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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	law_n	moses_n	people_n	3,133	5	5.0838	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93240	Divine cordials: delivered in ten sermons, upon part of the ninth and tenth chapters of Ezra, in a time of visitation. By that godly and faithfull preacher of Gods Word, Iosiah Shute, B.D. and late rector of Mary Woolnoths in Lumbard-Street London. Published by authority.	Shute, Josias, 1588-1643.; Reynoldes, William.	1644 (1644)	Wing S3714; Thomason E38_7; ESTC R7756	101,687	190

2.12 So in Ioel 2.12 Turn unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning there is compunction of soule and amendment of life And saith Saint Iames Cleanse your hands you sinners and purifie your hearts yee double minded Iames 4.8 Iam. 4.8 Vse 1 This lets us see the vanity of those who say they have repented of and yet have not turned from their evill wayes it may be while Gods hand was on them they repented and said they would forsake all sin but no sooner is the rod off their backs but they renew their unsanctified Olims turning with the dog to the vomit and with the sow that was washed to wallow in the mire what repentance doe men call this when as they have neither cleansed their hands nor purged their hearts darest thou say thou art cured of the lea prosie when it appeares white in thy forehead I know thou darest not and dare any be so impudent as to say they have repented of their sins when as they daily renew them this is so farre from deserving the name of true repentance that it is poenitentia poenitenda repentance to be repented of Vse 2 Secondly as wee say wee repent of our sins so let us turne from them this was the savoury counsell of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar O King break off thy sins by righteousnes and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poore it is possible for a man to turne from sin and yet be never the better if hee grieve not for it and it is possible for a man to grieve for sin and yet far enough from true repentance if hee turne not from it if any of us should have a servant that grieved for his offence promising no more to commit the like and yet as soon as our back is turned should run into the same againe wee would presently conclude that hee did but dissemble what then shall wee think of our selves when wee say wee disclaime sin and yet our lives testifie the quite contrary let us in the feare of God sorrow for sin and turne from it else God shall be just in consuming us Should we return to break thy Commandements The manner of Ezra his speaking intimates to us that it is possible for a man to be engaged in sinne when he hath had a taste of Gods mercy and if so give me leave from hence to gather this Observation After the receit of great mercies Gods children are apt to be engaged in great sinnes See it made good in some instances was there ever a greater deliverance bestowed on any then that which the Lord afforded Noah when he out-rid that storme of the Deluge in the Ark when all the World besides him and his were drowned It is true for the present hee was so affected with it that hee built an Altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings on it but soone after hee forgat this great favour and was over-taken with intemperance could there bee a greater deliverance then Lots hee was snatcht by the Angell out of Sodom as a brand out of the fire and in his flight God gave him his hearts desire and that was to escape to Zoar yet after his going to live in the Mountaines he made the Mountaine where he lived a Sodom for there he committed incest with his two daughters the like we see in wicked Pharaoh he is very passionate with Moses and Aaron to have the judgements of God removed and when hee hath his desire hee is so farre from being better that he is worse then he was before just like Iron which is soft as long as it is in the fire but being coole returnes to its former hardnesse hee got strength by his fall So in the children of Israel what a deliverance did God vouchsafe them when hee freed them from Egyptian bondage while their necks were under the yoak of that oppressour they were in as great distresse as ever people were well it pleased God to ease them of that servitude and to give them a miraculous passage thorow the red Sea would any man have thought that ever they would have forgotten this transcendent blessing yet with in a few weeks Moses being but gone up to the Mount to receive the Law of God for them they make a golden Calfe and worship it how soone was this forgotten So in the book of Iudges we finde the same people often guilty of the same fault they provoke God and hee sold them into the hands of their enemies sometimes for eight yeares sometimes for eighteene sometimes for fourty yeares but no sooner are they delivered but they run their old bias and are engaged in foule transgressions as if they had beene redeemed to dishonour their benefactour The like wee see in Hezekiah the Lord bestowed upon him a strange deliverance for when Senacherib came against him with a puissant Army thinking to destroy Ierusalem the Lord for his insolence and blasphemy put a hook into his nostrils and slew of his Army in one night an hundred fourscore and five thousand and so delivered him out of his hands after this the Lord smore him with the plague as most Interpreters think and yet he recovered no sooner was this done but the Babylonish Embassadours comming from their Master to congratulate his recovery he was so taken with it that he shewed them the house of his precious things which was a baite to that King to come and destroy his Land and it fell out accordingly for when Isaiah had asked him from whence those men came and that Hezekiah had told him adding withall that he had shewed them all his treasures he saith the Lord of Hosts saith Behold the dayes come that all that is in thine house and that which thy Fathers have laid up in store untill this day shall be carried to Babylon as if the Prophet had said thou hast made thy will O Hezekiah and the King of Babylon shall be thy Executour and so it fell out afterwards for the King of Babylon made warre against him and took and carried away all the Treasure which formerly had been shewed to his Embassadours And when our blessed Saviour saith to the man whom hee had restored to his limbs Sinne no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Iob. 5.14 it intimates to us Iohn 5.16 that men are apt to runne into sinne when they have had the sweetest relish of Gods mercy What may bee the reason of this Reason 1 First it is from the corruption of our nature since the fall of Adam which is so depraved thereby that we are apt to forget the mercy of God even then when wee have most cause to remember it Reason 2 Secondly it proceeds from the malice of the Devill for when hee sees God to bestow great mercies on men hee then labours especially to engage them in transgression and why so that the mercies of God may be obscured by their unthankfulnesse who but even now were

with what ladders and engines God built the Fabrick of heaven if they had but consulted Gen. 1. they should have been resolved Genes 1. for that shewes them that by his word speaking all things were made and it is worth our observation in the Book of God where hee is said to effect things by meanes we shall finde that he hath done the greatest things by the smallest meanes Thus by Moses and Aaron a couple of poore men he delivered his people Israel out of Egyptian bondage in spight of Pharaoh that great Potentate and by Gideon and his three hundred men hee conquered that great Army of the Midianites which lay as as Grasse-hoppers on the earth for multitude So he ruined the Walls of Iericho by the sound of rammes hornes and he wrought those great wonders in Egypt by Moses his rod which was a contemptible thing This also by Shamgars goad hee laid the Philistims heapes upon heapes and by a jawbone of an Asse in the hand of Sampson he slew a thousand men and by little David overcame and slew that great Goliath When hee would work redemption for the Sons of men hee brought it to passe by him who was novissimus hominum the meanest of men who was poore in his birth obscure in his education poorely attended when he came to the execution of his Ministry and poorest of all in his death for qui in vita non domicilium in morte non sepulchrum he that in his life had not a house to hide his head in when hee died was buried in another mans Tombe and when hee will dispence the Gospel hee makes choyce of Fishermen to publish those glad tidings to the World Thirdly God is said to bee powerfull because he can doe more then he will he could of stones have raised children to Abraham but hee would not and when our blessed Lord was apprehended hee tells Peter that hee could have obtained of his Father more then twelve legions of Angels to help him but he would not He can doe more then hee will but hee will not doe all that hee can Vse 1 It meets with those that deny this to God Plinius secundus saith God is not Almighty because hee cannot lie nor deceive Lodovicus Vives wonders at this saying I admire that a man so wise should cavill at Gods power but Saint Augustine answers him well and saith therefore is God ommipotent because hee cannot he nor deceive for these argue impotency Secondly it confutes others who say God is not so powerfull as the Scripture makes him to be because hee cannot make a thing to bee against its nature as to bee and not to be to whom I answer things which in their nature are simply impossible with reverence bee it spoken God cannot doe but all other things though impossible to created nature God can doe therefore this vaine objection doth not disparage Gods power Vse 2 In the second place let it comfort Gods people God is the Lord Almighty in power what then shall bee obstaculous to him to performe with them where humane help failes there God puts in with his power and makes mans extremity his opportunity hee comes not to Sarah till it had ceast to bee with her after the manner of women he comes not to deliver Israel till they were upon the brink of the red sea and then Moses said Feare yee not but stand still and see the salvation of the Lord hee came not to deliver the three children till they were cast into the fiery furnace nor to Daniel till he was among the Lyons there can be no falshood in what he saith for nothing is too hard for him to effect Vse 3 Lastly it should teach us to stand in awe and not sinne against God for hee is able to grind the greatest Prince to powder if he be rebellious nay he can make the flies the lice the locusts the ants those contemptible creatures to destroy man if hee continue refractory therefore let us stand in awe of this great Lord that his mighty power may bee armed to our preservation not to our destruction So wee come to the second which is that hee is the God of Israel And if in the first he was maximus the greatest then in this he is optimus the best l know hee is the God of all the earth Psal 24.1 Psal 24.1 but more especially hee is the God of Israel First secundum specialem cultum by a speciall and peculiar worship to them above other people hee revealed how hee would bee worshipped they were scriniarii legis the treasurers of the Law God dealt not with the Heathen as hee dealt with Israel they are described by calling on the Lord as if no people called upon God but they Secondly hee is the God of Israel secundum specialem curam in regard of that speciall care hee had of them he was a wall of fire round about them to preserve them from their enemies God is said to carry his people as an Eagle carrieth her young ones on her wings Deut. 32.11 Deut. 32.11 it is a sweet comparison the Eagle feares nothing from above to hurt her young ones because she soares higher then any other bird and if there come any danger from beneath her body is between it and her young shee will be hurt rather then they shall So God interposes between his people and their enemies so that no mischiefe shall befall them but by his permission Thirdly hee is the God of Israel secundum speciale praemium by a speciall reward which hee hath promised them he saith to Abraham I am thy exceeding great reward and that God that told him hee would give the land of Canaan to him and his seed for a possession doth not only provide for his people a temporall Canaan here but an eternall Canaan hereafter of which the other is but a Tipe they be called segullam his chiefe treasure and Saint Peter cals them a chosen generation a royall Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar people 2. Pet. 2.9 2 Pet. 2.9 And to spread it a little further it is not only now Deus notus in Iehuda God is known in Iudah but notus inter Gentes he is known among the Gentiles for wheresoever the Gospel is preached they be the Israel of God they be the piece of ground culled out of the whole world to be a garden for the Lord they bee his inclosure and are tied to him by the strictest relations in the world hee is their Master and they bee his servants yet more hee is their Father and they bee his children yet more hee is their Husband and they bee his Spouse for hee hath married them to himselfe Ierem. 3.4 Ierem. 3.14 Vse 1 This that hath been said may assure Gods children of his affection towards them be they his then they may bee sure that hee will have a care of them relation hath ever been a ground of affection a man

a wave of the Sea driven with the winde and tossed neither let that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord And in Chap. 5 1● The prayer of faith shall save the sick Iam. 5.15 and the Lord shall raise him up and if hee have committed sinnes they shall bee forgiven him Fourthly wee must pray constantly this is that which our Saviour commends to us from the importunity of the poore women who would not cease troubling the unjust Iudge till hee had granted her request and done her justice this also is that which the Apostle Paul meanes when hee saith continue in prayer Colos 4.2 to wit that men should bee importunate with God in prayer Coloss 4.2 and if any man think it ill manners to be sollicitous in pressing God by prayer Gregory tels him it is a good violence and affects God who loves that his servants should take the Kingdome of heaven by force Further there be two other things to be observed in our prayers First Wee must aime at the glory of God in all the prayers wee make This our blessed Lord teacheth us in that absolute forme of prayer which hee hath left us the first petition whereof is hallowed by thy name The glory of God must be preferred before all things yea before the salvation of our soules as we see in the examples of Moses and Paul who chose rather to have their names rased out of Gods book then that hee should lose his glory in the salvation of his people Therefore when a man is in affliction hee ought to pray to God to deliver him but for this end that hee may live to glorifie him This was the end of good Hezekiahs request when God sent him word by Isaiah that hee had added fifteene yeares to his life saith hee What is the signe that I shall goe up to the house of the Lord Isa 38.22 Isa 38.22 as if hee desired health upon no other condition but that hee might glorifie God in his Sanctuary Secondly a man must so pray to God that withall hee use meanes to accomplish his desires This is the advise of Solomon Prov. 2.3.4.5 If thou cryest after knowledge Prov. 2 4.3.5 and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid Treasures then shalt thou understand the feare of the Lord and finde the knowledge of God There yee see that crying and calling seeking and searching must goe together and in vaine dost thou pray to God if thou follow not thy prayers with thy endeavours for the attaining of that for which thou art a petitioner as for example thou prayest to be delivered from thy filthy excesse but unlesse thou strive to forsake it thou wilt never bee rid of that filthy vice to doe otherwise is to bee like the man in the Apologue who when his Cart stuck in the mire prayed to Hercules for help but never set to his shoulder to lift it out If wee lay the men of these dayes to this square Vse wee shall finde them to fall very short of what wee have said doe the pray sensibly Alas when they pray their hearts like Nabals bee as dead in them as stones Secondly doe the pray fervently alas no for their prayers bee even key-cold Thirdly pray they constantly O no they desist and are soone weary they would have God presently to heare them but they will not stay his leasure Fourthly doe they pray in faith Alas they have no promises to lay hold on Againe doe men ayme at Gods glory in their prayers And doe they use the meanes to accomplish their prayers I am perswaded these bee things scarse thought of much lesse practised but by a few well let us observe the true properties of supplication and wee shall finde to our comfort that hee is a God hearing prayers and if hee please not to give us the very individuall things which we beg of him yet wee shall have something that is as good or better for us so as hee shall bee glorified and wee comforted So much for Ezra his first act The second act performed by him is his confession the Text saith when hee had confessed Augustine saith confession is twofold confessio laudis a confession of prayse and confessio fraudis a confession of sinne First there is confessio laudis a confession of prayse such was that of our Saviour Christ in Matth. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth Matth. 11.25 because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes The second is confessio fraudis the confession of a mans sinne and this is either publike or private First publike when the Minister goes before in confessing sinne and all the people follow after him this is the custome of our and all reformed Churches Secondly there is a private confession and that is of a particular man and this is fourefold First when hee confesses his sinne to God as did David Psal 32.5 saith hee Psal 32.5 I confessed my sinne unto the Lord and my iniquity I have not hid Secondly when a man confesseth his sinne to the whole Church this was that which the incestuous Corinthian was driven unto Thirdly it is to the Minister in private and such was that of the people to Iohn Baptist Matth. 3.6 It is said Matth. 3.6 they were baptized of him in Iordan confessing their sinnes such also was that of David to Nathan 2 Sam. 12.13 Lastly 2 Sam. 12.13 it is to a mans neighbour or brother as when a man that hath offended his brother goes and confesses his fault desiring him to bee reconciled to him This is that which our blessed Saviour aymes at Matth. 5.24.25 Iam. 5.16 Matth. 5.24.25 and which S. Iames meaneth Iam. 5.16 Now for confession whether publike or private first it is that which is commanded Numb 5 6.7 Look into Numb 5 7. See what God saith there When a man or a woman shall commit any sin and doe a trespasse against the Lord and that person bee guilty then they shall confesse their sinne which they have done Secondly forgivenesse is promised to those that doe confesse their sinnes Prov. 28.13 1 Iohn 1.9 Prov. 28.13 Whoso confesseth his sinnes shall have mercy And in 1 Iohn 1.9 If wee confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all iniquity Thirdly wee have examples of holy penitents going before us in this way as David Nehemiah Daniel the Prodigall and those Converts in Acts 19.18 The Text saith Acts 19.18 They confessed and shewed their works This confession standeth First in accusing our selves for our sinnes in generall but more especially for our particular sinnes thus did David 2 Sam. 12. hee accused himselfe for his adultery and murder 2 Sam 12. and in like manner Paul that chosen vessell accuses