Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	church_n	earth_n	militant_a	5,036	5	12.4963	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46900	Three sermons preached the first in Richmond Church, August 17. 1690. on the most happy accession of Their Majesties, King William and Queen Mary to the Crown. The second in Mortlake Chuch in Surrey March 3. 1694. on the death of our late most gracious soveraign lady the Queen, of blessed memory. The third in Mortlake Church, April 16. 1696. being the day of Thanksgiving unto Almighty God, for discovering and disappointing the horrid and barbarous conspiracy to assassinate His most gracious Majesty's royal person: and for delivering this kingdom from an invasion, intended by the French. By Christopher Johnson, M.A. and school-master of Richmond in Surrey. Printed to prevent mistakes concerning the author.	Johnson, Christopher, b. 1657 or 8.	1696 (1696)	Wing J770BA; ESTC R216574	43,561	66

THREE SERMONS PREACHED The First in Richmond Church August 17. 1690. On the Most Happy Accession of Their Majesties KING WILLIAM and QUEEN MARY to the Crown The Second in Mortlake Church in Surrey March 3. 1694. On the Death of Our Late Most Gracious Soveraign Lady the QUEEN of Blessed Memory The Third in Mortlake Church April 16. 1696. Being the Day of Thanksgiving unto Almighty God for Discovering and Disappointing the Horrid and Barbarous Conspiracy to Assassinate His Most Gracious Majesty's Royal Person And for Delivering this Kingdom from an Invasion intended by the French By CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON M. A. and School-master of Richmond in SVRREY Printed to prevent Mistakes concerning the Author LONDON Printed for Samuel Buckley at the Dolphin over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1696. TO THE READER THE Reason of Printing these Sermons is this Mr. Abiel Borfet the late Minister of Richmond in Surrey having written and suffer'd to be dispersed some Scandalous and Ill Notions concerning the Present Most Happy Government for which he is Deprived of his Cure some Persons by Mistake did apprehend the Author of these Sermons being a Clergy-man and living in Richmond to be the said Minister thereof and the Author of those Ill Notions To obviate which and rectifie the Errour and to prevent for the future any the like Misrepresentations of this Author He thought it convenient to make the following Sermons publick ERRATA PAge 11. l. 9. calamnities r. calamities p. 12. l. 2. are the cause r. are often the cause l. 29. in r. on p. 13. l. 24. flames r. a flame p. 14. l. 15. Dioclesian's r. Diocletian's l. 17. almost r. for almost p. 18. l. 1. Nay r. Yea l. 10. a r. the. p. 21. l. 26. the first of r. for p. 22. l. 27. after Faith put l. the last in r. as appears by p. 23. l. 37. born by r. born of p. 25. l. 18. into his place r. unto his place p. 30. l. 7 and 8. r. threatned their total destruction and in part at least wrought it p. 31. l. 17. Her Houshold r. the ways of her Houshold l. 26. which r. as p. 48. l. 1. Proposition r. Particular Where you find rejoice you may read rejoyce And if there be any more Errata's over looked the Reader is desired to Correct them The Deliverance of GOD's Church SERMON I. Preached in Richmond Church in SVRREY August the 17th 1690. On the Happy Accession of their Majesties King William III. and Queen Mary II. to the Crown NUMB. xxiii 23. Surely there is no Enchantment against Jacob neither is there any Divination against Israel AS God hath a Church Triumphant in Heaven pure and undefiled clean from all Sin and free from all Sorrow Glorious without Spot and Joyful without the allay of but one Moments Affliction out of all danger of any Enemy and Eternally blest with Crowns and Palms of Victory So hath he a Church Militant on Earth his Delight and of him greatly Beloved Holy Catholick or Universal full of good Works but yet not perfect some True and though their Lights shine in one sence invisible Members thereof because none knows the Heart of a Man yet these not without Sin though their Errours and Failings are pardonable and shall be forgiven them Others visible Members only and Hypocrites who make a bare outward shew in the World and whose Sins shall not be remitted unto them without the special Grace of Repentance and Amendment whereby a timely Conversion may through the Merits of Christ obtain Salvation But the Church of God on Earth not being perfect is subject to Sufferings Her own Sins arm and make her Enemies powerful against her Her Shame eclipseth her Glory and causeth Sorrows which often exceed her Joys whilst always Fighting she is Victorious but in part by reason of Sin that doth so easily beset her Yet her Infirmities do not annul God's Favours towards her but when the Reins are let loose and Provocations encrease to a great height Divine Justice is concern'd in Vindication of it self to unsheath the Sword and brandish it at least if not strike for the Amendment of those who will be healed and for the Terrour and Astonishment if not present Confusion of obstinate Offenders Neither is Justice alone here but Love and Mercy are Concomitant therewith because the Design of God in the whole is that all may work together for the good of that Mystical Body of which Christ is the Head and therefore it is that when a Lenitive will not Cure he applies a Corrosive Plaister to the Sore For various have been the Methods of the Almighty to keep his People in his Favour and at one with him And not this only but what I am chiefly to insist upon God hath in a most Eminent Manner upon all Occasions appeared in the Cause of his Church for the Preservation thereof against all her Foes in the Patriarchal and Jewish as well as Christian Oeconomy and Government for such we read have been in Ancient time besides what our Fathers have told us and we next after them do now know and hope further to see the Mighty Deliverances of God's People as declare them to be the only Immediate Care of his Watchful and All-seeing Eyes of Providence for whom Omnipotence it self hath and doth stretch forth its Mighty Arm to work Wonders Which great things very much need required to be done all along from the beginning of the World unto this Day for the Salvation of God's Church For in the Infancy thereof when there were only two Adam and Eve to gather together in God's Name to Adore him and perform their Duties of Piety and Religion even then the grand Enemy of Mankind set to work for their Destruction by Hellish Enchantments added unto the subtilty of that Serpent which though not the Devil himself in that form yet at least was possest with and spake by him and so by the Voice and Language of Satan drest up with many Artifices of pleasing words the Temptation became so strong that the Woman soon beguiled thereby caught at the deadly Bait and did eat and gave also unto her Husband and be did eat And then so far even in Paradise it self Satan accomplished his Design and as Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as Birds that are caught in the Snare so were they both snared in an evil time by that Evil One the Tempter But although our First Parents had the Misfortune to fall from such an high and lofty Sphere of Primitive Purity to which they or their Posterity might never think to ascend again in this World yet was not Satan able to pursue and gain a compleat Victory over them because God in Mercy reinforced them with such strength by virtue of his Promise that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head according to the Covenant of Grace wherein it was promised that the Messias should come into the World to Redeem

Heaven hath with all Choler and Wrath vomited out of his Mouth whole Floods of Persecutions one rolling incessantly upon the back of another to overwhelm the Church in final Ruin and Destruction And to make the Ocean of her Miseries as it were incomprehensible and beyond thought how have many of the Roman Emperors and greatest Potentates of the Earth added a Red Sea thereto by shedding the Blood of the Saints without end or measure The Primitive Christians felt the smart first and their Fellow-servants have been partakers of their Sufferings frequently unto these Days And those who would come out of Babylon that they might not be partakers of her Sins nor receive of her Plagues have had a restraint put upon them that they should not so that when persecuted in one City or Kingdom they could not enjoy the Priviledge given them by Christ in his Gospel to flee into another Now if we hear Zion bemoaning her self thus over all the Evils and Calamnities brought upon her for all the hurt and havock that the Church of God hath suffer'd from the beginning of the World unto this Day besides what she fears may yet happen and by some diffidence arising thereby she should question whether her Basis or Foundation be so strong that it shall remain perpetually firm for the time to come against the force and fury of her implacable and restless Foes For her Comfort and to resolve her Doubts herein let her know that all her Loss is Gain Those that die for their good Faith go from Warring and Fighting here in the Church Militant unto the Mother Church of all Triumphant in Heaven Those that amidst a World of Miseries below were Faithful unto Death ascend into Regions of Bliss above to receive Crowns of Eternal Life Neither is the number of her Members extenuated or diminished on Earth by their departure from us for the Testimony of Christ according to that common saying Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae the bare Letter whereof is That the Blood of Martyrs is the Seed of the Church which the sence and meaning construes thus That the more the Church of God is persecuted the more at last she multiplies Like good Seed cast into good Ground it brings forth Thirty Sixty and an Hundred sold And often not only is the number augmented but their Faith is the more vigorous and active too for Marcet sine adversario virtus sed crescit sub pondere their Faith doth fade and fail and is not so lively and brisk as when quickened by the Power and Trials of the Enemy as Rome when Carthage was destroyed fell to Luxury But under the pressure and weight of Sufferings it gets ground and becomes of a more diffusive Nature and therefore the Exercise and Trials of the Faith of the Best Men are meant of God for good And furthermore the Church is to remember that her Sins are the cause of all her Sorrows without which she would have neither Pain nor Grief nor any Enemy could Molest or Trouble her For it is still with her as it was in the Days of the Judges of Israel And we read in the second Chapter of their Book that the People feared the Lord all the Days of Joshua and all the Days of the Elders that out-lived Joshua and so long it was well with them but afterwards it is said The Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim And they forfook the Lord God of their Fathers c. The ill Consequence whereof was this The Anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of Spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the Hands of their Enemies round about So that they could not any longer stand before their Enemies Whithersoever they went out the Hand of the Lord was against them for Evil as the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn unto them and they were greatly distressed Now Sin was the cause of all this Trouble and so it hath been and will be the Origin and Fountain of all Misery And therefore it is the Duty of the Church and People of God to submit unto his Chastisements without complaint or murmuring because they deserve them and it may be want Correction to make them better And then also we are to bear the Cross patiently as did Christ the Author of our Salvation that so having our share with him in Sufferings we may be partakers of his Glory But yet could not all these Enemies nor all the mighty numbers of them since the World began root out the true Church of God from having a Being in the face of the Earth neither shall they so prevail so long as the Sun and Moon endure but when they have done all they can they shall themselves bear the Punishment They shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken Man and be at their Wits-end when the Mischief intended by them to others shall fall on their own Heads And therefore though they should seek to destroy Jacob by Inchantments and Israel by Divination and also to that end should use Pious Frauds and Religious Stratagems against the Church with many fair and specious pretences outwardly build Altars and offer Sacrifices even whole Hecatombs without number on them Though they should present Heaven with never so many Gifts and Dedicate all the Gold of Ophir unto it and pray Night and Day unto God unto Angels and Saints and join thereto never so many Ave Maries unto the Blessed Virgin and Court her with never so many Titles of the greatest Honour and Power in Heaven creating her Queen Regent there with full Authority over her Son to make him do whatsoever she shall command him Yet not all this nor much more that they can do shall any whit prevail Nothing thereof shall serve their turn against that Holy Church they would destroy but she shall stand firm against all the Attempts of her Enemies whatsoever they be though their Folly that is so great be Converted into Fury and their Malice be thereby the deeper yet in their fiercest Rage shall they be weak and like Water spilt on the ground or as the Dust before the Wind so shall the Angel of the Lord scatter them For surely there is no Enchantment against Jacob neither is there any Divination against Israel which introduceth my Second Proposition That the Church hath been and shall be enabled to abide in safety by the Protection and good Providence of God For it is He that keeps her as the Apple of his Eye It is the Eternal God that is her Refuge It is he that beateth down all her Enemies and beareth her on Eagles Wings above them all and brings her unto himself And it is God that maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers Flames of Fire in their order to attend on every good Member of his Church and surround them all with Horses and Chariots of

they would not The words of the Wise Man Prov. 19.21 There are many Devices in a Man's Heart nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand And so long as that stands his Church shall stand firm And if at any time she groans by reason of the Fury and Oppressions of her Adversaries he will hear her Cry and help her She shall stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord which he will shew unto her She shall be assured that he will deliver her in Six Troubles yea in Seven and then shall she rest satisfied that although many are the Troubles of the Righteous yet the Lord delivereth them out of them all when she hath seen so much of the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living But if at any time her Sins which to be sure are frequently the sad and woful Cause of her Sorrows for they merit Punishments do give her Adversaries both time and power to insult over her and her Faith and Hope begin to fail so that she becomes dubious and mistrusts the veracity of that Promise made in particular to Joshua but by the Author to the Hebrews applied unto all the Faithful as a general and standing Rule of Trust and Confidence in God's Mercy and Protection which is this I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 In such Affliction and Anxiety of Mind let her amend and not despair of God's Love and Mercy And if at the first appearance of help and notice of God's especial Presence with her after many Evils of Punishment from the Enemy she should despond like Gideon when almost in Despair an Angel appear'd unto him with this Sign in his Mouth from the Lord of the Israelites Deliverance from the Oppression of Midian the Lord is with thee who with a sort of diffidence of the Divine Message return'd this Answer to the Angel's Errand as it were with Sorrow in his Heart Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us And where be all his Miracles which our Fathers told us of saying Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt But now the Lord bath forsaken us and delivered us into the Hands of the Midianites Judg. 6.13 We shall endeavour presently to give Comfort and some Satisfaction Should the Church and People of God in Times of Affliction answer after the same manner If the Lord be with us why doth the Enemy rejoice and the Adversary triumph over us If it be an Infallible Aphorism that his Church shall stand always firm against the Opposition and Fury of all her Enemies how is it that from the beginning of the World unto this Day Persecution hath been a large share of her Portion Her Tears have been often poured into the Cup of trembling to add the greater Bitterness unto every drop she hath been forced to drink and the Bread of Sorrow hath been her daily Food Her Children have been stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword and a Thousand sorts of Deaths and Tortures have been inflicted upon them so that no Sorrow was ever like unto her Sorrow At one time Righteous Abel was Murder'd by his own Impious Brother Cain here the Bloody Tragedy began and successively was acted on with various Troubles and Torments unto the People of God even to the Days of holy Elijah who also then found himself grievously persecuted by wicked Jezebel and that so sharply that he preferred Death before Life when he requested for himself that he might Die and said It is enough now O Lord take away my Life 1 King 19.4 And twice in the same Chapter we find him sadly complaining of those who had deserted the true Worship of God for that which was false and idolatrous and did persecute those who would not depart with them from serving the Living and True God as these words of that holy Man do infer The Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the Sword and I even I only am left and they seek my Life to take it away So sharp and general it seems was the Persecution that Elijah thought that all the Prophets and Faithful People of God were quite swept away thereby for he had some time since fled for his own Life and as the words seem to intimate when he came again no true Israelite was to be seen or did not dare to shew his Face and venture to stand before the heat and fury of Jezebel's inveterate Malice and Hatred to the Professors of True Religion But yet God be thanked for the Comfort of good Elijah Wickedness had not sate so long in the place of Judgment and Righteousness to Triumph so far as to bring the Church in those Days to so low an Ebb as to have the Tears of but one true Member only to run down for her and by the Destruction of whose Life she should have been quite cut off For in the 18th Verse of the aforecited Chapter we find the Lord comforting Elijah thus with a goodly number of truly Religious Persons still remaining Yet saith he I have left me Seven Thousand in Israel all the Knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every Mouth which hath not kissed him But now further may we find the Church clad in Sackcloth with Dust and Ashes upon her Head mourning in her Travail and bringing forth Children with great Lamentation weeping and wailing for that reckoning from the Days of Elijah forward her Afflictions were from time to time renewed Once a whole Seventy Years Captivity in a strange Land besides many Wars and Troubles from the Enemy before and after that unto the time that Messiah the Prince the Glory and Head of the Church came when also He was cut off not for himself but for the Transgression of his People This was most Amazing and full of Wo the cutting off of Members was not enough but the Head must suffer as much too This caused the Sun that great Luminary to put on mourning Apparel of the deepest Dye a black and thick Darkness It forced the Earth into a Convulsion to shake and tremble and the Temple to rend its Vail in twain Then did Nature suffer a Dissolution for a time and needs must the whole Creation groan and be in pain when Christ himself cried out with a loud and lamentable Voice and suffer'd the deepest pangs of Body and Soul This was the Child of God and Heir of all things that poured out his Soul unto Death whom the great Red Dragon mentioned in the Revelations of St. John thought wholly to devour but yet did he revive on the Third Day and was afterwards caught up unto God I mean he ascended into Heaven where he Reigns King and Head of the Church in Triumph over all his Enemies And now the great Red Dragon that Old Serpent called the Devil and Satan being cast out into the Earth as he made an Attempt against