Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	power_n	spiritual_a	temporal_a	2,514	5	9.1751	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39696	Two treatises the first of fear, from Isa. 8, v. 12, 13, and part of the 14 : the second, The righteous man's refuge in the evil day, from Isaiah 26, verse 20 / by John Flavell.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1682 (1682)	Wing F1204; ESTC R177117	170,738	308

relations they sustain to him of what account and value they are in his eyes and how well they are secured by his faithful promises and gracious presence they would not start and tremble at every noise and appearance of danger as they do God reckoned it enough to cure all Abraham's sinful fears when he told him how his God s●ood engaged for his defence Gen. 15. 1. Fear not Abraham I am thy shield And noble Nehemiah valued himself in times of danger and fear by his interest in God as his words import Nehem. 6. 11. the conspiracy against him was strong the danger he and the faithful with him at that time were in was extraordinary some therefore advised to flee to the Temple and Barracado themselves there against the Enemy but Nehemi● understood himself better Should such a man as I flee And who being as I am would flee saith he q. d. a ma● so called of God to this service a man under such pro●mises a man of such manifold and manifest exper●●ences should such a man flee Let others who hav● no such encouragements flee 〈◊〉 they will for my part I will no● flee I remember it was an argu●ment used by Tertullian to quie● the fears and stay the flight 〈◊〉 Christians in those bloudy times Art thou afraid of a man O Christian when devils are afraid 〈◊〉 thee as a Prisoner is of his Judge 〈◊〉 whom the whole world ought 〈◊〉 fear as being one that shall judg● the world O that we could without pride and vanity but value our selves duly according to our Christian dignities and priviledges which if ever it be necessary to count over an● value it is in such times of danger and fear whe● the heart is so prone to dejection and sinking fears 4. Ignorance of our dangers and troubles cause our frights and terrours we mistake them and therefore fright at them we are ignorant of two thing● in our troubles among others viz. 1. The comforts that are in them 2. The outlets and escapes from them There is a vast odds betwixt the outward appearance and face of trouble and the inside of it 't is a Lion to the eye at a distance but open it and there is honey in its belly Paul and Silas met that in a prison that made them sing at midnight and so have many more since their day And as we are ignorant of the comforts that are sometimes found in our troubles so of the outlets and doors of escape God can and often doth open out of trouble To God the Lord belong the issues from death Psal. 68. 20. he knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptation 2 Pet. 2. 9. he can with every temptation make away to escape 1 Cor. 10. 13. the poor captive exile cast upon nothing but dying in the pit making their graves in the land of their captivity Isai. 51. 14. For they could think upon none but the usual methods of deliverance power or price and they had neither little did they dream of such immediate influences of God upon the Kings heart to make him dismiss them freely contrary to all rules of State policy Isai. 45. 13. 5. But especially the fears of good men arise out of their ignorance and inconsiderateness of the Covenant of Grace If we were better acquainted with the nature extent and stability of the Covenant our hearts would be much freed thereby from these tormenting passions this Covenant would be a Panacea a universal remedy against all our fears upon spiritual or temporal accounts as will be made evident hereafter in this discourse 2. Cause 2. Another cause and fountain of Sinful Fear is guilt upon the Conscience A servant of sin cannot but first or last be a slave of Fear and they that have done evil cannot chuse but expect evil no sooner had Adam defiled and wounded his Conscience with guilt but he presently trembles and hides himself so it is with his children God calls to him not in a threatning but gentle dialect not in a tempest but in the cool of the day yet it terrifies him there being in himself mens conscia facti a guilty and condemning Conscience Gen. 3. 8. 'T is Seneca's obserservation That a guilty Conscience is a terrible whip and torment to the Sinner perpetually lashing him with solicitous thoughts and fears that he knows not where to be secure nor dare he trust to any promises of protection but distrusts all doubts and jealouzeh all of such it is said Iob 15. 21. That a dreadful sound is in their ears noting not only the effects of real but also of imaginary dangers his own presaging mind and troubled fancy scares him where no real danger is suitable to that Pro. 28. 1. The wicked fleeth when none pursues but the righteous is bold as a Lion just as they say of sheep that they are affrighted by the clattering of their own feet when once they are set a running so is the guilty Sinner with the noise of his own Conscience which sounds nothing in his ears but misery wrath and hell we may say of all wicked men in their frights as Tacitus doth of Tyrants that if it were possible to open their inside their mind and conscience many terrible stripes and wounds would be found there and it 's said Isai. 33. 14. The sinners in Sion are afraid trembling taketh hold on the hypocrite fear and trembling as naturally ariseth out of guilt as the sparks do out of a fiery charcoal Histories abundantly furnish us with sad examples of the truth of this observation Catiline that monster of wickedness would start at any suddain noise being haunted with the furies of his own evil conscience Charles the IX after his bloudy and barbarous Massacre of the Protestants could neither sleep nor wake without musick to divert his thoughts And our Richard the Third after the murther of his two innocent Nephews saw divers images or shapes like Devils in his sleep pulling and haling him Mr. Ward tells of a Iesuit in Lancashire who being followed by one that had found his Glove out of no other design but to restore it to him but being pursued by his own guilty Conscience also he leaped over the next hedge and was drowned And remarkable is that which Mr. Fox relates of Cardinal Cresentius who fancied the devil walking in his chamber and sometimes couching under his Table as he was writing Letters to Rome against the Protestants Impius tantum metuit quantum nocuit so much mischief as Conscience tells them they have done so much it bids them expect Wolfius tells us of one Iohn Hofmeister who fell sick with the very terrours of his own Conscience in his Inn as he was travelling towards Auspurge in Germany and was frighted by his own Conscience to that degree that they were fain to bind him in his bed with chains and all that they could get from him was I am cast away for ever I have

perfoming his Promises we shall find it is built upon stable and unshaken pillars viz. 1. The Holiness of his Nature 2. The All-sufficiency of his Power 3. The Honour of his Name 4. The Unchangeableness of his Nature 1. The Faithfulness of God is built upon the perfect Holiness of his Nature by reason whereof it is impossible for God to lie Tit. 1 2. Heb. 6. 18. The deceitfulness of men flows from the corruption of the Humane Nature but God is not as man that he should lye neither as the son of man that he should repent ●hath he said and shall he not do it Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Numb 23. 19. If there be no defect in his Being there can be none in his working if his Nature be pure Holiness all his ways must be perfect Faithfulness 2. It is built upon the All-sufficiency of his Power whatsoever he hath promised to his people he is able to perform it men sometimes falsifie their promises through the defects of ability to perform them but God never out-promised himself if he will work none can lett Isa. 43. 13. He can do whatsoever he pleaseth to do Psal. 135. 6. The Holiness of his Nature engageth and the Almightiness of his Power enables him to be Faithful 3. The glory and Honour of his Name may assure us of his Faithfulness in making good the Promises and all that good which is in the promises to a tittle for wherever you find a Promise of God you also find the Name and Honour of God given as security for the performance of it and so his name hath ever been pleaded with him by his people as a mighty argument to work for them Ioshuah 7. 9. What wilt thou do to thy great name q. d. Lord thine Honour is a thousand times more than our lives it is no such great matter what becomes of us but ah Lord it is of infinite concernment that the glory of thy Name be secured and thy faithfulness kept pure and unspotted in the world So again Exod. 32. 11 12. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say for mifchief did he bring them out to ●lay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people q. d. It will be sad enough for the hands of the Egyptians to ●all upon thy people but infinitely worse for the tongues of the Egyptians to fall upon thy Name 4. The unchangeableness of his Nature gives us the fullest assurance of his Faithfulness in the Promises Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Gods unchangeableness is his peoples indempnity and best security in the midst of dangers whilst there is not yea and nay with God there should be no ups and downs offs and on s in our faith that which gives steadiness to the Promises should give steadiness also to our expectations for the performance of them and so much briefly of the Faithfulness of God absolutely considered in the Nature and grounds of it 2. Next let us view the Faithfulness of God as it relates to the many great and precious Promises made unto his people for their security both in their Concernments 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual 1. We find the Faithfulness of God pawned and pledged for the security of his people in their Spiritual and eternal concernments against all their dangers and fears threatning them on that account and that more especially in these three respects 1. It is given them as their great and best security for the Pardon of their sins 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we conf●ss our si●●s he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse ●s from all unrighteousness Our greatest danger comes from sin Guilt is a fountain of Fears a pardoned Soul only can look other troubles in the face boldly As Guilt breeds fear so Pardon breeds Courage and Gods Faithfulness in the Covenant is as it were that Pardon-office from whence we fetch our discharges and acquittances Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake The promises of remission are made for Christs sake and when made they must be fulfilled for his own that is his Faithfulness sake 2. It is engaged for the perseverance of the Saints and their continuance in the ways of God in the most hazardous and difficult times this was the encouragement given them 1 Cor. 1. 8 9. Who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord. Ah Lord might those Corinthians say the Powers of the World are against us Suffering and Death before us a Treacherous and fearful heart within us Ay but yet fear not Christ shall confirm you whosoever opposes you though the World and your own hearts be deceitful yet comfort your selves with this your God is Faithful 3. The Faithfulness of God is given by promise for his Peoples security in and encouragement against all their sufferings and afflictions in this World ● Thes. 3. 2 3. That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith but the Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil He prays they may be delivered from absurd treacherous and unfaithful men who would trapan and betray them to ruine but this is proposed as their relief that when the treachery of men shall bring them into trouble the Faithfulness of God shall support them under and deliver them out of those troubles they shall have Spiritual supports from God under their deepest sufferings from men 1 Pet. 4. 19. 2. Gods Faithfulness is engaged for his peoples indempnity and security amidst the Temporal and outward evils whereunto they are liable in this world and that either to preserve them from troubles Psal. 91. 1 2 3 4. or to open a seasonable door of deliverance out of trouble 1 Cor. 10. 13. In both or either of which the hearts of Christians may be at rest in this troublesome world for what need those troubles fright us which either shall never touch us or if they do shall never hurt much less ruine us SECT III. HAving taken a short view of Gods Faithfulness in the Promises it will be a lovely sight to take one view of it more as it is actuated and exerted in his Providences over his people believe it Christians the Faithfulness of God runs through all his works of providence whenever he goes forth to work in the World Faithfulness is the girdle of his loins Isa. 11. 5.

expectations of Gods righteous judgments It is indeed below faith to expect evil days with despondency and distraction but surely it is a noble exercise of Faith so to expect them as to make due preparation for them SECT II. ANd if we enquire for what End God gives such warnings to the world and premonishes them from Heaven of the judgments that are coming on the earth know that he doth it upon a threefold account 1. To prevent their Execution 2. To leave the Careless inexcusable 3. To make them more tolerable and easie to his own people 1. Warning is given with design to prevent the execution of judgments this is plain from Amos 4. 12. Therefore will I do this unto thee there is warning given and because I will do this prepare to meet thy God O Israel There is the gracious design of preventing it by bringing them seasonably upon their knees at the foot of an angry God You see the Lord expects it from all his Children that they fall at his feet in deep humiliation and fervent intercession whenever he goes forth in the way of judgment What else was the design of God in sending Ionah to Nineveh with that dreadful message but to excite them to repentance and prevent their ruine This Ionah guessed at and therefore declined the message to secure his credit well knowing that if they took warning and repented the gracious nature of God would soon melt into compassion over them Free grace would make him appear as a liar among the people for to that sense his own words sound Ionah 4. 2. Was not this my saying when I was yet in my Countrey Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I knew that thou art a gracious God q. d. I thought before hand it would come to this I knew how willing thou art to be prevented by repentance therefore to secure my credit I fled to Tarshish 2. He forewarns of judgments to leave the Incorrigible wholly inexcusable that those who have neither sense of Sin nor fear of Judgment before might have no cloak for their folly nor plea for themselves afterward What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee Ier. 13. 21 22. q. d. What Plea or Apology is left thee after so many fair warnings You cannot say you were surprized before you were admonished or ruined before you were warned 3. God warns of Judgments before they come to make them the more easie to his people when they come indeed thus in Iohn 16. 4. Christ foretold his Disciples of their approaching sufferings that when they came they should not be found amazed at them or unprovided for them for unexpected miseries are astonishing to the best men and destructive to wicked men Luke 17. 26 27 28. Well then if it be so let all that are wise in heart consider the Signs of the times and seasonably hearken to Gods warnings The Lords voice crieth to the Cit● and the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it Mica 6. 9. 'T is our wisdom to way-lay our troubles and provide for the worst estate whilst we enjoy the best happy is he that is at once believing and praying for good days and preparing for the worst Noah's example is our advantage Heb. 11. 7. Who by faith being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark. Preventing mercies are the most ravishing mercies Psal. 59. 10. And preventing calamities are the sorest calamities Amos 9. 10. And let us heartily bewail the supiness and carelesness of the world in which we live who take no notice of Gods warnings but put the evil day far from them Amos 6. 3. who will admit no fear till they are past all hope they see God housing his Saints apace yet will not see the evil to come from which God takes them Isa. 57. 1 2. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come he shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness They hear the cry of sin which is gone up to heaven but cry not for the abominations that are committed nor tremble at the judgments that they will procure O careless Sinners drowned in Stupidity and sleeping like Ionah under the Hatches when others are upon their knees and at their wits end do Saints tremble and are you secure Have not you more reason to be afraid than they If judgments come the greatest harm it can do them is but to hasten them to Heaven but as for you it may hurry you away to Hell They only fear tribulation in the way but you will not fear damnation in the end Believe it Reader in days of common calamity both Heaven and Hell will fill apace CHAP. VI. Demonstrating the fifth Proposition viz. That Gods Attributes Promises and Providences are prepared for the security of his people in the greatest distresses that befal them in the World SECT I. HAving more briefly dispatched the foregoing preliminary Propositions it remains that we now more fully open this fifth Proposition which contains the main subject matter of this Discourse here therefore our meditations must fix and abide and truly such is the deliciousness of the subject to Spiritual hearts that I judge it wholly needless to offer any other motive besides it self to engage your affections Let us therefore view our Chambers and see how well God hath provided for his Children in all their distresses that befal them in this world it is our fathers voice that calls to us Come my people enter thou into thy chambers And the 1. Chamber Which comes to be opened as a Refuge to distressed Believers in a stormy day is that most secure and safe Attribute of Divine Power into this let us first enter by serious and believing meditation and see how safe they are whom God hides under the protection thereof in the worst and most dangerous days In opening this Attribute we shall consider it 1. In its own Nature and Property 2. With respect to the Promises 3. As it is actuated by Providence on the behalf of distressed Saints And then give you a comfortable prospect of their safe and happy condition who take up their lodgings by Faith in this Attribute of God 1. Let us consider the Power of God in it self and we shall find it represented to us in the Scriptures in these three lovely Properties viz. Power 1. Omnipotent 2. Supreme 3. Everlasting 1. As an Omnipotent and All-sufficient Power which hath no bounds or limits but the pleasure and will of God Dan. 4. 34 35. He doth according to his will in the armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou So Psalm 135. 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in Heaven and in Earth