Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	find_v	great_a	king_n	3,579	5	3.5272	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94071	XXXI. select sermons, preached on special occasions; the titles and several texts, on which they were preached, follow. / By William Strong, that godly, able and faithful minister of Christ, lately of the Abby at Westminster. None of them being before made publique.	Strong, William, d. 1654.	1656 (1656)	Wing S6007_pt2; Thomason E875_1; ESTC R203660	179,143	303

this wisdom is the principal thing which hath more excellency in it then all things else in the world there is in it a superlative and a transcendent excellency above all excellencies in the world And that grace only is the true wisdom this I shall clear to you these two wayes First the Lord who is only wise he counts nothing wisdom but goldiness and this he doth every-where stile wisdom there is a great enquiry and search amongst all the creatures where wisdom is to be found men know not the price of it neither is it to be found in the Land of the living Iob 28. ult that is amongst all the creatures and in all the studies of them the depth saith it is not in me c. it cannot be gotten for gold it cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphyre c. and yet the fear of the Lord that is wisdom unto men and to depart from evil that is understanding Psal 90.12 teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom c. that is in Consideration of the shortness of them we may get grace to our selves which will be immortal and stand by us when all the creatures both in heaven and earth shall fail and forsake us Luke 7.37 where grace expressed in the holy conversation of Christ and John is called wisdom wisdom is justified of all her children and Luk. 1.17 souls are said to be converted to the wisdom of the just c and therefore a godly man only is called the man of wisdom Micha 6.9 therefore in Gods account grace only is wisdom Secondly in Gods account all things is folly without grace and therefore Solomon throughout this Book and so David Psal 14.1 the wicked men are the foolish men the fool hath said in his heart there is no God the wicked man and the fool are Synonoma's and express the same thing an unholy man is a marvellous unwise man Take a view of that which hath the greatest shew of wisdom and the greatest name of wisdom in the world First all humane knowledge without grace it is but folly the He athen most of them were the greatest Artists and Philosophers in the world those that most enquired into the secrets of nature and had brought all humane learning unto the greatest height as in Athens and Corinth which were Universities and places far more famous then any other for knowledge tongues and all abilities 1 Cor. 1.20 God hath made foolish the wisdom of the wise that is made it manifest so to be and whilest they profest themselves wise they became fools Rom. 1.22 but they had not the knowledge of the Scriptures and therefore their knowledge might well be folly but for the Jews and their Rabbies they had great knowledge in the Scripture and in divine mysteries surely their knowledge was wisdom Christ speaks it to the Pharisees the most learned amongst them all Mat. 23.17 ye fools and blind c. so that if a man had all natural abilities to the highest pitch that ever was attained a sharp wit a piercing apprehension a solid judgement a firm and a tenacious memory and these acted and hightened by industry and Art the help of tongues and the greatest improvement of reading and exercise c. without a principle of grace put into the heart to enlighten and enliven a man all this would be but folly and never be counted wisdom in the sight of God Secondly take the greatest Statist and Polititian the world which hath also a great shew and name for wisdom let a man be acquainted with the Laws of all States let him be able by experience and observation to judge of the managing of all affairs let him sit at the stern of the State and let him with never so great dexterity manage all the affairs of it and let his counsel be as that of Achitophel as an Angel of God and as an Oracle of God yet without a principle of grace in the soul the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God and he takes the wise in their own craftiness 1 Cor. 3.19 and their own policies prove their own snares they are taken in their own nets Thirdly take the greatest men in the world and they are wise in their own conceits Prov. 28.11 that they can so manage their affairs as to get an estate and set themselves in the face and glory of the times raise their Bayes and mount up all the stairs of authority and honour and make hast to be great but yet without the power of godliness Lu. 12.20 it is but Thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken away Fourthly come to the civil men of the world and they are the worlds Saints that can so order themselves in the profession of Religion that they can keep themselves unspotted of the world and be esteemed Saints in their generation and yet can with wisdom avoid those dangerous waies of extremity that godly men do walk in as savouring of too much niceness and preciseness and they can be counted honest men and Saints yet without the power of grace in their hearts they are but foolish Virgins Mat. 25.1 and all the former blaze that they made with the oyl in their lamps it was but their folly and no wisdom in Gods account So that in the Judgement of the great God only the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and the knowledge of the holy that is understanding there is nothing wisdom but godliness And this will appear by these rules of wisdom First wisdom acts by the highest principles that is the first thing wherein a mans folly in a state of sin is seen Eph. 4.18 having their understanding darkned which is the seat of principles and according to a mans principles which are the rules of his actions such they are for Eccl. 10.10 Wisdom is profitable to direct it gives a man a right rule to vvalk by every man is according to the principles by vvhich he vvalks lay but these two principles in a mans heart First that the Church of Rome is the only true Church Secondly that this Church cannot err and he is immediately a Papist though he act not many of their fooleries c. So lay but these principles First that sin is no such great evil as men are told it is Secondly if it be a great evil yet men think God is merciful he is not so strict and severe as men speak of Thirdly if God be so strict yet it is long before the day of Judgement and therefore it will be long before a man comes to an account and this will make a man a prophane man immediately and to pour out himself unto all evil with greediness So lay but these two principles First that every man is to love himself best Secondly I am not my brothers keeper it is nothing to me what other men do or what they suffer and

the tails of two smoking fire-brands and they intend to enlarge their Dominions to take in Iudah and set up a King there No saith God the head of Syria is Damascus I have set them their bounds they are at their height they shall go no further the Lord hath divided the earth then to the sons of Adam but hath divided the earth to the sons of Adam according to the number of the children of Israel the fewest in number of all people the meaning I conceive to be this that the Lord did take special care in the first Division of the earth that he would chuse an inheritance in the earth for this people for so the Psalmist tells us he chose an Inheritance for them so that he that chose a people out of the earth to be his peculiar people he in the division of the earth made choice of a peculiar Inheritance for them certainly the people of God need not fear an Inheritance then When the Lord divided the earth among the sons of Adam he took especial care of them the Lord in all his Providential Dispensations hath a constant respect to his Church and a continual care of them and he adds the reason of it v. 9. though all the earth be the Lords yet the Lords portion is his people this is the first thing that is matter of history in the context Secondly he then sets forth the condition of this people when they were in the wilderness Ver. 10. he found him in a Desart Land in a vast howling wilderness the meaning is not as if this people were strangers to God till then or that the Lord took no notice of them or had no care of them for ever when they were in Egypt Exod. 4. then the Lord 〈…〉 Israel is my son my first born therefore Gods 〈…〉 did not then begin But then they began to be the Lords separated people they were its true Gods people by a Covenant before Now they are brought into a wilderness and separated from other Nations therefore because they then began to be the Lords people by a National Covenant therefore it is said he found them there is indeed another meaning of that expression found that is he is alwaies present with them as a help alwaies found of them so you find the word used Psal 46.1 God is a present help he is a help found in the needful time of trouble and so I conceive that place explains it Hos 9.10 I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness as a poor traveller in a desart wilderness hath a great refreshment by this if he meet with a Vine that hath but a few Clusters upon it so I found Israel in the wilderness which was as great a delight to me even as if a weary Traveller had found Grapes in the Wilderness Thirdly here is a further description of the Land of Canaan Ver. 13. the Lord made them to dwell upon the high places of the earth It was a Land of Mountains and Vallies and upon that account called the high places of the earth but it was a Land also where the Lord destroyed the enemies and carried them without danger in the midst of the greatest dangers thus they were made to walk on the high places of the earth as men that walk on high out of Gun-shot And then fourthly here is the plentie of the Land that flows with milk and honey where they eat the fine kidnies of the wheat and drank the pure blood of the grape a Land wherein there was no lack of any thing that was upon the earth Deut. 8.7,8 all this is but historical In the words that I have read to you comes in that which is Prophetical for Moses did not bring them into the Land of Canaan Moses dyed in the Land of Moab on the other side of Jordan and was gathered to his Fathers It was Ioshua that gave them rest and divided this Land for an inheritance to them Moses prophesied when they came unto the Land of Canaan this shall be their Condition But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked A godly man from a principle of spiritual wisdom without Divination will be able to give a great guess of men what they will be Moses might much guess by seeing how disobedient they had been in the Wilderness what they would prove when they came to Canaan but yet here is a discovery that the Lord made by Revelation to Moses what the condition of this people would be the Lord doth not only certainly know what we are but he knows what in such cases and conditions we will be Nay the Lord knows in those conditions that we shall never be put into what we would be if we were in it this is clear the Lord foretells to Moses what this people would be when they came to the Land of Canaan having such a place and such enjoyments and this is also clear when David was in Keilah shall the men said he give me up to Saul they will give thee up and yet David went out of the City that night and was never given up and according to this we may guess if we consider there are many of us some would have wealth some honour some would have higher imployment some more grace some more comfort some more assurance and the Lord denies it It is because he knows what in such a condition if thou wert put into it thou wouldst prove and that which thou lookest upon as a great affliction the Lord doth it with a very merciful hand But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked there are two things in the words to be opened First their name and Secondly their sin The denomination that is given to them here and the transgression that is charged upon them I shall briefly explain both these and then come to the point that I would insist upon from them the denomination what is their name they be called Jesurun It is used three times in this Book of Deuteronomie in Deut. 33.5 Moses was King in Iesurun and in 33. Chapter Ver. 26. Who is God like the God of Iesurun and in this place and it is used for ought I can find but in one Scripture more in all the Old Testament In Isaiah 44.2 Fear not oh Jesurun my servant and Jacob whom I have chosen there are three different apprehensions that men have of it according to the threefold derivation of the word Some from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rectum that signifies right and they are so called as the people that had only the right way both to know God and to worship God the Lord had given his Statutes to Jacob and his Laws to Israel he had not dealt so with other Nations they were only the right people and so it may be explained by Isaiah 42.19 where the Lord saith Who is blind as my servant Who is blind as he that is perfect What perfect and yet blind yes perfect in Ordinances and priviledges and yet blind Forelius and

do not enjoy the same light they do not see the days of the son of man Kings and righteous men have desired to see the days that you see and have not seen them and to hear the things that you hear yet have not heard them Plus uno die vident pueri quam per totius vitae tempora philosophi Gerhard in his Chronology speaks of Infoelix seculum exhaustum hominibus ingenio doctrina claris Gerhard there are dark times and there are times also when the light of the Moon is as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun sevenfold Esay 30.26 One age hath much and another age hath little Secondly They have not the same deliverances for three hundred years she travelled under cruel persecution under the power of the Red Dragon but at last the Church brought forth a man-childe who was exalted upon the throne of God as the fruit of all their travels all their prayers and as the price of all their blood principem à quo libertatem exemplum fidei mundus accepit Sulpic. There is a time when the Lord doth lift up the rod of the oppressour and there is a time when he doth break their yoke from off the neck there is a time when the enemies do plough upon the backs of the people and make long their furrows and there is a time also when God doth cut their harness and they are able to plough no longer there is a time when God gives his people to be troden down as 〈…〉 in the streets and there is a time when no stranger shall any more pass over it there shall be no more a grieving thorn or a pricking bryer there shall be none to hurt or destroy in my holy Mountain c. there is a time when God doth bend Judab for him and when he doth raise the worm Jacob to thresh the Mountains c and the Lord delivers the land out of the mouths of the Enemies c. Doctrine 3. Whether men have received little or much it is all in reference to an account there is a time when the King will take an account of his servants for he will come to reckon with them Mat. 18.23 There is not a talent that the Lord bestows but it is in reference to this account all mercies received must surely be counted for every one of us must give an account of himself unto God and there are not only personal but there are national accounts he that is Judge of all the world he is the Judge of all Nations Isa 5.3 Iudge I pray you between me and my vineyard he that refers unto men to judge he will be the Judge himself also and he will surely judge them with righteous judgement For First All their mercies are recorded by him they may forget them but he records them what is a great part of the Scriptures but the records of God Chronicles of his several mercies and deliverances that he hath bestowed upon his people in succeeding ages Micah 6.5 Remember from Shittim to Gilgal it was the place of their Transgression when they committed abominations with the daughters of Moab and sacrificed unto Baal Peor did eat the offering of the dead and Gilgal was the first place that they set their foot upon in the Land of Canaan when the Lord rolled away from them the reproach of Egypt from whence it had its name and in the very places the Lord wrote in their names the memorials of his mercies that the very names of the places might be a witness of his mercies to them in memoriam and in testimonium Jehovah jireth Gilgal Berachah c. as you record your victories by the names of Dunbar and the name of Worcester c. the 78. Psalm is nothing else but the Lords records in which he hath written the memorial of that continued Tract of mercies which he gave unto them and the Lord wrote the memory of their mercies in the months Exod. 12.2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months the Lord changed the beginning of their years in the remembrance of his mercy Ver. 14. This day shall be unto you for a memorial How should the third of September be for a memorial unto you c. though the Canon of the Scripture be consigned and the Lord will write this story by an infallible spirit no more to remain upon records amongst men yet they are all of them recorded before him as the Law is written in the hearts of the people of God not with paper and Ink but by the spirit of the living God so doth the Lord record his mercies which he doth multiply upon his people not with pen and Ink but by the spirit of the living God in the heart of God for ever as it s said of the sins of men Deut. 31.34 Is it not laid up in store with me and sealed up amongst my Treasures they are laid up amongst the treasures of God so God hath treasures of mercy also as well as of sins by him c. Secondly they are numbered by him as the Miracles of Christ in the daies of his flesh were numbered as it s said this was the first Miracle that he did and this was the second Miracle that Jesus did after he came out of Judea into Galilee So also the Miracles that Christ did work in glory are all numbered as the Lord numbers the several degrees of his enemies downfal in seven Seales seven Trumpets and seven Vials so he doth number also the several degrees of his peoples deliverances and 2 Numb 14.22 he doth number their sins answerable unto the number of his mercies they have seen my Miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness and they have provoked and tempted me now these ten times it is true that the mercies God bestows on us are a multitude of mercies and it is as easie for us to number the stars as it is to count them all but though we cannot do it yet God can do it and he doth it who can tell the number of the stars and call them all by their names Psal 71.15 David saith that he would shew forth the salvations of God all the day long for I know not the number of them c. and we must consider God hath his set number of mercies for a people if they abuse them and walk unworthy of them he will not shew mercy for ever he will not draw forth his loving kindness from generation to generation Cessat descensus si in perpetuum ascensus cessat as Belishazers Kingdom was numbered the Lord wrote a memorial for him so he will write a memorial upon some mercies as the number of sins is finished as Antichrist hath his Numbers the number of the beast is the number of a man c. and mercies may have their number also even your mercies the Lord may say Now your prosperity is numbered your deliverances victories are numbered I will