Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	people_n	power_n	see_v	1,799	5	3.3938	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74655	Three treatises, being the substance of sundry discourses: viz. I. The fixed eye, or the mindful heart, on Psal. 25.15. II. The principal interest, or the propriety of the saints in God, on Micah 7.7. III. Gods interest in man natural and acquired, on Psal. 119.4. By that judicious and pious preacher of the gospel, Mr Joseph Symonds, M.A. late vice-provost of Eaton Colledg.	Symonds, Joseph.	1653 (1653)	Wing S6360; Thomason E1440_1; ESTC R209605	170,353	369

To be able no otherwise to say I am thine is but sad In a family the meanest things that are scarce fit to be retained in the house are his to whom the house belongs All things are Gods even the meanest creatures and to have no other relation to God then this is but to be in the condition of things most contemptible In Deut. 10.14 God speaks of a better relation to his people Behold the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lord thy Gods the Earth also with all that therein is Now the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and chose his seed after them even you above all people as appeareth this day We must be his upon a better account then that of Creation There is a second Interest that God hath in man and that is acquired and that partly by Redemption God having redeemed both by price and power a certain number to himself out of the lump of mankind these in an especial manner are his So Isai 43.1 Thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and formed thee O Israel Fear not I have redeemed thee I have called thee by name thou art mine I have redeemed thee that is I have delivered thee from the great power of the mighty Ones that bare Rule over thee and under whom thou sufferedst hard things Therefore thou art mine This we know is a Law that is amongst men That those that are conquered and saved from the sword become his by whom they are so subdued There is a second acquired Interest that God hath in man and that is by Contract wherein man engageth himself to a resignation of himself to God In which sence David spake also when he said I am thine The Contract between God and man which is the foundation of this Interest is a mutual engaging to be each others according to their capacities I 'le not insist upon opening this description but will a little hint at some of those strange things that are in this Contract between God and man And First A word as to Gods part It 's a Contract where there is the greatest disparity that is imaginable between the two parties For here is he that is the highest and the other party that is lower then the lowest and meanest creature more contemptible then the worm Princes do not make contracts with beggers and yet they may have need of such though not for their assistance yet as theaters to display their bounty and goodness on God needs not the whole Creation to set forth his glory who is absolute in himself God al sufficient To this add that disparity that is between the things which God requires of man and the things which God engageth himself to do for man Was there ever such a Contract made Saith God Do you but your part which is not a thousand part of what is due and I 'le do my part What is that More then he did at first indent for I 'le give you an eternal immutable life and that in my own Presence and Kingdom You may cast your eyes from that again and wonder more at the Mediator by whom and through whom this Covenant this Contract was made God sends his own Son into the world both to bespeak man to be willing to enter into this Contract and to seal up the Contract with his own blood That part which concerns man his resigning of himself unto God which is an absolute parting with himself and putting himself everlastingly under the power wisdom and soveraignty of God to be commanded ordered and disposed in all things by him according to his Will I shall now set before you certain peculiar things that are proper to this engagement of man and resignation of himself unto God 1. In resigning of our selves to God there is an act springing from the greatest necessity and wherein there is the greatest liberty and freedom of spirit It was ill done to put these two into a contrariety and opposition Necessity and Freedom which do most perfectly agree By how much the more any creature is excellent by so much the more he is necessarily what he is and yet most freely such The Angels love God necessarily and yet most freely Nay God himself is good most necessarily and yet is so and doth good most freely This might be manifested in sundry Instances where there is some degree of necessity and also a very excellent freedom and willingness As for example Take two friends fully suited to each other their hearts are necessarily carried to mutual embraces and yet most freely It is in this case as in flying from evil a man flies from evil by a kind of enforcement and yet freely especially from some great evil when he sees there is a necessity to fly he cannot but fly and yet doth it freely In resigning of our selves to God that which is the fundamental reason of it lays upon the Spirit of a man a strong necessity and yet leaves that spirit in a very sweet and excellent freedome Psal 110.10 You have both these exprest Thy people shal be willing in the day of thy power in the day when thou putest forth thy power who wilt rule in the midst of thine enemies and raise up to thy self a Kingdome not onely among strangers but Rebels in this day of thy power thy people shal be willing yea willingnesses very willing they shall come to thee with all earnestness The will of a man may truly and in good fence be subject to compulsion and yet not limited in its freedom it may be compel'd how Not by meer physicall power acting upon the Spirit of a man but by a moral power by force of Arguments and Reasons proposed and set on the soul so Sauls servants compel'd him to eat bread 1 Sam. 28. And they were sent to command and to compell them to come to the Feast Indeed this inforcing and commanding reason is the great instrument of the power of God whereby he commands the spirits of those whom he loves into obedience to himself This is the key that opens the heart as it is said Acts 16.14 God opened the heart of Lydia Resignation of a mans self to God is from the efficacie of Gods mighty appearance and manifestation of himself to the soul of a man by which he is over powr'd and cannot deny God but notwithstanding this necessity he doth most freely fall under the power that acts upon him 2. A second thing concerning Resignation is that Self is saved by being destroyed it lives ●y death A man finds himself by losing himself and doth best enjoy himself by parting with himself There is a great mistake and it is the fascination and witchery of the powers of darkness upon the spirits of men that by Nature corrupt nature we are apt to think that the giving of our selves to God is the giving of our selves away to our loss whereas it is our making it 's not the straitning

'le name one more Interest in God is better enjoyed then any other Interest whatsoever There is no Interest to be enjoyed with that sweetness security usefulness and consolation as our Interest in God is For besides that unspeakable and infinite Fulness that is in God know that this Interest is not subject to any dissolution Interest in God now is better then it was in our first estate when we came out of Gods hand All other Interests may cease If our love or others loveliness cease our Interest is gone and the loveliness of every Creature under the Sun will have an end but God abides Take a man the most wise the most learned the most amiable the richest man all these things will pass away but our Interest in God is not subject to any separation that is we shall be never from him The absence of our friends is like the setting of the Sun they are life to us in their presence but when they are gone from us they cannot help us they are so far dead to us but God is ever with us Interests with men are oft-times very exacting A man must do this and do that and much ado to please Men do tye up their Interest so strait that except things be done at this time and after this mode we indanger a flaw God doth not impose upon his people after this manner And again Other Interests are apt to be tyred and so fall into a dull sleep of mutual forgetfulness because the goodness that is in us is but little a shallow Cistern is soon drawn dry But with God there is no difficulty at all to give out love and if he spend himself never so much this way he is not at all diminished He rests in his love Zeph. 3. His joy and self-contentment is always flourishing So that as this Interest is more attainable so it 's better to be enjoyed CHAP. IX Christians ought to clear their hopes from Uncertainties Beleevers doubt through their own fault They that seek God must pursue their end THat which follows next is Exhortation That you would not only seek this Interest and get it but that you would seek to know it and to be satisfied that you have indeed an Interest in God Live not upon hopes mingled with uncertainties and anxieties Let not this suffice It may be God is my God or I hope he is but put it out of doubt Give all diligence saith the Apostle to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Sure as firm ground that you may so know it that there may be no trembling of heart about it that it may be a certain conclusion made up in your own spirits that you are the called and chosen of God For if you do these things saith the Apostle you shall never fall but an abundant entrance shall be administred to you into his Kingdom You shall never fall or as it is sometimes rendered you shall never offend So the Apostle James Chap. 2.10 He that Offends in one is guilty of all Indeed the sight of Interest in God carries a man with more evenness and strength in his way and keeps him in more compliance with and conformity unto God Sometimes the word is rendered stumble Rom. 11.11 Have they stumbled that they should fall If a man know God to be his God he walks with a more even and steady foot all his ways are more plain before him mountains of difficulty and danger will be layd level there will be nothing to dash his foot against to hinder him in his race and an entrance in abundance will be administred to him into the Kingdom of Heaven Fears and doubts straiten our way and hinder our passage to the Kingdom of God Suppose a man were to go into an house where he fears he shall not enter this would very much hinder his endevor But when a man shall have a blessed prospect into Heaven and see his place there that must needs further his more abundant and free entrance into it But more particularly that I may perswade you if God will to be very serious in this thing to make your Interest in God more certain let me tell you In the first place That no man that beleeves in Christ wants it but through his own fault I say it is a mans own fault if he be not able to say that God is his God I speak now according to the ordinary course of God demeaning himself to his people There is nothing of greater concernment either to his peoples welfare or the advancement of his own design which he hath upon them then the manifestation of his Love and the satisfaction of their spirits in that great Question Whether God be their God And that Spirit upon whom lies the Office of bringing from darkness to light hath this Office also of refreshing and reviving the spirit and therefore bears that name the Comforter He not only espouses us to Christ but maintains a perpetual entertainment that is his work He is not only the bond of our Union but the light of it by which we see our selves one with Christ and so one with the Father Many complain they find not God to be their God but it is not because God is not willing to shew himself what he is but because they are wanting to themselves There are two great faults that oftentimes wrong us and keep us in the dark and make that seem a secret which otherwise might lie open to our eyes One Error concerneth seeking Some never put their Interest in God to the question Some seek not at all and never put the question whether God be their God but run the hazard live and dye venturing their Souls to Eternity Others complain they seek but they cannot find fain they would be satisfied in this thing but they cannot Now I say the complaint must fall upon our selves there is perhaps a fault in our seeking This is the word that must stand fast for ever God will be found of them that seek him In Jer. 29.13 Then you shall find me when you seek me with all your heart To seek with all the heart is not only to seek truly and sincerely some seek but in words only making verbal prayers without any inward sense but to seek him strongly above all things and not only from an ardent thirst of spirit but to seek him without ceasing till we find him In due time we shall reap if we faint not Gal. 6. The Rule of Scripture you know is this that we pray incessantly 1 Thes 5.17 Mark that in Hos 6.3 After two days will he revive us and in the third he will raise us up Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord His going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain as the former and latter rain unto the Earth If you follow on if you follow the business you shall obtain God hath