Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	heaven_n	lord_n	word_n	16,216	5	4.2023	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B08981	A sharp arrovv darted against the anabaptists, &c. being an apology, or defence of the visible church upon Earth, and an objection to all such persons as doe rebaptize men and women, and against being covered at the divine exercise of preaching the word of God to the people, as also against those that deny to say the Lords Prayer / David Edmonds.	Edmonds, David, fl. 1652.	1652 (1652)	Wing E177B; ESTC R233358	12,532	20

A SHARP ARROVV Darted against THE Anabaptists c. Being an Apology or Defence of the Visible Church upon Earth And an Objection to all such Persons as doe Rebaptize Men and Women And against being covered at the Divine Exercise of Preaching the Word of God to the People As also against those that deny to say the Lords Prayer BY DAVID EDMONDS Gent. Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1. Thes 5. 21. LONDON Printed by T. H. 1652. To the Right Honourable the Lady Anne Beauchamp and to the Right Worshipfull William Lewis Esquire HOnourable Lady and most Noble Esquire Hee that had not a Lambe to bring to the Altar there was a Turtle Dove or two yong Pigeons well accepted of though this weak and unworthy Labour of mine bee not worthy to bee read by your Honours yet I shall intreat you to read it and accept of my good will in stead of perfect action the Widowes mite was as well accepted in Gods Treasury as the superfluity of the Rich and Wealthy and I shall intreat your Honours the sooner to read it in regard that it was penned in Prison my selfe groaning under the Oppression of Cavaliers and Parliamentarians and that in a high nature withall I would they would agree as well in all other matters though I should perish Thus cōmitting your Honours in these tumultuous times to the tuition of the Lord God of Hosts who is that great man of Warre and his Name is Jehovah I humbly take leave craving pardon for this great presumption and rest The humblest of your Servants David Edmonds A sharp Arrow darted against Anabaptists c. IN the first place King David although hee was a man after Gods owne heart yet hee should not build the Lords Temple because hee was a bloud-shedder yet the Lord permitted him to make a preparation to his sonne Salomon so many talents of gold and so many talents of silver to undergoe the great worke commanded of God The work being finished you shall read Salomons Prayer And Salomon stood before the Altar of the Lord in the presence of the Congregation of Israel and did spread out his hands towards heaven and sayd Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee in heaven above nor in the earth beneath who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walke before thee with all their hearts who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him thou spakest it with thy mouth and hast fulfilled with thy hand as it is to this day I shall omit to write what followes in that Chapter in regard Salomon and his son Rehoboam fell off from the command of the Lord for God did not promise the Kingdome unto David but upon condition of the sanctity of his posterity saying If thy children will keepe my statutes and observe my lawes that I shall learne them their children also shall sit upon thy seat for evermore Will God dwel on earth behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him how much lesse this house that I have built sayth Solomon 1. King 8. 22. yet have thou respect unto the prayers and the supplications which thy servants shall make unto thee in this place and hearken thou unto the supplications of thy servants and of thy people Israel when they shall pray towards this place and heare thou in heaven thy dwelling place and when thou hearest forgive To prove that it is more commodious unto the sonnes and daughters of men to pray to the Lord in the full Congregation then privately to be by ones selfe or with a few company Suppose I were in the publique Church and have as I have great need to aske forgivenesse of my sinnes at the hands of my God or to make my supplication to his Majesty for some necessaries either spirituall graces or temporall benefits that I stand in great need of it may be it will be Gods pleasure to heare another for me and I for him and through that respect God to commiserate the present condition of us all For the answer of God to the last request of Abraham concerning Sodome and Gomorrah was If there sayes God bee ten righteous men within those two Cities I will not destroy it for ten sake yet let no man conjecture that I by no meanes doe debar private prayers for why the word of God sayes pray continually And againe sayes and Phineas prayed and so the plague ceased for prayer is the very Key that opens heaven gate nay withall it is such a dart the more a man or a woman doth use it it further drives the Divel off from them so is preaching necessary withall as wee have an old Proverbe in the Welsh Good is the staffe with the crouch they should like man and wife goe hand in hand together rather then to be separated one from the other Now to prove the Church to bee honoured before any other private place according as the New Testament doth describe it I cannot finde that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not in all the New Testament that he did eat but naturall food like other children untill he was twelve yeers of age then his father and his mother found him in the Temple in the midst of the Doctors hearing them and asking of them questions Assuredly if the Church were not to bee honoured before any other private place our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ would aswell begun the good action or the great message of his Father in private places assoone as the Church but it is evidently seene hee began it in the Temple saying unto his Mother Knew ye not that I must goe about my Fathers businesse Some men of the world will tell mee that our Lord and Saviour Preached upon the Mount and I doe in no wise contradict them for the word sayes so likewise but when did hee preach upon the mountaine but the time that he durst not come into the Temple for a while before did the Jewes hurle stones at him that his sacred person was driven to flie out of the Temple Againe to prove that the Church is to be honoured before any other private place if our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had come up street or downe street and there to see folkes sell away Doves our Lord and Saviour would have sayd no kind of thing unto them but let them attend their market in the name of God but assoon as he espied them to sell away Doves in the Temple he scourged them out and told them that his House was called the House of Prayer and that they had made it a den of theeves Then thirdly to prove it to bee more vertuous then private places read but 1. Cor. 11. 22. there the Apostle sayes have yee not houses to eat and to drink in why despise yee then the Church of God will you have mee to prayse you for this I say unto you I prayse you not And in the last of the

in the same calling wherein hee was called so that men or women being called by their first Baptisme as they are to be Christians and incorporated to be members of Gods true Church they should so remayn until their souls were dissolved from their bodies and their bodies from their soules onely by vertue of the words of the Apostle in the sayd 20. verse as before Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called Unlesse the sonnes and daughters of men will altogether follow the false doctrine of these yong Seducers and make frustrate the words of that chosen vessell S. Paul that wrote the very marrow of all the New Testament the words of our Saviour only excepted The Anabaptists it may bee will alleadge to mee that a Childe ought not to be Baptised until he be of age and possessed with faith Alas poore men I answer them thus That as soone as the Midwife doth receive the Childe into the World that very instant the Childe hath faith what faith hath he the faith that the father and mother that begat him have or had Because I did write so much of Circumcision to bee a type of Baptisme I know some particular men will alleadge and urge unto me the 1. Cor. ●1 that Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandements T is true every thing in the old Morall Law was abolished at Christs comming but the Apostle doth not say Baptising is nothing but hee might well enough say Rebaptising is nothing though wee were absolved from the curse of the Law at the comming of Christ yet we are still bound to the obedience of the Law and the Law stands still as a Schoolemaster to bring us to Christ for our Saviour sayth in one place I came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets I came rather to fulfill them Though other Ceremonies were abolished at the comming of Christ yet Circumcision was not quite abolished then why Christ himselfe was Circumcised the eight day it might bee abolished after for our Saviour tooke no Celestiall Discipline upon him untill he was twelve yeers of age posing of the Doctors in the Temple yea then was Circumcision abolished and Baptisme to stand in the stead of it ever after See in what a dangerous condition those people are that leave their Children Unbaptised untill they be of age let them read Exodus 4. 24. how that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses because he left his Childe so long a time Uncircumcised And it came to passe by the way in the Inne that the Lord met him and sought to kill him verse 24. Then Zipporah took a sharpe stone and did cut off the foreskin of her son and sayd surely a bloudy husband thou art unto me v. 25. And she sayd againe a bloudy husband thou art to mee because of the Circumcision verse 26. Concerning the performance of our first Baptisme wee are in a dangerous condition unlesse God will look more upon the wounds of his dear son Jesus Christ then any merits of our owne For men and women at our Baptisme have entred into a Covenant to God for us that we should be such and such and we for the most part of us are such and such cleane contrary to this Covenant so that if we will seriously consider we have enough to doe to performe the Covenant of our first Baptisme without provoking the Lord to anger to take upon us the second Baptisme which is clean contrary to the word of God But it is nothing in this age with the sons and daughters of men to abridge Covenants seldome or never at all doe they think upon them Concerning the breach of this Covenant I have read in History that Vladislaus King of Hungaria and Prince of Transylvania how he waged war with the Great Turk and in processe of time being weary on both sides waging of warre both parties agreed to compose the differences betwixt them to a peace the King of Hungaria being a Christian the Turk a Mahometan they both entred into a solemne Oath and Covenant to dissolve both Armies and to observe a League between them for so many yeeres the King of Hungaria took his Oath in Christ his Name the Turk in Mahemets after that both Armies were dissolved and every man went home to his owne house in peace A while after Julian the Cardinall an incendiary even as incendiaries have fomented these unnatu●all warres in this Land perswades the King of Hungaria to abridge this Covenant and againe to rise up in Armes against the Turk telling the King of Hungaria that it was no sin against God to breake that Covenant with the Turk because he was a Pagan so hee prevay●ed with the King of Hungaria that he rose up in Armes presently so the Turk in defence of his Territories and Kingdomes rose up in Armes withall and in the Brunt and heat of the Warre the Turk espying the Crucifix in the Banner of the King of Hungaria takes the Covenant out of his Pocket and throwes it up towards Heaven and sayes O Christ if thou beest the Living God revenge not thy selfe upon me for I never took any Covenant in thy Name for I did alwayes deny thee to be an Eternall God but revenge thy selfe upon the King of Hungaria that hath taken a Covenant in thy Name and is not ashamed before thy face to break it Assuredly our not performing of the Covenant of our first Baptisme Covenant of our Mariages and other ties that wee have taken upon us in this Land t is to be feared that by reason wee have so oft times abridged them that Turks Pagans and Infidels will rise up in judgement against us In part of this weak and unworthy Labour of mine as far as God hath given me a talent I shall declare unto the World the unlawfulnesse of being covered in the Church at the Divine exercise of Preaching the word of God to the people I will begin with the words of God himselfe Exod. 13. 5. Plucke off thy shooes from of thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground by vertue of those words the words of the most High God I tell O proud Belteshazzar plucke off thy Hat from of thy head for the words thou hearest are holy words I doe not say but an old man may doe it or a sick man may bee covered at that Divine exercise for t is a case of necessity for King David did eat the Shew-bread that was not lawfull for any to eat but the Priest alone God never sent any Prophet to reprehend him for it why because David was necessitated so to doe at that time but as soone as he took the wife of Uriah the Lord presently sent the Prophet Nathan to attaint him of High Treason against the great God of Heaven and Earth and to judge and condemne him in one word Thou art the man There were fifty thousand of the

Bethshemites slaine for looking unreverently upon the Ark of the Covenant and Uzzah was strucken dead by the hand of the Lord for but touching the Ark as you may read Chron. 13. 9. 10. And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the Arke for the Oxen stumbled And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and he smote him because hee put his hand to the Arke and there he died before God The Preacher is the Ark of the Covenant of the New Testament and when hee preaches unto us of Gods judgements wee should then pray in our hearts to divert those judgements from us and when he treats and speaks of Gods mercies we should then pray in our hearts to participate of those mercies you shall finde it in one place that S. Paul writes that it is a shame for a woman to bee uncovered in the Church as much as if the same Apostle had sayd that it is a shame for a man to be covered in the Church therefore I beseech all those that love God and the true Reformation of the Church of God to reform this enormous abuse lest wee should any further be evill spoken of and derided by Turks Papists Pagans and Infidels that are not enspired to make recognition of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ lest that their blind wayes should at the last day rise up in judgement against us for assuredly unlesse that this and other abuses that are now committed in the Church of God bee amended we shall be in great danger to bee those or like those that the Apostle Peter writes of 1. Pet. 5. the two last verses It had beene better for you never to have known the way of truth then to know it and turne from it For ye shall bee like a dog that turns againe to his owne vomit or like a sow that is washed in the River and goes wallowing againe in the mire I can in no wise bridle my tongue from speaking nor with-hold my hand from writing of the wrongs that are now done unto certaine Clergy men that taught and preached the Gospel in precedent times yet let no man conjecture that I by no meanes doe write of their sides in generall for I know abundance of them would not bee contented to walke upon the Battlements of the Church but did mount themselves up to the turrets of civill policy that did nothing belong unto them Some of them have been responsall for it before men already and suffered and therefore I shall conclude of such persons with the old Proverb which sayes de mortibus nil nisi bonum of the dead nothing but good I take God to Reco●d my Lord Generall CROMVVELL as his Excellency was going for Ireland upon the walls of Tenbigh told the Gentlemen there about him I cannot perceive sayes he but this man is of the selfe same Religion as my selfe is of meaning my selfe For my owne part I shall sooth no man be he ever so great if his Excellency do agree to extirpe out of the Vineyard all the Clergy in times past his Excellency is as wide from my tenents in Religion as the East is from the West but methinks as many of them should be thrust out of the Vineyard as had evill will at Sion and none of the rest for to put them all out we have no such warant neither out of the Old nor the New Testament for in the Old Testament we read that in the last request of Abraham to God for Sodome and Gomorrah if there sayes God be ten righteous persons in those two Cities I will not destroy it for the tens sake But there was found there but one righteous Lot and for that one righteous man God had provided a Zoar a City of refuge during the time that the Lords anger was kindled against those two great Cities in destroying of them with fire and Brimstone from his Celestiall habitation And now it should seeme that in a small measure his Majesty is offended with certaine men that he called to be his Ministers and especiall Members of his Church but it cannot be that all the Clergy in times past could be culpable of adhering to Popery or the like and in this fire from Heaven which is the Lords small anger or his small deluge emerging the former Clergy men if there I say be but one amongst them that can say and prove himselfe not guilty where is his Zoar or any City of refuge Elias a great Prophet and a chosen of the Lord desired of the Lord that he might be taken away from amongst the children of men saying they have killed thy Prophets c. and I onely am left and they seeke my life also in answer to Elias God saies I have reserved seven thousand chosen men in Israell that have not bended their knees to Baal It should seeme by those words though Eliah had the inspiration of Gods spirit in him in a high nature yet hee did not know the mentall reservations of all men and women towards their God in Israel And so according to morall reason that the noble Estates of the Land doe not know of every particular wrong that is now done to some of the former Clergy men every vessell should stand upon its owne bottome why because there is so much Drunkennesse must there be no wine nor strong drink and because there is so much Leachery must there be no women God forbid Now I prove that those Clergy men heeretofore that had not a hand to bring in Popery into the Church of God neither did in no wise intend to quench or put out the light of the Gospel but behaved themselves reverently and prudently in their vocations ought not to be put out of their Benefices nay if they had committed some faults yet they ought not to bee put and thrust out of the Vineyard in this kind for one particular fault for why let some of the sons and daughters of men but think with themselves ●hat if God in the dreadfull day of judgement should deale with us as we deale heere below one with another what would become of us assuredly wee should goe on the left hand with the Goats Goe ye cursed c. Concerning the remission that many of the former Clergy men should have to prove it We read that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when he came into the Vineyard and there found a Tree that bare no fruit he bad the Vineyard dresser cut it down why cumbreth it the ground Nay sayes the Vineyard dresser I will entrench and dig about it one yeer more wee doe not read that our Saviour did contradict the Vineyeard dresser in that busines For one particular man a Clergy man one Mr. FRANCIS DAVIES of Llangaine in the County of Glamorgane in Wales a man that would never hear of Mariage his reason was lest the care of a wife and children should in part take him off from the