Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	great_a	lord_n	word_n	5,344	5	3.8322	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62960	An exhortation unto reformation amplified, by a discourse concerning the parts and progress of that work, according to the word of God, delivered in a sermon preached in the audience of the General Assembly of the Massachusets colony, at Boston in New-England, May 27, 1674, being the day of election there / by Samvel Torrey ...	Torrey, Samuel, 1632-1707.; Mather, Increase, 1639-1723.	1674 (1674)	Wing T1916; ESTC R13732	47,259	54

At a General Court held at Boston May 27. 1674. THis Court Orders That the Reverend Mr. Samuel Torrey be Thanked from this Court for the great and acceptable pains which he took in his late Election Sermon And that he be desired to Print his said Sermon with as much speed as may be And that William Stoughton and Thomas Clark Esqs Capt. Hugh Mason Mr. William Parkes and Mr. Peter Bulkley be Appointed in the Name of this Court to give him Thanks accordingly By the Court Edward Rawson Secret AN EXHORTATION UNTO Reformation AMPLIFIED By a Discourse concerning the Parts and Progress of that Work according to the Word of God Delivered in a SERMON Preached in the Audience of the General Assembly of the Massachusets Colony at Boston in New-England May 27. 1674. BEING THE DAY of ELECTION THERE By SAMVEL TORREY Pastor of the Church of Christ in Waymouth Isa 30.15 For thus saith the Lord God the holy One of Israel In returning and rest shall ye be saved in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength and ye would not Ver. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will be be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgement and blessed are all they that wait for him Jer. 3.22 Return ye backsliding Children and I will beal your backslidings Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Rev. 2.7 He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Cambridge Printed by Marmaduke Johnson 1674. To the Reader THe God of our Fathers hath done great things for this his people in the sight of the Nations We have heard with our ears our fathers have told us what work God did in their dayes how he did drive out the Heathen with his hand and Planted them how he did afflict the people and cast them out for they got not the Land in possession by their own Sword neither did their own Arm save them but his right Hand and his Arm and the light of his Countenance because he had a favour to them Yea the Lord hath given us his good Spirit to instruct us and hath not withheld Manna from us but hath turned this Wilderness into a Canaan and here hath he given us Rest the Land of Israel seldome rested longer fourty years and more and all this while hath he been feeding and leading of us by the hands of Moses of Aaron It would fill a Volume to declare in how many respects the Lord hath dealt with us as he did with his people in the dayes of old He that hath said I will make the Wilderness a Pool of water and the dry lands Springs of water I will plant in the Wilderness a Cedar hath in an eminent degree fulfilled that word before our eyes And we may conclude that the Lord intended some great thing when he planted these Heavens and laid the foundation of this Earth and said unto New-England as sometimes to Sion Thou art my People And what should that be if not that so a Scripture-Pattern of Reformation as to Civil but especially in Ecclesiastical respects might be here erected as a First fruits of that which shall in due time be accomplished the whole world throughout in that day when there shall be one Lord and his Name one over all the earth Upon all which accounts our not answering Divine Expectations concerning us hath the more of evil and of dangerous consequence in it Apostacy in any people is a great provocation to the eyes of Gods glory but much more in a people whom he hath brought under such manifold Engagements to the contrary as is to be affirmed of us in these goings down of the Sun It must be confessed to the praise of his glory that the Lord is not yet wholly gone from us and there are grounds of hope that he will not leave us nor forsake us at least-wise that as yet it shall not be For there are some though alas now but few of the first Generation still surviving who went after the Lord into this Wilderness when it was a Land not sown whose kindness God doth remember and it may be hoped that there shall be Peace and Truth in their dayes It must likewise be acknowledged that as for our Israel the Leaders thereof both in our Civil and Ecclesiastical state are in some measure faithful Scandalous evils when they break forth are born witness against and therefore the Lord will not impute them to the Land where they are committed When did the Lord ever give up any people to utter destruction but that first their Magistrates and Ministers were become corrupt Therefore as yet our Jerusalem shall not become heaps and the Mountain of the Lords house as the high places of the forrest Also the Lord who was still wont as there were any beginnings of Apostacy in his people of old to testifie against them by his Spirit in his Prophets hath raised up those in this Land unto whom he hath given grace and a Spirit of faithfulness to do the like witness the ensuing Sermon which is a token for good Nevertheless there are on the other hand awful Considerations which may cause us to fear vvhat the end vvill be O that vve vvere vvise that vve understood these things We have been and through grace to this day are a people near unto the Lord but in that respect vve have the greater cause not to be secure It is a very solemn Observation vvhich I remember Commenius hath speaking of those once-famous and glorious Churches in Bohemia viZ. That they were nearer to the Sanctuary then other Churches by reason of a more pure Discipline by them owned and professed and therefore when Contentions and Apostacies prevailed amongst them the Lord poured down his righteous Displeasures on them and hath set them forth as sad Examples before other Churches Let us lay it to heart And it greatly concerns us so to do for that there are sad evidences of our departures from the Lord in a woful degree and awful symptomes of the Lords departure from us Churches are not wont to cast off the good wayes of God at once but gradually it may be more generations then one may pass away first so neither doth the God of all patience and grace cast off them but in a gradual way of procedure How many stands did the glory of the Lord make e're it was quite removed never more to return in the former lustre Is it not so with this people In what place can vve behold the glory of the first Temple Do not the ancient men that have seen the first House weep over this If vve be not at all sensible of these things our case is no less desperate then Ephraims vvhen gray hairs vvere upon him but he knew it nor That people vvho vvere newly come out of the hands of those that sometime

Rule and Government of Christ powerfully Administred would soon Reform all O that Discipline might be restored unto the full and effectual exercise of it in the Spirit and Power of it unto all the saving Ends of it in these Churches it would work a great Reformation And O that this poor Generation which is committed Chiefly to the Charge of this Ministry may be generally cared for in all the Churches They are the Generation which you are called to labour with and for amongst whom you hope to have the fruit of your Labours in the Work of the Ministry and whom you are to stand in Judgement with and to give an account of in the day of Account O what Account will be given of them if many or the generality of them should perish under the neglect of the due exercise of the Ministerial Power of Christ towards them in any of the Churches Most of all the Work of Reformation dependeth upon the faithful and successful Labours of this Ministry in the work of Conversion the travail of your Souls in that work your travailing with Souls in that work of Conversion Here lyes the stress and the life and spirit of the Work of Reformation without which all Essayes Endeavours and Labour therein and thereunto will be utterly vain and void If God make this Ministry a Converting Ministry the Work of Reformation will be again revived but if God suffer it to be a Judicial Ministry a Ministry sent in Judgement to make the heart of this people fat then there will be no hope the Generation will grow sick at heart under Spiritual Plagues and Judgements under a savour of death by this Ministry and so die in their sins A Judicial Ministry hath alwayes been the fatall Cause of the finall Ruine of such a people as Isa 6.10 Mat. 13.13 14. Joh. 12.40 Rom. 9.32 And therefore how are all such who have the Charge of Souls in such a dangerous time amongst a declining people concerned to Labour to Pray to Preach to be instant in season out of season in private in publick to spend their Souls to bend the strength of their Ministerial Labours unto the Conversion of Souls How did the Prophets of old labour in like ease with a declining people and dolefully lament the loss of their labour so Isaiah Isa 49.4 Jeremiah Jer. 6.10 yea our Lord Jesus Christ himself Mat. 23.37 O Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy Children Truly it is a most doleful discouragement to the present Ministry in many Congregations to see so many Souls fatting hearts hardning immortal Souls dying and perishing under their hand Care and Charge but yet they must labour and Agonize in Prayer unto God for a dispensation of Converting grace by their Ministry that the Work of Conversion and so the Work of Reformation may be revived for if not it is much to be feared that the Sun will quickly go down over the Prophets I allude unto Mic. 3.6 I mean that our day of grace will expire and the Sun set upon these Churches by the departure of the Ministrv and so our house be left unto us desolate as Mat. 23.38 39. The Prosperity of these Churches dependeth much upon the success of the Labours of this present Ministry and therefore the hopes desires and prayers of all the faithful people of God in these Churches are That you may alwayes remain as Stars in the right hand of Jesus Christ fixed in your Orb full of Light Regular in all your Motions Powerfull in all your Influences shining in all your Appearances with the Splendor and Lustre of his Spirit and Grace in whose hand you are And that there may be no such Wandering Stars spoken of Jude v. 13. whose Erratick Motions should disturb the Coelestial Order and Harmony of our Ecclesiastical Heaven III. I propose this Exhortation also unto All the People of the Land who are present and O that whole New-England might be moved with this word of Exhortation Repent and do the first works O that the heart of this people might be moved as the heart of one man unto the Work of Reformation● It is a general work our defection it is general and therefore our Reformation it must be also general Of old the Work of Reformation it was alwayes wrought by all the people as you may reade 2 Kings 23.3 2 Chron. 29.36 34.30 the Text saith there All small and great So Ezra 109. Neh. 8.1 All the the people as one man every one that is able to do any thing must bear his part in the Work of Reformation Every one hath a particular work of Reformation in and for himself to Reform himself his own heart and his own life if every one could Reform one it would be a great and general Reformation Every one that hath a Soul to save or hath any care of his Salvation is concerned in this Work of Reformation of what degree rank or order whatsoever every one must labour in his own person in his proper place by the utmost improvement of his power interest and influence to help forward the work every one must set his hand and heart unto the Work of Reformation in Families Towns Churches throughout the Country The Work of Reformation it must run through all our hearts and wayes in every Station and Relation in every Calling and Imployment through all matters both Civil and Religious in all our converse with God and man There is not one here present in the Congregation but is concerned in this Work of Reformation 1. Let every one be admonished and warned to take heed of hindering the Work of Reformation They are the most dangerous and desperate Enemies unto New-England and unto these Churches who do hinder Reformation so do all Profane persons by their sins of Profaneness whose work it is more and more to corrupt the Generation and to fill and pollute the Land with their Abominations So also do all Worldly and Self-seeking persons by sinking the Interest of Religion and raising a Worldly Interest and so building up their own Self-interests upon the ruines of the Publick So also do all Factious Seditious and Contentious persons who make it their design and work to foment Divisions and to uphold dividing Parties and Interests unto the shaking of very Foundations So also do all corrupt Worshippers and corrupters of the Worship of God In a word so do all Carnal Formal Hypocritical Professors And so do all the Capital leading sinners of the Times and of the Generation These are all publick Enemies unto these Churches more dangerous and destructive Enemies unto this great Work of the Lord then Sanballat and Tobiah and the rest of old were unto the Building of the City or the Temple Wo to those by whom Offences come who are Leaders in our great and general Defection and hinderers of the Work of Reformation As for such who turn aside unto their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them forth