Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	church_n	earth_n	power_n	8,852	5	5.0914	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49314	A discourse concerning the nature of man both in his natural and political capacity, both as he is a rational creature and member of a civil society : with an examination of Mr. Hobbs's opinions relating hereunto / by Ja. Lowde ...	Lowde, James.	1694 (1694)	Wing L3299; ESTC R36487	110,040	272

that notion which he hath fram'd of a Kingdom as to its first Constitution which must be by conferring Rights by mutual Compacts and Covenants being an acquisition of power over their Subjects by their own consent Now he fancies though without any good grounds that the People of the Iews under Abraham and Moses were such a Kingdom wherein the People did transfer their Rights and did mutually Covenant with God for the Constitution of a Kingdom according to his own Notion whereas indeed there was no more drawing of Articles whereby God did acquire any more new right over them then than there is now under the New Testament 2. Supposing that this formal transferring of rights was necessary to the constituting of a Kingdom amongst Men yet it will not follow hence that God too must acquire his right of Government the same way for certainly God's right of Commanding doth not depend upon the Peoples Choice and willingness to obey 3. Though Christians do not go about to chuse God their Soveraign as they do a King in Elective Kingdoms by majority of Votes yet their very taking upon them the profession of Christianity and expecting Salvation upon its own terms doth imply a tacitCompact Thus the New Testament is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Covenant too So that the Church on Earth may as properly be call'd the Kingdom of Christ now as the People of the Iews the Kingdom of God then and Mr. Hobs himself tells us Ch. 31. Levi. that to reign in the proper acceptation of the word is to rule by commanding threatning and promising Now why may not Christ be now said properly to rule by his word and laws that is by commanding threatning and promising But let us examine the reasons why the Church upon Earth cannot be call'd the Kingdom of Christ All that is there offer'd is Errori huic quod Ecclesia qu. e nunc est in terris c. Here he calls it an errour supposing that he had prov'd it so in his 35 Ch. Where he purposely insists upon this Argument There he tells us that the Kingdom of God by Divines is sometimes taken for that Eternal Happiness which the Blessed shall enjoy in the Kingdom of Glory Sometimes it is taken for the Kingdom of Grace here on Earth But here he doth not prove which he ought to have done that these are false and improper Interpretations of the word or inconsistent with the true sense of those places where the Divines so interpret them only he says contra in Scripturis Sacris invenio regnum Dei ubique fere significare regnum proprtè dictum c. Now this one word fere almost doth quite invalidate the force of all his Argument for granting that the Kingdom of God is sometimes taken in that sense of his before-mention'd which yet will be very hard for him to prove yet if there be other places wherein that word occurs which cannot so be interpreted then that is not the necessary and constant sense and meaning of it I shall here briefly examine those places of Scripture which he draws rather than leads to the confirming his own Notion Gen. 17. 7. And I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee Here he says Abraham promis'd to obey God for himself and his Posterity but indeed he doth not mention one word to any such purpose so that there was no transferring of rights no inducing obligations per verba in praesenti but all the reason that Mr. Hobbs had to cite this place in favour of his Opinion seems only this because there is mention made of a Covenant and he supposes all Covenants must be made according to his own Model but I might as well cite Ier. 31. 31. where God promises to make a new Covenant with the House of Israel after those days c. Which is to be understood of the coming of the Messias in the Flesh to prove a Kingdom of God properly so call'd now under the Gospel as this of Gen. is cited to prove it then Another place is Exod. 19. 5. If ye will hear my Voice and keep my Covenant ye shall be to me a peculiar people c. these are the words that thou shalt speak to the People And Moses call'd the Elders of the People and laid before their Faces all these words which the Lord commanded him and all the People answered together and said All that the Lord hath spoken we will do Here God seems to require the consent of the People for the ratifying of his Covenant To this I Answer 1. That these and such like Covenants though they have so much of the nature of a Compact as that the Blessings therein promis'd are conditional and to be obtain'd only by the performance of the Conditions yet upon the whole they seem rather conferring of benefits than severe stipulations so that the conditions being propos'd no one that hath the use of reason will refuse to comply with ' em 2. Though God commanded Moses to declare his Covenant to his People yet it cannot be suppos'd that the obligation did depend merely upon their acceptance for God had right to command what he there requir'd though he had not join'd to the observance of his Laws such particular Rewards 3. God might have particular Reasons to deal in this more sensible manner with the Iews in complyance with their imperfections out of tenderness of affection to 'em to let 'em see that he requir'd their own consent to what he enjoin'd 'em hereby to lay a great sense of obligation upon 'em because if they now rebell'd they would not only break their natural Laws of duty to him as God but also violate their own Promises Consequent upon this errour that the Church now on Earth is the Kingdom of Christ and that there ought to be one Man or a Company of Men by whom our Saviour now in Heaven speaks to Men on Earth consequent to this it is that the Pope challenges an Universal Power c. That which I here first observe is his artificial sliding of these two Propositions together viz. That the Church on Earth is the Kingdom of Christ and that there ought to be one Man or one Company of Men which should rule the same as universal head under him hereby to impose upon the unwary Roader as if they were Propositions altogether of the same import whereas the one is only a false consequence drawn from the other but it is no unusual Artifice with Mr Hobbs to charge false Inferences upon true Principles thus if possible to disparage what he is not able otherwise solidly to disprove but by the same way of arguing he may prove that there is no God from those Superstitious and Idolatrous Practices which are accidentally consequent upon and occasion'd by the belief of a Deity for if there were no