Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	able_a	people_n	zion_n	109	3	9.0554	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71253	The description and the practice of the four most admirable beasts explained in four sermons upon Revel. 4.8 : whereof the first three were preached before the Right Honourable James, Duke of Ormond, and lord lieutenant of Ireland, His Grace, and the two Houses of Parliament, and others, very honourable persons / by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gr. Lord Bishop of Ossory.	Williams, Gryffith, 1589?-1672.	1663 (1663)	Wing W2664; ESTC R33669	79,502	118

mercy And 6. Truth as Zoreb proveth is so great that it will prevaile against all oppesitions for though that by the tricks and delayes of sutle heads it may be clouded for a time yet at last it will bud forth and appear But I fear the Lord hath a controversie with the Inhabitants of this Land because as the Prophet saith there is no truth nor mercy I may add nor justice nor knowledge of God in the Land or if these be then I am sure you will not build up Zion with bloud and Jerusalem with iniquity because the Lord loves neither House nor Lands that are unjustly obtained I cannot stand to examine it or to handle the particulars that might be said concerning these six points for that might require six houres to do it at least but I will proceed and say 2. 2 2. What use they made of their wings If you would know to what end they had these wings or what use they made of them the Prophet Esay tells you in the practice of the Seraphims that it was for these three special ends That is 1. To cover their faces 2. To cover their feet 3. To flie about For he saith that with two of their wings they cover'd their faces Esay 6.2 and with two they covered their feet and with two they did flie And this they did for these three ends That is 1. To check our curiosity 2. To shew our misery 3. To teach us industry 1. It is the nature and the foolish disposition of man to be alwayes prying and searching into every thing the screts of God the mysteries of state and the obscurities of nature And yet the Seraphims that stand in the presence of God are fain to cover their faces not to hide their sins which they had not but because they are not able to behold the brightness of Gods glorious Majesty and if the Angels hid their faces from the brightness of Gods Glory how dares sinfull man prie into it because as the Apostle saith he dwels in the light that no man can attain unto it 1 Tim. 6.16 Exod. 34.20 and the Lord saith himself that no man could see his face and live for though we walk in the chearfull light of the Sun yet we are not able fully and directly to look upon the Sun when he shineth in his full strength and brightness but it will dazle our eyes and make them to see a thousand colours And as a pure chrystal glass cannot indure the strong working of the fire but it will break all to pieces even so the weakness of mans mortal nature though it liveth by the enjoying of Gods presence yet it cannot bear nor comprehend the glory and brightness of Gods Majesty but that in looking upon so clear an object the eyes of his understanding shall be dazled and he shall fall and be swallowed up into a thousand errours For seeing as the Apostle speaketh our knowledge of God in this life is but in part 1 Cor. 13.12 like the beholding of a man suddenly passing by us when we can look upon nothing but onely his back parts it is impossible for any man in this mortality to know perfectly and exactly the being and wayes of the most highest And therefore this checketh the curiosity and reproveth the boldness of those men that like Phacton will flie and mount up too high to search into the Heavenly mysteries for as the wise man saith Ecclus. 1.2 who can number the sand of the sea the drops of rain and the dayes of time who can measure the height of Heaven the breadth of the Earth and the depth of the Sea Who can find out the wisdome of God which hath been before all things For if we consider either the nature and essence of God or if we look into the counsels and works of God Danaeus Isag we shall easily perceive that they are all incomprehensible Et si quid facit Deus naturae nobis assuetae repugnans nihil tamen facit rationi repugnans And if God doth any thing that seemeth repugnant to our accustomed nature yet we may be sure he doth nothing that is repugnant to reason And though all that God doth be exceeding good yet we cannot always perceive many of them to be good and yet this makes them not to be unjust Gregor in Job c. 9. because we understand them not to be just for as St. Gregory saith Qui in factis Der rationem non videt He that seeth not the reason of Gods doings let him consider his own infirmity and blindness rationem videat cur non videt and he shall soon see the reason why he seeth it not and if we seek to know more then we are able to understand we shall understand less then we do And therefore Solomon gives good counsell to these Gnosticks saying Eccles 7.18 be not thou just over much neither make thy self over-wise For the mystery of the Lords commanding Adam that he should not eat of the tree of knowledge was very great because the knowledge that he should get thereby would not onely cause his present fall That we ought not to be too curious to search into divine mysteries Gen. 3.5 V. 7. but also make both him and all his sons for evermore to fall And therefore the subtle Serpent that aymed at the readiest way to destroy them promised unto Eva and he kept his promise that if they would eat of the tree of knowledge their eyes should be opened and they should be as Gods knowing good and evil and so it was for the text saith that their eyes were opened and they had the knowledge both of good and evil the good that they had lost and the evil that they had fallen into for they knew that they were naked And so this knowledge did but direct them a way to run away from God and teach them the art to sowe fig-leaves together to cover their shame and to hide their wickedness and themselves from the sight of God which they could never do And therefore happy Adam hadst thou been if thou never hadst had this knowledge for this knowledge made thee to fall and so the Prophet Esay saith of Babylon Esay 47.10 thy wisdom and thy knowledge have caused thee to rebel or to turn away and so Ovid saith of himself Ingenio perii qui miser ipse meo My wit and my knowledge hath undone me And I fear that many other men will cry out that their too greedy a desire inconcessae scientiae of unlawful knowledge and prying too far into hidden mysteries hath hurried them into most desperate conclusions for though it be very true that no other creature upon earth hath reason and understanding but onely man yet it is as true that no other creature goeth so far from reason as man alone And therefore I do not say happy are the beasts that want reason but I say unhappy is that man

that was begun to be kindled in his father Terah's house and then he delivered him out of Egypt and preserved him out of all his troubles And for the seed of Abraham The Israelites the children of Israel Moses tells you what God hath done for them for when he divided to the Nations their inheritance Deut. 32.8 9 10 11 12 13 14. he took Jacob for the lot of his own inheritance and though he found him in a desart land and in the waste howling wilderness yet he led him about he instructed him and kept him as the apple of his eye and he made him ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the eucrease of the fields and he made him to suck honey out of the rock and oyl out of the fliuty rock butter of kine and milk of sheep fat of lambs and ramms of the breed of Basan and goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat and to drink the pure bloud of the grape And the Prophet Ezekiel doth amplifie the great goodness of God towards this people more at large saying that their birth and their nativity was of the land of Canaan their father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite i. e. an accursed people and in the day that thou wast born thy navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water nor salted nor swadled at all no eye pittyed thee to have compassion upon thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person and when I saw thee polluted in thine own bloud I said unto thee live and I washed thee with water and anointed thee with oyl I cloathed thee also with broydered work and shod thee with badgers skin and I girded thee about with fine linnen and I covered thee with silk I decked thee also with ornaments and I put bracelets upon thine hands and a chain on thy neck even as our fine Ladyes have in these dayes and I have put a jewel on the forehead and ear-rings in thine eares and a beautiful Crown upon thy head and thou didst eat sine flower E●ech 16.3 ad v. 15. and honey and oyl and thou becamest exceeding beautiful and perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God And what reward did this people render unto God How unthankful and undutiful they were to God and what requital have they made unto him for all these great benefits that this good God had done unto them First Moses tells you They waxed fat and then they kicked as we lately did and forsook God that made them and lightly esteemed the rock of their salvation They provoked him to jealousie with strange Gods and moved him to anger with their abominations They sacrificed to Devils and not to God to Gods that they knew not that came newly up whom their-fathers feared not which was and is the fruit of every new Religion as of late dayes we have fully seen amongst us And then as they forsook God that formed them so presently they rebelled against his servants they muttered and murmured and rejected all their Governours and as the Psalmist saith They angred Moses in their tents and Aaron the Saint of the Lord for these two to forsake God and to rebel against their Governours do always go together And if you look into the foresaid sixteenth Chapter of Ezekiel you shall see how the Prophet sheweth their wickedness and how they have multiplied their abominations above measure and as many of us over-wickedly and unjustly seeking to make our children great in this world do bring them unto the Devil in the world to come Ezech. 16.21 so did they slay their children and cause them to pass through the fire and as the Psalmist saith Ps 106.37 They offered their sons and their daughters unto Devils and the Lord himself assureth us that Sodom had not done so wickedly as they had done Ezek. 16.48.51 and Samaria had not committed half of their sins And what an intoierable ingratitude was this The most monstrous thing that ever was not possibly to be described quia dixeris maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris because thou sayest all the evils that can be said when thou namest an ungrateful man especially to God that hath done such great things for us For we read of many bruit beasts that for small benefits have been very thankful unto men as of the Dog that for a peice of bread will follow and be ready to die for his Master and the Lion that for pulling a thorn out of his foot preserved the slave that did it from all the beasts of the forrest and afterwards his life on the Theatre in Rome and Prima●day tells us of an Arabian infidel that being taken prisoner and afterwards set at liberty by Baldwin King of Jerusalem in token of his thankfulness for that favour Pet. Prim. c. 40. p. 431. he went to him by night into a Town where he was retired after he had lost the field and declared to him the purpose of his companions and conducted him until he had brought him out of all danger And when bruit beasts and Pagans are thus thankful unto us shall man be unthankful unto God No no He should be truly thankful And Seneca saith there be four special conditions of true thankfulness 1. Grate accipere to receive it thankfully 2. Nunquam oblivisci Never to forget it for he can never be thankful that hath forgotten the benefit 3. Ingenue fateri per quem profecerimus Four conditions of true thankfulness ingeniously to acknowledge by whom we are profited 4. Pro virili retribuere to requite the benefit received in the best manner that we are able But this people scarce observed any one of them I am sure not the second and therefore not possibly the third and fourth for the Prophet David tells us plainly that after the Lord had shewed his tokens among them and his wonders in the land of Ham and had brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness and had given them the lands of the Heathen Ps 105.42 43 so that they did as many have done amongst us to take the labours of the people in possession Ps 106.13 Yet within a while they did as we do forget his works and would not abide his counsel V. 21. yea they forgat God their Saviour which had done so great things in Egypt wondrous things in the land of Ham and fearful things by the Red sea But to let this people pass that were destroyed for their unthankfulness let us look unto our selves and have our eyes behind us to behold and see First What God did for us the people of these dominions Amos 3.2 What God hath done for us And Secondly What we have done for the honour and service of God And First As the Lord said of the Jews You onely have I chosen of

of some few Nations he is Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium the King of all other Kings and the Lord of all Lords And therefore Eusebius saith that the distinction or difference betwixt this true Christ and the other imaginary Christs that were anointed Kings before him may truely and very easily be discerned Euseb l. r. c. 1. Eccl. Histor quia illi priores Christi nulli penè nisi genti propriae cogniti sunt those former Kings were scarce known to any but to their own proper people but not onely the name but also the rule power and kingdome of this true King is extended over all Nations per universum orbem terrae and through the compasse of the round world And though when the Jewes would have crowned him King Rex fieri noluit he refused the same yet to shew that this Dominus Angelorum was also Rex Judaeorum Beda l. 5. in c. 19 Luc. as Beda speaketh when he rid to Jerusalem upon the Asse he willingly permitted the people to cry Hosanna and to intitle him King of the Jewes and he confessed as much himself unto Pilat that he was a King And what meaneth this saith the Venerable Bede that he now willingly embraceth quod prius fugiendo declinavit that which before he declined and fled from it and the kingdome that while as yet he lived in the world he would not accept he now denieth not to take it when he is by and by ready to go out of the world He answereth that he formerly refused it Beda l. 3. in c. 11. S. Mar. because of the gross imagination of the Jewes that conceited him to be a temporal King like unto others but he doth now accept it to shew quod non temporalis terreni sed aeterni in coelis Rex esset imperii that his kingdome was not of this world as himself said unto Pilate but as the King of Heaven he ruled all the world Well then seeing Saint Matthew doth by so many inanswerable arguments prove Christ to be a King What we may learn from this Doctrine that Christ is our King and that he is a perpetual universal and principal King and here exprest by the Lion in this Text we may collect and draw matter both of comfort and fear both of joy and of grief For 1. Seeing Christ is King then as the Psalmist saith Psal 97.1 exultet terra let the earth rejoyce for if we will obey him and be ruled by him he will appoint over us such Viceroyes and under-rulers that will lead us sicut oves gently and lovingly like sheep as he did the Israelites by the hands of Moses and Aaron And 2. Psal 99.1 Seeing Christ is King then as the same Prophet saith contremiscat populus let the people tremble for if they fall to be unruly as we were of late let them be never so impatient this King can as easily gather unto himselfe the spirit of his under-Princes as we can slip a cluster of Grapes from a Vine and he can send them a Rehoboam without Wisedome or a Jeroboam without Religion or Ashur a Stranger an Vsurper as we have had to be our King or nullum Regem no King at all but a disordered Anarchy which is the worst of all Psal 10.4 and all this quia non timuerunt Jehovam because they cared not for God neither was God in all their thoughts But to end this Point seeing Christ our King is this Lion here mentioned we need not fear our spiritual enemies for though he be a Lion and a roaring Lion that is against us yet you see we have a Lion with us and as Saint John saith he that is in us is greater then he that is in the world 1 John 4. and is stronger then the strong man armed and able as the Apostle saith Rom. 16.20 Vide the abridgment of the Gospel fol. 26. 27. to tread and bruise Satan under our feet and therefore we ought to stand fast in the Lord without fear because as Saint Chrysostome well saith non debet timere hostem fortem qui habet Regem fortiorem he need not fear the strongest enemy that hath a stronger King as our King is blessed be God for it 2. 2 2. Saint Luke is understod by the Calf as Saint Matthew is here understood by the Lion quia selet res quae significat ejus rei nomine quam significat nuncupaeri as the bread that signifieth the body of Christ is termed the body of Christ because he proveth Christ to be the King of the Jews and that Lion of Juda which was so long expected to come into the world so for the like reason Saint Luke is here to be understood by the Calf because he principally aimed to prove Christ that is signified by the Calf to be that Priest of whom the Lord sware thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck For I told you before that of all the sacrifices of the four footed Beasts of the Herds which the Hebrews called bakar that is majores hostias the greater sacrifices the Calf was most acceptable unto God as the Prophet sheweth Psal 51.19 Heb. 9.19 Exod. 24.8 Esay 11.6 7. when they offered yong bullocks id ●st goodly Calfs upon his altar And the reason is because the Calf is mecker and more gentle then either of the rest in regard of which meekness the quiet and peaccable man is metaphorically called a Calf And therefore by the Calf is here signified the Priestly office of Christ whereby he offered up himself as a meek and immaculate Calf unto God that by the blood of this Calf we might be sprinkled and purged from all our sins because that without shedding of bloud there is no remissin Heb. 9 21 as the Apostle speaketh And of all the rest of the Evangelists Saint Luke onely doth most specially aime to prove Christ to be a Priest and to shew his Priestly office for both the Alpha and Omega of his Gospel is concerning the Temple and the sacrifices thereof when as he beginneth the same with the Priesthood of Zacharias and his sacrifice of incense and endeth the same with the sacrifice of the Christians that were continually in the Temple praysing and blessing God Luc. 24.53 For though that before the birth of this Priest the other Priests were to burn incense in the Temple of the Lord as Zacharias did yet this Priest being now born and ascended up to heaven the sacrifice that the Christians are to offer unto God is to be continually praysing and landing God in the Temple as Saint Luke saith the Apostles did For the true propitiatory sacrifice being exhibited the Types and Figures thereof must now cease and be abolished and in the place thereof the gratulatory sacrifice must be established And therefore Saint Luke beginneth his Gospel with the propitiatory sacrifice of Za●harias because Christ was not