Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	angel_n	earth_n	prayer_n	2,072	5	5.8252	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45549	The hierarchy exalted and its enemies humbled a sermon preached on the first Sunday in Advent, being the 2d day of Decemb. 1660 : after the consecration of the Right Reverend Fathers in God, John, Lord Bishop of Durham, William, Lord Bishop of St. Davids, Benjamin, Lord Bishop of Peterborough, Hugh, Lord Bishop of Landaff, Richard, Lord Bishop of Carlisle, Brian, Lord Bishop of Chester, and John, Lord Bishop of Exceter in the Abby Church of St. Peters Westminister / by Nathanael Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1661 (1661)	Wing H724; ESTC R20456	14,673	34

wonder it being a thing deservedly to be admired that there should be such a change wrought in the enemies of this Angel When God sent Ananias to find out Saul of Tarsus he addeth For behold he prayeth and well is Behold prefixed since it was no less then a wonder to find him penitently praying whom he had known cruelly persecuting The like is the Emphasis of this Behold in the Text it being almost incredible and therefore admirable that such proud enemies should come and worship at the Angels feet Indeed the Behold serveth at once both to strengthen the Angels faith and enlarge his wonder It was not so strange as true and therefore behold and believe though true yet it was very strange and therefore behold and admire 2. Here is a Behold of joy as well as wonder since this happy change was that which could not but glad the Angels heart The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance but much rather when he seeth repentance There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth saith our Saviour Indeed there is joy both in heaven and earth in heaven by the Angels those heavenly Ministers and in earth by the Ministers those earthly Angels And so much the more ought they to rejoyce because they are the instruments by whom this work is wrought The reclaiming of these obstinate adversaries was that which this Angel desired in his prayers endeavoured by his preaching and therefore could not but be exceedingly rejoyced at when it was accomplished And thus I have given you an account of the whole and every part of this Text nothing now remaineth but to bring it home by a particular application to the present occasion Some Interpreters have conceived these seven Churches of Asia as typicall of the Christian Churches which should succeed in severall parts of the world One of our late Writers out of his bitter zeal against this Church of England charging her with lukewarmness in Religion because she is unwilling to recede from the Romish but in what she recedeth from the Catholike Church maketh Laodicea to be her type But when I behold the brotherly love which is begun and I both pray and hope will every day more and more encrease among us I may upon far better ground look upon it as typified by this Church of Philadelphia And what in this Verse was written to the Angel of the Church seemeth at this day to be spoken by our blessed Lord to the severall Angels of our Church There hath been a generation of men among us whom without breach of charity I may justly charge to be of the Synagogue of Satan Indeed they say they are the godly Party and their Conventicles the purest Churches but they are not and do lie Yea their pride and arrogancy bloud and cruelty malice and oppression treason and rebellion proclaim to all the world that they are not Bees but Wasps Lambs but Wolves Doves but Hawks the best of Saints but the worst of sinners and give their verball profession the reall lie By these men the Church of England hath been for many years sorely persecuted her Lands and revenues sacrilegiously alienated her Liturgy and worship causlesly extirpated and her Angels not only of the lower but higher order contemptuously abused But whilest men have hated I may truly say Christ hath loved them and after their grievous afflictions testified his singular affection towards them He hath so loved them as to preserve well nigh a third part of our worthy Prelates alive like so many sheep or Shepheards rather in the midst of Wolves so that they have all attained an old and some a very old age and live to see the Church in an hopefull way of restauration And as he hath preserved some so he hath raised up others of choice abilities and integrity to fill up the vacant Seas What he saith to this Angel in the former Verse he saith to ours at this day Behold I have set before thee an open door for the consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and by them for the Apostolicall ordination of Priests and Deacons and loe on this very day a number of Angels equall to that of those Bishops over the Asian Churches set in the Heaven of our Church What was here promised to the Angel of this Church is through Gods mercy vouchsafed to our Angels Some of those who despised and derided do cordially honour them and humbly worship at their feet as being ashamed of and grieved for those former contumelies which they have cast upon them And even those who continue obstinate are in some measure subdued and will I trust if they can by no fair means be inclined be by just rigour enforced to submit to their government and discipline And whatsoever others do yet we I hope will learn our duty in yielding all due obedience as next under God to our dread Soveraign the Father of our Countrey so next under him to the most Reverend and right Reverend Fathers of our Church I end all with that excellent Exhortation of Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let our people submit to the Priests and Deacons the Deacons to the Priests Priests to the Bishop I adde the Bishops to the King and the King yea all to God so shall this distracted Church and Kingdome be happily re-established to the envy of her enemies and joy of her friends who will not cease to say Amen Amen FINIS Titus 1. 5. Rev. 2. 24. Ambros. in Apoc. Vers. 8. Vers. 10. Gen. 1. Partic. 1. Rom. 2. 28 29. Gal. 3. 7. Ioh. 8. 37. Rom 9. 4. Lactant. Aug. Rev. 2. 9. Partic. 2. Ioh 8. 44. Rev. 12. 10. Ioh. 8. Mat. 7. 15. 12. 34. Plut. Mor. Isa. 57. 1. Gen. 2. Act. 12. 35. Rev. 13. 7. Isa. 42. 24. Io● 19. 11. Acts 4. 27 28. 2 Sam. 16. 10. Interp. 1. Psalm 110. 1. Interp. 2. Isaiah 60. 14. Partic. 1. Aug. Phil. 2. 13. Phil. 2. 13. James 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 3. Ezek. 11. 19. Cant. 1. 4. Verse 8. Partic. 2. 2 Kings 7. 19. Isaiah 11. 6. Isaiah 40. 3. Parti● 3. 1 Cor. 14. 25. Psalm 110. 3. Isaiah 55. 6. Psal. 29. 1 2. Psalm 29. 1 2. Psalm 95. 8. 22. 29. Isaiah 6. 2. 2 Kings 4. 37. Acts 10. 25. Rom. 10. 15. Isaiah 52. 7. Mal. 1. 4. Exod. 20. 12. Luke 10. 40. Luke 5. 8. Job 42. 5. Acts 16. 29. Rom. 12. 2. Partic. 4. Titus 3. 5. Cant. 5. 2. Rev. 2. 1. Psal. 115. 14 15. Luke 10. 16. Matth. 10. 42. Rev. 3. 12. Prov. 16. 7. Act. 9. 6. Psal. 58. 12. Luk. 15. 6. Ignat. Ep. 4. ad Philip.

the Baptist Peter Paul John the Apostles but even Christ himself as elsewhere so here declaiming against these persons with so much acrimony Them that are of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews but are not and do lie From the bitter censure of the enemies pass we on to the sweet promise made to the Angel as it is expatiated in the greatest part of the Verse Behold I will make c. A promise of very great importance and well worthy our most serious attention as being ushered in with an Ecce Behold and that not only mentioned but ingeminated of which what the peculiar Emphasis is will best be reserved to the close of my discourse Though the word Make be twice repeated in our English Translation yet in the Greek the words are different Verbs whereof the one is in the present tense and may be rendred I do give and the other in the future and is fitly rendred I will make The former of these words is sometimes used for as much as to give leavs or permission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated in the Acts Thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption And when it is said of the Beast in the Revelation that it was given to him to make war with the Lamb it meaneth God permitted him In this notion some conceive the word may be here taken I give leave to thy enemies to molest and persecute thee Whatever wicked men act against the Church and her Angels as it is by Satanicall instigation so not without Divine ordination The Devil himself could not vex Job without leave from God much less can his instruments If Jacob be given for a spoil and Israel to the robbers it is the Lord who doth it Thou couldst have no power said Christ to Pilate except it were given thee from above And the people of Israel who gathered together against thy holy Child Jesus did what soever Gods hand and counsell determined before to be done With this meditation David quieted himself when Shimei railed upon him The Lord hath bid him And this I doubt not hath been the consolation of Gods suffering servants among us and especially the Angels of our Churches that in all the persecutions which have befallen them there was Gods hand permitting and appointing or rather appointing to permit it Though this be an usefull truth yet I rather adhere to the generality of Interpeters who refer both the Verbes to that which followeth of worshipping at this Angels feet But then the Question is what this meaneth since it may very well admit of a double notion to wit in reference to a forced or a voluntary subjection In the former sence the Text is so a promise to the Angel that it is a threat against his enemies in the latter it is a promise to both intending the conversion of the enemies as well as the exaltation of the Angel When the Spirit of God would set forth the compleat Victory of Christ over his enemies he maketh use of the similitude of a footstoole The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstoole In like manner by this phrase of worshipping at the Angels feet may very fitly be understood that conquest he should have over those his adversaries so that though against their wills they should submit unto him it being usuall with Conquerours to make their captives lie down at their feet The Church and her Angels are never so low but the divine power can raise them up nor are their enemies at any time so high but that the same power can cast them down Wicked mens presumptuous hopes commonly end in despairing fears they who insolently commanded are ofttimes made shamefully to supplicate and though for a time they are Tyrants riding on the heads yet in the end they become slaves sprawling at the feet of Gods servants But the most received exposition of these words is of a milder notion and understandeth a voluntary subjection in the same sense which that promise to the Church is understood where it is said The sonnes of them that afflicted thee shall come bending to thee to wit of their own accord and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down not be bowed down at the soles of thy feet According to this construction of the words that which is here assured is the happy conversion of these adversaries wherein more plainly observe The Efficacious Agent I will make The notorious Subjects Them that are of the Synagogue of Satan The Evident sign To come and worship at thy feet And The singular effect of this conversion and shall know that I have loved thee 1. The efficacious Agent is expressed and inculcated in these words I will make I will make 1. I who he that is described in the beginning of this Epistle to be holy and true and to have the keys of David who is no other than the eternall Sonne of God The same I who did at first make the beasts and fouls to come unto Adam in acknowledgment of his dominion over them made these brutish enemies of the Angel to come and worship at his feet The same I who shall at the last day make all knees in Heaven in Earth and under the Earth to bow at his name made them to submit to this Angel and bow at his feet Indeed these acts of coming and worshipping were done by them but it was Christ who inclined their wils to these acts Appositely to this purpose St Augustine Certum est nos velle cum velimus sed ille facit ut velimus certum est nos facere cum facimus sed ille facit ut facimus it is we that will and do but it is he maketh us or according to St Pauls language Worketh in us to will and to do what is good 2. I give so the first Verb is most properly rendred and noteth the freenesse of Christs grace in the work of Conversion without any desert of ours Indeed Quibus datur ex gratuitâ gratiâ datur quibus denegatur justo negatur judicio to whom it is denied it is denied justly and to whom it is given it is given freely none but Christ could effect this work and he worketh it saith St Paul of his good pleasure St James of his own good will Saint Peter according to his abundant mercy and here his own language is I give 3. I will make so the latter Verb is rightly translated and as the former noteth the gratuity so this the efficacy of the grace of Christ. When a sinner is converted the promise is made good I will take away the stony heart and when the actuall stubbornesse and resistance of the will is taken away no wonder if conversion be effectually wrought Indeed this efficacy is such as doth not infringe the natural liberty of the will by putting