Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
heaven_n glory_n great_a lord_n 8,725 5 3.7167 3 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A44142 The expediency of a publick liturgy, to preserve the reverence of publick worship a sermon preach'd at Bridgewater, for the satisfaction of an eminent dissenter / by Matthew Hole ... Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730. 1697 (1697) Wing H2409; ESTC R13394 21,400 32

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

THE EXPEDIENCY OF A Publick Liturgy To Preserve the REVERENCE OF PUBLICK WORSHIP IN A SERMON PREACH'D at BRIDGEWATER FOR THE Satisfaction of an Eminent DISSENTER By MATTHEW HOLE B. D. and Vicar of Stokegursey in Somersetshire 1 Cor. 14. ult Let all things be done decently and in Order LONDON Printed for Matt. Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleet-street MDCXCVII A SERMON ON PSALM lxxxix 7. God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him THESE Words are a brief Direction how to behave our selves in the House and Presence of God which we are here told must be with Fear and Reverence The occasion of them was from the Psalmist's deep and serious Contemplation of the Works of God together with those glorious Attributes and Perfections that shine so brightly in them The Meditation whereof fill'd his Heart with Joy and his Mouth with the Praises of his Maker The Psalm begins with a Song in Praise of his Goodness Vers 1. My Song shall be always of the loving Kindness of the Lord with my Mouth will I shew forth his Truth from one Generation to another And after some remarkable instances of it he breaks out in Admiration of his Greatness saying Vers 5. The Heavens shall praise his wondrous Works and the Earth shall sound forth the Glory of his Power In a word the infinite Wisdom Bounty Truth and Faithfulness of God appear'd in such lively Colours stamp'd upon all the Works of his Hands that made him in the Verse before the Text to cry out Vers 6. Who in the Heavens can be compar'd unto the Lord or what is he among the gods that can be liken'd unto him And then to imprint the greater awe and dread of him upon our Minds he adds these words God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in Reverence of all that draw nigh to him The Sense of which Words I shall briefly summ up and handle in this plain Proposition viz. That all our Addresses to the Divine Majesty must be accompanied with a Holy Fear and Reverence God is greatly to be fear'd c. In treating of this Proposition I shall not need to insist much upon the proof of it For the bare Light of Nature will teach us that the Worship of God is to be perform'd with the greatest Solemnity and Reverence For this being the Homage we are to pay to the Supream Being or the just Acknowledgment we owe to our great Creator Reason wills that it be done with all imaginable Deference and Humility And since we receive and expect all from him 't will farther teach us that the profoundest Reverence and Veneration we can pay to him must come vastly short of his infinite Excellencies and Perfections But if the Light of Nature and Reason were more dim and defective in this Point than it is The Light of Scripture would abundantly supply it for there we read many clear and express Precepts to this purpose The Royal Psalmist in our Text makes this to be a Tribute due to the infinite Greatness and Glory of our Maker God is greatly to be feared saith he in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that draw nigh to him And therefore he calls upon the greatest Persons even the Princes and Potentates of the Earth to serve the Lord with fear Psal 2. and to rejoyce before him with trembling Yea we find God Almighty challenging this Homage from us If I be a Father where is my Honour Mal. 1.6 if I be a Master where is my Fear saith the Lord of Hosts And elsewhere he threatens the Neglect and encourages the Performance of this Duty Them that honour me 1 Sam. 2.30 I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteem'd In the New Testament we are call'd upon to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Implying Heb. 12.28 that our Service cannot be acceptable unless it be attended with these things I shall therefore take this for granted as a Matter wherein we are all agreed that God is to be serv'd with Reverence and godly Fear The great things to be consider'd in this case are What this Reverence is and how it may be best express'd or perform'd in the Worship of God Accordingly therefore in handling of these words I shall enquire First Into the Nature of this Reverence that is requir'd in the Service of God and shew wherein it consists Secondly Into the Manner how it may be best observ'd and secured in the Publick Assemblies I begin with the First which is to shew the Nature of this Reverence and wherein it consists In order to which I say in general That Reverence is such a Religious sense of the Glory and Greatness of the Divine Majesty as engages us to behave our selves becomingly in his presence And this is partly Internal and partly External Internal Reverence consists in the aweful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning the Greatness of the Person we address to External Reverence consists in the decent Demeanour of the Outward Man by well ordering of our words and gestures in our Applications to him The former is the Reverence of the Soul and the latter of the Body both which are to attend us into the House of God and to be carefully minded in our serving of him 1. I say There is an Inward Reverence of the Soul that is to accompany Divine Worship And this consists in aweful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning him we draw nigh to This is hinted to us in the First part of our Text God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of the Saints That is our Minds are to be possessed with a profound and aweful Dread of the Divine Majesty in our approaches to him which the Apostle stiles a Godly fear And this ariseth from a sense of our infinite distance from God and of our daily and necessary dependance upon him For when we consider how vastly the great Soveraign of the World is above sinful Dust and Ashes and are so affected with the Thoughts of it as never to appear before him but with the deepest Humility and lowliness of Mind when we entertain such mean and abject thoughts of our selves and our own vileness as even to blush and be asham'd to approach so great a Presence when I say we have such a true sense of this infinite distance and disproportion between him and us then are we said to fear God in the Assemblies of the Saints and to have a Religious awe and dread when we draw nigh unto him Now to beget this holy Fear and Dread in us we are frequently in our thoughts to descend to a particular Consideration of the infinite Attributes and Perfections of our Maker and this will help to screw up our Minds to a due pitch of Reverence and Veneration for
him Thus if we Consider 1. The infinite Power of God who made the World and all things in it by the Word of his Mouth who as he spake them all into Being so can he speak them back again into Nothing when he pleases And then think with our selves that 't is this great and glorious Being that in our Publick Assemblies we are speaking to and attending upon This will strike our Minds with a holy Awe and Dread of him and make us afraid to dally with such an immense and powerful Being Again 2. If we Ponder upon the infinite Knowledge of God who searches the heart and understandeth our thoughts long before hand that his Eyes behold and his Eye lids try the Children of Men that all things are open and naked before him and nothing can be hid from his Presence And then consider That 't is this All-knowing and Heart-searching Being that in our Publick Assemblies we address to This will farther imprint this Sacred Awe and Dread upon our Souls and keep us from all Irreverence in so great a Presence Moreover 3. If we take into our Consideration the manifold Mercies and transcendent Goodness of God who giveth us life and breath and all things upon whose Bounty we entirely depend If we call to Mind that he is daily heaping his Mercies and Blessings upon us that we live wholly upon him and cannot subsist one moment without him And then Consider That 't is this gracious and bountiful Being that in our Publick Assemblies we are directing our Worship to This will make us fear the Lord for his goodness Hos 3.5 and so fix our Minds in the Love and Contemplation of him that we shall be both ashamed and afraid to offend so great and good a Benefactor Lastly If we Consider how infinitely Jealous and tender God Almighty is of his honour and that he whom we Address to will not be mock'd with Vain and Hypocritical Pretences of Serving of him That he is to be lov'd with all our Heart and all our Mind and all our Strength and will not be Rival'd by the World the Flesh or the Devil in the acts of Worship And then call to mind that in our Publick Assemblies we are Serving this Jealous God who watches all the Wandrings of our Heart from him This will make us in the Psalmist's Phrase to serve the Lord with fear and even to rejoice before him with trembling In a word if we seriously meditate on the boundless and adorable Perfections of the Divine Nature and bethink with our selves who and what that God is in whose Presence we are when we enter his House and offer up our Prayers and Praises to him 'T will make us bow our Souls before him and create those devout and awful Apprehensions of him in which this Inward reverence and Godly fear doth mainly consist And this is one Reason why the Publick Liturgy of our Church was cast into so many short Prayers or Collects each of which beginning with some Attribute or Perfection of God proper to usher in the Petition that follows it is thereby fitted both to keep up the Reverence and Attention of the Mind in asking it and to quicken our Faith and Hopes of obtaining it And so much briefly of that Inward fear and reverence that is to attend all our Addresses to the Divine Majesty held forth in those words God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints Now these Internal awful Apprehensions of the Mind concerning God are to be express'd 2. By the Outward Reverence of the Body which consists in the well-ordering of our words and gestures in our Applications to him And this is held forth to us in the last words of the Text And to be had in Reverence of all that are round about him That Reverence relates to the Outward Man and implies becoming gestures and behaviour of the Body is evident not only from the Nature of the thing but from the universal Consent and Practice of Mankind who have always shewed their Respect this way to those that are above them Mephibosheth the Son of Jonathan fell on his Face and did Reverence to David 2 Sam. 9.6 1 King 1.31 Bathsheha bowed her Face to the Earth and did Reverence to the King All the King's Servants bowed and did Reverence to Haman Hest 3.2 By which it appears that humble and decent Postures of the Body have been ever reckon'd to be Tokens of Respect and Reverence That this External Reverence is to be us'd likewise in the Worship of God is evident too from many Precepts and Examples in Holy Scripture Rom. 12 1● St. Paul beseeches the Romans to present their bodies as a living holy and acceptable Sacrifice unto God which is our reasonable Service Where the Apostle calls the presenting our bodies a living Sacrifice in Opposition to the dead bodies that were offer'd to him under the law And because brute beasts and irrational Creatures were then offer'd up He stiles the presenting our bodies a reasonable Service which as it is more holy so it is a more fitting and acceptable Present to our Maker The same Apostle exhorts the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6.19 20. to glorifie God with their bodies as well as Souls which is to be done by reverent and becoming Gestures in his Service And to engage them thereunto tells them that they are both his and must be both dedicated to him He that breath'd into us a Living and immortal Soul did likewise frame the Body to be a fit Mansion and Companion for it and united them together for his Service And therefore justly expects the Homage and Service of both Yea he further adds that Christ redeemed the Body as well as the Soul from the bondage of Corruption And God hath promised to glorifie both hereafter And therefore both are requir'd to glorifie him here The Truth is an inward Reverence for God will always draw after it the Reverence of the outward Man And where the Mind is possess'd with awful Apprehensions of the divine Majesty it will discover it self in the External Decency both of Words and Actions And accordingly we find that good Men in all Ages have taken Care not only to keep up a Religious Awe and Dread of God in their Souls but have been as careful likewise to express it by the External Acts and Postures of the Body Now what outward Gestures are most expressive of Honour and Reverence the Practice of the Church and the Custom of the Country where we live will be the best Guides to direct us Vncovering of the Head Bowing the Body putting off the Shooes Kneeling Prostration lifting up the Eyes and Hands unto Heaven Lamen 3.41 have been Ancient Signs and Tokens of Honour Exod. 3.5 The Lord commanded Moses to put off his Shooes because the place whereon he stood was Holy Ground And to this Solomon alludes when he directs Men to look to their Feet Eccl.