Selected quad for the lemma: order_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
order_n	church_n	people_n	power_n	2,379	5	4.8524	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26872	A call to the unconverted to turn and live and accept of mercy while mercy may be had as ever they would find mercy in the day of their extremity from the living God / by his unworthy servant, Richard Baxter ; to be read in families where any are unconverted.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1658 (1658)	Wing B1196; ESTC R2096	107,933	375

see the right ordering of the Church and of the Ordinances of God but the power of sin in our people doth frustrate almost all Nowhere almost can a faithfull Minister set up the unquestionable Discipline of Christ or put back the most scandalous impenitent sinners from the Communion of the Church and participation of the Sacraments but the most of the people rail at them and revise them as if these ignorant careless souls were wiser then their teachers or then God himself and fitter to rule the Church then they And thus in the day of our visitation when God calls upon us to Reform his Church though Magistrates seem willing and faithful Ministers are willing yet are the multitude of the people still unwilling and sin hath so blinded them and hardned their hearts that even in these days of Light and Grace they are the obstinate enemies of Light and Grace and will not be brought by the Calls of God to see their folly and know what is for their good O that the people of England knew at least in this their day the things that belong unto their peace before they are hid from their eyes Luke 19.42 O f●ol●sh miserable souls Gal. 3.1 who hath bewitched your minds into such madness and your hearts into such a deadness that you should be such mortal enemies to your selves and go on so obstinately towards damnation that neither the word of God nor the perswasions of men can change your minds or hold your hands or stop you till you are past remedy Well sinner● this life will not last alwayes this patience will not wait up●n you still Do not think that you shall abuse your Maker and Redeemer and serve his enemies a●d debase your souls and trouble the world and wrong the Church and reproach the godly and grieve your Teachers and hinder reformation and all this upon free cost You know not yet what this must cost you but you must shortly know when the righteous God shall take you in hand who will handle you in another manner then the sharpest Magistrates or the plainest dealing Pastors did unless you prevent the everlasting torments by a sound conversion and i● speedy obeying of the Call of God He that hath an ear to hear let him hear while mercy hath a voice to Call One desperate Objection which I have after touched but with too much brevity I find sticks close to the hearts of many ungodly men They think that God doth not so much care what men think or say or do as we perswade them and therefore they care so little themselves For the convincing of such Atheistical men as these I shall propound these following Question 1. Dost thou think God careth whether thou be a man or not If not Who made thee and preserveth thee If he do then sure he careth whether thou behave thy self as a man No man is so foolish as to make any instrument or build an house or a ship and not to care when he hath done whether it be good for the use he made it for Do not for shame then impute such folly to the God of Wisdom as if he made so noble a creature as man and endowed him with such noble faculties and all for nothing and careth not what becometh of him when he hath done Why should God give thee a mind that can know him and a heart that can love him if he cared not whether thou know him and love him or not Do you not see that in the course of ●ature every thing is fitted to its use The beasts know not God nor are capable of loving him beca●se they were made for no such use but thy capacity shews that thou wast made for God and for a life to come 2. Dost thou think that God is everywhere present and infinite and Al-sufficient If not thou dost not believe that he is God And it is u●re●sonable to imagine that God hath made a world that is greater and more extensive or comprehensive then himself for none can communicate more then he hath But if thou a●t forced to confess that God is everywhere and as sufficient for every single m●n as if he had never another creature to regard you must need● confess then that he is not careless of the hearts and wayes of the Sons of men For they are things that are still before his eyes It is base and blasphemous thoughts of God as if he were limited absent or insufficient that makes men think him so regardless of their hearts and ways 3. Dost thou think that God careth what becomes of thy body Whether thou be sick or well whether thou live or die If not then how comest thou by thy life and health and mercies If they come from any other fountain-tell us from whence Is it not to God that thou prayest for life and health Darest thou say to him I will not depend upon thee I will not be beholden to thee for the life and mercies of another day If so then thou art a blinded Atheist But if thou think God cares for thy body canst thou think he cares not more for thy soul If he must regard to furnish thee with mercies he will sure have a regard whether thou Love and Live to him that gave them 4. Dost thou believe that God is the Governour of the world or not If not then there can be no rightfull Government For as no Iustice of Peace can have Power but from the Soveraign so no Soveraign can have power but from God nor be a lawful Governour but under him And then all the world would be turned into confusion But if thou must needs confess that God is the Governour of the world what an unwise unrighteous Governour wouldst thou make him if thou think that he regardeth not the hearts and ways of those whom he doth govern This still is but to deny him to be God 5. If God do not care so much what is in our hearts or what we do Why then would he make a Law for our hearts and words and ways Would he command us that which he doth not care for Would be so strictly forb●d us sin if he were indifferent whether we sin or no Would he promise eternal life to the holy and obedient if he care not whether we be holy and obedient or no would he threaten Hell to all that are ungodly if he care not whether we were godly or not Darest thou say that the Almighty Holy God is fain to rule the world by a Lie and to deceive men into obedience Yea the very Law of nature it self doth contain not only precepts of our duty but the Hopes and fears of a Life to come w●thout which the world could not be governed And certainly they are no deceits by which are infinite Wisdom and Power and Goodness doth govern the world 6. If God did not much regard our hearts and lives why doth he make all the world to be our Servants

say they are all mine If upon the curse you may say From this I am delivered When you read the Law you may see what you are saved from when you read the Gospel you may see him that Redeemed you and see the course of his Love and holy Life and sufferings and trace him in his temptations tears and blood in the work of your salvation You may see death conquered and Heaven opened and your Resurrection and Glorification provided for in the Resurrection and Glorification of your Lord. If you look on the Saints you may say They are my Brethren and Companions If on the unsanctified you may rejoyce to think that you are saved from that state If you look upon the heavens the Sun and Moon and Stars innumerable you may think and say My Fathers face is infinitely more glorious It s higher matters that he hath prepared for his Saints Yonder is but the outward Court of Heaven The blessedness that he hath promised me is so much higher that flesh and blood cannot behold it If you think of the grave you may remember that the Glorified Spirit a Living Head and a Loving Father have all so near Relation to your dust that it cannot be forgotten or neglected but will more certainly revive then the plants and flowers in the spring because that the soul is still alive that is the Root of the Body and Christ is alive that is the Root of both Even death which is the King of fears may be remembred and entertained with joy as being the day of your deliverance from the remnants of sin and sorrow and the day which you believed and hoped and wa●ted for when you shall see the blessed things which you had heard of and shall find by present joyful experience what it was to choose the better part and to be a sincere believing Saint What say you sirs is not this a more delightfull life to be assured of Salvation and ready to die then to live as the ungodly that have their hearts overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life and so that day comes upon them unawares Luke 21.34 ●6 Might you not live a comfortable life if once you were made the Heirs of Heaven and sure to be saved when you leave the world O look about you then and think what you do and cast not away such hopes as these for very nothing The flesh and world can give you no such Hopes or Comforts And besides all the misery that you bring upon your selves you are the troublers of others as long as you are Vnconverted You trouble Magistrates to rule you by their Laws You trouble Ministers by resisting the light and guidance which they offer you Your sin and misery is the greatest grief and trouble to them in the world You trouble the Common-wealth and draw the Iudgements of God upon us It s you that most disturb the holy peace and order of the Churches and hinder our Vnion and Reformation and are the shame and trouble of the Churches where you intrude and of the places where you are Ah Lord How heavy and sad a case is this that even in England where the Gospel doth abound above any other Nation in the world where Teaching is so plain and common and all the helps we can desire are at hand when the sword hath been hewing us and Iudgement hath run as a fire through the Land when deliverances have relieved us and so many admirable mercies have engaged us to God and to the Gospel and an holy life that yet after all this our Cities and Towns and Countries should abound with multitudes of unsanctified men and swarm with so much sensuality as everywhere to our grief we see One would have thought that after all this Light and all this experience and all these Iudgements and Mercies of God the people of this Nation should have joyned together as one man to Turn to the Lord and should have come to their godly Teachers and lamented all their former sin and desired him to joyn with them in publike Humiliation to confess them openly and beg pardon of them from the Lord and should have craved his Instruction for the time to come and be glad to be Ruled by the Spirit within and the Ministers of Christ without according to the Word of God One would think that after such Reason and Scripture evidence as they hear and after all these means and mercies there should not be an ungodly perso● lest among us nor a worldling o● a drunkard or a hater of Reformation or an enemy to holiness be found in all our Towns or Countreys If we be not all agreed about some Ceremo●ies or Forms of Government one would think that before this We should have been all agreed to live a holy and heavenly l●fe in obedience to God his word and Ministers and in Love and Peace with one another But alas how far are our people from this course most of them in most places do set their hearts on earthly things and seek not first the Kingdom of God and the righteou●ne●s hereof but look at holines● as a needless thing Their Families are prayerless or else a few hea●tl●ss l●feless words must serve instead of hearty fervent daily prayers their children are not taught the knowledge of Christ and the Covenant of Grace nor brought up in the nurture of the Lord though they fa●sly promised all this in their Baptism They instruct not their servants in the matters of salvation but so their work be done they care not There are more oaths and ●n●ses and ribbald or railing speeches in their families then gracious words that tend to edification How few are the Families that fear the Lord and enquire at his Word and Ministers how they should live and what they should do and are willing to be taught and ruled and that heartily look after everlasting Life And those few that God hath made so happy are commonly the by-word of their neighbours when we see some live in drunkenness and some in pride and worldliness and most of them have little care of their salvation though the cause be gross and past all controversie yet will they hardly be convinced of their misery and more hardly recovered and reformed But when we have done all that we are able to save them from their sins we leave the most of them as we find them And if according to the Law of God we cast them out of the Communion of the Church when they have obstinately rejected all our admonitions they rage at us as if we were their enemies and their hearts are filled with malice against us and they will sooner set themselves against the Lord and his Laws and Church and Ministers then against their deadly si●s This is the dolefull case of England We have Magistrates that countenance the ways of Godliness and a happy opportunity for Vnity and Reformation is before us and faithfull Ministers long to