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A94152 A pious president to both kingdomes for a sacred covenant. Being an abstractive exposition by way of paraphrase upon the tenth chapter of Nehemiah, the 28, and 29 verses / by Daniell Svvift, Minister of the gospell of Iesus Christ. Swift, Daniel. 1643 (1643) Wing S6255; Thomason E71_3; ESTC R7337 45,715 58

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you have brought them to receive a reward according to their de●●●ts Thus doing in the sincerity of your hearts I doubt not however dangers threaten you but in the end you shall become glorious Conquerours through the power of the Lord Christ I am perswaded in what I have done I shall displease some but as Malis difplicere laudari eft so my pur ose was not to give content to malevolent persons but to approve my selfe to God and his hidden ones for I should be loath to speake or write ought that Christ should disallow he truly is that Master to whom every man stands or falls and one good looke from him is in stead of all acclamations to my selfe The Lord direct you preserve you and knit you firmely unto himselfe So prayeth he who rests Yours in the Lord Christ D. S. The Contents or the particular Observations contained in this booke 1 MVtuall society makes a sweet harmony Page 1 2 The Clergy not exempted from civill Authority pag. 2 3 A good Clergy a Kingdomes felicity page 4 4 Every Christian must be a porter to his owne heart page 9 5 Wee must not hee fickle constancy must crowne our actions page 10 6 Austerity and Magnanimity become the professors of Christianity page 11 7 Sacred Covenants doe not 〈◊〉 be seeme the most cheerefull spirits page 12 8 Worldly affaires must not shoulder out Christian duties Ibid. 9 Washing should procede Covenanting page 13 10 Meannesse of place and calling debarres not any by vowing from binding themselves to Religion page 14 11 Godlinesse in others should be an attractive to our desires Ibid. 12 Other mens sinns must not make us turne our backs upon the pure Ordinances of God page 15 13 Matrimoniall Leagues with Idolaters an inlett to false worship and a strong barre to keepe out the power of godlinesse page 16 14 Covenanting Christians should be couragious Christians Ibid. 15 Women not priviledged from spirituall vowes pag. 18 16 Christians should be politicians page 19 17 None exempted from a sacred Vow page 20 18 Examples of Superiours strong cords to draw on others unto holines pag. 22 19 Pride becomes not noble Spirits page 35 20 Inferiour persons must accept of motions from their Nobles as motions from affectionate Brothers Ibidem 21 Though imprecations and execrations be not usuall yet sometimes t ey are very Lawfull page 36 22 Wee may vow against sin wee may sweare obedience unto God page 38 23 Gods Satutes the Christians way page 42 24 The Law an effect of gods Love Ibid. 25 Our obedience must be universall page 43 26 Sence of misery under sin and sorrow with hope of mercy puts the soule upon Covenants yea sure Covenants for nsicere and exact obedience to the God of Heaven page 45 A pious President to both Kingdomes For a sacred Covenant NEHEMIAH 10.28 29. And the rest of the peop e the Priests the Levites the porters the Singers the Nethinims and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the Land unto the Law of God their wives their Sons and their daughters every one having knowledge and having understanding They clave to their Brethren the Nobles and entred into a curse and into an oath to walke in Gods Law which was given by Moses the servant of God and to observe and doe all the Commandements of the Lord our God his statutes and his judgements IN these Verses you have the Commons of Israel joyning with their Nobles in a firme covenant to the Lord Jehovah wherein you may take notice First of the persons who are described First generally The rest of the people Secondly more particularly 1 The Priest that offered Sacrifice 2 The Levits that instructed the people 3 The porters that kept the doores of the Sanctuary 4 The Singers 5 The Nethinims that drew water for the house of the Lord. 6 All that had separated themselves from the people of the land unto the Law of God their wives their sonnes and their daughters every one having knowledge and understanding Secondly of their actions They clave to their brethren the Nobles They entered into a curse and into an Oath to walke in Gods Law c. And the rest of the people Mutuall society causeth a pleasing and melodious harmony Observation Israels mutual communion they doe not harpe upon the jarring strings of distempered affections their tongues utter their minds their expressions and intentions are not dissonant but consonant one with another they doe not onely like the Iron and the clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzars Image cleave together but they are fast cemented yea incorporated one into another now as in a bed of spices there is a fragrancy in all their graces their vertues like sweet perfumes upon burning coales are become communicative all that are neare them may receive comfort and refreshing from them they are not every man for himselfe they are all in common they halt not betwixt two opinions they have not a heart and a heart like Ephraine they uphold Christian communion they will not forsake the assembly of the Saints they have all set their heart with their brethren the Nobles to seeke the Lord God of Israell Application Doth not Unity make happy and perpetuate a people this is that precious oyntment that ran downe from Aarons beard to the skirts of his garment this is like the dew of Hermon descending upon the mountaines of Sion for where this is the Lord commandeth his blessing Why doe not we then of this Nation labour to become like Jerusalem as a City at unity within our selves It is civill discord that demolishes and destroyes the very being of a Common-wealth for as he that bleeds inwardly is in the greatest danger so a Kingdome divided against it selfe cannot stand The spirit of Aegypt never failed in the middest of her untill the Egyptians fought against the Egyptians Isi 10 2 3. neither did the Philistims melt like snow against the Sunne untill such time as they sheathed their swords in one anothers bowells O let it not be told in Gath nor published in Askelon that England by civill distention is the cause of her owne ruine But oh my belly my belly I am pained at the very heart I heare the sound of the Trumpet and the Alarme for the warre what shall I not now with mourning and lamenting Ieremy weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of Sion O that our rents and divisions were closed that the bloud of Christians religious and well-affected persons might no longer as water that is spilt upon the ground bee shed amongst us O let us yet though it be late for better late thrive then never set upon some course whereby the sluces of wrath may bee let downe the currents of justice may be stopt and the fire of Gods jealousie may be extinguisht amongst us why should wee carry more fewell to the fire and more oyle unto the flame of the Lords
dreadfull vengeance through want of concord amongst our selves Let us pray yea contend with God in prayer for the peace of Hierusalem we may know that none shall prosper but they that love her and can we love her and not pray for her For our brethren and companions sake let us say peace be within her walls and because of the house of the Lord our God let us seeke to doe her good Now that we may doe thus we all can tell how that united forces are the strongest and that a three-fold cord is not easily broken Vis unita fortior therefore let us endeavour to keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace If the prayers of one Moses could suppresse the Amalekites O how soone then would a Land of praying Christians penetrate the Heavens and cause our enemies to fall before us Cant. 6.9 why doe we stand still divided let us like Christs Dove become but one that the daughters that see us may powre out their blessing upon us Give me leave to make use of Pauls request to the Church of Corinth and beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that we may once all speake the same thing and that there may be no schismes amongst us but that we may be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement Concordiâ paruae res crescunt concord will cause a growth not onely of strength but of many other good things amongst us Unanimously now let us concurre together let us every man for himselfe and all of us one with another ingage our spirits by promise and oblige our soules by a solemne vow to the Lord of Heaven thus doing we shall establish a blessed communion and this wee cannot doe unlesse in covenant with these repenting Israelites wee adhere unto our brethren our Nobles The Priests and Levites Observat These Priests and Levites were chiefe officers in the Temple they stand not upon their tip-toes pleading immunity from civill authority they apprehend not themselves discharged of The Clergy not exempted from civill authority and exempted from their due allegiance God hath not said by them Princes rule but by him they reigne and decree justice It was but fitting they should expresse submission for as every soule must bee subject to the higher powers so I am sure it is not safe for a Kingdome but dangerous to a state where the Crosiers receive not power from the Regall sword These worthies of Israel having set forth their Ordinance for a covenant with God this Leviticall Clergy like the Romish faction cry not up freedome and forthwith declaime against them they expresse their yeilding by their present obeying they contradict not these you see aswell as others cleave unto their brethren the Nobles Observat A good Clergy a Kingdomes felicity Ministers should be Ring-leaders not to rebellion but submission not to prophanenesse but to conscientious and sincere observance these Priests and Levites are in their due posture they are not Incendiaries to the Land of Iudah they are not fomenters of jealousies in their peoples eares they condescend in their owne persons to prevent suspitious betwixt the Nobles and the Commons for what is jealousie it is as unsatiable as the grave it is the greatest evill to a Common-wealth and the deadliest enemy as to affection so to submissive obedience The Priests in the time of the Law presented oblations 1 Sam. 2.28 and burnt incense before the Lord these considering that obedience is better than sacrifice and that God layes more clayme to the living than to the dead joyne with their worthies observe the Ordinance take the Covenant and in these as a living burnt offering give up themselves to God The Levites expounded the Law displayed the sacred Oracles in things spiritual instructed the congregations secular affairs were not the subject matter of their imployments they studied Theologie not policy the Art of teaching rather than the Art of ruling I am sure that thus it was with these of the Tribe of Levi for they brake not the Covenant Malach. 2.8 They teach holinesse and they practise piety they are not like wolves in sheepes skins palliating cruelty under the habit of meekenesse their doctrine is a light and their lives are a lampe that like wise builders they set up godlinesse and like savoury salt season the hearts of their hearers O Israel it was thy happinesse to have such Levites it hath bin and I feare me in some measure yet is our misery to want such Leaders darknesse discovers no dangers and if the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch Application The time was when old Ely heard of evill dealing in the Priesthood how Hophni and Phinehas his sacrificing sonnes made the Lords people to transgresse 1 Sam. 2.23.24 Thus did the watch-men of Iudah in stead of knocking of the fingers Quantum pernitiosa est ad sequentium lapsumuina praepositi in tantum contrà uti le est et salutare cum se Episiopus per firmamentum fi●e fratribut inultandum praebet Cyprian Lib 3. Epist 21 Omnium felrum promittunt licentiam et quasi vexillum gerunt ad probandam omnem speciim nequiti● Calvin Cur pec●ata populi commedere à cuatur nisiquia pecca a delinquenitium sove●t Grego Homel 17 Omnino proditorem se esse noverit quicunque est ille qui vitae quae libet in ia hanc domum conatur inducere Bernard strengthen the hands of the wicked when by their owne example crying wee will powre forth wine and fill our selves with strong drinke Esay 56.12 They gave them incouragement in their nefarious courses And was it not because of this that they prophesied in Baal caused Israel to erre committed adultery walkt in lies confirmed men in their hellish practises and not suffering them to returne made them as Sodome and as the Inhabitants of Gomorrah before the Lord. That made Ieremy in a dolefull lamentation give out this expression that his very heart was broken Ier. 23.9.13.14 But these mentioned by Nehemiah are of another temper they doe not eate of the sins of the people by being foster fathers to their filthy vices these doe not build with their doctrine and pull downe by their practise the light of their conversations is now become so fulgent that others may behold them for their imitation they doe not seeke to innovate Religion erect novelties and advance superstitious vanities as sometimes Vrijah the Priest did who built an Altar according to all that Ahaz had sent from Damascus 2 Kings 16.11 nay these resolve too to bid adue to Idolatry to demolish superstition and not to stand any longer guilty of spirituall treason by upholding wickednesse in Gilgall I might have said Bethel the house of the Lord. For as they goe before the people in the covenant affording them their examples for their incouragement so by covenant they bind themselves for
ever from all idle or idolizing worship to observe do all the Commandements of God thus they animate the children of Zion going before them in the meanes of sanctification and thus they seeke not to establish but to depresse iniquity by a law Hearken to me yee that have deviated from the sonnes of Levi you stile your selves Priests and lay claime to the office as if God had onely intayled the Priest-hood upon you what will you yet be as a snare on Mizpah and as a net spread upon Tabor Hos 5.1 will you yet as troopes of Robbers wait for a man murder in the way and that by consent Hos 6.9 why doe you still desire to sell the righteous for silver to turne aside the way of the meeke and to drinke the wine of the condemned or of good men fined in the house of your God Amos 2.6.7.8 See see these Priests the subject of our discourse read another lecture to your soules These breath not out threatnings against the Church they rather cry out what shall we doe for the Church these are not cruell thirsting after bloud the precious bloud of Gods indeered ones their armes and their hearts are both open not onely with tender imbracements to receive them but to support them it doeth not vexe them that they are zealous for the Lord neither doe they seeke to finde them or punish them for the strict service of their God their forwardnesse to forsake wickednesse is the joy of their spirits their precisenesse in the way of holinesse is as marrow to their bones and their covenant for new obedience is that they further by their owne president These are not dismayed with the thoughts of more paines unto themselves if thus they covenant to keepe strictly all the statutes of the Lord they prize Gods mercy to the people before their toyle and their hearers wellfare before their labour for though never so much sedulity may be expected from them Non in verborum splendore sed in operum virtute praedi candi fiductam ponant non vocibus delectem tur populi ac clamantis sed sterihu● nec plausum expedeat sed gem●…o●n pros per Lib. 1. Cap. 23. vitacontemplat A Pastore exigetur quicquid perinertiam non custoditur Cypiran de sing Cleric they will not flinch off but in the present covenant adhere unto them Before like Herod they solaced themselves in their peoples acclamations now their teares and their prayers are prime pleasures to their soules time was when breaking the bonds of doctrine and knapping asunder the cords of discipline was their delight now their fulgency in vertue demonstrated by their resolutenesse for exact obedience is the musick in their eares the hony in their mouthes and the very rejoycing of their hearts They know they must give account for their peoples soules and that if they perish God will require them at their hands they give them up therefore now by vow unto the Lord and in this their surrender they seeme to say Lord here we are and all our people the children that thou hast given unto us They are not ignorant that much trouble from them who are without may arise by reason of this covenant they feare no colours they put on their auditors they are resolved to eat of the same dish to taste of the same sauce and if they suffer to suffer with them this must needs hearten them for couragious Souldiers goe not weeping nor sighing after their Commanders It may bee they apprehend some malevolent and malignant creatures to be among the people ready like scab'd sheepe to infect the flock like Peters false Prophets by damnable heresies laying aspersions upon the truth and like cunning and crafty seducers using all diligence to make them the divells Proselytes like themselves These have not their favourable aspect these have not their hearts their hands their estates these are cashiered the yeilding the mourning yet the resolving Israelites have their affections amongst these onely they are personally present with these they side and to these they joyne in covenant with the Lord They are not as time serving Sycophants onely respective to great men their deportment is indifferent they take care for the poore aswell as the rich it is not their owne preferment but every mans wellfare that they looke for Therefore as by their forwardnesse they excite all so by their actuall performance withall they shew their tender of the happinesse and prosperity of all Learne then from these Priests and Levites I beseech you my Brethren I stile you so because I would have you so First Directions to Ministers not to thinke it strange that others with you run not into the same excesse of riot that they keepe not out of Covenant aswell as your selves they see their misery and this to be their remedie and they know that your non-seeing or else perverse slighting of your owne estates can be no healing plaisters to their soules It behoves every man to looke to his owne standing and to bee carefull to prevent his owne damnation Secondly Doe not pine the Lords people through destructive ignorance doe not conceale the benefit of a sacred Covenant from the eye of their spirits left God complaine that his people perish for lacke of knowledge and lay the guilt of their bloud upon your soules Thirdly doe not pernitiously poyson by corrupt principles those that are your hearers teach not exorbitant errors for sacred truthes doe not through airy ambages and false glosses steale away their affections and make them heartlesse to holy vowes thus doing you shall still keepe them out of the way cause them to stumble at the Law and in the end be charged your selves for corrupting the covenant of Levi Malach. 2.8 Fourthly doe not over-lade your faint and your feeble brethren with the onerous burthens of unnecessary things these burthens may lye heavy upon their shoulders they will case themselves by covenant Luk. 11.40 but as you shall have the practise of the Primitive times to passe a sentence condemnatory upon you Act. 15.10.28 so one day they like Scorpions will sting your consciences when Christs woe like a Hue and Cry shall arrest your soules These Pastors stand not upon circumstance they looke to the substance the pious vow that they and their people must make to God Fiftly be examples to your flocks in word in conversation and in charity 1 Tim. 4.12 Let your words utter the Will of Jehovah your conversations testifie the uprightnesse of your hearts and your charity witnesse that in all meanes and wayes you seeke the salvation of their poore soules speake you to them that they may speake from you to themselves saying what have we done be as lights set upon a Hill that those who are without may be convinced by your lives Love with pitty perswade them wooe them win them yea and because that corrosives are sometimes both more needfull and helpefull then mild and pleasing cordialls