Selected quad for the lemma: peace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
peace_n	able_a	father_n	zion_n	13	3	9.8114	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51842	One hundred and ninety sermons on the hundred and nineteenth Psalm preached by the late reverend and learned Thomas Manton, D.D. ; with a perfect alphabetical table directing to the principal matters contained therein.	Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; White, Robert, 1645-1703.; Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1681 (1681)	Wing M526A; ESTC R225740	2,212,336	1,308

love him in your hearts but openly plead for him and maintain his quarrel The Devil asketh but Christs Knee Mark 4. 9. Fall down and worship me What were all the Martyrs of God rash inconsiderate that suffered so many things rather than lose their liberty in Gods service Would we be content God should deal with us as we deal by him glorifie their Souls only love their Souls but punish their Bodies eternally 2. Them that though not tainted with this Libertine Principle yet are afraid or ashamed to own the Truth 1. Some afraid because of Troubles and Persecution Hath Christ endured so much for us and shall we be afraid to own his Truth God forbid If I would fear whom should I be afraid of Mark 10. 28. Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Whom should a Child fear his Father or the Servants of his house So whom should we fear God or Man a Prison or Hell 2. Ashamed in Peace and out of Trouble ashamed to own Christ in such Company or to speak of God and his Word Oh Christians shall we be ashamed to speak for him that was not ashamed to dye for us or count Religion a Disgrace which is our Glory Would a Father take it well that his Son should be ashamed of him Are we ashamed of the Gospel the great Charter of our Hopes the Seeds of the new Life the Power of God to Salvation Rom. 1. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ which is the Power of God to Salvation Oh shake off this baseness Iohn 5. 44. How can ye believe which receive Honour one of another and seek not the Honour that comes from God only Use 2. To exhort us to confess with the Mouth and to own the Truths we are perswaded of And here I shall handle the Case of Profession 1. How far it is necessary It is a matter intricate and perplexed and therefore I care not to comprize all cases but to the most notable I shall speak 2. As to the manner how this Profession is to be made 1. How far we are bound to Profess 1. The Affirmative 2. The Negative 1. The Affirmative 1. It is certain that the Great Truths must be owned and publickly professed or else Christ would not have a visible people in the World distinct from Pagans and Heathens Our Baptism bindeth us to this Profession and to all Practises consonant and agreeable with it Rom. 10. 10. With the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation To own Christ as the Saviour of the World evidenced by his Resurrection from the Dead 2. It is certain we must do nothing to contradict the Truth in the smallest matters 2 Cor. 13. 8. We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Nothing contrary to the Glory of God or the prejudice of the least Truth whatever it costs us 3. In lesser Truths when they are ventilated and brought forth upon the Stage and God cryeth out Who is on my side who We ought not to give up our selves to an indifferency to hide our Profession for any danger 2 Pet. 1. 2. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things though ye know them and be established in the present Truth The Church of God is out of Repair sometimes in one point sometimes in another the Orthodoxy of the generality of men is usually an Age too short in things now asoot they go wrong or forbear to give help to the Church because the God of this World hath blinded their Eyes Fight Christ Fight Antichrist they are resolved to be lookers on 4. When our Non-Profession shall be interpreted to be a Denyal Thus Daniel cap. 6. 10. Opened his Caseznent which looked towards Jerusalem and prayed three times a day as he was wont We must rather suffer than deny the Truth by interpretation when such Practises are urged as cross a Principle and we comply 5. When others are scandalized by our Non-Profession or not owning the Truths of Christ that is not only with the scandal of Offence or Contristation but with the scandal of Seduction in danger to Sin and to run into error by our not appearing for God the Interest of Truth should prevail above our ease and private Content 4. When an account of my Faith is demanded and I am called forth to give Testimony for Christ especially by Magistrates Matth. 10. 18. Ye shall be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake for a Testimony against them and the Gentiles 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be always ready to give an answer to every one that asketh a Reason of the Hope that is in you provided it be not in scorn Prov. 26. 4 5. Answer not a Fool according to his Folly l●…st thou also be like unto him Answer a Fool according to his Folly lest he be wise in his own Conceit Answer and Answer not not out of curiosity as Herod questioned Christ many things but he answered him nothing Luke 23. 9. or to be a snare Isa. 36. 21. They held their Peace and answered him not a word for the Kings commandment was saying Answer him not nor parly with Rabshekah In such cases you must not cast Pearls before Swine left they turn again and rent you Mat. 7. 6. 7. When Impulsions are great and fair opportunities are offered in Gods Providence Acts 6. 17 16. While Paul waited for them at Athens his Spirit was stirred in him when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry It is an Intimation from God that then it is seasonable to interpose for his Glory 2. Negatively which is to be forborn 1. Till you be fully perswaded in your own Mind of the Truth which you would profess for otherwise we shall appear with a various and doubtful Face to the World changing and wavering according to the uncertainty of our own thoughts and so make the Profession of Religion Ridiculous We often see cause to suspect what before we were strongly conceited of there is a certain credulity and lightness of believing which men are subject to now when this breaks out into sudden Profession men run through all Sects and Religions and so blast and blemish their own Service therefore what is contrary to the received Sense especially of the Godly ought to be weighed and weighed again before we appear to the World to be otherwise minded 2. When the Profession of a lesser Truth proves an offence to the weak and a disturbance to the Church and an hindrance of some greater benefit all private Opinions must give way to the great Law of Edification Rom. 14. 22. Hast thou Faith have it to thy self before God We must not perplex weak Souls with doubtful Disputations till they be established in greater things neither must the Peace of the Church

defence against the evil of trouble If God did leave us to shift for our selves and never express'd himself in his word for our comfort then we were more excusable though not altogether if we did shift and turn aside to crooked Paths because we are under an obligation to obey whatsoever it cost us But when he hath offered himself to be our shield and our hiding place to stand by us be with us carry us through fire and water all dangers and difficulties shall we warp now and turn aside from God Gen. 17. 1. saith the Lord I am God alsufficient walk before me and be thou perfect there is enough in God why should we trouble our selves or why should we run to any practices which God will not owne Use 4. It presseth us to depend upon Gods protection Shall I urge Arguments to you 1. This is one Every one must have a hiding place Saith Solomon The Conies are a feeble folk yet they have their burroughs and holes All Creatures must depend upon somewhat especially the Children of God that are exposed to a thousand difficulties you must expect to have your faith and patience tryed if ever you come to inherit the promises and during that time it is good to have a hiding place and a shield 2. Your hearts will not be kept in safety unless you make God your strong defence When Phocas fortified Cities to secure his ill-gotten Goods a voice was heard Sin within will soon batter down all those Walls and Fortifications Unless God be our hiding place and shield the strongest defences in the world are not enough to keep us from danger All the shifts we run into will but intangle us the more and drive us the more from God and to greater inconvenience 2 Chron. 28. 20. As the King of Assyria to Ahaz He distressed him but helped him not so many run away from Gods protection and seek out means of safety for themselves and will not trust him but seek to secure themselves by some shifts of their own they do but plunge themselves into troubles so much the more and draw greater inconveniences upon themselves There is a great deal of sin and danger in departing from God and he can soon blast our confidences All those places of safety we fancy to our selves can soon be demolished and battered down God will blast our carnalshifts 3. It is a thing that we owe to God by virtue of the fundamental Article of the Covenant If you have chosen God for your God then you have chosen him for your refuge Every one in his straits runs to the God he hath chosen Nature taught the Heathens in their distress to run to their gods You may see the Pagan Mariners a sort of men usually not much haunted with religious thoughts yet when the storm arose the Sea wrought and was tempestuous danger grew upon them and they were afraid they called every man upon his God Jon. 1. 5. they were sensible that some Divine Power must give them protection It immediately results from the owning of a God that we must trust him with our safety and so if we have taken the true God for our God we have taken him for our refuge and hiding place Ruth 2. 12. A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust When Ruth came to profess the true God by taking the God of Israel for her God it is exprest thus she did commit her self to his Providence and protection and therefore Covetousness because of its trust in Riches is called Idolatry it is a breach of the fundamental Article of the Covenant taking God for our God 4. This trust ever succeeds well It will be of great use to you to still and calm your thoughts and free you from many anxious cares and in due time it will bring deliverance according to his promise How may we thus trust in God Why commit and submit your persons and all your conditions and affairs to his Providence This is to trust in God to make him your hiding place and your shield These Notions are often used in Scripture 2 Tim. 1. 12. Prov. 16. 3. Psal. 37. 5. If there be a thing to be brought about for you commit it and submit it to God he is able wise loving and faithful he will do what shall be for the best commit your comforts your health liberty peace your all into Gods hands for he is the Authour of all let the Lord do what he will This is to trust in God when you can thus without trouble or anxious care referr your selves to the wise disposal of his Providence 1. No hurt can come to you without Gods leave No Creature can move or stir saving notonly by his permission but by his influence others may have a will to hurt but not power unless given them from above as Christ told Pilate The Devil is a raging Adversary against the people of God but he is forced to ask leave to touch either Iob's Goods or his Person he could not touch his Skin or any thing that belonged to him without a Commission from God Iob 1. Nay he must ask leave to enter into the Herd of Swine Matth. 8. 31. And Tertullian hath a notable gloss upon that If God hath numbered the Bristles of Swine certainly he hath numbered much more the Hairs of the Saints if he cannot enter into a Herd of Swine he cannot worry a friend of Christs without Gods leave 2. Consider how much God hath exprest his singular affection and his care and Providence over his people There are many emphatical expressions in Scripture that 's one Matth. 10. 29 30. The very hairs of your head are numbered Mark he doth not speak of the heart or hands or feet those that we call parts which are necessary to the conservation of life but he speaks of the excrementitious parts which are rather for convenience and ornament than necessity What 's more slight than the shedding a hair of the head Thus he expresses the particular care of his people Again Zech. 2. 8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye No part is more tender than the eye and the apple of the eye how hath Nature guarded it that it may receive no prejudice So Isai. 49. 15. Can a mother forget her sucking Child c. See how his tender affection and yearning Bowels are exprest passions in Females are most vehement therefore God alludes to mothers affections And mark it is not to a Child that can shift for it self but a sucking Child that is wholly helpless that was but newly given her to draw her love Nature hath left tender affections on the hearts of parents to their tender infants yet if a woman should be so unnatural yet will I not forget thee saith the Lord. Now shall we not trust him and make him our hiding place Isai. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will

should his Mercy and Truth fulfilled Secondly To Frequency and Constancy therein Frequency in this Duty doth not beget a Satiety and Loathing but rather a greater delight to continue in it But here arise two Questions Quest. I. What Time must be necessarily spent in Acts of Worship and Adoration Prayer Praise and immediate Converse with God Answ. 1. 'T is a Truth that our whole time must be given to God for a Christian is a dedicated thing a living Sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. Now the Beast offered in Sacrifice with all the Appurtinances was Gods a Christian by the consent of his own Vows is not master of any thing After a Vow of all we must not keep back part as did Ananias and Saphira A Christian hath given his whole Self Time and Strength to God 2. Though our whole Time be given to God yet for several Uses and Purposes Gods Service is not of one sort and he is served in our Callings as well as in our Worship Man in Paradise was to dress the Garden Gen. 2. 15. as well as to Contemplate God Common actions may become Sacred by their End and Use. Isaiah 23. 18. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord. 3. These several Duties must not interfere and clash one with another for Gods Commands are not contrary but subordinate We must not so attend upon Religion as to neglect the service of our Generation as Instruments of Gods Providence nor suffer the Lean Kine to devour the Fat the World to incroach upon Religion 4. The particular Seasons for each Duty are not determined and set down in Scripture 1. Partly Because God trusteth Love and will see whether we have a mind to Cavil and Wrangle and Dispute away Duties rather than Practise them 2. And Partly Because he would leave something to the Conduct of his Spirit and the Choice of Spiritual Wisdom Psal. 112. 5. A good man will guide his affairs with discretion 3. And Partly Because mens Occasions and conditions are different and he would not have his Law to be a snare 4. And Partly Because there are so many occasions to praise God that if we do not want an Heart we will be much and frequent in this Duty 5. Though there be not express Rules there is enough to prevent Carelesness and Loosness God calleth to us in very large and Comprehensive terms always continually and in every thing The Example of the Saints who Night and Day were praising God Paul and Silas at midnight sang praises to God Acts 16. 29. So Psal. 119. 62. At midnight will I rise to give thanks to thee because of thy righteous Iudgments And in the Text seven times a day Besides there are daily solemn services Personal and Domestick to be performed Matth. 6. 11. Watching dayly at my gates Prov. 8. 34. Morning and Evening they were to offer a Lamb Numb 28. 4. 6. There are general hints and limits enough to become love Psalm 71. 14. But I will hope continually and will praise thee yet more and more Enough to keep the Heart in good plight and maintain Faith and Hope in God and keep up a spiritual entercourse of Communion with God by dayly offering up prayers and praises to him Quest. II. Whether it be Convenient to state and fix a time David had his set times so had Daniel and surely all Occasions Opportunities and Abilities considered it may be an help to us and make the spiritual Life more orderly to have set stated fixed times for the performance of this Duty Thirdly To suit Gods Word and Works together Laws and Judgments Rom. 1. 18. God hath revealed his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness Heb. 2. 2. Every transgression and every disobedience received a just recompense of reward Deliverances and Promises fetch all out of the Covenant Psal. 128. 5. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion that relateth to the Covenant made to the Church This cheeketh Atheisme sweetneth our Duties allayeth our Fears and resolveth our doubts and helpeth us in the delightful exercise of praising God SERMON CLXXIX PSALM CXIX VER 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them ALL that live in this World find this life a Warfar Iob 7. 1. Much more must the godly expect difficulties and conflicts Psal. 34. 19. Many are the troubles of the Righteous to the eye of Flesh no Condition seemeth worse and more obnoxious to misery then the Condition of those that serve God yet in reality none are in a better Estate what ever happeneth they are at Peace built on the corner-stone which God hath layed in Zion and therefore in all the Commotions and Troubles of the World they are safe This is that which David here observeth In the former verse he had told us that it was his custom to praise God seven times a day for his righteous judgments and now he sheweth the reason namely from the ordinary course and tenour of these Judgments or dispensation of his Providence which was to give peace to them that keep his Law Great peace c. In these Words you have I. A priviledge great peace have they II. The Qualification that love thy Law III. The Effect nothing shall offend them Let me open these Branches the Priviledge is peace and that is threefold First External Secondly Internal Thirdly And Eternal First External in the House the City or Countrey and Societies where we Live in this sence 't is taken Psalm 122. 6 7. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee peace be within thy walls Now this is not all that is meant here for this is a common benefit though often vouchsafed for the sake of them that love God as Musick cannot be heard alone though intended but to one person yet others share with him in the benefit of it Or if you understand it of his own personal peace or being at amity with men they do not always enjoy that Gods best Children are often forced to be men of Contention that is passively they are contended with and troubled in the world Ier. 15. 10. And therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 12. 18. If it be possible as much as lyeth in you live peaceably with all men 'T is not always to be had but we should indeavour to live in peace with all men Secondly There is Internal peace arising either from Justification Rom. 5. 1 or Sanctification Isa. 32. 17. The Fruit of Righteousness is peace or from Contentment with our condition Phil. 4. 7. By Justification we have peace when God is reconciled and made a Friend By Sanctification we have peace when we walk evenly with God And by Contentment we have peace when our Affections are calmed and rightly ordered or set upon more worthy and noble objects So that we are not troubled at the loss of outward things these are the ingredients necessary to internal peace which is I suppose principally