Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	hand_n	know_v	lord_n	1,908	5	3.6327	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90060	The all-seeing vnseen eye of God. Discovered, in a sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons; at Margarets Westminster, December 30. 1646. being the day of their solemne monethly fast. / By Matthew Newcomen, Minister of the Gospel at Dedham in Essex, and one of the Assembly of Divines. Published by order of the Honourable House of Commons.	Newcomen, Matthew, 1610?-1669.	1647 (1647)	Wing N904; Thomason E369_6; ESTC R201280	33,531	55

all-seeing eye O how should this make us stand in awe and not sin You know what that great Monarch Ahashuerus said concerning Haman when coming in he found him cast upon the Queens bed on which she sate Esth 7.8 What saith he will he force the Queen before me in the house There was the killing emphasis in these words before me will he force the Queen before me What will he dare to commit such a villany and I stand and look on O brethren this is the killing aggravation of every sin it is done before the face of God This is that God looks upon as the great affront and indignity done unto him What saith God will he be drunk before me will he swear blaspheme before me will he be unclean before me will he break my Laws before me Ah brethren to consider the infinite horrible wickednesses that are committed in this Kingdom and that they are all before the eye of God that God stands and views them all God stands and looks on it would amaze any man and make him in astonishment cry out Sen. Trag. as once the Heathen did Magne regnator coeli tam lentus audis scelera tam lentus vides Great God of heaven canst thou with so much patience hear and see such wickednesses Secondly This that all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe should admonish us as to take heed of all sin so especially and in particular to take heed of putting off or delaying any part of that service we owe unto God or that duty he requires of us either towards himself or men upon any pretences or excuses how just soever they may seem to men or to our own consciences for God knows us better then men better then our own consciences There is a singular text for this purpose Prov. 24.11 Pro. 24.11 12. 12. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn to death and those that are ready to be slain if thou saiest Behold we knew it not doth not he that pondreth the heart consider and he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and shall not he render unto every man according to his work In this text is counsel and caution given to all in their severall places to endeavour with their utmost ability to deliver those that are unjustly oppressed and like to be ruined and to take heed that they do not put off this duty from themselves that they do not seek excuses and plead ignorance to say they knew not such a one was in trouble or if they did yet they knew that he suffered trouble as a righteous person for ought they know he may have pulled this trouble upon himself or if they know that too yet they knew not how to help and succour him Take heed of such excuses as these If thou sayest behold thou knewest it not c. Oughtest thou not to have known it mightst thou not have known it Certainly it is the duty of every good Christian in his place and sphere to do as Job did Job 29.16 17. I was a father to the poor and the cause which I knew not I searched out and I brake the jaws of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of their teeth It is not enough for thee to say Behold thou knewest it not That which thou knewest not thou oughtest to have searched out else thou doest excuse one neglect by a worser and assuredly God will finde this out for doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and hee that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and shall not he render unto every man according to his work And here Right Honourable and beloved let me in humility and faithfullnesse direct a few words more especially unto you You know beloved and we all know how the good hand of God Nehem. 9.27 Obad. 21. raised you up to be saviours to these kingdomes in a very necessitous time When these kingdomes were to keep the language of the text drawn to death and even ready to be slain the Lord then raised you up to be saviours to us to save these kingdomes from present and imminent destruction and O with what Zeal and forwardnesse did you gird your selves unto this great work how ready were you to enquire and be informed of all grievances and pressures publique or personall how wholly did you devote and give up your selves to understand the estate of the kingdom and to reform abuses and grievances both in Church and State And through the good hand of God upon your counsels and labours many particular persons that were drawn to death and ready to be slain yea even buried alive in perpetuall exile and imprisonment have been restored to their lives and liberties yea and this whole kingdome hath been by you under God saved and preserved unto that condition in which we are this day Yet give me leave Honourable and beloved to set before your eyes and hearts a sad spectable of some that are at this day drawn to death and ready to be slain who stretch out their craving hands to you for succour and deliverance And in the fear of God and in the bowels of our Lord Jesus I beseech you to take heed how you turn away your eyes from them and think another day to say Behold we knew it not I will not mention those many widows and orphans whose cries are daily in your ears and plead their cause more pathetically then I or any else can do You have done very Nobly and justly in putting your selves into a way of releeving them only remember Pro. 3.28 Bis dat qui citò dat Nor will I urge you to a compassionate sense of many poor decayed men who lye in our prisons rotting as it were alive You have begun already to take pity upon their wofull condition and have appointed a Committee to consider of some way for their relief as may stand with the justice and goodnesse of this Honourable house Onely I humbly pray you what may be done for these poor creatures let it be done speedily Nor will I insist upon the complaints of a third fort among us who are as it were drawn to death and ready to be slain and they are many honest men such as those of Zebulon 1 Chron. 12.33 who were not of a double heart who having singly and firmly adhered to you in all the time of your troubles and done you faithfull service chearfully obeyed your orders and vigorously prosecuted them upon their delinquent landlords or neighbours as the necessity of those distracted times did require hereby they are become the objects of the envy and malice of these delinquents some being vexed and molested with suites in law having actions of battery and false imprisonment laid upon them others oppressed by their delinquent landlords in their fines and leases or in the redemanding of those rents which they have already paid into the hands

tryed my heart towards thee All their inward breathings and secret liftings up of desire after God are known to him Psal 38.9 Psal 38.9 Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee Eleventhly God knows all the designes and Projects of all mens hearts I mention these as distinct from purposes and intendments because mens purposes are many times but sudden and slight motions and of little value with themselves But designes and projects are deep and elaborate things have more study and pains bestowed upon them you shall have a man forging a designe weeks moneths years and working it with that secrecy that as Alexander said if he thought his shirt upon his back knew it he would pull it off and burn it But God knoweth all these designes and projects be they never so deeply laid Job 12.22 1 Cor. 5.5 never so closely carried Job 12.22 He discovereth deep things out of darknesse 1 Cor. 4.5 God will both bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the counsells of the heart Job 5.12 Job 5.12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their work An instance of this you have Dan. 11.20 27. Dan. 11.20 27. where God foretells the severall projects and devises whereby Antiochus should work himself into the kingdom of Syria and almost into the kingdom of Egypt and then vers 27. how he and Ptolomee King of Egypt shall project to over-reach one another And both these Kings hearts shall be to do mischief and they shall speak lies at one table but it shall not prosper As if God had said after the warre between these two Kings there shall be an interview or a treaty for peace pretended at least but there will be nothing but mischief in their hearts no though they may entertain one another with complements and fair words yet they are but lies and pretences they shall both speak lies at one table God knows all the designes and projects of Kings and great polititians both in their managing of wars and in their treaties of peace Thus you see God knoweth all things all persons all their actions all their words all their thoughts past as well as present future as well as past contingent or possible all their hearts all their intendments and purposes all their inclinations and disires all their projects and designes And so you see in some measure the extent of the knowledge of God all things The next words will shew us the nature of this knowledge which God hath of all things It is 1. a clear and distinct knowledge all things are naked It is 2. a full and through knowledge all things are naked and open It is 3. an Intuitive comprehensive infallible knowledge all things are naked and open unto his eyes First This knowledge which God hath of all things it is clear and distinct All things are naked Men may put such colours and dresses upon themselves and waies as they may make a shift to hide themselves from the eyes of men But no pretences no excuses can hide them from the sight of God no more then a peece of transparent glasse can cover them from the beam of the Sun All things are naked unmasked unclothed their dresse and paint taken off God beholds all things in their naked and simple realities What a fine colour had Simeon and Levi Gen. 34.14 for their urging circumcision upon the men of Shechem they pretended Religion and the Law of their God whereas in truth it was revenge and thirst of blood acted them and this God saw though Hamor and Sechem saw it not What a colour did Ieroboam put upon his Idols which he set up at Dan and Bethel 1 King 12.15 30. as if he studied nothing but the peoples ease and because it was too far for the people to go up to Hierusalem therefore he would accommodate them with Chappels of ease But the naked truth was a designe to establish the Kingdom to him and his and to keep the people from returning to the house of David and this God saw and did so blast him that that which he intended for the stability proved the ruine of his house and Kingdom What a face of Zeal for God did Jehu put on in executing the judgement of the Lord upon Ahaz and his family and when he hath done can vouch warrant from God for it 2 King 9.25 36. This is that which the Lord spake by his servant Elijah and can say Come see my zeal for the Lord of hosts But God knew it was to rid himself of competitors for the Kingdom and to assure the Throne to himself and his that Jehu did this and therefore God threatens to avenge the blood of Iezreel Hos 1.4 on the house of Iehu because though he did the thing that God commanded Hos 1.4 yet he made the command of God but a colour for his own ends How pious and devout did the Pharisees seem the people thought them the only Saints upon earth but our Saviour tells them that God looked upon them not according to what they did appear but according to what they were their colours and shews and visards of holinesse could not blear the eyes of God So our Saviour Luk. 16.15 Luk. 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God Men may be such artificiall dissemblers as not only to be able to justifie themselves before men but to gain a high esteem among them and yet be an abomination unto God who knows their hearts and unto whom all things are naked All things are naked and open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aperta so the Vulgar Chrysost ad loo Resupinata so Erasmus intimè patentia so Beza Chrysostome saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a metaphor taken from the skins flayed off from the sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for as when a man saith he hath slain the sactifice and flayed off the skin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the inwards of the beast are laid open and bare to any eye so all things the very inside of them are naked and open unto God And Camerarius approves this explication of the word Beza carries it further and saith it is a metaphor taken from beasts which are not only flayed but chin'd down the back-bone Vt totae foris intus oculis pateant So another Sicut cum animal per cerviceni spinam dorsi ita dividitur ut viscera omnia pateant Camero thinks it a metaphor à re Palaestricâ Some make the three words in my Text three degrees of the knowledge of God videre denudare aperire a thing may be seen saith Athanasius but not seen naked or it may be seen naked but not open It is one thing to see a sheep alive with

ever you are doing you might still have this in your actuall remembrance that all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe Another sort of men to whom I would commend this consideration are Ministers Preachers of the word They also are men immediatly imployed by God they are his Embassadours Now could we did we continually remember the eye of God continually upon us how diligent how abundant would it make us in the work of the Lord how faithfull how couragious how unbyassed how above the frownes and smiles of men This was it made Paul so faithfull and uncorrupt in the work of his Ministry 2 Cor. 2.17 2 Cor. 2.17 For we are not as many that corrupt the word of God but as of sincerity as of God as in the sight of God so speak we in Christ That which made Paul handle the word so uncorruptly and with such sincerity was this he spake it as in the sight of God I have heard a story of that holy Martyr of Christ Jesus M. Latymer that having in a Sermon at Court in Henry the eight's dayes much displeased the King he was commanded next Sabbath after to preach again and make his recantation according to appointment he comes to preach and prefaceth to his Sermon with a kinde of Dialogisme in this manner Hugh Latimer Doest know to whom thou art this day to speak to the high and mighty Monarch c. that can take away thy life if thou offend therefore take heed how thou speak a word that may displease his Majesty c. But as recalling himself Hugh Hugh saith he doest know from whom thou comest and upon whose message thou art sent even the great and mighty God that is able to cast both body and soul into hell fire for ever and therefore take heed to thy self that thou deliver thy message faithfully c. and so comes to his Sermon and what he had delivered the day before confirmes and urgeth with more vehemency then ever Sermon being done the Court was full of expectation what would be the issue of the matter After dinner the King calls for Latymer and with a stern countenance asked him how he durst be so bold as to preach after that manner He answered That duty to God and to his Prince had enforced him to it and now he had discharged his conscience and duty in what he had spoken his life was in his Majesties hand Upon this the King rose from his seat and taking M. Latymer off from his knees embraced him in his armes saying he blessed God that he had a man in his Kingdom that durst deal so plainly and faithfully with him Had never King in England since his time wanted such a faithfull plain-dealing Chaplain to preach to him it might have been better with England then it is at present Vse 7 Seventhly This truth That all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe it may serve to admonish us to take heed of sin every sin how secret and small soever for there 's no sin so small that God will not nor so secret that God cannot take notice of it but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe It was the prescript of Epicurus the Philosopher to his followers ut semper cogitarent vitae suae testem aliquem adesse ever to think that some or other stood by as witnesses of every passage of their conversation and Seneca's counsel to Lucilius ever to think himself in the presence of Cato or Scipio or Laelius or some other man eminently vertuous that by imagining himself under the aspect of so grave and austere an eye he might be kept from absurdities and indecorums And sure there is much in the eye of man to represse and restrain from sin Potest miles coram Rege suo non irasci ob solam Regiae dignitatis eminentiam saith Basil A souldier though wrath and revenge seem to be the proper and essentiall qualities of a souldier can bridle his rage and put up an injury in the presence of his King such majesty is there in the eye of man yea there is a kinde of authority and awe in the eye of a childe Maxima debetur pueris reverentia si quid turpe paras saith Invenal But O this eye of God this pure piercing flaming glorious eye of God could we remember that and set our selves under that O what an awe would it lay upon our hearts Sure I can scarce think there is any heart under heaven so wicked but would be awed by that eye of God You have heard of Paphnutius and Ephrem Syrus that converted two notorious and impudent strumpets onely by pressing upon them this consideration of the eye of God Ah brethren it is as Paul saith it is a shame to speak what things are done of some in secret Do not many men do that in secret which if their own father wife child or any other stood by and lookt on they would not dare to doe well God hath stood by all the while and lookt on thee he saw thy secret adultery he knows when and where and with whom and with how many thou hast committed folly his eye saw thee when thou thoughtest no eye saw thee Psal 130. Jerem. 23 ●4 darknes is no darknes unto him If thou canst finde a time when or a place where Gods eye is not upon thee cannot reach thee there go and sin boldly sin without fear But whither canst thou flee from Gods presence whither canst thou go from his sight Read that Psal 139. Can any hide himself in secret places saith the Lord that I shall not see him do not I fill heaven and earth Jer. 23.24 A man * Falens facere aliquid mali de publico recipis te in domum tuam ubi nemo inimicorum te videat de locis domus tuae promptis in saciem constitutis removes te in cubiculum times in cubiculo aliunde conscientiam secedis in cor tuum the meditaris ille in corde tuo imerior est Quocunque ergo fugeris ibi est quando teipso interior est c. August in ●sal 74. saith Augustine when he hath a minde to some sin gets him out of the publike betakes him to his house recites himself from that part of his house which is most exposed to view into his closet or bed-chamber and yet being afraid to be discovered there he retreats into his heart and there pleaseth himself in contemplative wickednesse I lle in corde tuo interior est God is within thy heart and therefore whithersoever thou fleest God is there for he is more within thee then thy self Poor soul there cannot rise so much as one proud unclean lustfull covetous revengefull vain thought in thy heart but God presently seeth it much lesse can any of thy actuall sins be hid from his

of your sequestratours I know that upon complaint any that are unjustly molested shall finde reliefe at your hands But in the mean time it is a matter of joy and triumph to your enemies if they can create a vexation to your friends and to your friends it is a petty death to be thus vexed for nothing but favouring your service Might not your wisedome think upon some course to check this insolency in delinquents But these are but private evils and they are but some few persons and families that grone under them for relief at your hands I will shew you Kingdoms Nations dying perishing if you make not hast to succour them There is Ireland poor Ireland that 's drawn to death that 's ready to be slain that 's more then half slain already that lies bleeding gasping ready to give up the ghost doe we not with trembling hearts expect every day when we should hear that Ireland is dead perished lost I am sure you will not you cannot say behold we know it not O then doe not fore-slow your aid and their deliverance Now God hath given you so glorious a conquest over your enemies at home O let your eyes and hearts be upon Ireland and doe something speedily vigorously for the delivering of your brethren that are drawn to death that are ready to be slain that are killed all the day long so shall not the blood of Ireland be required at the hand of England There is also another object of your commiseration and that is England our own dear England that hath languished of a bloody issue almost half as long as that woman in the Gospel till the very strength and vitals of it are almost exhausted I may say to you of England as Pharaohs servants did of Egypt Knowest thou not that the whole land is destroyed Exod. 20.7 I know you have used many means for the gaining of our pea●e go on in those endeavours still and prosecute them now more then ever and the Lord so blesse them with successe that your enemies may see and be forced to acknowledge what we have affirmed all this while to wit that a holy righteous safe peace a peace with truth a peace with reformation was all you aimed at in your warres There is yet another dying object of your pity and that is Truth Religion the Gospel the Lord Jesus Christ that lies a bleeding that 's drawn to death ready to be slain O doe not I beseech you forbear to deliver them There is scarce any truth of Christ any Doctrine of the Gospel any point of our Religion but by some temerarious hand or other hath been invaded assaulted maimed ready to be slain The Doctrine of the Trinity of the God-head of Christ and of the holy Ghost of the verity of the Scriptures the Doctrine of Election of Redemption of Vocation of Justification of Sanctification the work of the Spirit the rule of life of holinesse the Doctrine of the Sacraments of the Immortality of the soul c. We may say with the Prophet Isaiah Truth is fallen in the streets Isa 59.14 And there me thinks it lies breathing out Davids sad complaint I looked on my right hand and there was none would know me Refuge failed me no man cared for my soul Psal 142.4 Me thinks I see truth and Religion lying in the streets and crying as the poor creatures doe that lye by the Pallace wall or in the hole at Ludgate Some mercifull man have pity upon me for the Lords sake but as generally neglected and disregarded as those poore creatures are Truth it is Right Honourable and beloved that when first you met in Parliament we were in great danger of losing our Religion There was a Popish Arminian faction that had a designe to robus of our Religion God gave you hearts to be very sensible of that danger and to be very zealous for the prevention of it I and thousands more must and will bear you record that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes rather then have parted with the least Apex or Iota of divine truth out of a lenity or indulgence to Papist or Arminian or any other Heretick where is then your former Zeal is Religion and truth lesse dear and pretious now then it was before God forbid Is it in lesse danger O that it were But surely beloved our danger in this particular is but a little changed not quite removed then indeed Religion was in danger of a more violent and quick dispatch and now it is in danger of a more lingring but as sure a death then it was like to have been dispatched with one thrust of a sword or one chop of a hatchet by the hand of known and undoubted enemies now it is like to be stabbed to death with bodkins with variety and multiplicity of errours that have wounded our Religion in every vein And this assassinate upon Religion committed by those that would be counted her chief and onely friends Lift up your eyes and consider doe you not see the body of our Religion lying like the body of Caesar after he was murthered in the Senate-house with above twenty severall wounds given him by the hands of his own friends and confederates or like the body of Cassianas whom two hundred of his own school-boyes stabbed to death with the pins of their writing-Tables May we not say of Religion as Pradentius doth of that Martyrs picture Pruden Perist Hymn 9. Plagas mille gerens totos lacerata per artus Ruptam minutis praeterens punctis cutem Truly when I behold the face and state of Religion among us it is in mine eyes as if the Lord Jesus Christ were crucified afresh and put to open shame in the midst of us Here comes a blasphemous Arrian and he wounds his head by denying him to be God There comes a sectary that 's a flat Arminian though he hath not wit enough to know it and he wounds him through the heart by maintaining universall redemption and that Christ shed his blood for all men a thing that never entred into the heart of Christ There comes an Antinomian and he pierceth his hands and his feet by denying that exact walking and working by the rule of the Morall Law which Jesus Christ came not to give an indulgence or dispensation from but to give himself an example of Atque haec impunè Can you plead ignorance of these things and say behold we know it not you cannot blessed be God you doe not you have begun to set your faces against these blasphemies and heresies that servis dormientibus are broken in upon us Go on in this your might to stop the mouth of all ungodlinesse and the zeal of the Lord of hosts be your strength I know it hath been said by some that because a heart to know and embrace the truth is the gift of God and the Magistrate cannot by forcible means work such a heart in men therefore the Magistrate must use no compulsion or coercion in matters of Religion but certainly though the Magistrate cannot give grace yet he may compell men to attend upon those meanes where God doth usually give that grace 2 Chron. 34. 38 Ezra 10.7 8. Else you must not only repeal the Laws that enjoin Papists to come to our Churches but repent of them as yours and the Nations sins And though the Magistrate cannot give men a heart to know and love the truth yet certainly the Magistrate may make Laws to restrain and punish errours and blasphemies that are against the truth else pari ratione because a chast heart or a true and loyall heart Dan. 3.29 is the gift of God and the Magistrate by all his penall Laws cannot make men have such hearts therefore the Magistrate may not make Laws to punish adultery incest theft treason were this good Divinity or good policie Go on go on Right Honourable and beloved let not such shadows as these stay you Remember the vows of God are upon you for the extirpation of heresie superstition schisme profanenesse and of whatsoever is contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of godlinesse as well as of Popery and Prelacy Remember the vows of God are upon you and the eyes of God are upon you and the Lord give you strength so to perform your vows as you may finde acceptance in his eyes Amen Amen FINIS