Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	heart_n	let_v	lord_n	10,321	5	3.9650	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56701	A sermon preached at St. Paul's Covent Garden on the day of thanksgiving Jan. XXXI, 1668 for the great deliverance of this kingdom by the means of His Highness the Prince of Orange from popery and arbitrary power / by Simon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1689 (1689)	Wing P847; ESTC R18296	19,982	42

esteemed And so it is with all the rest of God's Blessings Those which we commonly and constanly enjoy though of never such value move us little unless we duly poise them in the Scales of serious Consideration Witness that great Blessing of Health of which it is pity we should not know the worth without being Sick. And the Blessing of Liberty which I beseech you let us learn to prize without being made Slaves V. When our Hearts are thus affected wtth God's Mercies and the Love from whence they flow there Naturally arises in us an Holy Joy in God which is the most agreeable Passion of all other and disposes us to say it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing Praises unto thy Name O most High. For this Joy is apt to burst out into Songs of Praise and indited all the Thankful Hymns we read in the Book of God. Such as that of the Children of Israel when the Lord turned their Captivity by an amazing Deliverance out of Babylon Then was their mouth filled with Laughter and their Tongue with Singing Then said they among the Heathen the Lord hath done great things for them The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad Ps CXXVI 2 3. It is not casie to enumerate all the like instances of Joy and Gladness for private as well as publick Blessings which produced Songs of Praise as a part of their Thanksgivings According to that of the Psalmist Ps LIX 30. I will praise the Name of God with a Song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving VI. But thankfulness doth not consist meerly in these Devout and Joyful Songs But in paying our Vows we made to God either in the time of our Affliction and Trouble or upon the first approaches of a Merciful Delivrance For these are two Seasons which commonly engage Men in Pious Vows to God when they are oppressed with Grief and Sorrow or when they are suddenly eased and overflowed with Joy. And the discharge of these Vows God himself requires as a Proof of our Sincere Thankfulness to him for his Benefits Ps L. 14. Offer unto God Thanksgiving and pay thy Vows unto the most High. Which the Psalmist promises in Ps CXVI 17 18. I will offer the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord. I will pay my Vows unto the Lord in the presence of all his People And makes the whole World speak the same Language in Ps LXV 1 2. Praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion and unto thee shall the Vow be performed O thou that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all flesh come Not meerly with Prayers but with Dutiful Performance of their Vows VII And Good Men thought themselves bound upon such Occasions to renew their Pious Resolutions and tye themselves faster to God in holy purposes to please him in all things who was so gracious to them in such singular Benefits as challenged their highest Praises Thus you find David resolving never to forget to thank God for his Mercies to him Ps XXX 11 12. Thou hast turned for me my Mourning into Dancing thou hast put off my Sackcloth and girded me with Gladness To the end that my Glory may sing Praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give Thanks unto thee for ever And in the LXXI Ps 15 16. he says My mouth shall shew forth thy Righteousness and thy Salvation all the day for I know not the numbers thereof I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy Righteousness even of thine only Which is a Resolution to trust in God for ever of whose Goodness he had had such large Experience And never to depend upon any thing but only his Power Holiness and Faithfulness in performing all his Promises VVhich engaged him in a further Resolution to do the will of God in all things and live suitable to his Obligations Ps CXVI 7 8 9. Return unto thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee For thou hast deliver'd my Soul from Death mine Eyes from Tears and my Feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living These are three proper Resolutions to be made when our Hearts are dilated with Joy in God for the Benefits he hath bestowed upon us and we should endeavour to Seal such Resolutions upon our Hearts in those Solemn Words of the Psalmist which follow that affectionate Exclamation What shall I render unto the Lord for all his Benefits towards me v. 12. And his Resolution to pay his Vows in the Presence of all God's People v. 14. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant and the Son of thy Handmaid thou hast loosed my Bonds Ps CXVI 16. Where he not only Solemnly Devotes himself to God's Service but binds himself to be entirely his as much as a Servant was his Masters when he was Born in his House of the Body of his Slave or as a poor Captive was wholly his who had redeemed him from Thraldome or rescued him out of the hand of an Enemy in which he was like to Perish For that 's the proper Notion of the word SERVVS a Servant one that is Saved and not Slain when it was in the Power of a Conqueror to take away his Life Such a one owing his very Being in this World to him that Saved him from Destruction stands bound in all the Duty and Service that it is possible to be performed by him as long as he hath a day to live VIII But our Thankfulness is not compleated till we arrive by these Means at such an habitual Sense of God's Goodness as powerfully inclines us frequently to reflect upon it and alwaies to be making good our Promises and Resolutions of Obedience Our first Thanksgivings are to conclude in a Thankful Disposition which is the best Security for Future Performance Constant thanks will flow from those who are of a thankful Nature Which will incline us to a comportment agreeable to the liking of those who have obliged us that by a constant study to do what is pleasing to them we may become more acceptable in their Eyes and invite their further Favour According to which God himself declares he expects our thankfulness should end in this if we expect his endless Love. Psal L. 23. Whoso offereth Praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God. Whatsoever falls short of Obedience is either but a Complement or no more than a good natur'd Fit. And as for Complements the more finely they are adorn'd and trimmed up with Songs of Praise with Vows and Protestations the more Nauseous and Fulsom they are because a studied piece of Flattery which the Divine Majesty abhors And as God himself calls this Flattery of him Ps LXXVIII 36. they slattered him with their Mouths c. So fits of good nature

the more passionate they are the more they are apt to flatter and abuse our selves by perswading us we have discharg'd the Duty of gratitude unto God when we have only eased ourselves of a Burden which at that present lay upon us And indeed all Passions that come by sits are apt to do us hurt especially if they be very violent It is a constant motion which is most profitable to us Thus Physitians observe that the perspiration which is made by a violent Motion of the Body or Mind is wont to weaken us When that which is made equally all the day and night long gives us strength and vigor So it is in the Exercises of Devotion The vehement Expressions men make of their Love and Gratitude in their Prayers and Praises only the Heat they put themselves into and the Labour they take to raise up a Passion is nothing so Beneficial as a constant Quiet sense of God's Love warming the Heart and insensibly breathing forth it self in the whole Tenor of a Man's Actions in a regular Life The former if he take not care may prove hurtful for by spending himself too much in one thing he is the less able to perform his Duty in other matters His Affections being all evaporated in that great Commotion he afterwards grows so cold and feeble that he can do nothing but sigh and groan that he is no better But it is time to finish this part of my Discourse which may be briefly reduced to these Four Heads To the performance of this Duty of thankfulness there is required 1. First an Act of the Mind to observe and take a true survey of all the Blessings which the Divine Goodness doth at any time confer upon us 2. Secondly an Act of the Memory to represent them again as occasion serves and set them before the Eyes of our mind For that is the Treasury of those Observations which we make the Store-house in which we lay up the Notes of God's Mercies 3. Thirdly an Act of Reason and Consideration who it is that gives us all these good things for what end by what means and in what measure both as to their value and their number Which when we have well performed we shall be prepared for the fourth and last which is 4. An Act of the Will that must frame an Affectionate acknowledgement of God and of his great Goodness binding us fast to him by Acts of Love and joyful Devotion by serious performance of our Vows and hearty Resolutions perpetually to obey him I will not stay to tell you what Title God hath to such Thanksgivings But immediately pass to the Second general thing I propounded II. That the Wonderful Works of God in the World justly challenge from us our most grateful Acknowledgements They ought that is to be so diligently observed so faithfully remembred so carefully laid to heart and often Revolved that we may be so affected with them as to give continual Praise to God for them With such Joy and Gladness and such a sincere Performance of our Vows as may testifie the lively and lasting Sense we have of his Love and engage us in his Service forever I will content my self at this time with that Instance of God's Providence unto which this Psalm it self directs our thoughts In those discriminating Acts of God's Justice whereby he makes a remarkable difference between one sort of Men and another and renders unto them severally according to their Works And those Acts of God's Discriminating Justice were twofold having Respect both to the punishment of the wicked and the Salvation of the Good. v. 7 8. God is the Judge he putetth down one and setteth up another For in the hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the Wine is Red. It is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the Dregs thereof all the Wicked of the Earth shall wring them out and drink them The words I think refer to the Insolent and Haughty behaviour of Senacherib and his Captains who having got all the Fortresses of the Kingdom into their hands except Jerusalem and reduced that also into great Straits insulted over Hezekiah and his People in a most imperious manner till God the Righteous Judge took the matter into his Hand and decided the Quarrel by a most remarkable Vengeance which humbled the one and exalted the other more than ever For though God's own People had for a time tasted of the Cup of astonishment and felt the smart of sharp Afflictions which is the meaning of those words he poureth out of the same upon them as well as others yet the Dregs of this Cup the stupifying and intoxicating Ingredients were reserved for their Enemies who were made to drink them up to the very bottom until they reel'd and staggered and fell and never rose up any more Which is expressed again in plainer words v. 10. All the Horns that is the power of the Wicked will I cut off and the Horns of the Righteous shall be exalted In such Acts of these God ought to be admir'd and acknowledged in his punishing the good some time to make them better and in destroying the bad who can by no means be perswaded to become good We of this Nation particularly have great reason to observe these things at this time For after a long invasion of all our just Rights and Liberties the Popish Party had intruded themselves so successfully into all places of Trust and Authority every where that they wanted but a little of making themselves Masters of these Three Kingdoms and were just upon the Point of confirming all their Usurpations by the Formalities of a Legal Establishment in such a Parliament as they were about by all manner of indirect means to pack together When behold the outstretched hand of Heaven appeared against them to confound the Babel which they had been so many Years a Building On a suddain their long studied designs were dasht in pieces like mere Bubbles and that in a Moment By which defeat the great Judge of the World hath made a Notorious distinction between those who stood firm to their Religion and Liberties and those that were about to betray them And hath demonstrated to us all that nothing is safe but what is just that they are no better than Fools who go about to separate Interest from Honesty and that there is no such way to thrive as to keep in his ways though they expose us to seeming disadvantages For he hath taken the subtil in their own Craftiness and ensnared them in the work of their own Hands Whereby he hath rescued us from becoming a Prey to the Teeth of those ambitious and ravenous Spirits who thought to devour us And therefore we ought to bless and praise him above all other People in these acts of his Providence and just Government of the World which can never be enough admired For when God doth such things he keeps as I may call it