Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	city_n	great_a	lord_n	2,295	5	3.5103	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76313	A door of salvation opened unto all men: or a short treatise, discovering that all man-kinde as they are considered under the fall of Adam, have an equal and a like respect with almighty God, and that by Jesus Christ he hath prepared eternal salvation for all, and afforded unto all, means sufficient to bring them thereunto. In which also, sundry objections, grounds of reason, and texts of scripture, for the contrary opinion are alleadged and answered. / By R.B.	R. B.	1648 (1648)	Wing B166; Thomason E1166_1; ESTC R208726	64,273	125

2.3 Secondly Because it is also to be observed That when he useth the concurrence of man for the accomplishing of any worke he alwaies distinguisheth the work of man from that which belongeth to himself to perform therein and whatsoever he requireth of them in such cases that he will have to be performed by them and will not himself do it for them As first when he gave the people in the wildernes water out of the rock Numb 20.8 he precisely distinguisheth unto Moses the work that he required of him thereunto Take the rod saith he and gather the Assembly together thou and Aaron thy brother and speak ye unto the rock before their eies and it shall give forth his water Secondly Likewise when he promised to deliver the City of Jericho unto his people for the over-throw of the walls thereof he plainly and evidenty declared what he required of them to that end Josh 6.3 4 5. Ye shall compasse the City saith he all ye men of warre and goe about the City once thus shalt thou doe six daies And seven Priests shall bear before the Ark seven Trumpets of Rams-horns and the seventh day ye shall compasse the City seven times and the Priests shall blow with the Trumpets And it shall come to passe that when they make a long blast with the Rams-horns and when ye hear the sound of the Trumpets all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the City shall fall Thirdly And also when he made it his work to destroy the Canaanites and the other Nations for their great and abominable wickednesse and to give the possession of their Land to the children of Israel he clearly manifested unto them what he would have performed on their part for the accomplishment thereof They were to observe his Word and to obey his voice As we reade Exod. 23.20 21 22. and in particular to goe armed before the Lord unto battel Num. 32.20 And he himself would cause the hearts of their enemies to fail them for fear and make them turn their backs upon them untill they were destroyed Exod. 23.27 And this he doth Because that he will not give his glory unto another Isa 42.8 which would necessarily follow upon his requiring of men and assigning unto them the performance of those things which immediately concerneth himself or by his not distinguishing the work of man from his own in such actions wherein his concurrence is required In regard that no man can possibly ascribe unto him the honour of that work which is not evidently discovered to be wrought by him Whereas therefore we finde that men are absolutely commanded to repent c. and are no where required to stand still or wait upon God untill such time as he shall necessitate them thereunto nor yet can finde any distinction made therein as that man should doe this or that and that God will doe the rest repentance as it is considered whether in the disposition of the minde or in the actions and exercise thereof must be concluded the peculiar work of men by the use and improvement of the means vouchsafed unto them by God for that purpose the which will further appear from these grounds 1. Because that the penitent shall rise up in judgement against the impenitent and condemn them as appeareth by the words of Christ in Mat. 12.41 The men of Nineveh saith he shall rise up in judgement against this generation and condemn them because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater then Jonas is here which could not be if that repentance were the peculiar work of God and not of men by the improvement of the means For where there is no difference in men but that which is enforced in them by God the one can be no accusation against the other in respect of any such difference for as he that did repent would not have repented if he had not been enforced so he that did not repent would have repented if that he had been enforced And therefore the men of Nineveh if they were enforced to repent can be no greater an accusation against the Iews for their impenitency in the day of judgement then Benjamins brethren can be against him in respect of the cup that was put into his sack against his will or procurement 2. Because the Scriptures doe plainly declare That God doth not require of men beyond what he giveth unto them means to attain unto as we may perceive in the Parable of the talents in Luk. 19.15 where none are called to give an account before Christ at his coming but those to whom before hand he had delivered his money to be improved nor nothing required of any of them but proportionably to that which was delivered to them to whom he giveth much he asketh the more again according to his saying in Luk. 12.48 And so on the contrary From whence it doth follow That seeing repentance is required of all men and that all men shall be accountable to God concerning the same That therefore all men have the means of repentance vouchsafed unto them that repentance by the improvement therof peculiarly appertaineth unto them and is no otherwise to be obtained 3. Because that the impenitent are charged with rebellion against God in respect of their impenitency which plainly argueth repentance not only to be the peculiar work of man but also within his power to be performed rebellion being none other then a wilfull and stubborn refusall of that known duty which a man is enabled to perform And so much the words of the text do evidently declare Ezek. 12.2 Son of man saith the Lord to the Prophet thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house That have eies to see and see not they have ears to hear and hear not Their rebellion being demonstrated from this ground That they have eies and see not c. i.e. they know and understand how to perform their duty but they will not do it according to that in Chap. 33.31 32. He that knoweth to do well and doth not to him it is sin Jam. 4 17. Whereas that which a man understandeth not nor is any waies able to perform is imputed to his infirmity only which God will never lay to his charge Heb. 5.2 For we have an high-Priest that can have compassion on the ignorant and of those that are out of the way I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly 1 Tim. 1.13 CHAP. VII That the opinion of enforcing Faith and Repentance in men cannot stand with the nature of the last Judgement by Christ THis Doctrine namely of Gods necessitating repentance c. in men is inconsistent with the last sentence of Christ which as the Scriptures declare shal be according to every mans works And therfore forasmuch as al such things wherunto men are enforced by a power which they cannot resist are imputable only unto that power whereby they are so enforced It must follow that

Almighty God should present himselfe to his creaturs more hateful odious then by any blasphemy that his most inveterate and malicious enemies forth of their deepest despight and hatred against him can any any waies imagine or foment which would be by such his exhortations and lamentations where the obedience and duty that he requireth of men to their salvation and the escaping of perdition in the world to come are impossible unto them forasmuch as then all his love and affection pity and compassion therein manifested could be esteemed no other then meere mockage hipocrisie delusion and cruelty in the highest degree because that whilest he pretendeth the greatest love he should beare the greatest hatred whilest he pretendeth to seeke their salvation he should secretly aime at and intend their damnation whilest he pretendeth to lament their misery he should laugh thereat rejoyce and delight therein having from eternity without any respect to their misdoings utterly excluded them out of his favour shut and fast sealed them up under his wrath hatred and sorest indignation and from thence denying unto them the necessary meanes of their salvation which being the true and naturall consequence of that doctrine which asserteth salvation to be through necessity and not through mens voluntary improvement of the means may admonish all men that tender the glory and honour of God to beware thereof Object The exhortations and invitations of God to Reprobates to partake of good things prepared in Christ are not contemptible and odious considering that good things are prepared in Christ unto which the Reprobates are invited which retain their goodnes though they be rejected Answ It s not the goodnes of the thing prepared in Christ that can free the exhortations of God to Reprobates to partake thereof from contempt if that God forth of his hatred against them should be conceived to exclude them from the participation of them because that thereby the Reprobates should be abused with a specious shew of love towards them when as nothing but hatred is intended to them which must needs render such exhortations odious unto them Absaloms good cheare rendreth his invitations to Ammon to eate thereof far worse than open hatred 2 Sam. 13 26-28 2. Therefore I further answer That it is impossible that God who abhorreth nothing more than mens drawing neare unto him with their mouthes and honouring him with their lips when their hearts are far from him Jer. 6.20 Isay 1.13 14. Amos 5.23 And who hath instructed all men not to eate the bread or desire the dainty meates of him that hath an evill eye but to contemne his invitations eate eate when his heart is not with them Prov. 23.6 7. That he himselfe should so practise doe the thing which he detesteth and exhort men to eate in the same case wherein he willeth them to abstain he cannot lye because he is truth it selfe Titus 1.1 therefore as he speaketh so he thinketh and like as he pretendeth so he meaneth Ob. 2. Secondly concerning the lamentations of God in respect of those that perish it is objected That they serve onely to expresse the remedilesnes of their misery And that he is not delighted with their punishment as they are his creatures but with the glory of his justice which shineth in their wickedness Answ The first part of which objection viz. That the lamentations of God in the behalfe of those that perish serve only to expresse the remedilesness of their misery rightly understood may be admitted But I desire to know whither their misery be remediless in respect of themselves or in respect of God whether for want of meanes sufficient vouchsafed by God to prevent their misery or through their wilfull neglect and abuse thereof In the latter sense I grant the objection to be good For he that neglecteth the grace of God in Christ vouchsafed unto him in this life by what meanes shall his misery be prevented in that which is to come damnation in hell being the penalty thereof From which there is neither redemption nor Redeemer made known unto us But that their misery should be remedilesse for want of mercy sufficient vouchsafed unto them in this life for the prevention thereof may not be magnified because it 's inconsistant with the integrity of Gods pure nature discovered unto us in his Atributes of Truth Love Goodnesse Mercy and Iustice to make lamentations in the behalfe of his perishing creatures when as the reason thereof lyeth simply and wholy in himselfe Secondly Whereas it is further suggested That these lamentations are intended to expresse That God is not delighted with the punishment of his creatures but with the glory of his justice which shineth in their palpable wickedness it s most absurd Because that if God should be delighted to have men wicked as they are his creatures he must needs much more be delighted with their punishment as they are his creatures the punishment of wickedness being the most proper exercise of his justice And therefore if the glory of his justice against the honour of his mercy should engage him to deny his grace unto his creatures to the intent that they might be wicked it must needs much more engage him to punish them being wicked Besides the Scriptures doe plainly informe us That God doth not onely lament the punishment of his creatures but their ingratitude and wickednesse also as the cause thereof In Ier. 2.2 c. To the ingratefull Israelites he thus speaketh I remember thee the day of thy espousals when thou wentest after me in the wildernesse in a Land that was not sowne vers 5. What iniquities have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and are walked after vanities and are become vaine vers 6. Neither said they where is the Lord that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt That led us through the Wildernesse through a Land of Desarts and of Pits through a Land of drought and of the shaddow of death through a Land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt vers 7. And I brought you into a plentifull Country to eate the fruit thereof and the goodnesse thereof but where ye entred ye defiled my Land and made mine Heritage an abomination The Priest saith not where is the Lord and they that handled the Law knew me not the Pastors also transgressed against me c. vers 12 13. Be astonished O Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountaine of living waters and hewen to themselves broken Cisterns that can hold no water vers 31. O Generation see the Word of the Lord have I been a Wildernesse unto Israel A Land of darknesse Wherefore say my people We are Lords we wil come no more unto thee Can a Maide forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire Yet my people have forgotten me dayes without number Isay 1.2 Hear

it But the word is nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou maiest doe it then which what words can possibly be used more emphatically to set forth to our understandings that righteousnesse which was impossible by the Law is not only possible but easie to be obtained by the Gospel it is not hidden from us nor far off but near unto us in our mouthes and in our hearts that we may doe it Far from their opinion that affirme That God must bow the Heavens and come down into our Souls and infuse into them supernaturall light and faith before that we can either understand or doe any thing requisite to our Salvation 5. But to put this point out of all dispute Whereas the Scriptures do informe us that according to the Law of workes There is none righteous none that doth good no not one Rom. 3.10 12. and yet notwithstanding doe also informe us That Abel Heb. 11.4 Noah Gen. 7.1 Abimelech Gen. 20.4 Lot 2 Pet. 2 8. Zechariah Luke 1.6 were all of them righteous men That Jacob Mat. 1.19 Simeon Luke 2.25 Cornelius were just men Acts 10.1 22. That Job chap. 1.18 Asa 1 Chron. 15.17 and others were upright and perfect men Phil. 3.15 That Ahimaas the son of Zadock 2 Sam. 18.27 and Barnabas the son of consolation were both of them good men Acts 11.24 It must therefore necessarily follow That what was impossible by the Law or covenant of workes is possible by the Gospel or covenant of Grace and that righteousnesse justice goodness and eternall Salvation which could not be obtained by the former hath and may be obtained by the later And yet notwithstanding although that the Covenant of Grace or the Gospel doth require to Salvation the performance of all such good workes which are within our power to performe yet ought it and that eminently to be esteemed by us a Covenant of Grace and that for these respects First In regard of the time state and condition wherein all man-kinde were when this Covenant was vouchsafed unto them That is to say When all man-kinde by reason of Adams transgression were brought under the guilt of condemnation and everlasting oblivion having no eie to pity them Ezek. 16.5 6. nor ability to deliver themselves from peace but must of necessity have perished therein for ever 1 Cor. 15.16 17 18. That then God the Father of all pity and compassion commended his love unto them Rom. 15.8 and forth of his infinite goodnesse was graciously pleased by the death of his only begotten Son to pay the price of their redemption to ransome them from that estate 2 Cor. 5.14 1 Cor. 15.21 22. and to say unto them return from corruption ye perishing sons of men and live and in relation thereunto to grant this Covenant of life and Salvation unto them 2. That because in this Covenant God requireth of us lesse than his due and no more then what in our fallen estate we are sufficiently enabled to performe and render unto him we owed unto him perfect innocency being in creation made perfect by him Eccl. 7.29 he asketh of us but integrity consistent with nocency and imperfection so considered as plainly appeareth by that which is spoken concerning David 1 Kings 9.4 Asa 1 Kings 15.14 Simeon Luke 2.25 Cornelius Acts 10.22 and divers others declared to be perfect just and upright men notwithstanding all their frailties sensurable by the covenant of works and are by God approved and accepted in reference to his covenant of Grace 3. In regard that although we have our lives of Grace and that he asketh of us so little in comparison of what we are indebted unto him he is so bountiful as to grant us a reward of all our workes Hebr. 11.6 ye such an exceeding great reward that our light afflictions which are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 That he should grant us any reward at all for any service done unto him if we consider that it was nothing but his owne which we gave unto him that we received it of him and that we our selves likewise are his and that by a double debt it must needs according to the humble confession of David be acknowledged great bounty in him 1 Chro. 29.13 14 15 16. but that he should so far regard our bounden affection as to reward us for our very meanest workes even for a cup of cold water given in his name and to grant us so great a reward for so small a worke as a Prophets reward doubtles one of the greatest for but receiving a Prophet in the name of a Prophet Mat. 10.41 must needs be acknowledged transcendent Grace love that passeth all knowledge The 6. Text is Jerem. 31.31 32 33 34. the words whereof are as followeth Behold the daies come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which covenant they brake although that I was a husband unto them But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those daies saith the Lord I wil put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts c. From whence it is ordinarily objected That God hath covenanted necessarily and unavoidably to instruct some men in the knowledge of himself and by putting his Lawes into their hearts to worke in them repentance faith c. The which objection as it supposeth some men to be more accepted and beloved of God in the estate of unbelief then others hath been often before disproved yet in regard that it hath so seeming a countenance of truth put upon it by this Scripture with some others speaking in the same language I shall further answer thereunto desiring First That it may be considered that seeing there are but two Covenants known at any time to be given by God unto men the one of works the other of Grace all man-kinde must be concluded either to be under the first or under the later of them 1. But under the first they are not because that God finding fault therewith hath repealed it caused it to wax old and to vanish away Heb. 8 7-13 2. Secondly Hath redeemed all men from the curse and penalty thereof death Gal. 3.13 3. Thirdly Hath prohibited all men from seeking righteousnesse thereby Acts 15.10 Romans 10.3 And therefore all men must be concluded to be under the second And not for these reasons only But also 4. Fourthly Because that the duties of the second Covenant viz. Repentance c. is required of all Act. 17.30 And 5. Fifthly That Salvation the end thereof is thereupon promised unto all whence those that perish are charged with neglecting Salvation Heb. 2.3 6. And lastly Because