Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	bless_v	let_v	praise_v	13,035	5	9.8164	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55741	Christ's revvard of a Christians watch and ward, or, A sermon preached at the burial of Mr. John Berry of Thorverton in the countie of Devon, Aug. 23, 1654 by John Preston ...	Preston, John, b. 1598 or 9.	1655 (1655)	Wing P3297B; ESTC R1152	15,552	24

the last trumpet Arise ye dead and come to judgement sound and resound always in thine ears Mors tua Mors Christi fraus Munda Gloria coeli Et dolor Inferni sunt meditanda tibi Thy death and Christs Earths Fraud Heav'ns habitation And Pains of Hell let be thy meditation Labour to finde out what hinders from doing good whether too much business and pudder about the things of this world as if we were born to live here everlastingly The Scripture sets Bounds limits to us as 1 Cor. 7. 31. use this world as not abusing it not doting upon these passable and perishable things as our Saviour Luke 21. 34. Warn us to take heed that we be not overcharged as not with surfetting and drunkenness so not with the cares of this life There is an overcharging of the soul with cares as the body with meats or drinks As the glutton and drunkard are unweildy to work so cares eat up the power of the soul so that they loose many opportunities to do good and to receive good Cares choke the word But more particularly First in the Morning begin to wake with God and give thy soul a Mornings-draught steept in the Meditation of God his mercy and preservation before the World or the Flesh thrust in Bethink of all that may befall thee that day of all the dangers of all the troubles what Armor to encounter surely ye have need to buckle on your Armor with Patience to go up and down amongst men shall I say hissing Serpents of envy poisonous Adders of maliciousness and fiery flying Scorpions of slandering their neighbours and we must fight as S. Paul with Beasts after the manner of men You cannot go safe amongst these malevolent spirits without your coat of Male girded on about you by prayer Where the enemy once entered barracado up that passage more stronngly as souldiers do where the enemy hath broken in or the wall is weak Take Provisions for thy journey or undertakings that ye may be able to encounter whatsoever Accidents befall you Let God have the first fruits of the day the firstlings of your hearts Begin the day with prayers and it will sweeten all your actions of the day with comfort and all occurrences thus I commended my self to God in prayer and have set upon the day with this Resolution to do nothing that may offend God or a good conscience regarding no Iniquity in my heart but to pass the day in the works of my calling under the shadow of the Almighty c. Afterwards in the day let us do nothing wherein we conceive God ●ill not protect us that we cannot pray to God for a Blessing upon it If men would do so what would become of their lying swearing forswearing cheating couzning and underminings drinkings lasciviousness and vanities for why can they pray to God for a Blessing upon these courses In the day-time carry a heavenly minde in earthly business No Occurrent fa●ls out no Object is presented but a gracious heart will draw out something of it for religious use A good Christian is an Excellent Chimist and extracts heavenly things and things for heavenly uses out of earthly minerals and materials The present Harvest puts him in minde of the day of Judgement and the Reapers of the Angels When he plows the ground he thinks upon the fallow ground of his heart how it needs turning and ripping up when he weaves or sees the Weavers shuttle he meditates upon the shortness of mans life now at this end but presently at an end c. Thus he reasons with himself God hath set me in this place for a little time and here I must work in this inferiour calling and I must serve God with contentment in it As for recreation make it not a vocation you will quickly err in the use of lawfull things if ye be not watchfull Prosperity is a slippery Mountain if you walk not warily you will slip and slide glide into the forgetfullness of God of your selves of your duty which is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that fall into it Take heed saith God when thou art in that good land that floweth with milk and hony that thou forget not c. Job knew that for to get full of all was the way to be forgetfull and therefore when his children were banqueting he was sacrificing If Athwarts and crosses of the world come look upon the hand that orders all wherein thou art prone to be overtaken take especial care to prevent and be watchfull there And because every man cannot use Privacy well be watchfull over thy self alone use the ●ime of Aloneness in Meditation of him that All One is though he ●e Three Let thy sequestration-time be thy holy meditation-time ●athan is busie still he will be too cunning for thee and make thy ●eart his shop if thou suffer it empty and fill it not with good ●houghts Let thy company be such as to whom thou mayest do good or ●rom whom thou maist receive good Good company strengthens ●ne another as stones in an Arch. Such company as thou keepest ●●ch thou art or such thou wilt be shortly or such thou wilt be ●ccounted to be When it comes to night reflect upon the occasions and passages ●f the day go over all where thou hast offended crave pardon ●here thou hast done well bless the Lord If thou have done good to none nor made thy self better thou mayest cry out heu diem perdidi Alas I have lost a day Suffer not thy body to rest before thy conscience be assured of peace reconciliation with God through Iesus Christ Dangerous to go to bed with a guilty conscience what do we know whither we shall live till the morning If we could account Religion a serious thing as it is we would not hear these things as strange Doctrines but we would think of them seriously and practise them affectionately Renew your Resolutions for the time to come for we have all broken our vows and covenants with God Observe all advantages for praying to and praysing of God speaking of his goodness to others with thy mouth and let thy life speak thereof lowder let God have all the Honour of his Assistance of thee blessing thy Labours Above all Remember the Sabbaoth do the work of the Lord onely upon the Lords day If thou mingle thy worldly business with his service thou spoylest all such mixings marr all Dead flies cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour Eccles. 10. 1. So distracted thoughts worldly mindedness and earthly talke and business upon the Lords day will cause all thy prayers and services to stink in the nostrils of God And if thou steal away of his time to use it about thine own occasions thou art a Thief also to thy self and to thine own profit For therefore God commanded thee to keep the Sabbaoth that he might bless thee that by thy

holy observation of the day and carefull performance of the duties of the day he might convay over to thee his blessings for such a servant he blesseth and he shall be blessed which is the third and last part The Encouragement Blessed is that servant c. Doct. Blessing attends and goes along with watching If thou wilt be blessed then watch for the Lords coming Blessed are these servants c. Those that keep their souls in a watchfull frame are blessed And it is truth The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Vse What a Motive is here to give our souls to watching In Blessedness all good things whatsoever meet as in a centre It is a confluence and concurrence of all good whatsoever either honest profitable or pleasant And this Blessedness shall meet the watchfull soul in death and embrace it The watching Christian his life is blessed his death is blessed blessed by grace blessed by glory blessed in body blessed in soul Blest soul that immediately enjoyes blessedness in the Kingdom of Heaven where God is all in all to his elect 1 Cor. 15. 28. where is eternal life and perfect glory Eternal life which is that Fellowship with God whereby God himself is through the Lamb Christ Life unto the elect For in the Kingdom of Heaven the elect shall not need meat drink sleep air heat cold physick apparrel or light of Sun or Moon but in place of all these shall they have Gods spirit by which immediately they shall be quickned for ever Revel. 21. 3. 23. And perfect glory which is that wonderfull Excellency of the Saints whereby they shall be in a far better estate than heart can wish For first they shall everlastingly behold the face of God which is the Glory and Majesty of God Rev. 22. 4. Secondly they shall be most like to Christ to wit just holy incorruptible glorious honourable excellent beautifull strong mighty and nimble 1 Iohn 3. 2. Phil. 3. 21. Thirdly they shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 4. Matth. 25. 34. whence proceeds Eternal joy and the perfect service of God immediately Eternal joy had Peace with safety safety with security security with Eternity The joyes above are for Matter spiritual for substance real for use universal for continuance Eternal Psal. 16. 11. Psal. 36. 8. There the King is Verity the Law Charity the Peace Felicity and the Life Eternity The service of God consists onely in Prayse and Thansgiving Rev. 21. 3. and Rev. 5. 12 13. and 11. 17. see the Texts The manner of performing this service is to worship God by God immediate●y In Heaven there shall neither be Temple Ceremony nor Sacrament but all these wants shall God himself supply together with the Lamb that is Christ Rev. 21. 21. I say no Temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it The service ●hall be dayly and without Intermission Rev. 7. 15. They are in the ●resence of the Throne of God serve him day and night in his Temple Vse The consideration hereof should stir up us to a constant ●atch and ward over our souls If immediate communion with God through Iesus Christ which is the life eternal if to have whatsoever heart can wish infinitely beyond that which is perfect glory where we shall for ever behold and admire the face of God be like our blessed Saviour inherit the Kingdom of glory with the priveledges thereof in eternal joy where our exercise shall be singing and praysing God In a word if we would be Blessed if Blessedness which contains all these and more may prevail to move us or else what can to the duty of watchfulness then be we stirred up to be in a frame of soul fit to meet Christ have all the graces of the soul in exercise this is to watch Look about you the Phylistines be upon you Every day is clipping your life and taking away part of it what should we now do but fit our selves for Christ seeing he is coming to us and we are going to him by death You would be fit at the hour of death That which will be good then is good now and the work which of necessity must be done or we are everlastingly undone let us first go about it and make an end of that once The worst of men when death comes will wish he had watched done these and these good things abstained from these and these evil things I exhort you to nothing but that which is fit for you to make you fit for Christ When your Faith and Hope and Love have their right Object and all the graces of the soul are in exercise then you watch and Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall finde watching So much for the Text My Auditours are of three sorts either Morners of our deceased Brother or Rejoycers at his death or men indifferent neither affected with grief or joy at all at his sudden fall a word to each of these First for you Mourners Wise lamenting the death of her carefull Husband Children bemoaning the death of their carefull Father Labourers and servants Mourning for the loss of a work-contriving labour-rewarding Master Friends for the lack of their discreet advising Friend To you I say no more but this look up to your Husband Father Friend Lord and Master in Heaven It is the Lord hath done it as it is marvellous so let it be well pleasing in your eyes His will is done subject your wills to his We are the Clay he is the Potter Psal. 64. 8. shall not the Potter do with his clay as he pleaseth Rom. 9. 21. We read Exod. 15. that the waters of Marah were so bitter that the people could not drink of them then Moses at Gods commandment cast into them a tree and the waters were made sweet In the bitterness of soul upon the death of our Brother God shews you a tree that will turn your bitter Waters of affliction into sweetness This tree is Christ Take up this blessed tree in your hands by Faith who willingly presents himself unto you in this your Agony cast him into your bitter waters or cast your self upon him hide your self in the boughes and branches of this blessed Tree till the Lords indignation be past For his anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal. 30. 5. you will faint unless you believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living Psal. 27. 13. To the second sort that rejoyce because now death hath shut him up in his Cave the spirit of God directly meets with you Prov. 24. 17 18. Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth and let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth Let the Lord see it and it displease him and he turn away his wrath from him upon thee Why shouldest thou run from thine own watch to fault finde his now Death found him not from his calling all the day at Mid-night when he pierc'd him at the heart dost thou know his Vigils his Preparations his Meditations what they were If death had come to thee that same hour at the second watch should he have found thee better prepaed than he was what art thou that judgest another mans servant he standeth or falleth to his own Master He hath past his day thine is to come If the Lord finde thee in thy swearing sabbath-breaking coveting wandring out of his ways not guiding thy life by his Law unprepared unappointed thy doom is set down Luk. 12. 45. to vers. 48. see the place If there be a third sort of Hearers Indifferent men without affection of the one side or other nor caring whether he had lived or dyed neither partake with the Mourners here nor with such as are well pleased at his death are nothing toutcht or smitten with this stroak Besides that they proclaim stupidity do they not walk contrary to the command weep with them that weep Be of the same affection one towards another Rom. 12. 15 16. And shew themselves Athiestical It is the Athiesm of these times to be without dread or fear When God gives one of his houshold-servants a blow the rest should fear This use should every one of us make of it If God had so smitten me in what case had I been how had it been with my poor soul surely I was not prepared as I ought ought not I to accept of this acceptable time this day of salvation and to act and exercise my self in all these duties that tend to salvation that is to watch Blessed are those servants c. When our Saviour said to his Disciples One of you shall betray me Every one of them suspicious of himself questioned him again Master is it I so whilst I say one of you Beloved shall be the next that shall dye it behoves every one of you to question with himself Is it I Is it I what if it should be I am I prepared to meet the Lord is my soul in a watchfull frame and posture do I perform my sentinel-charge till I be relieved do I wait all the days of mine appointed time untill my chang come Job 14. 14. the same shall be blessed For Blessed are these servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall finde watching Amen FINIS