Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	heaven_n	lord_n	place_n	12,395	5	4.7579	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67307	A sermon preached in Christ-Church before His Excellency the lord deputy and the honorable House of Peers, October the 8th, 1695 being the day appointed for a solemn thanksgiving for the taking the strong cittadel of Namur, and for the other happy successes of His Majesty's forces, and those of his allies in Flanders this campaign / by Edward, Lord Bishop of Down & Connor.	Walkington, Edward.	1695 (1695)	Wing W458; ESTC R38411	13,472	20

em We have read indeed of a certain perfect happiness which a wise man was to create within himself even in this world without any regard to any thing without him or above him to arrive at which did sufficiently exercise the wits and expose the follies of some of the ancient Philosophers amongst whom some were to feel no pain in a fitt of the Gout or Stone nor to know any difference between Phalaris's Bull and a cool Grotto All which was but a meer notion that never came to any more than a few empty words For some of the great pretenders to it have shew'd themselves but men and weak ones too in some of the ordinary hardships and calamities of humane life Contentment with our condition tho a thing much talk'd of by many and tho many specious Rules are laid down for the attainment of it being scarce ever known on this side Heaven insomuch that nothing can possibly make any condition of life easy or supportable to any man that has not an eye to something that can ease him of the difficulties that attend the acquisition and of the griefs and anxieties that follow the loss of these worldly enjoyments and that must be no other than that great and glorious Being who commands 'em all and disposeth of 'em as seems best to his Godly Wisdom And whosoever fixeth this Principle in his mind and acts in pursuance of it that creat's case and satisfaction to himself from the knowledge contemplation of this Wise and Almighty Being and from an intire trust and dependance upon him who has commanded him to make his addresses to him and has promis'd to answer 'em that 's the wise man that 's he that observes and considers well what God commands by the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah Let not the wise man glory in his Wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his Riches but let him that glory 's glory in this That he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise Loving-kindness Judgment and Righteousness in the Earth Neither do we stand less in need of the goodness mercy bounty of God as we are united into Societies and bodies politick under the same common Laws and Government than as we are single persons Peace plenty trade and commerce fidelity justice amity union of interests and affections amongst our selves a hearty zealous concern for the publick-weal success of our negotiations with our Allies and Friends and victory over our Enemies being all the Blessings of Heaven and as needful for the support of a Kingdom or Common-wealth as food raiment health of body and tranquility of mind for the behoof of any single person To whom then are we to apply our selves for all or any of these but to that great and glorious Being who has perfect knowledge and wisdom to understand our wants unspeakeable love and goodness to incline him and Almighty power to enable him to relieve us Perfect Knowledge for his understanding is infinite unspeakable love and goodness for he has told us that his mercy is over all his works that he is the helper of the friendless and tho' our Father and Mother forsake us yet will not he and Almighty Power because we are assur'd that all power belongs to God that the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength and whatsoever he pleases he do's both in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deep places And these are the reasons directions and incouragements to this great duty of fearing the Lord or that habit of Devotion or Piety to God which is here suppos'd in those who are call'd upon to bless the Lord. We have discover'd it to be a dictate of the Law of Nature and that it is founded upon the sense of our own wants both spiritual and temporal and the wisdom power and goodness of God to redress ' em I come now to consider the Duty it self of Blessing God Concerning which I shall shew you first wherein it consists And then I shall shew you that they that fear the Lord are the only persons rightly qualify'd for the performance of this duty By Blessing the Lord then We understand in this place our doing him all possible Honour in our thoughts words and actions and zealously endeavouring every one in his station that others may do him honour The ingredients of honour are Love and Fear and its object is goodness and Power united Goodness without Power beget's Love only and Power without Goodness beget's nothing but a slavish Fear but both together beget a certain affectionate Reverence and Esteem which we call honour If this regard be confin'd to the thoughts only it is no other than a high estimation of those Excellencies and Perfections with which he is so eminently endow'd as to deserve our Love and Reverence If it break out into words it becomes either praise or thanks and these denote our design to let others know the esteem we have for the person whom we honour together with the grateful sense we have of his past Favours and our readiness to make the best returns we can for any other that he shall from time to time vouchsafe to confer upon us but when it proceeds from Words to Actions then it shews that we are in earnest then we shew the truth and sincerity both of our hearts and words and that we are resolv'd to omit no occasion of demonstrating to the World the value we have for him whom we honour And this is what is expected even by mortal men to whom we pay this regard and consequently cannot be deny'd to God in a more eminent manner that is in due proportion to his infinite power and goodness And tho that honour that is confin'd to the thoughts being no more than a due estimation of those Excellencies and Perfections that are in God especially his goodness and power does at first appear to be an act of the Judgment only and proceeding from a faculty that is not free do's not seem to deserve the name of a duty can claim no praise nor expect a reward yet such is the connexion of the will and the understanding and such is their dependance one upon another in their operations that they frequently partake of the vertues and defects of each other and not only the understanding guides the will but the will inclines and disposes the understanding to good as well as to evil acts or else why should infidelity be a Sin and Faith a Vertue but that they are so is certain For the Scripture plainly declares 'em to be such and the reason is plain for as a docile and tractable disposition of mind humility the Love of Truth and a hearty endeavour to attain it do beget Faith So Pride and ill Nature a Stupid Sloath Obstinacy Prejudice and a resolution to indulge out lusts and passions are the Parents of Infidelity We are not therefore to look

upon that estimation of the Judgment by which we honour God in our thoughts to be without value for it is an excellent indication of a mind rightly dispos'd to the Love and Fear of God and the foundation or beginning of all the true Piety in the World These honorable thoughts of the divine power and goodness have a vast and unbounded Subject to employ ' em We can cast our eye upon nothing whether in Heaven or Earth or in the great deep we can contemplate none of the great and amazing works of Art or Nature but they give us occasion to admire and adore him and what Hypothesis or System of the World have we seen that could give any tolerable account of the smallest appearance in Nature without a God at the bottom of it neither is his power and greatness less visible in the moral than in the natural World The great and extraordinary occurrences which have sometimes hapned contrary to the hopes and expectations of the most discerning men such as as have defeated the power and baffl'd the Councels of the Wise and Mighty and have had such demonstrations of an over ruling providence as sufficiently shew'd the hand from whence they came These cannot but imploy the thoughts of those who honour God and who must from hence reason themselves into this conclusion that the Lord is great and powerful that his Works are Wonderful and that there is no end of his Greatness Small and common matter may pass unregarded but when the Arm of the Lord is made bare as the Prophet Isaia expresseth it when it is lift up and stretched out who can but see it and know it to be his when these extraordinary works of providence are such only as denote his power and greatness then indeed the people ought to hear and fear and do no more presumptiously But when they are instances of his love and kindness too this add's to our fear and reverence such a proportion of Love and gratitude as beget's the highest honour and esteem of him and warms our affections towards him to that degree that we count all things dross in comparison of him The hloy Scripture gives us such an Idea of his power and greatness and of his mercy and goodness that it is an argument of the most strange stupidity in the world not to be affected with it Who can but fear and reverence the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Who ruleth over all the Kingdoms of the Earth and in whose hand is such power and might that none is able to withstand him the Lord God to whom belongs Greatness and Power and Glory and Victory and Majesty the Great and Mighty and Terrible God who brings Princes to nothing and makes the Judges of the Earth as Vanity who takes the Wise in their own craftiness so that the counsel of the froward is carried headlong who scatters his Enemies with a strong Arm who can make the worm Jacob to thrash the Mountains and beat 'em small and make the Hills as chaff who commands the Sun and it riseth not and seals up the Stars Who is the only true and living God and everlasting King at whose wrath the Earth do's tremble the Nations are not able to abide his Indignation Who I say can be so stupid as not to have his mind constantly affected with the thoughts of such power and greatness and who can be of so base and degenerate a frame of spirit as not to be thoroughly affected likewise with a sense of his infinite goodness and mercy to whom we owe our being preservation and all the benefits we enjoy all the necessaries conveniences and pleasures of this life we have received from his bountiful hand neither has he stopt here but given us the reasonable tenders and well grounded hopes of a better life who is not only merciful and gracious but liberal and munificent He not only pardons our sins that makes us unworthy of his mercies but upon our repentance and amendment he powers out his favours with a plentiful hand gives freely and upbraids no man but keeps Covenant and Mercy and will never forsake them that seek him who fills our hearts with food and gladness who is the hope of Israel and his Saviour in the time of trouble who has redeem'd us from the power of the Sword and who will deliver us in six troubles yea in seven that no evill shall touch us When these exalted and affectionate thoughts concerning God do break out into words as they undoubtedly will do if the heart be truly affected with the divine Favors they become that which we call Praise and Thanksgiving Praise for his Power and Greatness and Thanksgiving for his Mercy and Goodness and these are the most noble and perfect parts of Divine Worship for they are the imployment of the blessed in Heaven in which they spend Eternity So that they who desire to go thither methinks should take a great deal of care and delight to habituate themselves to that way of spending their time which is to last with them for ever for want of which I am perswaded it is that we generally see those who do not accustom themselves to this duty nor take any pleasure in the performance of it are so immers'd in this world so burthen'd either with the pleasures or the toyls of it that as they seem to think of none but this world so neither is it probable that they desire there should be any other But they that fear the Lord who have thoroughly consider'd his power and goodness and that his promise of happiness cannot be made good to 'em in this life where the greatest Riches and Honours have their troubles and where the most refin'd pleasures do cloy and surfeit those that most eagerly pursue 'em have their minds imploy'd in the search of more uoble and exalted divertisements and therefore they endeavour to have a tast of heaven before they come there which cannot be better done than by imitation as far as is possible of those that wait upon the Throne of God singing hallelujahs to him that sit's upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever hence it is that in all well constituted Churches Psalms and Hymns of praise and thanksgiving are a great and principal part of the publick worship the decent and Solemn performance of which gives the minds of the Congregation such exalted notions of God and has such an Air of Zealous piety in the manner of expressing 'em that they generally make the deepest impressions upon the imagination and memory of any part of divine service This shews the necessity reasonableness of publick praise and the great and astonishing mercies that we have had at the hand of God both Spirirtual and Temporal both private and publick do ingage us to thanksgiving which to an ingenuous mind is the most pleasant of all duties To hide the