Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	afraid_a	tiding_n	zion_n	54	3	10.0139	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

that is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision that is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew that is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God so as I said before the people that willingly and joyfully do seek to repaire the breaches of Judah are such as must inherit the promises of God made to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and shall surely be Inhabitants in this Land where this song of Zion may be really and experimentally and truly sung in but I shall leave this perticular at this time and shall desire every one that is desirous to be an Inhabitant of this Land to take notice of what his duty must be in Zion or in Judah to which I shall speak more fully when I come to shew you the Lawes and the Ordinances that are in this Land And so I shall proceed to the fourth perticular by what meanes a people may be said to be made capable or learned in this school to sing this song I shall endeavour through Gods assistance to make manifest unto your view these two following Observations First It chiefly concernes us to search who is the Law-giver in Zion or who it is that instructeth Jacob or Israel Secondly What these Lawes or Statutes are that are taught or ought to be taught in Israel and how to be observed First Let us consider that God is made mention of in several places to be the Instucter of Israel as Psalm 78.5 He established a testimony in Jacob and a Law in Israel and in Isaiah the 48. and 17. verse Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer the holy One of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth the by the way that thou shouldest go And in the 51 of Isaiah and the 4. verse Hearken unto me O my people and give ear unto me O my Nation for a Law shall proceed from me and I will make judgement to rest for a light to the people If any one be not satisfied that it is spoken to Israel the foregoing words will certifie him better and as you have it in the 40 of Isaiah and the 9 verse O Zion and Jerusalem that bringeth good tydings lift up thy voice and be not afraid and say unto the Citys of Judah behold your God I might instance hundreds of places more to prove this truth to you but I suppose it to be needless for wherever there is any mention made of the Author of Israels Lawes and Statutes God is made mention of in some one degree or other to be the giver of them if it be mentioned of Israel as Israel or as I have defined Israel in my forementioning of them which is not Israel in name or shew but in truth verity it may be some one or other will be inquisitive to demand of me What God is as I have oftentimes had objected against me but I shall speak very little to that in this place but in case any one be desirous to know farther if I find him willing and desirous to be satisfied in this or any other particular that I shall make mention of I shall endeavour to satisfie him if it be possible at any time or in any place convenient First God is said to be the Alpha and Omega the first and the last Secondly God is said to feed his flock and that he is their Shepheard and in other places to be God of fury to the wicked it is one thing to look upon him as he is in himself and another to look upon him as he is in us or in his manifestations but I shall deferr this discourse in this place supposing the unfoldng of it would be rather a stumbling block then any thing of edification to many therefore I shall advise every one whatever to assure himself that there is no iniquity in him and that he is a hater of lyes and a destroyer of all the devices of the wicked Thus I shall proceed to the second particular What these Lawes or Statutes are that are given to Israel in Zion or the Holy Land as some read it or Judah or in Jerusalem and how to be observed First let us consider that as the Law-giver is holy so are his Statutes and Lawes holy also as you have it in the 119 Psal the 137 verse Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy Judgments thy testimonies that thou hast Commanded are Righteous and very Faithfull and as you have it in the 7 verse of this Psalme I will prayse thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy Righteous Judgments so that you see plainly that the Statutes and Lawes and Commandements of the Law-givers to these Inhabitants is Righteousness and Truth and Equity and Love and Faithfulness and as you have a Righteous Law-giver and Righteous Lawes so you must observe to serve him in Righteousness if you intend to be a Subject in this Land as you have it in the 118 Psalme and the 19 20. verses Open to me the Gates of Righteousness I will go into them praise the Lord this Gate of the Lord into which the Righteous shall enter Thou must not stand to frame a service to seek the bounty and gifts of men in it but the Commands of God happy is that people that is brought to that uniformity that it may be truly said of them that the Statutes of the Lord are duely observed in their land But before I proceed any further let us consider what danger may ensue upon those that are Inhabitants in this land if in case they should obey and keep the Statutes and Lawes in this land First I say That no man as man but is very apt to deserve the being cast forth from inhabiting in this land but the Law-giver is a God of Mercy as well as Justice but in case thou art as strict an Observer as may be yet thou canst assure thy self of no constant content in all things for whilst thou art in this thy decayable and frail Building or House of this world there will be strivings and turmoilings in the several revolutions and changes and whilst we are striving to conquer them by our more high aspiring the World the Flesh and the Devil will be striving to shew us their present seeming delights thinking to intermingle out more serious and reasonable undertakings with those things that have nothing but a shew onely of godliness in them and nothing of the power This is the great warfare in which you must engage as a Combitant if you come into this land for the flesh will be striving against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and those two are contrary So that if you will seek after any dutable riches any treasure that the moth and rust will not destroy but it will abide all trials that are of this life and will be the purer each time

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