Selected quad for the lemma: nation_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nation_n	peculiar_a	people_n	priesthood_n	1,265	5	9.7438	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58958	The Second and last collection of the late London ministers farewel sermons preached by Dr. Seaman, Dr. Bates, Mr. Caryll, [brace] Mr. Brooks, Mr. Venning, and Mr. Mead ; to which is added a farewell sermon preached at Dedham in Essex by Mr. Matthew Newcomen ; as also Mr. Lyes sermon at the conclusion of the last morning-exercise at All-hallows in Lumbard-street, being a summary rehearsal of the whole monthly-lectures.	Seaman, Lazarus, d. 1675.; Bates, William, 1625-1699.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.; Venning, Ralph, 1621?-1674.; Mead, Matthew, 1630?-1699.; Newcomen, Matthew, 1610?-1669.; Lye, Thomas, 1621-1684.	1663 (1663)	Wing S2257; ESTC R41075	195,536	326

men Yea we are twice dead We are Children of the Light Ye were darkness but now are light in the Lord. Now it is very observable what the Apostle speaks concerning the children of darkness and the Children of the light I Thes 5.5 You Believers saith he are all the Children of the light and the children of the day we are not of the night nor of darkness and what followes therefore let not us sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober why for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunk be drunk in the night if any stagger this is the work of the night this is not the work of the day Now every Apostate that wavers he is like a man that is drunk so that he acts clean contrary to the Children of the day Saith he They that are drunk are drunk in the night but saith he Let us watch and ●e sober and let us who are of the day put on the Breast-plate of Faith and for a Helmet the hope of salvation We are by believing the Children of God Gal. 3.26 For ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus now Beloved are we weary of so honourable a Title as being the Children of God why we are the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Will any body part with so great a Title as this why if we are weary of being Gods Children whose can we be none but the Devils and had we rather be the Devils children then Gods there are but these two either you must be the children of God or the Devils children now you are the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus oh therefore let us hold fast the profession of our Faith seeing by Faith we are the children of God Thirdly Let us consider what we shall be at the end of Faith why we shall be saved 1 Pet. 1.4 5 and 9. verses compared He hath begotten us to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fades not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last times and in the 9th Verse saith he receiving the end of your Faith even the salvation of your souls so that it seems to be weary of believing is to be weary of being saved not to hold fast Faith is not to hold fast salvation for saith he You are saved through Faith and the end of your Faith is the salvation of your Souls Can you be contented to be damned Can you have patience to think of going to Hell Now put all these together and wil you not hold fast you that before faith were but darkness were but dead were but children of wrath who by Faith are made children of light are made alive and the children of God and who at the end of Faith shall receive the salvation of our souls And shall not we hold fast shall we leave this Faith but then secondly A 2d Argument in the Text shall be drawn from the Object and that is twofold there is faith and the profession of this faith that is to be held f●●st and there are Arguments from both first Faith hold fast faith why are we so greatly concerned and so hugely obliged to hold fast Faith I will give you this one Reason for it it is the most holy Faith there are many things may be called Faith that may not be called most holy Faith there are many faiths that are at least called holy Turkish Faith is by them called holy faith the Romish Faith is by them called holy faith I but this is the most holy faith there is an expression that Jude hath to commend faith to us in the 20 verse of his Epistle But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith c. Let other pretenders be as holy as they can they can never rise to the holiness of this this is the most holy faith it is holy in so high a degree as to be beyond compare I but now what is it that may denominate this faith to be the most holy faith why it hath for its Authour the most holy God it is the gift of God and the Work of God if we take it for the Act of Faith and the Doctrine of God if we take it for the Doctrine of Faith There are as the Apostle saith Gods many but we know but one most holy God there are that will be called your holiness in the World but this is the most holy God a God that is glorious in holiness yea whose glory it is to be holy There is nothing stamps glory on any subject like holiness what is the difference between the Angels in Heaven and the Angels in Hell but holiness that is their glory The holy Angels and that is their shame the sinful Angels and what was it that made Canaan a better Land than another was it not the holiness it was the holy Land what was it that made the Temple a better place then another was it not because it was the holy Temple yea it is the glory of all the Attributes of God that they are holy His Justice would look like severity but that it is holy His Power would look like Tyranny were it not holy His Love would look like fondness were it not holy His patience would look like a toleration of sin were it not holy therefore it is said the Lord God glorious in holiness Now this most holy God is the Authour of this Faith and so it is a most holy Faith it being the Work of the most holy God and will you leave and not hold fast this most holy Faith But then besides It may be said to be the most holy faith in this sense too that it is its nature where-ever it comes to make the subject in whom it is most holy Saith the Apostle you hath God chosen to wit by Faith to be a peculiar people a holy Nation Acts 15.9 it is said He hath purifyed their hearts by faith and he will give them an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith It may be called the most holy Faith in these two respects First Considering the operation and effects it hath upon the hearts and lives of them in whom it is it makes them a holy People beyond all the people in the World And then upon this account too as to the ultimate effects of it that it admits us into the most holy places You know he Holy of Holies in the Temple was a Type of Heaven and Jefus Christ is said to enter into the Holy of Holies that is into Heaven Now this doth admit us into the most holy place where that most holy God is saith the Apostle having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Josus Alas in them me of old they could go but into the outward Court but now saith he We all have this boldness to

shake his Kingdom about his ears Sathan and Antichrist know that their Kingdom must down by the power and light of the Gospel and therefore Sathan and men of an Antichristian spirit do all they can to oppose and shew their hatred against the everlasting Gospel and this makes them to be in such a rage against the Gospel Quare 2. When the Gospel goes from a People what goes I shall give but a touch here 1 When the Gospel goes Peace Plenty and Trading goe 2 Chron. 15.3.5 and 6. compared Now for a long season Israel had been without the true God and without a teaching-Priest Why They had Priests but they were Jeroboam's Priests as you may see Chap. 13. ver 9. Have you not cast out the Priests of the Lord the Sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you Priests after the manner of the Nations of other Lands so that whosoever comes to consecrate himself with a young Bullock and 7 ●ams the same may be a Priest of them that are no Gods A little business will buy a Priesthood and so they are said to be without the true God without a teaching Priest and without Law Mark what follows And in those times there was no pence to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the Inhabitants of the Countrey and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all adversity 2 Safety and security goes when the Gospel goes so in the Text but now cited The Ark was taken away and when that was taken away their strength and safety was gone When the Jews rejected the Gospel the Romans came and took away both their Place and Nation John 11.48 If we let him thus alone the Romans will come and take away both our place and Nation About fourty years after Titus Vespatian took away their City they cryed If we let this man alone the Romans will take away our Nations And this was the ready way to bring the Romans upon them 3 When the Gospel goes Civil Liberty goes When the Jews sleighted the Gospel and turned their backs upon it they quickly became Bondslaves to the Romans 4 When the Gospel goes the honour and glory splendour and beauty of a Nation goes It is the Gospel that is the honour and glory of a Nation and when that goes all the glory goes As old Eli said When the Ark was taken away the glory is departed from Israel 1 Sam. 4.22 Jer. 2.11 12 13. Hath a Nation changed their Gods which are yet no Gods but my People have changed their glory for that which doth not profit that is the Worship of God into the Traditions of men Wh●t is it that lifts up one Nation above another but the Gospel Above all Nations of the Earth England hath been lifted up to Heaven 5 When the Gospel goes all soul-happiness and blessedness goes The Gospel you know is the means appointed by God to bring Souls to an acquaintance with Christ to an acceptance of Christ to an interest in Christ to an assurance that he is theirs and they are his Now when this goes all soul-happiness and blessedness goes Lastly When the Gospel goes the special presence of God goes for that still goes with the Gospel There is a general presence of God as the Psalmist speaks Psal 139. Where shall I go from thy Spirit Whither shall I fly from thy presence I his presence of God reacheth from Heaven to Hell in that sense God is included in no place not excluded out of any place But alas What is this general presence When the Gospel goes the special presence of God goes This leads me by the hand to the third Quaery Quaerie 3. And that is this Whether God will remove the Gospel from England or no It is the fears of many but I humbly suppose no Whatsoever Darkness may be upon it yet that God will not remove it and if you please I will offer a few things that signifie something as to my own satisfaction and it may be so to you 1 The rooting that it hath got in the hearts of sinners and Saints in the Judgment Affections and Consciences both of Sinners and Saints Certainly it hath got so deep a root in the hearts of many thousands of Saints and Sinners that it shall not be in the power of Hell to raze it out 2 The glorious Anointings that are to be found upon many thousands of God's Servants in this Nation to preach the everlasting Gospel and who would be glad to preach upon the hardest terms keeping God and a good Conscience to preach it freely as the Apostles of old did And certainly God hath not laid in this Treasure that it should be turned into a heap of Confusion but that it should serve to the end for which he laid it in 3 The ineffectualness of all former Attempts and Designs to destroy the Gospel You know what endeavours of old there hath been to darken this Sun to put out the light of Heaven in the Marian days and in other days since them and yet it hath not been in Prisons Racks Flames Pillories nor any thing else to extinguish the glory of it And then 4 All Designs and Attempts to extinguish the everlasting Gospel have turned to the advancement flourishing and spreading of the Gospel 5 God never takes away the Gospel from a People till the Body of that People have thrust the everlasting Gospel from them when indeed they have been so bold as to thrust away the everlasting Gospel God hath been severe unto them But till the Body of a People have thrust away the everlasting Gospel God hath not taken it away from them 2 Chornicles the 36. Chapter and the fifteenth verse to the end God sent his Messengers early and late they abused and sleighted and scorned them till there was no remedy So in the 35. of Jeremiah from the first to the twelfth it is a famous Text for this So in the thirteenth Chapter of the Acts and the 45 46 and 47 Verses Because you have thought your selves unworthy of Salvation loe we turn to the Gentiles Till the Jews came to thrust away the everlasting Gospel the Lord continued it to them 6 The spreading of the everlasting Gospel is the special means appointed by God for the destruction of Antichrist First he is to be consumed by the Spirit of his Mouth then destroyed by the brightness of his coming the Spirit of Faith and Prayer in them that would be willing to lay down any thing rather then part with the Gospel God will not put his blessed Church to the blush he will not make them ashamed of their confidence 7 Are there not multitudes of the Children of Believers that fall under many Promises and will not God make good his Engagements to them I will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your Seed and the Seed of the Vpright shall be blessed