Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	delight_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	24	3	8.8059	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75965	The male of the flock, or A sermon preached at St. Pauls, before the right honourable, the Lord Mayor, and the right vvorshipfull, the aldermen of the city of London, Septemb: the 9th: 1655. By Benjamin Agas, minister of Cheneyes in Bucks.	Agas, Benjamin.	1655 (1655)	Wing A758A; Thomason E861_3; ESTC R206648	27,438	38

Judgment who can touch the tops and sound the bottoms of this hard and knotty truth Sciat talis se esse theologum Deo gratias agat May not an ordinary capacity even here tu●● sceptique and seeker and say Hoc scio quod nil scio this one thing I know that I know nothing But to our purpose T is manifest there is in man a carnal and a spiritual wil. I see a law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind Rom 7.23 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh Gal 5.17 T is equally manifest that this carnal wil is a most unruly beast as an untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the yoak flying off and not induring to do homage unto God especially in any strict and pinching Command Now therefore unlesse the spirital wil be the more prevalent and unlesse it hath this potency I cal it not the best wil either he do● not service at all else at the best he hangs in equilibrio as things weighed in an equal ballance sometimes bending towards God sometimes again bending towards his lusts or at the worst having begun in the spirit he ends in the flesh for example sake suppose one covetous and yet who would be godly too many such the dregge of our times have brought forth who have drawn a contract and would needs solemnize a Marriage between gain and godliness but can these deadly enemies ever be brought kindly to imbrace and kisse each other Tunc Ararim Parthus bibet But we come unto the example the man of our times God in his service cals him to part with some unlawful way of gain of which he hath found the sweet say in trading of Merchandizing now according to the potency either of his carnal or spiritual wil he answereth this spiritual voice His spiritual wil complies and saith instantly I wil do it but his carnal wil holds off and abhors and saith I wil not do it wherefore if the spiritual be the stronger he casts off the world and cleaves unto God but if his carnal wil be the more potent he forsaketh God and sticks unto his gain I might mention the same in ambition or voluptuousnes this therefore is the best will which bringeth up all carnal thoughts and reasonings to a determinate issue and wholly overpowreth them to comply with the Command be it for us or against us And now let me tel you that this is a work of the greatest pains and difficu ty Sometimes by arguments and reasons and sometimes by plain force we shal only be ab●e to subdue our carnal wils and desires That three leav'd Book of divers colours the red the white and the black is the best medium for argumentation this we must ho d close to the eye of our Consciences The first is red with the bloud of the Lamb oh a serious apprehen●●on of the sufferings of Christ is able alone to calm the frowardnes of our wit and provoak a willing obedience to all Gospel injunction The second is black with the horrors of Hel and the darknes of the infernal pit dwelleth upon it we must deal roundly with our souls Do this or dye God who gave the command wil revenge the neglect and grind thee to powder in the day of his wrath what thinkest of that devouring fire of those everlasting burnings this wil be thy portion if thou humble not thy self before God and submit unto his wil. The third is white with the joyes of Heaven yea brighter than the Sun with the everlasting light Oh blisfull Paradise oh blessed mansion of God how sweet art thou in contemplation how ten thousand times more in a real fruition and what shal I loose all to have my wil is there any carnal lust as good as Heaven why dost thou then stand up to retard my motion I am resolved to go to God follow me or I le dragg thee after And this is that which sometimes we must do when argument and reasons wil not prevail to compel our wils by force and violence As they I conceive of old with an untoward Lamb or an untamed Heifer which would not be caught for sacrifice they use many words and cals but in vain wherefore in fine they even tire and hunt it down Wel caught it is and brought unto the Temple but now that it sees the fire and the Altar and the sacrificing knife it bellows and struggles and were it possible t would get away wherefore the Priests lay violent hands upon it and by plain force fasten and tie it to the Altar This sure is the next sence of that place Psalm 118 27. Bind the sacrisice with chords even to the horns of the Altar what other use the horns of the Altar did serve unto for the present I do not remember Just such is the impetious hadstrongnesse of our carnal wils notwithstanding all moral and divine swasions wherefore with the same kind of violence we must force them to their good abearing And now let me tel thee for thy comfort thou hast shot the gulf thou hast triumphed glorious sly I see how thou draggest base lusts at thy Charriot wheels yea thou shalt conquer more more and tread down Satan under thy feet The wil of man is all in all sind me wil I le find all the rest as in civils so in divine actions as the Sun among the Orbs domineereth in his Light and gloriously illustrates the superior and inferior Planets so the wil in the mi●dle between the understanding and the affections hath a wonderful influence both upon the one and the other to set them in good earnest about the service of God 3ly With our best affections as with fear and reverence God is exceedingly to be reverenced in the Assembly of Saints and to be had in honour of all those who are round about him Psa 89.7 So likewise with love joy defire delight and in a word with zeal as hot as fire We must be passionate Lovers of God and of his service Be fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal 4.18 It is good to be zealous in a good work This is a good work and we must be zealous in the transacting it Zeal is the intention of any affection as strong desires is zeal vehement love is zeal which should be a perpetual concomitant to all our devotions if we have not this fire upon the Altar our sacrifice wil not burne T is not enough we take up our Bow and our Quiver but we must strain the string up to the arrows head by a strong nisus and labouring of the spirit He that sets out for Heaven must betake himself to the swifter Chariots of Aminadab Cant 6.12 and not drive on so heavily and sluggishly with the world We must not only be content to come to Church and hear a Sermon and spend an houre c but long for the Courts of Gods house with the same

with duty Isa 13.14 If thou wilt make my Sabbath a delight c. that is if you cheer fully and lively wil wait upon me and mine Ordinances then thou shalt delight thy self in the Lord and I wil cause to ride upon the high places of the earth that is I will free thee from the earthly and lumpish disposition wherewith thou wert wont to be cumbered and retarded I wil carry thee out with an high hand and thou shalt mount with a strong Eagles wing into Heaven A weak and an heavy performance of spiritual exercise is like swimming in a low water where our bellies are apt to grate upon the gravel and our feet hit against the stones we meet with many offensive rubs besides the shallowness of the streame makes it a most laborious toilsome work go into the deep the waters wil bear thee and the swifter streame most pleasantly drive thee forward Jejune scanty services are as these shollow Fords here we meet with stones and sticks many remoras here we scrabble tire our selves yet scarce get forward but there is a spirit of might dwelling in the deep to help our infirmities and to carry us on more pleasantly in the wayes of Heaven I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me Phil 4.13 and what follows by a just rule of contraryes without Christ and the assistance of his Grace I can do nothing now Christ wil never own such base unworthy services neither wil he ever assist such persons but leaves them to a meer and a pure work no wonder therefore if their hands wax weak and their knees grow feeble if they are sick and weary of duty and in fine give over The work of a Christian is too great for man were it not for the incessant concurrency and help of God the wheels would quickly stand stil were not the spirit of Grace both as Oyl and an hand too upon them to keep all in motion 5. For thy better service thou shalt have a better reward both here and hereafter Thou hast already Premium ante premium a present delectable sweetness upon the performance of every good duty a joy in spirit which a stranger knoweth not neither can he know for it is only to be known by tasting and not by telling I may tel you honey is sweet but I can make it as sweet unto your ears as it was unto my palate no taste it your selves and then you 'l know how sweet it is I tel you therfore that God is wont to give in wonderful incomes of Joy and even ravish the souls of his Saints with celestial comforts when they have been exact and ful in his service Christ now will smile and be very delectable He will kisse them with the kisses of his mouth and his love shall be better then wine they shal find lillies and roses about their pillows and Christ wil lye all night betwixt their breasts he wil satisfie them there with marrow and fatnes and even in dreams and night visions acquaint them with celestial glory This upon the way But then in their Journies end these are the persons which in all probability shal have a fuller injoyment of God for Quales in via talis in patria every mans time is set against his eternity by our duties we may guesse at our dignities by our present performances at our future priviledges As in general they who have done wel shal go into life everlasting so in special the most zealously affected shal be the more abundantly possessed of the heavenly glory Some wil be door-keepers in the house of God and at a greater distance and some near unto the Throne The worst place in Heaven if I may say so is very good Oh happy is that man who is the door-keeper yet if not ambitiou● to come near the throne he may perhaps be thought unworthy of the threshold 6. This is the only thing wherein we answer for all the loving kindnesses of the Lord as I may say our little All for his great All. Deut 10.12 Moses in the nine fore-going Chapters makes a narrative of the great and singular mercies which God had bestowed upon that people but then closeth with these words And now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but that thou love him and fear him and serve him with all thy heart and with all thy soul so might I say God hath arrayed you in scarlet and cloathed you in purple yee fare delitiously every day yee eat of the fat and drink of the sweet and thus hath God done unto you and this populous City and now O Senators O people what doth the Lord require at your hands but to serve him with all your heart c. ought yee not therefore to do it in the best manner yee can should a Prince or a Potentate give unto his servant several Lordships and Mannors but withal require now and then a nosegay in token of homage would be refuse him and when he did present his gift should it be of weeds or common high-way flowers were not this ingratitude to be punished with a Lacedemonian Law God hath given us far greater things then I have mentioned our being life reason understanding protection provision c. and as if these things were too little he hath spoken concerning afterward that he wil give us glory and blisse and immortality we have much in hand and present possession but much more in hope and future reversion now for all these unspeakable mercies we are only to present a Nosegay to our great Benefactor that is our service if we be wise therefore and ingenious we wil make it up of the chosest rarest flowers for this is our All. Again t is that we were made for Children wil tel you as much and it is that wherein only it can be wel wel known that what ever we were made Absalom had neither Son nor Daughter but he sets up a pillar to sternize his memory we may wel think therefore it was not mud or common durt but curious and costly as hands and art could make it This is our Absaloms pillar without which our Name and our memory wil rot especially in Heaven we have neither Son nor Daughter to keep us alive Riches and honour greatness wil not do it these often-times like Absoloms Children dye before their Father only our zeal our service our Love wil everlastingly recorded Let us therefore make the pillar of our memorial as rich and as costly as we can 7. Wicked men offer the Male of their flock unto their God and shal not we much more the Male of our Flock unto our God they sacrifice their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils they do evil with both hands earnestly Mich 7.3 They do there is their hoc agere with both hands there is their dexterity for they are ambo dexteri in wickednes earnestly there is their sedulity indeed every word shews their diligence and unweariablenes

in evil wayes They have appetitum caninum and swallow down Hel at a bit as if they were afraid others should get the lest share of it besides themselves As I have seen an hungry Dogg swallow a bone without chowing for feare his fellow should come to touch it Oh how mad and how violent are wicked men in the prosecution of their Lusts shal not their excessive wickedness provoak us to exceed in goodness do we not serve a better Master are we not about a better work do we not expect a better reward when Job provided a sacrifice for the World 't was the Male of his flock and when we provide a sacrifice for our God shal it not be the Male of our flock God put us not off with Saints or Angels though he had store and choice but one better then all the only lovely Lamb in the Fold for brightness and perfection even his own dear Sonn He spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all Rom 8.32 what therefore shal we render unto the Lord gratitude wil answer I have nothing good enough but the best which I have sha● forever be at his service Which that we may do let us observe these following rules Let all our services be ordered according to the rule of the Word Meanes we may not presume to know above what is revealed To the Law to the testimonies we may expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans 12.1 by 1 Pet 2.2 where we have the same epethite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is there translated the milk of the Word and not reasonable Milk and then our sacrifice wil be the service of the Word viz according to the word of God Here we must stick otherwise we shal strangely vanish away in our own foolish imaginations and set up graven images which we all know is abominable in the eyes of God that service is peformed in the best manner which God saith is the best for God is sole Judg in this matter and not our foolish and fond opinions we may see groves and Idols a world of vanity and wil-worship in the world among all Sects and perswasions But while they take freedom to abound in their own sence doing what is right in their own eyes let us only do what is right in the eyes of God 2 Let all our sacrifices be offered upon the golden Altar Jesus Christ It is the Altar that sacrificeth the gift Mat 23.19 yea and inricheth it too and only makes it of worth and value Christ is Gods beloved Son in whom he is wel pleased and for his sake wil not quarrel with us or our Offering though we do not attaine unto the perfection of the Sanctuary yea the spots of our sacrifices are easily covered by his spotless righteousness so that God himself wil say here is an Offering according to my mind Where ever Christ is there God is fully satisfied for his eye is so taken with this lovely object that he cannot look off to see else-where what is done amiss 3. Time also and its opportunity is much to be observed for helping on this work especially there let us put our selves upon service when the good fit is upon us I intend soberly and seriosly when the spirit of grace moveth more sensibly upon the face of our souls warming and melting our affections and unkindling gracious desires in us and there are such golden seasons now strike while the iron is hot now to reading praying thanksgiving c for now thy hands wil drop with myrh and thy fingers with sweet smelling myrh O how holy are such breathings how seraphical such expressions how wil thy soul mount upward how near wil it come unto God! and thou whether in the body thou canst not tel or out of the body thou canst not tel 4. Keep a sacred reserve of the strength of thy Spirit and the best of thy affections for God and for his service and let them not consume and blaze out among the lying vanities of this world if we do not use the world as if we need it not we shal serve God as if we served him not There was a time when Solomon gave unto the Lord the Male of his Flock but when afterward he suffered his heart to be taken with si ver and gold with Wine and Women with Men-fingers and Women-fingers with Orchards and gardens and Vineards with Apes and Peacocks and all other the vainer delights of the Sons of men Solomon was another Man and now presently instead of a Male he offered unto the Lord a Corrupt thing The Lord said unto Moses Exod 30 34. take unto thee sweet spices and thou shalt make it a perfume a confection after the Art of the Apothecary tempered together pure and holy and as for the perfume which thou shalt make you shal not make unto your selves according to the composition thereof Whosoever shal make like unto that to smel thereto shall even be cut off from his people This was a sweet only to be smelled in the Sanctuary and not else-where upon paine of death so I conceive there are several aims and high breathings in our affections which are only for God but to spend them upon our selves would be the greatest sacriledg and moreover puts us upon an in possibility of performing the duty I have alwayes observed people high and hot in their pastimes and pleasure as low and as cold in their prayers and performances They who suffer themselves to admire Romances and Play-books and seldome seen to affect Sermons and Gods-Book but they hear and read with a certain kind of loathing and fastidiousness The reason is this the purer strength of their spirit is spent upon vanity and therefore feeble and weak in the things of solidity A tree running out in foolish excrescences the fruit is rare and little and that too of the basest sort In your common Limbecks the purer spirits being drawn out and gone nothing is left behind but a Caput mortuum fleam and dreggs Therefore we must be careful to keep in our spirits to moderate our Joyes and to check our desires and not to suffer our selves to love any thing beneath God with an excessive love midling affections are enough for these things as for those high breathings of soul let them wholly be sacrificed unto the Lord. Stop up the floud-gates that the pools may be ful when yee go unto God and now open all and let them flow as fast as they can the faster the better I love such a thing with all my heart a common saying but once a grave Christian replied not lesse piously than truly why for shame all thy heart for this trifle and that and for every vanity all thy heart must be for God else thou wilt have for God no heart at all To conclude Thou hast in thy flock a Male but if that be meat for thine own palate if that be consumed at thine own Table then when thou comest to offer thou wilt most certainly sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing Gloria in exelsis AMEN POSTSCRIPT I Have under two or three Heads put in a little more filling which for fear of tediousness I thought good silently to passe over in the Pulpit B A.