A32723:856
Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God
Several discourses upon the existence and attributes of God by that late eminent minister in Christ, Mr. Stephen Charnocke ...
London: printed for D. Newman, 1682
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The heart must be purged, as well as the Temple was by our Saviour, of the Thieves that would rob God of his due worship. Antiquity had some Temples, wherein it was a crime to bring any gold; therefore those that came to worship laid their gold aside, before they went into the Temple. We should lay aside our worldly and trading thoughts before we address to worship, Isa. 26.9. With my Spirit within me will I seek thee early. Let not our minds be gadding abroad, and exiled from God and themselves. It will be thus when the desire of our Soul is to his name and the remembrance of him, ver. 8. When he hath given so great and admirable a gift, as that of his Son, in whom are all things necessary to Salvation, Righteousness, Peace, and pardon of sin, we should manage the remembrance of his name in worship with the closest unitedness of heart, and the most Spiritual affections. The motion of the Spirit is the first act in Religion, to this we are obliged in every act: The Devil requires the Spirit of his votaries; should God have a less dedication than the Devil?
The heart must be purged, as well as the Temple was by our Saviour, of the Thieves that would rob God of his due worship. Antiquity had some Temples, wherein it was a crime to bring any gold; therefore those that came to worship laid their gold aside, before they went into the Temple. We should lay aside our worldly and trading thoughts before we address to worship, Isa. 26.9. With my Spirit within me will I seek thee early. Let not our minds be gadding abroad, and exil'd from God and themselves. It will be thus when the desire of our Soul is to his name and the remembrance of him, ver. 8. When he hath given so great and admirable a gift, as that of his Son, in whom are all things necessary to Salvation, Righteousness, Peace, and pardon of sin, we should manage the remembrance of his name in worship with the closest unitedness of heart, and the most Spiritual affections. The motion of the Spirit is the first act in Religion, to this we are obliged in every act: The Devil requires the Spirit of his votaries; should God have a less dedication than the Devil?