Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	read_v	write_v	3,024	5	5.2192	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60406	A Christian's work and time of working In a sermon preached on the death of Mr. John Sorrel the younger, of Hyde-Hall in Great Waltham in the county of Essex. By Benjamin Smith, vicar there.	Smith, Benjamin, 1642 or 3-1714.	1675 (1675)	Wing S4021A; ESTC R220555	39,208	48

A Christian's Work AND TIME of WORKING IN A SERMON Preached on the Death of Mr. John Sorrel the Younger of HYDE-HALL in Great Waltham in the COUNTY of ESSEX By BENJAMIN SMITH Vicar there Eccles 9. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophocles LONDON Printed by T. James for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1675. To Mrs. Sorrel the Sorrowful Relict of Mr. John Sorrel the Younger of Hyde-Hall in Great Waltham in the County of Essex MADAM NO Engagements could have been sufficient to have drawn me to appear in Publick in so madly Censorious an Age as ours did I greatly concern my self at what the World will say For Writing is like a running the Gantlope where a man Exposes himself naked and every man will be sure to have a lash at his back The Wit and Genius of the Age lyes most in finding fault and some men will do it out of a dislike to the person and some to the Work and many that they may shew their judgement as they think and make it appear that they have wit enough to spy a fault And therefore privacy is certainly the best defence against the petulancy of the Tongue for he that is not known nor heard of in the World is in no danger of being disturbed by the Censures of it Had I therefore valued the Censures of Men I had chosen rather to have disobliged you by denying your request than thus to expose my self and run the hazard that here I do But I hunt not after Applause and if I did I had never sought it by publishing this Sermon Nor do I at all concern my self to think what men will say or how they will judge or condemn this Work My work must stand or fall according to my great Masters approbation Why then should I regard what the World sayes of it since their Applause or Reproach can neither add nor diminish in the acceptance of it with him I have therefore Obeyed your Commands and at your Request this Sermon is now made publick and other Apology than this I shall not go about to make for my self I shall not tell the World what a sense I have of your constant Civilities to me nor plead that the Obligations that your Kindness hath lay'd upon me made me unable to refuse your Commands though I must own that these have been the prevailing Inducements with me for when I have said what I can men will think what they please and I am very well contented they should do so Nor shall I go about to frame an Excuse for this Dedication without first asking your leave for at whose door should I lay this Sermon now it is made publick than at yours to whose Commands it entirely oweth its coming abroad I will not doubt of its Acceptance with you for the sake of him who was the occasion of it a Person who though dead yet retains that esteem in your heart that cannot be augmented by the fairest Character that can be given of him and is sufficient to recommend to your Acceptance any thing that hath any relation to him Madam I know too well the greatness of your Sorrow and know that you are so fully sensible of your Loss that it would be but Cruelty to you under the notion of Respect to the Dead for me to add more weight to your load and aggravate your loss in saying what a one he was whom you have lost The greatness of the Affection you had for him should make you the more contented in being deprived of him sence it is so much for his gain The support that God hath given you under your great affliction and the plenty of Mercies that are still left you are great Occasions and Engagements still to be thankful and should induce you to own this providence though severe yet as the Chastisement of a Father not as the Wound of an Enemy he that called for this mercy again could have called for more and have left you much more desolate than you are To continue lamenting your Loss and to stand measuring the length and bredth and depth of the Affliction and to survey it in all its dimensions is but to look on the back-side of the Book where nothing is to be learned and which hinders you from looking in to read the Lesson that God has written out for you by this providence Your Work is to consider what God designs in this his doing and to labour to spell out the meaning of these black Characters The delight of your eyes is taken away with a struak and your greatest Comfort in this life hath failed you Trust then to such perishing Joyes no more sit loose to the World and the blandishments of it and fix with all your might your thoughts and hopes upon him who being unchangeable never fails nor can fail them that put their Trust in him Remember him that is gone before so as to prepare to Follow him and let the memory of his Piety and Vertues be ever before your Eyes as a fair Copy to Write afte● that since he shall not return to you you may go to him and enjoy him once again never to lose him more Such as these and many more are the proper Improvements of this dispensation which that you may so improve as to reap the advantage of Spiritual health from this bitter Potion is and shall be the subject of his Prayers for you to the Throne of Grace who is MADAM Your Humble Servant Benjamin Smith From Much Waltham Vicaridge July 1675. A CHRISTIANS WORK AND Time of Working John 9. 4. I must Work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day the Night cometh when no Man can Work AMongst all the Uncertainties that our Affairs in this World are liable to there is nothing that more justly deserves the name of Uncertain than the Date and Period of our Lives Our Enjoyments indeed are fluid and brittle and a moment is enough to destroy the pleasure and grandeur of that state in which we had lay'd up the Hopes of many Years happy Repose but yet as fickle as these are they are not more uncertain if so much as the time in which we are capable of using these Enjoyments A time determined indeed if we respect that God in whose Hands the boundaries of our Times are and who sayes to every man as he said to the Sea Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves be stay'd But if we respect our selves to whom the time is allotted we find nothing in it that is sure and certain but this that its end will certainly come but when or how soon there 's none that knows Our dayes are but short if we suppose