Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	call_v	heaven_n	name_n	5,870	5	5.1655	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50176	The wonderful works of God commemorated praises bespoke for the God of heaven in a thanksgiving sermon delivered on Decemb. 19, 1689 : containing reflections upon the excellent things done by the great God ... : to which is added A sermon preached unto a convention of the Massachuset-colony in New-England ... / by Cotton Mather.	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.; Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728. A sermon preached to the honourable convention of the governour, council, and representatives of the Massachuset-colony in New-England on May 23, 1689.	1690 (1690)	Wing M1171; ESTC W24924	55,477	128

they live in Heaven upon Earth But as for Dayes of Thanksgiving observed in the Assemblies of good men all men have seen the wonderful successes of them New Englands Prosperity has more visibly followed upon its Thanksgivings than upon its Humiliations as in times both of War and of Sickness has been more than once perceived We have seen the fulfilment of that Word in 2 Chron. 20.22 When they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushments against their Enemies Praises thousands of high praises be to our God that we may have a Day to celebrate His praises But that our praises may be awakened and that no man may make a Iar in our Harmony Consider how Reasonable these praises are for us all O consider with our selves Who is God it is He that Humbles Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven Consider Who is Man a poor Worm yea a cursed Viper Now that this GOD should look upon this man Lord What is man that thou shouldest be mindful of him Yet the Eternal God has been doing of Excellent things which we not only behold but also enjoy There is not one of us all who has not excellent things to be this Day praising the Almighty for They whose case is never so bad yet have cause to carry on this Day of Thanksgiving with us in that it is no worse The most miserable person in all this Congregation may with an eye to his own condition say like him in Psal. 119.156 Many are thy mercies O Lord. If I could find out the most unhappy and the most complaining person among you all even to that person would I say God has done Excellent things for thee and some that never sinned so much yet suffer more than you Consider Likewise how profitable these Praises will be to us all Behold an Expedient for the obtaining of all the Blessings that can be wish'd for It was said in Psal. 67.5 6. Let the people praise thee then our God shall bless us If the Earth send Vapours up to Heaven Heaven will make Showers to descend on the Earth Let our praises be continually ascending from us and they will soon issue in those things that are called The Showers of Blessing When we have a Jealousie of a Leaky Vessel we try it by first putting of Water before we trust Better Liquors in it if we that have little more than Water to comfort us will yet not permit it to Leak without Praises from us then God has more Excellent Things to do for us To be always Begging and Craving as a Dog for his Morsels ad Spem futuri semper hians without multiplyed praises unto God this is a most vile Disingenuity 'T is no less than a Loss of yea no less than a Curse on all our Blessings which we incurr by not praising the giver of them But the praising Soul may fill himself with such a Ioyful Hope as that in Psal. 71.14 I will Hope continually and will yet praise thee more and more Those that are sollicitous least God should Loose any of His Praises are the persons for whom God will be concerned that they don't Loose any of His Blessings these are they that shall experimentally understand the Loving kindness of the Lord. Man wouldest thou have any Excellent Things done for thy self Then bring thy praises for what Excellent Things have been done in the world I suppose by this time we have generally got our Hallelujahs ready but you call for a Catalogue of those Excellent Things which they are to be fixed on 'T is a Feast that you are this Day to be treated at and before you go out of these Doors a Feast you shall have I shall set before you a short Account of some Excellent Things which I intend as a Feast for your praises and believe me though your praises had and O that they may have no less than an Eternity to be Feeding on those matters in they never would be glutted never cloyed First The Excellent Things done by God in the Works of CREATION call for our Praises It was once the out-cry of the Psalmist in a Rapture Praise the Lord from the Heavens praise the Lord from the Earth praise the Lord all ye His Armies Truly 'T is our Business to praise Him for the Heavens and for the Earth and for all those Armies which He has replenished the World withal We have a good pattern for us in Psal 104.24 33. says the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy Works in wisdom hast thou made them all Well and what is now incumbent upon us that have the view thereof It follows I will sing praise unto my God while I have any Being Methinks the Children of Men too much imitate the Spider when they Look after nothing but building a little House for themselves and concern themselves with nothing but the petty Affairs thereof We should remember that we are Citizens of the WORLD and as far as we can we should visit every Corner of it with our Praises to Him of whom and for whom is all I make no question but that we do in a blessed manner Antedate Heaven by doing so The Praises of God are Exhibited in every part of the World and we forfeit the priviledge of Reason if we do not put as many of them as we can into our A●knowledgments There are above six Thousand Plants growing on that little Spot of the World which we Tread upon and yet a Learned Man has more than once found One Vegetable enough to make a Subject for a Treatise on it What might then be said upon the Hundred and fifty Quadrupeds the Hundred and fifty Volatils the five and Twenty Reptiles besides the vast multitudes of Aquatils added unto the rich variety of Gems and Minerals in our World Our own Bodies are to use the Phrase of the Psalmist So Fearfully and Wonderfully made that one of the Ancient Heathen at the sight thereof could not forbear breaking forth into an Hymn unto the praise of the great Creator 'T is impossible that any thing should be better shaped Indeed All the Things that we have every Day before our eyes have a most charming prospect in them and the very Deformities which the Flood has brought upon this Terraquecus Globe are made Beauties by the Disposals of the Lord that sat upon the Flood There is not a Fly but what may confute an Atheist And the Little things which our Naked Eyes cannot penetrate into have in them a Greatness not to be seen without Astonishment By the Assistence of Microscopes have I seen Animals of which many Hundreds would not AEqual a Grain of Sand. How Exquisite How stupendous must the Structure of them be The Wholes that are sometimes found more than an Hundred Foot in Length methinks those moving Islands are not such Wonders as these minute Fishes are But alas All this Globe is but as a Pins point if compared with the mighty Universe

these Invaders and they were now returning from Gerar 〈◊〉 place between thirty and forty miles off un●to Ierusalem The Holy Spirit of God exci●ted and inclined a Prophet whose Name wa● Azariah to entertain them with a faithful solid Sermon hereupon and in my Te● you have the Sum and Substance of it We may observe First The Praeface of it and that i● very awful and earnest Hear ye me Asa an● all Judah and Benjamin As he was proba●bly none of the greatest so t is like he wa● none of the oldest men for it seems by th● eighth verse that his Father was yet alive 〈◊〉 present at this time Yet being to speak 〈◊〉 the Name of the great and eternal God 〈◊〉 expects he demands the attention of 〈◊〉 whole Army to him Secondly the Design of it and that is to ●ecclare both the Rise and Vse of their late Prosperity The Lord is with you while you ●ou are with Him or as the Vulgar Latin has ●t Inasmuch as you have been with him What ●ollows is but an Explication and Ampli●ication of this He saw they were taken up with various Businesses and Contrivances they had their Enemies under Hatches and ●heir minds were full of Thoughts and Cares What to do next But he calls them off to acknowledge the Presence of God as the cause of ●heir coming off so well in their late Action and above all things to obtain secure the presence of God that they might come off as well in in their future Enterprises I am therefore to call for your Attention ●nto this Faithful Saying DOCT. That The GOD of Heaven will be with a people while they are with Him 'T is by the ensuing Propositions that the Explication of this Truth shall be endeavoured PROPOSITION I. It is the Interest and should be the Desire of Every people to have the God of Heaven With them But we are to enquire What is implied in that presence of GOD which we are to be solicitous about For Answer to this There is a Threefol● Presence of God mentioned in the Scriptur● of Truth First God is Naturally present with all Creatures He is an Immense Being and no Creature can be without him The Apostle that argued in the Court at Athens in Act 1● 27. God is not far from every one of us No● He is near us all He is with us all And Pai● could have had the Gentiles themselves confessing it for besides what their Seneca di● own One of their own Poets had said Iovis omnia plena It is the Speech of our God in Ier. 23.24 Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Yea That He do's The Jews call God by the Name of Makom or of Place because all things are in Him this is His Name in the Book of Esther if I mistake it not Whether we may count it proper and physical to speak of an Imaginary Infinite space beyond the utmost Selvige of the world replenished with our God alone yet we are sure that the Heaven of Heavens gives no limits unto His Being and the Ancients were not mistaken when they said Deus Ipse Sibi et Mundus et Locus et Omnia We cannot so well say That God is in the World as we may say The whole World is in God we may say with the Psalmist in Psal. 139.7 Whither shall I flee from thy presence Secondly God is Gloriously present with the Inhabitants of the Third Heaven The Heaven of Heavens hath in it most intimate and marvellous manifestations of God It is the Place of which we may say as t is said of that State in Rev. 21.23 The glory of God doth lighten it There the blessed ones have God with them so that they Alwayes behold His face and they are satisfied with His likeness for ever When we come to Heaven then as in 1. Thes. 4.17 We shall ever be with the Lord. So the Lord will be with us for ever Heaven is the Throne of the Most High He is there as a Prince in his Throne the Great KING is in a manner very ineffable residing there To be there is called in 2. Cor. 5.4 A being present with the Lord. Hence unto the Heaven and not unto a Bible are we directed to make our Corporal Applications in our Prayers or our Oathes before the Lord. But Thirdly God is Graciously present with His people by being Favourable unto them And this Gracious presence of God is that which a people ought to be concerned for It lies in The Engagement of Divine Providence for the Welfare of such a people God is with us when God is for us To particularize First God is with a people by Directing of them When Israel was to pass thro' the Wilderness they had that encouragement in Exod. 22.15 The presence of God going with them What was that Why They had a cloudy fiery Pillar miraculously Leading o● them every step of the way There was ● wonderful Pillar which was a Cloud by day and a Fire by night the Lower part of which rested on the Tabernacle while the Vppo● part was to be seen by the whole Congregation the Motions of this being managed by the Ministry of Angels now God was with them and He led them forth by the right way A people are often brought into a Wilderness of Difficulties and Emergencies but if God be with them He guides them to a good Issue of them all The Presence of God appears in His Directing and Inclining of a people to such Actions as may be for His Honour and their Safety and such Methods a● may extricate them out of all Distresses When God is with a people He shapes their Counsels for them and he disposes them to the Things that should be done He supplie● them with Apprehensions beyond the Reach and Verge of their own Wisdome and He layes before them Invitations and Provocations which as it were push them into the way wherein they should go When the Jews were ●pon a 〈◊〉 Assumption of the desireable thing which the Babylonians had deprived 'em of they took a Right Way to dissappoint all that were desirous to interrupt them in it We find in Neh. 4.13 That while those Exercises continued they waited in a posture agreeable thereunto and when the danger was over then they returned every one to his work How came this to pass 'T was because GOD was with them Secondly God is with a People by Protecting of them 'T was the promise of God unto His people in Isa. 43.2 When thou passest thro' the Waters I will be with thee and thro' the Rivers they shall not overflow thee On which Text blessed Bilney after his Condemnation so sweetly paraphrased that his Friends caused the whole Sentence to be fairly written on their Tables A people may be ready to be swallow'd up by a stormy gaping Ocean of Troubles but if God be with them they shall escape clear of all The Presence of