Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	king_n	lord_n	prophet_n	5,880	5	7.0867	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61651	A rebuke to the informers with a plea for the ministers of the Gospel, called nonconformists, and their meetings and advice to those to whom these informers address themselves for assistance in their undertakings.	Stockton, Owen, 1630-1680.	1675 (1675)	Wing S5699; ESTC R34618	98,356	92

whom these Informers pretend were met in a seditious manner you found met in a peaceable manner and that they were doing nothing else but praying to God in the name of Christ and preaching and hearing God's holy Word and that you think you should sin against God if you should disturb or punish men for worshipping and serving God under a pretence of suppressing of seditious Conventicles and that in your judgment the Informers ought to be punished as false accusers rather than these men for serving God Under the Law when one man was a witness against another and testified that which was wrong diligent inquisition was to be made and if the witness had testified that which was false the Magistrates were to punish the false witness and not the party against whom he had testified false things and his punishment was to be according to what he had intended to have done against his brother against whom he was a false witness Deut. 19.16 18 19 If a false witness rise up against any man to testifie against him that which was wrong The judge shall make diligent inquisition And behold if the witness be a false witness and hath testified falsly against his brother Then shalt thou do unto him as he thought to do unto his brother so shalt thou put evil away from among you Respect to the command of God should keep Magistrates from being too sudden in crediting and acting upon the testimony of these Informers till according to God's appointment they have made diligent inquisition whether there be truth in what they have testified and if they find them false witnesses they should execute the Law of Moses against them and that for these reasons 1. The equity and righteousness of the Law 2. This would be a means of putting away evil from among them which may be understood two ways 1. It would put away the evil of sin because punishing the false witness would deter others from becoming false witnesses 2. It would put away the evil of punishment for if they connive at false witnesses which oppress innocent persons this will bring down God's Judgments upon themselves as well as these false witnesses Inf. 8. Whereas these Informers and their adherents do not only privately accuse these Ministers and their hearers to the Magistrates but sometimes take upon them to get Officers and Souldiers and come to their Assemblies in a rude and hostile manner and disturb them while they are in the worship and service of God and do put on that impudence as to call to the Minister that is praying or preaching to come down I would advise them to consider two or three things 1. What an irreligious action this is how inconsistent with the fear of God and with the reverence which is due to men made after the image of God to disturb the servants of God for doing those things which are commanded of God in the very time and season that they are worshipping and serving the Lord. God is to be feared at all times and places but more especially the awe and dread of God is to be upon us when his servants are assembled to worship him and we are present at their Assemblies Ps 89.7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him Do you fear God greatly when you come into the Assemblies of his Saints and call to them in the time of their devotion to leave off the service of God 2. What befel Uzzah for putting forth his hand and taking hold of the Ark when the oxen that carried it stumbled and the Ark shook God was angry with him and smote him with sudden death 2 Sam. 6.6 7. Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it for the oxen shook it And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah And God smote him there for his errour and he died Uzzah 's taking hold of the Ark was no malicious act no plotted deliberate wilful sin but an errour a rash action yet for this errour and rashness he dyed upon the place where his sin was committed though it is likely he had a good end in what he did If rashness and errour in taking hold of the Ark a type of God's presence among the Jews was punished with such severity in Uzzah what severity may these men expect from God for premeditated and deliberate acts of violence against his servants who are temples of God and have God really and truly dwelling in them by his holy Spirit when they hale them out of their Assemblies and force them to desist from the service of God 3. Remember what befel Jeroboam for stretching out his hand to take the Prophet for delivering the Lords message his hand was suddenly dryed up that he could not pull it in again 1 King 13 14 And it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God which had cryed against the Altar in Bethel that he put forth his hand from the Altar and said Lay hold on him And his hand which he put forth against him dryed up so that he could not pull it in again to him Jeroboam was a King yet for attempting to take hold of a Prophet for doing the work God set him about this remarkable and sudden Judgment of God came upon him If God dealt thus with such a tall Cedar what may the shrubs expect These men that take upon them to lay hold of the Ministers and Servants of Christ while they are about the Lords work and call them to cease may fear lest their tongues should cleave to the roof of their mouths or their arms wither or some other great Judgment should fall upon them in the act of their sin 4 Let that Judgment also which fell upon the Captains and Soldiers that went to Elijah and called to him to come down be minded by those that fetch Officers and Soldiers to the Assemblies of these men and take upon them to call them to come down out of their Pulpits when they are praying to God or instructing the people It concerns these Informers and those Officers and Soldiers that come along with them to be awakened by this Judgment to take heed what they do against these men 2 King 1.9 10 Then the King sent to him a Captain of fifty with his fifty and he went up to him and behold he sate on the top of an hill And he spake unto him Thou man of God the King hath said come down And Elijah answered and said unto the Captain of fifty If I be a man of God then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty The same Judgment of fire from Heaven for the same sin came upon another Captain of fifty and his fifty v. 11 12. The sin of these Informers and the Officers

Lord hath made thee Priest instead of Jehoiada the Priest that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord for every man that is mad and maketh himself a Prophet that thou shouldest put him in Prison and in the Stocks Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth which maketh himself a Prophet to you Do you give out that it is not the Lord that stirs up these men to Preach the Gospel but the people set them on out of evil and seditious designs So said they of Jeremiah Jer. 43.2 3. Then spake Azariah and Johanan and all the proud men saying unto Jeremiah Thou speakest falsly The Lord our God hath not sent thee to say Go not into Egypt to sojourn there But Baruch thê son of Neriah setteth thee against us to deliver us into the hand of the Caldeans that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon Do you look upon these Ministers as pestilent fellows movers of sedition ring-leaders of the Sectaries and do you inform against them as such to the Governours So did the Jews look upon the Apostle Paul Act. 24.1.5 6. Tertullus informed the Governour against Paul We found this man a pestilent fellow a mover of sedition among all the Jews through all the world and a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarens who also hath gone about to prophane the Temple Do you look upon these as the troublers of the Nation So did Ahab look upon Elijah 1 Kings 18.17 When Ahab saw Elijah Ahab said unto him Art thou he that troubleth Israel Are they aspersed as though they were enemies to the King So was Elijah represented to Ahab 1 Kings 21.20 Ahab said to Elijah Hast thou found me Oh mine enemy Are they looked upon as none of the King's friends that shew kindness to these men when they fall into their hands Thus the Jews cryed out to Pilat that if he released Christ he would be looked upon as no friend to Caesar Joh. 19.12 From thenceforth Pilat sought to release him but the Jews cryed out If thou let this man go thou art not Caesar's friend Do you think these men are not fit to live in the Nation nor in any other part of the world and that it would do well if they were put to death So the Jews thought and said of the Apostle Paul Act. 22.22 Away with such a fellow from the earth for it is not fit he should live Not to instance in more particulars when you have vilified and reproached these Ministers as much as possibly you can you cannot esteem or speak worse of them than the blessed Apostles were esteemed and spoken of in the world 1 Cor. 4.9 10 11 12. I think God hath set forth us Apostles last as it were appointed unto death For we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men We are fools for Christs sake we are weak despised persecuted defamed We are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scowring of all things unto this day And therefore the reproaches of the world can be no evidence against them that they are not righteous men or true Ministers of Jesus Christ 3. Your revileing and reproachful language that you give these men is so far from excusing your sin in persecuting them that it is a great aggravation of it For reviling language will shut a man out of the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived Nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Revilers are in the Catalogue of those that shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And if any think he may be a reviler and yet go to Heaven he deceiveth himself He that calleth his brother fool is in danger of hell-fire Matt. 5.21 But I say unto you whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of Judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Racha shall be in danger of the Counsel But whosoever shall say Thou fool shall be in danger of hell-fire To call the servants of Christ factious seditious persons is as bad or worse than to call them fools And therefore they that use this opprobrious language are in danger of hell-fire And I may add this further if you would be partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven you must not only your selves forbear to reproach men that fear God but you must not believe nor entertain the reproaches that you hear from others Ps 15.1 Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour 4. It bordereth upon the sin against the Holy Ghost to speak evil of those men out of envy and hatred concerning whom we are perswaded and convinced in our Consciences that they are righteous men Mark 3.28 29 30. Verily I say unto you All sins shall be forgiven unto men and blasphemies wherewith soever they blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation because they said he hath an unclean spirit The occasion of Christ's telling the Scribes that the sin against the Holy Ghost was a sin that should never have forgiveness was this Because they said he had an unclean spirit Whenas they could not but be convinced by his Doctrine and his Works that he was a holy man Hear what Grotius saith upon the place Hâc comminatione usus est Christus quia videbat illos agnoscere intra se vim divinam sed invidiâ odio comminisci calumnias ut plebem averterent atque ita quod Dei erat diabolo ascribere 5. Enquire into the lives and conversations of these men before you pass such hard censures upon them and if you go to the places where they have lived you shall find them well reported of for good Works In the Colledges where they were Students and many of them Fellows you shall find they were sober peaceable of good behaviour trained up Pupils that were committed to their trust carefully and faithfully and have left a good name behind them If you enquire in the places where they exercised their Ministery you shall find they Preached sound Doctrine were of an exemplary conversation lived peaceably with all men had the hearts and affections of their people and in their sufferings have exercised much patience and contentation And what ground then is there for your loading them with reproaches Plea 2. These men are not obedient to authority but meet together to Preach and Pray contrary to the Laws of the Nation and therefore we cannot look upon them as righteous men but we count them rebels and think we ought to do what we can to suppress them We do not persecute them for Praying and