Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	abide_v	jerusalem_n	zion_n	207	3	8.9610	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42767	A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey Church at Westminster, upon the 27th of August, 1645 being the day appointed for solemne and publique humiliation : whereunto is added a brotherly examination of some passages of Mr. Colemans late printed sermon upon Job 11.20, in which he hath endeavoured to strike at the root of all church-government / by George Gillespie, minister at Edenburgh.	Gillespie, George, 1613-1648.	1646 (1646)	Wing G759; ESTC R30413	43,318	49

it ought to be he shall receive a speciall reward praise But if he have built wood hay and stubble he shall be like a man whose house is set on fire about his ears that is He shall suffer losse and his work shall be burnt yet himself shall escape and get his life for a prey so as by fire that is So that he can abide that triall and examination whereby God distinguisheth between sincere ones and Hypocrites or so that he be found to have been otherwise a faithfull Minister and to have built upon a right foundation In the third place you shall finde Reformation to be a refining fire in reference to a people or Church reformed He that is left in Zion shall be called holy saith the Prophet when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the Daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of Judgement and by the spirit of burning Isa. 4.3 4. Where you may understand by the filth of the daughters of Zion their former Idolatries and such like abominations against the first Table which the Prophets call often by the name of filth and pollution and by the blood of Jerusalem the sins against the second Table These the Lord promiseth to purge away by the Spirit of Judgment that is by a Spirit of Reformation according to that Joh. 12.3 Now is the judgement of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Which Spirit of Reformation is also a Spirit of burning even as the Holy Ghost is elsewhere called fire and did come down upon the Apostles in the likenesse of cloven tongues of fire The spirit of Reformation may be the rather called the Spirit of burning because ordinarily Reformation is not without tribulation as we shall hear and by the voice of the rod doth the Spirit speak to mens consciences When the Lord hath thus washed away the filthy spots and burnt away the filthy drosse of his Church then Isa. 4.5 she becomes a glory or a praise in the earth and the promise is That upon all the glory shall be a defence But you see she is not brought to that condition till she go thorow the Refiners fire It is no easie matter to cast Satan out of a person How much lesse to cast his kingdom out of a Land Another place for the same purpose we find Zech. 13.9 When two parts of the Land are cut off the remnant whichescape the third part which is written to life in Jerusalem even they must be brought thorow the fire I will bring the third part through the fire saith the Lord and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried This is the fiery triall of affliction but the fruit of it is a blessed Reformation to make the Church as most pure refined gold They shall call on my Name and I will hear them that is they shall no longer worship Idols but me onely and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousnesse which shall be accepted And what more I will say It is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God Behold a reforming people and a covenanting people But he that hath his fire in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem doth first refine them and purifie them We are not reformed in Gods account till the refining sire have purged away our drosse till we be refined as silver is refined and tried as gold is tried Lastly In reference to a people not reformed hear what the Prophet saith Jer. 6.28 29 30. They are brasse and iron they are all corrupters The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed off the fire the founder melteth in vain for the wicked are not plucked away Reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them The Chaldee Paraphrase expoundeth it of the Prophets who laboured in vain and spent their strength for nought speaking to the people in the Name of the Lord to turn to the Law and to the Testimony but they would not turn I might draw many Vses from this Doctrine but I shall content my self with these few First of all it reproveth that contrary Principle which carnal reason suggesteth Reformation must not grieve but please it must not break nor bruise but heal and binde up it must be an acceptable thing not displeasing it must be as the voice of harpers harping with their harps but not as the voice of many waters or as the voice of great thunders Thus would many heal the wound of the daughter of Zion slightly and daub the wall with untempered morter and so far comply with the sinfull humours and inclinations of men as in effect to harden them in evil and to strengthen their hands in their wickednesse or at least if men be moralized then to trouble them no further Saith not the Apostle If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ And again The carnall minde is enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be So that either we must have a Reformation displeasing to God or displeasing to men It is not thright Reformation which is not displeasing to a Tobijah to a Sanballat to a Demetrius to the earthly-minded to the self-seeking Polititians to the carnal and profane It s but the old enmity between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent Nay what if Reformation be displeasing to good men in so far as they are unregenerate carnal earthly proud unmortified For who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin What if a Joshua envie Eldad and Medad What if an Aaron and a Miriam speak against Moses What if a religious Asa be wroth with the Seer What if a David will not alter his former judgement though very erroneous and will not no not after better information have it thought that he was in an errour What if a Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh when he is called What if the disciples of Christ must be taught to be more humble What if Peter must be reproved by Paul for his dissimulation What if Archippus must be admonished to attend better upon his Ministery What if Christ must tell the Angels of the Churches that he hath somewhat against them If Reformation displease both evil men and in some respect good men this makes it no worse then a refiners fire and so it must be if it be according to the minde of Christ My second and chief Application shal be unto you my Noble Lords If you be willing to admit such a Reformation as is according to the minde of Christ as is like the Refiners fire and Fullers Sope then in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ who will say ere long to every one of you Give an account of the Stewardship for thou mayest

let us take it all home to our selves because notwithstanding of that publick reformation there was a remnant of Baal in the land and the Chemarins and those who halt between two opinions who swear by the Lord or to the Lord which is expounded of the taking of the Covenant in Josiahs time but they swear by Malcham also v. 4.5 There are others who do not seek the Lord nor enquire after him and many that turn back from the Lord in a course of back-sliding v. 6. other clothed with strange apparell vers. 8. others exercising violence and deceit vers 9. a number of Atheists also living among Gods people ver. 12. For these and the like causes doth the land mourn It is not the Covenant but the broken Covenant it is not the Reformation but the want of a reall and personall Reformation that hath drawn on the Judgment Blessed are they who shall keep their garments clean and shall be able to say All this is come up on us yet have we not forgotten thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant Thirdly give God the glory of his wisdom many are now crying how long Lord wilt thou hide thy self for ever Shall thy wrath burn like fire Your answer from God is that the rod shall be indeed removed and even cast into the fire in your stead but when it shall be when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem Isa. 1 0 12. If the Iudgement have not yet done all the work it was sent for then they shall go out from on fire and another fire shall devoure them saith the Lord God is a wise refiner and will not take the silver out of the fire till the drosse be purged away from it He is a wise Father who will not cast the rod of correction till it have driven away all that folly which is bound up in the hearts of his children Behold therefore saith the Lord I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem as they gather silver and brasse and iron and lead and tinne into the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it to melt it so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury and I will leave you there and melt you He speaks it to those who had escaped the captivity of Jeboiakim and also the captivity of Jehoiachin and thought they should be safe and secure in Jerusalem when their brethren were in Babylon I will gather you saith the Lord even in the midst of Jerusalem and when thou think you are out of one furnace you shall fall into another and if you will not be refined from your drosse you shall never come out of that furnace but I will melt you there and leave you there which did so come to passe for the residue that escaped to Egypt and thought to shelter themselves there as likewise these that remained in Jerusalem and held out that siege with Zedekias even all these did fall under the sword and the famine and the pestilence till they were consumed Jer. 24.8.10 Let those that are longest spared take heed they be not ●orest smitten Say not with Agag the bitternesse of death is past The child chast●ed in the afternoon weeps as sore as the child chastised in the forenoon Remember the Lord will not take away the judgement till he have performed his work yea his whole work and that upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem it self It is no light matter the rod must be very heavy before our uncircumcised heart can be humbled and the furnace very hot before our drosse depart from us We have need of all the ●ore strokes which we mourn under and if one lesse could do the turn it should be spared for the Lord doth not afflict willingly we our selves rive every stroke out of his hand But in the fourth and last place let us give God the glory of his mercy also he means to do us good in our latter end It is the hand of a father not of an enemy It is a refining not a consuming fire The poor mourners in Zion are ready to say Our bones are dried and our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts we are like to lie in this fire and furnace for ever because our drosse is is not departed from us we are stil an unhumbled an unbroken an unmortified generation yea many like Ahaz in the time of affliction trespassing yet more against the Lord many thinking of going back again to Egypt To such I have these two things to say for their comfort First there is a remnant which shall not onely be delivered but purified and shall come forth as gold out of the fire The third part shall be refined and the Lord shall say It is my people Zach. 13.9 And a most sweet promise there is after the saddest denunciation of judgement Ezek. 14.22 23. Yet behold therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought both sons and daughters ●ehold they shall come forth unto you and ye shall see their way and their doings and ye shall be comforted concerning the evill that I have brought upon Jerusalem even concerning all that I have brought upon it And they shall comfort you when you see their wayes and their doing● and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it saith the Lord God Dan. 12.10 Many shall be purified and made and tried but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand Jer. 24.7 After the promise of delivering those that were carried away to Babylon there is a nother promise added of that which was much better I will give an heart to know me that I am thy Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart Psal. 130.8 He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Zebp 3.12 13. I will also leave in the mid●● them an afflicted and poore people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity not speak lies neither shall a deceitfull tongue be found in their mouth Let your souls now apply these and the like promises and cry Lord remember thy promise and let not a jot of thy good word fall to the ground Secondly as the promises of spirituall and eternall blessings so the promises of peace and temporall deliverances are not legall but even Evangelicall If we be not refined and purged as we ought to be that is a matter of humiliation to us but it is also a matter of magnifying the riches of free mercy Isa. 48.9 10 11. For my Names sake will I deferre mine anger and for my praise will ●refrain for thee Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the fornance of affection for mine own sake yea for mine own sake will

till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom Mark addeth with power Neither was that all He did not so come at that time as to put forth all his power or to do his whole work He hath at divers times come and manifested himself to his Churches And this present time is a time of the revelation of the Son of God and a day of his coming We look also for a more glorious coming of Jesus Christ before the end be For the Redeemer shall come unt● Sion and turn a way ungodlinesse from Jacob And he shall destroy Antichrist with the brightnesse of his coming 2 Thes. 2.8 In which place the Apostle hath respect to Isai. 11.4 where it is said of Christ The rod of Jesse with the breath of his lips shall be slay the wicked There withall you have the Churches tranquility the filling of the earth with the knowledge of the Lord and the restoring of the dispersed Jews as you may read in that Chapter Some have observed which ought not passe without observation that the Chaldee Paraphrase had there added the word Romilus He shall slay the wicked Romilus Wherupon they challenge Arias Montainus for leaving out that word to wipe off the reproach from the Pope However the Scriptures teach us that the Lord Jesus will be revealed mightily and will make bare his holy Arm as well in the confusion of Antichrist as in the conversion of the Jews before the last judgement and the end of all things By this time you may understand what is meant in the Text by the day of Christs coming or coming in as the Septuagints read meaning his coming or entering into his Temple mentioned in the first Verse By which Temple Jerome upon the place rightly understandeth the Church or spirituall Temple When this Temple is built Christ cometh into it to fill the house with the cloud of his glory and to walk in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks The same thing is meant by his appearing When he appeareth saith our Translation When he shall be revealed saith the Chaldee Others read When he shall be seen or in seeing of him The originall word I find used to expresse more remarkable divine and glorious sights as Gen. 16.13 Have I also here looked after him that seeth me Gen. 22.14 In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen From this word had the Prophets the name of Seers 1 S●m 9.9 And from the same word came the name of Visions 2 Chron. 26.5 Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God Now but what of all this might some think It Christ come it s well He is the desire of all Nations O but when Christ thus cometh into his Kingdom among men with power and is seen appearing with some beams of his glory Who may abide and who shall stand saith the Text How shall sinners stand before the Holy One How shall dust and ashes have any fellowship with the God of glory How shall our weak eyes behold the Sun of Righteousnesse coming forth like a Bridegroom out of his Chamber Did not Ezekiel fall upon his face at the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord Did not Isaiah cry out Wo is me for I am undone for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts But why is it so hard a thing to abide the day of Christs coming or to stand before him when he appeareth in his Temple If you ask of him as Joshua did Art thou for us or for our adversaries He will answer you Nay but as a Captain of the Hoste of the Lord am I now come If you ask of him as the Elders of Bethlehem asked of Samuel while they were trembling at his coming Comest thou peaceably He will answer you as Samuel did Peaceably What is there here then to trouble us Doth he not come to save and not to destroy Yes to save the Spirit but to destroy the flesh He will have the heart blood of sin that the soul may live for ever This is set forth by a double metaphor One taken from the Refiners fire which purifieth metals from the drosse The other from the Fullers sope others read the Fullers grasse or the Fullers herb Some have thought it so hard to determine that they have kept into the Translation the very Hebrew word Borith Jerome tels us that the Fullers herb which grew in the marish places of Palestina had the same vertue for washing and making white which nitre hath Yet I suppose the Fullers sope hath more of that vertue in it then the herb could have However it is certain that Borith cometh from a word which signifieth to make clean according to that Mark 9.3 His raiment became shining exceeding white as snow So as no Fuller on earth can white them But to whom will Christ thus reveal himself And who are they whom he will resine from their drosse and wash from their filthinesse That we may know from the two following verses He is not a Resiners fire to those that are reprobate silver and can never be refined Neither is he as Fullers sope to those whose spot is not the spot of his children Nay Christ doth not thus lose his labour But he refineth and maketh clean the sons of Levi also Judah and Jerusalem This I doubt not to aver doth principally belong to the Jews for to them pertain the promises saith the Apostle and the naturall branches shall be grafted into their own Olive-tree But it belongeth also to us Gentiles who are cut out of the wilde Olive-tree and are grafted into the good Olive-tree God hath perswaded Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Sem. And so we are now the Judah and Jerusalem and our Ministers the sons of Levi. Gods own Church and people even the best of them have need of this Refiners fire and of this Fullers sope And so much for the scope sence and coherence of the Text The generall Doctrine which offereth it self to us from the words is this The way of Christ and fellowship with him is very difficult and displeasing to our sinfull nature And is not so easie a matter as most men imagine First of all this doth clearly arise out of the Text As when the people said to Joshua God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods Joshua answered Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God Just so doth the Prophet here answer the Jews when they were very much desiring and longing for the Messiah promising to themselves comfort and peace and prosperity and the restoring of all things according to their hearts desire if Christ were once come Nay saith the Prophet not so Who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth Secondly Other Scriptures do abundantly confirm it The