Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	name_n	praise_n	praise_v	15,746	5	8.8557	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45545	The choicest fruit of peace gathered from the tree of life presented to the Right Honourable the House of Peers, in a sermon preached before them at the Abbey church of Westminster, on April 30, 1660, being the day of their solemn humiliation / by Nath. Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1660 (1660)	Wing H713; ESTC R17334	18,790	38

hands in performing The words of the Lord saith David are pure words as silver tried in the fire purified seven times Seven is a number of perfection whereby is intimated that Gods promises are perfectly pure without any drosse of falshood he speaketh nothing but what he intends and will execute perhaps for this reason it is said not the words of the lips but the fruit to intimate that his words like fruit spring from the root of his heart and that they are not leaves but fruit reall performances It is not so with men oft-times their lips have leaves but no fruit or their fruit is like the apples of Sodom For as those are fair to the eye but molder in the handling so most mens promises are pleasing to the ears but wither in the hands which should fullfill them But far be this from the faithfull God who will not alter the thing that is gone out of his lips yea heaven and earth shall passe away but his words shall not passe away And therefore in all conditions let us learn to feed upon the fruit of Gods lips lay hold upon his promises which are pabulum fidei the food of our faith Solomon saith of the lips of the righteous that they feed many it is most true of the righteous God whose promises afford sound nutriment It is very observable that the Author to the Hebrews mentioning the accomplishment of that promise to Abraham concerning a numerous posterity useth the same metaphors which are expressed in the promise namely of the stars of the sky and sands by the sea shore to intimate that the performance was full as large as the promise Indeed as in nature rather then there shall be a vacuum things will move contrary to their nature so rather then there shall be a vacuity in Gods word he will work wonders and create peace What room then for infidelity when we have such sure promises And therefore wheresoever we finde this fruit growing let us feed heartily beleeve confidently that our souls may live 2. If we referre the fruit of the lips to man it may be understood either of our prayers or praises or both How fitly they are called the fruit of the lips will appear in that the lips are of great use in both when we pray we must take with us words and say and when we praise we must render the calves of our lips David saith With my voici have I cried to thee O Lord and we often reade of the voice of his prayer and prayer is often stiled a calling upon God and upon the Name of the Lord But more especially are the lips necessary in praising since our praising God is only a confession of what he hath done for us and that is to be done by the mouth for which reason the Psalmist cals his tongue his glory because the chief instrument of offering praise whereby God is glorified Indeed neither our prayers nor praises must be only the fruit of our lips but of our hearts also otherwise we are but as tinkling brass and sounding cymball Prayer is often called the pouring out of the heart and lifting up of the heart and the Psalmist saith he will praise God with his whole heart if that joyn not in those duties we offer the lips of calves instead of the calves of our lips but still the lips are the most proper instrument of expressing both our supplications and gratulations and therefore both aptly called the fruit of the lips And now according to these acceptions the fruit of the lips is to be looked upon either as an antecedent or the consequent of this Peace which God createth 1. I create the fruit of the lips that is the peace which God createth should be the fruit of their lips the matter of their earnest prayers If you peruse the thirty six Chapter of Ezekiels Prophecy you shall finde a Catalogue of many precious benefits which God would do for his people but in the close Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel Prayer is the sluce that keepeth out an inundation of judgements and the key which openeth the cabinet of mercies This is that duty to which the Psalmist excites Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and presently after he practiseth it when he saith Peace be within thy wals he will do little for Zions peace who will not pray for ir and whatever we do will be to little purpose without it it must be so farre as we are able and when called to it the fruit of our hands in endeavour but chiefly the fruit of our lips in prayer 2. I create the fruit of the lips that is the peace which God shall create must bring forth the fruit of the lips in praises This exposition is looked upon as so much the more genuine because we finde the sacrifice of praise called by the Apostle the fruit of the lips though his allusion there is not to this but that of the Prophet Hosea the calves which by the Septuagint is read the fruit of the lips when God worketh any deliverance he puts as the Psalmists phrase is a new song into our mouths giving us just occasion of singing praises to him I create saith God Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy and gaudentis est gratias agere Joy cloaths it self with the garments of praise And very fitly is this construction joyned with the former since it is but just that as we are importunate to obtain so we should be fervent in giving thanks and those blessing which are won with prayer should be worn with praise Indeed it were a shame to open our mouths wide when we beg and shut them when we should blesse nay to cry aloud give us our daily bread and but whisper out Hallowed be thy Name especially considering that our Petitions for mercy in times of distresse are usually joyned with vows of thankfulnesse and if deliverance have been the fruit of our lips in asking and thankfulness the fruit of our lips in vowing before it is most just that it should be the fruit of our lips in paying and performing it afterwards And thus I have run through all the parts of my Text by way of Explication spare me but a few minutes of your Honourable patience whilest I shall close up all with a suitable and seasonable Application Right Honourable and well-beloved though we have not like the Jews been carried captive by a forreign enemy into a strange Countrey yet for these many years we have been miserable slaves to an usurped power in our own land and those bitter Lamentations of Jeremiah in reference to the Babylonish captivity are in several passages fitly applicable to our late condition The breath of our nostrils the anointed of the Lord was taken in the pits of those Usurpers and then when we said we should live