Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	work_n	world_n	wrap_v	25	3	10.0640	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82313	The building and glory of the truely Christian and spiritual church. Represented in an exposition on Isai. 54, from vers. 11. to the 17. Preached to His Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax and the general officers of the army, with divers other officers, and souldiers, and people, at Marston, being the head-quarter at the leaguer before Oxford, June. 7. 1646. / By William Dell, minister of the Gospel, attending on His Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Army. Together with a faithful testimony touching that valiant and victorious army, in the epistle to the reader. Published by authority.	Dell, William, d. 1664.	1646 (1646)	Wing D918; Thomason E343_5; ESTC R200942	30,138	43

afflicted toss●d with tempest and not comforted Now this the Lord doth in much mercy to his Saints he leaves them destitute of earthly comfort that they may look for heavenly he leaves them destitute of all comfort from men that they may look for comfort from God alone And therefore when thou art brought into such a case to be afflicted and not comforted lift up thy heart to God and expect all from him Saith Christ Joh. 16. The world shall hate you and persecute you and shall put out of their synagogues and shall kill you and in doing all this shall think they do God good service But saith he I will send you the Comforter Christ knew well enough that among all these evils they should have no Comforter on earth and therefore promises to send them ane from heaven And therefore when thy soul is placed in affliction never look after any earthly or sensual or creature-comforts for they will prove poison to thy soul but onely look for heavenl● comforts such as the Spirit brings such as flow immediately from God for these are pure and sweet and unmixed and refreshing and supporting and satisfying and enduring comforts comforts that are able to make thee rejoyce not onely in fulnesse but in wants not onely among friends but in the midst of enemies not onely in good report but in evil report not onely in prosperity but in tribulations not onely in life but in death they will make thee go singing to prison to the Crosse to the grave they are mighty comforts infinitely stronger then all the sorrows of the flesh and hence it is that many Saints and Martyrs have gone cheerfully to the stake and sung in the very flames the comforts of God in their souls have strengthned them to this Thou that art a believer and in union with Christ never doubt of this comfort in thy greatest sorrows When Christ had none to stand by him and comfort him God sent an Angel from heaved to do it And so when we are left alone in the world rather then we shall want comfort God will send us an Angel from heaven to comfort us yea the Spirit it self which is greater then all the Angels in heaven and we shall certainly be comforted by God when we are afflicted and tossed with tempest and not comforted by men Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours c. The Lord seeth the Church in its affliction without all cōmfort in the world add then the Lord comes and comforts it himself and this he doth by a Promise They are the sweetest comforts that are brought to us in the promises The promises are the swadling-clothes of Christ they carry Christ wrapt up in them and Christ represented to the Church hath been the comfort of it in all its evils outward or inward And therefore whatever affliction takes hold on thee have recourse to the Promises to draw thy comforts from Christ through them Oh how sweet is that life that is led in the Promises I a life led in the Promises is the best life in the world Men that have estates in money or land depend on those things for their maintenance but a Christian may have little or nothing of these in the world but he hath a Promise which is a thousand times better and makes his life more comfortable I am God All-sufficient and I will not fail thee nor forsake thee whereupon he comes to this resolution The Lord is my portion saith my soul I will trust in him Oh how sweet a life is this life that knows no cares nor fears nor troubles nor disquietments here saith a believer lies my estate and living and the lot of mine inheritance and this is a thousand times better and more certain estate then all the Mannors and Lordships in the Kingdom for my bread shall be given me my waters shall be sure The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want no not then when the Lions the great men of the Kingdom to whom every poor man is a prey shall lack and suffer hunger He that hath given me his own Nature and Spirit will not leave me destitute of food and clothing Take another instance A man feeling the bitternesse of affliction to flesh and blood is ready to think Oh how shall I ever be able to suffer this or that or to part with my relations with my estate with my life and all that is neer and dear unto me Why then a Christian lays hold on the promise God is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able O saith a Christian God will never bring me to any temptation or trial but he will give me strength proportionable to it or above it and so lives satisfied with the truth and goodnesse and power of God And thus you see in these instances that a life led in the promises is the sweetest and best life when a man can draw all from God himself through a promise And this in general That God comforts his Church by a promise But to come more particularly to the words Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires Vers 12. And I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones The promise relates to the Spiritual Church of the New Testament and this you shall observe is oft in Scripture compared to a building and that to a most stately sumptuous magnificent and glorious building as being all built of precious stones and so more glorious then the first Temple which was built up of common stones and it was prophesied that the glory of the second Temple should far exceed the glory of the first The first Temple was Solomons which was indeed filled with the outward presence of God but the second Temple is the humanity of Jesus Christ or the flesh of Christ both head and members this is the living temple of the living God the Temple that God hath built by his Spirit for his own ha●itation wherein God dwels truely really spiritually and most neerly by the way of the most neer union whereby God and the creature are knit together and this Spiritual Temple is more glorious then the first material one either according to the first edition of it by Solomon or the second edition of it by the Fathers in the days of Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes Here then you see that the Lord promiseth to build up the Church of the New Testament with stones of fair colours with precious stones I wil not stand to enquire particularly into the natures of the several stones here named for the Jews themselves do not fully agree about them It shall be sufficient for us to attain to the meaning of the Spirit in this place and that is this That the Spiritual Church of the New Testament is not to be built with common but with precious stones Now the

full sense of these words I shall give you forth in several particulars 1. You see here the matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made and that is not of common but of precious stones elect and precious stones and such are the faithful For 1. They have a more excellent nature then other men have for they are born of God and so partake of the nature of God and so in this sense may be said to come forth from God as the childe from the father and the Lord Jesus did not more truely partake of the nature of man then these do partake of the nature of God and therefore saith Peter Great and precious promises are made to us that we should be partakers of the divine nature Others have onely the nature of men in them or which is worse the nature of the devil but the faithful have in them the nature of God communicated to them through a new birth 2. They have a more excellent spirit then others have as it was said of Daniel that there was a more excellent spirit found with him then with all the other wise men Now the excellency of each creature is according to the spirit of it but the Saints have the Spirit of God even the Spirit of the Father and the Son dwelling in them they have the same Spirit of God dwelling in their flesh as Christ had dwelling in his flesh so that the very Spirit of God is found in the faithful and therefore they are more glorious then the rest of the world 3. They have a more excellent lustre then other men One thing that appertains to the excellency of precious stones is the lustre of them Now this lustre in the faithful is the glory of God upon them The Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee saith Isaiah Chap. 60. And Paul saith We all beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord So that as Christ was taken into the glory of the Father so are we taken into the glory of Christ as he saith Joh. 17. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them for the head and members are taken into the same glory according to their proportion 4. They have more excellent operations for the faithful are not such precious stones that are onely for shew but they also have some vertue in them even the very vertues of Jesus Christ for they having the same Nature and Spirit of God as he had are able according to the measure of the gift of Christ to do the same works that he did and so the Saints are excellent in the operations of faith hope love humility meeknesse patience temperance heavenly mindednesse c. and in this regard also are more precious then the rest of the world And therefore the Lord calls them his Jewels In the day wherein I make up my jewels and elsewhere they are called the precious sons of Sion The people of God are a most precious people men and women of a precious anointing though some wicked and scurrilous libellers against the spiritual Church will not allow them this name but according to the anointing they have received from Satan reproach it And yet still it is a truth that the gates of hell shall not prevail against That the truely faithful are precious stones in the building of the Church partaking of the Nature and Spirit of God and of the lustre and operation of both Whereas on the contrary other people are the vile of the earth the true filth and off scouring of all things Psal. 15. in whose eyes a vile person is contemned a man that is a natural man a sinful and unregenerate man who hath no other nature in him but that corrupt nature he brought into the world though in this present world he may be a Gentleman or a Knight or a Noble-man or a King yet in the eyes of God and his Saints he is but a vile person and a poor mean Christian that earns his bread by hard labour is a thousand times more precious and excellent then he according to the judgement of God and his Word And thus much for the first thing The matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made and that is of precious stones 2. Now the next thing observable is the variety of these precious stones For the spiritual Church is not built up of precious stones of one sort onely not all of Saphires or all of Agates or all of Carbuncles but of all these both Saphires Agates Carbuncles and many other precious stones of fair colours And this notes the diversity of gifts in the Saints of God For though all of them are precious stones yet they are of diversity of colours and lustre and operations And this also makes for the greater glory of the Church for the variety of lustre addes to the beauty and ornament of it In the body of a man there is not one member but many If the body were all but one member it would be but a lump of flesh but the variety of members with their several gifts and operations are the glory of the body And so it is in the Church the Body of Jesus Christ wherein are divers members with diversity of gifts and operations excellently set forth by Paul 1 Cor. 12. 4. c. Now there are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God that worketh all in all But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisedom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another faith by the same Spirit to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecie to another discerning of spirits to another divers kind●s of tongues to another interpretation of tongues but all these work●● that one and the same Spirit dividing to every 〈…〉 he will Here you see are diversity of gifts and administrations and operations in the faithful but all proceed from one and the same Spirit and whatsoever gift proceeds from the Spirit there is an excellent beauty a heavenly lustre in it And therefore labour to distinguish between those gifts that are connatural to thee and flow from thy own spirit and those gifts that are supernatural and flow from Gods Spirit In all the operations of thine own spirit in all thy natural abilities parts wisedom learning actings there is nothing but ungloriousnesse deformity darknesse death how specious soever they may appear to the world but in the gifts and operations that flow from Gods Spirit there is a heavenly beauty and lustre and glory yea even in weak Christians that are true

of Aggates it is all Gods worke from the beginning to the end For who can build unto God a living temple to dwell in but himselfe This the Prophet speaks plainly where he saith the man whose name is the branch he shall build the temple of the Lord even he shall build it It lies in the power of no man to make such a building as this is what wild and wofull work do men make when they will undertake to be building the Chu●ch by their owne humane wisedome and prudence and counsell when they think we will have the Church of God thus and thus and we will make it up of such and such men and we w●ll govern it by such and such Lawes and we will get the power of the Magistrate to back ours then what we cannot do by the power of the Word Spirit we will do by the power of fl●sh and blood Poore men that think that these new heavens where in the Lord will dwell must be the work of their own fingers or that the new Ierusalem must of necessity come out of the Assembly which is to come down from God out of heaven or that they can build the house of God all of pretious stones whereas this must be Gods own work and his own doing and no State or Councel in the world can bring this about and after much tryall and paines and wearinesse the Lord will at last teach his own that the gathering and laying these pretious stones together must be the Lords owne doing even his own doing When the building of the Church is left to men how wofully is it mannaged why saith one we must needs admit such an one he is the chiefe man in the Parish or he is a man of good esteem in the world or he is a Nobleman or he is my neere kinsman or is thus and thus related to mee or he is a good civill faire dealing man and we must needs admit him and thus will flesh and blood bee ever making a carnall temple for God to dwell in but Gods true habitation can never be framed but by the Spirit And therefore for the building of the Church let us look higher then the highest instruments for it must be the Lords own work by the Word and Spirit and though every man be against it and oppose it yet the Lord will doe it when there are no hands to build it up he will build it up without hands I will lay thy stones with c. It followes Vers 13. And thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children See here how the Prophet by the Spirit carries up the Saints above all visible and sensible things even as high as God himselfe God saith he to the Church shall build thee and God shall teach thee all thy children shall be taught of the Lord The note is this That all the true and genuine children of the Church have Gods own teaching in all the things of God they have the Father and the Sonne to teach them by the Spirit This truth Christ himselfe confirmes where he saith It is written that they shall be all taught of God he therefore that heard and learned of my father commeth to me And againe the spirit when he is come he shall lead you into all truth Which doctrine John after preached thus 1 Ioh. 2. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things Hereby now we perceive how few true children of the Church there be among those who are commonly called Christians for among all these how few are there who have the teaching of God but most have their teaching only from men and no higher Consider therefore I pray whether the knowledge you have be from the teaching of God or the teaching of man you all pretend to know that Christ is the Son of the living God and that redemption and salvation is by him alone but how came ye by this knowledge did you read it in the letter or did some body tell you so or hath God himselfe taught you this For no man knowes the Sonne but the Father and he to whom the Father will reveale him and therefore when Peter said thou art Christ the Son of the living God Christ answered flesh and blood hath not taught thee this but my Father which is in heaven And so though all of you professe your selves Christians yet none of you know Christ truly but only such as are taught of the Father And this holds in all other points as touching calling and faith and union and justification and sanctification and the gift and sealing of the Spirit touching the spirituall Kingdome of Christ and the Government of it oh consider whether you have the teaching of God in these things or no and if you have not the teaching of God you are none of the children of the Church what ever truth thou knowest from the letter if thou hast not the teaching of the Spirit it will doe thee no good thou knowest not any thing spiritually and savingly wherein thou hast not the teaching of God All thy children shall bee taught of the Lord And therefore what a sad thing is it when men look for their teaching no farther then men they only look to the Minister or to such an able learned Orthodox man as they phrase it or at the highest to the Assembly and what they shall teach them they are resolved to stand by it and build upon it for their foundation in the meane time never regarding in truth the teaching of God but say what can so many grave learned godly men erre and shall not wee believe what they determine why now these are none of the children of the spirituall Church for they neither have Gods teaching nor care for it but the spirituall Church is all taught of God Object But you will say doth God teach without meanes Answ. I Answer no God teacheth but it is by the Word and that chiefly in the Ministry of it and he that pretends to bee taught of God without the Word is not taught of God but of the Devill And therefore no man is to despise the Ministry of the Word which is Gods own Ordinance and to depend upon I know not what revelations and inspeakings without the word seeing God teacheth all his children by the word and none without it And therefore it is not the Prophets meaning when he saith all thy children shall be taught of the Lord that they should neglect and despise the Word and the Ministry of it but that we ought so use the Word and the meanes as not to look for our teaching from them but from God himselfe in and through them and when you come to heare not to think I will heare what Mr such an one or Mr such one will say but with the Psalmist