Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	aaron_n	day_n	rod_n	16	3	9.4131	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29696	London's lamentation, or, A serious discourse concerning the late fiery dispensation that turned our (once renowned) city into a ruinous heap also the several lessons that are incumbent upon those whose houses have escaped the consuming flames / by Thomas Brooks.	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1670 (1670)	Wing B4950; ESTC R24240	405,825	482

humble thy self under the mighty hand of God God has ab●sed the● and therefore make it thy work to b● base in thine own eyes W●en N●hemiah understood that the Chald●ans There is nothing more more evident ●n History than this viz. That those d●eadful fires that have b●en ki●d●ed amongst the Christian have been still kind●ed by Idolatrous hands who were a generation of Idolaters had made Jerusalem desol●te by Fire he greatly humbl●d himself under the mighty hand of God He lookt through all act●ve causes to the efficient cause and accordingly he abased himself before the L●rd as you may see Neh. 1. 3 4. And they said unto me the remnant that are left of the Captivity there in the Province are in great ●●fl●ction and reproach the Wall of Jerus●lem also is broken down and the Gates thereof are burnt with fire And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sate down and wept and mourned certain dayes and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven When Nehemiah ●eard that th● Wall of Jerusalem was broken down and that the gates thereof were b●rnt with fire his grief was so great that he could not stand under it and therefore he sits down and weeps Who is there that is a man that is an Englishman that is a C●ri●●●an that is a Protestant that can behol● the Ru●nes of Lond●n and not at least the frame of his Spirit sit down and wee● ov●r those R●in●s The way of wayes ●o be truly yea ●ighly ●x●lted is to be thoroughly humbled The h●g●est Heavens and the lowest hearts do both alike please Isaiah 57. 15. the most high God God will certainly make it his work to ex●lt them who make it their great work to abase themselves Such who are low in their ow● eyes and can be be content to be low in the eyes of others such are most high and ●ono●rable in the eye of God in the esteem and account ●f God The lowly Christian is alwayes the mo●● lovely C●ristian Now God hath laid your City low you● all low he ex●ects that your hearts should lye low unde● his mighty ha●d All the world cannot long keep up thos● men who do'nt labour to keep down their hearts under Judgements inflicted or Judgements feared Remember the sad Catastrophe of Herod the great of Agrippa the great of Pompey the great and of Alexander the great If your spirits remain great under great Judgements 't is an evident sign that more raigning Judgements lye at your doors But T●e seventh D●ty that lyes upon those who have been burnt up is to bless a taking God as well as a giving God 't is to encourage themselves in the Lord their God though he has stript them of all their worldly goods Thus did Job when he had lost his all The Lord gave and the Lo●d hath Job 1. 21. taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. One brings in holy Job standing by the ruined house under whose Walls his ten Children lay dead and buried and lifting up his D●e●ellius in his Gynnasiun Patient●ae heart and hands towards Heaven saying Naked came I out of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord. Ecce spectaculum sayes he dignum ad quod respiciat intentus operi suo Deus Behold a spectacle a spectacle worthy of God himself were he never so intent upon his work in Heaven yet worthy of his cognizance When Ziklag was burnt with fire and David plundered by the Amalekites and his Wives carried captive yet then he encouraged 1 Sam. 30. 1 2 3 6. himself in the Lord his God His God notes 1. His nearness and dearness to God Saints are very near and dear to God Psal 148. 14. Ephes 2. 13. 2. His God notes his Relation to God God is the Saints Father 3. His God notes his right to God Whole God 2 Cor. 6. 18. is the believers All he has and all he can do is the believers From these and such other like considerations David encouraged himself in the Lord his God when all was gone and so should we So the believing Hebrews took joyfully the Heb. 10. 34. spoiling of their goods whether by fire or plundering or otherwise is not said knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and more enduring substance And to this duty James exhorts James 1. 2. Count it all joy my brethren when you fall into divers temptations or tribulations or afflictions A Christian in his choicest deliberation ought to count it all joy when he falls into divers tribulations The words are emphatical the Apostle doth not say be patient or quiet when you fall into divers temptations or afflictions but be joyful Nor the Apostle doth not say be joyful with a little joy but be joyful with exceeding great joy All joy The words are an Hebraism is full joy all joy is perfect joy And this becomes the Saints when they fall or are begirt round not with some but with divers that is with any kind of affliction or tribulation An omnipotent God will certainly turn his peoples misery into felicity And therefore it concerns them to be divinely merry in the midst of their greatest misery Oh that all burnt Citizens would seriously consider of these three things 1. That this fiery Rod has been a Rod in a Fathers hand 2. That this fiery Rod shall sooner or later be like Aarons Rod a blooming Rod. Choice fruit will one day grow upon this burnt Tree London No man can tell what good God may do England by that fiery Rod that he has laid upon London 3. That this fiery Rod that has been laid upon London has not been laid on 1. According to the greatness of Gods anger Nor 2. According to the greatness of his power Nor. 3. According to the strictness of his justice Nor 4. According to the d●merits of our sins Nor 5. According to the expectations of men of a Romish faith who 't is to be feared Acts 1. 19. did hope to see every house laid desolate and London made an Aceldama a Field of Blood Nor 6. Accordingly to the extensiveness of many of your fears for many of you have feared worse things than yet you feel Now upon all these considerations how highly dos it concern the people of God to be thankful and cheerful yea and to encourage themselves in the Lord under that fiery dispensation that has lately past upon them But what is there considerable in God to encourage the soul under Quest heavy crosses and great l●sses and fiery tryals First There is his gracious his special and pecular presence Answ Psalm 23. 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow Dan. 3. 24 25. of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Psal 91. 15. He shall

the face of the Earth Some Heathen Philosophers thought anger an unseemly Attribute to ascribe to God And some Hereticks conceived the God of the New Testament void of all anger They imagined two Gods the God of the Old Testament was in their account Deus justus a Deity severe and revengeful But the God of the New Testament was Deus bonus the good God a God made up all of mercy they would have no anger in him but Christians do know that God proclaims this Attribute among his Titles of Honour Nehem. 1. 2. God is jealous and the Lord revengeth and is furious he reserveth wrath for his enemies 'T is the high-way to Atheism and Prophaneness to fancy to our selves a God made up all of mercy to think that God cannot tell how to be angry and wroth with the sons of men Surely they that have seen London in flames or believe that 't is now laid in ashes they will believe that God knows how to be angry and how to fix the tokens of his wrath upon us But Fourthly God inflicts great and sore Judgments upon the sons of men and upon Cities and Countries that they may cease from sin receive instruction and reform and return to the most High as you may evidently see by comparing the Scriptures in the Margine together Gods corrections should be our instructions his lashes should be our lessons Isa 26. 9. Psal 94. 12. Prov. 3. 12 13. Chap. 6. 23. his scourges should be our School-masters his chastisements should be our advertisements And to note this the Hebrews and the Greeks both express chastising and teaching by one the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Masar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paideia because Job 36. 8 9 10. and chap. 33. 19 20. the latter is the true end of the former according to that in the Proverb Smart makes wit and vexation gives understanding Whence Luther fitly calls affliction Theologiam Christianorum Levit. 26. Deut. 28. 2 Chron. 7. 13 14. Amos 4. 6. to verse 12. Isa 9. 13. Jer. 5. 3. Jer. 6. 29 30. Ezek. 23. 25 26 27. The Christian mans Divinity Jer. 6. 8. Be thou instructed O Jerusalem lest my soul depart from thee lest I make thee desolate a land not inhabited Zeph. 3. 6 7. I have cut off the nations their towers are desolate I made their streets waste that none passed by their cities are destroyed so that there is no man that there is no inhabitant I said Surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction so their dwellings should not be cut off However I punished them but they rose early and corrupted all their doings By all the desolations that God had made before their eyes he designed their instruction and reformation From those words Judg. 3. 20. I have a message from God unto thee O King said Ehud Lo his Ponyard was Gods message from whence one well observes That not only the vocal admonitions but the real Judgments of God are his Errands and instructions to the world God delights to win men to himself by favours and mercies but 't is rare that God this way makes a conquest upon them Jer. 22. 21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity Deut. 32. 14 15 16 17. Jer. 5. 7 8 9 10. Psal 73. 1. 10. saith God but thou saidst I will not hear and therefore 't is that he delivers them over into the hands of severe Judgments as into the hands of so many curst School-masters as Basil speaks that so they may learn obedience by the things ●hey suffer as the Apostle speaks It is said of Gideon he took Judg. 8. 16. bryars and thorns and with them he taught the men of Succoth Ah poor London how has God taught thee with bryars and thorns with Sword Pestilence and Fire and all because thou wouldst not be taught by prosperity and mercy to do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with Mich. 6. 8. ●am 3 32 33. Isa 28. 21. Schola crucis schola laci● ●y God God delights in the Reformation of a Nation but he doth not delight in the desolation of any Nation Gods greatest severity is to prevent utter ruine and misery If God will but make Londons destruction Englands instruction it may save the Land from a total desolation Ah London London I would willingly hope that this fiery Rod that has been upon thy back has been only to awaken thee and to instruct thee and to refine thee and to reform thee that after this sore desolation God may delight to build thee and beautifie thee and make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many generations But Isa 60. 15. Fifthly God inflicts sore and great Judgments upon the sons of men that he may try them and make a more full discovery of themselves to themselves Wicked men will never believe that their lusts are so strong and that their hearts are so base as indeed they are 2 Kings 8. 12 13. And Hazael said Why weepeth my Lord and he answered Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the Children of Israel their strong holds wilt thou set on fire and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with child And Hazael said But what is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing And Elishu answered The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be King over Syria Hazael could not imagine that he should be as fierce cruel murderous and merciless as a dog that will tear all in pieces that he can come at It could never enter into his thoughts that ever he should do such cruel barbarous horrid and inhumane acts as the Prophet spoke of but he did no● know the depth of his own corruption nor the desperateness nor deceitfu●ness of his own heart Isa Jer. 17. 9. 8. 21. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry they shall fr●t themselves and curse their King and their God and look upward When Judgments are upon them then their wickedness appears rampant They shall curse their own King for not defending protecting or relieving of them they shall look upon him as the cause of all their wants sorrows and sufferings and as men overwhelmed with misery and full of indignation they shall fall a cursing of him And they shall curse their God as well as their King that is say some the true God who deservedly brought these plagues upon them Their God that is say others their Melchom to whom they had sacrificed and in whom they see now that they vainly trusted So those desperate wretches under the Beast Rev. 16. 8 9. And the fourth Angel poured out his vial upon th● Plutarch observes that it is the quality of Tygers to grow mad and tear themselves in pieces if they hearbut Drums or Tabers to sound about