Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	king_n	leave_v	lord_n	2,600	5	3.6008	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30925	The faithful and wise servant discovered in a sermon preached to the Parliament of the commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, at their late private fast in the Parliament House, Jan. 9, 1656 / by Matthew Barker ...	Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1657 (1657)	Wing B773; ESTC R20191	33,385	52

from his Vineyard Isaiah 5 and so wondred when he found it not it was because he had bestowed so much cost and work upon it He had fenced it and gathered out the stones of it and planted it with the choicest vine c. THEN he looked it should bring grapes Had not the Lord bestowed so much workmanship upon it he would not have had such expectation upon it God expects better and greater things from his people then from others that they should do that which is singular and serve him at a more Spiritual and excellent rate then others either do or can and that upon the account of that workmanship he hath bestow'd upon them It is said 1 Kings 10. 12. That King Salomon made of Almug-trees Psalteries and Harps for Singers to praise the Lord. So all the spiritual carving and polishing that God bestowes upon the Spirits of his people is but to make them instruments of service and praise to himself 4. Consider again Doth not the Law of Love as you are Christians ingage you to be serving the Lord How can we say we love Christ if we do not serve him The Nature of love is to deny it self and overlook it self that it may serve the person beloved Amor est Donum Amantis in amatum Through love the true lover bestowes himself upon his beloved and if himself much more his service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that Ancient speaks it suffers not a man to be his own Now can we justifie it to Christ or our own Consciences that we love him if we bestow not ourselves in a way of service upon him What is the reason that men are so serving themselves is it not because they love themselves It is this self love that doth confine man within himself and makes his charity not only according to the Proverb to begin at home but to end at home also But now when man doth indeed love the Lord this same carries him out of himself and resigns him up to the Lord and all that he is and hath to be serviceable to the Lord. Lastly How can we say that Christ reigns in our hearts if we are not serving the Lord For the great end of Christs reigning is to subdue in man his self-ish Nature whereby he is serving himself that the Lord that hath right to him may have service from him Christ is made Lord of the Creation is set up King of all the Earth that he might make the Creation serviceable to God that God might have the glory of his works come into him through his Son So is he set up King in the heart of man that he might smite those Enemies that had carried him from God and his service and subdue his Reason his Will his Affections and his whole man to the obedience and service of God And it is an undoubted Truth That as Christ's Reigne and Kingdom prevails in the heart of man so doth he cease from himself and is serving the Lord. Thus I have spoken to you also in the second capacity as Christians and now give me leave also to speak a few words to you in that capacity wherein you meet in this House that is as Magistrates or Parliament-men And in this more Publique and Politique capacity you are to serve the Lord For every Talent that is in our hands we are to improve it for our Masters use For what is a Talent but any Ability or Opportunity that is in the hand of man whereby he may be useful to the praise and service of God And where there are more Talents there will be the more required He that had but one Talent in the Parable was severely punish'd because he hid that one in the Earth and improv'd it not But suppose that he that had the five Talents should have hid them all five Should he not have been punish'd five times more Men that have great Estates great Authority great Interests and act in a wider Sphaere then other men as they have greater advantages in their hand so their sin and their punishment will be greater if they I do not say abuse them for the unprofitable Servant did not so but neglect them and improve them not The Magistrates of the world Kings and Judges of the Earth are particularly called upon to serue the Lord in the Text and to Kiss the Son in the next verse For whatever power they have even as such is derived from Christ the Mediator By whom Kings Reigne and Princes Decree Judgement For Christ is not only King of his Church but King of the VVorld and so the powers of the world are derived from him and are to be subordinate and subjected to his honour and so far as they are concerned to the Affairs of his Kingdom in the Earth I intend not to enter that perplex controversie of the Magistrate's power in matters of Religion about which I find a double Extream The one in that opinion of ERASTVS that would have no other Government in the Church but that of the Civil Magistrate and his power to interpose even in the Intrinsick affairs thereof The other is that of the Jesuites whose Maxime is Magistratus nil statuat de Religione And I have heard it asserted That nothing of the first Table or of the Souls of men doth at all fall under his cognizance which I humbly conceive to be an Extreme on the other hand For without question somthing may and ought to be done by the Magistrate to the befriending of the Gospel and its progress in the world I shall only speak of those things which I think most sober men will grant because it is a tender point 1. Without question he is to do nothing to hinder the preaching and spreading the Gospel within his Dominion For the true Gospel hath a right to be preached in all Nations The Apostles had a Commission from him that was King of kings and Lord of lords To Go and teach all Nations and therefore they might by vertue of their Royal Commission from him demand of the subordinate Kings and Rulers of the Earth a free and un-interrupted passage through their several Dominions for the publishing of this Gospel in any part of them And they were not to be accounted Intruders in any Nation or any City which they might enter into for the discharge of their Commission 2. Because the Gospel hath such a Right Magistrates ought not only to suffer it but to remove outward Obstructions that may lie in its way and that may hinder the passage and progress thereof And he doth but that which is to have a free passage through the world So that if any should shut their dores against the preaching of it he may command them to be opened If any should lay hands upon the Dispensers of it to restrain them in their work he may command that they be set at liberty if any disturb and interrupt them in their work he may forbid all such

in your own eyes and the lower you are thus the more will God delight to honour you and the more honour he puts upon you the lower be you still As we read of Moses Gideon David Salomon yea and Saul when the Lord came to call them forth to publick work and put honour upon them then were they lowest in their own eyes God delights to work by such Instruments that are low in their own eyes yea that may be low in the eyes of others that glory may bee his alone And to be serviceable in your Generation to Christ his People and the Nations whereof you are the Messengers if you please at your leisure to peruse the following Discourse you shall find it to be your greatest Interest ●nd your Truest Wisdom and as I have in my S●●●on endeavoured to discover it so that you may eminently attain it shall be the earnest prayer of him who would fain approve himself to be the Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ and of Your Honours in him MATTHEW BARKER THE FAITHFUL And VVise Servant Delivered in a Sermon preached before the Parliament at their late Fast January 9. 1656. From Psal 2. 10 and part of Vers 11. Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth Serve the Lord with fear c. THis Psalm is an eminent Prophesie of the Kingdom of the Messiah and so acknowledged by the Jews themselves although it agree to David's Kingdom in the letter yet David's Kingdom was not set up so much for it self as to be a type and shaddow of another Kingdom to be set up after it in the world And though it be the most blessed Kingdom that ever arose and set up on purpose for the delivery and salvation of man yet when it came to be set up the whole world in a manner rose up against it In the Psalm we have 1. A Distribution of the persons the several sorts of men that stood up in opposition to it As first The common people and that both of Gentiles Why do the Heathen rage and of Jews And the people imagine a vain thing verse 1. And secondly The Kings and Rulers of the earth The Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed v. 2. 2. He shews implicitely at least wherein they do especially oppose it viz. in the Laws Statutes and Ordinances of it Let us break their Bands asunder and cast away their Cords from us verse 3. This Kingdom comes to lay bands upon men to lay Laws and yokes upon the lusts and licentious nature of man which he cannot bear 3. He shews what success they meet with in their opposition as it is a bad work so it meets with as bad success for it is said 1. God laughs at them As a company of mad-men busying themselves about their own ruine vers 4. He that sits in the Heavens shall laugh at them 2. He speaks to them and that in his wrath he gives them warning to forbear as in vers 5. Before he falls upon them he doth admonish them of several things As 1. That it was his King they oppose a King that he himself had set up as in vers 6. 2. A King also setled and established by his Decree as in vers 7. 3. The King also was his own Son Thou art my Son And he tells them the particular time of his Instalment to day This day have I begotten thee Which the Apostle applies Acts 13. 33. to the day of Christs resurrection for though Christ was anointed before yea he was born a King yet he came not into the full possession and execution of his Kingly office until his Resurrection As the Apostle asserts Rom. 14. 9. To this end Christ died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of quick and dead Yea and Christ himself attests it Matt. 28. 18. where he speakes after his resurrection All power is given me both in Heaven and Earth 4. He tels them he was a King that he had given universal Lordship and dominion to I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession vers 8. These things they are told by way of admonition but when this prevailes not then Lastly he falls upon them and he breakes them in pieces Thou shalt break them with a Rod of Iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel as vers 9. Now in the three last verses of the Psalm he makes application of the whole preceding discourse and applies it particularly to the Rulers and Governours of the Earth either because they are the most likely to oppose the Kingdom of Christ as fearing it might clash with their earthly and secular interests as Herod did Or else because their subjecting to it is likely to make a fair way for its entertainment throughout the world And he applies it by way of serious advise and counsel to them 1. First he adviseth them to be wise and well instructed as it behoves men in power to be men of wisdom Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth vers 9. 2 He tels them wherein they are to declare their wisdom Serve the Lord with fear rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son which he presseth by a double argument 1. Ab incommodo from the great evil and mischief that was likely to ensue in case they did not thus Least he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little 2. Ab utili from the great and blessed advantage that would follow upon it in case they did Blessed are all they that put their trust in him Thus you have in brief the Analysis of the Psalm But I must go back to my Text which is nothing else as I said but a piece of serious and wholsome Counsel administred to the Rulers and Governours of the world whether higher or lower more fixed or transient about their comportment towards Christ and his Kingdom when he is setting it up in the world And though this word was spoken by David many hundred yea thousands of years ago yet it speaks now as much as ever and is this day brought though by a mean instrument within your walls and speakes to you In the Text we have considerable 1. The matter or the substantial part of the Counsel which is Serve the Lord. 2. Here are the persons to whom it is particularly directed the Kings and Judges of the Earth they are the persons especially admonisht to serve the Lord. 3. Here is the manner how the Lord is to be served Serve the Lord with fear 4. Here is the motive or argument whereby this Counsel is enforced And that is This will be their Wisdom hereby they will shew themselves wise men men well instructed 1. First I shall speak to the matter or substance of the Counsel which is serve the

wisdom they had their wise men whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they loved to be applauded with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of their Orations and who hath not heard of their seven Wise men The Romans they pretended to it as the Apostle speaks 1 Rom. 22. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools The Persians they pretended to it and they had their Wise men among them who were called Magi. The Jews they had their Wise men whom they called Chacamim and the Pharisees affected to be called Rabbi Rabbi which i● as much as to say a man of much learning or wisdom But if you would know where true wisdom lies the Text tels us it lies in serving God The Veyn of True Wisdom runs all along in the service of God This is wisdom though not in the worlds ballance yet in the Ballance of the Sanctuary The Oracle of Apollo was once consulted to shew who was the wisest man But it is only Gods Oracle that can resolve this and that tells you every where it is the godly man the man serving God And here first I shall shew how it is the wisdom of men in general and then particularly of Magistrates to serve the Lord. First in general 1. Is it not wisdom for a man to be seeking his own happiness and to depart from that evil which would destroy him We see this Instinct of wisdom planted in the Nature of every creature whereby it gathers into it self that good that is con●ucible to its happiness and expels and avoids what it may that evil which is contrary and so destructive to it Now he that is sincerely serving the Lord he is the only man that is pursuing that good that is mans true happiness which is God himself and avoiding and expelling that evil which would destroy him and that is sin and the consequences of it So that he is truly serving himself that serves the Lord. As Job in his 28. Chapter brings his discourse about wisdom to this conclusion in the last verse Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding And Salomon a man well able to judg of wisdom and folly gives us a character of both Prov. 22. 3. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself the wicked passe on and are punished 2. Is it not wisdom to bestow a mans service and labour where it will turn most to his account A wise man will not run and sweat to catch a Butterfly He will see whether that which he toyls and travels for will countervail his pains For what profit saith the wise man hath he that hath laboured for the wind Eccles 5. 16. Now no labour doth bring in such a rich Revenue doth so turn to a mans account as that which is bestowed upon the service of God Again Is it not wisdom for a man to improve his season There is a season for every thing under the sun saith Solomon and the wise man watcheth his season The wise Merchant will observe his season and the wise Physician his season and the wise Statesman his and the wise Husbandman his yea the Ant doth embrace its season the Swallow the Crane the Stork they do all observe their seasons And therefore the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians Eph. 5. 15. To walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time or the season Now mans season it is in general the fruit of his being in this world or that day of grace that is in his hand which he is to make use of to get acquaintance with God and to lay up for himself a good foundation against the time to come which no man is doing but he alone that is faithfully serving God 4. It is wisdom to subject a man's self to that Lord that hath a true Right to him to whom of Right he owes subjection and service And a wise man will not willingly subject himself to any that upon no account hath Right to him A servant willingly subjects himself to his own Master and a child to his own Father for they see they have a Right to them but not to strangers Now he that is serving the Lord he subjects himself to that Master that hath a true Right to his service whereas now carnal men subject themselves to strange Lords Satan and fleshly lusts c. that have no Right at all to Rule over them which as it is their sin so it is their folly also 5 It is wisdom to make provision for the future a fool only looks at what is just before him but a wise man is able to see a far off Now he that looks beyond this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this present time and is making provision for eternity this is the wise man and no man doth this but he that in good earnest is serving the Lord. But then especially it is the wisdom of Magistrates to serve the Lord and I will shew it only in these two particulars 1. It will be their stability And 2. Their Prosperity 1. This will be their Stability Nothing doth more establish Common-wealths and Kingdoms then when the Power and Authority of those that sit at Stern is improved for the Lord. As God told Solomon 2 Chron. 7. 17 18. If thou wilt walk before me as David thy Father and do according to all that I commanded thee and observe my Statutes and Judgements What then Then will I establish the Throne of thy Kingdom c. But he adds If you turn away then will I pluck you up by the root out of my Land c. Yea he makes such a promise to Jeroboam 1 King 11. 38. If thou wilt walk in my ways and do that which is right in my sight and keep my Statutes c. Then I will be with thee and build thee a sure House I need not tell you in what a tottering condition the Nation stands how it is shaken by divisions and what a discontented spirit is working every where now if any thing in the world do establish us I do not say take it from me but take it from the God of Truth it must be a holy subjection to the Lord and an hearty serving his Will his Glory and his Providence with what Talents he entrusts us with 2. This will be their Prosperity It was the counsel that David gave Solomon at his death and therefore sure had weight in it 1 Kings 2. 3. Keep the charge of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways c. And what then That thou mayst prosper in all that thou dost and whithersoever thou turnest thy self What can be more plain So that now Honoured and Beloved ye see what is the way to have Counsel and direction come in upon you and successe and prosperity to follow you in your Affairs and what will be found to be wisdom when all wicked and Machiavilian Policy which hath too much acted the Counsels of men and the power of the world shall be discovered to be but meer folly in the end Now is it not an unseemly thing to see a Counsel without wisdom and a Christian Counsel without Christian wisdom Thus I have done yet only give me leave to add these two words by way of enforcement upon the whole 1. Consider that your day is short The day of your life is short but your day of service may be shorter And therefore What ever your hand findeth to do do it with your might Eccles 9. 10. Which is the Counsel of Solomon the wisest Prince and States-man that ever sate upon Throne And as he Counselled so he practized For with what vigour and industry did he manage that great work which was in his hand of building the house of God So that he finisht it in seven years and an half as you may easily compute it if you read the 1 Kings 6. But he was thirteen yeares in building his own house 1 Kings 7. 1. which is recorded not for his disparagement but his commendation that he followed the work of Gods House with greater vigour then his own house A good pattern for our imitation Yea we have the example of one greater then Solomon even Christ himself for the improvement of our day John 10. 4. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh wherein no man can work The natural day was appointed for work so is the day of life the day of grace and the day of service and when the night comes upon any of these dayes then is the time of work ceased with you with me and with all men And is not this day short at longest and much of it is already past and that which remains flees faster away then an Eagle in the Ayr or an Arrow from the Bow of the mighty Therefore let me beseech you to be walking and working and living apace for the shadows of the evening will suddenly be upon you 2. Consider lastly that your account is hastening when You must give an account of our Stewardship and be no longer Stewards And stand naked at the Bar of Christ devested of all your external Ornaments whether Riches Power Honour greatness and the like and every one give account of himself unto the Lord. And the Judgement will not proceed so much upon this or that particular action as what hath been the main end and Scope of your life Whether you have been living to Christ or to your selves Those that now can summon others to stand at their bar must ere long stand at the bar of Christ themselves and give up their accounts to him that is the Great and only Po●en●ate the Supream Judg of the World from whom there is no appeal and against whom there is no resistance and according to the Judgment they receive there so to stand either Justified or Condemned for ever FINIS