Selected quad for the lemma: king_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
king_n	aaron_n	act_n	priest_n	47	3	5.8023	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91739	Divine efficacy without humane power. Opened in a sermon preached at St. Margarets Church in Westminster before the Right Honourable the House of Commons, June 28. 1660. Being the day of solemne thanksgiving for the happy return of the Kings Majesty. / By Edward Reynolds D.D. and chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty.	Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.	1660 (1660)	Wing R1246; Thomason E988_27; ESTC R203408	21,066	55

Nabal refused to send him and his men provision and compare him with David humbled under the hand of God when Absolom rebelled and Shimei cursed him and then judge how easie an hard duty is to a prepared heart and how hard an easie thing is to a froward heart 3. We may not betake our selves to carnal shifts for avoiding any danger which assaults us in doing duty If the Lord set us on work he is able without our sinne to deliver us Gods alsufficiency is an invincible argument to sincerity Gen. 17. 1. Why should I make my selfe beholding to a sinful shift when I have an alsufficient God There were some Christians in the Apostles time who out of confidence in their own knowledge and strength to stand would venture to eat meat at the Idols table thereby keeping in with their Idolatrous friends for fear of persecution To these the Apostle giveth 1. A sharp Exhortation to take heed of falling when they think they stand 1 Cor. 10. 12. 2. An answer to their fears that God will not suffer them to be tempted beyond the strength which he will supply them withal verse 13. 4. We may not therefore shrink from duty upon any discouragement but follow the call of God and be upright before him When it is our duty to obey it is his promise to protect Say not with Solomons sluggard There is a Lion in the way Prov. 22. 13. but remember there are Angels with us to bear us in our way Psal. 91. 11. Jonah was afraid to go to Niniveh a great and a wicked City one man to threaten so many thousands with speedy destruction it was the next way to be swallowed up and destroy'd himself He thinks there was no means to flie this danger but by declining duty And now he that feared the raging of the people met with the tempest of the sea he that feared to be swallowed up of danger was swallowed up of present death into the belly of the Whale and the Lord by delivering him from that death taught him to trust on his power who could as well have delivered him from any other The Lord hath called you Right Honourable unto arduous and weighty services A very difficult work it is to cure complicated diseases to extricate and unravel the intangled interests of divided minds to allay animosities to calme jealousies to moderate rigours of judgement to close distant opinions to separate the gold from the drosse the precious truths and worship of God from those many prodigies of error and madnesse which had so long assaulted it to settle the house of God and the hearts of men upon firme foundations of truth peace and righteousnesse to joyn together the sticks of Ephraim and Judah and to make whole the broken staves of beauty and bands If you shall now say as David did make thy way strait before our face as Iehosaphat did we know not what to do but our eyes are upon thee as Paul did Lord what wilt thou have me to do Thou hast done great things for us whereof we are glad thou hath delivered our eyes from teares our ●ee from falling what is it that we now shall render to the Lord for all his benefits truly Lord we are thy servants and would willingly act in our places for thy name and for the Interests of thy Christ and of his Church we have no higher design then this That the God who hath wrought wonders for us may be alone magnified and advanced by us in Orthodox doctrine in pure Ordinances in spiritual worship in united affections that no unnecessary thing may remain as a ground of offence and fomes of division and separation but that all healing and closing counsels may be used to make us all of one heart and of one soul If you thus in singleness and uprightness of heart do bespeak the Lord I can confidently say from him to you that he will be with you and uphold you that his Spirit will level all mountains before you and break in pieces any gates of brasse and cut in sunder any bars of iron which stand in your way the service he requires of you he will work for you he will not only command you by his Authority but assist you by his Grace When our interests and Gods are folded up together when we make his Will our will and his End our end we are sure never to fail in our designs because he can never miscarry in his We have seen how the Lord encourageth his servants against all difficulties which might dismay them in his service Now the means by which he doth it is by a Word This is the VVord of the Lord unto Zerubbabel Nothing can so effectually uphold the spirits of men above difficulties and discouragements which they meet with in the duties whereunto they are called as a seasonable word spoken unto them from God The VVord of the Lord to Zerubbabel is confirmation enough against all the oppositions of most potent adversaries So it was to Josua I will not fail thee nor forsake thee c. Jos. 1. 5 8. So to Asa when he heard the words of the Prophet he took courage 2 Chron. 15. 8. The righteous are bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. And their confidence is founded on a word And well it may if we consider 1. The Truth of it confirmed by signes and wonders by the solemne Oath of God Now it is impossible for God to lie every word of his is founded on his own immutable being and these are grounds of strong consolation Heb. 6. 17 18. 2. The Authority of it which is sufficient to animate any man unto obedience A man that hath an ample commission from a supream power acteth with courage as knowing the power he hath to back him No commission so full of power as that which God gives This made Moses and Aaron venture on Pharaoh and all his Sorcerers Amos an herdsman upon the Court of Ieroboam a King Peter and Iohn illiterate men to speak boldly notwithstanding the inhibition of the chief Priest and his Council Acts 4. 19 20. Acts 5. 29. 3. The Efficacy of it Nothing more operative then the Word of God It was a Word only which made the world He said let there be light and there was light By the VVord of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Psalme 33. 6. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Euseb. calleth it And it is a word only which upholds the world Heb. 1. 3. and the word is able still to give being to every promise and subsistence to every purpose of of his towards his people It is a commanding and a creating word Psal. 44. 4. Isa. 57. 19. Gods purposes and promises are ever seconded by his power He will not leave till he have done what he hath spoken Gen. 28. 15. I have spoken I will bring it to pass I have purposed I will

great persons whose dignities do as well call for our veneration as their consciences for our fidelity we must be so true to their souls as that we be not rude and uncivil to their persons Meek and humble preaching in this case especially is like a fall of snow unto which Homer compares the eloquence of Ulysses which soaks and sinks more kindly then a hasty shower And the Lord doth hereby greatly commend the power of his Word and the secret impresse and Character of his divine Majesty stamp'd upon it when from the mouth of mean Instruments he giveth it an Efficacy on the hearts of the greatest men and causeth Princes themselves with meekness to receive his counsel from the lips of poor and inconsiderable persons who have no other authority then the evidence of the Spirit of God and the Ministry wherein they stand related unto him to bear them up and encourage them in his service Thus great ships are turned about with a vere small helme and as some say stopped in their course with a very little Remora We have this Treasure in earthen Vessels that the power might be of God who did not choose the earthquake or the strong winde but the still small voice to manifest his presence by 1 Reg. 19. 11 12. We have seen the encouragement in building Gods House the meanes of it a Divine Word the Vehicula of that word Christ the great Angel of the Covenant delivers it to the Prophet and the Prophet as his messenger to Zerubbabel So then Zerubbabel is the subject animated by this word and the work whereunto he is animated is the Building of the Temple 1. Then Princes and Magistrates are to build the House of God and to take care of the Interests of Religion and to see that his truth and worship be advanced in their territories And although we have no examples hereof in the New Testament when the Empire and the Church were divided from one another yet in the state of the Jews where they were conjoyned together we have examples in most of the good Kings David Solomon Asa Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Josiah how careful they were to purge Gods house of pollution to abolish false worship to pull down high places to send Priests and Levites to teach the people to establish true Religion to cause the people to enter into Covenant with God to build his House and order the courses and services thereof And in like manner the Christian Princes Constantine Thoedosius Valentinian and many others called Synods and made Laws to condemne and suppresse Heretical Doctrines and comforted and encouraged the Orthodox Bishops and Pastors of the Church 1. They are fathers of the people and therefore must take care of the souls of those to whom they have so neer a Relation 2. They are Gods Ministers for our Good Rom. 13. 4. Therefore certainly they must not be careless of our chief good 3. We are to pray for them that under them we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godlinesse and honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. therefore certainly there lies a care upon them as well of the godliness as of the peace of their people 4. He is to have the book of the Law before him continually Deut. 17. 18 19. not only that he may keep it himself but that he may be careful to make others keep it 5. He is to be a nursing Father to the Church Isa. 49. 23. Gods people are promised that they shall suck the breasts of Kings Isa. 60. 16. Therefore certainly it belongs to their care to see that the people be provided with the sincere milk of the Word Where Religion and the meanes thereof are wanting to set it up where it is to preserve it where it is corrupted to reforme and to restore it It is one thing saith Saint Austin for a Prince to serve God in his private capacity as a man this he doth by living faithfully another thing to serve him in his publick capacity as a Prince this he doth by a vigorous sanction of Laws requiring righteous things and forbidding the contrary There is a twofold building of the Church The one doctrinal and perswasive by the Ministry of Pastors and preaching of the Word The other legal and coercive by the sanction and constitution and command of Princes for so they are said to build up the Churches walls Isa 60. 10. for the safety of the State being greatly concerned in the welfare and peace of the Church the care of this must needs belong unto them whose office and duty it is to preserve the other since without this the other cannot be preserved And therefore Aristotle an Heathen Philosopher reckoneth divine worship as a principall thing without which a City or Civil Politie cannot be And thus we finde Constantine by his Laws prohibiting Heathen sacrifices and idolatry And when Julian restored them and Valens allowed the liberty of them Jovinian and Theodosius did root them out and remove them again We finde the same Constantine setling Christian Religion in his Empire by his royal authority judging in the causes of Athanasius and Caecilianus The Emperour Gratian granting a commission to eject Arians Aurelian casting out Paulus Samosatenus out of the Church Justinian making special Laws in matters of Religion I conclude this with that memorable saying of Saint Austin In hoc Reges Deo serviunt in quantum Reges si in suo Regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad Humanam societatem verum etiam quae ad divinam Religionem That Princes then serve God as Princes when they command good things and forbid evil things not onely appertaing unto humane society but also unto divine Religion The Church of God amongst us hath in our late miserable and licentious confusions suffered great dilapidations in the holy truths and in the unity and peace thereof I shall not pollute the solemnity of this days joy with giving you in which is hardly possible a Catalogue of them Unto you Right Honourable and the other orders of the Kingdome it belongeth to be the repairers of our breaches and the restorers of paths to dwell in Do this as it ought to be done and certainly there will be nothing more conducent to the setling of our tranquility to the establishing of Government to the re-uniting of the shattered and divided hearts of the people and to the edification of the Church which it infinitely more concerneth all wise and good men to look after then any single domestical or separated interest Nor are you without direction in the Text for this weighty imployment For 2. Zerubbabel must not be without the Word of the Lord In the building of Gods House Magistrates must waite upon the mouth of God for direction and counsel It is no lesse then eight times observed in one chapter Exod. 40. that in the setting up of the Tabernacle and