Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	earthquake_n	lord_n	wind_n	4,960	5	10.8107	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86299	The parable of the tares expounded & applyed, in ten sermons preached before his late Majesty King Charles the second monarch of Great Britain. / By Peter Heylin, D.D. To which are added three other sermons of the same author.	Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662.	1659 (1659)	Wing H1729; Thomason E987_1	253,775	424

of Samuel and the 15th Chapter Melior est obedientia quàm victimae to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of Rams Where auscultare obedire to hearken and obey are plainly used as words of the same signification the same in sense though not in sound and therefore when Almighty God did give this testimony of our Saviour This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and then immediately subjoyned audite ipsum hear ye him it is not to be thought that he required no more then their outward ears That had been to invite his followers to that very fault which he blamed in others which was audientes non audiunt the people heard his word and yet heard it not i. e. they heard the Word but did not do it They onely hear his Word aright which do hear with profit which if we do we shall not onely hear his word as is here commanded but shall so hear his voice as to follow him which is most chiefly here intended but of this we shall speak more anon In the mean time we must take notice of the object which we are to hear Audite ipsum hear ye him so saith God the Father audite vocē meam hear my voice so saith God the Son and both these are one Ipse there which is God the word is here vox mea or the word of God both most apparently the same Indeed it is not to be thought that he which is the Word should more conveniently express himself in any other way then by his voice for howsoever that of the Apostle be most unquestionably true that God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto our Fathers by the Prophets yet still we are at locutus est Deus that God spake unto them speak he could not properly but by a voice nay if we look upon it well we shall surely find that the first external action ascribed to God in holy Scripture is dixit Dominus the Lord spake and that was a miraculous kind of speech indeed he spake not onely words but works He spake the word and it was made he said the word onely and they were created From that time forwards unto this God never did express himself in a cleerer way then by that of speaking either in dreams and visions as unto the Patriarcks or Angelorum atque hominum ministerio by the tongues of holy men and Angels as unto the Jews till in the last dayes locutus est nobis in filio he spake unto us by his Son the heir of all things This is that He and his that Voice which we are to hear and well it is and most agreeable to our infirmities that he should speak to us by a voice For should he speak unto us now as at the giving of the Law in Sinai in thunder and lightning what flesh were able to abide it Or should he speak unto us in a cloud of darkness cum clangore Tubae and with the sound of a Trumpet what ear were able to endure it Speak thou unto us said the Jews to Moses and we will hear but let not God speak to us lest we die i. e. let not the Lord so speak unto us that we dare not hear or shew himself in such a terrible way unto us that we dare not approch unto him Indeed it is not often that God speaks otherwise unto us then in a still and gentle voice such as the Jews call Bath-col filia vocis a small slender voice such as Job calleth vocem aurae lenis a still silent voice such as may charme but not astonish and which is fitter to invite attention then to excite our fears Now of this truth we find a very pregnant instance in the history of Elijah as it is represented to us in the Book of Kings God called upon him to go forth and stand upon the Mount before him then it follows And behold the Lord passed by and a great strong wind rent the Mountains and broke in peeces the Rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an Earthquake but the Lord was not in the Earthquake and after the Earthquake a Fire but the Lord was not in the Fire and after the Fire a still small Voice sibilus aurae tenuis as the vulgar hath it and in that voice the Lord appeared unto the Prophet and signified his will unto him Which as it doth most excellently expresse the manner of Gods speaking to his people in the former times so is it as it were as history of those wayes and means by which the Lord hath spoke to us to us particularly of this Nation in these latter dayes The time was when the Lord passed by us in a mighty wind a wind that blew down violently before it those majestick structures which had been consecrated anciently to religious uses and the service of God but sure God was not in that wind next he passed by us in an Earthquake in King Edwards dayes an Earthquake or Commotion as the vulgar reads it by which the very foundations of the State were almost utterly subverted by rebellions and the whole fabrick of the Government dissolved by potent factions At non in Commotione Dominus but the Lord was not in that Earthquake Post commotionem Ignis after the Earthquake came a Fire a cruel and devouring Fire a Fire more raging then the Babylonian Furnace not heated for three onely but for thrice three hundred a Fire intended for the utter ruine of Gods Saints and Servants though it proved rather in the event a fiery Chariot such as was that provided for Elijah for their conveyance into Heaven At non in igne Dominus I am sure God was not in that Fire At last he shewed himself unto us in sibilo aurae tenuis in a still small voice a voice of comfort and of consolation a voice which for these eighty years hath spoken far better things unto us then the blood of Abel a voice which we must hearken to with fear and reverence as did Elijah to that still small voice which appeared unto him as being vox Dei there and vox mea here no difference at all between them But what may some men chance to say How shall we know whether the voice that speaks unto us and which we go so greedily to hear be the vox mea of the Text since every one pretends to the like Commission and hath a dixit Dominus in his mouth be he who he will The readiest way to satisfie this doubt is to look back upon the story of Elijah and resolve our selves for if the Preacher speak unto you in a still small voice if he deliver nothing to you but the truth with soberness verba veritatis sobrietatis as the Apostle calls them then doubt you not but God is present in that voice

and t is your Christian duty to give ear unto it but if he speak unto you in Fires and Earthquakes in Storms and Tempests or like the sons of Boanerges call for fire from Heaven it is a shrewd conjecture that God is not there Those voices savour of a different spirit from the Lord our Sheepherd whose lips dropped Myrrhe who spake unto his people in so mild a way that his reproofs were gentle his corrections sweet No Fire nor Storm nor Earthquake in that sacred voice wherein he speaks unto his Flocks nor can it stand indeed with his pastoral Office or with the safety of his sheep that it should be otherwise The sheep is naturally of a timorous and weak condition easily frighted from their food should they be terrified with the cries of Wolves though false and counterfeit or the continual barking of the dogs though perhaps their own In which regard the Poets often represent the Sheepherd with his pipe and songs and his flocks feeding round about him Stant oves circum c. Such is the voice we are to hear a still silent voice vox aurae lenis or sib●lus aurae tenuis a still small voice a voice proceeding from a meek and humble spirit and yet it is not vox preterea nihil not a bare voice onely which we are to hear but there 's a guide also whom we are to follow audire vocem ejus will not serve the turn if we do not sequi The voice but leads us on to him whom we ought to follow and we are bound to hear his voice for no other reason but that we may the better know how to follow him my next particular and very briefly to be handled Oves meae vocem meam audiunt sequuntur me my sheep hear my voice and they follow me i. e. they do so hear his voice as to follow him They stand not gazing after him like men astonished as did the men of Galilee at his ascention or as Elisha did upon Elijah at his assumption but are still going and in motion if they follow him And if we follow him as we ought to do in all the paths of piety and vertue which he hath pleased to lead before us we shall be hearers of his voice there 's no doubt of that and hearers of it to the purpose And I said well if we do follow him through all the paths of piety and vertue which he hath pleased to lead before us for many things our Saviour did in which it is impossible we should follow him or else not necessary if we could Miracles and such works of wonder as he wrought daily by the power of his Divinity are objects of our Faith onely and our admiration and in these we cannot follow him Particular actions whether of Ceremonie as his sitting whilst he taught the people or Circumstance as his administring the Sacrament in an upper Chamber are left arbitrary and in these we need not follow him But in all Morall duties whatsoever as Prayer and Fasting and Alms-deeds in pardoning such offences as are done unto us and humbling our selves under the mighty hand of God in these he hath commanded an obedient imitation and in all those we ought to follow him If therefore Christ hath taken up his Crosse and is gone before us it is no small part of our obedience to take up our Crosses also and to follow after Oportet primum haec pati we must first suffer all these things Afflictions Persecutions Buffetings Revilings yea and Death it self before we enter into glory As he hath led the way before us in all the works of Godliness and the fruits of Mercy what better can become us then to do so too to tread in his most sacred steps as he makes us able Himself hath so commanded and we must obey Be ye followers of God as dear children saith the great Apostle i. e. as children love to imitate the gestures speech and other actions of their Parents so must we follow the example of our heavenly Father sequimurque patrem non passibus aequis St. Peter to the self same purpose that Christ hath left us an example ut sequamur vestigia ejus that we should follow his steps And though St. Paul doth in another place exhort those of Corinth that they should be followers of him yet he subjoyned this limitation sicut ego Christi as I am of Christ Were it not for this tie sicut ego Christi we might be Pharisees in our youth and Persecutors in our age as too many have been and justifie our selves in both by St. Pauls example So that however that of the Poet be exceeding true vivitur exemplo melius that men are guided easier by example then they are by precept yet it concerns us all to be very careful in choosing of the patterns which we mean to imitate and not to follow any man how great soever further then he doth follow Christ the chief Lord of all And certainly our Saviour did not limit and restrain this duty and tie it to himself alone without special reason He knew none better the faulty humour of the sheep how apt they are out of their natural inclination to run that way which some of their unruly fellows have first led before them though contrary to the direction of their Sheepherd and many times to their own ruine and destruction Ubi mares viam ducunt reliquus grex facilè sequetur Aristotle long ago did observe this in them in his Historia Animalium and it holds good still in our own observation Thus is it also with us men we are all apt to follow bad example especially the example of some noted Bell-wether and few there are which are not very much in love with the faults and errors of their betters which as it may advise all those of more eminent ranck to have a special care of their wayes and actions because their actions many times are made exemplary so may it lessen those of the lower sort that to be governed by the example of frail sinful men is at the best a simple and sheepish quality O Imitatores stultum pecus said the Poet truely the reason is because the best men have been guilty of notorious crimes and therefore should we make their lives a general pattern unto ours we may be drunk with Noah and incestuous with Lot swearers with Joseph Murderers with David Idolaters with Solomon Persecutors with Paul Deniers of the Lord with Peter and indeed what not 'T is not sequuntur then which is here commanded an art of Imitation onely which is here required for then our Saviour had not told us in their commendation Alienum autem non sequuntur that they would not follow after strangers 'T is the word me that makes all sure the following of the Lord our Sheepherd and of none but him which in the end will bring us unto life