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A64958
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The cure of distractions in attending upon God in several sermons preached from I Cor. 7.35 / by Nathanael Vincent ...
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Vincent, Nathanael, 1639?-1697.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing V405; ESTC R16228
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136,768
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288
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Anger and a reward in the bosom strong wrath Prov. 21. 14. so secret confession of sin bitter mourning for it and begging forgiveness in the Name of Jesus will prevail for the pacifying of God's fiercest displeasure and the obtaining of his Love and Grace 2. There is an Attendance upon God that is Private in the Family This has been wofully sinfully shamefully neglected not only by the prophane but by them that call themselves Professors though hardly worthy of that Name Family Worship has been much press'd from the Pulpit Oh when shall it once be that every ones practise will be answerable I read not only of a Dedication of the Tabernacle and Temple but also of the Houses of the Israelites Deut. 20. 5. Psal 30. was composed at the Dedication of the House of David The Israelites justly called their Houses God's Houses And those tumultuous combined and insulting Enemies of theirs in Pride Scorn and Derision said Let us take to our selves the Houses of God in possession Psal 83. 12. Houses were dedicated to the Lord's Service Joshua says I and my House we will serve the Lord and all Israel promise the same Josh 24. 15 21. David says he will walk within his House with a perfect Heart Psal 101. 2. there be Songs of Mercy and of Judgment Indeed the voice of rejoycing and Salvation is in the Tabernacle of the Righteous Psal 118. 15. The Lord is adored and praised in the Tabernacles of them to whom he has shewed himself a God of Salvation Cornelius one of the first-fruits of the Gentiles was a devout Man and he feared God with all his House and prayed to God alway Act. 10. 2. And fearing of God implies calling upon his Name as casting off fear and restraining of Prayer are joyned together Job 15. 4. so that he prayed unto God with all his House and there is not the least reason to think that they did not pray altogether unless such kind of praying had been any where forbidden We read of a Curse and a Blessing not only upon Persons but upon Families Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the Just. Surely Families have reason to Pray against the one and that the other may rest on them And truly our Lord Jesus in that Prayer of his own making which is the great Directory for Prayer when he does instruct us to say Give us this day our daily Bread very plainly signifies that those in Families that daily Eat together ought also daily to pray together And are they only to pray together for daily Bread no they are also to Pray for the hallowing of God's Name the coming of his Kingdom and that his Will might be done on Earth as 't is done in Heaven They are to pray for the forgiveness of past trespasses and that Grace may prevent their being led into Temptation and may deliver them from Evil. You see here is ground enough for Families to give their Attendance upon God Families are the Seminaries from which both Church and State are furnished and if there were more of Devotion and Instruction and Discipline there the Church in all probability would be more pure and the State more righteously and better ordered Whereas if Families live without God in the World the Governours the Children and Servants are all usually wicked and likely to become worse and worse and the Churches Face is foul'd with odious spots and stains and the State grows more corrupt till at length 't is ripe for ruine 3. There is an Attendance upon God that is publick in the Congregation In publick Assemblies the true God is owned and honoured in the Face of the Sun and the Lord Christ is glorified Christians Assembling in his Name depending upon his Promise to be in the midst of them and to bless them He walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks Rev. 1. 13. He blesses the Ordinances himself has instituted to the enlightning purifying and Consolation of sincere Attendants on him In these Publick Assemblies Saints unite their spiritual strength in wrestling with God the Faith and holy Desires of a great many Believers together being conjunct are likely to be the more prevailing These Assemblies ought to be valued and frequented to forsake them is ill to the forsaker Hence that caution Heb. 10. 25. Not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching The breaking of solemn publick Assemblies should be an Heart-breaking thing to us and the Lord has promised to gather those that are sorrowful upon this score Zeph. 3. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn Assembly who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burthen V. There is an Attendance upon God on his own day and upon other days 1. An Attendance upon God on his own day A seventh part of our time is hallowed by the fourth Commandment Six days are for Labour a seventh for Rest from that Labour and that we may have leisure with greater seriousness to attend upon God The great Creator having made the World in six days rested on the seventh and appointed it for a Sabbath and blessed it And the Apostle tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ the great Redeemer is entred into his Rest having ceased his own works as God did from his and therefore there remains a rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a keeping of a Sabbath to the People of God Heb. 4. 9 10. As the Jewish Sabbath was kept in Commemoration of the Lord 's resting from Creation so the Christian Sabbath is to be observed in Commemoration of Christ who is over all God blessed for ever his resting from the work of Redemption it is in him that we have rest by Faith at present and hope for a blessed glorious and everlasting Rest in Heaven The day that Christ rose was the day on which he rested for his lying in the Grave was not his rest but part of his Humiliation and that was the first day of the Week On this Christian Churches assembled for Worship Acts 20. 6 7. The Apostle was at Troas seven days We read not a word being among Christians that he solemnly Worshipt on the seventh day but upon the first day of the Week the Disciples came together to break Bread Upon this day Christians being assembled together Collections were made for good Uses at Corinth and in the Churches of Galatia 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Nay this is called the Lord's Day Rev. 1. 10. Now as the Lord's Supper is a Supper of the Lord's Institution so the Lord's Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a day of the Lord 's appointing and ordaining The prophanation of this Christian Sabbath has been punished with remarkable Judgments The Ordinances administred thereon have been owned and blessed to the Conversion and Confirmation of
of their Father they will do He is an hater of God and so are they All wicked Men are alienated from God and Enemies in their Minds by wicked works they dislike him and his Service they get out of his ways and turn aside out of his paths and say Cause the holy One of Israel to cease from before us Isa 30. 11. they care not to hear to think of this holy One they cannot abide to walk in his holy ways Now if love to God be the first and great Command how great a sin must the hatred of God be called and how unfit are they to be admitted hereafter into his glorious Presence and Kingdom who now say unto God depart from us Most worthy they are to be sent away from him with his Curse and to be sentenced to that everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels whom they resemble in hating of God and with whom they have joyned in rebelling against him 2. They are to be reproved who account Attendance upon God needless The Mind of Man appears to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 void of Judgment in determing what things are mainly to be minded Things that are vanity and vexation of Spirit what pains are taken to get them what care is taken to keep them The one thing needful is neglected as if it were the only thing unnecessary The Heathen Poet cryed out O curas hominum O quantum est in rebus inane The Care of Man about empty things how injudicious is it Time can be found for every thing but the making provision for Eternity and yet the providing for Eternity is the main thing to be done in time and time was given chiefly for the doing of this Are these to be our great enquiries What shall we eat and drink and wherewith shall we be cloathed and adorned How shall we heap up wealth and gratifie our selves with sensual pleasures How shall we live plentifully our selves and leave abundant substance to Posterity Certainly there are matters of far greater importance and necessity to be regarded The truly grand Enquiries are of another Nature How shall sin be pardoned and the Wrath of God appeased How shall the Heart be changed and made a new one and the Soul that is so precious saved How shall God be attended on and served and glorified so as to be enjoyed and eternal blessedness attained in the Enjoyment of him Attendance upon God is no more to be accounted needless than eternal happiness is needless than the loss of a Soul more valuable than the whole World is to be esteemed a small matter 3. They are to be reproved who look upon attendance on God as a weariness and grievous In following and trudging after Mammon they are unwearied How swift and many are the steps in the way to Earthly Delights and Treasure They rise up early sit up late rack their Wits grow Lean with Care for the things of the World and they are not grudging at all this Toil and Labour But when they come to wait upon God time moves very slowly a quarter seems longer than an hour Duties are tedious to them they are loth to begin and assoon as they have begun they do not wish for Communion with God or that they themselves might be better'd but that their Duties were at an end The Prophet is very sharp against them who despised the Table of the Lord and look'd upon the fruit and meat of it contemptible and they said behold what a weariness it is Mal. 1. 12 13. God is weary of such unwilling Services as yours are Isa 1. 13 14. Bring no more vain Oblations they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them And as he is weary of your services so he quickly may be weary to bear you and he may count it a comfort to be rid of you Ezek. 5. 13. Thus my anger shall be accomplished and I will cause my Fury to rest upon them and I will be comforted and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my Zeal when I have accomplished my Fury in them We read of some that were weary of Sabbaths the Ordinances then administred were to them no priviledges and when will the Sabbath be gone was their Language Amos 8. 5. but ver 7. the Lord swares he would not forget their works and he threatens ver 11. to send a Famine in the Land not a Famine of Bread nor athirst for Water but a Famine of hearing the words of the Lord And how unlikely were they ever to be saved from whom even the means of Salvation were taken away 4. They are to be reproved who are sinfully ashamed or afraid to attend upon God Some Ages are so degenerate that Religion grows exceedingly out of fashion and contempt of God and prophaneness is the thing that is al-a-mode When great Men think it below them to be good and Policy contemns Piety when the vilest Men are exalted and wickedness grows into credit when Judgment is turned away backward and Justice standeth afar off when Truth is fallen in the Streets and Equity cannot enter and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey Isa 59 14 15. then this fear and shame that I am speaking against is apt to prevail But why should any be ashamed to own themselves Servants to the greatest and best of Lords Is not he glorious in Holiness Are not his Precepts concerning all things to be esteemed right Are not all those ways false that lead from him Has he not said Those that honour me I will honour and those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2. 30. Christ will be ashamed of them at the great day who are ashamed of him and of his Word before a perverse and wicked Generation And why should any be afraid to attend upon that mighty Lord who does according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and all the Inhabitants of the World are reputed as nothing before him Dan. 4. 35. Attenders upon God should banish the fear of Man for God has evil Men and evil Angels in a Chain and his sincere Servants under his own keeping Those who are afraid of Man that shall dye forget the living God and their Duty towards him and how able he is to protect them in the faithful discharge of it 5. They are to be reproved who attend upon God that they may cover and cloak their wicked and worldly and selfish designs They put on a form of Godliness but 't is the better to hide their wickedness They are for external Worship but when they seem to seek after God most of all they are nothing at all but self-seekers and Religion is most unworthily made subservient to secular Interest Thus the Birds of Prey when they soar highest towards Heaven have their Eyes still downwards towards the Earth to see what they may seize on there But what abominable Hypocrisie