Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	able_a	build_v	zion_n	22	3	8.9522	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81199	An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth chapters of the book of Job being the summe of thirty-seven lectures, delivered at Magnus near London Bridge. By Joseph Caryl, preacher of the Word, and pastour of the congregation there.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1655 (1655)	Wing C769A; ESTC R222627	762,181	881

taken all worldly comforts from him and heaped all those afflictions upon him And here Job sayth God layeth not folly to wicked men notwithstanding all the unjust and unreasonable things which they have done in heaping troubles causelessely upon the poore Though aboundance of folly and madnes was committed and acted by them with a high and heavy hand yet God did not lay folly to them Some reade the text thus Notwithstanding all this God doth nothing that is unsavory Non ponit infulsum q. d. nihil sine maxima sapientia agit vel permisit faciendum deas we supply those words to them the Hebrew text is onely this God putteth not folly so the last mentioned translation may well stand for when Job had reported all those things it might wel be questioned how is it that God permits and suffers such wickednesse in the world O sayth Job God puts no folly or he doth nothing which is unjust or unreasonable in all these things as if he had sayd how unreasonable and unrighteous soever men are in these actings yet God is not unrighteous God doth nothing unbecoming himselfe nothing unseemely or unsavory in it selfe Severall of the Jewish Doctors fall in with this translation Deus non facit hoc gratis frustra i. e. non temere absque ratione Rab Abr Deus non ponet imminutionem i. e. rem deficientem aliqua vel justitiae vel aequitatis circumstantia Rab Kimhi Deus nihil absurdum aut reprehensione dignum agit dum haec omnia permittit Pisc God doth not this gratis or without cause saith one He hath aboundant reason to let that be done which men doe without eyther rule or reason A second renders thus God doth not that which is defective or wanting in any circumstance of Justice and equity The sence of both which rendrings or paraphrases of the text are given in fully in the Annotations of a moderne writer upon it God sayth he doth nothing uncomely or blame-worthy while he suffers all these things to be done which are not onely uncomely and worthy of blame but abominable and worthy of the severest punishment Hence observe Whatsoever God doth he doth it wisely and justly God who is wisdome and justice it selfe and is to himselfe and all others the rule of wisdome and justice can no more doe any thing unwisely or unjustly then he can cease to be wise or just and he can no more cease to be wise or just then cease to be for his wisdome is himselfe and his Justice is himselfe There needs no more to be sayd to acquit any action of weaknes or unrighteousnes then to say God hath done it For as the Apostle speakes 1 Cor. 1.25 The foolishnesse of God is wiser then men and the weaknesse of God stronger then men We may say also and in saying so we say no more then the Apostle sayd before that The injustice of God is juster then men that is those things which God seemes to doe unjustly and unrighteously As when he suffers wicked men to devoure the man that is more righteous then they this seemes to be an act of unrighteousnesse yet this is juster and more righteous then the justice and righteousnesse of men And if the very unrighteousnesse of God that is what appeares to man as unrighteousnesse be righteous Then how righteous is the righteousnesse of God That I meane which appeares righteousnesse in the eyes of all men This reading and sence of the words is safe and holds out an excellent poynt of truth That God doth nothing which is unsavory or unjust Yet our translation is both profitable and clearly suitable to the context and therefore I shall a little insist upon that Yet God layeth not folly to them As if he had sayd These men doe most unsavory and foolish things yet God doth not charge folly upon them The sence of this translation riseth by foure steps First God doth not presently call evill men to an account or charge their sinne upon them Secondly God doth not presently punish evill men for their sin To lay folly to a man is not onely to call him to answer for what he hath done but to punish him as having done foolishly He looks for a sentence next who hath already received his charge and is not able to acquit himselfe and wipe it off Non posuit deus prohibitionem Vatabl in Hebraeo est ins●ljū i. e nihil adversi in grati illis accidere patitur Vatabl Quasi in sulsum significet mala naturae palato malè gratas tribulationes quas deus impiorum conatibus opponere possit Bold Thirdly God doth not presently stop evill men in their worke or make their worke like the worke of a foole which seldome prospers or proves successefull The Prophet Jeremie complained of this to God Chap. 12.1 Why doth the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deale very treacherously As if he had sayd Lord why doest thou not send out a prohibition from thy Court above and stop the proceedings of wicked and treacherous men they goe on smoothly they meete no rubs in their way but carry all before them they meete with nothing that doth disgust or distast them A stop in our way is to our spirits like hard and unsavory meate to our stomackes that which we cannot digest Thus sayth Job God doth not lay folly to them he doth not make them like foolish builders that begin but are not able to carry on their worke God layd folly in this sence to the builders of Babel he checkt and confounded them in their worke so that they left off to build the City Gen. 11.7 8. But many begin a Babel a worke of confusion to others but are not confounded themselves they not onely begin to build but finish They set up the topstone of their worke while many cry woe woe to it and yet God doth not lay folly to them Fourthly Wee may resolve this Negative God layeth not folly to them into an Affirmative God lets them goe on as if they had done wisely discreetly justly And whereas it is sayd to Christ in that prophecy Psal 45.4 Ride prosperously because of truth and meeknes and righteousnes God seemes to say to them ride prosperously even in deceit and wrath and unrighteousnesse They hate righteousnes and love wickednes yet God seemes to anoynt them with the oyle of Gladnes and successe above their fellowes God layeth not folly to them Hence note First The wayes of unrighteousnesse are foolish and unsavory wayes Whatsoever hath sinne in it wanteth salt in it Christ sayth to his Disciples Mark 9.50 Have salt in your selves and have peace one with another that is let there be a savour of Christ a savour of grace and holinesse and equity in your owne spirits and be ye sweetly mildly amiably brotherly disposed one to another They have no salt of wisdome in themselves whose conversation is unsavory and

worke of God by Creation and God worketh in all places by his providence The workes of creation would run to ruine if God did not sustaine and as it were keepe them in reparation by the workes of providence yet as God worketh in some men and by some men more then in nnd by others some persons are to him as his right hand he calls them forth to be greatly instrumentall to him So hee worketh in some places and nations and by some places and nations more then he doth in or by others God is a free Agent he worketh where he will and he pitcheth upon some speciall places and persons according to the pleasure of his owne will to worke in and by more then many others And seing according to this Interpretation The left hand where he is said to worke so eminently is the North. Wee may observe First That God worketh more in the Northern parts of the world then he doth in the South And the reason of this may be because the Northern parts of the world are more inhabited and peopled then the Southern are And which may be a second reason of it The Inhabitants of the Northern parts of the world are more civillized and better instructed then the Southerne Now the providences of God are most remarkable where there are most people and they best taught and instructed where the natural faculties of man are most raised and sublimated by art and regular education there or by them God doth his greatest workes those places are as it were the stages whereon he acts and brings to issue the secret purposes and counsels of his heart both in wayes of judgement and in wayes of mercy Besides we finde that the Northerne Nations have in all ages been the most active and warlike The Fourth Monarchy That of the Romanes whose seate was more Northerly then any of the former three was the most active and warlike of the Foure and extended its Dominion by extreame and unwearyed industry further then any had done before And those irruptions of enemies and Armyes which gaue the greatest checke to the Romane Greatness and often plum'd or pull'd off the Feathers of that mighty Eagle were still made by those people who lived and were bred up in climates more cold and Northerly then they as all Historyes doe with one consent make good Insomuch that it grew into a Famous Proverb Omne malum ab aquilone All evill comes from the North that is all troubles invasions and devastations are brought upon the Nations by some hardy people or other coming out of the North. And the holy Scriptures of the Prophets are full of this observation Jer. 1.14 15. Then the Lord sayd unto me out of the North an evill shall breake forth upon all the Inhabitants of the land For lo I will call all the familyes of the kingdome of the North saith the Lord and they shall come and they shall set every one his throane at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem c. By The North in this prophecy he meanes Chaldea and Babylon which are scituate North from Jerusalem And by all the familyes of the kingdomes of the North he meanes all the Northerne parts under the obedience of the King of Babylon who should readily follow and serve him in his warres against Judea Againe in the same Prophet Ch 4.6 I will bring evill out of the North Ch. 6.1 Evill appeareth out of the North ver 22 A people comes forth from the North Chap. 10.22 Behold a great commotion out of the North. And when the Lord promised to remove far away from his people the Northerne Army Joel 2.20 he therein promised them the removall of all Armyes and troubles because the North had most of all if not alone troubled and harrazed them with Armyes Againe In the North the Gospel which is the highest teaching and instruction hath been more generally and more clearely published then in the Southern parts of the world so that in allusion to that of the Prophet Isa 30.26 we may say That the light of our Northern Moone hath been as the light of the Southern Sun and that the light of our Sun hath been seven-fold to theirs even as the light of seven dayes And according to the greatnes of Gospel light the dispensations and changes which we have been under have been very great we especially in this Northern Nation with those adjoyning to us and united with us under one Government have had full Experience of and may therefore giving glory to God seale to the truth of Jobs position That God worketh on the left hand or in the North. Have not we found God working in the North What changes what variety of action have our Northern parts both seene and felt What wonders of mercy and salvation what terrible things in righteousnes hath God wrought of late among us The heavens and the earth States of all sorts The heavenly and the earthly and of all degrees the higher and the lower have been terribly shaken in these Nations Providence hath wrought to amazement in our dayes The Nations round about have heard the report of it and wondered Many have and will have cause to say of us what hath God wrought on the left hand in our North God hath been at worke indeed Moreover we finde that Mount Sion which was not onely an eminent part of the literall Jerusalem but a figure also of the mysticall Jerusalem or whole Church of God under the Gospel Heb. 12.22 This Mount Sion I say is Geographically described in our Northerly scituation Psal 48.2 3. Beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion on the sides of the North the City of the Great King God is knowne in her pallaces for a refuge As if he had sayd in Sion on the sides of the North God worketh wonderfully as it follows expressely v. 4 5. for lo the kings were assembled they passed by together they saw it and so they marveiled they were troubled and hasted away that is Kings conspiring against the Church were so terrified with the evidences of Gods power working mightily there that they fled away or as another Scripture phraseth it They came one way and returned seven And in this forme of speech is both the then Jerusalem and the Church ever since expressed in that boast which the king of Babylon who was a type of all the enemies of the Church cloathed with mighty power and soveraignty makes against her Isa 14.13 I will sit also that is erect my throane upon the Mount of the Congregation on the sides of the North. Mount Sion was called the Mount of the Congregation because there the people of God the Jewes were famously knowne to congregate often together and this saith that proud boaster on the sides of the North. And to compleate this notion of the workings of God in and from the North Christ himselfe is sayd to be raysed out of the North