Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	daughter_n	father_n	son_n	10,765	5	4.8829	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29252	Diatribae, or, Discourses upon select texts wherein several weighty truths are handled and applyed against the papist and the Socinian / by Henry Bagshaw.	Bagshaw, Henry, 1632-1709.	1680 (1680)	Wing B429; ESTC R25261	55,475	208

Creature can have and the best security to maintain it For the Promise runs thus I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty Now the former of these Titles speaks not only the nearness of our Creator but all the bounty of his Grace the latter declares not only a height our Natures are rais'd to but an equal advancement of our Hopes and the Lord Almighty added in the close is the best Security against Fear since a Father assuming it to himself does thereby direct its influence to save us I grant Power to be dreadful of it self and Omnipotence much more but let the name of Mercy be joynd all the pleasantness of its lustre is cast on it we can then view it as a calm Sea where breadth and depth grow delightful by reason of the gentleness of the Current so when an Almighty Lord confirms this to us that He will treat us like Sons we can then chearfully contemplate the Attribute of his Greatness because all the Majesty of it is allayed with his condescending goodness to Mankind This then being every-where offered in the Gospel that perfect Model of Divine love what is the Fruit we should return to our God but such a work of obedience that prepares and fits us for what is promised that stamps upon us Gods Image in our Souls and conveys with that Stamp our right to Glory Having therefore these Promises c. We may observe in the words three particulars 1. A Motive 2. A Duty 3. The Manner of performing it The Motive answers our utmost desires for it consists of Divine Promises The Duty contains the best preparatives for it lies in purifying of Flesh and Spirit Lastly The Manner of performing it affords the surest marks to undeceive us for it is a Perfecting of Holiness in Gods Fear The First perswades the Second qualifies and the Third distinguishes our Religion from the Worlds I begin with the Motive as it powerfully perswades to Christian Practice Having therefore these Promises Where we may note by the way how allowable it is in our Christian Profession to regard the Titles and Privileges of it for the better encouragement of our service It is not a mercenary but a rational act to eye a reward in any action we perform much more the reward of eternal Blessedness since the very End of our Faith with St. Peter is the Salvation of our Souls Moses the greatest Prophet of the Jews and a Type of our Lord Christ had a respect to the recompence of reward and this our Apostle St. Paul commands us in another place to run that we may obtain so that to bid us do Gods Commandments meerly for the Beauty of Holiness which is in them without looking upon the Promises for our support is to make all our Religion a poor thin Speculation when it affords us no prospect and to turn our Obedience into an uncomfortable slavery by cutting off those helps the Gospel propounds for our Devotion But for the better handling of the Motive here layd down I shall consider Two things 1. The Nature of Mans will that is to be moved 2. The fitness of Gods Promises to inflame it 1. For the nature of mans Will How free soever it be in its acting yet it has always Good for the object of its choice nor can Evil as such be possibly desired Nay it is Truth of Good Man properly seeks but that Appearances and Colours should more often allure us it is rather the effect of error and weakness than the genuine product of our Wills As the Understanding affects what ought to be known so the Will affects what ought to be coveted only the sensual part in us over-rules that stops the one in its proper pursuit and spoils the motion of the other We all find in our selves how earnestly we desire some chief Good and therefore presently close with Happiness proposed but if this Happiness be inquir'd into what it is then indeed we fall off and divide which arrises from the corruptness of mens affections that inclining them several ways teach them to set up several Objects where they wretchedly wander and turn aside and so miss of that which in the general notion they seek after Yet for all this the Will of Man as it follows Reason for so it differs from Appetite is disposed by it to follow the best grounds and allow particularly of that Good which does most conduce to its perfection And so I proceed to show in the second place 2. The fitness of Gods Promises to inflame Mans Will This will appear in that they contain all those Topicks of perswasion that can possibly belong to any Promise such are Excellency of Good Infallibility of Obtaining and a Miserable defect as to both these in any other offer besides Now we need not prove in the First place the intrinsick Excellency of what is promised since that rich offer of Adoption includes in it whatever Gift an All-sufficient Being can bestow For hereby we are translated into Gods own Family and invested with suitable Privileges as his Children All things are here allowed us that can be hoped for from a Father of Love and from a Lord of Power which combining together their proper acts compleat the Riches of a Christians Inheritance In the Old Testament Father is not a name that God was styl'd by but onely Lord and the Title the Jews had was that of a Servant which though it take honour from their relation to such a Master yet it imports in it self all the Burden of Duty But in the New where Father and Lord are both joyn'd and to become Sons and Daughters is the Privilege of his People this speaks at once the Ease of their Service and the Comfort of their Hopes as to a future enjoying Indeed God shews in this Covenant of Grace his utmost contrivance to draw us to him As it was the Consultation of his Wisdom at first to make so it is here the labour of his Love to invite us for which end He reveals his Treasures opens his Stores sets out Heaven in its chief Lights any converts himself to a Reward He desired emptiness to become Man that He might take again fulness to enrich him Is it then Life Joy Liberty Glory or any other Good we count excellent Behold the Purchase of it by him who propounds to us these blessings and having already widened our Faculties for desire He farther enables our Natures to receive Next let us regard the Infallibility of Obtaining which cannot but render a Promise as exceeding worthy to be prized The worth and excellency of any Good is a sure foundation of our esteem but our certainty of having it is that which fixes our Love and crowns our Endeavours in pursuing it Now this certainty of ours as to what God promises is built upon two great Attributes Truth and Omnipotence which are like Buttresses to support our Faith