Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A67115
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A sermon preached in London by a faithfvll minister of Christ, and perfected by him and now set forth to the publike view of all for the ivstification of the truth and clearing the innocencie of his long suffering for it.
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Walker, George, 1581?-1651.
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1642
(1642)
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Wing W363; ESTC R27052
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14,142
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20
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if we consider God in himselfe as he is revealed in his word and workes to be the one only true Jehovah eternall omnipotent immortal immutable infinite in goodnesse bounty wisdome mercy justice faithfulnesse and truth most mighty wise and prudent to order rule and governe all the world most bountifull to reward all obedience and most just to punish and dreadfull and terrible in revenging all disobedience against his Word and Law Wee cannot but acknowledge and confesse that hee is the supreame Lord of all Lords King of Kings and the eternally blessed and onely Potentate who is in all things to bee obeyed above all and before all and all Lords Kings Fathers and Benefactors are to bee obeyed onely in and under him as his Substitutes subordinate Vicegerents Stewards and Messengers whosoever doe out of feare love or any affection and respect to any creature doe any thing contrary to his kowne will word and commandement they rob him of his honour and glory set up the creature above the Creator and make it their God which must needes by all reasonable men be confessed to be a most heinous and grievous sinne worthy of Gods wrath and all punishments This is the solid argument and invincible demonstration which fully proves the Doctrine which I will briefly reduce into the strict forme of a Sylogisme thus Whosoever robs the King and Lord of Lords the blessed and onely Potentate and cheife Father and Authour of all being goodnesse and bounty by taking from him the honour and glory which doth properly belong to him and setteth up the creature and servant above his Lord and Creator he is guilty of most heinous sinne and transgression Every one who out of feare love or any affection and respect to any creature doth any act contrary to the revealed will word and Commandement of God robbeth thereby God the supream Lord King Father and Benefactor and setteth up the creature and servant above his Lord and Creator Therefore he is guilty in this of heinous sinne and transgression and by consequence it followeth necessarily that as this Doctrine teacheth no feare threatning or commandement of earthly Potentates no love or respect of Parents and Benefactors can free from the foule staine of sinne in any act which they draw men to doe contrary to the Commandement of God This Doctrine is of speciall use First to admonish all Gods people to be carefull and diligent above all to know and acknowledge God aright and to set their hearts and affections chiefly on him as the supreme Lord and Father of all and the chiefe Author and Fountaine of all goodnesse and to put on a setled resolution to obey all his Commandements though all the world should perswade command them ro the contrary It is true that Kings Rulers and Potentates of the world are set up by God to rule by him and under him as his Vice-gerenâ—s Stewards and Messengers and all men who are under them especiaily Christians Gods free and willing people ought to give them all honour and reverence and to feare and obey them for conscience sake in and under God the very law of Nature binds all men to love reverence honour and obey their Parents and Benefactors who are Gods instruments of their being and well being and not onely Civility and the Common Law of Nations bindes men to honour and respect them who are honourable in wisdome gravity and authority but Religion and Gods Word teach men to honour and affect such as are Prophets Preachers Embassadours and Messengers of God unto them But yet all these are to be loved feared honoured and respected in and under God and with feare love and affection subordinate to the feare love and affection which they have towards God above all Wherefore let all Gods people take heed and beware and carefully looke to it that they give not too much way to humane passions and affections by regarding and respecting secondary meanes and inferiour causes more then God the first and chiefe cause Author and bountaine of all blessings or by accustoming themselves to esteeme too highly or to love feare and admire too excessively the persons of men how great wise and learned or how aimiable and honourable soever they appeare in their eyes If men once give way so far to the reverence awe feare and dread of earthly Kings Rulers and Potentates that they become more affraid of their faces angry countenances menacing and threatnings then of the terrours of Gods Law and of his wrathfull judgements this is that which will draw them to disobey Gods Word and Law out of respect to mortall men and will bring them under the staine and guilt of unecusable sinne laid open in this Text and Doctrine So likewise excessive love carnall affection and respect of Parents and Benefactors while men set their eyes and hearts on the things which are visible and sensible and on the outward meanes more then on the invisible hand power and goodnesse of God may easily supplant them and make them fall in like sort into heinous sinne and inexcusable transgression But most dangerous of all is that superstitious feare reverence and respect which men out of blind and undifereet zeale without knowledge doe shew to such as are set over them to rule and direct them in things which concerne God Religion and godlinesse and hold the place of Prophets Messengers Bishops wise Pastors and learned Teachers in Gods Church when men are so enthralled in their wills and become Slaves in their affections that they are ready to beleeve and embrace whatsoever they hold and teach without proofe from Gods Word or examination of things taught by the word or consent with the word and rule of Faith they are in the high way to horrible and dangerous errours and disobedience to the Law of God into which whosoever fall being led by immoderate affection and more then due respect to any persons whatsoever he may here learne from Gods proceeding against Adam the common Father and root of all mankinde that God will admit no excuse for breaking any of his Commandements out of any respect or any feare reverence love or affection to any persons how great wise learned honourable or aimiable soever they appeare to him As Adam by his excuse could not turne away the guilt and punishment of his disobedience but had a curse laid on the ground and all paines sorrowes and death it selfe on himselfe and all his posterity So it shall fare with all Adams seed and children in the like case For there is no respect of persons with God Secondly this Doctrine discovers unto us abundance of error in the judgements and iniquity in the practice of many worldly-wise and learned men especially in those State-polititions admirers of worldly power greatnesse and authority who doe thinke and hold that they may lawfully doe things commanded by such as have the rule over them without examining whether they be allowed or forbidden in the Law
her husband upon other men this provokes him to jealousie and fills him with anger and indignation against her and her lovers Here God compares himselfe to such a person saying I am a jealous God which is all one in effect as if hee had said I am the Lord the Creator of all things there is no God besides me no religious or divine worship is to be given to any but to me alone and therefore whosoever gives such honour to any besides me and doth breake any of my Commandements out of feare love or other affection and respect to any creature whatsoever hee provokes me to jealousie And then what followes I will saith he visit the sinnes of the Fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that thus hate me Now the meaning of these words is not that hee will punish the innocent children for the Idolary of the Parents For hee is the righteous Judge of all the earth hee will not destroy the righteous and innocent with the wicked and the guilty Gen. 8. 25. He himselfe protesteth with an oath That the Father shall not dye for the Child nor the Child for the Father for all soules saith hee are mine the soule of the Child as well as the soule of the Father Ezek. 18. How then can this saying stand that he will visit the sinnes of the Fathers on the Children to the third and fourth generation Surely the meaning is That because men often times live to see their Children and their Childrens children to the third and fourth generation and if they be wicked Idolaters haters of the true God they are examples of evill to their Children and by exhortations commandements and examples draw such Children to commit the same sinnes and their Children are led by affection and respect of their evill wayes And hence it is that the Fathers sinnes becomes the sinnes of their children and the sinnes which the Children commit in imitation and by the perswasion of their Fathers are called the sins of the Fathers And it is no excuse of the Children that the example and their respect of their Parents did draw them to follow their wayes but the Lord in fury and jealousie will proceed against them as hatefull sinners and will visit their sinnes upon them And least any should thinke or imagine that the justice of God is not so strict in this point now under the Gospel but the rigour thereof is much remitted Wee have a most cleare testimony from the mouth of the chiefest Evangelicall Preachers and Publishers of the Gospel the holy Apostles wherewith joynt consent and one voyce they protest that they might not for feare of men nor upon the commands and threatnings of the chiefe Rulers in the Church and State of Israel transgresse the Commandement of Christ and by obeying men disobey God Acts 4. 19. and 5. 29. Yea though their preaching of the Gospel publikely in the Temple as the Angel commanded them from God Acts 5. 20. and to all the people in all publike Assemblies and their proclaiming of the Lord Christ whom Pilate by instigation of the High-priests and Elders had condemned crucified and slaine and their declaring of him to be the just and holy one of God and the Redeemer promised to the Fathers was no lesse then Scandalum Magnatum in the highest degree for hereby they brought the bloud of Christ on Pilate the Chiefe Governour of the Romans and on them the chiefe Rulers of the people and in that respect they did out of State-policie charge them and straightly command them not to preach any more in the Name of Christ as our Saviour had commanded them Matth. 28. 19. Yet Peter and the rest of the Apostles answered resolately We ought to obey God rather then you and they appealed to themselves though most unjust adversaries to judge whether it were not right so to doe And therefore it is as great a sinne now under the Gospel as it was under the Law to breake Gods Commandements for feare or any other affection or respect of men or upon the commandements and threatnings of the greatest Kings and Potentates If you will yet see this Truth made more cleare and manifest look into the examples of those severall persons and also of those multitudes of people which are noted for great sinners and were most severely punished for doing wicked acts contrary to the Law of God out of obedience to their Rulers and at the commandement of their Kings who had power and authority over them the holy Scriptures afford many examples of this kind in severall places where they commend Subjects and Children for refusing to obey their Superiours and Parents in things which they commanded against the Law of God and condemne others for obeying such wicked commandements out of Feare or for any other respect When King Saul commanded Ionathan his sonne and all his servants that they should wait for an opportunity to slay David his innocent servant and sonne in Law and Gods great and Noble Champion he had a faire pretence of State-policie for it to wit that David did steale away the hearts of his people and aspired to the Kingdome and sought to depose him and to disinherit his sonnes But because Ionathan feared God hee would not obey his Father in murthering an innocent contrary to Gods Law but used all meanes that he could devise to discover his Fathers wicked purposes to David and to reserve him out of his cruell hands and this disobeying of the word and threatnings of the King his Father commanding him to slay an innocent is highly commended in Ionathan and recorded for his praise and honour in the Holy History I Sam. 19. So likwise we read that Ionathan did ignorantly breake his Fathers rash and foolish vow before he knew it by eating honey which God unexpectedly offered to him when hee was faint and weary in his pursuit of the Phihstines whom hee and his Armour bearer had rowted and put to flight and thereby brought great deliverance to Israel and when King Saul his Father for this act done out of inuicible ignorance adjudged him to death and swore with a great oath that hee should dye the people of Israel his Subjects fearing God more then his anger did not onely abhorre the act and refuse to yeeld to his commandement which had some shew and pretence of Religion but also did stand out and oppose themselves against it and did save and rescue Ionathan out of his hands saying God forbid that Ionathan should dye As the Lord liveth there shall not one haire fall from his head to the ground for hee hath wroughe with God this day I Sam. 14. 45. Which speech of theirs implies that it had been a great sinne to slay Ionathan as Saul their King commanded or to suffer him to dye for such a cause But the most pregnant example of all is that of Doeg the Edomite Sauls chiefe Heards-man I Sam. 22. where wee read