Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	body_n	earth_n	soul_n	16,341	5	5.1635	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90999	Euchologia: or, The doctrine of practical praying. By the Right Reverend Father in God, John Prideaux, late Bishop of Worcester. Being a legacy left to his daughters in private, directing them to such manifold uses of our Common Prayer Book. As may satisfie upon all occasions, without looking after new lights from extemporal flashes.	Prideaux, John, 1578-1650.	1655 (1655)	Wing P3425; Thomason E1515_1; ESTC R209505	69,265	323

his brother Esaus coming with four hundred men against him he betakes himself to this effectual personal prayer dictated to him by feare upon the present occasion O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaak thou Lord which saidst unto me return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee I am not worthy of thy mercies and all thy truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staffe I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two hands Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my brother Esau for I feare him lest he should come and smite mee with the mother upon the children Gen. 32 6. Thus wrestled he with God and obtained a blessing and thus must all that generation of them doe that seek him even of them that seek thy face O Jacob. What was St. Psal 24.6 Pauls thorne in the flesh that buffeted him into humiliatie Cor 12.9 nonewas sensible of but himself but what remedie doe we find he used to take it off no other but personal praier For this thing saith he I besought the Lord that it might depart from me and the return he received from God was most gracious My Grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weaknesse In these and the like practices of Piety you have Samplers my daughters how to fit your selves with personal prayers upon any private occurrences Bosome sins peculiar temptations and secret defects are incident to the best and none knowes so well where a fair shooe wrings as hee that weares it In such cases therefore the urgency of the matter will quickly frame a form correspondent to our desires vexed and barren Hannah needed not a prompter besides the bitternesse of her soul to teach her thus to pray unto the Lord O Lord of hosts if thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man-child 1 Sam. 1.11 then will I give him unto the Lord all the dayes of his life I need not relate how well this prayer took the story of Samuel being so well known From Esthers trembling at the hazardous venture shee made upon majestick Ahasucrus and the importance of the suit shee had in hand we have this pertinent prayer Esth 14.3 O my Lord thou only art our king helpe me desolate woman who have no helper but thee for my danger is in mine hand O thou mighty God above all vers 4. hear the voice of the forlorn vers 4. and deliver us out of the hand of the mischievous and deliver mee out of my feare This prayer howsoever Apocriphal the calamities of these times have made in a sort Canonical The dangers are not unslike all upon the point to be lost and no hopes of redress but by publick and private prayers deliberate and occasional which need not justle one the other but duly take their turnes in their several places Extemporal and personal conceptions upon private occasions which are too often emergent we must commend and be stored with but in publick Assemblies where Gods people come together not only to hear that whereby they may be instructed but especially to confesse their sinnes and to professe their faith and give God thanks with their own mouthes in an uniforme manner for all his blessings and to ask those things which shall be requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul not only for themselves but for their brethren wheresoever dispersed present or distressed in such publick devotions young men and maidens Psal 148.12 old men and children every one according to his abilitie must act their proscribed parts with the Minister and Praise the Name of the Lord. All must joyne in saying Almighty and most mercifull Father we have erred and strayed from thy waies like lost sheepe All answer the Ministers entrance O Lord open thou our lips and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise All stand up and professe with him leading the way I Believe in God the Father Almightie Maker of Heaven and Earth For was not the Hosanna of the children in the Temple Mat. 21.16 justified by our Saviour against those that would have none heard in the Church but themselves And why may not the Congregation joyne as well with the Minister in praying as in singing or to speak to the point in prayers in prose in a set form as consonantly as in a set form of prayers in verse must they come together to admire or censure their Ministers gifts and performe nothing themselves And is there such antipathy betweene Religious preaching to men and publick set prayers to God that they may not stand both together and the one the better for the other Men as religious and judicious heretofore as for ought wee find now are have determined otherwise whom you may do well to follow till you are convinced with better reasons then have yet beene produced CHAP. II. Of Houshold or Prayers in Family IF any provide not for his own and especially those of his own house or kindred that belong to him saith the Apostle hee hath denied the faith 1 Tim. 5 88 and is worse than an infidel Now if this be required in matters temporal why should it not be urged more earnestly in cases spirituall by how much heaven is to be preferred before earth and the soule before the body For except the Lord build the house Ps 127.1 the labour is but lost of them that build it as except the Lord keepe the city the watchman waketh but in vain labor and wake and toile we may early and late and eat the bread of carefulnesse and be never the nearer Psalm 90. except the glorious Majestie of the Lord our God be upon us to prosper the workes of our hands and impart successe and sleep to his beloved Those house-keepers therfore that expect the blessings of the marriage Psalme so pertinently used in our leiturgie upon them and theirs Psal 128. must be carefull as Abraham was to have them religiously instructed and well chatechized as those three hundred and eighteen were Gen. 14.14 with whom he routed the four Eastern victorious Kings and recovered the spoiles they had taken And this God makes a motive for communicating to him his purpose in the ensuing destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha And the Lord said Gen. 18.19 Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do c. For I know that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall kee the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment The fruit of which houshold Instruction we find afterwards in the prayer and faithfulnesse of his chiefest servant whom he sent into Mesopetamia to fetch a wife for his son Isaac The prayer of the Servant is very remarkable O Lord of my

humble Supplicants and dismisse them with the Seal of Amen set to their just requests You cannot therefore my Daughters be ignorant what to pray for or what to decline as impertinent to your Devotions being so compendiously instructed by our Saviours owne heavenly Directory It will do well therefore in the next place to take some notice what Gestures in our Prayers may be most conveniently used CHAP. IV. Of External Gestures beseeming Religious Devotions HOwsoever Superstition as praying in an unknown tongue upon Beads before a Crucifixe or the like be as wild Goards 2 Kin. 4.40 that throwne in among good herbs makes the pottage deadly yet a distinction must be ever made between that and due reverence This is required not only of the mind but also of the Body Exod. 4.5 Josh 5.15 Moses and Joshuah must put off their shooes when they approach near to have conference with God Job Job 42.6 that was somewhat too forward upon his integrity when the Lord had schooled him was quickly brought to professe that he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes And it may well be thought that the heavy doome pronounced against the Intruder at the Kings Marriage Supper for his Son Mat. 22.13 without a Wedding garment was especially inflicted upon him for his irreverence in that behalf For would an earthly Prince endure a Tradesman invited by him to a Feast to come regardless out of his shop in his worst Apparrel without respect of the Person or place or honor of his Superiour that vouchsafed so much to owne him Joseph must not be presented to Pharaoh without trimming Gen. 41.74 and changing his rayment And what adoe was there with the Purification of the Virgins Esth 2.12 before they were thought fit to come into Ahasuerus his presence To this purpose God himself lessoneth grieved Aaron for the unexpected death of his two rash sons Nadab and Abihu I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified It is a plot of Satan to brand due reverence of the body with the scandal of Superstition Bowing at the name of Jesus standing up at the Creed kneeling at the Receiving of the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper must be held with some Superstitious to smel of Popery as though it were too much for him that created the body aswel as the soul to have the due reverence from both And because Papists are too peevish in over acting we should performe nothing at all That mean therefore must be kept between warrantable Ceremonies and superstitious fooleries that in detesting the one wee prove not profane in the other Herein our Church hath been very careful and judicious in giving a reason of Ceremonies in a Preface to our Leiturgy why some be abolished and some retained which those that dislike will dislike any thing that comes not out of the forge of their owne fancies and that most commonly as our fashions endures no longer then the starting up of another whimzy whose noveltie takes more with the people Jude such clouds without water fruitlesse trees raging waves of the sea foaming out their owne shame gifts without grace shifts withont blushing drifts without the least touch of conscience and Christianity our late experience hath taught us how ruinous they prove to Church and Commonwealth The smarts whereof should rather make us to recollect our selves and recover that we have lost both in external and internal Devotions then to proceed in such dangerous wayes which in the end must needs undo us for this falleth in with that of the Prophet Jer. 18.15 16 17. Because my people have forgotten me they have burnt Incense unto vanity and they have caused them to stumble in their wayes from the ancient paths to walk in paths in a way not cast up to make their Land desolate and a perpetual hissing Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and wag his head But mark the issue if timely repentance prevent it not I will scatter them as with an East wind before the enemy I will shew them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity Amendment therefore for the present and prevention for the future will prove at this time especially more seasonable then complaints for that which is past and cannot be recalled That which the Apostle requireth 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and in order is of a large extent and hath a more evident reflex in our devotions upon the outward postures of our body then the inward affection of the mind Such Gestures therefore as these 1. Casting our eyes on the earth and smiting our brests as unworthy to behold heaven by reason of our false-hearted exorbitancies 2. Standing up at the Creed in token of our free profession of it and resolution ever to stand to it 3. The lifting up of our eyes and hands to heaven as to the Mercy-Seat of that only God to whom only our prayers are to bee directed 4 Strong cryes and tears Heb 5.7 which make our Supplications prevalent with him that puts them in his bottle and is able to save us from death provided they be as well meant as they are oftentimes expressed 5. Bowing of the head and body 6. Kneeling on the knees 7. Prostrating our whole body upon the earth have pattern and warrant in Scripture and may be used of us in our private or publick devotions as variety of occasions shall be offered 1 For casting down the eyes to the earth as unworthy to look on heaven and smiting his brest Luk. 18.13 were the penitent Publicans postures that went home more justified thereby then the self-pleasing vaunting Pharisee 2. Ps 106.30 Phineas stood up and prayed therewith executing judgment the word bears both senses and so the plague ceased Judg. 3 26 Eglon the fat King of Moab had so much goodness in him as to rise from his seat when he was to hear a Message from God And may Christians hold it superstitious to rise up reverently when their Faith is to be professed And Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost in acknowledgment of the blessed Trinity to be given unto God 3. Moses holding up his hands that purchased victory against Amalek Exod. 17.11 Davids practice and prayer I have lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help Psal 123.1 Psal 141.2 And let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice Our Saviours confirmation in that excellent prayer for his disciples These things spake Jesus Joh. 17.1 and lift up his eyes to heaven and said are uncontrollable patterns for the lifting up of our eyes and hands to God in prayer 4. And he that observeth Davids watering his couch with tears by night Psal 6.6 and mingling his drink with weeping by day Psal 102.4 Jeremies wishing his

head to be a fountain of tears Jer. 9.11 St. Peters bitter tears Luk. 7.38 and Marie's bath of tears for our Saviours feet and towel of her locks to wipe them must acknowledge that tears with prayer make a happy mixture to procure pity from him who shed tears over Jerusalem and wept in compassion with the sisters Luk. 19.41 Joh. 11.35 that lamented their dead brother Lazarus For bowing the knees and body that humble posture of the afflicted Israelites when they received the hopefull message of their deliverance may be a lending case to bee imitated when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction Then they bowed their heads saith the Text and worshiped Exod. 4.31 And what can be the meaning of that prohibition from falling down and worshiping images or any other similitudes in the second commandment but that God hath retained unto himself such a religious worship of the body Those that make scruple of such kneeling in prayer must needs set themselves against that solemne proclamation of the King of heaven I have sworn by my selfe the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousnesse Isa 45.23 and shall not return That unto mee every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear The same posture when we find allowed to our Saviour incarnate that at Phil. 2.10 or in the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things inheaven and things on the earth and things under the earth confirmeth the Onenesse of the Son with the Father which novellists now question and make it their glory to cavil at where confutation is impossible 1 King 8.54 Solomon with these now masters for kneeling on his knees and spreading of his hands toward heaven in his dedication prayer of the Temple Dan. 6.10 shall be held unwise Daniel for praying on his knees three times a day shall be scarce thought worthy to be beloved And Saint Paul might save his labour for bowing his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Ephes 3.14 Christ in the behalfe of the Ephesians because sitting as many doe at Sermons with their heads covered would be farre more easie and in those mens discipline doe as well And last of all when I find my Saviour falling on his face Matth. 26.39 and praying O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt I should hold him far from superstition that in time and place and where it may be fitly performed shall prostrate his whole body or doe more if it were possible put his face between his knees as Elias did on mount Carmel in adoring him in whose book are all our members written 1 King 18.24 and day by day were fashioned when there was yet none of them Psal 139.16 With great judgment therfore is the 95 Psalm set in the fore front of our leiturgy as a preface to the ensuing devotions wherein that passage O come let us worship fal down and kneel before the Lord our maker consorting with that in the 132. we will go into his Tabernacle we will fall low before his footstoole should shame the irreverent behaviour of too many in the house of prayer which Turks and Infidels would hold abominable to be used in their Idoll Temples Moreover wherein women most offend Gods house is not a place for the displaying of plaited hair 3 Pet. 3.3 or wearing of gold or putting on of apparel or out-vying one another in more then the 24 fashions of the daughters of Sion taxed particularly by the prophet but for meek and quiet spirits Isai 3.16 to humble themselves before God to set forth his most worthy praise to hear his most holy word and to aske those things that be requisite as well for the body as the soule And that is not to be slighted 1 Cor. 11. which the Apostle reproves in the Corinthian Assemblies that men presumed to pray with their heads covered and women with their heads uncovered I would have you my daughters so to look to your feet when you enter into the hous of God that your devotions through irreverent unseemlinesse prove not the sacrifice of fools It was the modesty humility of some of your fore-mothers not to seat themselves in the Church before they had performed a reverent respect to the Minister then officiating which howsoever the high spirits of these times hold derogatory to their greatnesse yet the Son of God will take it as done to himself if it be done to the meanest of his Matth. 10.41 for his sake And the B. Virgin his mother will informe the stateliest that God will exalt the meek and humble when the mighty shall be put down from their seat Luk. 1.52 and the rich sent empty away This submisse and religious deportment of the body in Gods worship hath been too shamefully neglected amongst us surely such that slight Gods Ministers so much would hardly be induced to wash their Masters feet with their tears Luk 7.38 and wipe them with their curled locks but those that have ears to hear will hear 1. Bowing of the head And 2. The body to the earth Gen. 24.26 52 Psal 9 6. 3. Kneeling 4. Prostration or falling on the face 5. Lifting up of the eyes to heaven 6. And spreading forth the hands to the same place Mat. 26.39 Jo. 17.1 as also 7. Smiting of the brest with the penitent publican are postures of the body warranted to be used by precept and practice 1 King 8.22 out of the word of God which if they were seasonably and devoutly frequented more of us Luk. 18.13 in our private and publick prayers according to the example of our religious predecessors Mat. 23.6 would better then any Jewish phylacteries or fringes put us in mind of the weight of the business we are about set an edge on our dulnesse Deut. 6.8 and stirre up others to offer violence as it were and take by force the kingdome of heaven Jam. 5.16 Mat. 11.12 but this sacred fervency will meet with many Impediments to be considered in the next place CHAP. V. Of Impediments that disturb or frustrate our Prayers PRayer is so effectual against Satan and all his drifts and depths that he sets his utmost plots and stratagems to frustrate or hinder it and therefore he that seriously composeth himself to prayer shall bee sure to meet with a world of Impediments Amongst which these especially may be taken notice of to be carefully opposed 1. Wandring thoughts 2. Presumption 3. Ostentation 4. Superstition 5. Bosom sins retained 6. Irreconciliation 7. Despair 1. Concerning wandring thoughts we should eespecially attend that caveat of the Apostle Jam. 1.5 If any man ask wisdom let him as kit not by by Intercession of Saints or Angels but of God himselfe that giveth