Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	good_a	great_a	lord_n	2,953	5	3.2823	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67550	The pious mans practice in Parliament time. Or A seasonable and necessary tractate concerning the presages, and causes of a common-wealths ruine, and the wayes, and meanes to preserve a church, and state, in prosperity, plenty, purity, and peace. By R. Ward, utriusque regni in Artibus Magister; and preacher of Gods holy word at Stansteed Mount-Fitchet in Essex.	Ward, Richard, 1601 or 2-1684.	1641 (1641)	Wing W804; ESTC R218413	102,562	298

to feare For Ominum rerum est vicissitudo there is a revolution of times and a vicissitude of all things But yet our long enjoyment of Peace and the Gospell shall be neither cause nor meanes of the depriving us of them if wee be but obedient to the Gospell thankfull for the Gospell and profitable and fruitfull in every good worke under the Gospell But Thirdly Answer 3. Hinc illae lachrymae whereas the longer we enjoyed the meanes and light of the Word wee should have beene the better and more zealous holy and fruitfull wee have contrarily beene worse and more cold wicked and barren And although with the Church of Ephesus we have yet many good things in us yet like her Revel 2.2 ● c. we have fallen from our first love and the Lord hath daily more more things against us And therefore let us not presume but as shee was admonished remember from whence we are fallen and repent and doe our first workes and shine and burne as formerly yea daily more and more even unto the perfect day lest the Lord come against us speedily as hee there threatens and remove our Candlesticke out of his place And Fourthly Answer 4. wee in this land must nor trust to any outward prerogatives or former covenants because all externall covenants which the Lord makes with any people or Nation Church or State are but conditionall as was proved before and therefore except wee performe the Articles of agreement and conditions on our part viz obedience repentance faith thankfulnesse and love wee cannot expect the performance of the Lords promise Thirdly Quest 3. it may yet further be demanded by what meanes this our Church State and Country of England may be still confirmed and established in prosperity peace preserved and saved from those direfull distresses and dolefull miseries and calamities which the Lord inflicts sometimes upon those parts of the world and place which have beene most deare unto him and pretious in his sight Do wee desire this Answer I know all true English hearts do desire it and therefore the way thereunto or meanes to obtaine it are these viz 1 Take heed that we doe not provoke the Lord unto anger by our sinnes and then we may trust him for our safety He hath had a care of us a long time and he will still be carefull of us if we be but carefull to please him and fearefull to offend him He hath carried us in his bosome and nourished us and extraordinarily encreased us who were but little in the times of Wickliffe Husse Luther and Tindall and he will still continue to educate and instruct us if wee will but willingly be instructed by and obedient unto his sacred behests Hitherto Sathan hath raged and the Iesuites and Iebusites conspired against us but our good God for which ever blessed and praised be his holy Name hath hitherto laughed them to scorne and infatuated the devices and confounded the plots intended against us And if we do not incense and exasperate him by our sinnes hee will quickly confound our foes and not subject us to their rage And 2. Let us in the state of our soules Toto divisorbe Britannos or spirituall condition resemble the situation of this Iland of little Brittaine All our Historians Chronologers and universall Maps tell us that England is as it were thrust out of the world or separated from it because it stands at the very outside thereof Let us Englishmen be thus that is let us not be of the world although we are in the world but separated from the world Let not unlearne the vices evill customes of other Countries let not us follow pride or profanenesse or drunkennesse or gluttony or superstition or covetousnesse or swearing or atheisme and the like as some other Nations doe and as we have long done and still do too too much but let us follow the Prophet Esaiah's counsell Esa 52.11 and be admonished by his caveat to depart and come out stom them to learne no uncleane thing of them nor in sinne to partake take with them lest wee also partake of their plagues but to labour that we may be cleane and pure and the Lords Peculiar people because hee hath done great things for us in this land And 3 Let us labour to be a fruitfull flocke and folke in every good worke For as every tree in Paradise was faire and fruitfull so England would certainly be another Paradise if every plant person therein were such And therefore if we desire to grow greene and to flourish like the plants of Paradise let us all labour to abound in the workes both of Religion and righteousnesse and endeavour that wee may be a chast Church and a pure pious and prudent people truly wise unto Salvation Let all who are members of the Church labour to be like Christ the head of the Church Let all who are of the Militant Church labour to be like those of the triumphant Church Let all the mēbers of our true visible particular Church of England strive to resemble in purity piety sincerity sanctitie equitie and zeale the true members of the internall invisible spirituall and Catho lique or Universall Church and then wee shall be the wisest best happiest Harding Major Boeth Fabian Bale Engl. votar sol 27. and most flourishing people under Heaven After the Saxons had conquered our Nation it was called Eugland of Engist which was their chiefe Captaine as witnesseth divers Authors But after wards Gregory the first seeing some English boyes to be sold in the open market at Rome asked of what religion they were beholding them to be faire skinned beautifully faced and flaxen haired And answer was made him that they were of an I le called England and they were called Angli well saith hee they may be called Angli English men quasi Angeli of Angels because they have Angelicall faces Oh my beloved Countrimen let us all labour that wee may be here like Angels in grace and purity and then we shall be like themin heaven in glory and felicity When Sertorius was sentenced to be expulsed out of Rome and banished he solicited Pompeius and Metellus to procure his revocation saying Hee had rather be an obscure Citizen of Rome than elsewhere an Emperour And I for my part shall thus say of my owne Nation that I had rather be a private person and inferiour Preacher here in England so long as we enjoy peace and the libertie of the Gospell than a Patriarch elsewhere Lipsius saith Vt hominibus singulis sic populis suae laudes suae labes as persons so places have something in them to be praised and commended and something to be dispraised and condemned And this may be truly said of our Land for as wee want not our faults and failings and those grosse ones so we have by the great goodnesse and undeserved love of God towards us beene like a

of weake persons as women and children Thirdly of strangers Fourthly of beasts and cattell so in the Church of God or in any true visible Church there are First such as are strong in faith Secondly the weake and fraile Thirdly hypocrites which in outward shew joyne themselves to the Church as those strangers did Fourthly carnall and worldly men prophane persons yea Devils incarnate which may be compared unto beasts And therefore let neither ther all of us in this land in generall nor any of us in particular trust unto this that we are members of the Church of England which is a true Church and professeth the truth and true Religion It may here now bee demanded Question 2. Doth no prerogative belong to a true outward visible Church or are wee never a whit the better for being within a true Church which purely professeth the truth There is an externall prerogative of a true externall Church Answer which is not to bee contemned or despised The Prophet David had rather bee a doore-keeper in the house of God Psal 8.4 Rom. 13 1.2 c. and 9.4 then to dwell in the tents of wicked men because the Christian every way as the Apostle saith hath great priviledges above Heathens who are without the Church For in the Church are the meanes of grace and salvation offered Psal 79.6 Ier. 10.25 and there or by those within the Church the Lord is more easily entreated and is more difficultly provoked unto anger against them Yea in a true Church wee see many burning and shining lights which animate attract and encourage us to the practice of pietie and therefore it is no small prerogative to be made a member of a true Church neither should our care be small in learning and labouring so to live that wee doe not provoke the Lord to deprive us of this great blessing and blessed priviledge by taking away the Candle or removing the Candlesticke out of his place or letting out his Vineyard to other Husband-men who will bee more thankfull profitable and obedient unto him then we have beene And thus much for the second answer to the first Question Thirdly Answer 1 sometimes wee trust to precedent mercies and deliverances some in this land dow often say The Lord hath not dealt so with any Nation as with ours in giving us pious prudent and religious Princes who zealously and couragiously maintaine and defend the true Faith and in continuing his Gospel among us and peace prosperity and plenty unto us so long a time and in preserving us from the Spanish Armado or Bravado in 88. and that unparallelled Powder-plot and all the plots counsels and consultations of the Jesuits and all the Whoores brood who inendtd mischiefe against our Estate And therefore we may be secure in this land because the Lord we know will bee unto us one and the same to day and to morrow and for ever I answer hereunto 1. That this is most true that the Lord hath long dealt most graciously with England in all the particulars instanced upon And 2. That the mercie of the Lord is above all his workes and greater then all our sinnes And 3. That if we would live sincerely as Ammi the Lords people hee would never then so long as we so continued pronounce against us Lo-ammi that we should be no longer his people If we were ready to embrace the Lords offers or carefull to walke worthie of his love he would never then denounce against us Lonuchama that hee would no more be mercifull unto us For the Lord is immutable in himselfe and these changes are in us and if wee doe not fall from truth unto error from sanctitie unto sinne from profession unto profanenesse from religion to rebellion from God unto Sathan the Lord will never faile nor forsake us but continue to be our God and continue us to be his people But 4. If wee abuse his mercie Rom. 11 2● and long-suffering and prove like those evill Husband-men or that wicked servant we must then expect that mercie will give way to justice and judgement and wee through the Lords just anger shall become as miserable a Nation as ever we were happie by his free mercie and goodnesse And therefore let us adorne that profession which we have undertaken Let us make religion our Sparta 1. Pet. 2.12 and labour to beautifie it by righteousnesse holinesse sobrietie and temperance that those without the Church may bee wone unto her by our holie lives and godly conversations coupled with feare and then we may be confidently and comfortably assured that the Lord will be as a wall of brasse about us and hedge us about with a guard of angels and protect defend and preserve us from all our enemies and all who have evill wil at this our Sion whether forraign or domesticall establish Religion peace in our Borders and continue his Gospell in purity and sincerity amongst us even untill the second comming of Christ unto judgement Amen Fourthly Answer 4. some particular persons presume of their communicating of the Sacraments some will say they were baptized and have beene at the Lords table and therefore they conclude Tush 1 Pet. 2.21 no evill will come unto them But we must know that there is an outward washing in Baptisme as Saint Peter saith as well as an inward and many are washed by water who were never purged from all their fins by the blood of Christ And S. Paul tels us that all the Israelites were baptized in the Cloud in the Sea and were all made partakers of the same spirituall me ate 1 Corinth 10. 5.8 and drinke and yet many of them perished The Evangelists tell us that Iudas ate with his Master the Paschall Lambe and received a sop from him and yet died in damnable desperation and the Apostle saith that many communicate the outward elements in the Eucharist to their owne damnation And therefore let not us trust to the outword worke 1 Cor. 11.20 or to the partaking of the outward elements only for these alone profit nothing but let us labour for the baptisme of the spirit and true regeneration and endeavour to eate Christ by a faith unfained Luk. 10.20 and then wee shall have greater cause of joy and rejoycing than if wee had power to cast out devils to cure the sicke to raise the dead and to remove mountaines Secondly Quest 2. it may further bee demanded why wee in England may not presume of those many and great priviledges which wee have above many yea the most if not all other Nations First no outward thing will profit or advantage us at all Answer 1. as was shewed before rom 2.2.6 and therefore wee must not trust to any such thing And Secondly Answer 2. our Church and State hath long continued without any desolation or alteration and therefore we have the more cause not to be high minded but

of mercie and blessings we must pray then much more where we have none as for example Suppose we had a particular promise in the word of God totidem verbis that God would blesse this our present Parliament according to our desires yet we should pray and pray againe for the performance of that promise and blessing promised How much more then when wee have no such promise If it be objected Objection 1 Mat. 18.19.20 we have a promise That where two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ there the Lord hath promised to be present I answer First Answer 1. I grant that this promise may bee extended and applied to all Christian Convocations Congregations and Assemblies conveened and met together to consult of those things which may concerne the good of the Church State wherein they live And Secondly I grant likewise that not onely two or three Answer 2 but two or three hundred are now convocated and assembled in the name of Christ in the high Court of Parliament for Christian and Religious ends Thirdly if I should grant also Answer 3. that this promise is directed and reflects directly upon this Honourable Assemblie yet we must pray for the presence both of the power and grace of God to be with them according to his promise for we are unworthie of those blessings which we will not vouchsafe to pray for But Fourthly the truth is Answer 4. that this promise is hypotheticall or conditionall and therefore if we continue Ponere obicem to lay stumbling blocks in the Lords way to provoke him unto wrath to fulfill and fill full to the brim the conditions of vengeance but not of mercie wee then cannot expect the performance of this promise for promises which are conditionall as all revealed promises are shall not bee performed or at least wee cannot bee assured that they shall be performed unlesse the condition bee in some measure fulfilled If any Pharisee should now stand up and say Object 2. All the Congregation and people of England are holie Num. 16.2 as once Korah Dathan and Abiram said of the people of Israel or that wee here in England have performed all the Lords will and done whatsoever hee commanded us 1. Sam. 15.14 as Saul once said of himselfe and therefore wee know that all the promises of the Lord shall be made good unto us I then answer First Answer 1. that if it were so truely it should bee so certainely if there were nothing wanting in us there should bee nothing wanting in the Lord. If there were no provocations in us there would bee no corrections or correcting rods in the Lords hand If we indeede did thus fulfill the conditions God in truth would then fulfill his promises But Secondly Answer 2. I must answer with Samuel to Saul If it bee thus as you say then what meanes the bleating of these Sheepe and lowing of these Oxen Let us confesse our sinnes and give glorie to God Let us acknowledge in all Christian humilitie that there are little Sheepe and great Oxen amongst us who bleat and lowe loud in the eares of the Lord. Is there not amongst us here in England speaking sinnes and silent sinnes publike sinnes and private sinnes great sinnes and small sinnes crying sinnes and tongue-tyed sinnes sins of infirmitie and sinnes of perversenesse and obstinacie Have wee not sinnes both in our Superiours and inferiours in our professors and prophane persons in our rich and poore in our Church and State yea in the Court Citie and Countrey Certainely if any place degree ranke or quality should with Pilate wash their hands and publish their innocencie it would be like Pilates washing indeed a proclaimer of their guilt not of their puritie Ionah 3.5 And therefore seeing our sanctitie doth not deserve a blessing but rather our sinnes a curse if we desire a blessing upon this Honourable Assembly We must then not urge or plead our merits but doe as the Noble Ninivites did to wit 1. Repent us truely of all our sinnes not excusing but accusing our selves not extenuating or denying but amplifying and acknowledging our iniquities Let us consider the nature and number of our sinnes the quantitie and qualitie of our transgressions against whom wee have sinned and what we have merited for so sinning that the serious consideration of these may breed and beget in us sighes and sobs for our sinnes and bring forth teares of true repentance As a souldier is no body without his armour nor armour without a souldier so prayer is nothing without fasting nor fasting with out prayer Chrysost hom 15. in Mat. In a word let us from the heart and with the heart bewaile the sinnes we have committed and never turne any more to the sinnes we have bewailed Let us wash our soules with the teares of contrition and never any more pollute them with the staines of sinne And 2 Let us fast and humble our selves in dust and ashes let the inward sorrow of the heart be expressed outwardly in the life let the body abstaine from meate and both body and soule from sinne that wee may be the better prepared for prayer which two should alwayes goe together 3. Let us pray and that mightily unto God for the pardon and remission of our sinnes the removall and aversion of evils and the continuance of all graces and mercies especially for the prosperous successe of this long-desired Parliament Oh let us here wrastle with manfull wrastlings and tugge with the Lord even the Almightie God of Jacob for a blessing upon their consultations and meeting yea let us not let him goe untill he have granted this our request let us againe and againe with the most intent ardour of our affections humbly beseech the Lord so by his all-wise and all-good providence and Almightie power to order and dispose of this businesse that no sinister accident or occasion may cause the dissolution or breaking up thereof untill religion and peace be established in Church and State and all the greevances of the Common-wealth be redressed and whatsoever is amisse in us in some good measure rectified And 4. Then let us hope for mercie 2. Cor. 7.10.11 and favour from God that is let us repent with a repentance never to be repented of let us sorrow for our sinnes with a sorrow never to bee sorrowed for let us humble our selves sincerely in dust and ashes before the Lord Let us pray with strong cries unto him for a blessing and blessed successe upon this Noble and religious Assembly and then trust in him who is faithfull in all his promises and confidently exspect that our prayers shall bee heard our suite granted and our desires satisfied but of this more by and by Secondly Vse 2. let us hence further bee perswaded to use the meanes diligently and constantly This Use is deduced and derived thus If the faithfull flocke and peculiar people of God must