Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	angel_n	golden_a	incense_n	1,470	5	12.0788	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79420	A discourse of divine providence I. In general: that there is a providence exercised by God in the world. II. In particular: how all Gods providences in the world, are in order to the good of his people. By the late learned divine Stephen Charnock, B.D. sometime fellow of New-Colledg in Oxon.; Treatise of divine providence	Charnock, Stephen, 1628-1680.; Adams, Richard, 1626?-1698.; Veel, Edward, 1632?-1708.	1684 (1684)	Wing C3708; ESTC R232630	167,002	420

very name of the Gospel Church * Esa 48.35 what would it signifie if it were an useless Presence Christ stands upon Mount Sion his Throne is in the Church when the great things in the World shall be acted for the Ruin of Antichrist * Revel 14.1 Gods Presence in his Church is the Glory and Defence of it As the presence of the King is the Glory of the Court Zech. 2.5 For I saith the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her Her presence is a Covenant-presence Isa 41.10 Fear not I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God whence follows Strength Help and Support I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousness that is with my Righteous Power with my power engaged to thee in a Righteous Covenant His Presence and Providence in the World is in a way of Absolute Dominion but in his Church in a way of Federal Relation He is the God of Israel and God to Israel or for Israel * 1 Chro. 17.24 yea and a God in the midst of Israel Every one of them sufficient engagements to protect Israel and provide for Israel and govern every thing for Israels good God is under an Oath to do good to srael will he violate his Oath tear his Seal break his Covenant who never broke his League with any of his people yet 8. A Eightly The Prayers of the Church have a might force with God to this end God is entitled a God hearing Prayer and what prayers should God hear if not the prayers of his Church which aim at Gods Glory in their own good Though the prayers of the Church may in some particular fail yet in general they do not because they submit their desires to the Will of God which always works what is best for them When God would do any mighty work in the World he stirs up his people to pray for it and their prayers by his own appointment have a mighty influence upon the Government of the World For when they come before him in behalf of the Church in general he doth indulge them a greater liberty and boldness and as it were a kind of Authority over him than upon other occasions of their own Isa 45.11 Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker ask of me things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command you me God would be more positively considently and familiarly dealt with about the concerns of his sons though they were things to come to pass in after Ages And indeed the prayers of the Church have a powerful and invisible efficacy on the great actions and overturnings which are in the World The Being of the World is maintained by them from sinking according to the Jews saying sine stationibus non subsisteret mundus standing in prayer was their usual prayer-gesture And that they have actually such a force is evident Rev. 8.3 4. An Angel hath a golden Censer with Incense to offer it with the prayers of the Saints upon the Altar which was before the Throne And ver 5. the Censer wherein their prayers were offered was filled with the fire of the Altar and cast into the Earth and there were Voices Thundrings Lightnings and Earthquakes When the prayers of the Saints were offered to God and ascended upon before him that is were very pleasing to him The issue is the Angel fills the Censer with fire of the Altar and thereby causes great commotions and alterations in the World signifying that the great changes of the World are an answer unto those prayers which are offered unto God for fire is taken from that altar upon which they were offered and flung into the World And it must needs be that the prayers of the Church should have an influence on the government of the World 1. Because God hath a mighty delight in the prayers of his people The prayer of the upright is his delight and he loves to hear the Churches voice Cant. 2.14 O my dove let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice Chaldee thy voice is sweet in prayer In the times of the Gospel God promises that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem should be pleasant to him Mal. 3.4 When Christ shall sit as a refiner v. 3. what is the issue of those prayers v. 5. I will come near to you to Judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers c. Prayer awakes providence to judge the Enemies of the Church A Parent delights not in the bare crying or the voice of his Child simply considered in it self but in the significations and effects of it He delights in the matter of their prayers it being so agreeable to his own heart and will and in the sence they have of the sufferings of the whole body 2. Because Prayer is nothing else but a pleading of Gods promises Unto this they are directed by that Spirit which knows the mind of God and Marshals their petitions according to his will Now as God turns his own decrees and purposes concerning his Church into promises to them so the Church turns those promises into prayers for them So that promises being for the good of the Church and there being an exact harmony between those promises and the Churches prayers all those providences which are the issue of those promises and the answer of the Churches prayers must needs be for the Churches good 3. Because there are united supplications and pleadings both in Heaven and Earth all the hands of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth are concerning in their petitions 1. Christ intercedes for the Church who alwaies desires mercy and deliverance for them in the appointed time Zech. 1.12 How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the issue is alwayes gracious For v. 13. God answers him with good and comfortable words and thereupon Carpenters are raised to cut off the horns which had scattered Judah v. 20. 2. Angels in all probability plead for the Church as we have already heard 'T is likely they offer and present that to God which makes for his glory and that is the good of the Church Angels surely desire that which their head doth who is * Zech. 1.12 described as one of their own order and called an Angel Do they rejoyce at the repentance of a sinner and do they not likewise triumph at the happiness of the Church which is part of that Family they are of And we know that the greatness of our joy is suted to the measure of our desires where our joy is most triumphant it implies that our desires before were most vehement 3. Glorified Saints are not surely behind The rich man in the Parable desired his Friend on Earth might not come into that place of torment * Luk. 16.28 If

for you The manifestation of the Spirit to any man is given to profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 And this is the great end for which men should seek to excel viz. for the edifying of the Church 1 Cor 14.12 For as much as you are zealous of Spirtual gifts seek that you may excel to the edifying of the Church 2. The gists and common graces of bad men There is something that is amiable in men though they have not grace As in Stones Plants and Flowers though they have not sense there is something grateful in them as colour and smell c. And all those things that are lovely in men are for the Churches good the best life and the worst death things present let who will be the possessor all things between Life and Death are for the good of Believers because they are Christs 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world i.e. Whether the gifts of the prime lights in the Church or the common gifts of the world are all yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods God is the dispencer of them Christ is the Governour of them and all for your sakes As the medicinable qualities of waters are not for the good of themselves but the accommodation of the indigencies of men By the common works of the Spirit God doth keep his children from suffering much evil in the World For it cannot be supposed that the Spirit whose mission is principally for the Church should give such gifts out of love to men which hate him and are not the objects of his eternal purpose but he hath some other ends indoing it which is the advantage of his Church and people and this God causes by the preaching of the Gospel which when it works gracious works in some produceth common works in others for the good of those gracious ones As a seed of corn hath straw husks and chaff come up with it which are shelters to that little seed which lies in the midst so in the preaching of the Gospel there are some husks come up among natural men which God makes to be shelters to the Church as those common works and restraining men through the knowledge of Christ God gives gifts to them not out of love to them but love to his Church As Nurses of great mens Children are fed with better meat than the other Servants not out of any particular personal respect to them but to their office that the milk whereby the child is nourished may be the sweeter and wholesomer were it not for that Relation she must be content with the Diet allowed to the rest of the Servants Some stinking plants may have medicinal virtues which the Physician extracts for the cure of a disease and flings the rest upon the Dunghil God bestows such qualities upon men otherwise unsavoury to him which he draws forth upon several occasions for the good of those that are more peculiarly under his care and then casts them away These gifts are indeed the ruin of bad men because of their pride but the Churches advantage in regard of their excellency and are often as profitable to others as dangerous to themselves As all that good which is in plants and animals is for the good of man so all the gifts of natural men are for the Churches good for they are for that end as the principal next the glory of God because every inferior thing is ordained to something superior as its end Plants are ordained for the nourishment of Beasts and both Plants and Beasts for Men. The inferior men for the service of higher and all for the community yet still there is a higher end beyond those viz. the glory of God to which they are ultimately ordained which is so connected with the Churches good that what serves one serves the other 3. Angels the top Creatures in the Creation are ordered for the good of the Church If the Stars are not Cyphers in the World only to be gaz'd upon but have their influences both upon Plants and Animals As the Sun in impregnating the Earth and enlivening the Plants and assisting the growth of fruits for the good of mankind If the stars have those natural influences upon the sensible world the Angels which are the morning-stars have no less interest as instruments in the government of it The Heathens had such a notion of Daemons working those things which were done in the world but according to the will and order of the supream God The Angels are called Watchers Dan. 4.13 a Watcher and an holy one vers 17. this is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones they watch for Gods orders and watch for Gods honour and the Churches good There are orders of state among them for we read of their decree 't is called their decree ministerially as they execute it By way of approbation By way of Authority approbative as they subcribe to the equity and goodness of it As the Saints are said to judge the world not authoritative as in commission with Christ but as they approve of Christs sentence They seem to request those things of God which may make for his glory and they decree among themselves what is fit to be presented to God in order to his glory They cannot endure that men should trample upon Gods authority despoil him of his right and tread down his inheritance and therefore they send such requests to God to act so as men may acknowledg him and his govenment to the intent that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdoms of men Their care therefore must be for the Chuch since God rules all things in order to that and since that is Gods portion and inheritance so that as they have a care of Gods glory they must also have a care of Gods portion and his peculiar treasure Exod. 25 1. The inward part of the Temple was to be adorned with Cherubims to note the speceial attendance of the holy Angels in the assemblies of the Saints As evil Angels plot against the Church Trap. on Numb p. 58. so good Angels project for it Though in the Scripture we find Angels sometimes employed in affairs of common providence and doing good to them that are not of the Church as one is sent to comfort Hagar and relieve Ishmael upon his cry though he had scoffed at Isaac the heir of the covenant when he was in Abraham's Family * Gen. 21.17 yet for the most part they were employed in the concerns of some of his special Servants Angels thrust Lot out of Sodom * Gen. 19.15 16. An Angel stopt the Lyons mouths when Daniel was in the Den Dan 6.18 My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the lyons mouths God emploies Angels in the preserving and ruining of Empires which is clear in the prophecy of Daniel and some understand Isa 10.34 And lebanon shall fall by

run Parallel with the continuance of it There should be no alteration or change in this great end of his as long as the World lasts How can Christ be with them and that to the end of the world if all the parts of his providential government were not ordered to serve this end the good of the Church For the Church is the fulness of him that fills all in all Eph. 1.23 that fills all in all places all in all actions and motions for the good of his Church which is his body 3. God in the church discovers the glory of all his attributes Thirdly 'T is in a mans house where his riches and state is seen 'T is in the Church God makes himself known in his excellency more than in all the world besides Psal 76.1 In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel in Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion 'T is in his Church he doth manifest his power 'T is called therefore a glorious high throne Jer. 17.12 a glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary Kings use to display all their Glory and Majesty upon their Thrones in this sense Heaven is called Gods Throne Isa 60.1 because the prospect of the Heavens affords us discoveries of the wisdom and power of God more than in any other visible thing both in their essence magnitude and motion So is there a greater discovery of Gods attributes in the Church which is also stiled Heaven in Scripture than in the whole World besides There it is that the Angels look to learn more of the Wisdom of God than they understood before * Eph. 3.10 'T is there the day of his power dawns Psal 110.3 'T is there his Saints see his power and his glory Psal 63.2 the Sanctuary is called the firmament of his power Psal 150.1 The glory of Gods attributes is centered in Christ in a higher manner than in the creation and in that work did excel themselves in what they had done in the framing of the world and the Church being the glory of Christ all those attributes which are glorified in Christ do in and through him shine forth more clearly upon the Church than upon any other part of the world He stiles himself their Creator as much as the Creator of the whole frame of Heaven and Earth Isa 43.15 I am the Lord your holy one the Creator of Israel your King As though all the attributes of God his Power in Creation his Holiness in redemption were designed for none else but them And indeed by virtue of the Covenant they are to be so for if God be their God then all of God is theirs What wisdom power sufficiency grace and kindness he hath is principally for them If God he their God it is in their concerns he will glorify himself as a God in the manifestation of all his perfections This cannot be without the ordering all providences for their advantage 4. There is a peculiar relation of God and Christ to the Church Fourthly upon which account this Doctrien must needs be true God is set out in all relations to manifest his great care of his people He is a Father to provide for them * Isa 68.5 A Mother to suckle them * Isa 49.15 Chrit is a Husband to love and protect them * Eph. 5.29 A Brother to counsel them * John 20.17 And when all these Relations meet in one and the same person the result of it must be very strong Any one relation where there is affetion is a great security but here all the relations are twisted together with the highest affections of them in God to the Church A Father will order all for the good of his child a Mother for her Infant a Husband for his Wife and one kind Brother for another So doth God for his People and what soever those Relations bind Men to on Earth in respect of Care Love and Faithfulness that is God to his Church The Church hath that Relation to God which none in the World have besides They are his Jewels therefore he will keep them they are his Children therefore he will spare them * Mal. 3.17 They shall have protection from him as they are his Jewels and compassion from him as they are his Sons The Church is Christs Flesh as dear to him as our flesh is to us as much his as our flesh is ours Eph. 5.29 No man hates his own flesh but nourisheth it as Christ doth his Church No man can have a higher value for hsi own flesh than Christ hath for his Church The Church as Tertullian speaks is nothing else but Christus explicatus Christ unfolded and as considered in union with Christ is called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 'T is the Apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 A tender and beloved part The Church is Christs Spouse the contract is made the Espousals shall be at the last Day the Members are pick'd out one by one to be presented to the Lamb at last as a Glorious Bride for him Rev. 21.2 And all Gods dealings with them in the World are but preparations of them for that State Upon the making of the Match God promises a communion of Goods Hos 2.20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness which is a fruit of Marriage the Wife being invested in her Husbands Estate When God hath given the blood of his Son for the Church he will not deny her the service of the Creatures but Jointure her in that as one part of her Dowry In that day will I hear the heavens c. ver 21. In what day in the day of betrothing in the day of the Evangelical Administration when the contract shall be made between me and my Church Heavens Earth Corn Wine and Oil the voice and motions of all Creatures are for Jezreel which signifies the seed of God This great Prince he hath a care of all his subjects somore peculiarly of his Spouse and Princess which is his seed too and all Creatures shall be her Servants This Fatherly Relation and Affection is strong and pure not as the love which acts an ambitious man to Ambition or a covetous man to Wealth which respects nothing but the grasping and possessing the Objects they dote upon and have nothing of love for the Objects themselves therefore deserves not the name of Love But it is the love of a Father whose love is pure towards his children He seeks their good as his own Consider these two things 1. God hath a peculiar love to his very Relation and often mentions it with delight as if he loved to hear the sound of it in his own Lips Cant. 8.12 My vineyard which is mine is before me Me My Mine The Church is always under his Eye seated in his Affection and God is pleased with his propriety in them God never calls the World My World though he created it sometimes