Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	daughter_n	father_n	son_n	10,765	5	4.8829	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33454	Methodus Evangelica, or, The gospel method of Gods saving sinners by Jesus Christ practically explained in XII propositions / by Abraham Clifford ; to which is prefixed a preface by Dr. Manton, and Rich. Baxter.	Clifford, Abraham.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1676 (1676)	Wing C4701; ESTC R23890	95,942	214

destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. Now what can possibly be more plain than that the great blessings of the New Covenant are made over to us upon the conditions of faith and repentance and sincere obedience It tells us indeed that God will pardon our sins and own us for his children and admit us to be heirs of his Kingdom and be our God I but still it is with this proviso if we do repent if we do believe if we do obey the Gospel and by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality I but except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ i.e. believe in him Joh. 6.53 And except we repent Luke 13.3 And except we be converted and become as little children Math. 18.3 And except we be born again of water and of the Spirit Joh. 3.5 And except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 5.20 And except we abide in the vine Joh. 15.4 And except we strive lawfully 2 Tim. 2.5 we shall not enter into life And if these be not plain conditions I would gladly know what then are to be accounted such or how otherwise they may be exprest But thirdly 3. All this is necessarily implyed in that short Epitome of the New Covenant so often repeated in Scripture I will be your God and ye shall be my people The first part I will be your God contains all the priviledges and the second ye shall be my people all the duties of the Covenant First God here promiseth to be our God What 's that Why That he will do all that for us that a God can do and be all that to us that a God can be to a Creature He will pardon our sins and adopt us into his family and put his holy spirit into us and dwell with us and take care of us so that we shall not need to take any thought what we should eat or what we should drink or wherewithal we should be cloathed He will provide for us and give his Angels charge over and protect us in all our wayes and turn all things to our good and never leave us nor forsake us He will hear our prayers and supply our wants and deliver us from our temptations and subdue our corruptions and lead and assist and comfort us by his spirit and make us heirs of his eternal Kingdom In a word he will give us Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from us and after all he will be more than all this to us for he himself will be our reward and portion Thus God promiseth to be our God yea but then we must engage to become his people For those words And ye shall be my people are not only promissory but preceptive and do as well declare what God requires of us as what he will eff●ct in us or do for us Thus have we God himself often commenting upon and expounding this phrase If you will walk in my statutes saith God to Israel and keep my Commandments and do them Lev. 26.3 Then I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my people v. 12. And this thing commanded I them saying obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people Jer. 7.23 And chap. 11.4 Obey my voice and do according to all which I command you So shall ye be my people and I will be your God And thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes and keep his statutes c. And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments That thou maist be an holy people to the Lord thy God as he hath spoken Deut. 26.17 18 19. And come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no unclean thing and then I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Almighty 2 Cor. 6.17 18. All which is Emphatically exprest by the Prophet Isaiah by subscribing to the Lord Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lord and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel And therefore it is that God first promiseth to put his Law and Fear and Spirit into his chosen and to cause them to walk in his wayes and observe his Statutes that so they may become his people Je. 24.7 Ezek. 11.20 36.26 27 28. 37.23 27. Jer. 32.38 c. That 's the method in which God makes them his Now whoever is taken into Covenant with God he seals to both these parts that is to take God to be his God his portion and happiness and also to list himself in the number of his people but what 's that you will say Why 'T is as you have heard to cleave to him to obey his voice to walk in his wayes to keep his judgments to observe his statutes to serve him with a pure heart to touch no unclean thing In a word to carry and demean themselves in all things as those that are in a state of subjection unto God and have subscribed with the hand to him and avouched him to be their God to love and serve him with all their hearts and with all their strength and with all their thoughts This is indeed to be the people of God according to the true intent and meaning of the Covenant as before explained Nor is it possible for any whose notions of God are not monstrously degenerate and enormous so much as to imagine that an infinitely wise and righteous God should ever engage himself to any people to be their God unless they also were made willing to be his people to love him and live in a due acknowledgment and observance of him Nor is it to be supposed that any reasonable and ingenuous Creature that understands himself and the reason of his own actings should ever intend otherwise in his Covenanting with God What take God only to serve our selves of him and yet not to serve him What That we may be pardoned and protected and delivered from eternal miseries and yet not give up our selves to him to be ruled and governed by him What only to shrowd our selves under his wings and be fed at his table and enjoy all the priviledges of his adopted ones his paternal love and care and blessing and yet continue prodigal Sons of Belial and children of disobedience and pay nothing of that love and reverence and obedience that is due to him as a Father Is this your language or meaning when you take hold of his Covenant and say Lord be my God Will not common ingenuity then teach you to take up the Psalmists words and say And

past by without a due observation in order to our better understanding the Nature and Obligation of this Gospel Covenant which is the main thing intended in this whole Discourse But where doth Scripture without whose warrant we ought not to admit any Article into our Creed mention any such thing as God's covenanting with Christ for his Redeeming of the World For this some refer us to Psal 89. v. 3 4.28 c. to v. 38. The main Contents of this Psalm do I confess immediately relate to David and his Natural Seed Nor can this be questioned since the substance of what we have here recorded was by Nathan the Prophet expresly delivered to him from the Lord upon his declared intention to build an House to his Name 2 Sam. 7. 1 Kings 17. All which is afterwards particularly applyed to Solomon his Son who next succeeded him in the Throne 1 Chron. 22.10 1 Kings 6.12 And therefore the literal sense of this place so far as the words will bear it ought not to be excluded But yet this being granted 't will not therefore follow but that the former interpretation of the words may also be admitted Immediately they may respect David and his Seed and yet ultimately they may refer to Christ as prefigured by him Jesus Christ we know in the prophetick stile of the Old Testament is frequently called by the name of David Jer. 30.9 as Believers also are called his Seed 'T is not unusual therefore in this Book of Psalms to ascribe such things to David and Solomon being eminent Types of Christ as are either proper only to Christ the Antitype or applicable to them only as they were some way or other representative of him which is a thing so commonly known and evident in it self as that I shall not need to give my self or others the trouble to prove it And why may not the Psalmist be allowed to speak here in the same dialect principally intending Christ by what he relates of himself and natural seed Especially if it be considered that several expressions here used in this Psalm are such as signally belong to Christ as some of his Royal Titles and Jewels of his Crown As for instance his being The elect and chosen of the Lord Math. 12.18 Luke 23.35 His Holy One Acts 3.14 His First-born Heb. 1.6 His Mighty One Esa 9.6 Higher than the Kings of the Earth Phil. 2.9 Upon which account Calovius is positive in his assertion that the 19. verse of this Psalm is spoken unicè de Christo of Christ alone and not at all of David and his literal seed Besides many of the priviledges here mentioned were never in a literal sense made good either to David or Solomon or any of their succeeding Race though all to Christ As that his seed should be established for ever and his Throne to all Generations ver 4. That his hand sh●uld be in the Sea and his right hand in the mighty Rivers v. 25. That he should be higher than the Kings of the Earth v. 27. That his Seed and Throne should endure as the days of Heaven ver 29.36 37. But when was David or Solomon or any of their Successors higher than the Kings of Assyria or Persia by whom they were carried Captives Or when did they rule from Sea to Sea from the Mediterranean to Euphrates Or how was his Throne and Seed established as the Sun and Moon in the Heavens for ever When not long after this Promise here recorded Coniah the Son of Jehoiakim and in him the whole Race of David were for their violating of God's Covenant finally rejected from sitting upon his Throne Jerem. 22.28 29 30. And by the succeeding Prophet 't is more than intimated that all this was but to make way for the Messiah who was principally intended in the Promise made to David Ezek. 21.25 26 27. in whom we find a punctual accomplishment of all here promised both as to the establishment of his Throne Heb. 1.8 and the extent of his Government Zech. 9.10 and the subjection of his Enemies Psal 110.1 and the exaltation of his Name and Power Rev. 17.14 and 19.16 To all which it might be added that the Pen men of the New Testament who best understood the meaning of the Spirit speaking by the Prophets in the Old do apply this Psalm at least several passages of it to Jesus Christ as may be seen by comparing these places following ver 3 4. with Acts 13.23 ver 26 27 28 29. with Heb. 1.5.8 ver 28.33 34 35. with Acts 13.34 ver 36 37. with Luke 1.32 33. If this then which is the judgment of most Interpreters upon the place may be admitted to be the Prophets meaning and intendment in this Psalm we have here an evident proof of a Covenant made with Christ represented to us by that made with David and his Seed But not to insist further upon this Scripture is not wanting elsewhere though not in express terms yet in words to the same import to bear witness to this Truth Hence we read of the Counsel betwixt them both Zech. 6.13 of a Command received from the Father for Christ to lay down his life for his sheep which were given to him Joh. 10.18 of his finishing the work which his Father gave him to do Joh. 17.4 of a promise of eternal life before the world began Tit. 1.2 of Grace given to Believers before the Foundations of the Earth were laid 2 Tim. 1.9 of his enduring the Cross and despising the shame for the joy that was set before him Heb. 12.2 and to name no more of his coming to do the will of his Father and having his Law within his heart Psal 40.8 And what was that but the mediatory Law which past betwixt him and the Father for his assuming the Nature of Man in order to his making satisfaction for him by his death and sufferings And therefore 't is said in the foregoing words a body hast thou prepared me for so the Author to the Hebrews renders those words of the Psalmist mine ears hast thou bored Heb. 10.5 of which more afterwards But if what hath been already said be not thought sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this Proposition let but these following Scriptures be consulted and weighed in an equal balance and I cannot doubt but they will abundantly satisfie the mind of the most scrupulous in this point excepting they be resolved contrary to the clearest evidence to adhere to their own mistaken sentiments Psal 2.7 8 9. Phil. 2.5 to the 12. 1 Joh. 10.15 16 17 18.27 28 29. and to name no more Esa 53. The very word Covenant 't is acknowledged doth not here occur But that 's not the thing in question whether this transaction betwixt the Father and the Son be here or elsewhere though that hath been already proved expresly called by that name for if nothing were to be owned for Divine Truth but what is so delivered to us in Scripture we must then

the guilty Offender that this being removed God might now be at liberty to pardon and reaccept him unto favour in what way and upon what terms he pleased such as he in wisdom should judge most for the honour of his own Being and Perfections Yea but not that therefore God must of necessity pardon the sinner what ever come on 't as one well expresseth it That is whether he repented or believed or not or still continued in his Rebellion and Impenitency Christs Sufferings they were not in a strict sense the Idem i. e. the very thing which the first Covenant required at the hands of Man but the tantundem or an equivalent compensation Not properly solutio debiti the payment of the debt but an equitable satisfaction for a criminal offence And accordingly God in this whole transaction is to be considered not so much as a Creditor as an offended Magistrate or Governour of the World that admits as Seleucus did the putting out of one of his own eyes for the redemption of his Sons the suffering of one for another though of somewhat a different kind and manner for the maintaining of the honour of his Laws and Government And therefore God could not be obliged thereby immediately to acquit and discharge the Offender since the satisfaction given in his behalf was refusable but may in Justice and for the vindicating of his own Holiness and retaining the Creature in his due subjection bring him to terms and conditions before he remit the offence and become actually reconciled to him Much less was God obliged to this by his own essential goodness for though the issues and outgoings of his love be most natural and agreeable to his Being upon which account he is stiled in Scripture a Sun and Fountain yet are they not like the ebullitions of water from their Fountain or emanations of light from the Sun absolutely necessary and involuntary No they are still free though most natural Else how comes it to pass that Apostate Angels were not redeemed from their Chains and Darkness and the Spirits now in Prison set at liberty and freed from torments And the Inhabitants of the Earth that still sit in darkness and under the shadows of death have not the Sun of Righteousness arising upon them with healing in his Wings as well as we in these Northern Islands What ever acts by constraint and necessary impulse of Nature 't is uncapable of setting any bounds or limits to its own actions but imparts it self and influences universally at all times and alike to all The same Sun shines not to some parts only of the Earth but equally to both the Hemispheres And the same Sea and Fountains scatter their streams not only to some few Passengers but indifferently to all that pass by without exception And if such were the egress and communications of Divine Love and Goodness then tell me whence it is that there is any difference betwixt fallen Angels and degenerate man Betwixt Jew and Gentile the Christian and Pagan World Why is not the whole Earth India and America as well as Europe turned into a Goshen a Land of light and made as Eden the Garden of the Lord Why is so great a part of it yet left to be as a darksom Egypt or barren Wilderness Doth not all this sufficiently argue that the bequeathments and application of Christs satisfaction and purchase with all the rich Fruits that spring from both are made not by necessity but ad placitum according to the meer good will and pleasure of God to sinners as the Apostle speaks Ephes 1.5 and 9. PROPOS VI. Of Gods freedom to prescribe the terms upon which sinners shall be saved SInce all the communications of Grace and Mercy to the Creature even to those that Christ hath redeemed with his blood are absolutely free and issue forth only according to the Prerogative of the Divine Will and Pleasure God may therefore give out and apply the merits of his Sons obedience and sufferings to whom and in what way and method and upon what terms he in wisdom shall think meet He that cast the skirts of his love over the lost Sons of Adam when he saw them polluted in their own blood might also if he had pleased have made it a time of love to the Apostate Angels and have put them with Man since Christs Merits were intrinsickly sufficient for both into the same Act of Grace and Indemnity And he that hath chosen only some few to be Heirs of Glory out of the common Mass of Mankind might likewise have extended the same mercy and favour to all the rest Judas as well as Paul might have been an Elect Vessel to the Lord. Yea but one is taken and the other is left to shew that God hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy and that whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9.18 And as God freely makes choice of the persons whom he will effectually pardon and save by his Son Jesus Christ so also of the mediums and ways in and by which this salvation shall be dispensed to them First only in a dark and mysterious Promise so to Adam Gen. 3.15 Then more explicitely by actual Covenant so to Abraham Gen. 17. After this by Types and Shadows so to the Jews And last of all by open and manifest Revelation through the ministration of Christ and his Apostles so to all under the Gospel Dispensation Heb. 1.1 2. Thus Jesus Christ and in him salvation is first promised then typified and then exhibited and that first to the Jews only but afterwards to the Gentiles also And he surely that makes choice of whom he will to be the Objects of Mercy and freely determines in what way and order they shall have salvation dispensed to them he cannot but be alike free to appoint the terms and conditions upon which they actually may be saved He that hath power to appoint the End must also have power to appoint the Means by which it may be obtained God in this whole transaction is to be considered not only as Lord and Governour but as the offended party and our great Benefactor and upon all these accounts the Right of prescribing the terms upon which the guilty and condemned Creature shall be admitted to pardon and happiness properly and solely belongs to God As he is absolute Lord of all so he may do whatsoever he pleaseth with the Works of his own hands And as he is rightful Governour over the World so he may prescribe what Laws he thinks meet for the due government of his Creature And as pars laesa the party wronged and offended by Man he may say upon what terms he will be reconciled to him And as our great Benefactor that designed and contrived the way of Mans pardon and salvation by the death and sufferings of his only begotten Son he must dispense these benefits according to the pleasure of his own Will Math. 20.15 To save a sinner upon any terms