Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	church_n	government_n	reform_a	1,712	5	10.4048	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85887	A treatise of prayer and of divine providence as relating to it. With an application of the general doctrine thereof unto the present time, and state of things in the land, so far as prayer is concerned in them. Written for the instruction, admonition, and comfort of those that give themselves unto prayer, and stand in need of it in the said respects. By Edvvard Gee, minister of the gospel at Eccleston in Lancashire.	Gee, Edward, 1613-1660.	1653 (1653)	Wing G451; Thomason E1430_1; ESTC R209520	284,427	526

list do so likewise And how general is if not the committance yet the contagion of Idolatry when as some practise it others plead for its freedom others argue for it as no Idolatry others connive at it and let it alone and others work underhand for its further impunity That which the Prophet utters by way of description and reproof of the impiety of the Heathen Nations Micah 4.5 All people will walk every one in the name of his God is now owned and voted for by many and they say Let all people or they should walk every one in the name of his god and further besides the gross or corporal sort of Idol-worship or adoring either Images the work of mens hands or Creatures the work of Gods hands there are two other kinds of Idolatry and they are both among us There is the Idolatry of the brain and the Idolatry of the heart The Idolatry of the brain to wit the entertaining of Antitheistical notions or conceits of God or the seting up of such figments in the understanding of God as are directly opposite to that divine Nature and Personality or distinction of subsistence as is revealed unto us in the Word of God to be the object of our faith and worship And the Idolatry of the heart that is Covetousness for this sin the Apostle brandeth for Idolatry * Col. 3 5. Ephes 5 5 Vide Drusius in Hos 12.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we Ephes 4.19 translate greediness Vide Bez. in loc presertim Dan. Heusii excercit lib 10 c 4 l. 13. c. 2 And Mr Leigh's Crit. Sacr. in vocab And we must understand the term is of a larger extent then our ordinary sence of the word Covetousness reacheth unto for it signifieth an over-greedy desire prosecution and use of any earthly thing and so may include in it ambition intemperance luxury or any other inordinacy as well as the love of mony or worldly wealth and particularly it signifies that satisfying or accomplishment of any corrupt lust which is brought about by violence treachery or breach of Covenant Now who will not confess that the Land is full of this Idolatry or can say that ever any Age or Country equalled or more abounded with this kind of Idolatry and Worship then this of ours Here is Covenant breaking and especially with or in the matters of God I think I may confidently say Never any Nation scarce Israel it self in Moses time or after hath so generally publ●quely solemnly sacredly and reiteratedly bound themselves to or in the th ngs of God as hath this with our neighbor Nation and never did any so quickly so universally in regard of things so professedly so constantly with such self justifying and so hypocritically or under a pretence of acting from and for God violate their bonds unto him as multitudes have done among us Did ever any people lift up their hands so high unto God in swearing performance of all religious and humane Duties and defence and advancement of all sacred and civil Rights and presently let down their hands so low when it came to execution yea and lifted them up so high against the very things which they swore for as many in England have done We have multiplyed Oaths and studied for the most solemn express and strict forms of declaring and binding our selves as if we would constrain both God and all the world to beleeve and build upon our word most surely and as if we would make it unimaginable and impossible that we should break but after all this there are men found that have gone to work in the matters of the Oaths and Covenants as if the direct contrary to what was the subject of their Oaths had been the things they had undertaken and tyed themselves unto and as if all that they did in entering into those Obligations and in their proceedings afterward had been out of a study to make themselves and the Land as deeply guilty as they could both against God and man of Oath and Covenant-violation Who so shall but look back if a remembrance thereof now may be offenceless upon the Vow and Protestation of the year 1641. and the League and Covenant of the year 1642. and therein take notice to let all other things pass of what was vowed protested covenanted and sworn by the generality of this Nation in one or other or both of those bonds in relation to God What maintenance and defence of the true reformed Protestant Religion against all Popery and Popish Innovations and what endeavor of the punishment of all the Actors to the contrary what endeavor for the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland and for the Reformation of Religion in the Kingdom of England and Ireland and that in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government in respect both to that Church and to these Kingdoms and for the Conjunction and Vniformity of the Churches of God in all the three Kingdoms in Religion c. and for the extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresie Schism Profaneness c. He I say that shall but think thereof and then cast his eye upon the universal indisposition and backwardness of the whole Nation to the making good of these things their lothness to expose or imploy any life power or estate for the same the late committance to otter oblivion and deep silence of all these Obligations their total desistance from and constant refusal of all these performances in whose hands it is publiquely to manage the same and their disenabling letting and discouraging them that would stir therein the declarings endeavors and exploits of many directly contrary to these clauses both to the downfall of what was to have been preserved restored or effected and to the reviving and flou●ishing of what was to have been extirpated and lastly the favour and help that hath been lent to the known Enemies of the Religion professed and covenanted for in all the said branches thereof and in their enmity against the same He I say again that shall revolve these things if he have any sense either of the things obliged to or the nature of the Obligation cannot chuse but sit down with some part of Ezra's astonishment and heaviness conceived upon the sin of some of his people in the point of anti-federal marriages And as to the purpose in hand in stead of wondering what is become of all the prayers that have been put up for England he may admire what shall become of England and of them that have made it and themselves so guilty in this matter For this our heart is faint for these things our eyes are dim Lam 5.17 Here is Religion abused unto carnal ends and that very commonly plainly and grosly Religion hath been for a long time universally embraced and pretended to in England There have of late been many proceed ngs taken in hand about it yea it hath been one thing which men have held forth and made

taken for the clearing thereof in order to the taking effect of those prayers and the bringing on of that restauration 3. The Salvation of Sion that thereupon ensues in answer to prayer then is she called Sought out a City not forsaken by all which we are given to understand that betwixt a restless persistency in prayer and the accomplishment thereof there are ordinarily some interposing impediments which must be removed and for that reason the said accomplishment is for some time delayed The impediments which are in the way of the people of God to the mercies they pray for are for the most part either bad Rulers that are over them or bad people that are mingled and associated with them 1. Sometimes such persons as are in power and rule and are enemies to God and his people they or their enmity or oppositeness are the obstacles to be removed Whilest Daniel is afflicting his Soul and solemnly supplicating in behalf of the Church of God the Temple Dan. 10.1 2 and the City of Ierusalem three full weeks the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia stands in the way of the Angel that was dispatched to Daniel with the answer of his prayers and hinders him from arriving at Daniel for that space and so did the said Prince and divers of his successors afterwards interrupt the effecting of Daniels prayers in the instauration of the Temple and recovery of the Church of God in Iudea The Angel therefore who at the end of those three weeks comes to Daniel to deliver him his answer telleth him by way of satisfaction in the delay already past and that which was yet to come in relation to the matter or things prayed about His words were heard from the first day but he came not until then hav●ng been withstood and detained for those three weeks by the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia Ver. 12 13 20 and that as soon as he had delivered to him his message he was forthwith to return again to fight with the Prince of Persia Interpreters understand this Prince of Persia in vers 13. to be Cambyses and the resistance which he made to the Angel to be his opposing by his inhibition the building of the Temple which formerly was authorized by his father Cyrus but now whilest Cyrus is absent and imployed in the Scythian War his son Cambyses governing in his place forbiddeth it and the Prince of Persia in vers 20. is conceived to signifie those his successors by whom or during whose reigns the aforesaid work in Iudea ceased to wit Darius Histaspes Ahasuerus called Xerxes and Artaxerxes called Longimanus The Angel therefore as the Minister of God is sent first to take cognizance and course about those proceedings of Cambyses and then to bring unto Daniel matter of information and encouragement touching the subject of his prayers and after that he is to return back to the Court of Persia and there continually to attend the actions of the Princes thereof successively and to fight against those of them that withstood the rebuilding of the Temple and recovery of the state of Iudah All this work was in order to the remotion of the impediments which letted the effecting of Daniels Petitions and for this reason it was that there was so much time to run out ere they could be accomplished as the Prophet himself saith in his Preface to this Vision Vers 1. A thing was revealed unto me and the thing was true but the time appointed was long 2. Sometimes the impediments to be removed are such wicked persons as are mingled or associated with the special people of God whom neither the Will of God nor the conveniency and good of those his people will brook to be copartners with them in the mercies prayed for The Lord declareth his purpose and promise to confer sundry blessings upon a certain party whom he calleth My people that have sought me Isai 65.8 9 10. and whom he contradistinguisheth from that rebellious and provoking people whom he had described before vers 2 3 4 5. But when shall those promises take effect what is it that stands in their way to them Why that rebellious and provoking people must first be proceeded with and taken out of the way they must not survive to participate with the faithful servants of God in those mercies concerning them therefore he saith vers 11. and on-ward But ye are they that forsake the Lord that forget my holy mountain c. Therefore I will number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter c. Behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit and ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen for the Lord God shall slay thee and call his servants by another name By that Vision of the two baskets of figs Jer. 24. the Lord sheweth the Prophet the reason why he would not grant the Jews already in captivity represented by the basket of very good figs a return from captivity presently nor until after seventy years and it was because the Lord would first consume from off the Land of Judea Zedekiah and the rest that still remained there or that dwelt in Egypt who were signified by the other basket of very evil figs see vers 8 9 10. these were first to be emptyed out and made an end of if the other the better part now in Babylon should have returned while these were left alive in Judea they must have been mixed with them and so either the better party must have fared as ill as the worse or the worst must have shared with the better in their felicity either the naughty figs would have tainted the good and so both have perished together or the happiness of the good would have been blemished by the presence of the bad it was therefore in special wisdom and mercy provided by God that these two sorts should be kept several in two baskets in two far distant Lands that the purer part was put and kept by themselves at Babylon until the more degenerate and incorrigible part were consumed out that so the other might re-enter and enjoy the Land City and Temple of God alone according hereunto is that in Ezekiel Ezek. 20.38 41 42 I will purge out from among them the rebels and them that transgress against me they shall not enter into the Land of Israel and then it 's said I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the Countries c. 7. Lastly The delay of the Saints prayers may be to raise up their thoughts their faith their love and their longing desire unto the last day and second and glorious