Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	able_a	soul_n	zion_n	59	3	9.2668	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B36555	The spouses carriage in the wildernesse, in her leaning upon her welbeloved, opening the temper of the beleeving-soule in her severall wildernesses ... in a sermon formerly preacht in Andrewes Parish in Norwich, now reprinted, being corrected by the author / by John Collings ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1650 (1650)		43,153	109

what to doe If I stay in my sinnes I perish if I go out of the world I perish Here stands the soule turning it selfe every way and seeing comfort no way till the Lord Christ bowes the heavens and thrusts out his arme of salvation his shoulder of merits and takes the soule by the hand saying Come my Beloved I will tell thee what thou shalt doe I am the way out of this wildernesse come out leaning leane thy arme of faith upon the shoulder of my merits Free grace is able to beare thee I am thy Welbeloved and thy Welbeloved is thine And ordinarily the soule when it comes to the Lord Christ comes through this wildernesse this losing place of conviction and contrition and weeps her selfe a path where she would drown in the waters of Marah if Christ did not hold her up Indeed God could have brought the Israelites a shorter Journey than through the wildernesse to Canaan and sometimes God miraculously drawes a soul to himselfe onely by the cords of mercy God is not tyed alwayes to bring a soule the same road to heaven Elijah was carried to heaven in a fiery chariot but the more ordinary way is by Jacobs ladder The common way to heaven is by the gates of hell the way to life is through the chambers of death through a wildernesse Who is this that commeth up out of the wildernesse The third Wildernesse in which Christ's Spouse may somtimes have her dwelling in is the Wildernesse of affliction bodily afflictions I meane A Wildernesse is a place full of bryars and thornes and through such a wildernesse the holy Ghost tells us lies the Saints way to heaven By much tribulation much pricking of thrones thornes in the flesh somtimes must we enter into the kingdome of God The Spouse hath a dirty way to go to marrying in and when shee is marryed she hath a dirty way home too A wildernesse on either side The Apostle speakes plain Heb. 11.37 38. They wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skines being destitute afflicted tormented they wandred in deserts and in mountaines and in dens and in caves of the earth And who were these that wandred thus in the wildernesse They were such of whom the world was not worthy the Spouses of the Lord Christ And truely afflictions may be called a wildernesse for the disconsolacy of them too they are times of sorrow no delights please the spouse in affliction is in a wildernes 4. A fourth wildernesse that the Spouse sometimes dwells in is the wildernesse of temptations The Bridegroom himself was in this wildernesse He was led into the wildernesse to be tempted of the Devill The spirit took him thither Matth. 4. vers 1. and Paul was in this wildernesse troubled on every side this is Satans wildernesse that he leads many a poore soule into and it had been a sad wildernesse had not our WAY been their first If the Devill could have lost our Saviour in it we should never have found the way out of it A dangerous a disconsolate place well tearmed a wildernesse as the Saint will tell you that hath been in it 5. A fifth Wildernesse that the Spouse is sometimes in is the Wildernesse of desertion Here 's a sad wildernesse a desert indeed Quum Deus deseruit When God hath forsaken or withdrawne himselfe from the Soule this Desert Christ himselfe was in Eli Eli lamasabachthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me was the voice of the Lord Jesus hollowing in the wildernesse such a wildernesse was the Spouse in when she sought him but found him not Cant. 3. v. 2. In this desert the soule is solitary her God is gone and she knowes not what is become of him the soule never calls any company her company if her God be not there David was in this wildernesse too he is often crying out of the wildernesse he was in when God hid his face from him The soule that belongs to the Lord Jesus goes through many a wildernesse in this world but scarce any which Christ hath not walkt in before it and hewn a way through it through every wildernesse we may follow the Lamb in his own path 6. Nay lastly The Saints whole life below is but a wildernes Earth is a Christians desert while she lives here she lives in widowhood it is a sinfull place a dangerous place a thorny place and a place where she finds an abatement of the joyes she shall be swallowed up in in glory Mortality is but Meshech and her best habitations are but tents of Kedar nothing to the temple of Glory she shall worship her God in hereafter and the former deserts are but as severall corners of this wildernesse but she commeth up out of every wildernesse That is the next branch of Doctrine I hasten to Branch 2. That though the Saint of God hath had and may have her dwelling in the wildernesse she rests not there but commeth up out of it She cometh up It seemes to argue a propriety in the motion as if she were not driven nor drawne up nor made to come but of her selfe came and of her owne strength and yet not of her own strength neither her owne leggs would not beare her for the text tells us she comes up leaning she had fallen had she not leaned Here is the Question stated what the soule doth towards its conversion what power of doing any thing tending towards its conversion before it is sanctified or after it is sanctified whether it may meerly passive what she may doe what she cannot doe how far she may come where she must lean Whether hath the soule any power to come up out of the wildernesse of sinne to the Lord Christ to move one step heaven ward of it selfe And here I have a narrow path to tread betwixt the Pelagians and Arminians on the one side that would make the soule have more power than it hath and the Antinomians and Sectaries on the other side that are so farre from holding that the soule hath no power to come to Christ that they would make us beleeve she hath no power to come to Church neither I shall not know how to determine this Question better than in the words of pious and learned Bishop Davenant Determ Q. 9.49 Non potest quodvis opus ex divina promissione ad impetrandam peccatorum remissionem aut adeundam possessionem regni coelorum ordinatum The soule cannot doe any thing that is ordained by God or hath the promise of God to obtaine pardon of sinnes or possession of the Kingdome of heaven she cannot savingly beleeve repent love c. for these are the acts of grace and God is the fountain and donour of all grace 1. But first she may by Gods generall restraining grace without speciall and saving grace abstaine from grosse sinnes the heathens did so the light of nature which God keeps from none will shew her that this is darknesse 2. Secondly She may by Gods exciting

Otherwise she would not leane Fourthly It doth argue a confidence that the soule hath in the Lord that he is able to beare her Otherwise shee would not trust the weight of her soule upon him First it doth argue wearinesse If she were not weary she would not leane Humiliation is a preface to faith and the way to be found is to be lost It is not a leaning of wantonnesse but a leanning of wearinesse O Lord I am sinking into Hell let me save my selfe from sinking by thy shoulders I am falling Lord let me leane whiles the soule hath any strength to goe it is too proud to be beholden to leane Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11.29 First weary then come First heavy laden then I will ease you What shall I doe to be saved saith the Gaolor O I am lost undone I am at a Non-plus O what shall I doe I am weary for I am farre readier to beleeve that that Voice What shall I doe is rather the Voice of the soul at it's nil ultra sadly sensible of it's lost and miserable condition sufficiently humbled in the sense of it than the voice of a soule thinking it might doe any thing that might be but in the least contributary to the desert of salvation I cannot be perswaded to think that when the Gaolor spake those words prostrated by humiliation at the Apostles feet that he had the least thought that he could throw in so much as two mites into the Treasury of free grace But as it is the ordinary speech of one drown'd in the depth of sorrow O what shall I doe What shall I doe though at that instant they know they can doe nothing to help themselves So the Gaoler in a true sense of his owne lost condition cryes out O what shall I doe he was weary it was time for the Apostle to bid him leane then beleeve saith the Apostle and thou shalt be saved It is but a wresting of the place or mocking it rather to bring it to perswade that duties preparatory were here excluded Surely had not the Apostles seen him humbled in some degrees they would as well have prefixed Repent here as Peter did to them Act. 2. Repent and be baptized Christ came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance He is a Saviour but it is for them that are lost in their owne feeling too And the truth of it is the soule scornes to leane upon Christ so long as it is able to goe alone when it hath never a crutch of merits or duties to rest upon then it lookes out for some rest for it's foot for some shoulder to beare up for some staffe to stay it selfe upon Leaning doth argue wearinesse that 's the first Secondly It doth argue a willingnesse in the soule to come to Jesus Christ Leaning is not a forced action Indeed as I said before Christ first works this willingnes he it is that gives us power to will and it is by his power that we are willing as it is written Psa 110.3 They shall be willing in the day of my power But he doth not let us leane before we are willing Leaning is an action proceeds from the will Who is this cometh up leaning Thirdly leaning doth argue love who leans upon his enemies I will not leane upon one whom I cannot trust I must have some good thoughts of his love The soul that leans upon the Lord Jesus Christ loves Christ that Faith that pretended dependancy of any upon Christ that proceedeth not out of a principle of love groweth out of a false root the loving soule is only the truly beleeving soule Leaning is a loving posture that is the third Fourthly It doth argue fiduciam a resting a trusting the soule upon Christ he that leans upon another reposeth his whole weight trusteth his whole strength upon him He doth as much as say well I know I cannot goe alone I cannot stand but I will trust my self upon thy strength will I leane if I fall I fall So the soule that comes up out of the wildernesse of sinne to the Lord Jesus Christ doth repose it's whole weight upon the Lord Christ it sayes O Lord I am a great and grievous sinner I am not able to stand upon mine owne legges but I trust my soule upon thy armes thou hast mercies and great mercies and free mercies if I fall I fall if be damned I am damned here I will leane And here you have the second thing plaine viz Secondly The soules hand with which she leanes upon Jesus Christ for salvation and these 4. things which I have hinted from this expression leaning are as the foure fingers of the hand of Faith And we may thus give a description of it Faith is the hand of a soule which God hath humbled whereby the soule being not able to stand alone nor daring to trust to any thing else and being made willing by God out of a principle of love layes hold upon Jesus Christ and trusts and rests it selfe upon him for her salvation And that leads me to the third thing I propounded the Person upon whom she leanes the text renders it Her beloved or as I conceive the old Translation better Her welbeloved The Latine dilectum suum him that is her conjugally beloved This is the last Branch of the doctrine That though the beleeving soule comes up from the wildernesse leaning yet she will onely leane upon her beloved and he only can and will beare her We know that whosoever leanes must have a person to leane upon Secondly There must be a capacity in this arme to beare her some strength yea there had need to be a great deale to hold up the weight of a soule First let us enquire who the Person is rendred in the Text dilectum Her welbeloved in plaine termes her Husband one that hath more than an ordinary portion of her love Here are five things hinted in this Expression 1. It is one whom she loves The word signifies a speciall sort of love and every greater includes a lesse 2. One that she is married to he is welbeloved her dearest love not charum but dilectum one that hath a title to her 3. Her Beloved not anothers Beloved 4. Her Beloved He that is her Beloved not who was her Beloved 5. Her Beloved not her Beloveds First It is one whom she loves This I hinted at before it is a principle of love that drawes the Soule to leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ The hatred of her selfe hath bred the love of her Saviour in it And no Soul loves Christ more than that wich loaths it self most When the soule shall consider what a Brand for Hell it was in its originall how worthlesse a worme it is how basely it hath dealt by God trampling upon his rich offers of Grace scorning his Invitations And again consider that God hath no need at all of it But

no Wouldest thou know whether ever thou wert a beleever examine whether ever thou wert a penitent or not This is Gods ordinary way thence he complaines of his people that they would not repent that they might beleeve in him Dost thou find God in another manner of working in thy soule blesse God for it and if thy title be good to heaven which will be knowne by thy walking with God beleeve me God hath used thee kindly heaven hath cost thee cheaper then it costs many a poore soule and walke humbly before God because he hath not humbled thee under his mighty hand as he hath done many another poore creatures And though I would not condemne those that plead their title to heaven this way for feare I should condemne the generation of the righteous yet beleeve me I should suspect it in my owne cause They that goe out weeping and carry precious seed shall returne rejoycing and bring their sheaves with them 2. Examine thy selfe What other wildernesses thou meetest with Afflictions temptations c. I would not give this as an infallible marke yet God sayes whom he loves he chasteneth and scourgeth every child whom he receiveth and thence the Father drew out his Conclusion Unicum Deus habuit filium sine peccato nullum sine flagello God had one Sonne without sinne but none without a rod. But I know even the wicked sometimes begin their hell upon the earth and though I would suspect my selfe if I met with no afflictions yet I would not be glad to have a life full of crosses and afflictions my best evidence for heaven I rather named this for a preface to the next note 3. Examine how thou carriest thy selfe in the wildernesse there is a different carriage betwixt the child of God and the child of the Devill in afflictions the one sinkes into the grave with despaire the other lifts up his head to Sion with hope the one is prest to death under crosses the other above all crosses Cain cries my punishment is too heavy for me to beare Job cries though he should kill me yet I will trust in him The Reprobate cryes Who is the Lord that I should wait for him The Saint sayes I will patiently wait for the Lords Salvation the wicked man dyes the Saint leanes the eyes of the sinners faile that day but the Saints look up to Sion from whence comes their helpe that day 4. Examine How thou hast come out of thy wildernesse of thine owne strength or leaning Canst thou say That God knew thee in the wildernesse in the land of great drought Hos 13.5 If thou thinkest thou camest out alone thou art there stil What gave thee comfort in the depths of sorrow what thy merry company did thy duties do it If any thing did it but thy Christ I feare thou art still in the Wildernesse when thou didst mourne as one that mourneth for his onely begotten sonne dist thou look upon him whom thou hadst pierced there is nothing but the blood of Christ can give a cordiall to a fainting soule nothing but the hand-kerchiefe of free grace that can wipe thine eyes nothing but the blotting out of the hand-writing which was written in Gods Booke and thy owne conscience against thee that can make thy heart leave trembling and thy knees leave beating together for terror Thou canst not come out alone if ever thou camest out it was leaning 5. Examine thy selfe How thou hast carried thy selfe since thou camest out How hast thou beene since thou wert humbled and lost in the wildernesse of sorrow What effects hath the wildernesse of sorrow wrought upon thee Hath thy sorrow beene like the sorrow of Achan that thou hast been onely sorry because thou hast been under an Attachment of wrath Or like Ahab renting his cloathes putting on his sack-cloth and going softly 2 Chron. 22. Or like Pharoah saying I have sinned Exod. Or like Balaam saying I have sinued I will returne back againe when he might have had more thanks for his labour and never have come there he had checks enough Art thou worse when thou commest out of the wildernesse of affliction that wee may brand thee with Ahaz his Brand This was that King Ahaz Or doest thou come out of thy Afflictions leaning with thy weak faith strengthened and thy strong faith confirmed Hast thou lost no graines but got in the fire Is thy gold as good weight now as before it is a good signe it is good then But I hasten to the next Use which may be to informe us First The sad condition that all unbeleevers are in Secondly The joyfull condition that all the Children of God are in Thirdly The great love of God that he would send Christ to seeke us up in the wildernesse and give his hand to poore creatures to lead them out And lastly If in every wildernesse wee must leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ It may informe us what need wee have at all times to walke close with the Lord Christ First here see the sad condition that all men and women by nature are in that have not the Lord Jesus Christ It consists in two things First They are in a wildernesse Sinne is a wildernesse Now which of you friends but would thinke himselfe as good as a dead man if he were in the midst of an Arabian desert that he could not see any possibilitie of getting out nor any comfort he could enjoy there terror on every side comfort on no side the Lyons and beasts of prey of every hand ready to devour him and it is well if he can keepe his flesh for food for himselfe for he can get no provision for his body nothing except he would eate the barke of trees or the parched grasse What man would not tremble to thinke of one that should be condemned to such an axile Doe not your hearts pittie as oft as you think of those poore men that were left but halfe a yeare in Greenland And yet O Lord How few pittie themselves O poore creatures Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur the Story is thy owne apply it therefore You that are in your sinnes are all in a sad wildernesse the judgements of God like the beasts of prey are ready to swallow you up on every hand 't is a miracle of mercy you are not in hell there is but a thread betwixt you and death the Sword of Gods wrath hangs over your head while you are at your Drunken Banquets of sinne Oh! what comfort what joy can can you have in the wildernesse friends that when you lye downe at night you know not but you may wake in the morning past Repentance even with Hell flames about you as the Lord lives there is but a haires breadth betwixt you and Hell 2. Consider That you have no one to helpe you out of any wildernesse if Christ be not yours nothing is yours what will you doe in a stormy day of Affliction when you shall