Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	let_v	lord_n	song_n	1,501	5	9.9369	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81245	A model of true spiritual thankfulnesse. Delivered in a sermon before the Honourable House of Commons, upon their day of thanksgiving, being Thursday, Feb. 19. 1645, for the great mercy of God, in the surrender of the citie of Chester into the hands of the Parliaments forces in Cheshire, under the command of Sir William Brereton. / By Tho. Case, preacher in Milkstreet London, and one of the Assembly of Divines.	Case, Thomas, 1598-1682.; England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons.	1646 (1646)	Wing C833; Thomason E323_4; ESTC R200593	35,919	45

c. And therefore this is to be found onely in the Saints Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright Let the Saints be joyful in glory Psal 149.5 6. let them sing aloud upon their beds let the high praises of God be in their mouthes c. they be the Righteous onely the upright the Saints in whose bosoms this grace dwells and who can manage this Spiritual service and duty of rejoycing and praising the Lord in a right manner Indeed the holy Psalmist doth often expresse the workings of his heart upon the receipt of great deliverances and mercies under the notion of gladnesse all over the Psalms but you are to take it as a Synonymon or t'other expression of thankfulnesse not a meer stirring of natural joy and complacency in and for deliverances and mercies but the Spiritual movings and sparkling of his aff●●ction towards God in witnesse whereof you shall never sinde that notion stand single but like the * 1 Cor. 6.17 Spirit of the holy man himself joyned unto the Lord either as the Author or as the Object of his Gladnesse I will be glad and rejoyce in thee Psal 9.2 And Be glad in the Lord Psal 32.11 ye righteous And Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work Psal 92.4 c. to shew that his gladnesse was sanctified and spiritualized into the grace of Thankfulnesse And indeed Grace is nothing else but the natural affection baptized as I may so say and regenerated by the holy Ghost and the Blood of Christ faced and pointed upon God as its proper and highest object Set your affection on things above not on things on the earth Coloss 3.2 Set and Set not the affection is not changed in the matter of it but in the object So natural sorrow and grief spiritualized and set upon the right object sc upon an * Mich. 7.9 offended God is the grace of * ● Cor. 7.9 Repentance And Anger sanct fied and faced upon Gods dishonour is Zeal And Love fired with a flame from Christ and carried up in that flame to Christ is no longer the affection but the grace of Love sic in caet And thus natural joy and gladnesse heavenlized and set upon God 2 Joh. 4.19 is the grace of Thankfulnesse And this is the first difference Gladnesse or Joy is but a natural affection Common to good and bad to man and beast but Thankfulnesse is that affection sprinkled with the Blood of Christ proper onely to the Saints because like the Saint himself it is made partaker of the divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Secondly they differ in their Rise or Ground Second difference Rise or Ground The Rise or Ground of Gladnesse as it is a meer natural affection is meerly the poss ssion of some sutable desirable Good which comes in whether National or Domestick or Personal together with those natural fruits and improvements which arise and grow upon it As here in the Text Then are they glad what is the Rise Because they b● quiet●● they are now out of those fears and dangers which made their hearts work as tempestuoussy as the Sea it self Safety and rest are the ground of their joy glad the storm is over and they safe in the Haven And so you may proportion it in your thoughts in other deliverances and mercies National or Private Gladnesse riseth not higher then the bulk and body of the Good it self as the rich fool in the Gospel lookt upon his heap of wealth and glads his soul in it and in the advantages he promiseth himself from it Soul here are goods l●id up for many yeers Luke 12.19 he shall need to take no more care or thought as long as he lives take thine ease eat drink and be merrie The Grounds of Thankfulnesse But now the Grounds and Rise of Thankfulnesse they are of a more generous and divine Nature such as these 1. A Spiritual Title First a Spiritual and Divine Right to mercies a Scripture-title What is that Why the Saints have Fi st a Right of Sonship The wicked have a Right to what they have not onely a civil right before men but a divine right b●fore God but it is but a Right of Creation they have a right To the Creatures but it is but a right Of the Creatures But now th● S●ints have a right of Sonship If children Rom. 8.17 then heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ. Whatever mercy or deliverance they have it is part of their childes portion though they are not joynt-purchasers yet they are joynt-heirs with Jesus Christ they have all by inheritance Heb. 1.2 as Christ is Heir of all things so they in him All is you●s and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.22 23. And thus ●eing Children and Heirs they have a Seco●d Right and that is a Right of Promise or Covenant and therefore Believers are call'd The children of promise Rom. 9.8 because they be both a 2 Pet. 1.4 begotten and b 1 Tim. 4.8 m●int●in'd by promise whatever they have they have by promise Godlinesse is profitable for all things having the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come Others are fed out of the Common basket of Providence they are fed out of the Ark of the Covenant which is the great List of the promises Every childe of God be he never so poor is served in Plate The words of the Lord are pure words as Silver tried in a furnace of earth He speaks of the word of promise Psal 12.6 So that if it be but bread and water yet it is served in to a childe of God in the silver and golden vessels of the Promises And this affects them more then all the bulk and heap of mercies and comforts which they do possesse or that worldlings do possesse Thou hast put more gladnesse into my heart then in the time that their corn and their wine encreased Psal 4.7 How Why by the shines of his face and favour as Vers 7. This is the Rise of a gracious Joy and Thankfulnesse That what he hath he hath not onely by Gods leave but with Gods love not by Creatureship onely but by Sonship not by providence onely but by promise With the men of the world the Principal is more then the Interest but every childe of God accounts his Interest more then the Principal Therefore you shall finde the Church glorying in this That all her deliverances and mercies are Covenant-mercies If God destroy her enemies she looks upon it as a fruit of the Covenant He is the Lord our God his judgements are in all the world She triumphs in the execution of Gods righteous judgements upon the enemies of the Church Psal 105.7 but upon what ground It follows He hath remembred his Covenant for ever c. It was a

and I will praise him Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the Sea not so much that it was done as that God did it Thy right hand O Lord is become glorious in power Vers 6. thy right hand O Lord hath dashed the enemies in pieces And in the greatnesse of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee Vers 7. The blast of thy nostrils c. Vers 8. Thou didst blowe with thy winde c. Vers 10. Who is like unto thee O Lord among the gods And The Lord shall reign for ever and ever Vers 18. Thus they lift up God because he hath lifted up himself And so the Saints in the Revelation when they repeat this Song for it is said Rev. 15.3 They sang the song of Moses the Servant of the Lord they harp upon this string Great and marvellous are thy works Vers 4. Lord God Almighty who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifio thy Name In a word you have three Psalms almost together Psalm 93 97 and 99 what the Victories and Deliverances were I cannot tell you but this is the triumph in all The Lord reigneth This is the last and the highest Rise of pure Thankfulnesse and Praise That God sets himself up above his enemies That the Lord gets glory and greatnesse to his own Name Be thou exalted O Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power Psal 21.13 I come now to the third difference between Gladnesse and Thankfulnesse which is this They differ in their Duration Third Difference Duration Gladnesse for the most part is but a present impetus of spirit a sudden impression upon the first arrival of un-expected or long-●xpected desires overspreads the heart but stays no longer then the sense of the good rejoyced in is fresh upon the spirit As on the contrary Nullum violentum est perpetuum you see there be some sudden gusts and irruptions of grief which like a land-flood lays all under water but are quickly gone Mercies and Deliverances to a carnal heart are like flowers that upon their first cutting smell very sweet and they are put then in the bosom or like Tulips which upon the first gathering are very betutiful and delightful to the eye and serve a day or two to discourse on but anon after they grow stale and out they go to the dung-hill The holy Ghost hath compared this kinde of Gladnesse to the crackling of thorns As the crackling of thorns under a pot Eccles 7.6 so is the laughter of a fool I think I do carnal people no wrong in expounding this Text over their joy for in Scripture-sense all natural men are fools and their gladnesse and joy shews them to be so there is no solidnesse nor duration in it it is like the crackling of thorns is makes a great noise but is quickly out But now Thankfulnesse or Spiritual rejoycing is longer lived by far and therefore you shall finde God charging the memories of his people with the keeping of all the passages of his love and providence Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember all the way wherein the Lord thy God led thee these fourty yeers in the wildernesse a great work certainly we see it is no easie matter to remember all the way wherein the Lord hath led us these four yeers what is it to remember the mercies of fourtie yeers yet as great as it is as God doth charge it upon his people so David chargeth himself with it Blesse the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits One ingredient into Thankfulnesse is a good memory Psal 103.2 which like the Ark must preserve the rod and the pot of manna and the Law the Fatherly Corrections the Miraculous Provisions and the glorious Ordinances where with God blesseth his people And it seems David studied his charge so well that in answer thereunto he undertakes with God I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being Psal 104.33 his Thankfulnesse is as long lived as himself it knew no other termination then life it self yea life must not bound his praise I will praise thee for ever Psal 52.9 that is his engagement to God and if that be too narrow he will put an ever at the top of that ever Psal 145.1 I will blesse thy Name for ever and ever nothing short of eternity shall terminate his Thankfulnesse the Reason is because as you have seen Thankfulnesse takes its Rise from durable and unchangeable grounds the Covenant of God and his glory which like himself are eternal and immutable He hath commanded his Covenant for ever holy and reverend is his Name and therefore it self is unchangeable and eternal This shall suffice for the third I come to the fourth Difference They differ in their Operations or Returns Truely as the Rise Fourth Difference Operations so the Operations of meer carnal joy and gladnesse are lowe earthly sensual like culinary fire or smoke which seems to aspire and ascend up to heaven or the element of fire but gets not above the first region of the air or like a lazie thick fogg which if it move upward a little it falls presently down again with its own weight to the earth from whence it arose So it is with natural joy and gladnesse For First either it is bounded and terminated within it self Carnal joy sets up 1. Self whilest upon the coming in of some desired or desirable good it doth hugg it self Hab. 1.16 and blesse it self It sacrificeth to its own net and burns incense to its own dragg i.e. ascribes to its own power and policy and wisedom what is done like the Babylonian Tyrant By the multitude of my Charets am I come up to the height of the mountains and the sides of his Carmel c. and I have digged and drunk water and with the soles of my feet have I dried up all the Rivers of the besieged places Here is nothing to be heard but I and mine and so all the Returns are dedicated to self put on fine apparel dresse as brave as the Sun eat the fat drink wine in bowls dance to the instruments of Musick set open the Cellar-doors drink so many hogs-heads empty and their own full this is an Oxford-day of Thanksgiving and I would such days were onely kept there I would this were onely the Thanksgiving of Cavaliers But secondly 2. Instruments if a carnal heart go out of it self it is not upward it is but forward to the Creature it looks no higher then the second causes it eyes the Instruments and cries up Commanders and Souldiers and puts the bays and garland upon their heads Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands God hath little or no share in the triumph Or thirdly 3. Rests in duties if carnal Joy keep a day or Thanksgiving as the very Philistines did

over the fourth work and wonder of Providence namely The admirable and even stupendious deliverances which God vouchsafes Mariners and Sea-men in many a black dreadful furious death-threatnin● storm and tempest exprest to the life in the 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Verses I shall not meddle with the D●liverance it self though if I should it would be neither impertinent nor improper for the work of this day for certainly a man might easily run a parallel between the state of the Mariner in th● storm and the condition of this poor and yet bleeding Church and State In Ireland and England We that have gone down into the Sea this Red-sea of Blood and have had our businesse now for these four or five yeers in these great waters of Civil war surely we have seen the works of the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep Verse 24 If ever people saw the works the wonders of the workings of Jehovah we have We have lived I think I may safely speak it in the greatest Age of wonders that ever the Church knew We use to say Miracles are ceast but truely if men have ceased to do Miracles God hath not and yet he hath done them by men too in this Deep of Englands and Scotlands and Irelands troubles and ●fflictions For he commandeth and ●●●seth up the stormy winde Verse 25. which lifteth up the waves thereof Surely all the storms and tempests that have beaten upon these three Kingdoms have not come by chance and fortune this af●●iction hath not risen out of the dust but as it was with Sol●mon af●er his heart began to depart from God it is sa●d 1 Kings 11.14 The Lord stirred up an Adversary unto Solomon Had●d the Ed●mite c. And Vers 23. God stirred him up another Adversary Rezin the son of Eliadah Adversary after Adversary and all stirred up by God So hath it been and is yet with us Storm after Storm Tempest after Tempest one cloud of blood and wrath after another Eccles 12.2 The clouds have returned after rain and all raised up by God in his righteous Judgement upon these sinful backsliding Nations We have as it followeth been mounted up to heaven and then hurl'd down again into the depths Oh the various changes that have been upon us I Somtimes up and somtimes down somtimes raised up as high as heaven by wonderful Deliverances and glorious Victories anon cast down even as l●we as hell As in the West c. by sad breakings of our Armies and losse of our Strong-holds Surely our souls have been melted because of trouble Our hopes have been melted and our hearts have been melted Oh how oft have I seen palenesse in mens faces the very shadow of death upon mens countenances I how oft have I seen men with their hands upon their loyns while fear hath taken hold upon them and sorrow a● pain upon a woman in travel Have we not been in the day of sad tidings from the West and other places in the Kingdom Vers 27. like drunken men full of the fury of the Lord and rebukes of our God reeling to and fro in our spirits and staggering in our Councels at our wits end Parliament at their wits end and Citie at their wits end and Armies at their wits end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All their wisdom swallowed up as the Hebrew signifies nonplust and lost not knowing what to do next unlesse it were with the Mariners in my Text for the most part the profanest of men to go and cry to God in our trouble Vers 28. betake our selves to our fasting and prayers when God hath shewed himself easie to be intreated 2 King 20.12 very gracious at the voice of our cry and hath brought us out of these distresses and straits wherein were calming the storms and stilling the waves the pride and rage Verse 30. the power and policie of our devouring Adversaries Thus hath the Lord done as often heretofore so now wonderfully of late at Dartmouth and Plymouth at Hereford at Belvoyre and at Chester the Wonder of mercy which we this day celebrate Thus you see if I should pitch upon the Deliverance it self here would be a foundation upon which we might build a Discourse not unseasonable or unsutable to the work of the day But it is not the Deliverance it self but the Return which hath called out my thoughts and now humbly calls for your attention And this Return is Twofold 1. What they do Then are they glad c. 2. What they should do O that men would praise the Lord c. And to hold you in the porch no longer though many Observations might be raised from the words I shall onely from the comparing of these two together sc What men do when mercies and deliverances come in They are glad with what they should do O that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse c. hold forth to you this Point of Doctrine Every man in the world can be glad of mercies and deliverances but the duty that God expects is that men should praise him for his mercies Then are they glad I but that will not serve the turn it is a Return of an high nature which God looks for Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse c. Or thus if you please There is a great difference between Gladnesse and Thankfulnesse It is one thing to be glad of a mercy or deliverance it is another thing to be thankful for it What that difference is and wherein it doth consist is all I intend to do upon the Doctrinal part of this Truth They differ in these four things sc in respect of their 1. Nature The difference between Gladnesse and Thankfulnesse 2. Rise or ground 3. Duration 4. Operation 1. In their Nature First Gladnesse and Thankfulnesse differ in their Nature Gladnesse or Joy is but a natural affection Some of the Stoick Philosophers have defined or described it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysippus and other Stoicks Elatio animi propter aliquid quod optandum esse videatur it is the lifting up or widening or enlargement of the heart upon the coming in of any sutable and desirable good And it is found not onely in * Psal 105.38 Lam. 1.21 natural men but even in the bruit creatures even these you see do expresse in their way a great deal of gladnesse and contentment when they meet with that which is sutable to their natures and dispositions But now Thankfulnesse which is here commended is a divine grace wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God whereby the heart is drawn out towards God in gracious and holy desires and endeavours to praise and exalt the Lord who is the Author and Donor of the Mercie as here it is expressed by this chiefest and highest act of Thankfulnesse Oh that men would praise the Lord c. Let them exalt him

deliverance of Promise as well as of Providence a Covenant-mercie in that she rejoyceth Vers 8. yea if it be but bread and water as I said before she looks in what it is served He hath given meat to them that fear him Why He will be ever mindful of his Covenant Psal 111.5 Her meat how course soever was served in in the great silver Cha●ger of the Covenant And this was the rise of Thankfulnesse in the Churches Grace q. d. Blessed be God that hath fed me with bread of promise that hath commanded his Covenant to bring me in provision And so for her deliverances and redemption from enemies temporal and eternal He sent Redemption to his people Verse 9. he hath commanded his Covenant for ever holy and reverend is his Name It was a Covenant-victorie and Redemption and for this she bows her head and adores the Name of the Lord. Now carnal people never look after these things they be dry and empty notions to them give them meat so it be fat and dainty give them Deliverances and Victories so they be full and gallant be it by promise or providence come they in by sonship or creatureship be it the Covenant that helps them or Fortune it is all one they know no difference and therefore rise no higher in their joy and gladnesse then the possession of their desirable good things This is the first Rise Second Ground Return of Prayer A Second Rise of Thankfulnesse is The Return of Prayer The children of God when they have pray'd do not forget their prayers as carnal people do but when they have prayed they look after their Prayers Psal 85.8 I will hearken what God the Lord will speak c. when he had done praying he begins hearkning And so again In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee Psal 5.3 and I will look up A childe of God looks after his prayers and he knows them when he sees them again and says Oh here comes the answer of such a prayer the return of such a day of Humiliation and this affects his heart and this raiseth up his soul in the love and praises of God Psal 116.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication Yea and for this he calls in help to this great work of praising God as the disciples beckoned to their fellows to come and help them when they had taken such a great draught of fishes that their ship began to sink again so I say the Psalmist upon a great draught of mercles which even sinks him again with the weight of them calls in the Saints to his help Come neer all ye that fear God Psal 66.16 and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul Why what was it He tells you I cried unto him with my mouth Vers 17. and he was extolled with my tongue A speedie return of Prayer q.d. I kept a day of prayer wherein I sought him for such ahd such mercies and desiverances and anon after he gave me occasion to keep a day of Thanksgiving for being found of me and this endears his heart to God more then the mercy it self whatever it was Blessed be God that hath not turned away my prayer Vers 20. nor his mercie from me This is the second Rise A third Rise or Ground of Thankfulnesse whereby it differs from meer natural Gladnesse A third Ground Spiritual advantages is Spiritual Advantages If National and Publike Mercies and Deliverances the Saints eye the Spiritual part of them Surely salvation is nigh unto them that fear him Psal 85.9 When we were nigh to perishing our God was nigh to save to save us in such a Battel and in such a danger to give up such and such a strong-hold out of which the enemies did vex and plague us because he had a people among us that feared his Name I but now there was a Spiritual part in this Deliverance and that follows That glory may dwell in our Land What is the glory of a people but the Ordinances of God The glory is departed from Israel cried that dying Saint when the Ark of God was taken 1 Sam 4.12 why so now the Church looks upon the socuritie and improvement of the Ordinances of God as the fruit of this deliverance and that is the ground of her triumph And so if they be personal mercies and deliverances the people of God enquire what portion will fall to the souls share what improvement for grace they can finde in their mercies The living the living shall praise thee as I do this day so sings Hezekiah Have mercie upon me Isa 38.19 O Lord consider my trouble which I suffer Psal 9.13 c. That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Sion so prays David both single out the Spiritual part of the Deliverance in the mouth of it they finde food for the grace of Thankfulnesse to feed on That I may shew forth thy praises and that they make the ground or rise of their rejoycing Yea the Prophet David is so intent upon the matter that whereas with carnal hearts the lean kine eat up the fat the earthly part of a mercy devours the heavenly and spiritual with this man after Gods own heart and if ever he was so it was in this the spiritual part devours and swallows up the earthly where he doth encourage his soul Psal 42.1 Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him c. He was waiting for a Deliverance from the persecutions of bloody Saul and he hath forgot and lost both it and himself in the heavenly-soul-part of the mercy he saw it would be fuel for the grace of love and thank fulnesse and that so takes up all his thoughts that he can speak nothing else but praise praise not I shall yet be delivered but I shall yet praise him c. Oh happie Losse indeed I to lose Earth in Heaven I to lose the Creature in God I lose the mercy of God in the God of mercy I Surely he that so loseth a mercy findes it with infinite advantage I might instance in more particular graces but I must leave much to your own enlargement But there is yet an higher Rise then all these of the Saints Thankfulnesse for Mercies and Deliverances and that Fourthly is that God is exalted The fourth Rise Gods exaltation Exod. 15. Thus if you will peruse that song of Moses Exod. 15 from the first Verse and so forward you shall finde that which most affects him and the children of Israel in the drowning of Pharroh and the Egyptians in the Red-sea was not so much their being freed from the fear of the Egyptians pursuit as that thereby God was exalted I will sing unto the Lord Vers 1. for He hath triumphed gloriously The Lord is my strength and my song my fathers God Vers 2.