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	see_v	world_n	12,890	5	4.5277	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04618	The mysterie of Christes natiuitie A sermon preached in the parish church of All-Saints in Dorchester, within the countie of Dorset, the 25. day of December 1613. being Christmas Daye. By William Iones, Master of Arts, and preacher of Gods Word.	Jones, William, b. 1581 or 2.	1614 (1614)	STC 14739.2; ESTC S107860	16,531	38

one of the Sybils whether there were any where a greater person then himselfe saw in the Sunne a Virgin giuing an Infant sucke to whom afterwards hee dedicated an Altar and called it Aram Coeli the Altar of Heauen And thus yee see it proued that it was the fulnesse of time when he that as S. Ioh. saith full of grace truth was borne amongst vs. The Iewes expect yet a Messtas to come denying Iesus whom wee beleeue on to bee the Worlds Sauiour And the Turkes dare to compare him with their Mahomet But this doctrine of the fulnesse of time wherein Christ was born doth most plainly and forcibly confute them For sith all the promises and mercies of God sith the prophesies figures and desires of our famous forefathers and manie admirable Miracles met in the time of Christs Natiuitie and that neuer Mahomet had the like nor any Creature can haue the like wee are fully to bee resolued by this fulnesse of time the true Messtas to bee borne I could spend more time in discoursing vpon this time but that greater matters viz. The causes of Christs birth doe now offer themselues vnto mee in these wordes God sent his sonne Where the Efficient cause is God the formall cause his sending and the materiall cause his Sonne Christ himselfe God sent Who the Father the Sonne or the Holy Ghost Surely all three of them For know that opera a Trinitatis sunt in-diuisa and vnlesse in personall respects euermore in Essentiall actions what one doth they all doe as now in this worke of Christs birth the whole Trinitie shewed their industrie The Father sent mee saith Christ Ioh. 13. 20. Here the Father labours I went out from the Father and came into the World Here is the labour of the Sonne The Holy Ghost shall come vpon thee quoth the Angell Gabriel to the blessed Virgin when she was to conceiue Christ this is the labour of the Holy Ghost Thus the three persons being one GOD had each of them their action in CHRISTS Incarnation and that most fitly sith it being a worke of great power Wisdome and goodnes it was requisite that the Father with his power the Sonne with his Wisedome and the Holie Ghost with his Goodnesse should accomplish it What more powerfull a thing then to joyne two such extreamely distant Natures as the Creatour and the Creature together It is GODS especiall power in compound bodies to joyne the foure Elements together it is greater power to joyne our bodie to our created spirits that is to say our soules But to joyne all these to the increated spirit God this is a might aboue all measure Againe what more wise thing then that to the perfection and complement of the whole the beginning and the end of a worke should hang together And now note this mysterie The Word was the beginning of the VVorld for by it GOD made the World and Adam was the last Creature of the VVorld The Word then becomming Man the first and the last that is to say GOD and man were vnited together Againe what greater goodnesse can bee then that the Creatour should communicate himselfe to the Creatures It is his great kindnesse that God giues himselfe to his Creatures by his essence presence and power it is his greater kindnes that he giues himselfe to good men by his grace but that hee should giue himselfe to our nature by Vnion with it that is to say by assuming our Humanitic into his Diuinitie this surmounts all fauour that may bee said or thought vpon Thus I say the Fathers power the Sonnes wisdome and the Holy Ghosts goodnesse were all Actors in clothing Christ with our flesh To the doing whereof what moued them our merits no Brethren but their mercies according to that of Ioh. 3. God soloued the World that he sent his sonne c. Loue is manifested three wayes Dono passione opere in giuing suffering and working The Father shewed his loue when he gaue vs his Sonne the Sonne shewed his loue when hee suffered Death for our sinnes and the Holy Ghost shewes his loue in setting vs forward in good workes Thus the manifestation of the blessed Trinities power wisdome goodnesse and mercie are as it were the foure wheeles vpon which the Charriot of Gods prouidence brought Christ into this world Who came as sent God sent sayth my text Heere is a doubt worthie to be discust Christ was neuer separated from God his Father For when Saint Iohn saw him vpon earth hee yet acknowledged him to bee in the bosome of his Father secundum id 1. cap. vnigenitus quie st in sinis patris c. as also that hee was in Heauen secundumid tertio capite nemo ascendit c. qui est in coelo yea that hee was in the world before his birth sith hee made the World as it is cap. 1. and how then may it be said that God sent him when hee neuer went from him An Interpretation shall make euident all this Missio saith Thomas Aquinas commenting vpon this place fuit assumptio Carnis non depositio maiestatis Christ left not to bee God when hee became man but tooke more vnto his Godhead when hee became man viz. our Humanitie into his Diuinitie that through our visible nature assumed he might acquaint vs with his inuisible excelencies which els could neuer haue beene known of vs. As the Sun shining in his perfit brightnes can not be looked vpon but in a Cloud or mist hauing his beames refracted may bee beheld so God in his infinite and incomprehensible essence being considered of vs cannot be knowne of vs for he is too powerful an object for our weake vnderstanding but in our Nature by his sonne assumed hauing his glorie and Majestie contracted wee may take a full view of him And thus Christ his incarnating is his proper sending But why sent God his sonne the second person in Trinitie Wherefore had not the Father and the Holy Ghost come to be man aswel as the Sonne Brethren this is a high point in Diuinitie requiring judiciall and attentiue eares which if yee lend mee thus then I resolue yee Truely there wanted no power in any of those persons to performe this for they are all Omnipotent and able to doe what soeuer pleaseth them But yet why the sonne did it rather then the rest great reasons are to bee alleaged First It was meete that by what instruments God made the World by the same he should repaire the World But God by his sonne made the World as it is Heb. 1. and therfore as it is 2. Cor. 5. well was God in Christ by whom hee reconciled the World Secondly It was fit that hee who was the sonne in the Diuinitie should also bee the sonne in Humanitie least if the Father or the Holy Ghost had bin the sonnes of men they had then beene temporall sonnes to the Eternall sonne Thirdly the Father is of himselfe

from Sun to Sun but of the naturall day that containes the space of foure and twentie houres Thus in the time of darknesse was hee borne that came to dissolue the power of darknesse shining in darknesse when the darknesse could not comprehend him Nox is so called a nocendo because if men then walke without light they may easily hurt themselues and now as a Physition in the best opportunitie came the great helper in the time of hurting to shew that hee was strōger then the deuil Christ vāquished the deuil in his own time the Prince of the night in the night Farther touching the houre if we may beleue Cardanus that great Physition Astronomer it was about tenne of the clock and fifteene minutes For he in his Comment vpon Ptolemies quadripartite treating Christs Natiuitie makes the eleuenth degree of Virgo to ascend in prima domo which could not bee but at that time The Fathers write that hee was borne at midnight as Hierom and Bernard which of these opinions is truest I will not decide Mysteries there are in both of them If Cardan say true then it fitly fell out that the Sonne of a Virgin was borne when the heauenly figure Virgo did ascend If the Fathers say true then opportunately came he in medio noctis that was to be the medium betweene God and man The greatest obscuritie is at midnight and then therefore was produced the greatest light hee that was the brightnes of his fathers glorie Thus then in the sixth age of the World in the two and fortieth yeere of Augustus Caesars Reigne in the moneth of December in the fiue and twentieth and shortest day on Sunday betweene ten and twelue at night was our blessed Sauiour blessedly born Which season Saint Paul cals the fulnesse of time as because each part thereof as ye see is full of mysteries so by reason of other occasions that I am now to acquaint you with And first this then Whatsoeuer God eyther promised or the Patriarckes and Prophets eyther in their speeches foreshewed in their actions prefigured or affections desired that all at this time is fully fulfilled Now accomplished are Gods promises made to Eue that her seed should bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3. to Abraham that in his seed all Nations of the earth should bee blest Gen. 22. to Dauid that of the fruit of his loynes hee would set one on his seat that should rule as a King for euer Psal 132. Now fulfilled are the Predictions of the Patriarcks and Prophets of Iacob when he said Gen. 49. the Scepter shall not be taken from the Tribe of Iuda and a Captaine from his thigh till he come that is to be sent and hee shall be the expectation of Nations Of Moses when he said Deut. 18. A Prophet shall the Lord our God raise vp vnto yee among your brethren him shall yee heare Of Balam when he said Numb 24. a starre shall rise from Iacob and a staffe from Israel that shall strike the Moabites Of Esay when he said that a Virgin should beare a sonne and call his name Emanuel Es 7. Of Michea when he said Mich 5. And thou Bethleem Ephrata art but a little one in respect of thousands in Iuda and yet there shall come forth of thee one that shall bee the ruler of Israel and his comming forth is from the beginning and from the days of Eternitie Of Daniel when he said Dan. 9. that after certaine weekes of yeares expired the holy of holyes should be annointed Now fulfilled are the Figures of the Patriarcks and Prophets Actions Now Abraham came a stranger into Aegypt When Christ came as a Pilgrime where comming amongst his owne his owne receiued him not Now Moses was put into a Basket Ioseph throwne into the pit Hieremy into the Dungeon Daniel into the Lyons Denne when Christ was sent into this wretched World a place of perplexities Now the stone was cut from the Mountaine without hands when Christ was borne of his mortall Mother neuer being begotten by mortall father Now Aarons rod did bud and beare Almonds when a spotlesse Virgin did produce a Child Now a woman did compasse a man when hee was contained in a womans womb that doth himself cōprehend heauen earth Now a Riuer flowed to water Paradise when Christ was borne with his bloud to wash away the sinnes of the world Now the Mountaines did distil sweetnes when Heauen did let God to descend on earth Now Salomon made himselfe a Throne of Iuorie when Christ made himselfe a bodie of flesh in the Virgins wombe Now the Doue came from Noahs Arke when the sonne of God came from the bosome of his Father Now the bush burned and was not consumed when a Virgine brought forth a Son and was not corrupted mercy and truth met together when Christs Diuinitie and Humanitie met in one person to work our redemption Now the Sunne was couered with a Cloud when God clothed himselfe with our flesh Againe now fulfilled are the desires of the Patriarches and Prophets Abraham tooke great joy of this Day and now he saw it Ioh. 8. Expectabo salutare tuum saith Iacob Gen 49. I will wait for thy saluation O Lord and now behold his expectation satisfied Dauid cried out Psal 48. ostende nobis domine misericor diam tuam and now he might say as in Psal 47. suscepimus Deus misericor diam tuam in medio templi Begge no longer Moses to say to God as it is Deu. 18. mitte obsecro quem missurus es for now is he come amongst vs. Crie not longer out Esay as it is Es 64. Vtinam disrumperes coelos descenderes O that thou wouldest cleaue the Heauens and come downe for this day came hee out of a Virgins wombe The summe of this is this Now are Gods promises the Patriarches and Prophets predictions actions and affections fulfilled And therefore most excellently is it termed the fulnesse of time Againe now was the fulnesse of Gods Communication when he came to giue vs himselfe in his sonnes flesh wherein as it is Col 2. dwelt the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily Now was the fulnesse of mans Redemption when a Sauiour was borne to begin the gracious work therof in preseruing vs by his merits from sin death hell and the Deuill Now was the fulnesse of graces promotion We taking them out of his fulnes as Ioh. saith And who can denie this to be the fulnesse of time To this let me addo that the world was now ful of miracles Now the Angels sang in heauen and comforted shepheards on earth Now a strange starre guided the wisemen to Christ Now a wel-spring in Rome did runne with Oyle Now three Sunnes appeared shining first seuerally and then joyntly Now Augustus his aeternum palatium that was prophesied neuer to fall before a Virgin did beare a child was ruinated to the ground Now Augustus asking

wherein we were created aud thereby depirued of our Heauenly inheritance And now our Sauiour by being made of a Woman doth make vs to be true sonnes againe for hee by clothing himselfe with our nature becomming our brother as Paul termes him primogenitꝰ inter multosfratres by a consequent drawes vs in to be the sonnes of his father so giuing vs of his spirit to be the children of God as hee tooke of our flesh to bee the sonne of man he by our flesh counted the Virgin his Mother and we by his spirit as the Apostle sayth crie Abba Father Thus not onely to make vs freemen but also sonnes the sonne of God came The summe of this point is briefly this Christ came as Manna from Heauen to feede vs being hungrie as the cluster of Grapes out of the Vineyard to satisfie vs being thirstie as Oyle powred out to cure vs being wounded Hee came as our head that giues vs spiritual sense and motion as our Mediatour that being God and man best reconciles God and man as our foundation which we build our faith as our doore giuing passage to Paradise as our Shepheard feeding vs our sacrifice expiating vs our Priest praying for vs as our way in example life in reward Hee came as a man to make vs gods as a seruant to make vs Lords to earth to lift vs vp to Heauen He came mortall to make vs immortall poore to make vs rich and base to make vs glorious In a word He that was the bread was hungrie that we might be fed he that was the fountaine was dry that wee might be satisfied Hee that was joy was sad that we might be comforted and he that was the way was wearied that we might be directed to heauen And thus haue yee heard the circumstances of Christ his comming the Time Causes Manner End The Doctrine wherof for a conclusion let vs put to these vses First Sith in the fulnesse of time came he that was full of grace and truth let vs also fulfill our times that wee spend in godly labours In time of prayer deuout in time of preaching attentiue in time of prosperitie bountifull in time of pouertie patient in time of feasting temperate in all times vertuous and honest and then no time shal passe emptie of dutie Next sith God sent his Sonne Let vs acknowledge the benefit hereof how much we are bound to the Lord that so great a person as hee would bestow so great a gift on vs most vnworthie Creatures and withall prouide our hearts to haue such roomes in them as may be fit to enteraine so honourable a guest thus sent vnto vs let our repentance sweep cleane the chambers of our soules let a good conscience be his bedding and let graces and vertues be the ornaments of his lodging Next sith he was made of a Woman and vnder the Law let vs learne that sith he hath so dignified our nature as with it to cloth himselfe to haue a care that wee spot it not or defile it with sinne A poore maide married to a King ought to forget her base bringing vp and to forgoe her clownish qualities and our Nature married to God must vnloose the filthie actions of her corrupt generation and put on the new man to be like to Christ Further sith vnder the Law let vs remember what a heauie burden hee tooke on him to ease our shoulders and so be the more willing to beare any crosse that he shall lay vpon vs. Finally sith hee hath redeemed vs from the Law and makes vs adopted sonnes let vs carrie our selues as men that haue Christian libertie scourging Sinne Death Hell and the Deuill that with the chaines of slauish feare would stil keep vs captiue Last of all sith we are his sonnes by adoption let vs doe our dutie to our Heauenly Father Let vs loue feare and serue him with all our hearts soules and strength let vs bee taught with his precepts let vs be guided with his counsailes allured with his promises terrified with his threatnings but especially be wonne with his mercies Then as gracious sonnes will hee reward vs with the glorious inheritance of his Heauenly Kingdome To the which place hee that was borne for vs bring vs. Amen FINIS * Math. 11. 6. 3. Ep. Ioh. v. 9. Act. 8. 18. Matth. 26. 15. Mal. 1. 9. Ioh. 3. 30. Luc. 2. 8. 11. Gen. 3. Gen. 22. Psa 132. Gen. 49. Deut. 18. Num. 24. Esa 7. Mich. 5. Dail 9. Ioh. 8. Gen. 49. Ps 48. Ps 47. Deu. 18. Esa 64. Col. 2. Ioh. 1. 16. Ioh. 8. 42. 5. 36. 37. Rom. 8. 32. Ioh. 16. 28. Luc. 5. 35. Ioh. 3. 16. Ioh. 1. 18 Ioh. 3. 13. Ioh. 1. 3. Heb. 1. 2. Cor. 5. Rom. 8. 29. 1. Tim. 3. 2. Tim. 2. Heb. 2. Luc. 1. 48. Gal. 5. 18. 2. Cor. 2. Rom. 8.