Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	bless_v	lord_n	praise_n	6,339	5	9.8316	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79541	Christian consolations taught from five heads in religion I. Faith. II. Hope. III. The Holy Spirit. IV. Prayer. V. The Sacraments. Written by a learned prelate.	Learned prelate.	1671 (1671)	Wing C3943A; ESTC R232695	66,056	242

lost to himself lost to his right wits because he hath no knowledge or no good opinion of the comfort of Prayer Which is my purpose to make him learn by that which follows looking upon the Substance or Matter of Prayer The Qualification of him that Prayeth and the fitness of Time when Prayer is to be made I. The Matter of Prayer is as copious as all occasions that can be named it shall suffice for my purpose to treat of three Heads Glorifications with Thanksgivings Supplications and Intercessions 1. The first is bent to magnifie the Almighty to extol his Name to praise him for his Goodness This is the Hallelujah of David and of the Saints in Heaven that is give glory to Jah or the great Jehovah which is followed with a rare variety in the Song of the three Children O all ye works of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever It is a ditty that is balsamed all over with a perfusion of delight to praise God from all things that he hath made from the centre of the Earth to the top of Heaven And this is most divinely exprest in that which is called St. Ambrose his Hymn in our Common-Prayer We praise thee O God we knowledge thee to be the Lord And let the servant of God that will listen to me repeat it often and often For it is a piece of devotion so sweetly spread out into the branches of Heavenly praise Confession of Faith and devout Petitions that the like did never come forth since the time it was penn'd Let me speak to others out of the sense of my own heart and I may safely profess that in the service and worship of God I find nothing so delightful as to continue in the praise and honour of the Lord. If another contradict it and say that there are some means more aptly calculated as I may speak for the high Meridian of Comfort He is He and I am I and I appeal from him to my self what I find in my own motions and feelings And what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 And I observe that in the prudent institution of our Church to hold forth the Consolation we have in Christ after the participation of his Body and Bloud in the blessed Sacrament it teacheth us to break out all together into a Jubilee Glory be to God on high We praise thee we bless thee we glorifie thee c. For when we are full of that holy Feast and have eaten Angels food we fall into the tune of Angels and signifie immediately before we depart how much our Spirit rejoyceth in God our Saviour But who knew better the mind of the Lord than the Spirit it self in those admirable exstacies of David Sing praises unto God for it is pleasant Psalm 135.3 Sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Psalm 147.1 Sing aloud unto God our strength make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob Psalm 81.1 Every furrow in the book of the Psalms is sown with such seeds I know nothing more certain more constant to expel the sadness of the world than to sound out the praises of the Lord as with a Trumpet and when the heart is cast down it will make it rebound from Earth to Heaven This was the wisdom of the holy Church throughout all the world till distempers put us out of the right way not long since to solemnize the praise of our Saviour upon the Feasts of Christmas Easter c. that we might celebrate the great works which God hath done for us with the voice of joy and praise and with a multitude that kept Holy Day Psalm 42.4 O give thanks unto the Lord be telling of his mercy and salvation from day to day Give thanks unto him with chearfulness for a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful Who is a just man and fair condition'd that would not pay a debt and be exonerated of it He that can say he hath paid what he ow'd is it not a quietness to his mind to be discharg'd It goes further a great deal and brings more advantage when we offer up the sacrifice of retribution the incense of Thanksgiving unto the Lord for we draw on more benefits when we declare the goodness of the Lord upon the receipt of the old And the gratuitum which God gives is a thousand fold greater than the present which we bring This proposed to them that will fly high from the pinacle of the Lord's Prayer the first Petition Hallowed be thy Name 2. Neither let them faint that stoop low in Supplication for mercy will embrace them on every side Two things being put together are of much weight we pray with God's Spirit and by his Word He invites us in his Word to pray and he gives the gift with which we pray I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Zach. 12.10 Did He pour upon us his Grace and have we received a Commandment the outward sign of his Will and can we suspect after all this that He will put us off and deny us Is his Grace given in vain or hath He sent his Word to delude us He hath kindled a fire in our breasts and it is an Heavenly flame that burns within us Lord though we are vile and despicable thou canst not despise the acting of thine own Spirit nor frustrate thine own operations Or do we come unbidden when we cast our selves down in thy presence Nay Lord thou hast beckned and called us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden Hold fast to these two and who can forbid us to be comforted the Lord bids us pray and he gives us a heart to pray For it is not strange to his mercy perhaps it is strange to mans conceipt to give us strength to bring forth that obedience both to will and to do which himself hath commanded As he gave the Blessed Virgin strength to bring forth the Babe who was conceived and formed in her womb by the Holy Ghost This I do the rather enforce because we can see no comfort in our selves therefore as I derive all the vertue and spirituality that is in Prayer from the efficacy of Grace So I refer all the success to Christ in whom we are blessed with all spiritual blessings Eph. 1.3 Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my Name he will give it Jo. 15.16 But He and his Father are one therefore he says If ye shall ask the Father any thing in my Name I will do it Jo. 14. verse 14. If we had no better means to God than our selves and our own merits there were no hope to speed nay our hearts would be as faint and dead as if we heard our selves denied before we had opened our lips But we conclude as it is to

your self upon every disquietness and deep plunge of heart and how can you chuse but convince your self that your melancholy and distrust is causeless The hope of the righteous shall be gladness Prov. 10.26 And we rejoyce in hope Rom. 12.12 The design of Hope is consider'd four ways First it intends unto that which is good which makes a difference between Hope and Fear for we hope for that which is good we fear that which is evil Secondly It is not that good which is present but absent and this makes a difference between Hope and Fruition Rom. 8.24 Hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for Thirdly Though it be a good absent and not yet obtained yet it is possible which is the difference between Hope and Despair but we have no colour for despair since all things are possible to God Fourthly It is a possible good but bonum arduum to be gotten with difficulty and pains which puts a difference between the diligence of Hope and careless Security These are the four promontories of Hope and a good wind blows from every quarter I. First It is good for a man to Hope since we hope for that which is good so good that it exceeds all that Eye hath seen for as yet we see not God but in his creatures Nor Ear hath heard it that is in its full unutterable excellency which the words of Holy Scripture cannot express to our imperfect reason Then neither can it enter into the heart of man for things can seem no greater than words can utter We know as yet but in part hereafter we shall know as we are known If we have boasted to the Heathen that we look for a Kingdom and a Crown of glory we are sure we shall not be ashamed of that hope Rom. 5.5 We may be ashamed that we have doted upon petty things out of which we have devised felicity and they have failed and deceiv'd us but our treasure laid up in the Heaven is so sure that in the end and in the day of trial none shall insult over our hope and say where is now the Lord your God If a mortal man detain the wages of the labourer 't is a sin Therefore it cannot be incident to God who is not unrighteous to forget our work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 We shall not always be forgotten our Expectation shall not perish for ever Psal 9.18 The judgment of a good eye-sight is to see afar off so is the judgment of a good hope to remark the unspeakable reward of a better age to come Whereupon it hath sufficient satisfaction and content to leave or to lose all it hath things not worthy to be compared to the glory which is revealed in us Rom. 8.18 The rich Mines and Golden trade of both the Indies are on the other side the Line so the rich trade of Hope is in the other world Change your poor fraught which is your lading in this vessel of clay and barter it for an immortal possession Hope that is not under the embers but mounts up in a trembling flame reckons not what it is worth by a very little which it hath in hand but by its share which is reserved in the store-house of God's eternal recompence Now I am abased but there is mine honour a far abundant exceeding weight of glory Now I carry about a crazy sickly body there it shall be immortal and incident to no distemper Now my neighbours and acquaintance despise me and run far from me there I shall be enrolled with Angels and Saints and with the Church of the first born and with the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 Now I live in all disorder of Church-ordinances in distraction of Schisms in the filthy stanch of old and new heresies but there is the new Jerusalem where all things set forth the glory of the Lamb in beauty and holiness and truth Now I must die and deliver up my body unto the dust but Christ died and rose the third day and will bring again with him in due time all those that sleep and comfort one another with these words saith St. Paul 1 Thess 4.14 And as when Christ ascended into Heaven He went up with a merry noise and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet Psal 47.5 So let every heart break out into praise and gladness whose hope flies up unto the Lord in his holy places Holding fast the confidence and the rejoycing of hope firm unto the end Heb. 3.6 II. Stay yet and consider it is a good which is absent that we hope for When it is come and brought to pass Hope is at the journeys end Say to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Isa 3.10 It shall be well Dixit erit It is not paid down as we say in ready money but we have a good bond for assurance Let me object upon this Doth not Hope deferr'd afflict the Soul Yet be not disheartened it is better than so For first we have somewhat in hand because that which Faith lays hold of is really and actually its own now Hope is Faith's rent-gatherer and takes up that which Faith claims upon the bargain which Christ hath made for us To be clearer yet Eph. 1. verses 13 14. We are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance You see then that though we have not the inheritance as yet we have the earnest of it and an earnest-penny is more than nothing Here I must distinguish between a pledge and an earnest A pledge is laid down for assurance to repay that which was lent but an earnest is given upon a bargain to keep that till the rest be brought in Now the earnest that we receive of the Kingdom to come is the seal of the Spirit an imprinted comfort that it shall be ours A seal that cannot be defaced a comfort that cannot be taken from us So much as you have of that seal so much you have of the earnest therefore you cannot say that Hope hath quite nothing to stay its longing The blossoms of the Spring do not only promise but are God's earnest to represent the fruits which will wax ripe in Autumn I will make it out in another similitude He that is in a Merchants ware-house where spices are stored up shall have some taste of them in his palate by their strong scent though he put not one corn into his mouth so we taste Heaven because the Spirit that comes from Heaven dwells in us and gives many delightful signs of a glorified reversion But to go forward it may not be denied but that Hope is anxious and restless till it come to enjoy How tedious a thing it is to stay long without the company of them whom we entirely love And can it be otherwise than irksom to be so long absent from the vision of