Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	david_n	israel_n	judah_n	1,785	5	9.8153	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17328	The rowsing of the sluggard, in 7. sermons Published at the request of diuers godlie and well affected. By W.B. Minister of the word of God at Reading in Barkeshire.; Rowsing of the sluggard, in 7. sermons	Burton, William, d. 1616.	1595 (1595)	STC 4176; ESTC S118396	79,897	163

now a breaking downe of the wall a plucking vp of the hedge and a laying waste of the vine in England to be thought vpon O sluggard if not to be looked for Hath not the Lord tolde vs of his purpose and determination herein againe and againe And are we not rather worse then better for all that Now if these things come to passe wee our selues shall bee iudges whether the Lord hath done vs any wrong or no. Now consider further with thy selfe O sluggard what priueledge hath England more then Israel had How much is the Lord beholding to vs more then to them surely neither to them nor to vs nor to any was euer the Lord beholding for if a man be righteous he is righteous for himself saith Iob. But what promise or warrant haue wee more then they had or any Church from the beginning of the world Hath there not been in nature a continuall intercourse and change of winter and sommer of night and of daye of fayre weather and of ●owle wether of colde and of heate of the spring and the fall And hast thou not obserued the like in the state of grace Surely if thou haddest not closed vp thy eyes of purpose O thou sluggard thou couldest not ch●se but see the Lordes worke therein Well yet thou canst not denye but that there haue beene many alterations and sundry changes in the worlde and thy selfe sometime betweene waking and sleeping but without any feeling wilt sitte and tell of them and what thou hast seene in thy time which shall bee sufficient to condemne thee for it is more then a dreame that thou speakest of But if thou wilt now besides thy owne drousie experience a little listen vnto the word of God and praye vnto God that hee may open thy eyes thou shalt see that which yet thou diddest neuer so much as dreame of like the seruant of Elisha which sawe 〈◊〉 mountaines couered with heauenly souldiers when the Lord opened his eyes which before hee sawe not Marke it well I saye and thou shalt see both how often the Lorde hath turned and as it were wheeled about his Church and the cause thereof to be still the Churches iniquitie And thou shalt see if not confesse that the continuall starting of men from GOD hath broken the course of his grace which otherwise had been continual●● The truth whereof may appeare almost from the beginning of the world For first when the true worship of God was in the cursed of spring of Caine almost vtterly decayed 〈◊〉 Lord restored it againe in the dayes of Seth and his sonne Enos that it might thriue and florish in the world Now it was summer time with them but how long did it last Surely not long for scarce eight generations were passed when all the posteritie of them whom God had separated for his owne children did mingle themselues with the sonnes and daughters of men at their pleasure without the feare of GOD throwing themselues in such wise into all manner of wickednes that hauing defiled themselues and the whole world with their abhominations the Lorde brought a floud vppon them to destroye them all that they which had drowned themselues in sinne might bee also drowned in water and so they were twise drowned and now was winter come When the Church was brought to eyght persons it seemed then so purged that the little seede which remained should of it selfe bring forth nothing but pure holines and yet anon after it diminished almost by the fourth parte Afterwarde the Lorde renewed his couenant with Abraham and his seede for whome hee wrought many wonderfull thinges for first with a mightie hand and stretched out arme hee brought them out of Aegypt then hee led them through the red sea then hee fed them with breade from heauen then hee destroyed many Kinges for their sakes and made their very name famous and fear●full full whatsoeuer it came and thus they we●● going towards the land of promise now 〈◊〉 would not of such happie beginnings 〈◊〉 iudged that there should haue ensued a co●●● nuance of a happie state Notwithstanding the very same people in whose deliueranc● the Lord had shewed so manifest a proofe 〈◊〉 his power and mercie did not cease contin●ally to prouoke the Lord with their impati●●● murmurings and vnkinde rebellions vntill by fearefull and horrible iudgements they were all destroyed in the wildernes At length the children of them tooke possession of the said● land but yet such a possession as well neere in 600. yeares after had no stabilitie because they themselues through their owne falsenes and inconstancie did continually trouble it and still by shaking off the yoke of God they procured new mischiefes to thēselues Moses had tolde them before how it would come to passe that when they were fatte and full they would lift vp the heele and forget the Lord And what dooth the storie of the Iudges rehearse but continuall backslidings When 〈◊〉 kingdome of Dauid was erected there seemed a more certaine and grounded state of a church to haue bin established for a long continuance But that lamentable slaughter of the pestilēce which for three daies space raged most mo●sterously in the worlde did greatly abate 〈◊〉 felicitie When Salomon came to the Crowne summer came againe to the Church for God gaue him great peace on euery side and in his rest he builded the Temple of the Lord in Ierusalem But by and by after the death of Salomon the bodie of the realme was diuided and the torne members ceased not afterward to bite one another And both the kingdomes I meane of Israel and Iudah were miserably turmoyled by forraine warres Shall wee say that this came vnto them by fortune and chaunce Nay rather they themselues through their sins enforced hastened the vengeance of God for euen when they seemed most innocent namely while Dauid goeth through with nūbring of them because it was the peculiar fault of one man yet the holie storie sayth plainlie that God was wroth with them all At length followed that great euersion little differing from vtter destruction when al the whole nation was led captiue to Babilon but after 70. yeres they were restored home againe which ioyfull returne was vnto them another birth Notwithstanding so soone as they were returned home straight waies forgetting so great a benefite they degenerated againe into sundrie kinds of naughtines Some defiled themselues with heathen mariages some defrauded the Lord of his tenths and first fruites othersome neglecting the building of the Temple were whollie occupied in making of braue houses and bestowed excessiue cost thereon whi●●●oule vnthankfulnes of theirs was such as euerie man must confesse the Sluggard and all that it ought not to escape vnpunished Neither did it escape for after that the Lorde brought them in subiection to the Romanes who burned their Temple and made hauock● of all When Christ the Prince of

and kingdomes Oh but God will neuer suffer them to preuaile so farre against vs say some they are most wicked Idolaters and wee professe his Gospell c. As if the Lord were more bound to vs then to them or as though it were for our goodnes sake that the Lord had preserued vs hetherto and not for his owne name sake because it was his pleasure to make vs his 〈◊〉 Dauid was once of that minde that th● Lord had made his hill so strong that it should neuer bee moued but that was Dauids error So we thinke that the Lord hath made our hill so strong that it shall neuer bee moued but that is our error And pride was the mother of it both in Dauid and in vs. But Dauid was moued and his kingdome sorely shaken as strong as he was so we may bee moued and shaken too as strong as we are But seeing as the sluggard hath sealed himselfe a quittance and thereupon hath promised vnto himselfe a continuall peace we will consider a little of these two poynts First whether it be a thing likely or no that after this long and blessed possessiō of the glorious Gospell of Christ a winter time of trouble may come or not come Secondly if it proue a thing likely how wee may knowe whether it be farre off or nigh at hand And by that time it may be the sluggard will awake I dispute not of Gods power and what he is able to doe for he is almightie nor of his mercie and how he may renew it with vs still for he is infinite in mercie and his mercie is ouer all his workes but what his iustice requireth to bee done which is no way disanulled by his mercie And now the question is what is likely to ensue by all circumstances and probable coniectures in respect of the manifolde and wonderfull blessings which the Lord hath so long heaped vpon our nation with his Gospel and the manifolde vnkindnesses and daily rebellions which his maiestie hath receiued continually at our hands for the same And if his spirite should still striue with man to put our sinnes out of his remembrance or for Noahs sake a while longer to spare the world or for some Lots sake to saue the citie from burning and to draw out the thred of our peace happines yet longer it is no more then his maiestie may doe and can doe if it please him and that it may so please him we doe all most instantly beseech his diuine maiestie for his mercies sake which if he graunt shall bee no lesse wonder then to command the Sunne to stand still and the Moone to goe backe againe as in the daies of Amaleke or to diuide the sea againe as in the daies of Pharaoh or to forbid the fire to burne againe as in the daies of Nabuchadnezzar But this is not likely and therefore it shall be no part of wisedome for vs to presume vpon it Now then let vs come to the poynt and see why it is not likelie We vse to saie that after a great time of heate there will come a cooler and it is so for the most part And as it is in the state of times and seasons so is it also in the state of the Church and therefore it is not vnlikely that after this long time of peace and ease there may come a cooler for so it hath been commonly seene from the beginning and not without cause for if nature should not sometimes be corrected it would in time bee wholly corrupted the standing water that is neuer troubled we knowe by experience doth breede the most filth And if the ayre shoulde still bee calme and neuer bee clensed by the windes by thunder and lightning it would proue infectious the bodie that is not exercised aboundeth most in ill humours and the yron that is not scoured still gathereth rust and the childe that is continually fed and hath whatsoeuer he craueth and cryeth for at last playeth with his meate and casteth it to the dogges and therefore it is necessarie that sometime he should be abridged and pinched And so doth the Lord also by interrupting the peace and ease of his Church purge the ill humours of pride and contempt growing in the bodie of his Church so doth he vse to scoure off the rust of impatience and distrustfulnes which growe vpon our yron hearts with the graces of Gods spirite So doth he by stormes and tempests by thunderings lightnings of troubles and persecutions clense the corrupt ayre of his Church least the good graces of faith and of repentance and of loue and of zeale and of patience and of charitie should through continuall calmenes be infected with infidelitie or impenitenc●e or hardnes of heart or profanenes or pride or vaineglorie or selfe-loue or coldenes or Apostasie or with one spirituall disease or another and so dooth the Lord vse to pinch and abridge his Church of the foode of his heauenly worde now and then and sometime for a long time when it is loathed and plaied withall and trode vnder foote and all this the Lord dooth in singular wisdome because the worth of benefites is not so well knowne as by the want of them That our hearts and soules are cankred and rustie it is most euident and therefore a scouring is to be thought vpon at the least that there are many ill humours of vnthankfulnes of pride of contempt of crueltie and oppression of swearing and forswearing of whordomes and drunkennes of al kind of profanenes and abominations abounding in the bodie of the Church it is not to be denied And therefore a time of purging and exercise is to be thought vpon That Manna is loathed and the pure preaching of Gods most holy word despised and the faithfull Prophets of the Lord hated and molested for doing the Lords message and the feete of the● which bring glad tidings counted most soule which should bee esteemed as most beautifull all this is too visible and palpable and therefore Amos his famine is to be thought vpon if not to be looked for When the Lord had planted a vine in Israel and watered it and hedged it and dressed it hee looked for grapes b●● found none but the wilde grapes of oppression and iniquitie But what then Then hee purposed to take away the hedge thereof to breake downe the wall thereof and to laye it waste that it might be deuoured of wilde beastes but first hee tolde them that hee would deale th●● with them and themselues should bee iudg●● whether hee did them any wrong or no. Th●● the Lord hath done as much for his vineyard in England as euer he did for his vineyard in Israel if not a great deale more no indifferent bodie will denie that the grapes of Englands vine bee as wilde and as sower as euer were the grapes of Israels vine if not much worse the branches themselues can testifie But what then And is not