Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	satan_n	sin_n	world_n	1,889	5	4.4422	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16314	The carnall professor Discovering the wofull slavery of a man guided by the flesh. Distinguishing a true spirituall Christian that walkes close with God, from all formalists in religion, rotten hearted hypocrites, and empty powerlesse professors whatsoever. By that faithfull servant of Christ, Robert Bolton B.D. late preacher in Northampton Shire.	Bolton, Robert, 1572-1631, attributed name.; I. T., fl. 1634.	1634 (1634)	STC 3225; ESTC S111236	58,877	294

move the Lord to silence it for ever Look as God dealeth with whole societies of men in taking away the benefit of a powerfull Ministery from them when it is not hearkened unto So dealeth hee with particular persons in striking a dumbenesse upon their consciences when the voice thereof is not regarded Listen therefore to its secret checkes and smitings though men will not bee brought to repetition of sermons in their families yet they have a repeater in their bosomes that will be at private repetition with the in spite of their teeths and tell them This is not according to that you have beene taught you have beene reproved and convinced of this sin in the publike Ministery why doe you not leave it for shame reforme this pride hypocrisie lying swearing formality if religious courses will bring true peace at last use them to purpose rest not in outside shewes without the power and life of godlinesse How many times doth conscience presse us to repentance and better obedience How often doth it startle us in our postings to hell and call upon us to settle to amēd our lives Conscience speakes to us as the Lord to Ionah doest thou well to be angry Dost thou wel to be thus carnall and earthly thus eager upon the world thus cold and indifferent in holy duties conscience gives privy nips and secret checks It 1. points with the finger and gives direction if it be neglected it smites with the fist and gives correction Therefore if ever thou desirest that sinne should dye and grace flourish in thy heart despise not conscience when it speaketh doth it presse thee to any workes of piety reformation of abuses selfe-deniall c. in any case embrace his counsels Hearken to this preacher whom thou canst not suspect of partiality or ill will conscience cannot be suspected to be set on by others Doth it chide and reproch thee of thy waies doth it punctually arrest thee of thy particular beloved sinnes doe not extenuate much lesse defend thy crime but accuse thy selfe as fast as that accuses acknowledge thy folly abase thy spirit and covenant with thy conscience a full and speedy reformation If this were done how soone would Sathans kingdome be demolished and all corruption weakned in us But alas how few regard the voice of conscience or once hearken to it the very want of this sets open a floodgate of wickednesse in the world If men cannot stop consciences mouth they will at least stoppe their own eares If Conscience offer to be talking with them they shuffle it off till their better leisure Alas poore soule God will one day strippe thee of all thy imployments and turne thee loose to thy conscience and it shall have liberty to baite thee and bite thee at pleasure How much better is it to be willing to hearken to the voice of conscience here than bee forced to heare it in hell hereafter Hearken to the reproofes and admonitions of it now and thou shalt not heare the dolefull clamours of it then Further set faith a work to conquer your corruptions that wil doe wonders if wee apply the victory which Christ hath made for us though we be cowards he was not and what ever he did it was for us Hee stood in our place beat Sathā to our hands What if Sathan beat mee may a Christian say since Christ in my stead hath beaten him all to peeces I have long agoe overcome Sathan in my head In Christ my Captaine hee is a vanquished enemy faith makes his victory ours and sets him against every tentation we are not so weake in the hands of Sathan as Sathan is in the hands of Christ therefore is faith said to bee our victory because it makes Christ ours who is our victory A Christian is never safe except he can by faith lay fast hold on Christ and set up him and his power against the gates of hell and powers of darknesse Faith must have one to side with it against Sathan who hath absolute command over Sathan If Christ doe but say the word the Devil is soone said and his temptations die To him then who is our refuge and strength let us repaire in all perplexities by applying him to our selves by a lively faith and making him our sword and bucklar Say I of my selfe am weake as water not able to vanquish the least temptation or subdue any fleshly lust or corruption whatsoever but in Christ made mine by faith I am strong and can doe all things The promise is that if wee resist Sathan stedfast in the faith he shall flye Beleeve then that thou shalt overcome and thou shalt overcome war against sin and sinne shall die faith is our victory and nothing else because that alone apprehends applyes the promise Reason can doe no good because the temptation is spirituall and reason carnall a naturall thing hath neither stroke nor force against that which is spirituall beside Reason is a secret friend to Sathan and takes part with him against our selves Can a man conquer the devill with a wisedome that is divellish that hath him for its damme downe with flesh and bloud then away with our owne wit let faith doe all else it will doe nothing Faith never workes so well as when it works alone it is no more but beleeve the promise and Sathan is gone If Christians bee not perswaded that God will mortifie their corruptions they will very much at their manifold slips be off and on and coldly imbrace religious courses Alas our owne strength is too weake for the work of holinesse to represse and vanquish the lusts of our rebellious hearts which are by nature and custome so deepely polluted with sinne If wee have not faith to beleeve that God will aide and blesse our endeavours and doe the whole worke for us what courage can we have to goe about it What shameful foyles and repulses shall we sustaine in it Hee will manfully fight against his lust that is assured of victory from God in the end It is a great heartning to resist evill or to doe any good duty when wee beleeve God will be with us and helpe us therein Faith acquaints a man with his emptinesse of grace how unable hee is to crucifie his inordinate affections or to repaire the decayed image of God in him and that he is in a wofull case unlesse the Lord put to his helping What profits pardon of sinne to one that lyes under the power and dominion of sinne Therefore a true beleever fights couragiously against his corruptions and cryeth instantly to the Lord for helpe though the combate be never so hot hee will not yeelde because hee apprehends victory for grace doth flow from Christ into our hearts more or lesse as our faith is weaker or stronger though we have no grace of our selves yet if wee cleave to him wee shall want none Doth the streaming fountaine deny water to the thirsty traveller No more doth Christ to

wholly stripping thee of all that righteousnesse and holinesse wherein at first thou wert created like a disease overspreading the whole man filling thee with a generall pravity to all that is good and a constant propensity to all that is evill 2. It cleaves as fast to thy nature even as blacknesse to the skinne of an Ethiopian which cannot possibly bee washed out thou mayest loppe the branches but the roote will never die till thou expirest with it As long as corne is in the field it will have chaffe about it so as long as thou continuest in this miserable world the remnants of olde Adam will stil abide in thee A man may as easily shake off the skinne from his backe as ridde himselfe of this evill inhabitant wee beare our snare with us and carry our enemie about us where ever we goe 3. Consider the great contagion and pestilentiall humour that followes this sinne it derives venome upon every action that comes from us Sinne in the soule is as poyson in the fountaine that sheds infection into every performance wee take in hand Whensoever thou art going about any good this evill will be present with thee This is that which in thy prayers deads thy Zeale humiliation and importunity with God causing thee to rest in the worke done never enquiring after the truth of thine owne heart or Gods blessing thereupon This is that which fills thy minde with impertinent thoughts and wrong ends in religious duties This is that which in thy calling makes thee so unmindefull of God and his service so froward vain and unprofitable in thy Christian course ayming at nothing but thine own advantage 4. Consider the temptations that arise from this sinne the daily and hourly solicitations wherwith it sets upon the soule to withdraw it from good things and incline it to evill A man is tempted of his owne lusts saith S. Iames when he is drawne away and entised If a man shoote an arrow against a rocke it may be broken but can never enter No more can Satans temptations prevaile against the soule without something within to give them admittance when he tempted Christ hee could not hurt him because hee found nothing in him to receive his darts but in us the flesh holds treacherous complyance with Sathan and this wicked world and is ready to let them in at every assault Seede will never grow in any creature without a womb to foster it temptations may vexe but they cannot defile us without our owne sinfull entertainement It may grieve a chast woman to be solicited by base Ruffians but it cannot corrupt her whiles shee retaines her chastity If wee can keepe in our hearts from imbracing Sathans offers and shew our distast of them the sin is his then not ours but here is the misery Sathan knowes how our inclination stands hee searcheth out our dispositions and thereunto frameth his temptations therefore wee have great neede of spirituall wisdome to observe where wee lie most obnoxious where Sathan doth most plant his forces and ever to apply our strongest watch our most importunate prayers to those gappes 5. Consider the warre and rebellion of this sinne the flesh lusteth against the spirit and fleshly lusts warre against the soule saith the Apostle whilest wee are in this militant condition we shall have hourely experience of this traytor in our bosomes And this warre is not at a distance but an intimate and close contrariety in the same part the same soule that cōmands obedience doth it selfe resist it in the same will there is a delight in the Law of God and yet a counter-motion to the law of sinne In the same heart singlenesse and sensiblenesse of sinne and yet much secret fraud and hardnesse in the apprehension of wrath In the same affections love of God and love of the world feare of God and feare of men trust in God and doubting of his favour Lord I beleeve helpe thou mine unbeleefe was the cry of the poore man in the Gospell and such must be the complaint of the best of us Lord I remember thee helpe my forgetfulnesse Lord I presse towards thee helpe my weaknesse Lord I rejoyce in thee helpe my heavinesse Lord I desire to have more communion with thee help my strangnesse I am dull and dead hearted doe thou quicken me I desire to please thee helpe my failings We must not only wrestle with God by strong and importunate prayers but with the lusts and frowardnesse of our owne hearts 6. Consider the strength and power of this sinne to bring about what ever it hath projected for the advancement of Sathans kingdome it raignes like a King and hath the strength of a law in our members and a law without strength is no Law for Lawes are made to binde and keepe men in order therefore the wicked are called servants to sinne and the best of us all are captives that is unwilling servants So much flesh as remaines in any man so much disability he hath to withstand sinne The choisest vessell of mercy and most peculiar Saint of God is no way able to keepe his standing as of himselfe for this is certain that to be preserved from the strength of our owne lusts wee have not onely use of the good graces which God hath given us already but of a continuall support and underpropping Grace in the best here is but like the putting of hot water into cold which may bee warmed for a time but yet presently returnes to its former temper cold is predominant however the preserving of fire under it keepes it hot for the present It is not the Grace which any of us receive can overcome sinne in us if God should there stop and leave us to our selves without a fresh supply that which preserves us is his promise of never failing us of healing our back slidings and following us with his mercy all our dayes For grace doth not onely prevent a wicked man to make him righteous but followes him lest hee become wicked againe 7. Consider the indefatigablenesse of this sinne how unwearied it is in every mischiefe it sets about If we resist the devill hee will flye from us but this fleshly heart of ours will never sound a retreat it is like a wounded wolfe that runnes up and downe to doe mischiefe a man that hath in some measure overcome his lusts will bee farre more sensible of their stirrings and struglings then another in whom they rule without disturbance Sin is kindled by that which quencheth all other fires and surely grace which extinguisheth other temptations doth occasionally enrage the flesh though in regard of exercise and actuall power it dye daily The reason is because a thing in its proper motion is never tyred who ever knew the Sea give over raging or the streame grow weary of running Now corrupt motions are as naturall to a man as the course of a river Though there may be

despaire and in the wicked to torment them before their time yet in respect of God a most friendly admonition for by this a man is suffered in a vision to see and feele the torment of hell to know the price of Christs blood to labour by all meanes possibly to make sure his election In the wicked also it hath this use I could never have thought it possible for a mortall man to have beene capable of that measure of distresse had not the Lord in his mercy for the further subduing also of my bedlame flesh suffered mee sometimes to behold and feele the flashings of hell through his grace causing me as a child to be stilled by the view of fearefull beasts If then in a dream or in a mans life time there may bee such an incredible horror that it may cause the eyes to stare the tongue to rave the haire to stand an end How much more hideous will it be when really and in deede with perfect knowledge sense broad waking we shall feele the strokes of the Almighty the terrours of God shall lay hold of us In consideration whereof in the name of God as you tender your eternall welfare enter into the examination of your selves and discerne of your estates whether they bee carnall or no cry out for the spirit you heare what the Holy Ghost saith If you walke after the flesh ye shall dye How strangely doth the sentence of Corporall death appall a man though pronounced by a wretch like himselfe and shall not the doome of death eternall given out by the Holy Ghost at all astonish you Oh let not Sathan harden your hearts resist the devill and he will flye from thee It is a Commandement and a promise What faire warnings doth God give unto men by himselfe and Ministers by the motions of his Spirit and checkes of our consciences from time to time and shall we bee so voide of grace as to make our selves a booty for Sathan to stand still while he deprives us of our lives and soules and all Me thinks reason should something prevaile with us in things so neerely concerning our best good But alas a hardened heart like Pharaohs a flint an adamant a marble spirit no admonition will serve its turn where grace is wanting no impression takes any roote Men will make triall and then beleeve A feareful experience this is thou maist first try in an earthly cause and then be warned but from hell thou canst not returne Remember Dives credit not the multitude Olde Tophet is wide and large humble thy selfe therefore betime and repent of thy grievous sinnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if ye mortifie As before the Apostle described an infallible token of death so here he proceedeth to shew in like manner a teckmerion or a certaine signe of life and that is the killing and slaying of sinne which is called Mortification For as seed which thou sowest is not quickened before it die or this corruptible body glorified before it be for a season dead and buried So neither is the man●ramed ●ramed in us which according to God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse untill the olde man bee wounded and laid for dead in us which like a gyant standeth up to expell and oppose the prosters and meanes of all holinesse And this is the cause that the holy Ghost maketh mention onely of this weakning of the force of sin through the death and buriall of Christ not excluding the other part of sanctification which is vivification viz. a vertue flowing from the resurrection of Christ causing us also to rise to newnesse of life It were to small purpose to bring place upon place to prove that which through the whole booke of God is so cleerely apparant How shall we that are dead to sin live yet therein They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof What can be plainer than this As the Physitian first purgeth before hee giveth a restorative so every one that shall be saved hereafter must first receive an allayer of his corruption here he must first be launced before he can be healed You may know the body of sinne in all his particular members by that which hath beene spoken touching the Flesh. Let every man woman here present examine himselfe from top to toe what cure is wrought by the spirit in his soul whether the kingdome of sinne and Sathan be demolished and weakned and the Kingdome of Jesus Christ advanced and built up in him whether corruption dyes and grace lives in his heart I beseech you deale faithfully with your owne soules and answer me directly to these interrogatories Are thy words which heretofore have beene full of prophanenesse and worldlinesse now directed to Gods glory and the good of those among whom thou livest Are thy thoughts which heretofore were loose and ungodly now bounded within a sacred compasse and spent wholly on heavenly things Is thy understanding informed of the mysteries of Christs Kingdome Is thy memory which heretofore hath beene stuffed with trash and toyes now capable and greedy of divine knowledge Doest thou order every passage of thy life by direction out of Gods word Art thou inwardly conscionable in the performance of holy duties Doth the tendernesse of thy cōscience smite thee not onely for grosse and open sinnes but even for vaine cogitations and the least appearance of any evill Art thou watchful against all occasions and temptations of sinne Doest thou feele thy selfe grow and increase in the wayes of holinesse Hast thou such a gracious taste of the glory of God and eternall life that thou desirest to meete thy Saviour in the clouds not so much to be rid out of the miseries of this life as to bee freed from the heavy burthen of sin which hangs so fast upon thee In a word doest thou so judge of things now as thou wouldest doe hereafter when thy soule is best able to judge as in the houre of death and the day of distresse Doest thou approve of things as they further thy last account as they commend thee more or lesse unto God and will bring true peace or sorow to thy soul at last and no otherwise then blessed and happy is thy condition and know this for the comfort of thy soule that thou art dearely beloved of God yea his peculiar one and precious in his eyes Sathan and all the powers of darknesse are fast chained up for ever doing thee any hurt Thou shalt never more bee afraid of evill tidings though the earth be moved and the mountaines fall into the midst of the Sea yet thy heart shall abide strong and comfortable I dare boldly pronounce that God is reconciled unto thee and that his sweete love which never changeth hath seized on thy soule What will it availe a man to say he is rich like the bragging Laodicean and yet be extreame miserable poore and naked what will it