Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	blood_n	body_n	soul_n	10,399	5	5.2639	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47386	Mid-night thoughts, writ, as some think, by a London-Whigg, or, a Westminster-Tory, others think by a Quaker, or, a Jesuit: but call him what they please, they may find him a true penitent of the church of Christ.	Killigrew, William, Sir, 1606-1695.	1682 (1682)	Wing K463; ESTC R221028	80,494	230

and if we can improve this Holiness so as to become Divine Lovers of Him we shall be admitted as it were into the Bed-chamber of the King of Kings to enjoy all the Priviledges and Immunities that His departed Saints have there To know this and to do thus is to enjoy Heaven on Earth in which felicity the Atheist and the Hypocrite can have no share with a Divine Lover who is ever ready to be snatch'd up into Heaven while he is meditating of his going thither CLXXVII IF we have joy in Earthly fruitions what will our happiness in Heaven be and if the hope only and expectation of Heaven in pious hearts be pleasure above all our enjoyments here what transporting joy will the possession of Eternal Bliss be when we shall see God and participate of his glory as the Angels do and if we be so Regenerate as to believe this and do take delight in such contemplations it is a sure sign that the Holy Ghost is at work within us and will beget such holy courage in our hearts as to pass us through the Grave with chearful Souls to be with God And if we love and trust in Him as we ought there can be no Diversions so delight●ul as such Devotion is to a Divine Lover who converses day and night with God that is never absent from them who do sincer●ly delight in Him CLXXVIII WE are taught to pray against sudden death that is to perswade and lead us on to be always so prepared that no kind of death may be too sudden but that we like Eliah may every moment expect to be snatch'd up into Heaven by a fiery Chariot or taken up in a flaming zeal of Divine Love by an Apoplexy or some other accident of as quick an ascent as his Chariot was But generally our mistake is to pray for lingering long sickness only to gain time for terrors to awake our sleepy Souls with sighs and tears to move God to mercy then which we valued not before But the Regenerate man who has so cleared his accounts with God at the Holy Sacrament as to have Christ new born within him and is so led by the Holy Ghost as to s●nctifie his future life that he lives ever ready and willing to die That man will find the most sudden death to be God's mercy and a favour to free him from the Agonies of a tedious sickness for we too often do mistake such sudden dissolu●ions for God's Judgments to see men fall so when themselves feel a joy to be caught up into Heaven without pain to take possession of their Eternal Bliss Now God grant that all men may be so well prepared for all kind of deaths as none may be too sudden for any who call on his Holy Name CLXXIX A Prayer O Holy Ghost Lord God the Comforter who art never absent from those that desire thee with sincerity vouchsafe I beseech thee so to enter my heart that I may find thee there consecrating of it for thy Temple by thy abode therein and now direct me how to welcom so great a Guest with gratitude and joy for such Divine comforts as flow in hearts where thou inhabitest and where Satan dwelt before Lord keep possession against Him and all invading Enemies for I cannot defend my self without Thy aid nor of my self know when or how to approach the Throne of Mercy unless my Addresses be so guided and so sanctified by Thee as God will not reject them CLXXX A Prayer O Lord God I beseech thee give me Grace to imploy the great fancy thou hast given me on my greatest concern to obtain thy Mercy and Grace with Christs Righteousness to work out my Salvation that I may no longer mis-spend the time which every moment hasts on to my Eternity but with diligent zeal to pray for Faith in Christ such as will be the foundation for a Divine Life to shew my love to Thee my God by an universal obedience with purity charity and such humility as will raise my heart unto the highest pitch of Divine Love that my conversion may be now more eminent then my crimes have been And now O God! I beg thy Grace to confirm and fix my Soul in the assurance of my Reconciliation and Adoption by receiving ●he Holy Sacrament this day with such faith and due preparation as to put off the Old man for ever And so to eat and drink the consecrated Bread and Wine as the Body and Bloud of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with all his benefits as He himself gave himself to his Disciples here on Earth that I now by thy Holy Spirit led may like them walk after Him And let thy mercy O Lord supply my defects in the pe●formance of this great Duty according to the sincerity of my heart entirely offer'd up to Thee my God in this days Sacrifice so as the Records of my sins may be cancell'd in Heaven and my Name be now writ in thy Book of Life amongst thy reconciled Sons on my Saviour Jesus Christ's account CLXXXI TO spend our time on idle thoughts is like pursuing of vain waking Dreams a folly so much less then nothing that only Mad-mens fancies can delight in and is a shame for sober men to imitate whose Souls refin'd by Piety may be ever on the wing towards Heaven filled with felicities above the reach of any worldly hearts to guess at which is the Pious man's continual entertainment and delight so to pass his time with his Creator here on Earth as to find his heart full of something so Divine that he does think himself in Heaven while that Celestial flame enlightens him CLXXXII IDleness is the fountain of all evil the Devil directs his chief Emissaries on Earth with Addresses to an idle person who is then fit to take impressions from all sorts of temptations when God is absent 't is such men that invite Satan to steal by degrees into their empty hearts in such disguises as He well knows suits best with their idle fancies so to divert them from all Holy purposes with some Idea's of past delightful objects until they quite forget their sacred Vows to have God ever in their sight which secure them from all such assaults And it is but a slight Argument which many men use to excuse their time spent in idleness because they want Learning and the use of Books for their diversion when all Ages shew that Piety is not nor ever was confined to Learning 'T is not our Wisdom nor our Eloquence but our Faith and our sa●ctified affections that is most acceptable to God and such sincere affections will never want devout entertainment to keep our hearts so fixed on Heaven and our concern there as will bassle Satan with all his Arts as often as He attaques us CLXXXIII TO be really contented is an Epicurism seldom thought on and so far from being understood as but little valued by the most of men who are over-busie in

as careful how to manage his Piety as a sinner is to obtain it XLIV WHen we are assaul●ed by any temptations to sin we may recollect our thoughts thus shall I for this moment of sensuality part with my interest in God shall I quit my Sonship now I am reconciled and my Title to an Eternal Crown of Glory in Heaven to satisfie my vitious fancy and a few momentary appetites on Earth and now cast off the felicity and security I have by peace of conscience while I Love fear and serve God and by my trusting Faith in Christ do stand fast fixed above the reach of malice and all the storms this World can raise Shall I depart from this Regenerate state so full of Blessedness to become a trembling Coward frightned at every shadow of every evil that approaches me and so become justly terrified with the horrour of a despairing Soul when Death approaches which may be this minute to step into that Eternal woe denounced against the sin I am tempted to commit Such reflections with such sincere prayers as such Mediations will suggest are surely good guards to defend and free us from the danger of yielding to any temptations to sin XLV A True penitent sinner whose heart is touched by grace from Heaven with remorse for his wicked life and a sence of God's many mercies to him He repents and recollects to the best of his memory all the actual and mental transgressions of his whole life and offers them up to God in confession with an humble sincere contrition and makes new vows for an universal cleansing from all iniqui●ies with a total resignation of himself Soul and body in a full obedience unto all the Gospel Laws for the future Thus this Penitent sets himself with holy vigour and his utmost endeavours to walk after his Saviours steps submitting his will to God's will in all things whose favour he now seeks with so great hungering and thirsting affection that God in mercy has cancelled all the Records of his long neglects and insolent repeated sins so as to remember them no more and also by his Divine power does raise this Penitent to a Spiritual Resurrection from sin to grace and so fills his contented converted heart with frequent comforts and such assurance of his Adoption as to encourage him to perform this new Covenant unto the end of his Life By whi●h infinite mercy and grace this Penitent does become so Regenerate as to perceive the Spirit of God at work within him raising his Soul to such a Sacred Love of his great Maker as to think all time mispent that is not imployed in gratitude to God for his diliverance from Hell and his Promotion towards Heaven of which Glory he has now some prospect and from hence he grows higher in Gods favour until his holy ambitions do increase desiring to be always in his Creators ●ight and aiming at a Favourites Sons place in the Court of Heaven Thus by degrees his Soul becomes so elevated and transported with these Celestial honours that he contemns the Empires of this World with all the glistering objects here below as unworthy to divert his thoughts on such perishing trifles as he did admire before his heart was fixed above on his Eternal Bliss which now fills his Soul with such continual joyful extasies in Devotion that he is sometimes frighted at the joy he feels lest he may embrace presumptuous Enthusiasms by such high consolations as his Soul delights in when his Meditations and Addresses do ascend in such bright flaming zeal unto the Throne of Mercy But when he considers that God who sees his sincerity through his heart will not reject such sin●ere Sacrifices He then hopes that these joys do arise from the Emanation of the Holy Ghost to let him see how God receives and welcoms a whole heart offer'd up to Him with such Divine Lights as Earthly Souls can neither see nor comprehend and by this tast of Bliss and by this beam of Glory here he judges how much greater he shall have in Heaven And thus upon a full search of his whole heart throughout this Penitent now finds with great felicity that God is pleased to dwell in his heart where Satan did so long triumph until these new transports for his Celestial Bliss have quite extinguished those dim shadows of delight that formerly misled him to neglect his God without a serious thought of Heaven or Hell or the least concern for his Eternity until his Soul was thus raised above the reach of his iniquities by his conversing day and night in Heaven And thus the Soul of this new Convert is caressed with bright Seraphick joys by Grace so fixed and so enlightned from above that his inward dependance on God is his continual consolation and support full of such high comforts as he must think do proceed from the Holy Ghost to furnish this his new Temple with sufficient Grace where he now intends to dwell And by all these Blessed guiding Lights this Penitent is invited to live such a Righteous Life as will give him an humble assurance to trust and rejoyce in his reconciliation with a settled Faith that he shall see the face of God in the face of Death the moment that he dies his Soul shall be with Christ where his departed Saints abide until the Resurrection XLVI WE need no better Argument for God's Love to us then our Love of Him which is the highest work of his Grace planted in our hearts by which only we are enlightned to know how to love and serve God as we ought that we may be capable to enter into his Eternal Glory prepared for his Lovers XLVII A Prayer LOrd Jesus I beseech thee forgive my transgressions and now send down thy Holy Spirit to cleanse my heart from all impuri●ies and then dwell there to guide my Meditations and Prayers aright with such servent Zeal as will encrease my Faith my Love and trust in thee my God that I may know no joy on Earth like my approaches to thy Throne and from thence impower me so to practise these great Lessons I have writ as to live with holy courage ever ready to die and fit to appear at thy Tribunal on the great day of Judgment with such reconciled Sinners as by thy infinite mercy are become the Sons of God Lord I beseech thee let my heart be now so filled with Divine transporting thoughts of Thee and thy Salvation as to leave no place for Satan there that my enlightned Soul may be ever on the wing hasting towards that Eternal Bliss which Thou h●st purchased for me at so high a rate And though my Zeal supported by thy Grace do now encrease let me never think my self near enough to Heaven till I am there For now I find that no repulses will make Satan quit the Field nor my Rebellious Sences to obey that I may gain a perfect Victory beyond the reach of a surprize nor can I alone

to perform our self-denials for us and to raise our Souls to such a selicity here in our Love to God and delight in his worship as will give us a tast of our Eternal Bliss when we shall see and enjoy Him as the Angels in Heaven do XC IT is no wonder to see men very devout in a time of danger sickness or any other afflictions but when the Evils are removed does our gratitude for deliverance justifie our Love to God by future obedience do we in health and prosperity approach God with the same vigour in our Prayers as in our sickness For Souls led by the Spir●t of God are alike devout in all changes and we being made whole ought to thank God and to sin no more lest a wors● thing come unto us XCI OVr greatest affair in this World is to make ready to go out of it for ever because every moment may be our last here and then how dismal an Eternity are we hasting to if not reconciled unto God before we die this is enough to perswade us to set our hearts on the Love and Service of God who will never let their devout endeavours be lost that seek how to please Him when with sincere affections they prepare to come unto Him XCII WHoever finds that the power of Divine Love with the expectation of Heaven at this distance doth create such joy in his Regenerate heart as doth bring him to delight in a Divine Life also by his frequent conversation with God in humble sincere approaches he will soon grow to such a habit of Holiness as will raise his Faith to foresee some beams of that Coelestial Light which his Soul shall shine in at the Resurrection as a reward of his inward dependance on God here And if thus reconciled and led by the Holy Ghost he shall also find this is a good Antidote to prevent relapses into sin and thus Armed with Divine joy he will be safe from Carnal temptations and will have his Soul full of such Heavenly comforts as will sweeten all afflictions and at last beget such Holy courage as will destroy the sting of Death by living ever ready to die for he that can love God above his creatures will gladly part with them to go to Him XCIII LEt no man boast of his own Righteousness for no man has any but what is given him from God yet let every man rejoyce and be thankful for such Grace as doth sanctifie and enable his Dust and Ashes to become Regenerate and learn so to welcom the Spirit of God in a chearful heart that he may make it Paradise where he is pleas'd to dwell And then that man's natural corruptions will be refined and his Body consecrated into the Temple of God and by this miracle of mercy the most incarnate sinner may become an Angel of Light but not by his own inherent Righteousness but by God's grace and mercy with Christ's Righteousness imparted unto Him XCIV AMongst all the great Lessons we have learnt Holiness is most worthy of our study to search our hearts if we can find there the Gospel-marks of our Election for when God invites us by his Holy Spirit to this sincere enquiry He will direct us by his Divine guiding Light to find and to feel when we have found the treasure that we seek by the comforts that will still grow until they fill our Souls with such Coelestial joy that we cannot miss of nor mistake what we search for to assure our Election for God will not be hid from such as he sees does seek Him with their whole hearts and that do hunger and thirst after Holiness and when we do obtain Grace to discern such marks of our Spiritual Filiation we may in great humility rejoyce and sing Hallelujahs unto God with the Angels in Heaven to shew the highest Adoration our hearts can express in gratitude for such mercy afforded unto men on Earth And by thus entertaining our selves within our selves avoid temptations and set our hearts above the power of all vain objects to divert us from the prime end and felicity of our Christian calling which is our Resurrection from sin to grace as the chief mark of God's favour to assure our reconciliation for Grace accepted and persevered in is the infallible earnest of Glory because Christ has made the Kingdom of Grace here all one with the Kingdom of Glory Which is much talked of by many that prepare not for it because most men in health do think themselves ready to die and do not find they are not until the Bell tolls them to their Graves hoping to jump from Hell to Heaven at once but the ascent is high steep and very hard to climb XCV THough the great art and mystery of self-denial to subdue all carnal appetites is the most difficult part of our Christian calling yet the same Holy Spirit that invites us to it will impower our hearty endeavours by diligence and custom to gain so absolute a Victory over our Tyrant fancies which before enslaved us as will raise our Souls by constant self-denials to much greater Spiritual delights even here on Earth which the Regenerate man can only judge of XCVI A Prayer O Lord prepare my heart to pray and bless me with contrition and repentance proportionable to my sins that my Love and my Obedience may now be as great as my crimes and my neglects have been who never thought on Thee in all my ways nor of my Souls Eternity till now being led by thy Holy Spirit to pray for Grace to set my heart continually on Thee my God that I may know no joy on Earth like my humble Addresses unto Thee in my retirements by which I can only judge of my new love and gratitude for thus turning of me from mine Iniquities and by this miracle of Mercy and Grace hast snatch'd me up from Hell into this Heavenly prospect of thine Eternal habitation of Glory Lord let these Divine transports in my approaches unto Thee wean me from the World that the remnant of my days may be spent in preparing of my Soul for thy summons to Heaven that the terrors of the Grave may not divert my frail nature from coming with joy unto Thee my God when thou art pleased to call And I beseech thee make this Holy flame burn still brighter and brighter when I draw near to pray that my heart may melt with joy for this my Reconciliation and comfortable hope of Eternal happiness in Heaven and that I may be so strong with Divine valour as to welcom Death that only can conduct me thither XCVII WHen God delivers a penitent sinner from the slavery of Satan to rejoyce in the freedom and felicity of his service it is to shew him a glimpse of Heaven to invite him thither How great a crime will it then be for such a man to turn Reprobate again after such mercy shewn XCVIII NOthing does ruine more Souls then not frequently examining

no Conversation no diversions can come into competition with a Divine Life and Divine Love to God So to fix our Interest in this world and the next for we shall fall as we live and shall rise to everlasting Judgment as we fall For though Christ came into the world to call and to enable the greatest of sinners to become capable of this Felicity here and Salvation after We must repent and forsake our Iniquities or can have no part in him CX WE cannot make too strict a Covenant with our Eyes and Hearts to wa●ch the deceitfulness of Sin And observe how every look and every thought is naturally apt insensibly to convert innocent intentions into evil before we discern the subtle enemy undermining of our Souls with the fair appearances of harmless diversions if too much indulged until they become destroying Snares CXI GOd often treats his professed Lovers as we do one another when we find that a professed friend has some concealed Jewel that he prizes above his professions though he offer up all the rest which we desire not we reject his Complement and still desire to have that reserved beloved Jewel which he values above our Favours And so God rejects all our Complemental Services until our reserved darling Lust be offered up to him as the Jewel we most prize and the only sacrifice he will accept Then in return of our whole hearts he will give himself to us for ever CXII LEt him that thinks he stands most fixed in Heaven take heed lest he fall and remember that David and Solomon both of them Gods Favorites could not stand longer then by his Grace supported nor were our Saviours beloved Disciples all free from stumbling by which and many more examples we are taught not to presume on our own righteousness but to look on our Frailties as inherent to us lest Dust and Ashes should presume on our own performances without continual Addresses to God for such Supplies as we do every moment need And we may also think that God permits some good men to some relapses to awaken and quicken them to the frequent duty of his Worship so to own him that no man may hope to serve him as he ought without him For Satan is most busie and ambitious to reduce a Convert out of Christs flock to become his slave again rather then to continue his Celestial freedom such a victory he accounts his Master-piece so to subdue careless men who too much trust unto their own Integrity and take no heed how they stand lest they fall CXIII WE cannot Pray too often because frequent sincere Prayers do bring down Blessings from Heaven but when we mak● negligent Addresses they shew such a disrespect that the Glorious Majesty we approach turns from us in contempt of such careless Petitions For when we are excited to Divine Worship by the Holy Ghost God looks for such intention of Spirit with vigour in our Devotion that shews how much we value what we pray for He admits of our frequent zeal at all times though he sees our unworthiness and never fails to cherish an humble contrite Spirit when he rejects a presumptuous Babbler So that when we approach to Pray our first Petition should be for Grace to prevent all diversions from Satan and our selves who where his publick temptations fail is ever busie to disturb our Devotions with frivolous or foul suggestions CXIV HOw can we think that God doth believe the frequent Professions we make that we love Him above all things when we forsake him so often for trivial and vain fruitions for though no man is free from such Frailties as we ought to Watch and Pray for amendment of by Grace from above For to be absolutely perfect is impossible because our Nature will not admit of such Angelical perfection yet no man ought to question his sincerity because he cannot do that which is impossible for men to do CXV WE spend much of our time in laying foundations for Happiness on Earth when our Happiness is that we have none here but what we can raise from our Hopes to find in Heaven which we are seldom inclined to think on but when we find we are not so well provided for here as we Hope to be there CXVI ALl men know that every moment of our Lives every step we make does advance us towards the Grave but we do not seriously enough consider of this our greatest concern while we march on with merry hearts towards our Eternal Habitation of Rest and happiness in Heaven as we think but in our careless journey thither do entertain our Souls with such worthless Vanities or such known Wickedness for our Diversions that we do often mistake the way if not quite lose it and so arrive at a dismal Habitation of Woe before we see whither we are going CXVII WE cannot Love or Fear God too much we cannot Thank Him or Trust in Him too much nor Think of Him too often from whom we have all that we enjoy and on whose free Mercy our Eternal Doom depends and this Moment may be that Doom to every one of us So then he is the most Happy man in this World that Lives ever the most ready to Die With a sincere desire to be with God which is a sure mark of his Reconciliation and Adoption To love God thus and to be thus beloved of Him will bring us to delight in God above all his Creatures which is the highest Felicity our P●ety can aim at CXVIII A Prayer LOrd Enrich all Hearts with Divine Love that desire it and inflame their Souls with such desires towards Thee as to Live Righteously and to value such enlightning Comforts as flow from those Transports thou doest afford unto Reconciled sinners become Regenerate so to encourage them to Inform and Reclaim such as go Astray by seeing the vast delights that do attend thine Adopted Sons in their way to Heaven And by that bright Light from above to judge of thy Celestial joys prepared for them there CXIX NOt to think at all is impossible and to think too much of what we ought not to think of is too Natural to us but to think of the Everlasting Torments in Hell comparatively with our pe●ty short Pains here will Fright us into some Care not to offend God so as to send us thither Pu● to think of the Ioys of Heaven as we ought and by our Faith in Christ to bring us thither with our Love to God our Christian Charity our Purity of Heart and our Humility to God and Man Which is the Divine Lovers part who is ever thinking on his Eternal Bliss and how to please God most so to prepare for Heaven which he sees every moment is at hand and the joyful expectation of that Happy Hour is his Souls continual Consolation as those will find who do Sincerely labour for it CXX IT is one of the Devils chief Arts to cheat men into a belief that it is a