Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	cloud_n	earth_n	rain_n	2,189	5	9.5355	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68105	The way to well-doing. Or A sermon of faith and good vvorkes Preached in the chappell of Buntingford, in the county of Hartford, at the beginning of their publike lecture. By Iohn Gore, rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex.	Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex, Summer sermon. aut; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Winter sermon. aut	1638 (1638)	STC 12087; ESTC S116024	20,619	38

A SVMMER SERMON VPON ELIAHS PRAYER Preached in the Cathedrall Church of St. Pauls in LONDON on the last Sonday of Trinity Terme in the afternoone being a time of extraordinary heat and drought By John Gore Rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex Printed at London by Thomas Cotes for Themas Alchorn and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the Signe of the Greene-Dragon 1638. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Mr. VVILLIAM BIRD Doctor of the Civill Law my most Worthy Friend and Benefactor RIGHT WORSHIP WHen I consider the manifold favours and courtesies that I have found at your hands I am ready to say unto my selfe as Ruth said once to Boaz Ruth 2. 10. Quare inveni gratiam Why have I found grace in your eyes that you should take knowledge of me seeing I am a stranger For mine owne part I can impute it to nothing but unto Gods goodnesse and your owne worthinesse And my onely ambition is to make you this acknowledgement that the world may see though I am poore I am thankefull Now as Ioab wisht to David in another case 2 Sam. 24. 3. so wish I to you The Lord God adde unto your estate how much soever it be an hundred fold and that your eyes may see it and your heart may rejoyce in it all the dayes of your life Thus prayes Your poore unworthy Friend JOHN GORE A SVMMER SERMON IAMES 5. 17 18. Elias was a man subject to like passions as wee are and hee prayed earnestly that it might not raine and it rained not on the earth by the space of three yeares and sixe moneths And hee prayed againe and the heavens gave raine and the earth brought forth her fruit THe summe and drift of this Text is to set forth the efficacie or rather omnipotency of earnest and fervent Prayer There be two graces of God in man that may justly be termed Omnipotent or Almighty graces God himselfe being pleased to shew his Almighty power and goodnesse in them and they are Faith and Prayer 1. For the first Mat. 15. 28. O woman great is thy faith bee it unto thee even as thou wilt What a large unlimitted Grant and Patent was this for a poore sinner to aske what she would and have promise of acceptance Mark 9. 23. To him that beleeveth all things are possible Looke what a beleever cannot doe himselfe God himselfe will doe it for him and yet it shal be accounted as his act and deed Phil. 4. 13. I can doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Not meaning that hee could doe all things in generall and at large as to walke on the waters flye in the ayre c. but all things that belonged to his calling all things that concerned his Ministery and all things that pertained to the right way of pleasing God and of saving his owne soule He could pray well Preach well live well he could want and he could abound he could conforme and apply himselfe to all estates whatsoever All this hee could doe not by any power or ability of his owne but by the strengthning grace and faith and vertue of Iesus Christ I can doe all things through Christ that strengthneth me As on the contrary our Saviour saith of himselfe Mark 6. 5. that he could doe nothing worth speaking of in his owne Country 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no mighty worke no worke of wonder in respect of what he could have done only because of their unbeleife and marke that it is not said He would do no such workes there but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He could not doe them not that Christ was unable for want of power but hee saw it was unavaileable through their lacke of faith For the power of God and the faith of men are like the spirits and the sinewes in the body the one mooves and stirres and workes within the other if there be no faith in us there can be no expectation of any power or any helpe from God 2. The other omnipotent grace is Prayer and that you may be assured it is so marke but that expression Exod. 32. 10. Let me alone saith God to Moses that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great Nation What a word was this to come from the mouth of Almighty God to bid a poore weake creature let him alone it shewes that Moses by his prayer did even as it were over-power the Lord that the Lord had not the power to revenge himselfe on that provoking people as long as Moses interceded for them Such a powerfull man with God was Eliah here in my text His mouth as a Father saith was Fraenum Coeli the very bridle of Heaven he could even rule the heavens with his prayers as a man rules a horse with a bridle Now least you should thinke he did thus prevaile with God rather by the priviledge of his person than by the vertue of his prayers The Apostle tells us for that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was a man subject to the same passions that we are and yet his prayer tooke such good effect Eliah was a man subject c. In my text there are two generall points to bee considered 1. The condition and quality of Eliahs person He was a man subject to like passions as wee are 2. The condition and quality of his prayer that like a two-edged sword it cut both wayes and prevailed in both kindes both to bring a judgement and to bring a blessing upon the people His first prayer like a burning feaver entred into the bowels of the earth and scorcht and dryed up the Rivers and Lakes and Springs and left no moisture in them and so brought a judgement of drought and dearth upon the land His second prayer went up into the clouds above and fetcht an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a heaven-dropping dew a happy and a heavenly raine that moystned and fatned and refreshed the earth againe He prayed againe and the heavens gave raine and the earth brought forth her fruit 1. The condition and quality of Eliahs person what manner of man Eliah was My Text saith hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man subject to the same passions to the same frailties and infirmities that we are Hence you may observe that no profession of holinesse no practise of piety no degree of grace and sanctification in this life can exempt or free or priviledge a man from common passions and infirmities Eliah was a man of God a mortified and a sanctified man and one of the greatest favourites in the Court of heaven and yet a man subject to passions What shall I neede to multiply examples to proove this point when wee know the Apostle affirmeth even of our Saviour himselfe That hee was in all things like unto us sinne onely excepted set but sinne aside where of his blessed person was uncapable for as no rust can take hold of burning and flaming iron no more could any sin or corruption take

a devill might doe much upon earth but he could doe nothing in heaven therefore say they shew us a signe from Heaven and we will beleeve So here to prevent all misconceites Elias prayed and procures a judgement from heaven and that a convincing a cutting judgement for you must know that the people at that time left off to worship the true God and fell to worship Baall the Sunne the Moone and all the Hoast of Heaven trusting no doubt that these gods of theirs would by their influence so moysten and fatten the earth that they should not need to be beholding to God for any raine now quoth Eliah here is a judgement to try yours gods withall goe to the gods that ye have served let them helpe now or never if they can doe any thing they can send a showre of rayne if not why doe ye serve them I say it was a convincing judgement Eliah did it on purpose to let them see the vilenesse of their Idolatry what base what impotent what unworthy gods they served that could not helpe their clyents to a droppe of raine In like manner whatsoever a man makes his god besides the true one I meane puts his trust in for helpe in time of neede shall at length so deceive him and so befoole him that hee shall bee forced to confesse as these people did in the end The Lord he is God The Lord hee is God 2. Because it was a just and a fitting punishment this people were guilty of spirituall barrennesse and God plagued them with temporall barrennesse No Nation under heaven was so husbanded and manured of God so watered with the dewes of heaven I meane with the meanes of grace and salvation as they were and yet none more unfruitfull in every good worke Now therefore Eliah fits them with a judgement sutable and agreeable to their sinne he prayes to God that it might not raine that so their lands might be answerable to their lives and their foyles become as barren as their soules Thus it pleaseth God many times to pay men in their owne coyne to come home to them in their owne kinde and to fit his punishments according to their sinnes That as they that sinne in their goods by misgetting miskeeping and mispending them are many times punished in their goods by losses and crosses by fire by water c. And as they that sinne in their children by misloving or misnurturing them are oft times punished in their children as David was in Absolom and Adonijah so they that sinne in their lands it is just with God to punish them in their lands Solomon tels us Prov. 21. 4. that the plowing of a wicked man is sinne That is strange the husbandry and tillage of the ground is generally held to be one of the most honest the most innocent the most harmelesse callings in the world and so it is of it selfe and yet wee see when a wicked man takes the plow in hand when a man goes to his plow with an ill minde and an ill conscience his very plowing addes to his sinnes And it is just with God that that land which is plowed sinfully should thrive accordingly and become as bad and as barren as the owner A fruitfull land doth God make barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein 3. Because it was a sensible and a palpable judgement As God Almighty told Caine Gen. 4. 7. that hee should be cursed from the earth The Lord knew that Caine cared not to be cursed from heaven and to be banished from the presence of God and branded for a Reprobate but to bee cursed from the earth to be cursed in earthly things hee being a tiller of the earth that would goe nearest to his heart of any judgement Even such is the disposition of every man of the earth as David termes earthly minded men they doe not value nor care to be cursed from heaven to be excommunicated out of the favour of God and out of the blessed company of all faithfull people which censure of excommunication if it be rightly carryed with a Clave non erante as the Schoolemen speake when there is no errour committed in the use of the keyes is one of the greatest punishments under heaven But carnall men are not sensible of this and therefore God will punish them in that wherein they are sensible in their wives and children in their corne and cattell c. in such things as are neerest and dearest to them as when David slung his stone at Goliah if hee had strucke him upon any part of his harnesse hee had never felt the blow but striking him as hee did in the forehead which was naked and tender that sunke him presently so it is with carnall men for spirituall judgements they are harnessed their hearts are hardned their consciences are seared they have as the Apostle speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a horny hoofe as it were growne over their hearts that makes them insensible of any spirituall blow that can light upon them Therefore Almighty God knowing in what part they lie naked in what kinde they are tenderly affected namely in their affection to earthly things strikes them there plagues them in that and that sinkes them like Nabal whose heart dyed within him like a stone As we see in Exodus how Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardned their heart and out stood all the plagues of Egypt till God plagued them in their children and that broke their hearts So beleeve it they that care not for spirituall punishments for the losse of Gods favour the losse of heaven the losse and perill of their owne soules God will finde a time to punish them in that which they doe and shall care for in their corne in their substance in that which is neerest and dearest to them As he did these Israelies here because they were not sensible of the want of grace God punisht them with that would make them sensible with the want of raine that when they had plowed and sowne their land and bestowed all their care and cost all should be in vaine for want of moisture to refresh the earth These or the like reasons I suppose might moove Eliah to pray and procure this kinde of judgement By the way if any man desire to know the reason why God is not thus marveilous in the Ministers of the Gospell as hee was in Eliah and those other Prophets of the Law why wee that are his Evangelicall Prophets cannot doe such wonders in our dayes as they did in theirs Answer though that same donum miraculorum the gift of Miracles be ceased in the Church now that the Gospell hath taken roote as Husbandmen when they transplant a tree at first they set props and stayes to shore it up but after it hath taken root they take away the staies and let it grow by the ordinary influence of the heavens I say though the gift of working wonders be ceased yet miracles wonders

and wrought his death The most terrible wonders that ever our Saviour did were but two and those no wayes prejudicious to the person or life of any man woman or childe The one was his cursing and blasting of the barren Figge-tree and this was but symbolicall not done in any spleene to the poore tree but onely to shew his indignation against all unfruitfull profession when men make an outward shew of piety to God but when the poore and hungry come to them as Christ came to that Figge-tree hoping to pull some fruite of charity and mercy from them there is nothing to be found but leaves good words perhaps and that is all beleeve it such men are nigh unto cursing and it is Gods infinite mercy if he doe not blast their estate as Christ did the Fig-tree that it shall never prosper to them nor theirs The other wonder of Christ that did any hurt was that Matth. 8. The drowning of the Swine and yet that was the devils doing Christ onely gave way to these evill spirits which seeke the destruction of man and beast to carry them headlong into the sea as they would carry us too but that God above who stiles himselfe The preserver of men is pleased in mercy to keepe out of their clutches and this was symbolicall too to let us understand how God hates all those that are of a swinish disposition that is all drunken sots that like swine have neither wit nor grace to moderate themselves in the use of Gods creatures and all lazy beasts that minde nothing but their bellies as you know a Swine is one of the laziest creatures that a man can keepe it doth him no worke nor service at all or lastly All hoggish worldlings and miserable mucke-wormes of the earth that never doe good till they come to dye let all such tremble and feare and call to God for mercy least in his just judgement he deliver their soules into the hands of those hellish Fiends to carry them headlong as they did the Swine into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for evermore there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth These are the two severest wonders that ever our Saviour did or suffered to be done as for all the rest looke into the Stories of the Gospell which are the Acts and Monuments of Iesus Christ you shall finde to be all gracious all beneficiall all healing and saving wonders Never any man came to him for sight that went away blind never any came to him for hearing that went away deafe never any came to him for health that went away sicke In a word you shall never finde that ever any man or woman came to our Saviour for any helpe or mercy that ever went away confounded or disappointed of their hopes Now beloved Christ is the same Iesus still that then hee was Coelum non animum as wee say though hee have changed his place he hath not changed his nature but is still as favourable as indulgent to mankind as ever he was if we doe but as truely seeke unto him for our soules health as they did for their bodies So you see the nature of these wonders is altered from that they were in Eliahs times the severity of the Law suites not with the lenity of the Gospell and wee must now imitate our Saviour in workes of mercy and not follow Eliah in prayers for judgement Wee see Luke 9. 54. When the Disciples fingers itched to be revenged on the Samaritans for their base discourtesie in not entertaining our Saviour Master saith they wilt thou that we command fire from Heaven and consume them as Eliah did Wee have a president for it it is a booke case Eliah did so let us doe the like these men deserve it as bad or worse than they with whom Eliah had to doe No saith our Saviour the case is altered ye know not of what spirit ye are the spirit of the Law required severity the spirit of the Gospell requires meekenesse and mercy Farre is it from the good Spirit of Christ and of God to stirre up any mans heart to private revenge not an Eagle but a Dove was the shape wherein that holy and healthfull Spirit made choise to appeare Let us therefore all that are called Christians follow no other president but our Saviour Christs whose onely lesson that ever he set us to learne of him was this to be humble and meeke and so doing we shall find Requiem animabus rest and peace to our owne soules The third and last reason that may warrant Eliah in praying for a judgement was 3. Necessitas rei the necessity of the thing it selfe that holy Prophet had spent his strength in vaine Sermon upon Sermon warning upon warning threatning upon threatning and when he saw that nothing would worke them to goodnesse then he prayes for a judgement not in a vindictive way to be revenged upon them but as a desperate remedy knowing that that or nothing would bring them to good as it is said 2 Chron. ult God sent his Prophets rising early and sending them and used all gentle meanes to reclaime them till there was no remedy then he sent destruction In this sence if a man have a child or a friend or any one that he wisheth well to his soule if he be growne to that passe so hardned in sinne that no perswasions no warnings no threatnings will worke upon him I am perswaded it were neither uncharitable nor unpleasing to God if a man should pray Lord smite him correct him lay some medicinall some healing punishment upon him that hee may see the errour of his wayes and may returne and repent and so be saved Vpon these and the like grounds I suppose Eliah might with a safe conscience pray for a judgement but then the next questionis Why he should make choise to pray for this kind of judgment of drought and dearth for want of raine rather then any other I will tell you what I thinke the reasons may be 1. Because it was an uncontrouleable a convincing judgement if Eliah should have brought any earthly or visible judgement as Sword or Pestilence c. they would have imputed it presently to some secondary meanes and causes now this was a heavenly an invisible judgement the stoppage of the clouds the detaining of Raine and the burning and scorching of the Sunne was a judgement from heaven and such as they must needes confesse to be Digitus the finger of God not Aliquid humani no handy worke of any mortall man For this was the fallacy which the Scribes and Pharisees put upon our Saviour Math. 16. 1. When they had seene all the miracles and wonders of Christ how he cured the sicke c. they conceited that these things might be done by slight of hand by Art of Magicke by Beelzebub or by Conjuration c. but say they Shew us a signe from heaven and then we will beleeve They knew that a Magician or