Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	call_v	great_a	lord_n	4,634	5	3.5073	3	false

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

rigteousness of God in his heart and to conceal his loving kindness and truth from the great Congregation is what the Royal Psalmist would not do no he would publish it with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all his wondrous works he was resolv'd to sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever and with his mouth would he make known his faithfulness to all generations he would praise the name of God with a Song and magnify him with thanksgiving To which duty no Nation upon the Earth has had more reasonable and frequent calls than we If Peace Plenty Liberty and the most excellent constitution of Government in the world both Civil and Ecclesiastical are Blessings what Nation under Heaven has such reason as we have to adore and praise the divine goodness If when our crying sins had justly provok'd God to turn his face away from us he was pleas'd to turn again and revive us with the light of his Countenance When Arbitrary Power with a Jesuit in the prime Ministry to advise and direct it was just ready to lay its Iron hands upon our Persons and Properties and Popery with all its nonsense and contradictions seem'd prepar'd and authoriz'd to debauch or force our Consciences Then for God to give us a King in his mercy to protect us against these worst of evils A King whose hereditary Right to our Monarchy made him dear to the Loyal and his Wisdom and Courage formidable to the Turbulent and Disaffected A King who seem'd fram'd by Heaven on purpose for this great Emergeney for we may be sure that the right hand which hath the preeminence that right hand of the Lord that brings mighty things to pass will chuse the fittest Instruments A King who has answer'd this great design and call of Providence by the most wise and effectual methods that we could wish or imagine and restor'd us to Peace and Order and the comforts of our wise and happy Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical these are such marks of the Divine Favour that we have reason to believe our selves the peculiar care of Heaven If to preserve the Breath of our Nostrils the Anointed of the Lord from the secret practices and attempts as well as from the open assaults of his and our Enemies If to cover his Head in the day of battle If to teach his hands to war and his fingers to fight so as to give him victory over the fiercest of 'em if to give him the conduct and courage to attack defeat the boldest of their Troop as he has lately done within their Walls and Retrenchments be a mark of the divine favour surely it is not only a reasonable and necessary but it is a pleasant thing to give thanks He that can pretend to contain the sense of such mercies in his mind without any publick demonstrations of 'em mucst needs have but very slight touches of the Fear of the Lord and but very weak and unactive notions of the Operations of his hands I hope none that hear me this day are so regardless of these mercies as not to consider from whose hands they come how jealous he is of his honour and how highly he will resent so black an ingratitude as that of refusing to own 'em in publick for a true and pious sense of these can never be buried in the mind but must shew it self in the congregation in the voice of praise and thanksgiving to our great and glorious Benefactor But as we are to bless the Lord in our thoughts and words we must do it likewise in our actions which is but to tell you in other word that there is a moral as well as a devotional part of Religion by which we do not only glorify God our selves but we take care that others seeing our good works may glorify our Father which is in Heaven for if we consider God as the Almighty Monarch and wise Governor of the World a sincere uniform practice of subjection to his will and obedience to his known Laws is the most natural expression of our honour to him and the most acceptable For Let us suppose a Courtier train'd up in all the most exquisite Arts of Court Ceremony and demeanour so observant of every look and motion of his Prince as to do him all the services of attendance and address that may be never failing to attend his rising and lying down and so obsequious as never to miss any publick appearance that may do him Honour and yet at the same time do's many extravagant and illegal things by oppression of his fellow-subjects by extortion bribery or cruelty to the disparagement and obloquie of the King and his Government Such a person will never be so much lov'd and valu'd by a wise Prince as he that lives peaceably justly and honestly in his station observes the Laws of his Countrey and promotes the observance of 'em by others tho he do not always attend the King's presence nor pay his Court so constantly and obsequiously as the other Our Saviour tells us of those that have made long Prayers but have devour'd Widows Houses and we have heard of some who when they went to seek the Lord in a manner more solemn than ordinary had always some great mischief to do Such are so far from blessing and glorifying God that they bring a disgrace upon his Worship they are so far from being friends to his Interest that they make his Enemies to blaspheme him Solomon tells us that he that oppresses the poor reproaches God but that he honour's God who has mercy upon the poor The wise Son of Syrach tells us that he that keeps the Law brings Offering enough and he that takes heed to the Commandment brings a Peace-Offering he that requites a good turn offers fine Flower and he that gives Alms sacrificeth Praise and that to forsake unrighteousness is a propitiation And as this way of mens glorifying God by their Actions is the sure way of making others to glorify him so it is never more remarkably effectual than when men in eminent Station and Authority are exemplary for their Vertue and Piety Their light is set upon a high Candlestick and shines a great way whilst that which is not set up but lies low is either not seen or not regarded When our Law-givers and Magistrates shall hear and obey that call of the Royal Prophet Give unto the Lord O ye mighty I Give unto the Lord Glory and Strength Give unto the Lord the honour due unto his Name then will inferiour Persons quickly see that there is a God to whom they owe the same homage which their superiours so readily pay him but when not only the good Lives but the good Laws of our Magistrates do manifestly tend to the Glory of God and the promotion of Piety then have we reason to believe that God is in the midst of us that he presides in our councels and will influence all our actions for the pulick good I do not pretend to prescribe here neither am I able to instruct the united wisdom of this Nation in any of the Political part of their duty all that I shall take upon me to say is this that there are two things very dear to God his Ministers and his Worship and I doubt not but those whose business it is to settle affairs upon the best and and surest foundations will take care of these in a peculiar manner And thus I have shew'd you what it is to bless the Lord it is to do him all possible honour our selves in our thoughts words and actions and to endeavour every one in his station that others may do him honour I come now to shew that they that Fcar the Lord are the only persons fit to perform this duty For a fool that is in the Scripture Language a wicked man does not understand this an unwise man does not consider it he has said in his heart there is no God and therefore is certainly very unfit to honour him he that would rob him of his Being will pay but little deference to his Attributes Nay tho he were convinc'd of the being of a God yet in doing him honour he is so out of his element all the principal acts of Piety lye so odd and untoward to his genius and inclination that we can expect from him but very low and worthless performances in this kind for this thing being such as must not only deeply affect the thoughts but shew it self in mens words and actions no man must think to do it in a slight or perfunctory manner for it is one of the grand and principal businesses of human Life and must be perform'd with all imaginable Zeal and application A hypocrite may for some by-ends or to gain the reputation of Piety attend the time and place of publick praise and thanksgiving but his heart being rotten that vitiates all and tho it may deceive men is of no value with God A sensual libertine being perhaps tyr'd in the pursuit of his pleasures or cloy'd with the enjoyment of 'em may at his leisur● hours look inward a little and by the light of Nature that witness of himself which God has set up in the heart of every man form some honourable thoughts of God but these seldom break out into any acts of pure and sincere devotion much less into the spiritual and exalted ones of Praise and Thanksgiving As for the sordid worldling who by fraud and cruelty and by grinding the face of the poor has made hast to be rich he can have but little respect for the true God having another God of his own for the Scripture says he 's an Idolater he calls Justice and Charity but ill management and the Service of God loss of time so that there is no sort of habitual impenitent sinner that can be any ways fitted for this duty None but those that Fear the Lord none but those that have fix't in their minds true and genuine notions of his power and goodness These are they whose mouths will shew forth his righteousness and salvation all the day long and will say as we all have reason to do for his signal and repeated mercies Blessed be the Lord our God who only does wondrous things and blessed be his glorious Name for ever And let the whole Earth be fill'd with his Glory Amen Amen FINIS

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