Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	earth_n	glory_n	great_a	2,131	5	2.9800	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80872	A discourse of spiritual blessings or a discovery I. That every Christian is blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. In four sermons. II. That God hath a high account of the least grace in the saints. In three sermons. By Mr. John Cromwell, late pastor of a church of Christ in the city of Norwich.	Cromwell, John, 1632 or 3-1685.	1685 (1685)	Wing C7038A; ESTC R228995	89,109	202

least Satan may suggest why what is this a poor thing that can hardly crawl towards Christ in a duty so weak there is little or nothing to be seen of the Image of God in his heart because there is so little Ay but Christians you do not know under what designment this little is what great things the Lord hath to manage by this little grace Daniel when the Lord shewed him the great revolutions that were to be in the world he shewed him a Mountain a mighty mountain And he shewed him also a little Stone that was cut out of the Mountain without hands and this stone should be bigger than the Mountain The Mountain if you take it to be the Roman Empire that was as a Mountain that filled a great part of the Earth ay but the little Stone that is cut out of the Mountain without hands that shall cover all the face of the Earth in its time So I say do but you make it your business to discover grace and never prescribe any limits as to that grace A little grace may be under a great design little David did more then the mighty man Saul that was taller than all the Israelites he was under a greater designment I pray consider this with me under these two branches 1. The least grace may be under a designment for greatest service for the time to come Christ is Prophecied of as a root that should grow out of a dry ground so Christ is compared he promised but little there was but a very slender appearance of Jesus at the first that ever he should be the man in whom all the Promises and Prophecies should center A Carpenters Son this is but the Son of a Carpenter say they an unlikely thing that all the Promises and Prophecies of the Messiah should center in him and have their accomplishment in him Even so it may be with Christians little beginnings many times do work and boil up and improve unto greatest undertakements If you nakedly consider how the Lord dealt with his own Disciples one would wonder that they should be his hearers three years and and an half and when all came to all had not so much Faith as to believe that this was really he that they should not have grace enough to bear them out in one brush of trial that they met with in the apprehending of our Lord but they must all forsake him when he was upon the Cross That indeed was something a great trial but to forsake him as soon as ever he was apprehended and for Peter to deny him as soon as ever he was challenged this do's not discover greatness of grace Truly these men as I may say were men of little stature and the Kingdom of Heaven in them during that time they lived with Christ and heard the Lord Christ was but as a grain of Mustard Seed and yet these were the men that must do the great work of God in the World So it may be there is but a little grace in thy Childs Heart or in thine own Heart but that little grace may be under a great designment for great service and therefore it is that the Lord will look after a little because he knows what it is that you are designed for and that every one is designed for 2. The least grace may be under a designment for the greatest injoyments that is God may design a Person for the greatest enjoyments that hath now but the least grace Many times Children that are weakest have most of the manifestations of the tender affections of the Mother Truly so I may say the Lord doth lead those many times by the hand that he hath given but little grace to when others are as it were turned to go of themselves the Lambs are carried in the Bosom of the Shepherd Isa 40.11 the Lord promiseth that he will raise up a Shepherd that shall gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his Bosom Christians though you be but little yet I Pray consider you may be under a designment of great enjoyments the Lord doth many times give you as it were the sweet of the Gospel whilst he feeds others with courser and harsher fare The Lord giveth you the dainties of the Covenant and of the Promises when he doth treat with others with more course or more common Providences Christians I pray consider not only for the present but for the time to come you may be under the greatest designments for the greatest enjoyments and therefore it is that God will not lose the least grain what sieve soever he makes use of to be sure his Eye and his Hand will be upon the least grain in the sieve because of their designment 3. The Lord will take care of those that have the least grace because those that have the least grace have a full right I pray do but observe there is no gradual difference in Gospel right if I have a right to an Estate wrapt up in a scroul of paper it is as much as the right that another hath to his Estate that is written or enlarged upon in a sheet truly so it is with Christians little grace gives a full right and therefore the Lord will look after it or else he must suffer his own right to be lost the right that he hath given to be void if he doth not look after the least grace I will open this in these two Branches 1. The greatest promises are made to the least of graces I pray turn to that passage of our Lord in the first Sermon that ever he preached upon the Mount in Mat. 5. Blessed say he are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven What can you have more than the Kingdom not the Kingdoms of the Earth but the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom without limitation Theirs is the throne of the Kingdom and their is the Crown of the Kingdom theirs is the Blessedness the glory of the Kingdom and who are these to whom this Kingdom in all its glory is thus annexed by promise It is those who are poor in Spirit that have but a little grace and yet are sensible of their little Christians there is no graduall variation in right though there are always gradual variations in the comfort of your right you shall scarce meet with two Christians that have in all points an equal ballance of comfortable enjoyment of their Right and yet their Right is the same thy promise is my promise and the Blessing that is a Christians by Covenant that hath attained to the greatest measures of grace these very Blessings and this very Covenant may with all its Blessings belong to him that hath least grace May a man that is well thriven in grace say all this is mine as God said to Abraham when he led him forth come saies he look towards the East and the West and the North and the South Behold all this Land will I

me feed my lambs O Christians the great care and the great provision that is made in both Testaments and the great injunctions that are laid upon those that are concerned in the administration of both Testaments is to look after the meanest Christians which must needs discover this great truth that the meanest Christian that is a Christian indeed shall not miscarry but I shall open this further to you in two branches 1. That the least grace in the least Christian is the product of the greatest grace that works in the Blessed Trinity There is nothing in the least Christian but the great and infinite grace of the Blessed Trinity concurred to the producing of it This I would only illustrate to you by a passage of our Lord in Matth. 13. v. 31. where he compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a grain of mustard seed why what is the Kingdom of Heaven but the Administration of the Gospel according to the Eternal Counsels of God that are past in Heaven Now saies he The Kingdom of Heaven is as a grain of mustard seed Why but Lord might they say here is a grain that hath brought forth and spread abundantly this is like the Kingdom of Heaven indeed ay but saies he the little grain though it be the least of all grains is a fit similitude and comparison for the Kingdom of Heaven To what shall I liken the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven saies he is like a grain of mustardseed which a man took and sowed in his field So that there is the whole resemblance of the Kingdom of Heaven even in a little grain as soon as ever it is sown as much as when it is in its greatest flourish after its full growth there is a real and a comprehensive resemblance of it in the least seed of grace that is sown in thy heart there is the Grace of the Kingdom manifested in thee the Righteousness of the Kingdom is manifested in thee The offices of all persons concerned in the Kingdom they are all manifested in thee Jesus Christs mediation and the Spirits Sanctification and the Fathers Justification these are all manifested upon the least work of grace that is wrought in thee I tell you there is a substantial manifestation of all the blessednesses of the Kingdom of Heaven in the least work of grace that is wrought upon any Heart 2. The least work of grace upon the Heart of the least Christian is a manifestation not only of the Kingdom of Heaven but a real demonstration of the Kingdom of Glory A demonstration á priori as they call it a demonstration of that which is antecedent or anantecedent demonstration of the Kingdom of Glory as well as the greatest flourishes of grace I pray Christians consider you that are young in grace you have a demonstration in you an antecedent demonstration of the Kingdom of Glory I pray what is the Kingdom of Glory but the flourish of that love that I have now wrought in me in the Kingdom of grace It is the increase of my likeness to God and to Jesus Christ in Heaven that is now begun in me this is the Kingdom of Glory Now this little work of grace is an antecedent demonstration of an incomprehensible weight of Glory that is to be put upon the People of God when they come in Heaven and this you may see evidenced in the parable that I last mentioned and in the other parables that our Lord Jesus Christ doth make use of 3. A Third Proposition is this That the greatest and dreadfullest threatnings are denounced against discouraging carriages towards those that have least grace as well as towards those that have greatest Nay let me also tell you this that although they themselves be under the tokens of Gods displeasure yet their Relation to God doth heightenthem as aggravations of their enemies carriage towards them I find not a greater threatning ever came out of the mouth of Christ Jesus when he was on Earth then this It were better say's he for that man that he had a Milstone hanged about his neck and he cast into the midst of the Sea then he should offend one of these little ones that believeth on me he speaks not of little ones as to nature but of little ones as to grace The design of the Jews was to lay stumbling blocks before the little ones that is those that had a little love to Christ those that had a little Faith on Christ those whose hearts were engaged by that little fire of grace that was in them to follow the Lord Jesus Christ Says Christ If any man doth offend one of these little ones it were better for him that a Milstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the midst of the Sea But I shall open this likewise in these two branches 1. Gods severest execution of threatnings takes its rise from the adversaries carriage towards the least of those that belong to him As for instance you know God threatned that he would have perpetual War with Amaleck and why with Ameleck more then with Moab or with Edom or the other Nations that gave disturbance to his People you shall find the reason to be because they watched their opportunity and smote the hinmost of the People they did not march upon the front of the People but they watched their advantage and they smote the hinmost and feeblest of the People therefore says God I will have perpetual War with Amaleck and this lay as it were reserved in the Bosom of God till the first King that ever appeared upon the Throne of Israel Saul was not commanded to rally his Forces and go against Egypt that Old Enemy that Old Oppressor nor against Moab and those that inveigled them and inticed them in the matter of Baal Peor but go says God to Saul and utterly destroy Amalek 1 Sam. 15. from off the face of the Earth And Saul he did spare none but poor King Agag and God was so incensed against him that he sent Samuel his Prophet to him to tell him that God had rent the Kingdom of Israel from him at the 28. v. because he did not execute the fierceness of his wrath against Amalek for smiting the hindmost of the People and those that were feeble amongst them as they came out of Egypt And truly Friends this is the design and hath been all along the design of your spiritual adversaries they seldom march upon the Front but in the Spirit of Amalek they wait for their advantage upon those that are weak and feeble And for my part I do think that this will be one of the greatest aggravations of the sin of the Devils that they have Tempted the little ones that have followed Jesus Christ I pray take notice of another passage concerning the poor and weak condition the people of Israel were in the time of Obadiah you shall find in that Prophecy that the Assyrians came upon them and makes a

you may say there lies one upon his Bed there sits another in his Corner that is the express Image of Jesus Ay but he hath but a little grace well the whole Image of Christ is in that little Those that are well instructed in drawing and limning they can as well in a little compass draw the perfect Effigies as they can in a great compass Truly my Friends though your limbs be not so big as I may say though your countenances be not so big your graces be not so big yet here 's a true representation of Christ where 's the least grace there 's a full and express Image of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the Lord will take care because of the Image Says Christ when they brought him by an ensnaring question to give them a resolve why shew me the penny whose is the Image So my Friends if you bring your own hearts to the Lord the Lord will ask the question Whose Image whose Superscription is it and will answer himself it is my own it is my own Superscription and Image though it be in so small a compass Christians I would have you consider that God and Christ have great tenderness for things without proportion though you have not so much Faith nor so much Love nor so much Humility yet if you have true Faith true Love true Humility God and Christ will know his own God will know his own Image though drawn in the least compass I will open this in these two branches that I might make manifest the rationality of this proceed of the Lord and the first is this 1. That there is no part of the Image of Christ in any heart but that does discover the whole Image to be really and indeed in the heart And my reason is because God creates nothing imperfectly neither in the New nor in the Old Creation nothing imperfectly he takes Adam's Rib out of his side and he makes a perfect Image and representation of that and he takes up Clay or Red Earth and he makes a perfect man of that Truly Christians let me tell you that all monstruous conceptions are the issues either on the one hand or the other of the degeneracy and not the products of the Creation So here where God hath created the likeness of Christ in love there is you may conclude the likeness of Christ in all other Excellencies the Lord does not use to turn the new Creatures out of his hand by peece-meal or by parts now a little and then a little but the whole is where there is an essential part You shall find all along our Lord Jesus Christ owning these principles in his carriage towards his Disciples and towards them with whom he did converse you can hardly discover in his own disciples so much while he lived as to make up a distinct intire Christian as to parts in equal proportion and yet notwithstanding though Christ observed it yet you shall find he owned them as his own and called them his own Joh. 13. Having loved his own he loved them to the end What think you Was Peter like Christ And did he express any thing of the Image of Christ when he knew that his Lord could have commanded Angels for his security yet he truckles at the accusation of a silly Girl 2. That little grace that is in us does discover a whole right to all Christ and to all the Consequences of every thing that in any Capacity Jesus Christ did or suffered God does not stand with Christians as I may say upon such punctilioes as one Christian stands with another upon God is wise and knows that any thing of his Son is a Gospel-evidence of full right And therefore it is because of his evidence that the Lord will look after and concern himself in the least grain And that is the fifth reason I will but add one more for I would not prevent my self in the Application and that is this VI. The least grain of grace is as really and as truly new-covenant grace as the greatest degree of grace is or can be supposed to be Or if you will the least Christian that hath but true grace is as really a New-Covenant Christian as he that hath most grace and therefore God will look after him When he is sifting Israel in the sieve of the Nations he will look after the grain I pray do but observe these two things for the clearing of this 1. When the Lord Covenants to write his Laws he does not covenant to write them all in the same proportion in all hearts in the same proportion But this is the Covenant I will write my Laws and the proportion that is to be written in the hearts of the Sons and Daughters of men is left to his pleasure to be done Many are ready to question that little they have because they have not so much as another pray when did God ingage himself to proportion thy grace to thy Brothers yet though it be in a lesser proportion it is as truly New-Covenant writing as the writing of a greater Do but turn if you please to that passage in the New Testament Heb. 8. ver 8. Behold the dayes come that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers c. But ver 10. I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts Hath every one the same proportion of Gospel-knowledge in their head No they have not yet every one hath a saving proportion So as to grace in the heart you shall find there is a difference in the proportion though not in the nature of the thing that is proportioned I will write my Laws in their hearts Here 's enough And when a New-Covenant promise hath taken place in the heart the dreadfullest Old-Covenant threatning hath nothing to do there It may be he hath written but some rough Character in thy heart at the present why that is enough to exempt thee from all the Old Covenant proceeds and to give thee right to all the New-Covenant Blessings and if you cannot see it so well God I am sure can 2. But the least grace that God hath created in the heart hath the most Substantial promises made to it I pray Christians is it not a more Substantial promise that you shall be eternally filled with joy in the house of your Father in the Kingdom of glory than to be filled with joy while you live here at the footstool for my part I think if I should never have comfortable day while I live it would be a great happiness to have secret assurance that I shall have an eternal day of Blessedness it may be my condition may be laid open to temptation and it may be thine and thou mayest be yet tryed with a Tryal that is nearer a fiery Tryal than any yet thou hast been laid under but