Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
glory_n	holy_a	lord_n	praise_v	6,155	5	9.2537	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67361	Divine meditations upon several occasions with a dayly directory / by the excellent pen of Sir William Waller ...	Waller, William, Sir, 1597?-1668.	1680 (1680)	Wing W544; ESTC R39417	76,156	224

the earth but that he hath pleasure in the prosperity of his Servants and therefore in their liberty without which there can be but little taste in prosperity The greatest blessings that come from the hand of God are characterized by this blessing The Gospel is stiled a Proclamation of liberty to the captives and an opening of the prison to them that are bound the Spirit of God is termed a free Spirit and where that is there is said to be liberty we are called unto liberty and commanded to stand fast in it we shall be judged by the law of liberty this as to our Spiritual condition And as to our outward freedom it may be a sufficient argument of the value that God sets upon it that he laid a particular command upon his people of Israel that they should be tender of one anothers liberty and to that end bound them to the observation of the seventh and fiftieth years for the release and manumission of those that were held under service and that he punished those violators thereof in the Siege of Jerusalem with so much severity by proclaiming a liberty to the Sword Pestilence and Famine against them for it Liberty is in it self an inestimable blessing and such a jewel as every man may set his own price upon it and it is worth it to him if we cannot enjoy it as we would or know not how to bear and use it as we should it is either our own unhappiness or our fault The old bottles are to be blamed and not the new wine But what is liberty there may be a mistake in that the Apostle speaketh of some in his days that talked much of liberty and promised it to others whilst they themselves were the Servants of corruption there may be a servility under an ostentation of liberty They that are captivated to their own inordinate affections are no better then Slaves let their quality be otherwise what it will True liberty doth not consist in a power over others but in a command over our selves He is not a freeman that can do what he will but he that will do what he should and who is a law unto himself and can rule his own Spirit Neither can that be called properly a liberty which is an obstinate opposition of lawful authority such an inflexibility as will bow to nothing We do not say that Lions and Wolves are at liberty in their woods but that they run wild there and so for those despisers of Dominion that will run their own irregular wayes and think as God spake ironically of the Babel builders that nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do they may be said to be rather Savage and brutish then free The best is they are both the one and the other alike in this as well as in their ferity that as they have not the will to obey so they have not the wit to command and therefore break and divide among themselvs and settle nothing God who hath determined the bounds of our habitations hath likewise set bounds unto our liberties beyond the which they that are proudest and swell themselves highest are not to pass I have read of King Agrippa that being restored to his liberty by Claudius after a long imprisonment under Tiberius he consecrated his chain to God in the Temple at Jerusalem in memory of his former suffering and in recognition of Gods mercy to him in his deliverance The example is good and carries a good light with it And now Lord what shall I render unto thee for the like mercy in this inlargement of my condition Shall I offer up my chain unto thee Lord accept my whole self body soul subsistence the service of my all as an entire oblation and thank-offering devoted to thy Glory O my Soul praise thou the Lord and all that is within me bless his holy name who hath heard thy groaning and redeemed thee from destruction and brought forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon day Rejoyce in this day of thy prosperity but withal consider that there is no day so clear but may be overcast before night the clouds may return again after the rain Be not secure but walk circumspectly least if thou use this liberty for an occasion to carnal ends and for a cloak of maliciousness thy last state prove worse than thy first Thy Person is now at liberty let not thy Passions be so too but keep them under restraint so shalt thou lead thy captivity captive Lord vouchsafe to inlarge my heart not that I may walk in the counsel of the ungodly but that I may pursue the way of thy commandments O lead me into thy truth thy word is truth thy son is thy word and if thy Son do make me free I shall be free indeed MEDITATION XII Vpon the sight of a fair House WHat a goodly Fabrick is here Our first Parents were never so housed For ought that doth appear they took no more care at first for building than the Birds or Beasts did there were then no Royal Pallaces for the ambitious Spider to weave in but Nature was the common Architect as well as Cook and Caterer A shadie Tree or the covert of a Grotto or Cave served for all Lodgers Man was never so happy nor so well provided for as in that condition which we esteem most miserable when he had neither cloaths to put on nor house to put his head in If we look to the second edition of the World after the Floud and to the generation of the Faithful therein to Abraham Isaac Jacob those heirs of Promise they dwel in Tents and like the Sun were carried about in their movable Tabernacles ever in a transitory but heavenly estate But what do I speak of Man or of the Son of Man that is a Worm Our blessed Saviour himself who was Lord of Heaven and Earth by whom all things were made that were made when he made himself Man and dwelt on the Earth was not so well accommodated as the meanest Creatures the Foxes and the Birds of the air they had their holes and they had their nests but he had not where to lay his sacred head His first lodging was in another mans house and his last in another mans Grave in the mean time the mighty Man he had the Earth and the honourable Man dwelt in it the Earth was his House he was the only Dweller when the Goodman was but a Sojourner and the God-man if I may speak it with all humble reverence our blessed Saviour was little more than a beggar in it who then would put any extraordinary value upon these worldly contentments seeing how they are dispensed they are but the crums that fall under the Table of which the dogs have the greatest share It is said that that great Apostle knew not what he said when he said it was good being here our true happiness consists in our not

difference in the manner of their performance that God had respect unto the one and not unto the other he justified the one and rejected the other For my better direction herein I would indevour 1. To be good for as things be so they operate 1 Math. 7. 17 every good tree bringeth forth good fruit and herein I should be conforme to the nature of God himself whose character it is 2 Psal 119. 68. to be good and to do good 2. Not to rest upon a moral goodness but upon mine implantation in Jesus Christ 3 Job 15. 5. and to bring forth fruit in him 3. In doing good to make use of none but good meanes I would not do a wrong to do a right 4 Isay 61. 8 God hates robbery for burnt-offering 4. To place the good I would do upon a right object upon those that want and not upon those that have enough What is poured into a full vessel is so much Spilt 1 Pro● 2● 16. and therefore Solomon putteth that which is given to the rich into an equal scale with that which is taken from the poor with a severe denunciation of poverty against those that do it 5. To do the good I did for good ends It is the end that denominates and qualifies and Crowns the action They that do good for evil ends and they that do evil that good may ensue are both evil whilst they do good 3. I would not do that to another which I would not have done to my self or mine but I would admeasure mine actions by the rule of my blessed Saviour in that particular and make that my standard 4. I Would not be abuisiy body in affecting multiplicity of ingagements and the having many Irons in the fire at once for that kind of ●●agmatical undertaking seldome effects any thing to the purpose and is no better then a buisy doing nothing Neither would I intrude my self into other folkes matters when I had no call nor power to do good yet not forgetting Gods command 1 Levit. 19. 17. Not to hate my Brother but in any wise to rebuke him and not to suffer sin upon him or as it is in the margent that thou bear not sin for him In Gods account he is interpreted to hate his Brother that doth not rebuke him and his suffering his Sin upon him is reputed a taking of it upon himself but then this must be done with great tenderness and in the Spirit of meekness in the spirit of the Dove that kisses when it bils and seemes to bite Gentle reprehensions make deepest impressions like the Snow that falls soft and yet soaks and penetrates to the root 5. I would not intangle my self in too many friendships for there is a kind of incontinency in it and a man doth but prostitute himself thereby and make himself common 1 Prov. 5 17. In this case Solomons Council is good withdraw thy self from thy Neiehbours house or as some read it out of the Original instead of withdraw make thy self precious that is make thy self valluable do not wear out every mans threshold by obtruding thy self upon them do not make thy self vulgar and cheap for thereby a man doth but imbase himself as a mean commodity that is every bodies mony I would hold a fair civility with as many as I could 2 Eul. 6 6. but according to the advice of Syracides I would have but one Counsellor of a thousand 6. As I would not affect a multitude 3 Sen. de benef 1. 6. c. 33. or as Seneca calls it a people of friends so I would be very wary how I received any into that number without weighing and trying them as I would do gold I like not those friendships that are begun in the Parlour and concluded in the Cellar He that closeth overhastily with a friend before he hath eaten a good deal of salt with him and had sufficient proof of his piety fidelity and ability may quickly come to take the name of friend in vain 7. I would not captivate my self to any mans friendship so as to render my self obnoxious unto him whereby it might be in his power to ruine me if he should prove false but I would so govern my carriage if I could as neither to trust to far nor to seem to mistrust at all He that shews that he doubts his friend teaches his friend to doubt him It is a safe and with the allowance of some graines no ill advice so to look upon a friend as one that may become an enemy and so to look upon an enemy as one that may become a friend The best way in conversation is the middle way between ungirt and straight laced between a confidence and a diffidence an open facility and a close reservation But in case of suspicion I should think the fairest way to clear it were the openest that is to communicate it freely to the party suspected 1 Bacon Ess whereby as it hath been well observed a man shall both know more of the truth of the buisiness then he did before and withal make that party if he have any ingenuity in him the more desirous to discharge himself of it and the more circumspect not to give further cause of jealousy 8. I would not affect any recreations or games but such as were lawful and innocent unprejudicial to my self and Company either as to health or estate without scandal or offence and those which I did give my self a liberty to use I would be as moderate in as in eating drinking and sleeping making use of them for the refreshment and releif ofnature and no further spending as little time at them as I could otherwise I should think my self a looser although I plaied for nothing 16. After dinner about an hour or so soon as might consist with the preservation of my health I would retire to prayer with the same cautions above mentioned in reference to that duty 17. I would returne to mine employment either in study or buisiness or intertainment of Company according to the occasion offered and with the former cautions 18. Upon all emergencies I would as frequently as I could lift up my heart unto God either by confession upon any sensible failing altho but in a sinful thought or by thanksgiving upon any accident of wellcome importance or by request in case of any want wherein I I should desire to be releived 19. I would carefully observe to have praiers with my family before supper or in a fit time after if I should be then diverted from it by any avocation or interruption God requires and expects an evening as well as a morning sacrifice 20. At Supper I would indeavour to keep the same watch both upon mine appetite and conversation as at dinner 21. I would be as careful as I could with civility to break up company after supper in a good hour least sitting up late should make me sleepy and indispose me to the concluding duties of the day or inforce me to redeem that time with the expence of so much time the next morning 22. Between supper and going to bed I would be careful to read again somewhat of the Scripture after the former prescript as near as possibly I could observe it and this I would do to leave my heart with a good rellish in it 23. Before I went to bed I would constantly examine my self and take a view of what I had done in the several passages of the day past as God did of every thing he had made in the creation and as far as I were able to recollect my self I would summ up how often and wherein I had offended God in thought word or deed in commission or omission thorough ignorance or presumption alone or in company or both wayes with an especial eye upon those sins which were most predominant in my corrupt nature I would observe mine improvements or decayes in grace what I had gained or lost and according to the state of mine account I would make my application to the throne of grace by Confession Petition or Thanksgiving I would with all humbleness confess my sins unto God in all the particularity I could and accknowledg my unworthiness of the least of all his mercies imploring his gracious pardon for what is past and his preventing grace for the time to come beseeching him to take an intire possession of me as his own tho most unworthy by purchase and so to preserve me that there might be nothing in me but what were his that there might be no strong holds of habitual sins held out against him nor any presumptuous imaginations exalted in opposition to his saving knowledge but that every thought in me might be led captive unto his obedience lastly I would bless and praise him with lips unfained and with all that were within me for all his mercies renewed and continued to me from day to day and above all for Christ Jesus the mercy of all mercies and fountain of all blessing in whom alone I desired to be found Thus I would indevour to wash off the soile of the day and to make all clean at evening as under the law 24. I would reckon that day for lost wherein I could not give some account to my self that I had either done or received some good 25. When I were in bed I would not settle to rest untill I had asked my Heavenly father blessing and laid my head in the bosome of his Son my gracious Saviour with an humble recommendation of my body and Soul into his hands by some short ejaculatory praier Thus sleeping and thus awaking I should hope that whilst I slept my heart might be kept awake and that when I awaked I might be still with him whom my Soul loveth 26. I would have Jesus Christ to be the Alpha and Omega the beginning and determination of all my purposes and actions He alone is my wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption mine only all and without whom I can do nothing unto whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one infinitly glorious God be all honor and glory and praise and adoration for ever and ever Amen FINIS