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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	heaven_n	whole_a	world_n	10,372	5	4.5584	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81219	The saints thankfull acclamation at Christs resumption of his great power and the initials of his kingdome. Delivered in a sermon at Westminster, before the Honourable House of Commons, upon the day of their solemne thanksgiving unto God, for the great victory given our armie, under the command of the noble Lord Fairfax, at Selby in Yorke-shire and to other the Parliaments forces in Pembrock-shire, April 23d, 1644. By Joseph Caryl preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1644 (1644)	Wing C787; Thomason E48_1; ESTC R7648	36,302	59

beginnings and first appearances of Christ in his great power and raigne which caused the Elders to breake forth into these gratefull Acclamations appeares in the words immediately following And the Nations were angry he doth not say they were all presently subdued they fret and fume and vexe to see the beginnings and some increases of the Kingdome of Christ This anger quickly breaks out into opposition so some understand the last words of the 19th verse And there were lightnings and voyces and thunderings and an Earth quake and great haile As if the anger of these Nations did administer them Armes to trouble the whole world and mingle heaven and earth together rather then Antichrists kingdome should goe downe All troubles were not ended all enemies were not quel'd by the power of Christ when these Elders gave thanks to Christ for taking to him his great power Hence observe Doct. 2 That the first acts and appearances of Christ taking to him his power and raigning call his people to this dutie of thanksgiving As soon as Christ begins to worke for us we should begin to praise him We cannot blesse God too soone 't is seldome but we blesse him too late the very dawnings of deliverance should awaken us to Thankfulnesse Christ speaks of some events which are the beginnings of sorrow All these are the beginnings of sorrows And then we should Math. 24. 8. begin to be humbled Some events are but the beginnings of joy yet then we should begin to be thankefull For First the love and care and faithfulnes of Christ to and for his Church are stampt upon every such act Little deliverances are full of love and the love of Christ in the least is better then the greatest deliverance 2dly we have not deserved any mercy or deliverance at all what we cannot deserve we must acknowledge and where merit stops thankfulnes must begin 3dly to praise God for the beginnings of mercy is the readiest way to receive perfect mercies To give thanks for a benefit before we receive it engages the promiser to bestow it 4thly the beginnings of mercy are assurances of perfect mercy If the light of our deliverance be but like the darke cloud which 1 Kings 18 44. the servant of Eliah saw only as big as a mans hand we may thence conclude that it will shortly irradiate the whole Heavens and that it will never cease encreasing till it come Isa 30. 2● to a perfect day til as it is prophesied the light of the moon be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun seven-fold as the light of seven dayes If we see Christ lay but one stone in the foundation of a worke we may rest confident of the top-stone For he is the wise builder who intending to build a Tower Luke 14. 28 29. hath sat down first and counted the cost Christ knew the charge of the whole work to a penny the very first hour he undertook it And he knows he hath enough in the treasury both of his wisdom and power to carry it thorough He wil not be mockt with This is He who began to build and was not able to finish Yea Christ is like that King spoken of v. 31. going to make warre against another King who sits downe and consulteth whether hee be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand Christ can if he pleaseth bring twenty to ten yea a hundred to one against his enemies and if he pleases he can cause ten to chase twenty yea one to put a hundred to flight For it is all one with Christ to save with few or more with many or with one Let this both warrant and encourage our practise in praising God this day It is fit for us to wait till God gives us in all our mercies but it is most unfit to let God waite for thankes till we enjoy all our mercies We must not take particulars and parcels and say we will pay our praises and reckon with God about thanks for all together What though all be not done what though these be but the beginnings of our deliverance The Iewes rejoyced in God who had done great things for them and yet they were in captivity still The Lord doth great things Psal 126. 3. for a people who yet may be in great straights and have great troubles upon them Is all that we have received nothing except we receive all yea what though God in our dayes should do no more is not what he hath done worth our thankes A day of victory is worth a day of thanksgiving at any time Let it not repent you it will not repent any who praise God uprightly that you have praised God for this victory though you should have no more and which is more though you should meet newes at the Church doore that any of or all our armies have received an overthrow yet you have no reason to repent of the praises of this day * Ingratus est qui injuriā vocat finem voluptatis stultus qui nullum fructum esse putat nisi honorum praesentium Sen. ad Polyb. c. 29. A heathen will teach better practicall divinity then to repent of thankes for benefits received when those benefits are not continued The end of a benefit must not be counted an injury nor must we think that there is no present benefit but in benefits which are present In the last place it is very considerable that in these grounds of the Elders joy their owne interests are quite left out Here is no mention of their owne safety and settlement of their own peace or prosperitie of their victories over or revenges upon their enemies Their hearts runne out upon the advancement of Christs honour the thing which pleases and takes most upon their spirits is that Christ tooke to him his great power and raigned Hence observe Doct. 3 That which gives most content to the Saints in all victories and successes is to see Christ a gainer in power and in honour It is more joy to them that Christ hath glorie then that themselves have safety As it is with the Saints in their publike sorrowes they can easily beare their owne losses but when Christ looses they cannot bear it When Israel was in fight with the Philistines Old Eli sate upon a seat by the wayes side watching for his heart trembled for the Arke 1 Sam. 4. 13. of God And when the sad Messenger reported Israel is fled before the Philistines and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people and thy two sonnes also Hophni and Phinehas are dead and the arke of God is taken At the ver 17 18. fall of that word saith the Text when he made mention of the arke of God Eli fell backward c. That word was as a dagger at his heart for he knew the reproach which Psal 42. 10. would follow where is now your God So

of Israel were distinguished into 24 orders These Elders which are both Priests and Kings and doe stand in stead of all the faithfull that serve Christ are worthily reckoned up in so many Orders and in the same number Or 2ly Which is also the apprehension of the same Author These Elders are numbred foure and twenty to shew the Amplitude of the Christian Church above the Jewish That having but twelve Patriarches or Elders this foure and twenty the doubling of the chiefe number intimates a mighty encrease in the whole number These sate on their seats To sit notes sometime the peaceblenesse of our present condition and sometime the honour of it Sitting is a posture both of rest and of rule the power of the Magistrate is exprest by sitting in the gate and the peace of the people by sitting every one under his vine and under his figge-tree These sate upon their seats before God as being either first under the eye of his inspection Or 2ly Under the eye of his protection But here rather this sitting before God implies their addresse and readinesse in the Congregation for publike worship which they act as the next Bold de Ecclesia ante legem l. 1. c. 3. words import by falling upon their faces To fall upon the face is a worship-gesture so frequent in the old Testament that the Patriarches and Prophets were called Nephilim from Naphal to fall downe or cadentes that is prostrates or fallers because in the duties of worship they used to prostrate themselves and fall upon their faces before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Hence the Hebrews use the same word to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est more catellorum ad pedes domini totum sese prosternere subjectionis gratia Zanch. worshipping and bowing down the body And the Greek word here used in the Text hath the same propriety in it alluding in the letter to the nature and manner of little doggs which out of feare creepe and crouch at the feet of their Masters for favour and acceptance with them So then falling upon the face points out self-abasement and humiliation in worship To worship God is to give him the honour due unto his name that 's the Scripture definition Psal 29. 2. Give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name then followes by way of explication Worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse Worship is the giving of God his due honour honour is due to God by a double right By the right of his Nature as he hath a being and by the right of his Will as he hath given a command It is equally dangerous to denie the former and to innovate the latter God counts nothing worship but honour due to his name and no honour due to his name but what his will cals for and appoints All besides or beyond these is a dishonour to God though we intend him a worship Further the worship Deum colend● violare of God which is due honour is of two sorts 1. Internall 2. Externall and either of these may be an act either of prayer for the receiving of mercies or of praise for mercies received The worship of the Text is praise and that externall praise They worshipped saying we give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty Blessings are the gifts of God to man and thanks is the gift of man to God Every good gift descends from God and here is a good gift that ascends to God He that gives all is willing sometimes to take and he who enjoyes all is willing sometimes to receive God needs nothing we are honour'd as much that God will receive our Thanks as we are relieved in receiving his mercies Thanks is mercies Eccho We thank thee O Lord God The words thus farre opened yeeld many usefull Instructions I shall gather the summe of all into one Conclusion and touch all particulars in applying it Doct. It is the dutie and hath been the practise of all the faithfull people of God especially of godly Magistrates and Ministers humbly to worship God in giving him thanks for the acts of his Almighty power and unchangeable goodnesse The Psalmist doubles this duty in the practise of the Psal 77. 1. Saints Vnto thee O Lord doe we give thanks doe we give thanks we doe it we doe it as if none else did it but they or as if they had done nothing else Praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion Why in Sion Sion was the habitation of the Psal ●5 1. Saints there they dwelt or thither they came to worship God in the beauty of holinesse Praise waits there because the people of God wait there The Hebrew saith Praise is silent for thee O God in Sion Not that praise is dumbe or tongue-tied in Sion if it speake any where it speakes there But praise is silent for God if it speakes of any it speaks of God praise in Sion hath not a word for any creature in Heaven or Earth till God comes Sions praise cannot speak to any below God and to God it cannot but speake Thanksgiving is the trade of Saints in Sion there is the free-Mart of mercy and there is the free receit of praise Ther 's buying without mony and ther 's giving without need The Songs of Moses and Miriam of Deborah and Barak of David and others in the holy Story shew that the stresse of this heavenly worke lies upon the Elders There are two grounds why it should lie there First the Elders are fittest to performe this duty 2ly The Elders have most cause to performe this duty Reason first That they are fittest to doe it appeares from three considerations First They are fittest to doe a thing whom it most becomes to doe it The garment of praise sits most comely upon the Saints This reason is cleare in the Psal 33. 1. Psalme Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous Why they For praise is comely for the upright A godly man praising God is the most comely and beautifull sight in the world Neither are there any in whom it is comely but they the garment of praise fits the righteous only The praise of God is dishonour'd in the mouthes of wicked men The legs of the lame are not equall so is a parable in the mouth of Prov. 26. 7. fooles saith Solomon A parable is a master-sentence a sentence full of wisdome and holinesse wherein the very spirits of Truth are so contracted that it subdues the understanding to it such a speech as this and such are the due praises of God how unevenly doe they goe how haltingly doe they passe from the mouths of foolish scil wicked men They who are darkenesse never appeare so ugly as when they draw neare unto or deale about the light How did the confession of one of Luk. 4. 34 35. the most glorious Truths that ever was revealed offend and grate the eares of Christ when spoken by the father of lyes A prophane

when the Israelites were worsted by and fled from the men of Ai Joshua Josh 7. 6 7. rent his cloaths and fell to the earth upon his face before the Arke of the Lord and said alas Lord God wherefore hast thou brought this people at all over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us c. But was it only the death of thirty six men or the dishonour fallen upon his Armie or the feare of cutting off the name of Israel as he speakes a little after which fetch'd these complaints from valiant Ioshua No there was more then all these And that breakes forth in the last words of his prayer v. 9. And what wilt thou doe unto thy great name As if he had said we came not over Iordane to make our owne names great but to make thy name great And if by the blotting out of our name from under heaven thy name might be advanced among these Heathens how willingly should we embrace our destruction that thou mightest raise up thy honour upon our ruine But Lord these Amorites will blaspheme and darken thine honour through our destruction Therefore what wilt thou doe to thy great Name Now as in all the overthrowes the heart of a godly man trembles most for the Arke of God and mournes most fearing reproach should be cast upon the name of God So in all victories his heart triumphs most for the Arke of God and he gives thankes chiefly for joy that honour is brought to the name of God The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance saith holy David he Psal 58. 10 shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked that is either abundance of that bad blood shall be spilt and it shall be powred like water in the streets so that the righteous may goe over shoes in it if he will or onely thus hee shall have comfort in those hot Countries washing of the feet was for the refreshment of the weary to which custome the holy Ghost seemes here to allude he I say shall have comfort and refreshing by the death of wicked men as weary travellers have by washing their feet Yet not barely in their death or in the vengeance that fals upon them these are objects too low and very unsutable to the joy of Saints but in this that by their death the glory of God is vindicated Thus the next verse teaches us to expound it So that a man one that hath but the light ver 11. of common reason to guide his tongue shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth While wicked men flourish righteous men are looked upon by the men of the world as if God had forsaken them or had nothing in all his treasures left to recompence them God is looked on by the same carnall eyes as if he were violently driven from his throne or had voluntarily forsaken the earth But when once his hand takes hold on vengeance and he makes his arrows drunke with the bloud of the wicked then worldly men shall recant their erroneous conceits both concerning righteous men and the most righteous God and say Verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the Earth We confesse we were mistaken we see our confutation written in blood of these men or the bloud of these wicked men speakes aloud as the bloud of righteous Abel did to God for judgement that God is a righteous Iudge Now this is the thing which caused the righteous to rejoyce in the vengeance namely to see God repair'd in honour and set right in the opinion of men The reason of all is First because the Saints make First reason Christs honour the end of all their undertakings Whether they eate or drinke whether they consult or act whether they make warre or peace whether they fight or treat 1 Cor. 10. 31. or whatsoever they doe they doe all to the glory of God and therefore when God is glorified they are satisfied and rest as in their end They cannot take content in any thing wherein Christ is not All. They can rejoyce in their own weakenesse so Christ may have power they can triumph in their own slavery so Christ may raign But they cannot rejoyce in their own power or liberty without the crosse of Christ wherby they are saved and in the crown of Christ whereby they are ruled Secondly they know that their owne interests are Second reason wrapt up in Christs and if he gaine they cannot loose God hath inseparably espoused his owne glory with his peoples good As Christ died not for himselfe so neither doth he raigne for himselfe Whatsoever he doth as Mediatour he doth for his Church Hence they can looke upon the power of Christ as their power or power for them and they looke upon the kingdome of Christ as their kingdome or as a kingdome set up for them Because I live saith Christ to beleevers ye shall live also and therein he saith in effect to beleevers because I raigne 〈◊〉 14. ● yee shall raigne also While Christ is full his people shall not want and while Christ hath power his people shall not fall As then they would not so they need not looke further then the advance of Christ for the ground of their joy for in and with Christ they also are advanced Christ is afflicted in all their afflictions and in all the exaltations of Christ they are exalted Then be hence directed in what and for what chiefly to rejoyce and give thankes this day Say not we give thee thanks ô Lord God Almighty because we have got power and have prevailed because we have got honour and are exalted because we have got a victory and many of our enemies are subdued this were to give thanks for our selves while we give thanks unto God It was a great charge upon the people of the Jewes that they fasted to or for themselves When yee fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh Zach. 7. 5. moneth even those seventie yeares did yee at all fast unto me even to me It would be very sad if we should give the Lord occasion to renew this charge upon our feast this day Have ye at all feasted unto me even unto me It is as dangerous and unbecomming to feast to our selves as to fast to our selves This were to give thankes like a Roman not like a Christian State Heathens triumph'd and gave thanks to their gods for victories because their enemies were conquer'd because their peace and safety were ensur'd because their honour was encreas'd and their Empire enlarged But Christians must give thankes for victories because the power of Christ is magnified and his kingdome in a way of exaltation over All. It is observable that the foure and twenty Elders worshipping God in the fourth of the Revelation cast their Crownes before the throne saying