Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A34747
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The nail & the wheel the nail fastned by a hand from heaven, the wheel turned by a voyce from the throne of glory / both described in two severall sermons in the Green-yard at Norwich by John Carter, pastor of Great St. Peters.
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Carter, John, d. 1655.
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1647
(1647)
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Wing C654A; ESTC R34786
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76,219
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107
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The Nail the VVheel THE NAIL FASTNED by a Hand from Heaven THE WHEEL TVRNED by a Voyce from the Throne of Glory Both Described in two severall SERMONS In the Green-yard at NORWICH By JOHN CARTER Pastor of Great St. PETERS LONDON Printed by J. Macock for M. Spark and are to be sold by WILLIAM FRANKLIN at his shop in the Market-place in Norwich 1647. TO the glory of her Sex The Right Honorable both by the first and second Birth the worthy and most religious Lady the Lady FRANCES HOBARTE MADAM YOur Honor knows I have ever been afraid of the Press hitherto I have stood out against all importunity and I was peremptorily resolved never to have published any thing in Print but now I am inforced whether I wil or no to send abroad these two smal pieces And since they must out I humbly present them to your Ladyship Not for any worth that is in them Not for your Honors protection of them let them go forth at their own peril nor yet for the subjects sake the matter of them in the general not so directly and properly complying with your Ladyships condition they are rather for the instruction of Magistrates But I dedicate them to your Honor because they are your due Whatever I can perform in the service of God and more by far then ever I am able to do low to the gracious Lady Frances To say truth your Honor called for them and here they are take them with favorable acceptation Something your Ladyship wil meet withal in both Sermons appliable and useful in regard of your self The NAIL I mean the good Nail wil give your Honor a fresh sight of that Noble Gentleman worthy Sir JOHN HOBARTE your Honors lately deceased husband He was a gallant Nail by the grace of God wel filed from all rust and ruggedness He was a bright Nail as burnished gold shining more and more every day he lived that I can testifie to the comfort of my soul by a godly conversation He was a great and a strong Nail His abilities were beyond the common pitch He had a good head for wisdom and understanding He had a good heart Faithful and zealous he was for God for Religion for his Country for our Solemn Covenant He was a fixed Nail not only in the Capitol but also in the Sanctuary his care and painful endeavors were layd out not only for the Common-wealth but for the Church also yea he himself was a little suncturary to the faithful Manisters of Jesus Christ He was a stout Nail steeled with Christian resolution and courage not counting his life dear if he might have sacrificed it as partly he did for the Kingdoms peace his Countries safety and the Churches settlement He was a Nail on which the Welfare and prosperity of our Sion did much depend And for our sins God hath plucked out this useful Nail We see this great Nail turned into a little Wheel and he is now rolled into the House appointed for all the living I wil not tel the world of your Ladiships immoderate sorrow and how you sit disconsolate sighing sobbing and mourning like a faithful Turtle bereaved of her mate I wil rather guide my speech to your Honor and direct your eye to the Wheel Worthy Sir John Hobarte he was a stately Wheel he moved bravely in his time and did much of Gods work with all alacrity yea he counted that life worse then death when his motion was any whit stopped by infirmity of body so as he could not be active in the Publick service as he desired This Voluble and swift Wheel is now broken at the Cistern and your heart Madam was almost broken too Oh! I beseech your Honor look up to the throne of glory it is the voice of the Lord hath turned the Wheel He hath spokâ—n and hath done it Submit Submit with humility patience cheerfulness Rejoyce rather what a world of comforts may your Ladiship have in your loss He did worthily in his life he dyed religiously I saw him draw his last breath but so much Majesty and peace in a dying countenance I never saw A stranger would have thought he had been only in some sweet-contenting sleep or tasting the heavenly joys What an Honorable name hath he left behind him Is it not as an oyntment powred forth even as the fragrant spikenard The Nail is pulled out of this lower wall but it is not lost it 's only advanced and set up higher He is fastned in the wall of the New Jerusalem he shines and ever shal shine bright in glory And we all ere long shal roul after him and then shal your Ladyship enjoy a better Communion with your husband then ever Be content to waite is it not a little while I intended a very short Epistle but my pen begins to be free and eager of its way I can hardly hold it in it would fain be dropping out something of your honors goodness I wel know how little your Honor affects the praise of men your praise is in the Gospel and your Ladiship wel knows how much I abhorr base flattery And God he knows my design is not to make you proud by speaking your vertues to your face but only this I would most gladly take occasion to publish something to the world of those eminent Graces which the Lord hath wrought in your Honor by his holy spirit that your Ladiships example may be propounded as a pattern to all Chrâ—stian women which they may ever look upon and follow Elect Lady I could tel them how I have ever found you walking in the truth even in the most perilous and seducing times with what obedience you have always heard the word resigning up your wil to Gods Command How your deportment was to your Noble yoke-fellow the heart of your husband did safely trust in you All that were but lookers on did see tâ—e entireness of your heart the intention of your love your loyalty and faithfulness joyned with all diligence and care You made in your study and work to do him good in regard of his body in regard of his estate but especially and above all in regard of his soul I could take occasion by this my dedication to tel the world That even whilest you are on earth your conversation is in heaven I can truly testify that your Ladiship is a widow indeed continuing in fasting and prayer and reading and meditation and that this is your work night and day in the temple in your closet in your family That 's remarkable in your family you observe Davids houres Every morning every noon and every night you have prayer Scripture read and expounded and that by an able and a called Minister of the Gospel besides repetitions of Sermons singing of Psalms and constant Catechising a most necessary work the Noble Olive-plant your precious daughter answering with the first with all readyness and cheerfulness to her immortal honor I confess hearing the
the Psalmist O my God! of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands They shal perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shal wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shal be changed But thou art the same and thy years shal have no end The earth is round like a tennis-ball and the creatures in and upon the earth are voluble as wheels and all things under the Zodiaque Variable and transitory the refore aspire higher Pant after God make him the portion of your inheritance and dwel in him Say unto the Lord Fecisti nos Domine ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec quiescat in te Thou Oh Lord hast created us to thy self and our heart is restless til it rests in thy self Fix not here but mount your thoughts upwards towards the new-Jerusalem the City that hath foundations where there is no volubility nor vanity Though you be on earth yet dwel in heaven above the spheres above the way of the year and the sun and all these lower turning wheels Rest your souls upon the unchangeable God! I have done with the 2. part and particular The third and last part of the text follows viz. the witness in whose presence the word was cryed In my hearing The question is why should the son of God cry this word O Wheel in the Prophets hearing For the more ful answer to this demand I wil first give you the Original Hebrew that wil make the business something more clear It was cryed unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in auribus meis in mine eare To speak in ones eare is more then to speak in ones hearing A word may be spoken in a mans hearing that concerns him not at all but no man directs his speech into the eare of another but we conclude presently it was a speech of some special concernment to him that was rounded in the eare You know it 's our common expression I wil speak a thing in your eare by and by that is some word that more neerly concerns you then others So then this word was not only spoken in Ezekiels hearing but the Prophet was neerly concerned in it And now in a word I wil shew you the reason why God spake this word in the prophets eare You have the reason chapt 3. v. 17. Son of man I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me The Observation is clear What God speaks in the eare of his prophets the prophets must speak in the eares of the people Most likely God did not speak immediatly to the wheels but God spake to the Prophet that he might speak to the wheels in Gods name and every word which Gods messengers receive from the Lord they must shew it unto the people clearly and faithfully Whether it be a word of command the Prophet must shew the whole wil of God unto the people So Exod. 19. 9. when God gave the Commandments on mount Sinai the Lord said unto Moses Lo I come to thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with thee and beleeve thee for ever Or if it be a word of promise of grace and mercy the Prophet of the Lord must prononnce the favour and good wil of God Ezek. 9. 4. The Lord said to the man clothed with linnen go through the midst of the City even of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof and in the first verse this was cryed in mine eares with a loud voice saith the Prophet why That he might comfort the mourners with these words Or if it be a word of reproof and threatning of cursing from mount Ebal the Prophet of the Lord must denounce it unto the people in the 9. of Ezek. v. 5. The Lord said to the executioners of his justice and wrath who had the slaughter-weapons in their hands go through the City and smite let not your eye spare neither pity and says the Prophet this was said in my hearing why that so he might warn the people And this chiefly is intended in this text and Chapter a word of reproof and threatning to Jerusalem The vision concerns Jerusalem Jerusalem had sinned grievously and the Lord was now about to depart from Jerusalem but before he goeth quite away he cryeth aloud in the Prophets hearing O Wheel thou movest disorderly destruction is coming upon thee and now the Prophet hearing this must reprove the City and admonish them of their danger Cry aloud says the Lord spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Esa 58. 1. The Lord cryed in the eare of Elijah the Tishbite 1. King 21. 17. it was a word of threatning and the Prophet went immediatly and thundred it in the eares of King Ahab Thus saith the Lord hast thou killed and also gotten possession Thus saith the Lord in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shal dogs lick even thy blood also The Lord speaks in the eare of Nathan and he thunders in the eares of David 2 Sam. 12. The Prophets of the Lord must cry boldly to the greatest and most dreadful wheels they must reprove and threaten and not spare if the Lord speak in our hearing we must cry it in their ears To make some application of this And first of all to you that are Gods Prophets and Ministers be faithful and bold Doth God cry any word in your hearing Keep it not back from the wheels shew it unto the people That which the Lord hath set down in the holy Scriptures he hath spoken in our hearing He takes us as witnesses to what he speaks and we must depose and testify for God before all men before all the world When God gives a word of command in our hearing we must exhort when God holds forth a promise in our hearing we must comfort and when God hath a controversy with a people in our hearing we must rebuke sharply and shew the people their danger Opposition we must look for Behold I send thee saith the Lord to Ezekiel and to us also as wel as to him I send thee to a rebellious nation they wil not hear I send thee among briers and thornes and scorpions But whether they wil hear or whether they wil forbear Son of man be not afraid of them neither he afraid of their words neither be dismayed at their looks Thou shalt speak my words to them whether they wil hear or whether they wil forbear Behold I have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their foreheads Chap. 3. 8. 9. As an Adamant harder then flint have I made