Selected quad for the lemma: world_n
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A26126
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The Christian physician by Henry Atherton, M.D.
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Atherton, Henry, M.D.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing A4112; ESTC R35287
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159,440
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417
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hath vouchsafed to thee in the whole course of thy Life whether Spiritual or Temporal And here seeing Gods Mercies are like himself infinite it will be impossible for me to set down any definite number of them and therefore I shall leave it to every particular person to make his own Collection and Observation But certainly the Spiritual Advantages will be very great to intermix the remembrance of Gods Mercies with the remembrance of his own Sins especially at such a time of Humiliation it will conduce much to the augmenting of his sorrow and contrition for sin for when the pious Soul shall thus reason with himself Lord I have daily provoked thee to displeasure by my sinful and wicked Life though thou hast followed me day by day with thy Mercies I have crucified my Blessed Saviour afresh and put him to an open shame though he thought it not too much to suffer such great things and at last to die for me to rescue me from everlasting Damnation I have grieved thy holy Spirit by my frequent Oppositions of his blessed Motions who would have led me to Repentance and hath often courted and invited me to it and when I have run wilfully into Sin O what earnest solicitations hath he made unto me to forbear Thus and thus O Lord hast thou done for me but yet what unworthy returns have I made for all this love of thine O my Soul canst thou think of this without remorse Canst thou forbear condemning thy self and justifying God And to say Thou O Lord art Righteous but I am Vile and Wicked thy ways are upright and equal but mine very crooked and unequal thou hast not dealt with me after my Sins nor rewarded me according to my Iniquities This was the Method that God himself took with David to work him to a true Compunction of Spirit after he had been guilty of Adultery and Murder 2 Sam. 12.7 8. where you have God reckoning up the Mercies he had confer'd on David I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy Bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things which in the 13. v. made him with sorrow of heart confess that he had sinned So in Deut. 32.6 Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee hath not he made thee and established thee Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Directions for Saturday THings of great moment are never so well performed as when there hath some preparation gone before to usher them in Hence it is that we read John 19.31 of the preparation of the Passover which was the day before it was to be celebrated and Mark 15.42 of the preparation of the Sabbath Moses taught the People over Night to remember the Sabbath Exodus 16.23 and our Saviour himself sends Peter and John before-hand to prepare the Passover Luke 22.8 Here is a memorandum annex'd to this Commandment which is not to any other as if God had said Remember before-hand to keep holy the Sabbath day A Man must not think he can step from his Shop-board or his Plough or his Recreations into the Church and perform a Sacrifice well pleasing to God Alass our hearts are so corrupt and our memories so tenacious of the vanities and things of this World that it is no easie matter to give them a dismission and I fear when we have done our utmost even our best preparations are very mank and imperfect and certainly I cannot easily be induced to be lieve that he designs to sanctifie the Sabbath who without some manifest and necessary hindrance doth not make some preparation for it before it comes You may therefore in order to it make use of this following Method The Forenoon and till Three in the Afternoon which if I mistake not was the beginning of the preparation of the Sabbath among the Jews you may spend as you do other days only it may be your care so prudnetly to dispose of your common Affairs that they may be about that time at an end The remaining part of the day and till you betake your self â—o rest which should be earlier than on â—â—her days that you and your Family may rise the earlier the next Morning â—ou cannot do better than spend in priâ—ate Prayer for Devotion Sincerity â—aith Thankfulness and other Graces which are fit for the Actions of the following day or that you find your self â—o stand in need of or in publick Prayâ—rs in the Church if there be any as 〈◊〉 is great pity there should not in reading the Scripture or some other good Book in Meditation and the like holy Exercises In the close of your Evening Devotions desire God to fit and prepare you for the great business of the ensuing day that he will banish all vain and and worldly Thoughts Desires and Cares that he will fill thy Soul with Affections suitable to thy Duty that so lying down in his fear and being awak'ned to the Comforts of the succeeding day thy Soul may be affected with the Majesty of it and thy Mouth filled with his praise that he will abstract thy thoughts from all the Vanities and Concerns of this World and sublime them to a higher degree of Purity that so beginning his day in his fear thou may'st wholly spend it in his Service and end it in his favour to the Glory of his great Name the discharge of thy Duty the comfort of thy Soul here and everlasting Happiness hereafter in and through Jesus Christ Having thus prepared thy self thou may'st not fear to want the Assistance of Gods Spirit in the Duties of the following day which though thou art not so strictly able to perform as God requires yet thou mayst do it so as he will be pleased to accept in and through Jesus Christ Directions for the Lords Day AS soon as you are awaked in the Morning lift up your Soul to God by some Devout Ejaculations or short Prayer and say This is the day which the Lord hath made I will be glad and rejoyce in it Psal 118.24 Grant That as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so I also may walk in newness of Life Rom. 6.4 Because thou livest I shall live also Joh. 14.19 Thanks be to God who hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live with him 1 Thess 5. â— 10. Knowing that he which raised up â—he Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus 2 Cor. 4.14 and shall present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Jude 24. Glory be to God on high on Earth peace good will towards Men Luk. 2.14 Thou art my God and I will
Amen A Prayer for Grace out of the Whole Duty of Man O Most Gracious God from whom every good and perfect gift commeth I wretched creature that am not able of my self so much as to think a good thought beseech thee to work in me both to will and to do according to thy good pleasure O inlighten my mind that I may know thee and let me not be barren or unfruitful in that Knowledge Lord work in my heart a true faith a purifying hope and an unfeigned love towards thee give me a full trust on thee zeal for thee reverence of all things that relate unto thee make me fearful to offend thee in any thing careful to please thee in all things thankful for thy mercies humble under thy corrections devout in thy service sorrowful for my sins and grant that in all things I may behave my self so as befits a creature to his Creator a servant to his Lord Enable me likewise to perform that duty I owe to my self Give me that meekness humility and contentedness whereby I may always possess my Soul in patience and thankfulness Make me diligent in all my duties watchful against all temptations perfectly pure and temperate and so moderate in my most lawful enjoyments that they never become a snare to me Make me also O Lord to be so affected towards my Neighbour that I never transgress that Royal Law of thine in loving him as my self Grant me exactly to perform all parts of Justice yielding to all whatsoever by any kind of right becomes their due and give me such bowels of mercy and compassion that I may never fail to do all acts of Charity to all Men whether Friends or Enemies according to thy Command and Example Finally I beseech thee O Lord to sanctifie me throughout that my whole Spirit and Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory for ever Amen Here you may also pray more particularly for those graces you have found your self most of all to stand in need of better forms for which I can not advise you to thâ—n those contained in the Book of that Excellent Author The whole Duty of Man where you have devout Prayers for all those particular Graces which a Christian can stand in need of These Prayers being over spend some time again in Reading and Meditation afterwards having before prayed for your self you are next in Charity bound to pray for others also being as members of the same mystical body the Church which you may do in this or the like Form A Prayer of Intercession O Most gracious Lord who so tenderly lovedst Mankind as to give thy dear Son out of thy bosome to be a propitiation for the Sins of the whole World grant that the effect of this redemption may be as universal as the design of it that it may be to the Salvation of all O Let no person by impenitence and wilful Sin forfeit his part in it but by the power of thy Grace bring all even the most obstinate sinners to repentance Inlighten all that sit in Darkness all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks take from them all blindness hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord unto thy Fold that they may be saved among the number of the true Israelites And for all those upon whom the Name of thy Son is called grant O Lord that their conversations may be such as becometh the Gospel of Christ that his Name be no longer blasphemed among the Heathens through us O blessed Lord how long shall Christendom continue the vilest part of the World a sink of all those abominable pollutions which even Barbarians detest O let not our profession and our practice be always at so wide a distance Let not the disciples of the holy and immaculate Jesus be of all others the most profane and impure Let not the Subjects of the Prince of Peace be of all others the most contentious and bloody but make us Christians in deed as well as in Name that we may walk worthy of that holy vocation wherewith we are called and may all with one mind and one mouth glorifie thee the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Have mercy on this languishing Church and sinful Nation look down from Heaven the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory Where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards us Are they restrained Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever but though our backslidings are many and we have grievously rebelled yet according to all thy goodness let thy anger and thy fury be turned away and cause thy Face still to shine upon thy Sanctuary which is in danger to be desolate for the Lord's Sake do thou compose our differences heal the wounds which our unhappy schisms and divisions have made in thy Church and make up the breaches of our Sion and so separate between us and our sins that they may no longer separate between us and our God Avert those heavy judgments which we either fear or feel and our sins cry aloud to Heaven for and deny us not the continuance of those mercies which we yet enjoy and are altogether unworthy of but whatever temporal mercies thou art pleas'd to deny us whatever temporal judgments thou art pleased to bring upon us O remove not thy Candle-stick from us nor quench the light of our Israel but blessed Lord be pleased still to continue unto us the liberty of thy House the freedom of thy Gospel the injoyment of thy Sabbaths Sacraments and Ordinances in their primitive purity and regularity until time shall be no more Save and defend all Christian Kings Princes and Governours especially thy Servant Charles our King and those to whom we owe subjection Plead thou their cause O Lord against those that strive with them and fight thou against those that fight against them and so guide and assist them in the discharge of that Office whereunto thou hast appointed them that under them we may live quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty Bless them that wait at thy Altar by what Names or Titles dignified and distinguished whether Arch Bishops Bishops or other inferiour Clergy Grant that they may all speak as the Oracles and live as the Messengers of God that so they may both save themselves and those that hear them More especially be gracious unto thy Servants Here you may insert the Bishop of the Diocese your Parochial Minister the Authors of good Books yet living or any that have been instrumental to your conversation Pour down a double portion of thy Spirit into their hearts make them eminent Instruments for thy glory Let them turn many from their wicked ways unto thee the living God and hereafter let them shine as Stars of the Firmament in thy Kingdom O