Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	abraham_n	live_a	zion_n	32	3	8.5799	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96104	Jerusalems glory, or, the saints safetie in eying the churches security, wherein is shewed the captives redress: being an invitation to all the different minded men in the world to become one; with the advantage of unity, and the danger of variety from the example of the saints and servants of God, as well in former as these latter times. Offered to the view of the 97 builders imployed in that work, for the building of the true temple, and all others. / By Thomas Watson, a lover of peace.	Watson, Thomas, d. 1686.	1661 (1661)	Wing W1131; Thomason E1856_4; ESTC R210370	59,985	120

friend and David a man after Cods own heart and therefore God giveth this restimony of it as he witnesseth that he would and did delight himself in them to wit Abraham and David even so he witnesseth that his dwelling is in Zion that He hath desired it for his habitation Psalm 132.13 and as he hath it Psalm 76.2 Zion is the City of the living God and Psalm 84. and 7. They go from strength to strength every one of them in Zion appeareth before God And so the song of Zion ariseth from the occasion of Gods dealing with his people in that dispensation that he shewes and manifests himself to his people in But it is generally observed that wheresoever there is any mention made of Israel singing of Zions songs there is mention made that the occasion of their song hath relation to some conquest or other that they had gained either over moral enemies as men or spiritual lustful wickedness in their hearts wherein they had experienced Gods love in some way or other more then usual but I suppose the song that these Baby lonians did require of them was only that song sung unto God at the time of their deliverance from the Egyptians and other such like enemies therefore I shall not speak of the former in this place but shall refer it till I come to open my text further and shall chiefly insist upon this part because it is most suitable to this our purpose in this particular for that song that was demanded of Israel was such a Hymne wherein was mirth to be used as their enemys did understand mirth not that they thought that the Israelites should ever again be delivered forth of that servitude that they by conquest had subjected them under as is plainly instanced in Nehemiah 4. and the beginning of the Chapter by Sanbalat and Tobiah the Amonite who stood and mocked them saying What will these feeble Jewes do will they fortifie themselves will they sacrifice will they make an end in a day will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish that were burnt Even that which they build if a Fox go up he shall break down their stone wall which words was spoken by the same enemies that Israel is here in this Psalm making mention of as you may read in the 2d Book of Chronicles the 36 chapter the 5 6 and 7 verses and that these were the people that were carried away captive in the time of Jeremiah and is made mention of in the 1. of Ezra and the 1. that the word of the Lord by the Prophet Jeremiah might be fulfilled I say these are the People of whom is required a song Now let us search what song it is that Israel had used to sing to the God of Zion if we do but turn to the 15 of Exodus we shall find what it is that Israel makes their mirth and what is the occasion of their mirth or singing The cause of their song was chiesly occasioned by their being delivered from the hand of Pharaoh and the fury of the Egyptians the song chiefly consists of prayses to their God whom they owned to be their strength and their salvation and their deliverer as is manifested quite through the whole song therefore I say the song of Zion that is here made mention of is praises to their God for their deliverance from their open and manifest enemies and in Deuteronomy the 32. there we have Moses singing another song of the same nature as this praising God for all his mercies in keeping and delivering his people saying it was the Lord alone that had delivered them and that they had not in the least deserved it at his hands Again we have Debora and Barak singing a song of the same in Judges the 5. in remembrance of what the Lord had done for Israel in making use of so mean an instrument as a woman to take a King prisoner It was God say they that went forth to fight the battel yea the Stars fought in course against Sisera yea they fought from Heaven Thus I say the song of Israel or the Hebrew song as some translate it or the song of Zion as is here spoken of and demanded of these Jewes is praises to our God for their deliverance and ascribing of him the honour and now they being taken carried captive by their enemies was deprived of singing this song by being deprived of the victory and so the Egyptianish or Babylonian deriders might justly laugh at them and deride them by reason of their restraint saying Sing us one of the songs of Zion or praises to your God for your deliverance from us when God had given them into their hands as prisoners I will not say but there may be more gathered forth of these words in a higher nature but I suppose I may safely avouch this to be the song that was demanded and so I shall passe it over at this time I having not time to enlarge my self so far as I could wish I had or then I should open every particular clause so plainly as God hath given me ability but I shall scarcely give a touch to each thing that I have intended Secondly or the second things is this What it is that disinables or captivates a people so that they cannot sing this song I shall be very brief in this place I shall only give you these 3 particulars and so shall passe to the third particular of my text The first and greatest debarment that a people can meet withal that may hinder a people from singing this song is chiefly their sins this I am sure will hold with the opening the text to the full scope of these words I say that sin is the first stumbling block that occasioneth a peoples unsufficiency to sing this song of being delivered from the hand of their enemies as you have it in the 1 of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah and the 8 verse Jerusalem hath grieviously sinned therefore she is removed all that honored her despise her yea this Prophet was the messenger sent oftentimes to bid and warne these people to teturn from their evil wayes as you may read at large in his Prophesie as in the 36 chapter and the 20 verse and so to the end of the chapter is very plainly declared that his love and zeal for Jerusalem is not a little manifested for though the King did burn the Role that he had presented in defiance of his words yet is he as willing to write another at the command of the Lord as ever he was to write the first that if it had been possible to have wrought any good upon them he would not lack means to intreat them to repent but all was in vain the people were altogether bent after their own willfulnesse even from the King that sat upon the Throne to the Priest that sat in the Temple as the Prophet lamenteth sorely in the 2. of Lamentations 14. verse thy

Prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee they have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment It seemed a pleasing and melodious Vision that these Prophets did see for Israel as indeed it is too to frequent with most if not all people if they once bend their minds to any one vanity to hear such Prophesies as will secure them as they think from being in any guilt if they should practise and follow that vanity therefore it was the opinion of an ancient Heathen that if any man did speak well of any of his practises that he would ask him what it was that he ask'd him for for he supposed that if any man did speak highly of him it was to deceive him that he might gain honour or a reward by it and therefore he had a fervent affection for those that did most seem to envy him saying He had none that instructed him more then his enemies for be sure that if they knew that he did offend they would not hide it but would reproach him for it whereby he came to know in part how far he did offend in the thing I wish many Christians have not a worse rule then this Secondly Gods sury is the second cause by which a People are made destitute of singing this song for as sin is the first motive cause so Gods fury is the effected cause of their unsufficiency for when God is moved by sin to afflict a people and that he hath waited a long time it may be day after day and week after week and year after year and yet can see no hope of their return then his fury is moved and it may be he will slay some of them with the sword and give others to the famine that so he may revenge himself of them for their high provocations wherewith they have provoaked him to do it so that they shall know if his sword once be gone forth in fury it will tot return void of effecting the cause of its being moved so that whilst God is a taking vengeance upon a people they cannot in any wise be said to be sensible of singing this song for the song is praises to God for deliverance and no people can sing this song unlesse the Lord be reconciled to them as a friend in love and peace Thirdly Or the third thing that hinders a people from singing this song is the want of the Lords presence in times of tryal for though his love may be as great to them in the time of tryal as in peace yet if it be not manifestly known to them to be so they are very much disinabled to sing this song as it is recorded of Job in the 19 chapter of Job and the 6 verse and so along the Lord hath overthrown me says Job and hath caught me in his net I cry out of wrong but I am not heard there is no judgement He hath set darkness in my paths I am destroyed on every side I am gone and my hope hath he removed like a tree And as Solomon instances elsewhere Oppression maketh a wise man mad so that I say whosoever doth not see the Face of the Lord to shine victoriously in his sight cannot experimentally and knowingly sing this song but is as it were a stranger to the real and punctual harmony that the singers sing in by whom this song is and must be sung by but I shall speak more fully to this in my following discourse The third particular is In what Land or State this song may be experimentally and really sung in for this first we must understand it is only to be sung in the Land of deliverance and herein doth it answer with a perfect coherence to the text as it is opened for it is not the place that hinders them from singing this song but it is the want of Gods power to assist them in any place that makes the Land seem strange for a people to sing this song Israel could not account the wilderness a strange Land by reason they could sing it there though it was as strange a Land as Babylon as in respect of their acquaintance with the place but as in respect of their participating of the love favour of God in the place the Land of Babel was stranger to them then the Wilderness for in the wildernesse they were delivered from their enemies and in Babel they were restrained from their liberty by their enemies so that they cannot say but they were restrained from singing this song so long as they were confind to be prisoners and therefore did they complain of the decays of Zion because Zion was the City of their deliverance and that being wasted they were by that means made Heirs of a strange Land by being strangers to the song of Zion for this song cannot be sung out of Zion or the Lords fortified City and therefore saith the Prophet Zachariah in the 2 of his Prophesie and the 12 verse And the Lord sholl inherit Judah his portion in the holy Land and shall chuse Jerusalem again the Lord is pleased to call Judah his portion and he will inherit him in the holy Land Now there is no place that can be said to be unholy as to what it was made at first but by a peoples pollutions in the Land as you have it in the 102. Psalme and the 19 verse The Lord hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary to heare the groaning of the Prisoners and to loose them that are appointed to death well for what purpose did he loose these Prisoners it follows in the next words to declare the name of the Lord in Zion and his praises in Jerusalem and as you have it in the 99 Psalm and the 2 verse the Lord is great in Zion and he is Hie above all people that is as much as if the Prophet should have said the Inhabitants of Zion have set the praise of the Lord High above all people or the praise of all people yea even the Lord to Reign in their hearts and so you have it in the last verse of that 2 of Zechariah be still or silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised forth of his holy Habitation for when the Lord is raised forth of his holy Habitation it is to Conquer and subdue and silence all flesh that he himself may be lifted up in Zion in Judah or in Jerusalem or in the Inhabitants of those places that are Jews indeed and in action and not by being Jews or Sons of Zion by name or profession only for those are the true Jews and Sons of Abraham that build up the decayes of Judah and do the works of Abraham for as Paul said we desire to know no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know we him so no more and as you have it more plainly Romans the third the 28 29. verses he is not a Jew

all the lets and impediments that may seek to hinder thee from returning to thy constant and abidable rest by desiring thy beloved to make hast to involve thee in his arms where thou mayst sing unanimously all praise be to thee O God And in the mean time desire thy beloved to set thee as a seale upon his heart as a seal upon his arm for love is strong as death and jealousie is cruel as the Grave the Coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehemene flame Many waters cannot quench love neither can the floods drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned the 8. of Canticles or Solomons Song the 6 and 7. verses This is the Jewel that when a man hath found he selleth all that he hath to purchase it even the hidden Manna that a man may eate and satisfy himself with all which is food only for those that have the white stone given them and a new name written in it that no man can read save he that receiveth it this is the new Commandment and the old even that which was from the beginning Love worketh no evil neither rendreth evil for evil but contrarywise good and forgiveness to his Brother yea if he offend seventy and seven times a day this is perfect love that abhorreth slavery by casting out fear he that getteth this pearle insureth to himself a safe hiding place where his Enemy cannot dert him by his reioycing over him for though he seeme to fall yet he shall arise and the Lord will be a light unto him and Psalm 30.5 For his anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Farewel T. W. ERRATA PAge 7. line 19. read their for our p. 17. l. 13. r. this Law-giver for the Law-givers p. 22. l. 2. r. may for nay p. 27. l. 20. dele as p. 29. last line r. need for more p. 40. l. 5. r. end of a for end a. p. 58. l. 25. r. a righteousness for for righteousness and the true wheat for thy wheat p. 59. l. 8. r. hide for hid p. 62. l. 12. r. and under for that under p. 64. l. 2. r. he had for had p. 63. l. 2. r. aspiring for aspirations p. 97. l. 26. r. your Father for our Father p. 94. l. 26. r. but contrariwise for contrariwise p. 70. l. 25. r. so say for say so JERUSALEMS Glory OR The SAINTS Safety in Eying the Churches Security PSALM 137.3 4 5 6. For there they that carried us away Captive required of us a Song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying Sing us one of the Songs of Sion How shall we sing the Lords Song in a strange Land If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy THis Psalm in general was a repeatal of the Children of Israel in remembrance of their Captivity as you my read in the first and second Verses and hath relation to their weeping and being oppressed for the decays and wastings of Sion and also their sensiblenesse of their enemys Derision both in deriding them for their present sufferings and for their former mentioning of Zion and that their deliverance should be by the hand of him who had been manifestly known to them in times past by the name of the God of Zion This text was Israels repeatal and it is or may be any one mans or any peoples that can by experience condole these sad essects I shall not stand to repeat a further rehearsal or Catalogue of the general discourse of the Repeaters of this Psalm but I shall in perticular insist upon the words before mentioned in my Text in which I shall only observe these Five perticular heads 1. The People demanding 2. The People demanded of 3. The thing demanded 4. Their answer to the thing demanded 5. And I astly the answer of God to them in the thing Answered 1. The People demanding were the Babilonians or men of Babel for so it is plainly understood in the first clause of my text for there they that carried us away captive If any one be so scrupulous as to know where it is detracted from let him but cast his eye to the first words of this Psalm and he may answer himself it was by the rivers of Babylon or the rivers in Babylon for there was it that these prisoners of hope were carried 2. The people demanded of was the Jewes as is instanced in the 5 verse If I forget thee O Jerusalem 3. The thing demanded is mirth or one of the Songs of Zion as is plainly instanced in the last clause of the 3 ver saying sing us one of the Songs of Zion 4. The peoples answer to the thing demanded that is plainly understood by these words How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange Land or rather as some do read it How can we sing the Lords song in a strange Land judging it an impossibility so to do 5. The answer of God to the Jewes in the thing answered the thing answered you have plainly in the 4 verse How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange Land but do but mark the answer of God to these cast down and dejected Jewes in the 5 and 6 verses If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy The Doctrine in general will be this That Gods dearest and choisest people may be left in such a streight that they may not know how to sing the Lords Song I say that those people whom God intends chiefly to make use of to manifest himself to in love and kindness and to set his name as a pillar in the midst of may be driven to such a streight that it may seem impossible in their apprehension to sing the Lords Song But before I proceed any further let us consider these 4 particulars 1. What this Song of Zion signifies or rather what is here meant by the Lords Song 2. What it is that disinables or captivates a People from singing this song of Zion 3. In what Land or state this song of Zion may be said to be really experimentally and truly sung in 4. By what means a people may be said to be made capable or learned in this School to sing the Lords song 1. What this song of Zion is or what the Jewes enemies might here mean by the demands of Israel Zion is the City that God doth accept of for the improvement of all those that are of the stock of Ahraham and the Linage of David in that state wherein it is witnessed that Abraham was Gods