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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	david_n	house_n	king_n	10,577	5	4.0463	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77847	The reformation of the church to be endeavoured more then that of the common-vvealth, declared, in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable House of Lords at the publike fast, August 27. 1645. / By Anthony Burges, pastour of Sutton Coldfield, and now preacher at Laurence-Jury, London.	Burgess, Anthony, d. 1664.	1645 (1645)	Wing B5654; Thomason E298_13; ESTC R200236	17,974	31

But this is the great eye-sore and trouble to many they would have it better with the state and are not affected with a reformation in the Church and this carnall disposition was of old Austin speaks much to this purpose about the Heathens who cried out of the Christian religion as the cause of all their troubles and miseries They would have peace againe though they had thereby mala saevis pejora hostibus and he bringeth in an Heathen saying Let us have our feasts again our merry meetings reges non curent quam bonis sed quam subtitis regnant non jubeantur dura non prohibeantur impura Let no hard duties be commanded no impure waies forbidden I lle sit publicus inimicus cui haec felicitaes displicet Lib. 1. de civit cap. 30. I fear these things lye in the bottome of many mens hearts who yet are very willing to have all state grievances taken away The means to be such Magistrates and people are these 1. Be affected with Gods Word take that for a rule adore the majesty and fullnesse of the Scripture consider not what this or that carnall principle suggesteth to you but say how is it written and how do we read in the Scripture The Church of God is tied to the Scripture to fetch all nourishment and support from it as the childe is fastened by the navell to the mother for the relief and maintenance of it What hath made men heretiques in the mysteries of the Trinity and Deity of Christ but only attending to reason and not Scripture they will have us shew the like in the creatures but the Father said well to the Arian that demanded so Da mihi alium Deum aliam Trinitatem tibi ostendam 2. Get an heavenly heart and minde which will prize the ordinances of God till this be in men they will not move or stirre in any Temple-worke It s no marvell if David have such a desire to build an house to God when he cryeth out How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord Psal 84.1 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house c. So when he is in banishment what is that which he so longeth for is it to have his peace and outward tranquillity again or not rather to see the power and glory of God as he had seen it in the sanctuary Psal 6.31 2. 3. Humble your selves for former known pollutions or for negligence and remissenesse in reformation when opportunities have been offered Who knoweth whether much of this worke that is now to do might not have been dispatched heretofore if the hearts of men in place had been for it Can we say that it is not the sinne of Parliaments and governours heretofore that the Ark is not already setled and how necessary our humiliations are for former known defilements and superstitions appeareth Ezek. 43.10 11. 4. Remember these considerations 1. What the thoughts are which God hath about a worship that is none of his Joh. 4. You worship you know not what men do they know not what howsoever they dote most upon their own invented worship There is a Papist Raymundus saith There are as many mysteries in the Masse as drops in the sea Angels in Heaven Starres in the firmament atomes in the Sunne-beames or sand in the sea shore but that which is highly esteemed among men is abominable before God 2. The danger of our own hearts in such things God doth frequently forbid our own wisdome and discretion in matters concerning him and the wiser men are the more absurd they have been in their worship when they have not been guided by the light of the Scripture as in the Egyptians who were noted to be a fountain of the arts and much knowledge they were of all the Heathens most ridiculous about their gods And all Popery may sufficiently advertise us how dangerous it is to leave Gods word and to follow our own imaginations In things of this life a Magistrate de jure suo tantum remittere potest quantum pacis studium requiret sed alia est ratio spiritualis regiminis 3. The unprofitablenesse of any such way for a spirituall benefit whatsoever doctrine worship or ordinance is not of the Lords institution can never be blest to any spirituall effect upon the soul The word of promise doth alwaies suppose a word of institution 4. Godly men cannot rejoyce in outward blessings if this be wanting as you heard before of David though he might have his countrey his liberty again yet that was not so great a good as to enjoy God again it is riches and the Gospel peace and the Gospel that makes a people happy 5. This is a great argument to prevail with God what an argument is this in prayer Lord blesse these Magistrates this Parliament for they set up thy Kingdome and consider that every time you pray that petition in the Lords prayer that the Kingdome of God would come the meaning is that the powerfull preaching of Gods word and the wholesome dispensation of the ordinances may every where be setled But against all these Arguments for a Reformation there are many objections brought I will instance in three only First Some say this is to make all Religion ridiculous what a vanity and inconstancy doth this seem to be to have one year one kinde of service and worship of God and another the next year Now to this I answer these things 1. It is indeed a very hard thing to take men off from their religious usages though they have no solid ground to retain them Thus Austin he complained Genus est morbi gravissimi eorum qui dicunt nobis verè quidem dicitur non est quod respondeatur sed durum est nobis traditionē parentū relinquere This doth much trouble men to leave customs which by long tract of time have made an awfull impression upon their conscience And thus Austin at another time Sensi saepe dolens gemens c. he often perceived with much grief that many perturbations and contentions were raised in many things one reason whereof was because it was not their custom in their countrey to doe so Therefore this must be acknowledged that people will generally startle and be astonished if an old custome be denied them though they have no Scripture for it 2. It may fall out that it is so far from being mutability that it is a duty to leave off such things as have been practised Thus when the kingdome of Israel had set up many idolatricall practices was it their sinne because they made their change or not rather their duty and thus in Popery when God caused the light of Reformation to shine out of that thick darknesse was this levity and mutability because there were no Altars no Images no Masse where they were used to be for many hundred years No God commanded them to leave Babylon 3. There is an alteration essentiall and destructive and an alteration accidentall and perfective

learn from God let your affections and thoughts be most about that which God hath the greatest care about from all eternity He looks to the Common-wealth in the way of providence as a God absolutely considered but to his Church in the decree of Election and acts of Justification and Salvation as a gracious Father therefore God he doth either blesse or afflict Common-wealths and the Governours thereof as they are either froward and churlish or kinde and mercifull to his people Psal 87.2 Jehovah loveth the gates of Sion more then the dwelling places of Jacob the place of his worship and ordinances more then all other places Thinke therefore that if Gods love and works in a remarkable manner be for his people worship and ordinances how effectuall and strong ought the resolutions and endeavours of those be who by reason of their place and office are called gods and if it was accounted such an honour among the Heathens unto Hercules that he cleansed their Augean stable and conquered their many-headed Hydra how much more will it be matter of honour and glory to cleanse the temple of God from all defilements and to subdue all heresies that rise up against the truths of Christ let us therefore all imitate God in our places and relations by our love and thoughts of good to the Church and ordinances of God 5. The Common-wealth is in reference and subordination to that the Church is not for the Common-wealth but the Common-wealth for the Church Hence a Common-wealth is made glorious when it becometh holy and Christian as jewels which they say have their being at first in the sea yet have more affinity with the heavens whose colour they represent so a State when once become the Church of God doth more depend on heaven from whence it hath it's originall then on the earth in which it liveth And then doe all Governours contradict this principle when they make the Scripture subordinate to State-ends or policies Thus Jeroboam makes the worship of God subordinate to the outward peace of the Kingdom and this hath been the fatall miscarriage of many Governours they have not consulted what God and his Word speaketh but what are the maximes and principles of State If therefore your hearts and affections be for the Common-wealth how much more ought it be for the Church seeing God made the world at first and doth still preserve it because of his Church that is in it and if Christ thought not his own bloud too much to give for the ransome of it how much lesse should we judge our pains and thoughts too much for it Psal 2. There is a forcible exhortation to all the governours of the earth to receive Christ and to submit to his government let none thinke himselfe too great to be in Christs yoke nay this is the end why God hath given greatnesse and power to men that they might serve his Church and therefore he suffers her to be in a weake and indigent estate when the Lord promiseth that Kings and Queens shall be nursing fathers and nursing mothers it supposeth the Church to be like a poor helplesse orphan now when we speak thus of helping the Church of God we mean not in such a manner as they in Popery plead for the outward dignity and carnall priviledges as also unlawfull authority which are not of Christs kingdom but we speak of the people of God the Ordinances the true Doctrine and the wholesome discipline thereof we desire this to be established and promoted by you Who seeth not a vast difference between the spirit of a proud Thomas Becket obstinately dying for the outward pompe and usurped power of the Church as they call it and the zeal of a Calvin choosing punishment yea a hundred deaths as he saith rather then to suffer the publike prophanation of the Lords Supper Plato said magis amandam esse patriam quàm matrem quia patria quiddam divinum est how much rather then are we to love the Church of God above the Common wealth because that is indeed divine being the immediate plant of Christ himself 6. God in laying down a law doth command those things first that concerne him and his worship so his promises to his Church are chiefly about the spirituall means of salvation this consideration may also be a great motive in the worke of reformation God in his commands first doth establish the duties of worship and service to him and then the offices and duties towards man how happy then is it when men make laws proportionably to God Thus Moses Varro l. 14 c. 17. Romae quotiescunque senatus cogeratur nullâ de re prius quam de religione agebatur as soon as he had delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt before they were a setled Common wealth he prescribeth them all the forme and manner of Gods worship and here Gideon in the text before he subdueth the Midianites he destroyeth their Idols And as you have Gods commands so also his promises to his Church are chiefly in respect of spirituall things Hag. 2.6 7. One would not have thought that the glory there prophesied of for the Temple should have been the reformation that Christ did bring into it but rather would have expected some outward materiall magnificence Even as in Popery adorned Temples goodly Images and costly vestments are accounted the glory of a Church but we see the promise is otherwise So Zach. 12. and Mal. 1. the promises of God to his people under the Gospel are not that they shall live free from taxes and pillaging but that they shall have a refining Ministery pure Ordinances and gracious affections in the use of them 7. The oppressions in worship and Religion are farre more grievous then those of the outward man therefore ought Magistrates to ease the godly in these respects rather then in any other No doubt to the godly Israelites Gideon was more welcome in that he destroyed Altars then in that he vanquished the Midianites Conscience is the eye of a man and any little crumme of dust blown into that is very grievous This made our godly ancestours lying under the burdens of Popery to cry out like David for the water of Bethlehem Who will give us to drinke of the pure waters of Gods ordinances How many have found an hell in their hearts for communicating with false worship Our worthy reformers at first if it had been matter of purse or state they could have born it but when oppressions were in doctrine and worship this made them choose reproaches with Christ rather then the treasures of Rome It is true there are men whose consciences are like the Leviathans skinne no spear can enter into them let there be an Image set in the room of David any Idols in the place of Christ they are not much troubled That is observeable in the Iews though senselesse enough under their Idolatry while they were in outward prosperity yet being in