A32724:349
A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects
A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects by Stephen Charnock.
London: printed for Thomas Cockerill, 1683
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.
3. Reasons. Without cheerful seeking we cannot have a gracious Answer.
3. Reasons. Without chearful seeking we cannot have a gracious Answer.
1. God will not give an answer to those prayers that dishonour him A flat and dumpish temper ⟨p. 61⟩is not for his honour. The Heathens themselves thought their gods should not be put off with a Sacrifice dragged to the Altar. We read of no Lead, that lumpish earthly metal, employed about the Tabernacle or Temple, but the purer and most glistering sorts of metals. God will have the most excellent Service, because he is the most excellent Being. He will have the most delightful Service, because he bestows the most delightful and excellent gifts. All Sacrifices were to be offered up with fire, which is the quickest, and most active Element. 'Tis a dishonour to so great, so glorious a Majesty, to put him off with such low and dead-hearted Services. Those Petitions cannot expect an answer, which are offered, in a manner injurious to the person we address to. 'Tis not for the credit of our great Master, to have his Servants dejected in his work: As though his Service were an uncomfortable thing; as though God were a Wilderness, and the World a Paradise.
1. God will not give an answer to those prayers that dishonour him A flat and dumpish temper ⟨p. 61⟩is not for his honour. The Heathens themselves thought their gods should not be put off with a Sacrifice dragg'd to the Altar. We read of no Lead, that lumpish earthly metal, imployed about the Tabernacle or Temple, but the purer and most glistering sorts of metals. God will have the most excellent Service, because he is the most excellent Being. He will have the most delightful Service, because he bestows the most delightful and excellent gifts. All Sacrifices were to be offered up with fire, which is the quickest, and most active Element. 'Tis a dishonour to so great, so glorious a Majesty, to put him off with such low and dead-hearted Services. Those Petitions cannot expect an answer, which are offered, in a manner injurious to the person we address to. 'Tis not for the credit of our great Master, to have his Servants dejected in his work: As though his Service were an uncomfortable thing; as though God were a Wilderness, and the World a Paradise.