Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	believe_v	faith_n	holy_a	10,213	4	5.4982	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13083	True happines, or, King Dauids choice begunne in sermons, and now digested into a treatise. By Mr. William Struther, preacher at Edinburgh.	Struther, William, 1578-1633.	1633 (1633)	STC 23371; ESTC S113854	111,103	162

the Sabbath calling it a loss of the seventh part of their time But it was their best spent time sanctified all their other daies Then their new man dealeth freely with God and all the gifts of the spirit poure themselves out on him Then they feele the beginnings of life eternall which maketh the time seeme shorter than it is indeed For the more wee enjoy a desired good the more time we crave for that enjoying so that a long time seemeth short And againe when an hatefull ill sticketh to us a short time seemeth long hours are as dayes dayes as moneths and moneths as years Hereof commeth the wearinesse of the profane for the shortest houre of worship tormenteth them Their fleshly passions are bound in stocks they know not God and the signes of his presence are terrible to them And yet these same men count whole daies but short for their drunkennesse in tavernes and in brothels they joyne nights to daies and daies to nights as though all time were too short to measure out their vanitie But this will bee the end of all when at death wee looke backe to our time wee shall have most comfort of these dayes wee have spent in the Sanctuarie in seeking happinesse and shall put these chiefly in our Almanack for one day in thy house is better than a thousand elsewhere SECT VII The marrow of true happinesse That I may see the beautie of the Lord. THis is the end why hee desireth to dwell in the Sanctuarie and that is two-fold in the fruition of Gods goodnesse and continuance in that fruition wherein consisteth the happinesse he desireth This fruition is to behold the beauty of the Lord wherein are two things the beautie it selfe and beholding For the knowledge of this beautie we shall first remove two false Glosses and then follow the truth The first is of some Papists who place this beautie in the stately and costly building of their Temple Herein they follow the Jewes devoted to the externall showes their religion is all for them and seeing they cannot fill the hearts of people with the power of doctrine they will fill their eyes with stately buildings and pompous ceremonies So their Cardinals advised Paul 3. that in the decay of their authoritie they would make the world admire them by building and busking stately temples The statelinesse of the temple of Jerusalem was extraordinary both because it was in the time of a carnall service and a type of the Church under Christ the beautie whereof was not in gold and silver as Malachie expresseth but in that the desire of all nations came therein But some faile on the other extreme and have no more care to the houses of God than to common houses yea it may be seene that many barns and stables are more stately in the Parish than Gods house This argueth a brutish mis-regard of God and of his worship which is justly fruitlesse in them Churches ought indeed to bee comely as houses set apart to God But that necessarie comelinesse is not this beautie of the Lord that wee require the beautie of houses is not in marble The second is worse and placeth this beautie in Images So the Fathers of the second Nicene Councell such a Councel such Fathers thought them the beautie of the Sanctuarie But the Scripture calleth images abominations and the shame of the Sanctuarie And when the Jewes brought the Idols of Israel and Thammuz or Osiris the God of Egypt in their temple God departed from them When the Pagans charged the Christians of the first ages that their Oratories had no images Origen and other Apologists tooke with the challenge and gave the reason that God whom they worshipped was invisible and infinite and therefore neither could nor would be represented by images From the Apostles time till images were brought in the Church there was a sufficient body of doctrine though with some declination but after that the Cleargy turned more blockish and ignorant than images Let them be called the bookes of the Laicks but such as turne the Laicks in stockes and stones because they are the teachers of lies and vanities for they leave their mindes in as base estimation of the thing they represent as of themselves The beautie of the Lord in the Sanctuarie is to be taken first of God himselfe and then of his worke with his people God is the beautie of beauties and all these things which we call beautifull excellent glorious perfect c. in the creatures are but names and shadowes of the truth of these things that are in him He alone is being without beginning and giveth being to all and sustaineth them in that being He is life it selfe without inliving and yet quickening and inliving all What ever wee consider to be excellent as wisedome puritie goodnesse power c. are all in him primely perfectly and unitely howsoever to our mindes and experience they be diverse He is great without quantitie good without qualitie Every where but included in no place without localitie and yet excluded no place A fountaine without a veine but running out in a continuall source communicating substance life induements of both to all creatures in such plenty as proveth his riches and in such diversitie to make up the beautie of the creature that hee the Authour thereof may be seene most bountifull How beautifull is that Unitie in Trinity and Trinity in Unity The Father begetting the Sonne begotten and the holy Spirit proceeding from both the Father the beginning working all in the Sonne and that by the holy Spirit a mysterie to be adored but not searched beleeved by faith but not discussed by reason Herein Christ Jesus the fairest among men is to be considered in whom the Church taketh boldnesse to seeke her happinesse with God he is that eternall Sonne of the eternall Father and came downe full of grace and truth to save us As God he is equall with the Father and the Spirit As man he is most beautifull of all creatures In him dwelleth all fulnesse even the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily and because of the personall union his humane nature exalted above all principalities and powers is adored by them He is most beautifull because of wisedome in preaching righteousnesse in remission of sinnes Sanctification in conversing with sinners Redemption in suffering for sinners And because through him only we take boldnesse to approch to God for who durst commit himselfe to so great a Majestie without his mediation But while we speake of him we faile and suffice not But most of all he is the beautie of beauties if wee consider him in his passion For though the world contemne him in that state yet he is our delight because he suffered these things for us This then is the first thing that we should doe when wee enter into the Sanctuarie to take up with the light

earthen vessels that the excellencie of the power may be seene to be of God and not of man Yet it is their glorie and happinesse to be Gods instruments in bringing others to happinesse They have his assistance first because of their calling for God is never lacking to his owne ordinance Next because of their gifts which are a greater token of his presence than their simple calling Thirdly and most by sanctification when they sanctifie their persons and gifts for the worke and remove all things from them that may either offend God or his people and this is it that disposeth them for the manifestation of spirit and power The ministration of Sacraments is a part of this beautie The first giveth us the life of God the second nourisheth that life in us The first meeteth us with provision at our entrie in the valley of teares The second strengtheneth us for temptations in it Baptisme is our first Sacrament and scarcely are we borne naturally when we are borne againe spiritually Gods grace prevening our wit our will and our worth and sealing us before wee be sensible It is a prevening of sathans malice to marke us with the seale of the covenant ere he can abuse us to any actuall sinne Therein great workes are acted with little shew the death buriall aud resurrection of Christ is there represented Our Iustification death buriall and resurrection with him are there acted Therein the sonnes of Adam are made the sonnes of God The children of wrath are made heires of the kingdome of heaven What grace from eternall ordained us prevening grace as a midwife bringeth out By our first birth we increase the number of mankinde By our second birth wee increase the Church The grace of election griped us in eternitie the grace of Baptisme gripeth us in time by the beginnings and the grace of effectuall calling pulleth us fully to God As elect children receive the seeds of grace in Baptisme so in time they break out fully in them In our election though wee were in God yet we were neither in our selves nor sensible of that his choising grip In our Baptisme we are in our selves but not sensible of his working In our calling both wee are and are sensible of the worke of his grace in us The Sacrament of the Lords supper is another part of this beautie He gave us life in Baptisme and feedeth it conveniently in the Supper as a life for eternitie He is both our life and the food of it Neither can that life live without him neither can any thing beside him nourish it It is a precious food and dearely prepared He prepared it on the crosse when he suffered the punishment for our sinnes and giveth it to us in that Sacrament as that Manna that tasteth to every man according to his desire He is with these mysteries both sacramentally and spiritually and with us spiritually to make us one with him not by mixture of substances but by union of spirits for our eating of him is our biding in him To eat his flesh and drinke his bloud is not horrour but honour Because wee eat him spiritually we need not prepare our teeth but our minde for it is not the food of the belly but of the minde and our beleeving is our eating He both feedeth us with himselfe and is fed by our profit and increase in his grace refreshing us with his spirituall joy and rejoycing for our spirituall profit Our repentance our love and amendment are his meat We are eaten when we are reproved set over when we are instructed Wee are concocted when wee are changed We are digested when we are transformed and united when we are conformed to him Then wee eat him when we dissolve in the sense of his love When his heart sendeth out that love that pierced it before the souldiers speare Then our heart is drawen to his and sucketh his heart in us we thrust the tongue of our desire into his wounds drinke largely out of them The mother suffereth not her deare babe more lovingly to lay the mouth to her pap than he suffereth us to lay our heart to his We see his heart more gladned for the glorie of God in our salvation than grieved for the wounds and therein the love of God who from eternall loved us in Christ to such a happinesse This is a drunkennesse without sinne an excesse without fault He thinketh strange things and seeth wonderfull things and speaketh unheard things who is full of this Paschall Lamb and of this beautie of the house of God Thus much for Pastours worke as they are Gods mouth to his people They are the peoples mouth to God in prayer and praise the two tables of Gods immediat worship and a great part of this beautie In prayer all adore God as the fountaine of happinesse Therein we acknowledge our miserie in sinne and punishment and send up our faithfull desire for pardon Againe the good that wee want as holinesse righteousnesse and happinesse it selfe we crave in confidence There is no part of Gods worship wherein wee be more sensible of the Trinitie The Father as the fountaine the Sonne as Mediatour in whose hand wee put up our prayers and the holy Spirit helping our infirmities and making us pray with groanes that cannot be expressed It is the sweetest exoneration of our heart for when it is oppressed with griefe or bound up in the owne hardnesse of senselesnesse if we get libertie to powre it out before the Lord wee finde a wonderfull release and God powring in joy for the griefe we powred out In the multitude of the thoughts of my heart thy comforts sustained me It is a worke of Gods grace in us for those whom he hath chosen to them he hath appointed all the blessings that follow election and so among the rest he giveth them the spirit of prayer to crave the performance of his promise By his grace they draw neere to that throne of grace by the way that Christ hath made new by his bloud and Christ who purchaseth accesse provideth also a successe to receave grace for help in time of need The more wee grow in grace the more wee are inlarged with confidence Thereof it is that wee both love more ardently and pray more confidently for that we want Privat prayers have greater libertie to feele and expresse these divine operations and is the diet that most nourisheth us but the prayers in the sanctuarie have their great fruit Therein all the prayers of the Saints are joyned with us to make an onset on God This is an holy violence wherin he delighteth It was not a reproofe of Moses Suffer mee to destroy this people but a commendation of his zeale for Gods glorie in the salvation of Israel and a professing that he cannot resist the earnest prayers of his owne He is liberty it selfe and