Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	grace_n	life_n	spirit_n	3,894	5	5.4750	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97126	The good-vvill of Him that dwelt in the bush: or, The extraordinary happinesse of living under an extraordinary providence. A sermon preached before the Right Honourable, the House of Lords, in the Abbey Church at Westminster, on Tuesday, Iuly 22. 1645. At their publike thanksgiving for the good successe given to the Parliaments forces, under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax in the west. /	Ward, John, d. 1665.	1645 (1645)	Wing W774; Thomason E293_16; ESTC R200163	33,640	44

most acceptable refreshing reviving mercies like a bright shining after rain hot gleams in uneven weather between showres the brightest beams and of strongest influence like the honey Jonathan tasted in the wood he put his hands to his mouth and his eyes were enlightned like the water Sampson dranke in his faintnesse when he had drunke his spirit came again even as life from the dead Grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape that our God may lighten our eyes and give us a reviving in our bondage 3 The blessings of such a providence are mercies of the best relish as the fruits in Paradise of Gods own creating farre exceeding any at any time since produced by art or nature as the water out of the rock pleasant as honey and oyl He made them suck honey out of the rock and oyl out of the flinty rock as the wine by miracle at Cana the best wine better then the purest bloud of the grape the master of the feast being witnesse who if any was sober and able to discerne they are more immediately of Gods working and more immediately reached out of his hand and therefore the good that is in them is more pure and heavenly savouring more of his all sufficiencie and more universally answering and satisfying the desires of the soul like the Manna which fell in the wildernesse bread from Heaven Angels food The Jewish tradition saith it was able to content every mans delight and agreed to every mans taste serving the appetite of the eater and was tempered to every mans liking according to the desire of them that had need And the Canonicall Scripture seems to favour it Numb. 11. 8. The taste of it was as the taste of oyl now they that love oyl tell us that pure oyl is to the taste as clear glasse to the eye it receiveth much of its favour from that wherewith it s mingled as glasse doth its colour from that by which it s laid 4. They are the most present convincing testimonies of Gods grace such as bring along with them the clearest and fullest revelation of divine favour for they are wrought out not only in great patience and longsuffering but in tender compassion abundance of goodnesse and therefore more sweetned then other mercies The Lords portion is his people he kept them as the apple of his eye as an Eagle fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them so the Lord alone did lead them in a kinde of sympathy and fellow feeling of their miseries in all their affliction he was afflicted in his love in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the daies of old 5. They are blessings given in in returne of their prayers in answer of their longing desires and earnest expectations the harvest of their hepes and therefore reaped in with great joy and gladnes 6. They are sent as messengers and witnesses of Gods truth and faithfullnesse in remembrance of his ingagements by relations covenant or promise and therefore speaks comfortably to the heart of those that hope in him I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows and am come down to deliver them 7. They are intended for pledges in earnest of others to follow them good Osses or Omens of more to come as we finde in the end of the Chapter Happy art thou O Israel saved by the Lord thine enemies shall be found lyars unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their high places like the signes which Moses and Aaron wrought before the Elders of Israel Exod. 4 30. they are dispensed to beget a confident expectation and to keep life in the faith and hope of the poor of his people that wait upon him and therefore make them rejoyce in hope incouraging to look forward with confidence and chearfullnesse He hath delivered he doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us 8. They are set off with such a foyle as render them far the more amiable and acceptable viz. the sense of misery the fear of ruine the unquietnes and perplexity of a misgiving minde held in continuall doubt and suspence a very manifold uncomfortable darkenesse which prepares the heart as the rubbing of a bladder to receive good of God with more enlarged affections and dispose the spirit to drinke in the contentment more abundantly and increase and multiply the joy and thankefullnesse in the acceptation 9. Of all blessings these come the lest look'd for and therefore the more welcome for though nothing is more desired yet nothing is more despaired then preservation or deliverance in the needfull time of trouble 10. And lastly which makes the measure heaped and running over in such a season there are multitudes of these mercies of both kindes as we say of stormy weather when the Sunne breakes out between clouds there are many fair daies in one there is a repetition and multiplication of mercies the father of mercies openeth his hands wide and filleth plenteously with good redeeming the lives of his people from destruction He crowneth them with loving kindenesse and tender mercies the God of their salvation daily loadeth them with benefits he dealeth out his blessings as Masons lay their tiles covering and binding down one with another for he sees all their afflictions and proportioneth out consolation though not according to their fond or froward wishes yet according to their infirmity and necessity which by reason of manifold tentations require frequent repeated and multiplied tokens of his dwelling amongst them in good will All these things may be seen by the light of the flame in the bush they may be all read in the story whereof the vision to which the Text refers was the praelude They fall with in the observation of those who are so wise as to consider the works and ways of the Lord and are found in the experience of them who have the happinesse to acquaint themselves with God and to wait for him in the wayes of his judgements And by all these laid together it s very evident that if the good things of prosperity may be wished● yet the excellent things of adversity are and ought to be admited and if there be any thing worth the name of a blessing to be found here below in the valley of change it is then when we are in the valley of straits under a cloud and God covereth us with his hand and sheweth his glory making his goodnesse to passe before us even in troublesome times when the providence of God worketh extraordinarily in favour of us Now what remaineth but that we make improvement of this doctrine for Gods glory and our own edification A doctrine most seasonable for this time and this day a time wherein the Lord of glory

which fled from under their jurisdiction and how nigh we were brought to Rome ere we were aware of it When these things were thus were we able to have rescued our selves from under the hands of those who dealt cunningly with us and evil intreated us and laid those sore burdens upon us Were we worthy that the Lord should look upon our afflictions and send to deliver us Did we so much as understand the drift and depth of those designes then on foot the methods the arts and wiles of those powers and spirituall wickednesses in high places with whom we then wrestled Were we duly sensible of the dangers wherein we were of the hazards which we ranne I beseech you let it not be forgotten how unexpctedly how seasonably how marvellously how graciously the God of our mercies prevented us and visited us to redeem us And as he whose Name is Wonderfull did wonderfully in the first turning of the wheel in like manner he hath wrought gloriously for his Names sake in the whole carriage and advancing of his great worke of preservation and deliverance When God began to worke his signes among us did we understand that he meant to give us such deliverance as this did we imagine those things possible which our eyes have been made to see When the woman took up the stool to cast at the head of the Dean when the Service-book was read at Edenborough did we dream that by that means as was hinted in the morning all the Bishops in the three Kingdomes should be set besides the cushion When our Brethren the Scots began to gather together to consult about and petition against the invading of their priviledges when they were necessitated to take up armes for their just defence did those Incendiaries who blew that coal intend to gather the people of these Kingdomes to the battell of the Lord against Antichrist and his Popish Priests and when there was an appearance of warre was it probable that that little cloud in the North should have risen against the winde and spread so farre and the storme fallen so heavily upon that party who first provoked them to it In the beginning of this Parliament when the manifold oppressions and grievances of the Church and Kingdome began to be represented by petitions who did imagine there had been such a blessing in that cluster that that despised day of small things should have been prolonged and prospered into such a probability of reformation In the beginning of this summer at the time when Kings go forth to battel what likelihood was there of so many daies of rejoycing in so short a space that the daies of publike thanksgiving should strive in number with the daies of solemne humiliation Let us draw yet a little neerer to behold this great sight and see if names and places and such like circumstances being changed the late and present waies of our God amongst us be not like to those which Moses looks at in this Prophecie Or if I may not take the liberty because the time is short to compare particulars yet give me leave to offer these remarkable things to your observation In the generall it must be acknowledged that the Lord hath his way in the storme and his fury is poured out like fire but withall this cannot be denied nay it ought to be confessed to the praise of God that even all that cloud hath been light to us-ward and darkenesse to our enemies we have found by the good hand of God upon us a very great moderation of judgements a marvellous mixture of mercies and therein wide difference put between us and them Hath he smitten us as he smote those that smote us or are we slaine according to the slaughter of them that are slain by us They have been many times lift up for their greater fall but we have been alwaies remembred in our low estate and redeemed from the hand of our enemies we have been at our wits end by the difficulty and perplexity of affairs the Lord hath made the storme a calme and brought us out into unexpected enlargement when we have stood on the brinke and precipice of ruin he hath sundry times snatched us off and set us in more safe estate what we have managed weakly and what they have attempted confidently and watchfully God hath over-ruled for great good and advantage to us and while they are left to themselves to abuse the providences of God to the exciting and inflaming of their own animosity the enraging of their spirits and the hardening of their hearts our God whose dwelling is amongst us in good will offers more grace to us because he hath compassion on his people he hath caused the trumpet to be blown to the solemne assembly and he sendeth his messengers to preach submission and conversion to God repentance and amendment of life and we hope that the names are more then a few that learn righteousnesse and mourn in Sion and wait upon God in the way of his judgements True it is there is no such Prophet amongst us to whom God speaks face to face as he did to Moses that can reveal the secrets of Gods counsel concerning the circumstances of the manner and end of this unnaturall warre but great is the company of Preachers that interpret the revealed will of God concerning our duty and the waies of our salvation which is more necessary and more profitable for us to know neither is there any one singular person that is such an eminent mediatour as Moses was that can fall down before the Lord 40 daies and 40 nights together and neither eat bread or drinke water because of all the sins we sin in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger yet doubtlesse there be many that are afraid of the anger and hot displeasure of the Lord and the spirit of grace and supplication hath been poured upon many and there be many that steppe daily into the gappe and wrestle with God and prevaile The power and the wisedome of God who is wonderfull in counsell and excellent in working hath been very glorious in a world of providences in favour of us every where we may behold with open face the glory of the Lord in a world of wonders oh Lord how manifold are thy works in good will thou hast done them all we may say with amazement what hath God wrought and what Nation is there who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for or at any time since the Bible was written hath God assayed to preserve and prepare a people for himselfe by temptations by signes and by wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an stretched-out arme and by great terrours as the Lord our God hath done for us in our own land before our eyes The compassions of God fail not they are new every morning great is his