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	kingdom_n	visible_a	4,215	5	9.6422	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89578	A sacred record to be made of Gods mercies to Zion: a thanksgiving sermon preached to the two Houses of Parliament, the Lord Major, Court of Aldermen, and Common-Councell of the city of London, at Christ-Church, June 19. 1645. Being the day of their publike thanksgiving to almighty God for the great and glorious victory obtained by the Parliaments army under the conduct of Sir Thomas Fairfax in Naseby-field. /	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1645 (1645)	Wing M773; Thomason E288_36; ESTC R200112	25,316	41

while in the world and then it is dissolved and their people remaine not to them but are either destroyed or delivered over and left to some other Governour but this Kingdome of Christ shall never leave its people to any other Conquerour It is with other Kingdomes as my Text a little after tells you it is with the Earth and Heavens as a garment they all wax old as a Vesture they change and rot and come to nothing but the Kingdome of Christ like himself hath never any end and the Generation of his Servants shall ever continue in his sight The Church is sometimes more and sometimes lesse visible The people that praise God are sometimes more in number and sometimes fewer but they alwayes are in all ages God will have them that shall give him his glory and sing him praises in the Churches This I onely mention Secondly another which more concernes us is the works they should attend unto that the glory of this great deliverance might be alwayes rendred unto him Which affords us this lesson That a People who are truly thankfull for Gods building up of Zion and hearing the prayers of his afflicted ones will endeavour by all meanes possible that all ages present and to come may glorifie God for it Or more briefly take it thus The whole work of Gods redeemed people is to provide that God may alwayes and every where have the glory of it Expositors observe upon this Text that this redeemed Church take no thought concerning themselves about their own ease pleasure wealth gaine or any thing else might accrew unto themselves by this deliverance to make their own life easie or sweet but their thoughts and studies are wholly laid out how the present and succeeding Generations should give all glory to God for it And hee that runnes may read it in the practise of many others recorded in Scripture The time would faile me to give you a catalogue of the Churches Kings Prophets Priests and other holy men of God who have been like minded Their care was as Joabs at the taking of Rabbah of the Ammonites that David might have the glory of it Thus did Moses when they were brought out of the Egyptian bondage Thus Deborah and Barak after the discomfiture of Jabin Thus did Hannah 1 Sam. 2. and innumerable others who in all the Lords administrations to them whether inlargements or pressures have been studious of nothing so much as how in all things God might have his glory preserved and spread David the man after Gods own heart exceeded all others in this thing Quid retribuam what shall I render unto the Lord was his usuall study and hee never thought his own parts his wit fancy thoughts tongue pen c. sufficient for it but when hee had stirred up all within him Blesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within mee blesse his holy Name Hee would also stirre up all without him all the Church Blesse the Lord yee house of Israel let Israel say let all that feare God say His mercy endureth for ever All the Nations make a joyfull sound unto God all ye Lands All the Angels Blesse the Lord yee his Angels all yee his Hosts Yea all Creatures blesse the Lord all his workes in all places of his Dominion whether above or below animate or inanimate The Sun and Moon the Starres of Light the Dragons and deeps fire and haile Snow and vapours Mountaines and hills fruitfull trees and Cedars Beasts and all cattle creeping things and flying Fowles hee layes a tax upon them all to come in and contribute their utmost that God might have the glory due to his Name for exalting the horne of his people even the children of Israel the people neere unto him And there are three speciall Reasons why this should bee the great worke of the Lords saved and rescued people and why indeed they can doe no other then study thus to exalt him One is because they well know that the Lord hath reserved nothing to himselfe but onely his glory the benefits hee gives to them all the sweetnesse and honey that can bee found in them hee gives them leave to suck out but his glory and his praise is his owne and that which hee hath wholly reserved of that hee is jealous lest it should either bee denyed Eclipsed diminished or any the least violation offered to it in any kind All Gods people know this of him and therefore they cannot but indeavour to preserve it for him Secondly besides they know as God is jealous in that point so it is all the work that hee hath appointed them to doe he hath therefore separated them to himself out of all the Nations of the world to be his peculiar ones for this very end that they might give him all the glory and praise of his mercy I have said God created him formed and made him for my glory Esay 43. 7. This is the law of his new Creation which is as powerfull in them as the law of Nature or the first creation is in the rest of his Works And therefore with a holy and spirituall naturalnesse if I may so call it the hearts of all the Saints are carryed to give God the glory as really as the stones are carryed to the Center or the fire to fly upwards this is fixed in their hearts the work of grace hath moulded them to it that they can doe no other but endeavour to exalt God it being the very end why their spirituall life and all their other priviledges are conferred upon them Yea thirdly they know their owne Interests are much concerned in Gods glory they never are losers by it if in any work of God he want his praise they will want their comfort but if God bee a gainer they shall certainly bee no losers Whatsoever is powred upon the head of Christ what ointment soever of praise or glory it will in a due proportion fall downe to the skirts of his garments nor is there any other way to have any sweetnesse comfort praise or glory to bee derived unto themselves but by giving all unto him to whom alone it belongeth and then although hee will never give away his glory the glory of being the fountaine the first supreame originall giver of all good yet they shall have the glory of Instruments and of fellow workers with him which is a glory and praise sufficient This is a lesson of singular use to all Gods redeemed ones in many particulars But the onely thing I shall at the present insist upon is to direct how we may best improve the mercy of this day and how we may do something worthy of this dayes meeting the Lord hath turned our heavinesse into rejoycing hath took off from us the garment of mourning and put upon us this day the garment of salvation And I am perswaded this honourable Assembly hath

bee done his heart is set upon record his work of building of Zion and let what else so ever be forgotren it matters not ought yee not to be like minded unto our Lord Secondly let me assure you there is nothing else will ever appease our troubles but the vigorous carrying on of this work A great many are afraid lest the quick establishing of Religion through the multitude of mens divided thoughts and ungodlinesse of many mens minds should make our troubles and conflicts more then they have been but be ye assured the Lords Kingdome being provided for in the right way God will prepare salvation for walls and bulwarks hee will be the safety of that Kingdome which advanceth his Kingdome the Kingdome of Christ it is a Kingdome of Peace as himselfe is a Prince of Peace It will never make tumults it will appease tumults in a Kingdome where Christs Scepter prevailes whare hee strikes the Earth with the rod of his mouth Cockatrices will be charmed and all enemies shall bee hush't and quiet It will I say make no tumults where it is received but let mee tell you Christs heart is so set upon the advancement of his Kingdome that where it is not received himselfe will breed tumults enow for them that oppose him and the stone cut out of the mountaine without hands will dash asunder all men and all things all Kingdoms all States that shal not give way to him I adde further concerning your selves that there is nothing will bring so great and everlasting glory to you as to have been instruments in your generation to further the work wherein Christs honour is so much concerned you have read Books and know the world I beseech you tell me out of all the ages of the world that are past cull out the choisest among men in their generations and say who among them was really an eminent Man if it were not for being an instrument in helping forward the Church of Christ multitudes have made stately buildings Fish-ponds Gardens Palaces Some have erected Kingdomes what is become of them all Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit is the doome of all of them they are all turned into vanity and so are the Makers of them Consider the greatest wisest richest learned'st of all who have lived if they were not for Christ and his Church what glory doth now remaine to any of them how much so ever they magnified themselves or were flattered by others who now wil honour them who now extols Pharaoh for a wise King Absalon for a compleat Courtier Achitophel for a politique States-man who now would have the lot of any of them do they not all lye buried ingloriously hath not the Lord made the moth corruption to rot them al But now look into Gods Book and read all Chronicles and you shall find that all they who have set their hearts to this work all Rulers Counsellers Parliaments who have been for the Lord and his Church and Kingdome their memoriall is honourable and blessed in all ages they are still eminent and glorious and shall bee so to the worlds end and in Heaven to all Eternity Set therefore your hearts to this great work shew a reall defire to glorifie him who hath these great things for us This Right Honourable Lords and Patriots I had to say unto you and as for you the rest of this Honoured and Reverend Assembly very many things might bee suggested unto you as means to exalt the glory of this our God and Saviour but the onely thing I shall at the present commend unto you is to be often with God in the Mount follow him with your prayers and supplications give him no rest till hee hath carryed on this great and Honourable Assembly to doe this work that they may raise the foundations for many Generations This from the second part of the Text The work that they should doe not to seek themselves but how the glory of God may be preserved in the present and future Generations The third and last followes which concernes the way they shall take to perpetuate Gods glory for building his Church and answering his peoples prayers what way shall they take for it This shall be written in perpetuam reimemoriam for an eternall monument of it The onely Lesson which I shall hence observe is this That one great way of giving God his deserved glory for his building of his Church and answering his peoples prayers is by causing these wonderfull workes of God to be written for the generations to come For the truth of it it is one of Gods Ordinances You shall finde it in the 78 Psal. vers. 5. where the Prophet had exhorted them to give eare and learne what God had done for them that they might teach it to their children This said he hee ordained for a Law and a Statute for Israel what was this Ordinance that they should write it and teach their posterity to come the wonderfull things which God hath done for his people he commanded not onely themselves to know him and his works and to talk of them but to provide that the generations to come might know what God had done So in the 17. of Exod. 14. vers. When God had begun to appeare for his people in a Warre against Amalck write it said he in a Booke a Book of the Warres of God for his Church and against his enemies must bee written and kept as a record from age to age So also Moses commanded them in the 31 of Deut. 19. vers. Now therefore write ye this Song for you and teach it the Children of Israel A song must be written and learned to expresse what God had done for a people who were most unworthy of the Mercies bestowed upon them So likewise Ester Est 9. 32. The great work of Gods defeating the conspiracy of Haman and deliverance of his Church was recorded not onely by an anniversary feast but it must bee written in a Booke Thus you see the Lord hath often enjoyned his people to record and transmit to posterity the great things which hee hath done for them And as he hath commanded it so his Spirit hath ordered and brought to passe that it hath been so Moses and Samuel and the rest of the Prophets have done it what should I trouble you with a discourse of particular instances since the whole Book of God is nothing but a Chronicle Book of Acts and Monuments of the Lords wonderfull works in gathering and building protecting and saving and doing good to his Church and destroying their Enemies And they did it many wayes sometime they made Eucharisticall Songs which they taught their children sometime they wrote them upon their Childrens names sometime by giving names to the places where the mercies were received sometime erecting stones and pillars sometime by appointing yearly Feasts of remembrance Many of which wayes were presented unto you the

hand written they will be without all question Scribimus indocti doctique Diurnalls and Weekly Intelligencers undertake to set them all down but shall posterity bee left to make their computatiō draw their estimate of the Lords dealing by such Books as these should not we rob God our selves his Cause his Church in al ages if we should leave it to such Historians as these God forbid rather let some of the choicest men in the Land be set about it It was said of Claudian that he wanted matter to write of suitable to his wit but what wit is suitable to this matter Who is sufficient for these things who can tell the loving kindnesse of the Lord who can shew forth all his goodnesse My humble suit therefore to the Right Honourable Houses is a thing which I am assured God expects from you even that you would provide that some worthy faithfull heart and heads and pens bee set on work who may undertake this Work and have leave as Mr. Fox had in Queen Elizabeths dayes to search all the Registries and be enabled to hold forth all the light that may bee that the Generations to come may see a true picture a faithfull Story of these three or foure last years And let him doe it faithfully let him not be discouraged with the Politicians fear That it is dangerous to write truth in the present age not safe to come too neere the heels of truth lest it kicke out his teeth But as the Penmen of the Scripture wrote mans folly and Gods goodnesse so let him bee encouraged to let the world know great things God hath done for us and how little we have done for our selves no gratious man shall have the lesse glory in Heaven by letting God have his glory by us on earth though it be in publishing our weaknesses and follies I once again humbly beseech you the thing may bee done And yet further to provoke you consider that in all ages the eminentest men have been employed in this kind of Work Moses wrote the dealings of God for 2500 years from the Creation to their entring into Canaan and afterward it was carryed on by other chiefe Instruments above half the Old Testament is a Chronicle of the things done by the Lord in War and Peace for his people In the New Testament four Evangelists wrote the story of Christ Luke writing the Acts of the Apostles and how ill could the world have wanted one of these How miserable had we been if we had been deprived of them And since that time I appeale to all Scholars whether the choicest men in learning have not been imployed in this service and let all English men speake whether they think any book written in our Mother tongue hath brought more glory to God and stirred up more zeale for Christ and encouraged people more to a holy life and to own Gods Cause couragiously then Mr. Foxes books of Martyrs the Acts and Monuments of the Church In all this I plead not for the honour of any man or men let them all be laid in the dust so God may be glorified they who doe worthily shall have glory enough with God in Heaven yet God would have them also had in everlasting remembrance but it is for God and his honour that I plead there are such things of God of his Wisdome Power Goodnesse Compassion Mercy to be set forth that should the Lord move your hearts to resolve upon it this day it were a testimony of your thankfulnesse next to the going on vigorously in the Reformation and setling of the Church and you can pitch upon nothing that shall bring more eternall glory to the Lord that hath done these great things for us thn to cause these things to be written for the Generations to come that the people not yet created may praise the Lord FINIS Introduction Shewing the fitnesse and scope of the Text Dan. 9. 25. The meaning of the words Esa. 43. 1 2. Jer. 31. 22. Ephes. 2. 10. The first most generall Observation The great work of Gods redeemed People is to praise him Psal. 65. 1. Ephes. 3. ult. Esa● 46. ult. More particular Observations First from the persons who shall doe it Thence I observe the condition of God people whē deprived of Gods Ordinances And when they injoy the libertie of them Ezek. 37. 2. Observat. A people redeemed from low condition most fit to praise God Zeph. 3. 11 12 13. Psal. 22. 24 25 26. 1. I came one great cause why our miseries continue We are not yet brought low in our eyes How great the sinne of such people is when they forget this duty Prov. 30. 21 22 Esay 1. 2. Ezek. 16. 4 5 6 22. 2. Part. The work it selfe That God might in all ages have the glory of this great work Observat. 1. Ephes. 3. 21. In all ages God will have a people to praise him Dan. 2 44. Psal. 102 25 26 27 28. Observat. 2. The whole work of Gods redeemed people is to provide that God may have his glory in all ages Proved by example of the Saints 2 Sam ●2 27. Exod. 1● Judg. 5. 1 Sam. 4. 13 17 18. Jos. 7. 6 7 10. Psal. 116. 10 Psal. 103. 1 2. Psal. 118. 23. Psal. 100. 1. Ps. 103. 20 21. Psal. 48. per to●um Vers 14. And by reason Esa. 43. 7. Application Exhortation 1. To the Parliament to doe this How they may doe it Motives thereunto First Motives ● God chiefly minds this 1 Cor. 7. ●● 2. This onely will end our troubles Esa. 26. 1. Esa. 11. 3. Dan. 2. 3. This will be the everlasting honour of them who do it Part. 3. The meanes whereby they should seek to perpetuate Gods glory Observat. One great meanes to preserve and render unto God his due glory is to record his mercies Proved by Scripture Exod. 15. Judg. 5 Gen. 41 51. Gen. 22. 13 1 Sam. 7. 12. Hester 9. M. Arrows●nih Ebenezert And by reason 1. Gods glory is hereby preserved and spread abroad Psal. 111. 4. Eccles. 3. 14. Thus people who receive them are hereby bettered And the instruments imployed by God are had in due remembrance and honour 3. The generations to come have their due these works concern them And may many wayes be gainers by them Rom. 15. 4. 1 Cor. 10. 11. E●ra 9. 10. ● Vse 1. If posterity then much more they who receive these deliverances should praise God for them Exhortation to all to doe it Especially for mercy The greatnes of this Victory Both in the substance And circumstances which greatly magnifie Gods mercy in it ● The 〈◊〉 when it was done Psal. 125. 33. 2. The place 8. The persons by whom 1 Cor. 1. 27 28 29. 4. The manner how Vse 2. Exhortation to record these Mercies for the Generation to come Dan 4. Psal. 10.