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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	age_n	jerusalem_n	zion_n	52	3	9.2337	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79420	A discourse of divine providence I. In general: that there is a providence exercised by God in the world. II. In particular: how all Gods providences in the world, are in order to the good of his people. By the late learned divine Stephen Charnock, B.D. sometime fellow of New-Colledg in Oxon.; Treatise of divine providence	Charnock, Stephen, 1628-1680.; Adams, Richard, 1626?-1698.; Veel, Edward, 1632?-1708.	1684 (1684)	Wing C3708; ESTC R232630	167,002	420

communicate the rayes of his love unto since he created it but his Church The men of the World hate him He can see nothing amiable in them for what was first lovely they have defaced and blotted out but the Church hath Gods comliness put upon her Ezek. 16.14 it was perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God and he did not lay those glorious colours upon her to manage his government or any part of it against her to deface her Besides their loveliness which is conferred upon them by God they have a love to God and no man will act against those whom he thinks to be his friends God being purus actus there being nothing but purity and activity in God his love must be the purest and highest love the most vigorous and glowing As fire which sets all other Bodies so this all other powers in the World in motion for them God cannot love them but he must wish all good to them and do all good for them for his love is not a lazy love but hath its raptures and tenderness and his affection is twisted with his Almighty Power to work that good for them which in their present condition in the world they are capable of Now it is certain God loves his Church For 1. He carries them in his hand * Deut. 33.3 and that not in a loose manner to be cast out but they are engraven upon the palms of his hands * Isa 49.16 that he cannot open his hand to bestow a blessing upon any person but the picture of his Church doth dart in his eye God alludes to the Rings wherein men engrave the image of those that are dear to them And the Jews did in their captivity engrave the Effigies of their City Jerusalem upon their Rings that they might not forget it * Sanctius in Isa 49.16 If his eye be alway upon the Church his thoughts can never be off it in all his works 2. He loves the very gates and outworks Psal 87.2 the Lord loveth the gates af Sion He loves a Cottage where a Church is more than the stately Palaces of Princes The gates were the places where they consulted together and gave judgment upon affairs God loved the assemblies of his Saints because of the truths revealed the ordinances adminstred the worship presented to him 3. Nay one Saint is more valued by him than the whole World of the wicked God is the God of all Creatures but peculiarly the God of Abraham and of his seed One Abraham is more deeply rooted in his heart than all the World and he doth more entitle himself the God of Abraham than the God of the whole World for in that style he speaks to Isaac Gen. 26.24 I am the God of Abraham thy Father much more the God of Israel The God of the whole Church of which Abraham was but a member though the Father of the faithful and a Feoffee of the Covenant God hath a greater value for one sincere Soul than for a whole City He saves a Lot and burns a Sodom Yea than for a whole World he drowns a World and preserves a Noah He secures his Jewels whilst he flings away the pebbles 4. He loves them so that he overlooks their crabbed and perverse misconstructions of his providence When the Israelites had jealous thoughts of him and of Moses his instrument when they saw that mighty Egyptian Army just at their heels and themselves cooped up between Mountains Forts and Waters God doth not upon this provoking murmuring draw up his cloudy Pillar to Heaven but puts it in the rear of them when before it had marched in the van * Exod. 14.19 and wedgeth himself in between them and Pharaoh's enraged host to shew that they should as soon sheath their swords in his heart as in their bowels and if they could strike them it should be through his own Deity which was the highest expression of his affection And though they often murmured against his providence after they were landed on the shore yet he left them not to shift for themselves but bore them all the way in his arms as a Father doth his Child * Deut. 1.31 and bare them like an Eagle upon his Wings * Deut. 32.11 and God loves them magnificently and royally Hos 14 4 I will love them freely * Hosea 14.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any doubting without any reluctancy I will love thee without any repugnancy in my heart to draw me back from thee for mine anger is turned away as the streams of a River quite another way Now all this considered can the Governour of the World the King of Saints act any thing against his own affections Yea will he not make all things subservient to them whom he loves 2. His Delight See what an inundation of sweetning joy there was in him for which he had not Terms of Expression to suit the narrow apprehensions of Men Zeph. 3.17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing He seems in his expression to know no measure of his delight in the Church and no end of it I will rejoyce over thee with joy Joy sparkles up fresh after joy 'T is his rest where his Soul and all that is within him centers it self with infinite contentment Joy over thee with finging A Joy that blossoms into Triumph Never had any such charming transports in the company of any he most affected as God hath in his Church he doth so delight in the graces of his People that he delights to mention them He twice mentions Enochs walking with him * Gen. 5.22 24. And certainly God cannot but delight in it more than in the World because it is a fruit of greater pains than the Creation of the World The World was created in the space of six daies by a Word the Erecting a Church hath cost God more Pains and Time Before the Church of the Jews could be settled he had both a contest with the Peevishness of his People and the Malice of their Enemies And his own Son must bleed and dye before the Church of the Gentiles could be fixed Men delight in that which hath cost them much Pains and a great Price God hath been at too much Pains and Christ at too great a Price to have small delight in the Church will he then let wild Beasts break the Hedges and tread down the fruit of it shall not all things be ordred to the good of that which is the Object of his greatest delight in the World 7. Seventhly The presence of God in his Church will make all providence tend to the good of it It would be an idle useless Presence if it were not operative for their good The Lord is there is the

me much more look us into it his thoughts and his eyes move together 5. In fear of wants The power of the Governor of the World cannot be doubted His love as little as it seems fince it hath moved him to prepare Heaven to entertain his people at the end of their Journey will not be wanting to provide accommodation for them upon the way since all things both good and bad are at his beck and under the government of his gracious Wisdom His eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth not only to defend them in dangers but supply them in wants for his strength is shewed both ways Doth he providentially regard them that have no respect for him and will he not employ his power for and extend his care to them that adore and love him and keep up his honour in the World He will not surely be regardless of the afflictions of his Creatures His people are not only his Creatures but his new Creatures their bodies are not only created by him but redeemed by his Son The purchase of the Redeemer is joyned to the Providence of the Creator If he took care of you when he might have damned you for your sins will he not much more since you are Believers in Christ And he cannot damn you Believing unless he renounce his Sons Mediation and his own Promise A natural man provides for his own much more a Righteous man Prov. 19.22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children much more the God of Righteousness a God who hath his eye always upon them His eye will affect his heart and his heart spirit the hand of his Power to relieve He hath prepared of his goodness for the poor Psal 68.10 6. 'T is comfort in the low estate of the Church at any t i me Gods eye is upon his Church even whilst he seems to have forsaken them If he seem to be departed it is but in some other part of the Earth to shew himself strong for them where ever his eye is fixed in any part of the World his Church hath his heart and his Churches relief is his end Though the Church may sometimes lye among the Pots in adirty condition yet there is a time of Resurrection when God will restore it to its true glory and make it as white as a Dove with its Silver Wings * Psal 68.13 The Sun is not alway obscured by a thick Cloud but will be freed from the darkness of it God will judge his peole and repent himself concerning his servants * Psal 135.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comfort himself 'T is a comfort to God to deliver his People and he will do it in such a Season when it shall be most comfortable to his Glory their Hearts The very name Hierusalem some derive from Jireh Salem God will provide in Salem The new Jerusalem is the title given to Gods Church Rev. 1. and is still the object of his Providence and he will provide for it at a pinch Gen. 22.14 Jehovah Jireh God will raise up the honour and beauty of his Church Great men shall be servants to it and employ their strength for it when God shall have mercy on it * Isa 60.10 11 12. Yea the Learning and knowledg of the world shall contribute to the building of it v. 13. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee the fir-tree the pine tree and the box together to beautifie the place of my sanctuary It shall be called the city of the Lord the Sion of the holy one of Israel that she may know that the Lord is her Saviour and her Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob. As Christ rose in his Natural so he will in his Spiritual Body If Christ when dead could not be kept from Rising Christ now living shall not be hindred from raising and helping his Church His own Glory is linked with his Peoples security and though he may not be moved for any thing in them because of thehir sinfulness he will for his own name because of its Excellency * Ezek 36. Ezek. 36.22 I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy names sake As Sorrows encreased upon the Israelites the nearer their Deliverance approached Because this Method of God is the greatest startling even to good men let us consider this a little that God doth and why God doth leave his Church to extremities before he doth deliver it Take the Resolution of this in some propositions 1. 'T is indeed Gods usual method to loave the Chuch to extremity before he doth command help You never heard of any eminent Deliverance of the Church but was ushered in by some amazing distress The Israelites were not saved till they were put in between Sea Hills and Forts that their Destruction was inevitable unless Heaven relieved them Pharaoh resolves to have his will and God resolves to have his but he lets him come with his whole Force and open mouth at the Israelites backs and then makes the Waters his Sepulchre Constantine the man-child in the revelation was preceded by Dioclesian the sharpest Persecutor When his People are at a loss 't is his usual tme to do his greatest works for them God had promised Christ many ages and yet no appearance of him still Promise after Promise and no Performance Psal 40.8 It was then 〈◊〉 come yet many hundred years rowl'd away and no sight of him yet Captivity and affliction and no Redeemer but when the World was over-run with Idolatry the Jews oppressed by the Romans the Scepter departed from Judah Herod an Edomite and stranger King and scarce any Faith left then then he comes The World will be in much the like case at his next coming Luke 18.8 When the son of man comes shall he find faith in the earth there shall be faintings despondency unbelief of his Promise as though he had cast off all care of his Churches concerns 'T is not meant of a Justifying Faith but a Faith in that particular Promise of his coming The Faith of the Israelites must needs begin to flag when they saw their Males murdered by the Egyptians could they believe the Propagation of the Seed of Abraham when murder took off the Infants and Labour and Age would in time the old ones Whilst their Children were preserved the Promise might easily be believed But consider this was but just before their deliverance like a violent Crisis before Recovery He doth then judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he sees their power is gone and there is none shut up or left * Deut. 32.36 He doth so for the wicked many times when the affliction of Idolatrous Israel was bitter when there was not any shut up nor an left nor any helper for Israel then he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the Son of Joash * 2 King 14.26 27. He doth so with private persons Peter might have

Captain The Prophet speaking of the Assyrians threatning Jerusalem and the confusion in some Cities for fear of them yet saith he he shall remain at Nob a City of the Levites not far from Jerusalem where he might have a full Prospect of the City He shall but shake his hand he shall not gripe it in his Talons He shall shew his teeth but not bite snarl but not worry Isa 10.32 God will let out so much of the enemies wrath as may answer his gracious ends to the Church in purging o● them but the remainder of Wrath which remains in their hearts for the Churches Destruction he will restrain * Psal 76.9 10. As a Physitian weighs out so much as may curb the Disease not kill the Pacient The Chain of Providence controuls the Power of Satan when it doth not change his desires The Egyptians Will against the Israelites was strong but his power was weak Might and Power is only in the hand of God who Reigus over all 1 Chron. 29.12 And God will exert so much of Power to bridle the inclinations of Nature in the wicked for the good of his people He will give them so much line as may serve his holy purposes but not so much as shall prejudice the Churches standing A Staff is not capable of giving a smart blow without the force of the hand that holds it Wicked men are no more than a staff in Gods hand Isaiah 10.5 The rod of my anger the staff in their hand is my indignation be can either strike with it or break it in pieces The Staff is still in the hand of God and can do no more than what his merciful Arm moves it to as he can restrain it so he can divert it What should we fear those whose hearts are in Gods hands whose enmity is under Gods restraint who can change their fury into favour or at least bridle it as he doth the Waves of the Sea No Enemies shot can exceed Gods Commission God often laughs when men Plot and disappoints when they begin to act Sometimes he makes them act contrary to their intentions Balaam comes to curse the People and God turns his tongue to bless them which if guided by his own heart would have poured out execrations upon them * Numb 23.7 8. God puts the words into his mouth but not in his heart v. 5. and makes him bless that which his heart hates 4. Will you fear them who have a God to ruin them Though the Beast in the Revelations hath seven heads a reaching Wisdom and ten horne a mighty power * Rev. 17.3 both the numbers of seven and ten being numbers of perfection in Scripture yet with all his Wisdom and Strength he shall tumble down to Destruction they can no more resist Gods power than blustring Winds or raging Waves can cross his Will When the enemies of the Church are in Combination like Thorns full of prickles folded together then shall they be consumed like stubble that is dry Nahum 1.10 God loves to defeat Pride Exod. 18.11 In the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them God waits but the time of their swelling to make them burst Absalom kills his Brother withdraws the people from their obedience to the King stirs them up to revolt enters Jerusalem in his Fathers absence pollutes his Concubines engages in designs against his life raiseth an Army against him who would not say David was in extremity and Absolom alone prospering in his designs but when Absalom comes to open force God arises an Oak catches him his Mule forsakes him and Joab dispatches him Senacherib had prospered in his Conquest of Judea taken many strong Towns laid siege to Jerusalem sollicites the People to revolt blasphemes the God of Heaven and then an Angel comes and makes a dreadful slaughter in a night and he returning to his own Countrey is killed by his own Sons * 2 Kings 19 7 35 36 37. God Arrows shall never miss their mark and he hath more than one to strike into the hearts of his enemies Psal 18.14 He sent out his arrows and scattered them What reason then to fear even multitudes who can never be too strong for that God who gave them that little strength they have Secondly The second Duty to which we are exhorted If all Gods Providences tend to the good of his Church and People 2. Then censure not God in his dark Providences As we are often too hasty in our desires for mercy and are not content to stay Gods Time so we are too hasty in making constructions of Providence and will not stay Gods leisure of informing us When God seems at the beginning of every Providence to speak the same language as Christ did to Peter in washing his feet John 13.7 What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereaster The Instruments are visible the action sensible but the inward meaning still lies obscured from our view We are too short sighted to apprehend and judge of Gods Works Man cannot understand his own way * Prov. 20.24 much less the ways of an insinite God Gods Judgments are a great deep * Psal 36.6 we may sooner sathom the Deepest part in the Sea understand all the turnings of those subcertancan passages lave out the Ocean with a spoon or suck in into our Bellies that great mass of waters than understand the ways of God with our shallow brains He makes darkness his Pavilion He is sometimes very obscure in his ways Neither the greatness of his Means nor the wisdom of his workings can be fully apprehended by men We have sence to feel the effects but not heads to understand the reasons and authods of the Divine Government Eccles 3.11 No man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end Though a man may see the beginning of Gods works yet is he able to walk understandingly along with Divine Wisdom in every step it takes will he not lose the tract often before it comes to an end 'T is not the face but the back parts of Providence which we behold why then should we usurp an authority beyond our ability and make our selves Gods Judges as if infinite Wisdom and Power were bounded within the narrow compass of our purblind Reasons His ways are beyond our tracing and his Councils too high for our short measures Since therefore God satisfies the Righteousness of his own Will let us submit our curiosity to his Wisdom and forbear our Censures of that exact righteousness and superlative wisdom which we cannot comprehend 1. Therefore First six this into your minds that God is righteous wise and good in every thing Good therefore nothing can be hurtful to his People Righteous therefore nothing Unjust Wise therefore nothing to vain Our injurious thoughts of him make us so uncharitable towards him and greater Censurers of his righteous ways than we are of mens wicked actions Clouds and Darkness are

for this and other reasons it may be that the times before the Churches last deliverance shall be sharper than any before which our Saviour intimates Matt. 24.21 For then there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world no nor ever shall be In Discoursing his Disciples of the troubles at the destruction of Jerusalem which was a type of the trouble preceding the end of the World he adds a discourse of what shall be at the end of the World in the last attempt of the enemies of the Church for ver 29. he saith immediately after the tribulatin of those days he speaks of his coming in the Clouds of Heaven with great power and glory And also in the Revelation Rev. 16.18 And there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great This perhaps at the pouring out of the seventh Vial may concern the Christian Church as well as the Antichristian Party But the reason why it may be sharper just before that last deliverance than it was in former ages may be because it is the last effort the enemy shall make the last demonstration of Gods power and wisdom for and care of his Church and of Justice upon his enemies in such cases The last season for their multiplying their cries and acting their Faith for such a concern 3. Vs of Exhortation If it be so that the Providence of God is chiefly designed for the good of the Church First Fear not the Enemies of the Church 'T is a wrong to God Fear of Man is always attended with a forgetfulness of God Isa 51.12 13. I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that art affraid of a man that shall dye and of the Son of Man that shall be made as Grass and forgettest the Lord thy Maker who hath stretched forth the heavens c. 'T is to value the power of Grass above the power of the Creator as though that had more ability to hurt than God to help As if men were as strong as Mountains and God as weak as a Bulrush 'T is a wrong to his Truth hath he not comforted you in his Promise What Creature should then deject you 'T is a wrong to his Mercy is he not the Lord thy Maker Calvin refers this to Regeneration and not Creation Hath he not renewed you by his Spirit and will he not protect you by his strength and that you may not question his power look up to the Heavens which he hath stretched out and the foundations of the Earth which he hath laid And is that Arm which hath done such mighty works too weak to defend that work which is choicer in his eye than either the extended Heaven or the established Earth We vilifie God and defile his Glory when our fear of mans power stifles our Faith in God Isa 8.12 13. Neither fear you their fear nor be affraid sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear Let the wicked fear the Assyrians and engage in confederacies against them but let your eyes be lifted up to me and my Providence God will either turn away the mouth of the Cannon from the Church or arm it against the shot either preserve it from a danger protect it in it or sanctifie it to the Church and who need fear a Sword in a fathers hand 1. Will you fear man who have a God to secure you The Church belongs to God not to man as a just propriety Isa 43.1 Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by my name thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee c. Thou art mine not mans Thou art mine I am thine I will be with thee as thine I will secure thee as mine Is my Creating is my forming is my redeeming thee to no purpose I will not secure you from trouble but surely my redemption of you the propriety I have in you should secure you from fears in those troubles None shall hurt you whilst I have power to defend you God with us if well considered and believed is sufficient to still those fears which have the greatest outward objects for their encouragement Psal 27.1 The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be affraid If God be our strength to support us why should the weakness of dust and ashes scare us Alliance to great men and Protection of Princes prop up mens hearts against the fears of others and shall alliance to God be of a weaker efficacy A * Arram in Epist lib. 1. c. 9. Heathen could so argue that knew nothing of Redemption Let the Counsels of Enemies be crafty * Psal 83.3 yet they consult against Gods hidden ones hidden by God whilst Plotted against by men who would fear the stratagems of men whilst protected in an impregnable Tower God hides when men are ready to seize the Prey How did the Angel protect a sincere trembling Lot against the invasion of a whole City and secured his person whilst he blinded his enemies eyes that they could not find the door Instruments cannot design more maliciously than Christ watches over them affectionately Christ hath his Eye to see your works and danger where Satan hath his Thorne Rev. 2.13 2. Will you fear man who have a God to watch over their motions What counsels can prevail where God intends to over-rule their resolves There is no place so close as to keep private resolutions from his knowledge This was the thought of those States-men against whom the Prophet Isaiah thunders Isa 29.15 16. Wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the Potters Clay Their Counsels were as well known to him as the Potters clay is to the Potter which he can either frame into a vessel or fling away into the Mass from whence he took it God hath not despoyled himself of his Government nor will devolve his right upon any men to dispose of his concerns When men think to act so secretly as though they framed themselves as though Gods eye were not upon them He will watch and trace all their Motions and make them insignificant to their purposes Satan himself the slyest and subtilest agent is too open to God to hide his Councils from him Never fear man till the whole combined Polices of Hell can controul the resolves of Heaven Till God wants Omniscience to dive into their secrets skill to defeat their Councils and an arm to abate their power 3. Will you fear men or devils who have a God to restrain them The great Dragon and General of the Serpents Seed is under a binding power who can bind him not only a thousand fears out a thousand Ages * Rev. 20.2 Have his Seed more force to resist Almightiness than their