Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	israel_n	king_n	tribe_n	3,514	5	9.6944	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44826	The benefit of a well-ordered conversation as it was delivered in a sermon preached June 24th. 1682. On a day of publick humiliation. As also a funeral discourse upon the three first verses of the third chapter of Isaiah; occasioned by the death of the worshipful Major General Denison; who deceased at Ipswich, Sept. 20. 1682. By Mr. William Hubbard. To which is annexed an Irenicon or a salve for New-England's sore: penned by the said major general; and left behind him as his farewell and last advice to his friends of the Massachusets.	Hubbard, William, 1621 or 2-1704.; Denison, Daniel, 1613-1682. Irenicon.	1684 (1684)	Wing H3208; ESTC W9576	81,919	262

14 15. the former in comparison of this latter being in a sense to be rejected and laid aside without it as insignificant in the account of God if it be not accompanied with the other And hereupon is a digression made unto the wicked in the 16 verse to tell them that they can expect no benefit by attendance upon the Ceremonial Worship of God so long as they hate to be reformed in their lives which the covenant of God principally requires The more to affect this sort of men the Psalmist personates them in their wicked words and works from ver 17 to the 22d where he seeks to recal them from their sinful wayes and bring them back to repentance by the fear of Gods inevitable wrath in that verse and then shuts up the whole discourse of the Psalm by a solemn Epiphonema in the last verse consisting of two parts in the first of which is shewn how acceptable to God is spiritual Worship he that sacrificeth praise glorifieth me in the latter is seen how profitable to man is moral obedience To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God These are the last words of the Psalm but are not of least moment and importance for they contain the sum and substance of the whole Psalm foregoing The Textual difficulties in this last clause of the verse are not above three or four and in a few more words will be all cleared If it be enquired therefore First what is meant by the Conversation It is Answered that according to the Original word nothing is intended therein but the way or course of a mans life according to the Metaphor usual in the Scriptures where a mans works or the course and frame of his life is compared to a way or path that leads from one place to another with this difference only that as there are many places in this lower world whither men may repair so there are many paths or wayes that directly lead thereunto but as to the other World there are but two places to which all our actions tend and to one of which they will certainly bring all that persist therein viz. either Heaven or Hell Life or Death Salvation or Damnation such as are our works here will be our reward hereafter The way which we have designed to our selves and persist in will certainly in the issue bring us to the good which is promised or the evil threatned in the Word of God There is no other word in the Hebrew to express our conversation but this of our way In the Greek Testament there is a word properly answers Conversation which comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Versari huc illuc as Horse-men in a Battle that turn this way and that way as occasion serves yet still aims to carry on the main design at first intended Thus the Apostle saith he was made all things to all men that he might by all means save some 1 Cor. 9.20 21 22. So must every Christian in a sense shape his course according as the Wind and Current of providence shifts or sets this way or that way by doing and suffering bearing and forbearing keep on in the way of obedience joyning the wisdom of the Serpent with the innocence of the Dove or as the Seamans Phrase is when they pass through difficult and dangerous passages on either hand aloof for one and bear up for another yet still keeping on in the direct way that leads to the Haven of rest and happiness Secondly What is it to order our way aright The Hebrew word properly signifies to put dispose Mercer renders the Word Arte curâ ordine ponere aut disponere and therefore it is fitly rendred in our Translation order aright It is used to express a singularis observantia in reference either to the acts either of the body or mind There is need of a great deal of skill and artifice as well as care and industry in the ordering the frame of our lives Not to seek the first that should be left to the second place as our Saviour bids us seek first the Kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof Mat. 6.33 He that seeks other things in the first place and leaves the care of his Salvation with Felix when Paul discoursed of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come to a more convenient season doth not order his way aright for that will bring him to an ill end at last Thus Jehu ordered his way aright to the Kingdom of the ten Tribes but quite wrong as to the Kingdom of God when all his care was to walk in the way of Jeroboam's Idolatry but took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart 2 King 10.31 This ordering the way aright may imply a threefold act of a Christian First of the mind to judge and apprehend what is the right or the wrong way that leadeth unto life To discern what is the principal thing to be desired Secondly an act of the affection to embrace desire that way which is the most necessary and excellent Thirdly An act of the Will for purpose and resolution to pursue that which is in it self most necessary and desirable One thing have I desired of the Lord saith David and that will I seek after Psal 27.4 And our Saviour tells us There is but one thing necessary and he commends Mary for making her choice of that and not cumbring her self with other things that were not necessary Thirdly What is that Salvation of God which they shall see who order their way aright By salvation unto the people of God under the dispensation of the old Testament was generally signified preservation or deliverance from any temporal evil that at any time they were pressed withal with obtaining the contrary good Yet so as thereby in a spiritual and sublime sense was signified Deliverance from all evil both of sin and judgment temporal or eternal which they had made themselves obnoxious unto by their disobedience with the obtaining the favour of God towards them in the peaceable enjoyment of the good land which they were possessed of till they came to obtain happiness of Gods Kingdom in the other World of which the land of Canaan was a standing type and shadow So Salvation is most frequently taken in the old Testament The obtaining of all that good both temporal and eternal which was necessarily required to make any people or person prosperous and happy with deliverance from all the evil which is contrary thereunto This is called Gods Salvation not only as that which is in it self most eminent or excellent as excellent Cedars are called Cedars of God but because 1. It is a Salvation which God only can give as the Psalmist saith elsewhere Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man Psal 60. And so he speaks of looking unto those Hills from which cometh his help

us is able to remove the greatest Mountain of opposition or difficulty that stands in the way of Faith Therefore seeing God hath promised that such shall see his Salvation they may believe it The Church may sing her triumphant Song in all her troubles We have a strong City Salvation will God appoint for Walls and Bulwarks mountains of Brass and Gates of Iron are not so strong as the promise of God In confidence of them The Church of God though in her self but as a poor despised Virgin yet will deride and laugh unto scorn the great and mighty Army of the Assyrians that come up like the swelling of Jordan yet such is the interest of Faith in the promises of God that it can see the salvation of God through all those dark Clouds of Adversity Of a truth Lord said Hezekiah the Kings of Assyria have laid wast all the Nations and their Countries his Faith was almost at a stand his heart was ready to recoyl but the Word of the Lord sent by Isaiah reinforces his confidence and makes him acquiess in that promise of the Lord that the Kings of Assyria should not come into the City nor shoot an Arrow there but that he should be blasted by the breath of the Almighty as indeed it came to pass so as their eyes that waited on the Lord might behold the King in his beauty and see his Jerusalem a quiet habitation True Believers after deliverance from that dangerous assault should see Hezekiah flourish again in power and glory who was a figure of Christ in his heavenly Glory beautifying the meek of the Earth with his eternal Salvation 4. The People of the Lord do believe all this therefore their hearts are not dismayed Therefore have they found in their hearts to pray with the Psalmist Turn us again O God of our Salvation and we shall be saved which is redoubled again in that Psalm in token of their assured expectation thereof Moses believed it at a time of utmost hazard when they were hemmed in with deadly dangers on every side and falling within the very gates of Destruction stand still and see the Salvation of God and they that believed did see Gods Salvation as t is added that day the Lord saved Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians Exod. 14.30 Mordecai believed it with respect to Gods power and faithfulness and not to Esthers interest in the King of Persia who knows but thou mayest be raised to the Kingdom for this very end but if thou refusest Salvation shall come some other way Daniel and his Companions believed it when they were cast into the fiery Furnace and thrown into the Lions Den. Those Examples of seeing Gods Salvation were written for our instruction in these ends of the World that we also believing might speak the same thing and give glory to God 5. God hath saved his People and made them see his Salvation wee have a cloud of witnesses brought to our view in that little Book of Chronicles as one calls it in the eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews Our Fathers trusted in thee and were delivered They looked unto God from the ends of the Earth and were saved Their eyes were enlightned with the joy of Gods Salvation Israel indeed may say if it had not been the Lord who was on our side we had been swallowed up when their wrath was kindled against us the streams had overwhelmed us the proud Waters had gone over our Soul As was said of some of those worthy Confessors that afterwards laid the Foundation of our New-England Churches when they were driven out of England by the prevailing power of the Hierarchy and made to Fly into the Netherlands they met with such a dreadful stormy passage that the Vessel was even over-raked with the Waves when their mouthes were fill'd with salt-water as they were exercising themselves with fervent Prayer some of them used these words Yet O Lord thou canst save and so he did above and beyond all hope the Sea-men crying out we sink we perish we are going down to the brow of the pit where our heads shall be wrapped about with the weeds yet God made them see his Salvation Look into the History of the Church in all Ages Writings Antient and modern How many wayes hath God made use of to save his People in all their distresses the snare was broken and their soul was made to escape If they have met with sorrow it lasted but a night the joy of Salvation hath risen upon them in the morning The forest of Antichristian Persecutions was or is to last but three dayes and an half Athanasius said of the Arrian Tempest in his time Nubecula hoec cito per transibit The storm may be sharp yet it will be but short If Christ be in the Ship all that are embarqued shall be saved The Ship of Christs Church may be tossed yet it shall be preserved the Angel of the Covenant assures us so that every soul that entred shall be saved In those bloody Marian dayes she that sate at the Helm of the Nation stretched forth her hands with Herod to vex certain of the Church three or four hundred were burned alive and more were imprisoned but it would not do those iron Gates and Barrs were broken open The Snare is broken and we are escaped The chief Instruments of that persecution as well as the Authors thereof to the vexation of their hearts saw that the more they endeavoured to suppress the Protestant Religion the more it increased The blood of the Martyrs proved the seed of the Church which made some of them pine away with rage and madness to see their Endeavours frustrated and that the Word of God was not bound though here and there some of the Ministers thereof were under restraint but that it did more and more prevail God hath many times by unexpected wayes prevented the mischief intended against his People and brought destruction upon their Enemies and made his People see his Salvation It is reported that once a Chancellor of Bohemia having procured a Diploma from the Emperour at Vienna to persecute the Protestants in that Kingdom as he was passing the Bridge over Danubius it brake under him so as himself was drowned but his Box of Writings could never be found again though his dead body was afterwards taken up The Protestants in Germany standing couragiously for the Truth of the Protestant Religion saw the great Emperour Charles the V. driven out of Germany by a small handful of men under Mauritius Duke of Saxony In Queen Mary's time a busie Persecutor that was bound for Ireland out of hatred against the Protestant Religion was befooled by his Host at West-Chester and carried over the Knave of Clubs to the Deputy there instead of his Commission the which he could not get renewed till the Reign of the persecuting Queen was at an end and another advanced that favoured the truth VSe Of Examination This may put the

Faith else it may justly be returned upon us in any of our duties of Religious Worship as God saith to the wicked What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee And therefore we shall find it alwayes prescribed by God and practised by his People in any time of distress and danger when they needed Gods Salvation to sanctifie a Fast and call a solemn Assembly to make their peace with God by Repentance of sins that were past and by entring into a new engagement by renewing their Covenant for their good abearing for the time to come 2. The right ordering our Conversation as to what is future consists in new obedience Attending on the duties of Religion and Righteousness To frame their doings so as to turn to their God from whom afore time they have fallen by their iniquity yet now they must come up to a resolution to do so no more The wrath of God which is revealed from Heaven is against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men and therefore the way to enjoy the Salvation of God and avoid the wrath which is to come requires us in the first place to live godly in the present World of which there are two Branches 1. A religious observance of all the duties of Gods Worship God expects to be worshipped after a due manner by all those that desire to see his Salvation That God who is the Creator of the ends of the Earth alwayes required homage from the Inhabitants thereof and those Families are destined to his Curse and Vengeance that live in the neglect thereof as the Prophet Jeremy speaks Chap. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen and upon the Families that call not on thy Name Such therefore as restrain Prayer and call not on the Name of the Lord are so far from seeing his Salvation that they may justly fear they shall feel his Indignation Abraham was called the Friend of God for whose sake he reproved Kings giving them in special charge not to work him any harm where ever he came to sojourn The first thing you hear of him is his building an Altar and calling on the Name of the Lord as may be seen in the first part of his Pilgrimage Gen. 12.7 8. 13.4 18. Nor was Abram the first who was noted for this Religious care of Gods Worship For we read that Noah as soon as ever he came out of the Ark built an Altar and offered Sacrifices thereon out of those few clean Beasts that were left alive after the great Deluge Probably he might conceive that it was in great part for the neglect thereof that a Deluge of Water was brought upon the World For ever since the dayes of Seth when first there were found People enough to make publick Assemblies they began to call upon the Name of the Lord and so continued till the degenerate Off-spring of the succeeding Generation had through their great Impiety in a manner wholy laid aside In like manner was it observed as most commendable in David that as soon as ever he was settled in his Kingdom the first publick design he takes in hand is the bringing home the Ark of God to the Tent which he had prepared for it at Jerusalem as well knowing that his establishing the Worship of God would be the directest means to establish the Kingdom in his possession for the work of God had been sadly neglected or but slightly managed ever since Saul was called to the Kingdom Jeroboam that had so large a promise for settling of the Kingdom in his prosperity yet lays the Foundation of his and their ruin in his Idolatry and false Worship which proved in like manner a fatal stumbling block in the way of all the succeeding Kings though in many things else never so hopeful and commendable in themselves It was the neglect of the Worship of God that lost Jehu and his Family the Kingdom and which at last cost the ten Tribes their Countrey For how zealous soever Jehu was in abolishing the Worship of Baal he was as remiss as the rest in setting up the Worship of the Lord. For t is said He took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord it must in a special manner be understood as to the Idolatry of the golden Calves for in other things he was careful very exactly to fulfil that will of the Lord as in punishing the house of Ahab as the Lord had commanded him Thus was it foretold by the Prophet Joel That whosoever called on the Name of the Lord should be saved What was it that ruined the Gospel Church but Idolatry and false Worship The suffering of false Worship as to ●he Object and will-worship as to the manner of their Devotion hath alwayes proved fatal to Christian Families and Churches This was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mr. Mede calls it in the Church of Rome Then if you would your selves or desire that yours should see the salvation of God look to maintain and carry on the Worship of God in your Assemblies Families and in your own hearts and closets The Worship of God was ordered aright in David's and Solomon's time and in the first part of Rehoboam's Reign And so long things went well but when Reheboam and his People forsook the Law of the Lord God forsook them and left them in the hand of their Enemies nor did any of the following Kings ever see the Salvation of God longer than they were careful to maintain and carry on the true Worship of God as may be seen in the History of Asa Jehosaphat Hezechiah and Josiah Kings of Judah For by the Idolatry and false Worship of the other Kings their Kingdoms became low and broken till at last they were broken to pieces were carried Captive to Babylon and were never restored to the honour of a Kingdom afterward 2. The second part of our Religious care must be to maintain Purity and Holiness in heart and life that the Holy God not only be Worshipped but that he be worshipped in an holy manner Reverend and Holy is his Name and he will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him else he will sanctifie himself upon them and they shall by that means be far from seeing the Salvation of God as was the case of them that offered strange fire upon Gods Altar Thus the Prophet Haggai tells them and convinces them out of the Law that the impurity of their hearts and lives rendred all they did as to the external part of Gods Worship unclean For where the mind and conscience is defiled and unclean all the service that such perform must needs be defiled thereby It is the lifting up of clean hands that must obtain Gods Salvation he threatens to hide his eyes from beholding those hands that are defiled with blood or any other wickedness for which-out sincerity in our worship and