal peace Thou shalt maintain peace with the bad by bearing their injuries and with the good by conforming to their Vertues And with thy self by subduing Sence to Reason and with thy God by improving Reason with Religion Better is he that governs his own spirit than he that conquers a City PETITIONS BUT O Blessed Jesu Do thou save me or I perish I am in this world as always upon a dangerous Sea continually liable to these storms and likely to be lost by them Oh send down thy powerful Grace and bear me up against them When I am engag'd let thy great Mercy speedily rescue thy poor servant Fortifie me against all the furious Assaults of Passion and Temptation that I may be more than conquerour over them Bring it to pass O Lord that Reason and Faith and thy Love may more and more be enforced and strengthened in me As thy all-wise Providence seems to sleep sometimes and suffer storms to grow high and loud O be pleased also to hear me when I call for thou wouldst have me call and let thy favourable hand still send me seasonable relief O leave me not then to my infirmities lest the enemy of my Soul prevail against me Forsake not my miserable state when I am sinking but reach forth thy hand and keep me from drowning Suffer not my frailties to become a Custom lest I die impenitent and perish without recovery Deliver me often O Lord from the Occasions of sin succeed my watchfulness and lead me not into temptation Perfect O Dear Redeemer the work thou hast begun and cherish the good wishes thou hast sown in me that they may become rooted habits of Vertue and bring forth a plenteous Harvest of good actions to thy Praise And make O Lord I pray thee even my Passions servants to thy Grace Change my rude Anger into a severity against my self and a prudent Zeal against the sins of others Convert my fear into a timerousness to offend and an awful reverence of thy sacred Name Let all my affections be turn'd into thy Charity that my heart may desire nothing but Thee whom I may safely love with all my heart and strength whose Heaven I may greatly covet and fear no excess O Thou whose blissfull Vision is the Joy of Angels and sovereign Happiness of all thy Saints O that my

King too O Blessed Jesu and we alas thy unprofitable subjects we cannot praise thee like those thine own bright Quires above yet will humbly offer our little tribute And while with thy present goodness to us we consider thy great bounty to them the glorious hopes which we from thence conceive give our praises the more spritely accents O praise our Lord we are constrain'd to say all the powers of our Souls praise the immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise him as the Author of all their Graces praise him as the Finisher of all their Glories Praise him for the mighty Hosts of Angels whom he sets about us for the guard of our lives that they may safely keep us in all our wayes and conduct our Souls at last to their eternal home Praise him for the consecrated company of Apostles to whom he reveal'd the Mysteries of his Kingdom that they might teach us too those heavenly truths and shew us the same blest way to felicity Praise him for the generous fortitude of Martyrs whom he strengthned with courage to resist even to death that we might learn of them to hold fast our Faith and rather lose this Life than hazard the other Praise him for the eminent sanctity of Confessors whose whole design was a course of Heroick Vertue That we might raise our minds from our usual lazy slight and with a quick and active wing mount up towards Heaven Praise him for the Angelical purity of those Virgins whose Hearts he so inflam'd with his Divine Charity that they would admit no such desires as would bring upon them other cares besides those of pleasing himself alone And pray him to possess thee too with such a fervent love to him the spouse of Souls as may make thee regard with great indifferency even the best of this worlds goods Praise him for the excellent holiness of all his Saints whose lives he has moulded into so various shapes that every sort of ours might be readily furnisht with a pattern cut out and fitted for it self O praise our Lord all you powers of my Soul praise the Immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise every Person of the Sacred Deity for every person has concurr'd in these glorious works say Blessed for ever be the Eternal Father who has fixt his Angels in so high a Happiness Triumph bright Angels on your radiant Thrones and shine continually in the presence of your God Blessed for ever be the Eternal Son whose love has exalted weeds of Earth to be flowers of Paradise There as they shall Eternally grow and shine their lustre shall alwayes redound to his Glory Blessed for ever be the Eternal Spirit whose Grace prepares the Saints for Glory where every happy Saint rejoices in his own felicity and every one in the felicity of all Blessed for ever be the Undivided Trinity whose sight alone is the Heaven of Heavens O sing his praise all you the Citizens of Heaven sing all together your everlasting Hymns MEDITATION III. WHo are we born here below in the Dust and still kept down with the thoughts of this World Lord who are we that our polluted hands dare offer to thee the Incense of praise We who so often disobey thy commands and so seldom lament for our many follies Yet is praise from us thy undoubted due and we cannot neglect it without omitting our duty But because our praises alone are too low to reach the deserts of thy wondrous nature and perfect works we will in our hearty wishes call upon those to do it who are better able to praise thee O praise our Lord you pure unblemisht Angels praise him ye mighty ever-active flames Praise our Lord all you the Spirits of Just men made perfect now you are free from the heavy clogs of mortal bodies And thus they do look up my Soul and see the innumerable multitude of triumphing Spirits See how they stand all cloath'd in white robes with palms in their hands and with golden Crowns on their Heads Behold the glorious Angels fall down before the Throne and prostrate adore him that lives for ever Behold the blessed Saints lay their Crowns at his feet and on their faces adore him that lives for ever Heark how they fill that spacious temple with their Hymns while night and day they continually sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come Hallelujah Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Hallelujah Glorious art thou in creating all things glorious in preserving them in every moment of their being Glorious in governing them their several wayes glorious in appointing them their proper ends Glorious in rewarding thy Servants above their hopes glorious in punishing Sinners below their demerits Glorious art thou O Lord in all thy works but infinitely more in thine own self-blessed Essence Thus they rejoice above thus they triumph and may their joy and triumph last for ever While we who live below may as faithful Ecchoes to their praises repeat every day these few short Ends of their Seraphick Hymns Salvation to our God that sits on the Throne and the Lamb that redeem'd us with his Blood Hallelujah Blessing Honour Glory and Power be to him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Hallelujah PETITIONS O Most Glorious and Gracious God we are all so beholden to thy abundant goodness that we owe thee the utmost praises our Hearts and Lives can render O do thou excite us to endeavour and assist us to succed in the discharge of this mighty debt Open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy praise bestow upon us every divine Grace that our lives may shew forth the vertues of him that has called us from the dark to his glorious Kingdom Make us inure our selves by degrees to thankful acknowledgments and praises in this place of our banishment that we may at length be fit to sing the lofty songs of the celestial Zion O let us see thy goodness still preparing us for the blessedness of Heaven sanctifying every condition to the promoting our growth in Grace which as it will raise our hopes of the future Glory will proportionably raise our praises O let thy love dear Lord at length be pleased to take us to the fellowship of those joyes and glories which so raise the thankful praises of the happy Spirits above Bring us to that perfect state where no defect shall weaken us to that happy place where nothing shall divert us from seeing enjoying loving and praising thee for ever Grant O most merciful Saviour that as thy Blessed do without ceasing pray for thy Church below we may be ready devoutly to praise thee for them And help us Lord so to commemorate those excellent Graces and good works by which they adorn'd our holy profession as to be excited thereby and directed to practise the same Till we all meet before thy glorious Throne with one Heart and Consent

have a good or a bad Eternity and that every action tends towards the one or the other Thus kept in awe thou wilt be careful not to sin and encourag'd by the reward thou wilt strive to do well Then maist thou look up with humble confidence in our God how low soever thy afflictions depress thee Thou may'st look up to the eternal Mountains and feed thy hungry desires with this sweet hope the day will come when out of this dark world we shall joyfully ascend to that beauteous light The day will come and cannot be far off when we shall rest for ever in the bosom of Bliss MEDITATION III. HAppiest of all O Lord are they whose very business is thy sacred Service Who not only bestow an interrupted glance but steadily fix their Eyes on Thee Who are devoted to the happy Service of the Sanctuary and night and day dwell in thy presence Who not engag'd in the cares and tumults of the World spend their time in Retirement and Devotion If the Sun rise it finds them at their Masters work and when it sets leaves them at the same sweet task Every place is a Church to such consecrated Souls and every day a holy Sabbath Every object is an occasion of Piety and every accident an exercise of Vertue Do they behold the beauteous Stars they presently adore their great Creator Do they look down on the fruitful Earth they instantly begin to praise his Bounty Let War or Peace do what they will and the inconstant World reel up and down they pass through all with a ferene mind and smoothly go on their regular course looking still up to that glorious Life above and entertaining this present in hope and labour to attain it When they depart sometimes from their proper center and forsake a while their belov'd retirement 't is to approach and give light to others and enflame some cold or lukewarm hearts While they are abroad they are still with Thee and nothing can divide them from thy dear Presence When they return still Devout and Innocent thou receivest them as familiar Friends and freely admit'st them to thy secret Sweetness Thou givest them a tast from thine own full board and overflowest their hearts with the Wine of gladness Often they feel a little beam from Heaven strike gently and fill their breasts with light often that gentle light is kindled into a flame and chastly burns with pure desires Desires that still mount up and aim at Thee the supernatural center of all their hopes Oh happy state of the Reverend Clergy who empty of the World are full of God! Such shall seldom fall and quickly rise and make swift Advances in the way to Heaven They shall live in purity and dye with confidence and go to sing among the Quires of Angels PETITIONS O Gracious and eternal Wisdom and Goodness who seest and pitiest the infirmities of our nature surrounded on every side with the worst of dangers tentations to folly O guide my steps in thy safe way order every chance to prevent my falling and still lead me on towards a happy end Give me the eye and wing of an Eagle to see my danger at a distance and fly swiftly away from it If I needs must engage my Enemy and there be no means left to escape the Encounter strengthen me O Lord with thy all-powerful Grace to persevere with courage to break through all that offers to divert or stop the advance of my love to thee alone strengthen me that I may never be wanting in my fidelity to thee Convince me O blessed God into this firm judgment and make my Memory faithfully retain it whatever my Senses say to deceive me or the World to obscure so beauteous a truth That thy self alone art our chiefest good and the sight of thy glory our supream felicity Give me O thou dispenser of all things give me in this World neither poverty nor riches but feed me with food convenient for me lest perhaps being full I be allur'd to deny thee and say Who is the Lord or compell'd by want do flatter or steal or forswear the name of my God. Whatever my lot be assist me by thy Grace to submit my Will intirely to thine Assist me so to improve the Talents which thy Providence assigns me that at the great day of Account I may be receiv'd with those precious words Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into thy Masters joy Through the Merits of Jesus Christ the Mediator Glory be to c. Amen For Saturday Evening MEDITATION I. WHY do we still pursue this World and so eagerly seek its fond enjoyments A world of vanity and false deceits a world of misery and many sad disasters whose Crosses are solid and Comforts empty whose Sorrows are permanent and Delights pass quickly away A World where the innocent are often condemn'd with shame and the bold guilty acquitted with applause Where sometimes the wicked are advanc'd to honour and the vertuous are opprest with disgrace Where Friends soon fall off and Kindred forget and every one minds his own private Interest Yet are we taken with this crooked World and blindly court its ugly painted face We make some sordid Passion Mistress of our heart and neglect the pure and amiable love of Jesus whose goodness to us gives all we have whose Perfections in himself are more than we can conceive Thou art O glorious Jesu the Beauty of Angels and the everlasting Joy of all thy Saints Thou art the Heaven of Heaven it self and in thy sight alone is the fulness of Bliss All this thou art and infinitely more and yet alas how few esteem thee The World we dearly know too often has deceiv'd us and our rashness takes no care not to be undone again Thou never O Jesu hast fail'd our hope and our dulness fears to rely on thee The World distracts and embroils our spirits and wretched we delight in our misery Thou alwaies O Jesu fill'st our hearts with peace and senseless we are weary of thy happiness The World calls and we faint in eager following it thou call'st and we are still reliev'd by thee Yet is our Nature so ingratefully perverse we run after that which tires and abandon that which refreshes Sometimes our lips speak gloriously of thee O thou living Fountain of eternal Bliss Some happy times we relish thy sweetness and decry aloud the poysons of the World. But we are soon entic'd by its gilded Cup and easily forsake the Waters of Life MEDITATION II. ALL this is true and yet the World is lov'd and our nature inclines to affect its vanities 'T is lov'd and so it justly deserves to be did we understand its real value Our Life indeed seems trivial and mean and all things about us look troublesom and dangerous Yet O my God is their consequence excellent in this that they are our onely way of coming to thee This World and this alone is the Womb that breeds us

Alms with chearfulness so thou wentest about doing good and didst often relieve those that were not able to requite thee Thou hast commanded us not to fear them which can kill the Body and yielded up thine own to the death upon the Cross to do the will of him that sent thee thou wast obedient even unto death Thou hast commanded Subjection to Parents and practised it hast said Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and wrought a Miracle to pay a Tribute Thou injoynest us Mercy and Compassion and who ever exprest more than thy self Thou didst not only weep in Sympathy with the Affliction of thy Friends but also over the hard and stubborn Jerusalem that had killed thy Prophets and was ready to kill thee Thou enjoynest us to love our fiercest Enemies and thy dying breath pray'd for thy Crucifiers Thy perfect Soul did not need as our weak Natures do the outward Forms and Discipline of Religion yet thou didst conform to the observance of the common appointed Feasts and assist in the publick Duties at the Temple Thou didst watch and pray with so fervent a Zeal that thy Practice was perfectly equal to thy Precepts This Life and even Death it self our merciful Lord undertook to mark out for us the way to Heaven To beat it plain by his own sacred Steps and render our passage thither easie and secure Shall we not then O my Soul rejoycingly follow that path which we see our Saviour trod before us Which we see though spread all over with Thorns yet carried him directly to the Glories of Paradise Shall we not confidently rely on so gracious a Leader who promises if we faint to look back and relieve us MEDITATION III. MAY every Age sing Praises to our God and all Generations adore his Providence From the Beginning his Mercy has still laid means to raise us to those blessed Objects which are above our Nature At first he created Adam with all necessary knowledge and then taught the Patriarchs to inform their Families Afterwards he made use of the Angels to bring us his Commands and often inspir'd the Prophets to declare his Will. When he had done all this it was not enough to bring untoward Man to his true end What did he then to save the perishing World O strange Excess of divine Goodness He sent even his own beloved Son to dwell among us and teach us the way of Salvation the sacred Art of training up our Souls for Heaven and fitting them for the blissful Union with himself But O! thou King of glorious Sweetness whose flowing Tongue dropt Milk and Hony We were alas not happy to behold thy Person nor our Ears worthy to hear thy Voice Yet e're we were born thou hadst us in thy thoughts and didst provide a sufficient method to supply that defect selecting a number of choice Disciples and thorowly instructing them in thy heavenly Doctrine that they might keep alive the memory of thee and witness to all Nations thy stupendious works Thou didst verifie their Mission with the Power of Miracles and enflame their hearts with the fire of the Holy Spirit Over all the World they proclaim'd thy Law and undauntedly preach'd the Crucified Saviour and God. Deep in the Breasts of the Faithful did they write thy Gospel and seal it before their eyes with their own Blood. Their Successors deposited the same precious Treasure in the common Magazine of the Church The Church has been maintain'd by the mighty power of God so that the Gates of Hell have not prevail'd against her Thus is the Catholick Faith descended on us and thus shall continue to the end of the World. Blessed be thy power O Lord that has wrought such Miracles to confirm thy Truth and enclined our hearts to believe it How many Souls are miserably seduced by the Corruptions of the latter Ages and revolted to a mixture of Paganism with Christianity while we by thy good Providence are led in the right way to Happiness We are taught to direct our Homage where we cannot sin nor fail in doing it to one God by one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus the Man who also is God. How many Nations lie miserably involv'd in the darkness of Barbarism and Unbelief while we enjoy a clear noon-day and safely walk in the light of Truth O infinite Goodness who freely choosest to pour forth thy Blessings on us who are unworthy of the least Mercies As 't is from thee alone that we receive these favours to thee alone we will return our Praises PETITIONS O Christ the all-seeing Wisdom of the Eternal Father and Soveraign King of Men and Angels who from thy glorious Throne didst descend on our Earth familiarly to teach us the Oracles of Heaven O write thy sacred Instructions deep in the Table of our Hearts and suffer not at any time our Passions to break them Make us still study thee our heavenly Master and continually admire the excellent Beauty of thy Law. Let us be transform'd into an inward agreement to it by the renovation of our Minds that all our infirmities may be cured all our defects supply'd and our thoughts and words and actions conform'd to the dictates of right Reason Let thy excellent Example O Lord alwayes shine bright before our eyes and never be forgotten by us O put it often into our Hearts to reflect and say How would our Master have behaved himself in the Circumstances that we are in And what thou hast done we pray thee enable us to do Reach forth thy powerfull hand and strengthen us with thy Grace that nothing may divert us from following thee In the dangerous Labyrinth of this World and the whole course of our Pilgrimage here Lord let thy heavenly Dictates be our Map and thy holy Life our Guide And that we may be the more surely conducted to the Folds of Bliss do thou dear Lord send us Pastours after thine own Heart O illuminate all that thy Providence calls to the Sacred Office with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word possess them with a fervent Zeal to promote thy Glory and the Salvation of our Souls Give them great prudence that they may know how to manage our folly and perverseness so as notwithstanding them to do us good Make them O Lord good Examples to the Flock in Self-denial Meekness Contempt of the World in due subjection to Magistrates and Charity to all their Neighbours that they may save themselves and those that hear them And make us O Lord to encourage them by all means in their good Work to esteem them highly in love for their works sake to receive the Instructions and submit to the Reproofs which thou sendest by them Grant these things O Lord who art the great Shepherd of Shepherds and of our Souls for thine own honour Glory be to c. Amen For Wednesday Evening MEDITATION I. WEll we are now so much nearer our Grave and all the world is older