Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A42550
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Londons remembrancer, or, A sermon preached at the Church of St. Mary Le Bow on September the 3d, 1688 (the second day being the Lord's Day) which was appointed by act of Parliament for the citizens of London and their successors to retain the memorial of the sad desolation of the city by fire in the year of our Lord 1666 / by William Gearing ...
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Gearing, William.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing G435E; ESTC R40472
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20,624
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36
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Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Psalm 19.1 And thus the Angels and Saints in Heaven declare His Glory And thus all His People on Earth declare His Glory The Heavens declare His Glory Naturally and Saints declare His Glory Spiritually They shew forth His Glory and do manifest to their own Consciences Dominum magnificat qui Domini magnificentiam praedicat Euseb Emiss hom 6. and to the World how highly they prize and esteem His Glory and how earnestly they desire and as much as in them lieth endeavour it that all other Men would also with them acknowledge and admire the same Sing Praise to the Honour of His Name make His Praise to be glorious Psalm 66.1 The Prophet doth not say make His Essence to be more glorious than it is in it self but make His Praise to be more and more glorious in the Eye and Esteem of Men Psalm 145.11 12. That Men may speak of the Glory of His Kingdom and talk of His Power And make known to the Sons of Men His Mighty Acts and the glorious Majesty of His Kingdom So Psalm 96. 2 3 6 7 8. Sing unto the Lord Bless His Name shew forth His Salvation from day to day Declare His Glory among the Heathen His Wonders among all People Honour and Majesty are before Him Strength and Beauty are in His Sanctuary Give unto the Lord O ye Kindreds of the People give unto the Lord Glory and Strength Give unto the Lord the Glory due unto His Name When we endeavour by our Thanksgivings Confessions Faith Obedience and Good Works to bring God's true Religion and Worship into request to win a due Reverence to His Holy Name and Word to beget in others more High and Honourable Thoughts concerning God in all these His most Eminent Attributes of Wisdom Power Justice Mercy c. This is according to Scripture Language to glorifie God. 1. To glorifie God supposeth that we know what a God He is a God full of all Perfection a God glorious in Holyness glorious in Majesty and Power otherwise we cannot give Him Glory no more than a Blind Man can praise super-eminent Beauty or Excellent Colours 2. It supposeth that there be an inward Delight in His glorious Excellencies 3. Then will follow an outward testifying and acknowledging of His Excellencies declaring what a God of Glory He is We do not by shewing forth His Glory increase His Glory We add not Light to the Sun when we praise and commend the Lustre of it God's Excellencies are His Praise our Acknowledgment makes this His Praise glorious A Man would think the glorious Angels and Saints in Heaven were fitter Instruments for such an Employment than such poor Worms of the Earth as we are It is confessed they in Heaven are fitter to do it and there it is best done but it is more needful to be done here upon Earth and if it be sincerely done here it is very acceptable unto God. It is not so much the thing done that God regardeth as the performance of it in singleness of Heart Let that be set right first and then be the performance what it will we both Please and Honour God therewith Whoso offereth Praise glorifieth me saith the Lord Psal 50.23 That is so He intendeth it and so I accept it Wherefore the Glory of God the setting forth of His Eminencies and Excellencies should be the end of our Lives and the principal thing we should aim at We begin with it in the Lord's Prayer Hallowed be thy Name It should be our main Employment Of Him and by Him are all things to Him be Glory for ever Rom. 11. We should therefore give God that which is His own Thine is the Glory as it is in the Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer When we begin the first Petition we are to put up is Hallowed or Glorified be thy Name We are to pray that His Name may be Hallowed or Glorified And when we have gone through all the Petitions we are to wrap up all in the Conclusion with this Acknowledgment that to Him alone belongeth all the Kingdom the Power and Glory for Ever and Ever God's Glory must have the first place in all our Designs Prayers Intents and Purposes It is the end of all Obedience Matth. 5.16 Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven This is a notable Tryal of all our dealings and this is that which may humble the best Christians who are too apt to respect themselves and cannot keep their Eye directly and only upon God and His Glory And that we may glorifie God we must 1. Pray and Endeavour after the Knowledge of God for without it we cannot discern the Excellency of His Name nor in any measure sanctifie Him in our Hearts Ignorant People have no esteem of Mens Gifts Learning c. because they know them not much less can we have a due Estimation of God's Perfections without Knowledge God made the World and the Creatures thereby to make Himself known for His Glory And more clearly did He make Himself known by His Word that He might be glorified But they that come not to the Knowledge of God cannot glorifie Him. 2. We must endeavour that in our hearts we may have a due Reverence and Awful Admiration of the Lord's Excellencies that we may rightly conceive of Him and that we may discern Him in His Word and in his Works and rightly be affected towards Him in His Worship 3. We must likewise in our Words endeavour to express due Reverence towards Him upon all occasions speaking to His Praise and Glory And 4. That all our Works and Actions may be directed to His Glory and that in them others may discern a due Respect to His Majesty And here let us take heed of aiming at our own Glory in God's Service this is the way to lose a Reward from God for herein a Man serveth himself and not God and therefore no marvel if the Lord deny him any Wages Yea herein a Man putteth himself in God's place and therefore deserveth that Punishment which is due to such as rob Him of His Glory Obj. Oh but we are bid to let our Light shine before Men that they may see our good Works Respon The Words reconcile themselves We are bid to let our Light shine before Men to this end that seeing our good Works they may glorifie our Heavenly Father We are bid not to do them before Men for this end to be seen of Men. In the second place we are to enquire what we are to understand by these Fires in my Text Glorifie ye the Lord in the Fires c. Fire is taken in Scripture diverse ways 1. There is an Internal Metaphorical Fire a Fire in the Conscience Thus God sends an evil Conscience into many wicked Men which is like a flaming Furnace much worse than King Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace
answerableness as these Rules call for Mark what the Prophet saith in a like case Psalm 66. O God saith the Prophet Thou hast proved us and tryed us as Silver is tryed verse 10 and verse 12. We went through Fire and Water that is Thou hast brought us through all manner of Evils For all kinds of Afflictions in Scripture are understood by Fire and Water And we presently find upon this a glorifying of God. I will go into thine House with Burnt-Offerings I will pay thee my Vows which my Lips have uttered and my Mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble And verse 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul. Now to press you to this Duty let me lay some Considerations before you 1. Unless ye glorifie God in the Fires ye do not answer God's end in kindling these Fires among you Do you think that God kindled these Fires among you for nothing If a Sparrow falls not to the ground without God's Providence do ye think that God would kindle so many Fires in this City and throw down so many Thousand Houses as He did in the great Conflagration for nothing Mark what God saith Mal. 1.10 Who is there even among you that would shut the Doors for nought Neither do ye kindle Fire upon mine Altar for nought The Words may be understood two ways in reference to their Ceremonial Worship Ye do not kindle a Fire upon mine Altar for nought That is every Man had some end that did it which he propounded to himself in the doing of it He brought a Sacrifice to offer Secondly He did it not for nought that is without any profit He should have that which should answer his Charge answer the kindling of that Fire Now as Men shall not kindle a Fire for nought so God will not kindle a Fire in your Houses for nought Ye defeat God of His End when ye glorifie not God in the Fires 2. If ye glorifie God in the Fires these very Fires shall be your Glory Then these Fires are Blessings when we can bless and glorifie God for them It changeth the Nature of these Fires it turneth Evil into Good when we can glorifie God in these Fires When the Cross sits heavy upon our backs and the Fire of Affliction is ready to consume us yet if we can glorifie God and bless Him from the Heart for them it will be as a Crown of Glory upon our Heads 3. To glorifie God in the Fire of Affliction is in some degree a higher Dignity than God puts upon the Angels in Heaven The Angels only glorifie God in a way of Service it is only the Saints on Earth that glorifie Him in a way of suffering 4. If ye do not glorifie God in the Fires that He hath kindled among you you do but put God upon kindling new Fires among you If one be not big enough He can make more and bigger and if one will not do it another shall He will fetch up His Glory one way or other and ye do but make more combustible matter for the Judgment of God if ye do not yield Him His ends in kindling so many Fires among you Josephus tells us That Titus the Son of Vespasian the Roman Emperour was very unwilling to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem that he laboured to quench the Flame after it was set on fire Joseph de bello Judaico and suffered some prejudice in his Wars about it it was done divino quodam impetu by a certain Divine Stroke as the same Author observeth But Joseph being a Jew was ignorant of the main cause of the Destruction of the City and Templeof Jerusalem scil their Rejecting and Murthering the Son of God. 5. Suppose God kindle no more Fires and bring no more such a Judgment upon you yet be ye assured of this that they who glorifie not God in the Fires shall find God Himself to be a Fire unto them Heb. 12.29 Our God saith the Apostle is a consuming Fire Not that He will consume His People He will consume their Dross only But to His Enemies He will be a consuming Fire He will consume them for ever Ye that are Wicked and Ungodly though ye walk all your days in the warm Sun yet God will be a consuming Fire to you at last Who would set Briars and Thorns against me in Battel saith the Lord I would go thorough them I would burn them together Psalm 27.4 Mark what the Prophet saith Isa 33.14 The Sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites Who among us shall dwell with the devouring Fire Who among us shall dwell with Everlasting Burnings God is before His own People as a Fire but they can come near to it and not be burnt But the Hypocrite trembleth at it saying Who shall dwell with devouring Fire It is a sad thing to have Burnings in your Dwellings that last but a few Hours how woful is it then to dwell with Everlasting Burnings Now God will be a Devouring Fire and Everlasting Burnings to all them that are drossy and continue in Sin. Therefore I beseech you study to put this Exhortation in my Text in Practice viz. To glorifie God in the Fires The Apostle saith In every thing give thanks Let God do what He will with His People they have cause in every thing to glorifie Him. Tho. de Kempis de imitat Christi l. 1 3. c. 5. Therefore Thomas de Kempis speaks excellently in his Book of the Imitation of Christ I give Thee hearty thanks O Lord my God that Thou hast not spared my faults but hast visited me with thy Stripes for them Thy Correction shall Instruct me and Thy Rod shall Tutor me unto Salvation Gregory speaks sweetly to this purpose Who can be unthankful even for Blows when as He went not out of the World without Stripes who came into and lived in it without Faults Therefore He is of a right Judgment who not only glorifieth God in Prosperity but also who blesseth His Name for Calamities If thou shalt by Thanksgiving in Adversity gain the Peace of God with the Things which thou hast lost shall be restored with Multiplication and moreover Eternal Joys for the short time of thy Sorrow shall be surely added Thanks must be given to a Father for his Scourges and severest Discipline for the Blows of a Father are better than the Kisses of an Enemy This is the very Will of God to give Thanks always In every thing to give Thanks argues a Soul rightly Instructed Hast thou suffered any Loss any Evil if thou wilt it is no Evil give Thanks to God and glorifie Him and then thou hast turned the Evil into Good. Say thou also as Job when he had lost all The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken blessed be the Name of the Lord. Job then did more deeply wound the Devil when being stript out of all he gave Thanks to God than if he had distributed all to the Poor and Needy For it is much more to be stript of all and to bear it patiently and thankfully than for a Rich Man to give Alms as it here hapned to Righteous Job Hath the Fire taken hold upon your Houses and turned any of you out of your Dwellings and consumed your whole Substance Remember the Sufferings and Losses of Job Give Thanks to God who could though He did not have hindred that Mischance and thou shalt be sure to receive as equal a Reward as if thou hadst put all into the Bosom of the Indigent Therefore let us not rest in this that we bear Afflictions and suffer Losses but labour to bring our Hearts to glorifie God in the Fires of Affliction FINIS Books lately Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside A Discourse of Old Age tending to the Instruction Caution and Comfort of Aged Persons By Rich. Steel Minister of the Gospel Conversion of the Soul with a warning to Sinners to prepare for Judgment By Nath. Vincent A True Touchstone which shews both Nature and Grace with sundry Meditations relating to the Lord's Supper By Nath. Vincent Minister of the Gospel A Treatise of Free Grace by David Clarkson Minister of the Gospel Baptismal Bonds Renewed some Meditations on Psalm 50.5 By Oliver Heywood Minister of the Gospel A Discourse on the Sacrament the 2 d Edition with Additions By Rich. Kidder Minister of the Gospel An Alarum to the Unconverted to which is added several Cases of Conscience judiciously answered By Joseph Allen Minister of the Gospel Grand Charter granted by Jesus Christ A Discourse upon Matth. 28.18 19 20. By George Lawson late Rector of More in Shropshire The difference between the Spots of the Godly and of the Wicked By Jer. Burroughs Illustrious Providences Recorded especially in New England By Increase Mather Minister of the Gospel in New England A serious Exhortation to Self-Examination in 5 Sermons 2 Cor. 13.5 By Tho. Wadsworth late Minister of Newington-Butts Southwark