Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	earth_n	good_a	lord_n	9,702	5	3.6330	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70158	Gods eye on His Israel, or, A passage of Balaam, out of Numb. 23, 21 containing matter very seasonable and suitable to the times : expounded and cleared from antinomian abuse, with application to the present estate of things with us / by Tho. Gataker ...	Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654.	1645 (1645)	Wing G321; ESTC R7798	128,608	144

plotted or attempted and practised against him that God can endure to s● And this leadeth me on to the fourth question to wit what sight or manner of seeing it is that Balaam here speaks of There is therefore a twofold sight as with man so with God to speak of him as humane capacity is able to conceive the things of God and to utter them in such language as our infirmity will affoard There is first a vision or sight of simple contemplation or consideration whereby God vieweth and taketh notice of all things in the world and among the rest of all men and of all mens actions good and bad For tho God dwell on high yet he stoopeth so low as to behold and take notice of the things that are and are done not in heaven onely but on earth also He beholds the ends of the earth and seeth all that is under any part of heaven And there is an eye of God in every place beholding both the good and the bad For the Lord looks down from heaven and beholds all the sonnes of men from his dwelling place he viewes all that dwell on the earth and as he framed alike the souls of each of them as well of one as of another so he considereth all their works His eyes are upon all the wayes of men and he vieweth all their goings he seeth every step they take and there is no darknesse nor deadly shade wherein wrong-doers can be sheltered and concealed from his sight Of such a sight therefore the words of seeing and beholding here cannot be understood For thus he seeth wickednesse or wrong and considereth it too saith Eliphaz and he beholdeth mischief or grievance and spite saith the Psalmist And that then especially when it is done to those that are more peculiarly his I have seeing seen I have certainly considerately wistfully seen the affliction of my people saith God to Moses when they suffered so much in Egypt and as he seeth it so he taketh notice of it and taketh it to heart If thou seest saith Salomon oppression of the poore and violent perverting of judgement and justice in a Province marvell not at the matter be not troubled so much about it as if there were no redresse for it for he that is higher then the highest of observeth it to wit God by Job styled the observer of men and there be higher then they who therefore both can and will call them to account 2. There is a vision of comprobation and complacency wherewith God is said so to see things that withall he approveth and liketh well of them Thus saith God to Noah Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation when looking upon the whole world besides he saw it all corrupt and full of wickednesse and I have seen thy tears saith God to Ezekiah I have beheld them with acceptation and I will look unto him that is poor or lowly and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my word to approve his person and accept his service So on the other side in the Lamentations of Ieremy For one to crush prisoners under his feet to turn aside or overthrow a mans right before the face of the most high and to subvert a man in his cause the Lord seeth it not that is the Lord approves not of it tho some reading the words by way of interrogation understand it rather as spoken in the former fense and of the former sight Doth not God see it But so without all question in a place parallel to this where the Prophet as he complaineth to God that he had made him to see wrong and as the words are almost generally rendred caused him to behold grievance the very tearms by Balaam here used in the former sense So he affirmeth of God that he is of purer eyes then to see evill and that he cannot behold or look on vexation or grievance that is he is one that cannot endure to see or behold it but with detestation and dislike and by way of expostulation therefore he demandeth of him why he himself beholdeth grievance for so indeed the words would be read and some render them aright and doest thou or wilt thou behold grievance or while thou thy self beholdest the grievances that the godly sustain at the hands of the wicked as they elsewhere we have been afflicted so and so in thy sight and again as Ester sometime to Assuerus How can I endure to see the evill of my people and the destruction of my kindred so how he can endure to look on as if he liked well enough of it or did not greatly mislike it and be silent as if he were deafe hold his peace and say nothing while the wicked devoureth him that is more righteous then himself and make or suffer men to be as the fish of the sea that are without ruler and live without rule where the greater preyeth upon and swalloweth down the lesser as the most Interpreters expound that place or as some other and make men to be as the fish of the Sea whom who will may catch without controle and as the creeping things as worms that crawl on the ground which men kill at pleasure because they have no governour either to order them or to protect them against the violence of others not fish or creeping things of their own kind so much as either men in generall the one or fishermen more especially the other who d●aw up whatsoever commeth to hand with the hooke and sweep all away hand over head with their net as in the next words whereto such tyrans and oppressors of Gods people are compared the Prophet explaining himself doth complain Now as in that passage of the Prophet it is said of God that he cannot endure to see evill and behold grievance so in the wisards speech here the like is said of him concerning wrong and grievance done to his people and the words may be rendred either in the time past he hath not seen wrong nor beheld grievance done to his people by any adversary hitherto but hath righted and revenged it witnesse his judgements executed on Pharao and the Egyptians for their cruell oppression hard usage and malicious pursuit of them and that sad severe and irrevokable sentence passed upon the Amalekites for their molesting of them in their passage Or in the time to come for the tenses in the originall are oft promiscuously used he will not see any wrong done to Iacob or grievance done to Israel as we use to say I will not see such an one wronged when our meaning is that we will not endure it but will either protect and secure them against it or be revenged on those that shall either attempt it or doe it Or in the time present but as in a potentiall form which in either tense is not unusuall He cannot endure to behold wrong offered to Iacob nor to see grievance done to Israel Or putting all together as all closely

they so and so in thy sight My people saith he are oppressed and my name is blasphemed and My holy name was prophaned by the Nations among whom my people was dispersed in that they said of them These are Gods people and yet are gone out of his land And indeed in sundry respects doth the honour of God suffer in such cases 1. In regard of his power as if he were not able to protect or deliver his I had said saith God of this people when having brought them out of Egypt they proved disobedient and rebellious that I would poure out my fury upon them for their rebellious courses and destroy them utterly in the wildernesse and I had so done but that I had respect to my Name that it might not be polluted before the Heathen in whose sight I brought them out And when the hoast of Israel had received a repulse before Ai Oh Lord saith Joshua in his complaint of it to God what shall I say when Israel turneth the back before his enemies For when the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it they will beset us on every side and cut us clean off and what wilt thou doe to thy great name what will become of thine honour how much will it be impaired thereby and how will it be again repaired And if it be demanded in what regard Gods name would have been so polluted and his honour so blemished either in the one case or in the other Moses will enform us where pleading with God in the behalf of his people when he threatned to destroy them They will say saith he that therefore thou slewest them in the wildernesse because thou wast not able to bring them into that land which thou hadst sworn to bestow upon them and the like would they have said had he suffered them to be destroyed by the inhabitants of the land To which effect also was that taunting speech of those other Nations among whom in the time of their captivity they were scattered wherein God himself professeth that his name was prophaned These are his people and yet gone out of his land as if God had not been able to keep them in it albeit he had given them possession of it because he suffered them to be dispossest of it again And you know well who it was that said to those the Lords three stout champions What God is able to deliver you out of my hand as being prone to presume that it must needs be for want of power on Gods part if they were not delivered who had hazarded their lives in this cause 2. Gods name suffreth in such ease in regard of his purity and holinesse as if he were a God that liked well enough of iniquity at least misliked not such wicked courses These things saith he thou diddest and because I held my peace and held my hand for Gods silence there as elsewhere is no other then his forbearing either to stay their hand and restrain their rage and riot or by his revenging hand to make them know how he stands affected therewith thou thoughtest that I was like unto thee thou supposedst me to be such another as thy selfe Yea they stick not to say when they scape scotfree and thrive with their sinfull courses that any one that doth evill is good in Gods eyes is accepted with God and that he delighteth in such he liketh well enough of them or where is the God of judgement he would else execute judgement upon them and thereby manifest himself to be otherwise minded 3. In regard of his providence as if he did not see or regard and take notice what is done here on earth They break thy people in pieces O Lord and make havock of thine heritage they slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherlesse such as God hath more specially taken into his protection and are as sanctuary persons and when they so doe because they are suffered to doe so they say The Lord seeth it not the God of Jacob regards it not God is aloft in the heavens that are far higher then the stars and much more then above the clouds and how can he then discry and discern through the dark passage that lieth between us and him what is done by men here below the thick clouds so hide him that he cannot see them while he walkes his round in heaven 4. In regard of his justice as if he would never call them to any account for that which he did not reckon with them for at the present While thou Lord saith the Psalmist standest aloof of and doest not shew forth but hidest thy self in these troublesome times the wicked doth with insolencie eagerly pursue the oppressed and what by privy plotting what by open violence makes a prey and a spoil of them and he saith in his heart he thinks the whiles with himself that God hath forgotten he thinketh not on the poor whom he so oppresseth he hideth his face from them as they complain that he doth he will never see or look after them much lesse call him to account for ought that he doth to them For so it followeth in the Psalm Arise O Lord to relieve the oppressed lift up thine hand to smite their oppressors forget not the afflicted tho men suppose thou so doest For why should the wicked man reproach God while he saith in his heart that thou wilt not require it Thus doth God suffer in his name by his suffrance of such at whose hands his people suffer and how can it be then that being so jealous of his honour as he is he should endure to see that but with much detestation and dislike whereby his honour is so much and so many wayes either imp●ached or impaired 3. God is a faithfull God faithfull and true in his promises to his faithfull and firm in his affection towards them I have loved you saith the Lord to his people tho they ungratiously and ungratefully yea shamefully or shamelesly rather demand of him wherein he had loved them that is shewed any love to them when as yet in truth he had so beset them with the fruits of his love so environed them on every side with the effects of it that which way soever they should turn themselves they could no sooner draw their eye-lids asunder but great variety of such objects would offer themselves to their eye-sight as might be evident arguments of his love to them more then ordinary And this love of God to his is no fickle but a constant love whom he loves once he loves ever His that he loved saith the Evangelist he loved to the last and I have loved thee saith God by the Prophet to his people with a love ever-lasting Now those that love entirely cannot endure to see the least wrong done to those whom so entirely they affect and much lesse God 〈◊〉 those whom so entirely so constantly he loveth How was he displeased with Aaron

us And indeed we cannot expect that he should have such an eye constantly on us unlesse we have our eye constantly also on him I have observed saith David the wayes of the Lord and have not wickedly gone aside from my God for all his commandements were before me nor did I put any of his statutes away from me He seems to allude to the Israelites journeying through the wildernesse where they were to follow the conduct of the Ark and of the cloud to observe which way God led them by either of those and that way to go tho it seemed never so farre about in regard of the land that they were bound to so did David and so must we do in our passage through the wildernesse of this world if we desire to passe in safety under Gods protection our eye must be on Gods conduct observe which way he directs us by the pillar of his word by the light of his law tho he seem to carry us far about in regard of those ends and aims that we propound to our selves and desire to attaine ento For as it was with them they were safe while they followed the cloud and the Ark but when they left either of them going out of Gods protection they fell foul on the Amorites and were beaten down by them so must we expect that it will fare likewise with us So long as we follow the directions of Gods word that should be the cynosura and load-star of all our designes we are sure to tread safely we may be confident of successe But if we shall offer to step aside out of the rode way that it leadeth us in and betake our selves to other by-paths by indirect courses seeking to compasse our ends and to bring things about we shall misse of our aim fail of obtaining our ends and while we go out of Gods protection by declining his conduct expose to peril of miscarrying both our selves and the affairs whereabout we are employed Again we must have an eye as on God so unto God as to him and his conduct so to him for his safe-conduct his safegard if we desire that he should have such an eye unto us Mine eyes are continually upon the Lord saith David And unto thee say Gods people do we lift up our eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens as the eyes of a servant are to the hands of his master and the eyes of an hand-maid to the hands of her mistresse so are our eyes unto the Lord till he have mercy on us we must have our eye constantly fift up unto him if we will have his eye constan●ly cast down upon us For tho he professe promise to have such a tender eye over his yet doth he look to be sued and sought unto for the same by us Yet for all these things saith he which I have promised to do for them will I be sought to by the house of Israel where tho the main scope of the place be to intimate that there should be a constant repairing of Gods people again to Gods Temple there to preferre their petitions unto him as in former times before the captivity they had done yet withall it is implied that God expected from time to time to be petitioned for the performance of his promises God must therefore be sought to yea and constantly sought to if we desire to have his eye constantly on us in that manner as he is here said to have had on that people The case of them in their conflict with Amaleck will shew it Tho God could not but with dislike yea with deep detestation behold Amaleks base and injurious attempt against them and by a solemn oath engaged himself to be avenged on him for it yet no longer then Moses held up his hands in prayer did Israel in sight prevail against Amalek When our eyes grow weary of looking up unto God no marvell if Gods eye grow heavy in looking after us Our slumbring in this kind may make him also to slumber who tho he can neither slumber nor sleep yet upon our neglect of him seems many times to sleep and tho he be sometime awaked with the very noise and outrage of the adversary yet he would rather be awaked with the cries and clamor of his people Give me leave to adde an use of application hereof to our selves What Balaam a voweth here of Jacob and Israel that then was hath been abundantly verified of Gods Israel among us God hath not endured to see wrong done us nor grievance attempted against us but hath from time to time in much mercy protected us and executed judgement on those that have but attempted to wrong us How many plots and practises of the popish faction in Queen Elizabeths reigne in King Iames his time in our Soveraigns daies that now is have been discovered defeated and returned on the heads of those that were either plotters of them or imployed in them And whereunto can we ascribe these so many and manifold defeats of them and deliveries of our selves but to that good eye of our gracious God that was upon us for our good that pitifull eye of his that could not endure to see that spoil made of his people with us that must needs have ensued had those plots and practises taken effect What was it else to omit all other deliverances of a lower alloy that dispersed that invincible Armado as they tearmed and esteemed it whereby they made full account to have made an utter riddance of us and gave them up to the mercy of the winds and waves that in mercilesse manner intended to have preyed upon us wrecked them that would have wrecked their rage and cruelty upon us and swallowing them up quick buried them in the bowels of the deep that were fully bent in their implacable fury to have swallowed up the whole body of Gods people with us Well may we sing and say with Israel of old If the Lord had not been with us and stood by us when these men rose up against us then had they in the fiercenesse of their wrath against us swallowed us up or down quick then had the waters overflown us and the stream overwhelmed our souls the swelling waters had overwhelmed our souls had utterly drowned us and destroyed us but blessed be God who gave us not as a prey unto their teeth Or what else was it that brought to light and by discovery frustrated that devilish design of the Powder plot so cunningly contrived and so covertly carried that it was by the authors of it and agents in it deemed a thing impossible that it should by any means miscarry or fail of its intended effect as wel here might we say with that other Psalmist Vnlesse the Lord had kept the City the watc●man yea or watchmen had they been never so many or so mighty had waked but in vain For surely had not the all seeing eye of Israels keeper who never slumbreth nor sleepeth watched over