Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	father_n	holy_a	lord_n	5,731	5	3.8503	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92744	The Christian life wheren is shew'd, I. The worth and excellency of the soul. II. The divinity and incarnation of our Saviour III. The authority of the Holy Scripture. IV. A dissuasive from apostacy. Vol. V. and last. By John Scott, D.D. late rector of St. Giles's in the Fields.; Christian life. Vol. 5	Scott, John, 1639-1695.; White, Robert, 1645-1703, engraver.; Zouch, Humphrey.	1700 (1700)	Wing S2060; ESTC R230772	251,294	440

and in this the Right of his Dominion over us is originally founded For he that hath Power must needs have a Right to exercise it so far as it is just and becoming his Nature otherwise his Power would be altogether in vain and therefore since God from all Eternity hath a Power of doing whatsoever he pleases so far as is consistent with his Holiness and Goodness there is nothing can be pretended against the Right of his Dominion and Authority over us For God cannot but have an eternal Right to exercise his own Power and he cannot but have an immutable Right to exercise it over his own Creatures And as from all Eternity he had Power to do whatsoever was just and becoming him so from his creating of us it became most just and becoming that he should rule and govern us for we became his as soon as we were created by him all our Powers of Action were from him and by that he hath acquired an unalienable Right in whatsoever we are able to do We have nothing but what is his Gift and therefore can do nothing but what is his Debt we received all from him and therefore must owe all to him for by Right of Creation he is the supreme Proprietor of all our Powers and Faculties and as such hath a just Claim to all the Homage and Obedience that we are able to render him So that as God's Dominion over us is originally founded in his most absolute Power to do whatsoever is just and becoming him so the Justice and Becomingness of his Dominion over us doth immediately result from his creating of us by which he hath for ever intitled himself to all the Obedience we can render him And by Virtue of this immutable Title doth he claim our Obedience to the Laws of Jesus Christ whom next to himself he hath made our Prince and Ruler having vested him with his own Sovereign Authority and constituted him his supreme Representative in the Church So that by disobeying his Laws we incur the Guilt of the most monstrous Injustice in the World we resume our selves from him to whom we owe our Being and refuse to own our selves to be his Creatures from whose Bounty we receive even the Power of rebelling against him we alienate our Faculties from those sacred Uses whereunto they were designed and consecrated and turn these living Temples of God into Dens of impure Thoughts and filthy Lusts In a word we fight against God with his own Gifts and arm the Effects of his Bounty against his Sovereign Authority And what do we think will be the Consequence of these Things Can we be so sottish as to imagine that the Almighty Father will sit above in the Heavens and see how his Laws are trampled upon his Authority contemned and exposed to Scorn and Derision by a Company of impious Wretches that owe their very Beings to him and never be concerned at it Do we think him so stupid a Being as that no Provocations will awake his Vengeance that he will for even sit unconcerned with his Hands in his Bosom whilst his violated Laws like the Souls under the Altar are continually crying out to him How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not avenge our Quarrel upon the Heads of these audacious Rebels that every day trample us under foot and have no more regard for our Authority than they have for the Whistling of the Wind For God's sake Sirs let us consider before it be too late what is like to become of us what probable Hopes of Security we can propose to our selves if we persist in this unjust Rebellion Gird up your Loins like Men and I will demand of you in the Name of God do you think that the wise Governour of the World will be for ever insensible of all the rude Affronts and Provocations you offer him If so pray where is his Wisdom or in what sense doth he govern the World if he takes no care to secure his Laws by punishing Offenders and lets his Subjects alone to do as they list Or have you an Arm as strong as God's Can you grapple with his Almighty Vengeance or withstand the Stroke of his Thunderbolts Sure such a ridiculous Conceit can never enter into any reasonable Breast and if not in the Name of God what do you propose to your selves when you can neither hope for Favour from God nor Security from your selves Are you so abandoned of all your Reason as wilfully to shut your Eyes against your Danger and run the desperate Venture of falling into the Hands of the living God Hath not our blessed Lord most fairly warn'd us what we are to trust to Hath he not told us how he values his Laws and how dreadfully he will punish the Transgression of them Hath he not most seriously protested to us that unless we do repent and amend he will never forgive us either in this Life or that to come and that if we still persist in our Rebellions he will at last banish us from his Presence for ever and assign us our Portion with Devils and damned Ghosts in that Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone And hath he not taken it upon his Death that all this is true when he so freely sealed his Doctrines with his Blood And now after all this is it possible we should be so sensless as to think we can be safe in our Wickedness when God the Father is enraged both in Wisdom and Honour to avenge it as an Affront to his Authority and God the Son hath revealed his Father's Wrath from Heaven against all Unrighteousness and Ungodliness of Men and therefore as we value our own Safety it concerns us either to submit to that Divine Authority which is stamp'd upon the Laws of our Saviour or else to secure our selves of some Retreat of Sanctuary from that Almighty Vengeance which our Rebellion will certainly arm against us 2dly He dwelt among us full of Grace Hence I infer what mighty Encouragement we have to serve and obey our blessed Master who in his dwelling among us was full of every thing that can render his Service lovely or desireable and abounded in all those amiable Graces that can oblige us to love and obey him For what was there wanting in our blessed Master that any reasonable Subject can desire in his Prince and Sovereign Would he desire a Prince of a sweet and gracious Temper one that is full of Love and Tenderness to his Subjects Such a one in the most eminent degree is our blessed Lord for how doth the History of his Conversation upon Earth abound with the Expressions of a most sweet and loving Temper For Love was the Principle of all his Actions the Life and Soul of his Conversation and in all that he did or spoke he made some new Discovery of his unfeigned Affection to the World for he went about doing good and his whole Life was nothing but one continued

Kindness When we see a Child slight his careful and indulgent Parents we are ready to account him an unnatural Monster when we see a Man neglect his Friend or disregard his Benefactor we presently call him base and ungrateful nay when we see one abuse a poor brute Creature that fawns upon him and expresses its Kindness to him we look upon it as an undoubted Sign of a very hard Heart and an ill Nature What Term then can we find in all the World of Words that is odious enough to express our Disaffection to our Blessed Redeemer to whom we are so infinitely obliged Base Disingenuous Ill-natured and Vngrateful are all too soft 't is something beyond Barbarous and Devilish For one would think that neither the most inhumane Canibal on Earth nor the blackest Devil in Hell could ever be guilty of so foul a Crime which hath something in it too monstrous for any Words to express Well therefore may the Heavens be astonished and the Earth tremble and all the Creation of God stand amazed at us to see how insentible we are of this most ravishing and endearing Love Well may we be amazed at our selves and wonder at our own Stupidity to think that the Son of God should be so kind as to come down from Heaven to visit us to leave the Habitation of his Glory and shroud his Divinity in mortal Flesh and make himself a miserable Wight meerly that he might make us happy and advance us to that Glory and Bliss which for our sakes he willingly abandoned and yet that we are no more touched and affected with it than with the most indifferent Thing in the World Blessed God what are we made of What kind of Souls do we carry about with us that no Kindness will oblige us no not the most endearing that ever was known or heard of Doubtless should any Man have shewn us but half this Kindness should a Friend but offer to die for us or a Prince to descend from his Throne and put himself into the State of a Beggar to inrich and advance us in the World we should have thought our selves bound to him as long as we lived and should we have thought any Services too much any Requitals too dear for him we should have been lookt upon as Monsters of Ingratitude as the Peproaches and Scandals of humane Nature and been hiss'd out of all Society for a Company of infamous Villains unworthy of the least Repsect or Favour from Mankind But for a Friend to die or a Prince to become a Beggar for our sakes alas what poor inconsiderable Things are they compared with the Condescentions of the Son of God who humbled himself much lower in becoming a Man than the most glorious Angel in Heaven could have done in assuming the Nature of a Worm And can we be so inhumane as not to be moved by such a Miracle of condescending Love Is it the less because it is the Lore of God or doth it less deserve our Requital What Excuse then can we make for our wretched Insensibility O ungrateful that we are with that Confidence can we shew our Heads among reasonable Beings after we have so barbarously slighted our best Friend and behaved our selves so disingenuously towards our greatest Benefactor How can we pretend to any thing that is modest or ingenuous tender or apprehensive in humant Nature when nothing will oblige us no not that astonishing Love that made the Son of God leave all his Glory and become a poor miserable Mortal for our sakes O blessed Jesus what do thy holy Angels think of us how do thy blessed Saints resent our Unkindness towards thee yea how justly will the Devils themselves reproach and upbraid our Baseness who had as they are were never so much Devils yet as to spurn the Love of a Redeemer coming down from Heaven to die and suffer for their sakes Wherefore as we would not be hiss'd at by all the reasonable World and become Spectacles of Horror to God and Angels and Devils let us endeavoun to affect our selves with the Love of our Redeemer and to inflame our own Souls with the Sense of his Kindness who hath done such mighty things to endear and oblige us 4. From hence I infer what monstrous Disingenuity it would be in us to think much of parting with any thing or doing any thing for the sake of Christ who for our sakes parted with his Father's Bosom and all those infinite Delights which he there enjoyed and united himself to our miserable Nature that he might make us good and happy for ever And now after all this with what Conscience or Modesty can we grudge to do any thing which he shall require at our hands Should he command me to descend into the lowest Form of Beings and to become the most wretched and contemptible of all Animals could I be such a Caitif as to deny him who descended much lower for the sake of me Should he remand me back into Non-entity and bid me cease to be for ever alas the Distance is nothing so great between me and nothing as 't was betwixt him and that humane Nature which he assumed for my sake Should he require me to die for him under all those lingering and exquisite Tortures which the blessed Martyrs suffered for his Name what Proportion were there between what he requires of me and what he hath done for me He only requires that I should pass through Death to Heaven for him but he came from Heaven to pass through Death for me so that for his sake I should only put off a wretched Garment of Flesh that I may be inrobed with Glory and Immortality but for my sake he put off his Robes of Glory and Majesty that he might wear my frail and mortal Flesh and therein reconcile me to God and make me everlastingly happy And when I may advance my self into an Equality with Angels by suffering the Agonies of a miserable Death for him shall I refuse or thing much of it when he who was equal with God in Glory and Happiness was so ready to be born a wretched miserable Man for me Should he require me to give my Substance to the Poor and leave my self destitute of all Supplies and Comforts could I deny so poor a Request to him who forsook a Heaven of Infinite Pleasures for my sake and exposed himself naked to the Mercy of a wretched wicked and ill-natured World from whom he could expect nothing but the most barbarous Contempt and Cruelty Sure one would thing 't were impossible for any reasonable Being to deny such poor such inconsider able Boons to such a great and deserving Benefactor and yet these are much more then what he ordinarily requires at our hands For that which he ordinarily requires of us is that we would forsake those Vices which are as injurious to us as they are hateful to him and which are therefore hateful to him because they are our Enemies and

Thing in the World before it II. I now proceed to the Second Proposition And dwelt among us full of Grace and Truth For that these later Words full of Grace and Truth belong to the former And dwelt among us you may plainly see by the Parenthesis in your Bible by which they are interrupted and broken off from one another In the Explication of these Words I shall do these Two Things 1. Enquire what is here meant by the Word 's dwelling among us 2. What we are to understand by his being full of Grace and Truth 1. What is here meant by the Word 's dwelling among us In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he pitched his Tabernacle among us which seems plainly to refer to God's dwelling in the Tabernacle under the Mosaic Law For the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes immediately from the Hebrew Shacan and differs from it only by the Greek Termination and from Shacan comes the word Shechinah by which the Hebrews were wont to express God's glorious Presence upon Earth and especially his Habitation in the holy Tabernacle between the two Cherubims where he is said to dwell 1 Sam. 4.4 and 2 Sam. 6.2 because from thence God was wont to speak and discover himself by a visible Brightness and Glory And accordingly this Presence or Habitation of God is called in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glory and Appearing Thus Numb 16.19 it is said that when the Congregation drew near to the Tabernacle the Glory of the Lord appeared unto them and v. 42. it is said that a Cloud covered the Tabernacle and the Glory of the Lord appeared So when the Glory is said to be departed from Israel 1 Sam. 4.21 it 's plain that by that Glory is meant this visible Appearance of God in a glorious Brightness from between the Cherubims So Rev. 21. when it had been said of the New Jerusalem that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tabernacle of God with us v. 3. that being repeated again v. 11. is said to have the Glory of God in it and the Glory of God to enlighten it v. 23. Now it seems most probable that this glorious Shechinah Presence or Habitation of God consisted in the Presence of Angels who being the Courtiers of Heaven where they appear there God is said to be peculiarly present And hence it is that the Well Lahi-roi where the Angel appeared to Hagar Gen. 16.7 14. is by the Jerusalem Targum stiled the Well ubi manifestata illi fuit Praesentia Domini Majestatica where the Presence of God in Majesty was manifested to her And that visible Glory which appeared from between the Cherubims is called by the same name viz the Gloria Majestaticae praesentiae Domini the Glory of the Majestatick Presence of God which is a plain Evidence that the Jews believed the Majestatick Presence of God to be nothing else but the Appearance of Angels And of the same Mind was the Author to the Hebrews Heb. 2.2 For the Law saith he was spoken by Angels and so St. Stephen Acts 7.53 The Law was received by the Disposition of Angels and St. Paul that the Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Galat. 3.19 Whereas Exod. 19.11 compared with 20. v. 22. it is said that the Lord came down in the sight of all the People and talked with them that is as you will there find he spoke the Law to them Which is a plain Evidence that that glorious Descent of God's Presence upon Mount Sinai where the Law was spoken was in the Opinion of the Author to the Hebrews nothing but the Presence of Angels who when they were to represent the Divine Presence were wont to appear in bright and radiant Bodies and therefore where it is said in Isaiah's Vision Isa 6.1 that he saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne and that his Train filled the Temple that is his Train of Angels and this Train of Angels our Saviour calls the Glory of the Lord Joh. 12.41 which is the same with the Shechinah or Majestick Presence And therefore perhaps they are called Angels of Light in reference to that lucid shining flaming Appearance which they were wont to make And in Ps 104.4 God is said to make his Ministers a flaming fire that is when they are to make a visible Representation of his Majestick Presence to Mankind But besides this Isa 63.9 you have mention made of the Angel of God's Presence which saved Israel which seems to denote the Head and Chief of those Angels which by their glorious Appearances did represent God to Mankind By which Angel the Jews did generally understand the Messias or Eternal Word For so Philo 1 De Agricul p. 152. speaking of God's committing the Care of his Flock to his first born Son The Word tells us That this is that Angel whom God promised to send before the Camp of Israel even the Angel of his Presence And so also Rab. Menahem upon the 14th of Exod. 19. tells us that the Angel which went before the Camp of Israel was Shechinah the Presence or Majesty of God and that he is called the Angel or Prince of the World because the Government of the World is in his hands And to the same Purpose Moses the Son of Neheman Praeterea Scriptum est saith he Angelus faciei ejus salvos fecit ipsos c. that is It is written the Angel of his Presence shall save them viz. that Angel which is the Presence of God of whom it is said My Presence shall go before thee and I will cause thee to rest Moreover saith he this is that Angel of whom the Prophets foretold The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple the Angel of the Covenant whom ye desire which both the Ancient Jews and Christians interpret to be the Messias and this saith he is He who governs the World that brought the Children of Israelout of Egypt and to whom the most High God communicates his own Name And this without doubt was he whom God calls his Presence when he promised Moses that his Presence should go along with him Exod. 33.14 for this Presence is there said to be the Angel of God both which put together make him to be the Angel of God's Presence Exod. 23.20 And accordingly instead of Say not before the Angel of the Lord Eccles 5.6 the Septuagint render it Say not before the Presence of God that is before the Angel of his Presence And since to this Angel of his Presence God doth attribute not only his Prerogative of Forgiving Sins but also his own Name as you may see he doth Exod. 23.21 it seems very probable what not only the Jews but many very Learned Christians do assert that it was no created Angel but the Eternal Word or Messias For saith God to Mases Behold I send an Angel before thee c. beware of him

Church the Apostleship of the Twelve by this visible Glory which he derived upon them For now according to John the Baptist's Prediction of him he baptized them with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Luke 3.16 that is by the outward Sign of that visible Glory which rested like Fire upon them he solemnly initiated them into their Apostleship and declared them to be the Heralds of his Will to the World And as this visible Glory with which he baptized them was an Evidence of their being sent from and commissionated by him to bear his Authority and represent his Person so that visible Glory with which he was baptized from Heaven first in the River Jordan and afterwards upon Mount Tabor was an undoubted Evidence that he was sent from above to be his Father's Representative in the Church For if thier shining wiht his Glory was an Evidence of their being invested with his Authority then his shining with his Father's Glory must be an equal Evidence of his being invested with the Authority of his Father And as this visible Glory was always the peculiar Character of God's immediate Representative and the Royal Crown and Robes as it were with which the most High adorned him at his Inauguration and Investment with his own Kingly Authority so St. Peter expresly tells Cornelius and his Company that God had anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with Power Acts 10.13 that is by that outward Sign of the visible Glory in which the Holy Ghost descended upon him he had invested him with Regal Power and deputed and declared him to be King of the Church And this in all probability was the Reason why he forbad his Disciples to declare his Transfiguration till after his Resurrection from the Dead Mark 9.9 because he knew that if they did the Jews would not believe it but would maliciously interpret it to be a false Pretence of his to the Title of God's immediate Representative and Vice-Roy that visible Glory in which he appeared being the proper Character of that divine King by whom the most High God had formerly governed them and therefore in all the History of his Life you find he did industriously avoid openly to avow his Regal Authority and only insinuates it by Consequences and obseure Intimations For so violently were they prejudiced against his being their King upon the account of his obscure Parentage and mean Condition that he could not but foresee how unseasonable it would yet be publickly to own his Regal Authority and consequently the Glory of his Transfiguration which did so apparently infer it till by more miraculous Effects and particularly by his Resurrection from the Dead he had sufficiently proved and demonstrated it and then he openly declares without any Reserve that all power was given him in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28.18 Since therefore it is so apparent by this Characteristical Glory in which his Person was inrobed and which the Apostle assures us they saw him invested with we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that the most High God hath deputed him to be King and Lord of the Church For when the Apostle tells us that they saw this visible Glory which shone upon him at his Baptism and Transfiguration he doth as good as say that they saw all the Solemnity of his divine Coronation that they beheld the most High God circling his Brows with the Royal Diadem and investing his sacred Body with the Imperial Robes of the great King of the World So that if it be true what St. John says that they did see this Glory as we have all the Reason in the World to conclude it is because he offered to seal his Testimony of it with his Blood and the other two that saw it with him actually did so then we cannot but acknowledge the blessed Jesus to be our King to whose divine Authority we are bound to pay the lowest Homage and Obedience and that whensoever we wilfully transgress his Laws we do openly rebel against our most rightful Sovereign to whose Service we are bound by all possible Ties and Obligations 2. They saw the Glory of that miraculous Power which he exerted in the Course of his Ministry from whence I infer the Credibility of the Christian Religion For the many stupendous Miracles that he wrought were a most plain and unquestionable Evidence of a Divine Power residing in him and accompanying his Ministry For never were there so many miraculous Effects produced either before or since in the World by the most renowned Workers of Miracles that ever were and all that hath been done by the most famous Magicians that are recorded in History were but like the little Tricks and Delusions of Jugglers compared with the wondrous Works of our Saviour and yet 't is apparent that his Education had been most plain and simple that he never had been instructed in any Mathematical Science or mystical Rites or in any other Art of performing Wonders either by Humane Wit or Diabolical Assistance but was bred up under the Care of his poor honest Parents who were forced to earn their Bread with the Sweat of their Brows and so in all Probability was trained up in his Father's Profession that so by his daily Labour he might be able to contribute to the Charge of his Maintenance And yet 't is plain this home-bred Person sometimes only by speaking of a Word sometimes meerly by the Touch of his Hand sometimes by a silent Virtue proceeding from him without any outward Sign intervening did more and far greater Wonders in three or four Years Time then all the most skilful Physicians Magicians and Mathematicians could ever do either before or after him Now how was it possible that ever such a Person should ever have accomplished such great and mighty Things as he did had he not been indued with Power from above And if he was indued with such a Power what greater Evidence can we desire of the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine For it is not supposable that the God of Truth would have endued our Saviour with this miraculous Power had that Doctrine been false which he sought to confirm by it because in so doing he would have openly patronized a Cheat and designedly contributed to the Propagation of an Imposture which is utterly inconsistent with his Truth and Veracity So that now the Truth of Christianity finally resolves into the Veracity of God which is the Foundation of all the Certainty in the World For admitting that God can either deceive or be deceived we do not know but our Faculties may be constantly imposed upon and then there is nothing in Nature that we can be certain of So that if it be true as St. John here testifies that they did see the Glory of our Saviour's Miracles that is a most undeniable Evidence of the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine and that they did see it I think is as evident For it is not imaginable that any