Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	holy_a	lord_n	praise_v	4,460	5	9.6294	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81220	A sermon pressing to, and directing in, that great duty of praising God. Preached to the Parliament at Westminster, Octob: 8. 1656. Being the day of their solemn thanksgiving to God for that late successe given to some part of the fleet of this Common-wealth against the Spanish fleet in its return from the West Indies. / By Joseph Caryl, minister of the Gospel at Magnus near London Bridge.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1657 (1657)	Wing C788; Thomason E899_7; ESTC R206750	25,634	47

up silver as the dust and prepare rayment as the clay he may prepare it but the just shall put it on and the innocent shall divide the Silver As if God had said by Job I know oppressors never think their dust-heap big enough and therefore they care not whom they oppresse so they may but heap up Silver for themselves as the dust yea they heap up silver as the dust that they may be strong to oppresse well let them goe on and prosper let them prepare it but I will prepare heires for them which they never thought of unlesse how to oppresse and vex them The innocent shall divide the Silver And that word divide hath a sound of war in it seing after victories obtained spoiles are divided I know some are ready to take offence at this day of thanksgiving because it is a thanksgiving for prey But let such remember First 't is prey taken from an enemy Secondly 't is prey taken from an enemy who hath swallowed up Nations greater then his own without offence given or recompence made as a prey And thirdly we have enough in this text to answer such objectors here 's King Davids order for a day of thanksgiving because God had given meat or prey to his people as he hath given to us this day We have as much I might say more reason to give thanks to God for meat gotten by a lawfull war as for meat gotten by our lawfull labour Therefore let us eate it or enjoy the benifit of it and praise the Lord. If while this meat is in our mouths the praises of God be in our mouths too certainly if they be in our hearts and lives too we shall not need to fear though we cannot be too much caution'd about it that as it befell the Israelites who fell a lusting in the wildernesse the wrath of God should fall upon us and slay the fattest of us and smite downe the chosen men of our Israel Psal 78. 30 31. Indeed if we have either asked this meat for our lusts or having gotten it bestow it upon our lusts we may expect a severer vengeance then theirs Thus I have touched upon and made a briefe application of the first ground of praising God laid down in this context by a paralell of the works of the Lord for which David gave order for publique praises with the works of the Lord for which we are called to praise him this day They are Great and Honorable they are Wounderfull and Beneficiall He hath given meat or prey to them that fear him The second generall Ground why David ordered a day of praise was that assurance and holy confidence which he had of what God was and would further be unto them and doe for them And indeed what God himselfe is to us is far more valuable then all that he hath done for us And in all our outward enjoyments we should be drawn off from the mercies of God to the God of our mercies from all the works of God to God who hath wrought them So did David here though he spake and thought highly of what God had done for them yet his heart was especially carryed out to and taken up with the thoughts of God There are four particulars in which David gives instance for the exalting of the name of God in praises as to what he is in himselfe and as to what he will be unto his people First The Lord is righteous and just his righteousnesse or justice endureth for ever v. 3. He is not righteous in this or that act onely at this or that time onely but he is righteous in all and always Some men will doe righteously now and then here and there to this or that person yet they step awry at other times or in other cases and so do justice not with respect to truth but with respect to persons But the Lord doth justice at all times in all cases without respect of persons and therefore the Lords righteousnesse indureth for ever We are saved by and live upon the grace and mercy of God yet we cannot but and are much bound to acknowledge his righteousnesse and justice They in the Revelation Chap. 15. 2 3. Who had gotten the victory over the Beast and over his image and over the number of his name were seen by John standing on the Sea of glasse having the harps of God and singing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying Creat and marvellous are thy works O Lord God almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of saints The ways of Christ are just towards his enemies as he hath threatned and they are true towards his own people as he hath promised He is the Am●n giving being and accomplishment to his own word The faithfull and true witnesse Rev. 3. 14. bearing his testimony to what he hath said by that which he doth so declaring his own righteousnesse And may not we now turne Davids Prophesie Psal 65. 5. By terrible things in righteousness thou wilt answer us O God may we not I say turne that Prophecy into a history and say By terrible things in righteousnesse thou hast answered us O God of our salvation who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are afar off upon the sea O how much are we engaged to praise the Lord for his righteousnesse who hath avouched our right and declared himselfe against those who would not repaire our wrongs Thus did the same Holy David Psal 9. 2 3 4. I will be glad and rejoyce in thee I will sing praise to thy name O thou most high when mine enemies are turned back they shall fall and perish at thy presence for thou hast maintained my right and my cause thou sittest in the Throne judging right And as we are to praise the Lord because he hath been righteous or for the righteousnesse which he hath done so we are to praise him upon this assurance that he will ever doe that which is right For as he is the Father of Lights so also the judge of rights with whom there is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning His righteousnesse endureth for ever Praise ye the Lord. The second part of this second ground of praise is the graciousnesse of God The Lord is gracious and full of compassion v. 4. That proper name John derived from the Hebrew word here translated gracious was given in speciall by the Angells appointment to the Baptist Luke 1. 13. either because he was sent to preach the grace of God in Christ shortly after to be exhibited in the flesh or because he was bestowed upon his parents in their old age as a testimony of the favour and grace of God to them And thus all that God doth for his people flows from the fountain of his free grace and from his compassions which faile not The Lord deserveth highest praises from man because what he doth for man he

in judgement against them for they praise God continually after their manner or as well as they can The Sun Moon and stars fire and haile snow and vapour stormy winds fulfilling his word mountains and all hills fruitfull trees and Cedars beasts and all cattle creeping things and flying fowle Dragons and all deeps are commanded to praise the Lord and they doe it And are not all men Kings of the earth and all people Princes and all the Judges of the earth both young men and maidens old men and children more commanded to praise the Lord and are not Saints commanded and bound to praise the Lord more then all other men And are not those Saints that have pray'd for such a mercy and who have personally tasted the sweetnesse of such a mercy and whose interest is much advanced and strengthned by the mercy obtained have not they more cause to Praise God for it then all other Saints And is not this the case of many here present and of many more absent in the severall parts of these Dominions Therefore to close this poynt Let not us with hold praise from God either in whole or in part Ananias and Saphira were strucken dead for with holding part of the price they brought something of their vow and laid it down at the Apostles feet but not all and dyed for 't If we keep a part of our Praises to our selves or give part of our Praises to instruments we deale with God like Ananias and Saphira who brought their gift indeed but kept part of the price to themselves whereas it was all dedicated to God we may quickly run into a paralell sin in this day and duty of thanksgiving and when the whole was dedicated to God keep a part to our selves It is not enough for us to say Praised be God but we must say as Psal 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory we must deny our own Praise perfectly or else all our Praises of God are imperfect we must doubly deny twice deny all our own Praises else we doe not so much as give God one single Praise that is not one single-hearted Praise And that we may come forth freely in our Praises of the Lord and sing Halalujahs to his name alone give me leave to set the stamp or character of those works of God which are instanced in this text upon those works of God which are the occasion and matter of our Praise this day and to shew how all those grounds which that sweet singer of Israel laid as the foundation of his own and his peoples Praises meet and center in ours First saith David The works of the Lord are great And surely we are not called this day to Praise the Lord for some small or little work indeed all the works of the Lord are great great as done by him for he leaves the impression of his own greatnesse upon all that he doth as every sin the least sin is a great sin because committed against the great God so every mercy is a great mercy as it comes forth from the hand of the great God but I speak not of the greatnesse of the works of God here in this notion but as they are great both in themselves and comparatively with others And as for the work of this day we may affirme the greatnesse of it in a threefold consideration 1. It is great materially or in the substance of it A great force of the enemy was beaten and broken a great treasure was taken from the enemy is not this a great work The Prophets prediction well may be our report concerning the work of this day and he spake it in the stile of a Navall victory Isa 33. 23. For having said of Sion v. 21. there The glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams wherein shall goe no Gally with oares neither shall gallant Ship passe thereby that is to annoy or hurt us He presently subjoyns the reason v. 22. For the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our law giver the Lord is our King he will save us This salvation of Sion is the destruction of Babylon as is shewed in the next verse by an elegant Apostrophe to the enemy Thy tacklings are loosed they could not well strengthen their mast they could not spread the saile then is the prey of a great spoile devided the lame take the prey And when he saith The lame take the prey he doth not mean that it shall be taken by a company of creeples but by some smaller power And may we not say That now the prey of a great spoile is devided yea may we not say The lame have taken the prey Was it not taken by so small a part of the forces sent upon that designe as may not improperly be called a lame or weak limb in comparison of the whole body and did not the enemy look upon our six Frigats which engaged them as a company of Fisher-boats Therefore great is the work of the Lord in the matter of it 2. It is yet greater in the circumstances of it The greatnesse of actions whether civill or morall good or evill ariseth much if not chiefly from circumstantialls from the way and manner from the time and season in which they are done And was not this done first in a time when our need was great Was it not done secondly in a time when our faith was little Was it not done thirdly in a time when the spirits of some were high in wrath and the spirits of others higher in scorn at this undertaking And as this work was great both in the substance and concomitant circumstances of it so 3. It may prove yet greater in the consequences of it Who knows what effects this work may have or how far it may reach this may prove a long handed mercy The Apostle James speaks admiringly Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth the fire is not much at present but it may do much so much that possibly we and others may have cause to admire the greatnesse of that matter which shall be kindled with this little fire Therefore let us go forth in praises for as in Davids so in our experience The work of the Lord is Great The second attribute of the work of the Lord is laid down in the third verse His work is honourable and glorious or as the Originall text hath it His work is honour and glory When abstracts are put in Scripture for concreetes the sence is encreased To say the work of the Lord is honour and glory is more then to say it is honourable and glorious much is said in this but more in that T is good for us when God declares his mercy but 't is better when he declares his glory We should be thankfull for favour but our thanks should exceed for honour The work of God before us is honourable and glorious t is honour

which with humble submission to his own good pleasure we have wrought him to by prayer 2. The pleasure which we should take in the works of God ought to arise from those more eminent evidences of the power and goodnesse or any other manifestations of God in them And indeed we should take pleasure in nothing but as somewhat of God appears in it As God is himselfe the chiefest good so the more of God is seen in handing our mercies to us the better they are And therefore we should be more affected with and take more pleasure in the appearances of God in our mercies then with our own advantages advancements by them We take pleasure as beasts onely if we take pleasure in what they are for us and not in what of God is in them As a believers hope and trust and confidence is in God alone for what he would have wrought so he hath greater joy and content and complacency in God himselfe then in any of his works 3. The pleasure which we should take in the works of God ought to arise from their aspect upon the Prophecies or as they look toward the fulfilling of Prophecies And indeed we may take pleasure in the saddest things that are done in the world when we see Nations tumbling and rowling in blood when we see the Towers falling and the mountains shaking though these are dismall sights yet we may take pleasure in them under this notion as they are a fulfilling of Prophecies and a bringing about of the Counsells of God Now They that can take pleasure in this speciall work of providence before us as it looks toward the fulfilling a Prophecy the powring out of the viall upon the Babylonish power which shall certainly be fulfilled in its season and certainly the season of it cannot be far off Euphrates the strength of mysticall Babylon must be dryed up and the great undertakings of Nations will at last exhaust that channell They I say who from such a contemplation of this work as it is an answer of prayer as it is a fulfilling of Prophecies and a clear demonstration of the power wisdome truth and faithfulnesse of God in both have pleasure in it these will search it out and so give praise to God knowingly and understandingly for it The second direction which the text holds out to our practice in this duty of Praise is To Praise him cordially that we have expresly in the first verse I will praise the Lord with my whole heart I might spend a whole hour about this whole heart but I onely name it doe not put God off with words or lip-praise this day let not yours be heartlesse praise and let it not be done with lesse then a whole heart halfe a heart or a divided heart will not serve in sacrifice if we have not a heart and a whole heart in the businesse it were better our bodies were not at all in it They who have two hearts or are double hearted in any duty and they who have no heart or but halfe a heart in it are an alike abomination to the Lord. Thirdly Davids example in the text directs us to praise the Lord openly and avowedly even In the assembly of the just and in the congregation v. 1. There are two degrees in the opennesse of Davids praise First he would doe it In the assembly of the upright or as some translate In the assembly of the Just Just or upright men have two sorts of assemblies or they assemble for two great ends First to worship and call upon God Secondly to advise and take counsell one with another The word here rendred an assembly is applicable to both sorts of assemblies 1. To a company of men met together to consult what to doe in any difficult case especially of publique concernment whether for peace or war And they who meet thus in Councell should be an assembly of just and upright men None are fit to direct the course of Justice but they who are Just nor to set things right in a Nation but the upright Every thing is in working as it is in being And what we find in our selves we are apt to impresse upon all we doe or take in hand The work bears the image and superscription of the workman As the vile person will speak villany Isa 32. 6. So the just person will speak justice and the words of the upright man will be of uprightnesse 2. The word is applyable also to any meeting or assembly of the godly for they are a secret company too They are secret ones and secrets are with them The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal 25. 14. and he will shew them his Covenant or as the Margin hath it and his Covenant to make them know it Now when David resolves here to praise God in the Assembly of the Just we may understand him of either Assembly He would praise God in the assembly of his Counsellours where buisinesses are debated and beaten out There Successes are especially to be acknowledged He would doe it also in any assembly of gracious and upright soules And indeed Praise is comely for the upright Psal 33. 1. And 't is so not onely because they have most cause to Praise God but because they are most fit to doe it and because 't is most acceptable at their hand to the heart of God How beautifull and of how sweet a savour are their Praises for any mercy who as they have travel'd for it so they would walk worthy of it 'T is the best and most stately representation of heaven on earth to joyne with such an assembly of just men praising God But David would not stay there neither must we his Praise was yet more open I will praise him in the assembly of the just and in the congregation Which in opposition to the former is as if he had said I will praise the Lord before all comers let all the world come they shall be witnesses of his praise I will praise him bare-faced and bold-faced I care not who hears or who knows it I ●t it be told in Gath and published in the streets of Askelon Such Praises we are called to performe this day we are Praising God in the congregation Publick benifits must have publick acknowledgements There ought to be not onely sincerity but solemnity in such a work as this As they who sin before all men should also repent before all men So they who have been helped and saved before all men should as David professed againe Psal 116. 13 14. Take up the cup of salvation and pay their praise vowes unto the Lord in the presence of all his people Yea in the presence of all people enemies all if they are or could be present and let it be told to them if any will being absent even in Rome and Spaine that we this day have given thanks to God for giving us this Sea Victory and those Indian spoyles