Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	burn_v	great_a	water_n	2,442	4	5.7787	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50495	Two sticks made one, or, The excellency of unity being a sermon preached by the appointment of the Congregational and Presbyterian perswasion at their happy union on the sixth day of April, 1691, which was a day set apart by them, partly to bewail former divisions and partly as a thanksgiving to God for Their present agreement and now at their unamimous request made publick / by Matthew Mead ...	Mead, Matthew, 1630?-1699.	1691 (1691)	Wing M1562; ESTC R3764	27,269	42

dunghil And 1 Revel 19.14 the Saints are said to follow Christ cloathed in fine linnen clean and white their cloathing shows their holiness and their following him shews their oneness and when they follow him thus cloathed then you read of his sharp sword and his iron rod and his treading the wine press of the wrath of God upon his enemies v. 15. all which is explained in the following words to the end of the Chapter where you have the Battle of Armageddon fought and the Beast and false Prophet and all the rest of the Churches Enemies destroyed And if the destruction of the Churches Enemies be a consequent of their Union then when God makes the two sticks one it is a great Mercy I might add 3. The notice that God would have to be taken of it speaks out the greatness of the mercy That they may know from the rising of the Sun to the West that there is none besides me I am the Lord and there is none else I make peace and create evil Isa 45.6 4. The blessings and prosperity that flow from this Union speak the greatness of the mercy Psal 122.7 When peace is within Jerusalem 's walls there will be prosperity within her Palaces But I pass these and shall insist only on this one thing which will sufficiently set forth the greatness of this Mercy and Union and that is 5. The Evils and Divisions among God's People Their Name is Legion they are so many Nothing thrives where this Wolf sets his foot Where envy and strife is there is confusion and every evil work James 3.16 It is the root of many bitter fruits We read Gen. 38. that Pharez was the Son of Tamar Pharez signifies Fraction and Division Tamar signifies a Palm-Tree Ab amaritudine say some from bitterness Pagnine Division comes from bitterness and brings forth bitter fruits Deut. 32.31 The grapes of it are grapes of gall the clusters are bitter For instance Your Divisions are very dishonourable to Jesus Christ they cause his Name to be blasphemed in the World Rom. 2.24 Nay it is an implicite denying him to be come in the flesh For when he comes this is to be one effect of it Isa 11 6. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb c. It is one Argument the Jews have against Christ's being come because this Prophecy is not fulfilled My Brethren Is the Lord Christ come into the World or is he not If not why do ye own it If he is why don't ye manifest it It is your Union that must prove Christ's Mission Christ prays for the Oneness of his Disciples for this very end John 17.21 That they all may be one that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And again v. 23. Let them be perfect in one that the world may know that thou hast sent me As if Christ should say the World will never believe that thou hast sent me that my Doctrine is true if they that profess it live not in the power of it and are not made one by it Thou art Love and what shall convince the World that I came out of the Bosome of the Father's love when my Disciples hate one another Oh how dishonourable to Christ must this be 2. Divisions are a great grief to the Spirit of God and we are commanded not to grieve him Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God Have ye not your light and life from the Spirit Did not he convince and convert and draw you to Christ Was it not he that lead you into the Secrets of God that revealed the Mysteries of the Kingdom the deep Things of God and Eternal Life to you Your Calling had never been effectual if the Spirit had not been in it to make it so Are not your Parts 2 Cor. 12.4 and Gifts and various Attainments all from the Spirit And is not every Grace and every Degree of Grace in you the Workmanship of the Spirit And is it not the Spirit that quickens you in Duties and maintains in you a frame of heart for communion with God Who is it that comforts your Souls in troubles 1 Cor. 1.4 and that teaches you to comfort others that helps you against Corruptions within and Temptations without that conquers your Difficulties and inables you to rejoyce in Tribulation Is it not the Spirit Is not he the earnest of your inheritance Eph. 1.14 Eph. 4.30 Hath he not sealed you to the day of redemption and will you grieve this Spirit Oh what an evil is this 3. There is nothing more contrary to Christianity and yet we cover our Divisions under the cloak of Religion the very Name whereof carries Union with it Religio à religando It is the Bond of God upon the Soul that binds us all to himself and one to another As God is the God of Peace Christ the Prince of Peace Eph. 6.15 the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Peace his Children the Children of Peace so the Gospel you profess and preach is the Gospel of Peace full of Precepts of Peace you are Rom. 12.18 Mark 9.50 if it be possible and as much as in you lies to live peaceably with all men much more to have peace one with another else you violate your Baptismal Covenant 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one spirit we are are all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles bond or free And what an evil is this It is Death to force a Virgin what is it then to defile a pure and holy Religion 4. Divisions are the causes of much sin Shake a Glass of Water that hath dregs in the bottom and the shaking stirs it and spreads it all over I have often thought of that Counsel of the Apostle Eph. 4.26 Let not the sun go down upon your wrath It must be speedily suppressed for if we lie down in our heats we shall be apt to burn all the Night It was a Custom formerly in this Nation that every Night at the 8th hour a Bell was rung and then every Family was obliged to put out their Fire and this was called the Curfew Bell. We have need of such a Monition every hour to cover the Fire of our Passions least they kindle and burn up all Behold how great a matter a little fire kindles Jam. 3.5 5. Divisions are against Love as Error is against Faith It 〈◊〉 asunder the bond of Peace Amos 6.11 The great house is smitten with breaches and the little house with clefts Not only Kingdoms but Churches are destroyed when their Guides and Leaders are divided in opinion and affection One carps at anothers Gifts decries anothers Ministry stands in the way of anothers Honour like men in a Boat one justies another till among them they sink the Boat it self O the evil of Divisions It was not therefore without most cogent Reason that Christ prays for his own Apostles Joh. 17.11 that they may be one 6. Divisions

are the fruits of the Flesh The Apostle tells us The fruits of the Spirit are love peace gentleness and meekness Gal. 5.22 but the fruits of the Flesh are hatred variance emulation strife and envyings ver 20. So that a man can't evidence himself to be in the Flesh and destitute of the Spirit of God in any thing more than by a contentious dividing Spirit The Apostle says so 1 Cor. 3.3 If their be envyings and strifes and divisions among you are ye not carnal They are Salamanders that can live only in this Fire And then I may ask but who is their Father For the Wisdom that is from beneath is sensual and devilish the Mother of strife and division Jam. 3.15 Ver. 17. But the wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable O how sad is it when the Flesh thus reigns in the Children of the Spirit 7. Division naturally runs into Tumult and Confusion It makes Zion to become a Babel It so confounds the Language of Christians that one can't understand another As when a House is on Fire some call for Water some for Ladders some for pulling down the House Such is the confusion where this Fire breaks out in the House of God 8. Nothing more obstructs the flourishing of Religion And how sad is it that the Interest and concerns of Christ should wither under our hands 9. Nothing becomes a greater stumbling block to turn others out of the way of God Division in the Church begets Atheism in the World Men charge all the faults of Professors upon the Religion they profess and thereby contract such prejudices against it as can never be rooted out O what an evil is this 10. Nothing becomes a greater Joy to our Adversaries nor gives them a greater advantage to undermine and destroy us While two Birds are pecking one at another the Kite comes and soops away both Our Contentions make us first a laughing-stock then a prey to our Enemies and therefore they are a sad forerunner of ruine Hoc Ithacus vetit c. When Abraham went to Sacrifies his Isaac he found a Ram intangled in the Briars which God had prepared for a Sacrifice and if we are intangled in these Briars we may justly fear we are prepared to be a Sacrifice These are some of the many Evils which might be reckoned up that are in the divisions of Gods People which may serve to set forth the blessing and advantage of Union And therefore when God binds up the breaches of his People and makes the two sticks one it is a great mercy Shall I not make a little Application of this I know to whom I speak which makes it needless but for Sions sake I will not hold my peace Isa 62.1 This Text affords two Uses that suit the end of this days appointment which you have set apart partly for Humbling and partly for rejoycing Here is matter of Humbling that the people of God should be two sticks Here is matter of Reioycing that God hath made the two sticks one 1. Let us Humble our selves before the Lord for our former Divisions Is their not a Cause when God calls to contend by Fire Hos 7.4 Isa 19.2 it is a Token of his Anger It is in favour to Israel when he sets the Egyptians against the Egyptians but when Ephraim and Manasseh are divided Isa 9.21 there is the Anger of God in it and that should be matter of Mourning And indeed the only way to a firm Union is to lay the foundation of it in shame and tears for past Divisions Even in this sense God lays the beams of his chambers in the waters Psal 104.3 and makes the clouds his chariot There is no building without Mortar to hold the stones together and there it no Mortar without Water When Israel and Judah come out of Babylon and inquire the way to Sion and joyn in a Covenant Union it is all done in Tears Jer. 50.4 5. In those days and in that time saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come they and the children of Judah together going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten They use in Faggotting either to twist the bands with some sap in them or to lay them for a time in water for when dry they 'l snap but they 'l bend and hold the twisting when well soaked So the deeper your Humiliation is the more durable will your Union be Their is much cause of Humbling on this account For the Pride of our hearts only by pride comes contention For the dishonour done to God by these differences For the reproach brought upon his ways For the offences and scandals given to many whereby their Souls have been eternally hazarded And should not the sense of this affect us Some diseases are called opprobria medicorum I am sure these are opprobria Theologorum O let us joyn in this one thing to mourn together till we have dissolved our hearts into tears and see if they 'l cun one into another and let us resolve that nothing shall comfort them but peace with God and peace with one another Vse 2. When we have thus passed through the valley of Baca Psal 84.6 and in this sense made it a well we may then go on to Berachah and sit down there blessing and rejoycing in God who hath made the two sticks one in his hand If any thing should affect us the great appearance of God should wherein he hath put forth so much of his Power Wisdom Love and Mercy Is it not a mercy you have long desired and prayed for And God hath this day returned your prayers like Noah's Dove with an Olive Branch in the mouth How long did our Fathers sow in Tears for this Harvest and God hath reserved the reaping time for us their Children Isa 9.3 And therefore let us joy before him according to the joy in Harvest This day hath the Lord rolled away our reproach Josh 5.9 for what hath been the reproach we have been silled with Is it not that we have been a divided people crumbling into Factions and Parties fill'd with mutual animosities and jarrs envying and hating one another Now God hath brought us to Gilgal for this day is the reproach rolled away and shall not God have the glory of this You have this day made up one great Breach at which Judgment used to enter Ezek. 13.5 Ye have gone up into the gaps and made up the hedge for the house of Israel You have this day recovered your strength Division is a weakening thing A Kingdom a House a Church divided cannot stand Untwist a Cable and it is easily broken Divide the strongest Current into many streams and it becomes shallow and weak You know the story of Scilurus