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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	lord_n	name_n	write_v	5,698	5	5.8489	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41649	A word to sinners, and a word to saints The former tending to the awakening the consciences of secure sinners, unto a lively sense and apprehension of the dreadfull condition they are in, so long as they live in their natural and unregenerate estate. The latter tending to the directing and perswading of the godly and regenerate unto several singular duties. As also a word to housholders stirring them up to the good old way of serving God in and with their families, from Joshuah's resolution, Josh. 24. 15. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Set forth especially for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of St. Sepulchres Parish, London by Tho. Gouge, late pastor thereof.	Gouge, Thomas, 1605-1681.	1668 (1668)	Wing G1371; ESTC R222576	207,485	324

thine heart according to that counsel of the Wise man Keep thine heart with all diligence As if he had said Above all keeping keep thine heart which is like a City lyable every moment both to outward assaults and inward commotions Not only Satan thine arch-enemy is ever watchfull for an opportunity to cast thereinto his fiery darts and sensual objects but there are also many rebellious stirrings within which spring from the fountain of original corruption over which thou must especially watch and dismiss them with loathing and detestation If vain and wanton thoughts be not st●fled in the conception what monstrous wickedness may they not bring forth How great a fire may these little sparks kindle 5. 〈◊〉 thy heart and affections more and more from worldly cares and pleasures which clog the soul that it cannot mount aloft As a Bird whose wings are Limed is not able to take her flight on high So the man whose heart is intangled with the cares of this life and the pleasures of sin will not be able to get above ground the wings of holy meditation will not raise it on high Yea such a carnal and earthly mind is altogether unfit for Heavenly meditation and very backward and unwilling to it What better reason can be given why many think so little of God his Word and Works or of any good thing but because their hearts are so full of the World and their affections set so much upon the same where their treasure is there will their hearts also be 6. Be often lifting up thine heart to Heaven in some spiritual ejaculations especially in the morning Such as find themselves subject to wind in their stomachs through emptiness use before they go forth to take a mornings draught And as great need is there for such as are subject to vain wanton worldly thoughts every morning to prepossess their hearts with the thoughts of God of his glorious Majesty his omnipresence and omniscience his purity justice and the like And not only mornings but throughout the day when ever thou findest vain or wicked thoughts to arise at any time within thee meet them presently with a Prayer lift up thine heart in some short ejaculatory request unto God for power and strength to keep down and suppress the same 7. Labour to spiritualize every outward occurrence by raising Heavenly meditations from the same There is not any creature thou beholdest or any thing that befalls thee but thou maist make some spiritual use and improvement thereof As the Bee sucks honey out of every flower so maist thou extract spiritual and holy thoughts from every thing thou seest and beholdest yea from all occurrences and emergencies which will be a special means to prevent the Devil and Lust and to keep out those vanities and wickednesses which otherwise would fill thine head and heart withall 8. Labour to get thine heart furnished with the knowledge of God and his word which will take up thine heart with better things and leave no room for these unclean birds As the emptiness of the stomach maketh it subject to windiness so it is the emptiness of our hearts that makes them so full of vain foolish thoughts A good man saith our Saviour out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things A good man having his heart furnished with a treasure of many precious truths bringeth forth good thoughts as well as good things When thou art walking or riding alone call to mind some spiritual subject or favoury truth whereon to meditate bring forth out of thy treasury and let thine heart be continually working upon those good things thou hast there laid up 9. So often as thou goest unto God in Prayer let one petition be for mortifying grace to conquer those sinfull Lusts and vile affections which are apt to steam up into thine head with answerable thoughts and that he would make thee more heavenly minded by working in thine heart better affections Nothing but the power of God can cure us of the vanity of our thoughts and make them such as may be acceptable unto him In regard that the best of Gods people do find a great backwardness and untowardness in themselves to the performance of this Heavenly duty I shall give you some Motives thereunto which if seriously weighed may through Gods blessing prove effectual to perswade you to be more spiritually minded I. May be taken from the possibility of the work Indeed the work is somewhat difficult yet is it possible it 's that you have power to do Though you have not that command of your affections you cannot love what you will or hate what you will or grieve when you will yet can you not think of what you will And by how much more able you are to it by so much the greater your sin is if you neglect it II. Consider the necessity of this duty The mind of man being active if it be not exercised on spiritual and holy things it will be on things earthly and carnal The truth is whosoever doth not accustome himself to fix his thoughts on God or his Word or some spiritual subject will be sure to find them taken up with things of less concernment yea of dangerous and sad consequence from which they will reap nothing but corruption and defilement By how much our minds stray from God and pitch upon other things the more will they grow into the form of the Devil They are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain III. Consider the manifold benefits which usually follow thereupon 1. God will be sure to mind them who mind him Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought on his name Not a thought of God but it is registred in his book of remembrance The more we look up unto God the more he will look down upon us for our good When thoughts of God are stirring in us God himself is not far off he will come and enter Oh how happy are those souls in whom God comes and takes up his habitation 2. A clearer apprehension of divine truths Though we hear often and read much yet if we digest not those truths we meet with by meditation we shall still continue in the dark Our knowledge at the best will be but weak and inefficacious Whereas by a frequent thinking of those truths which we hear or read we shall have a clearer apprehension of them and they will be concocted into better nourishment 3. An Heavenly conversation The mind being the fountain of actions such as the mind is such is the life and conversation If the mind be holy and Heavenly such will the life be But if the mind be carnal and unclean the conversation will be thereafter Wouldst thou have an Heavenly conversation then must thou be Heavenly minded Thoughts are the seed and

33. Yea in Luke 17.34 35. I tell you saith he in that night there shall be two in one bed the one shall be taken and the other left Two men shall be in the field the one shall be taken and the other left So that at the day of judgement there will be a separation of the nearest and dearest relations that may be as between Husband and Wife yea Father and Child Oh! what a sad separation will that be when the Husband shall be separated from the Wife and the Wife from the Husband the Father from the Child and the Child from the Father You have often seen what a sorrowfull parting it is when the Wife buries her Husband and layeth him in the cold grave How she goeth home weeping and lamenting her sad loss though she hath hope of meeting him again in Gods Kingdom Oh but what an heavy parting and separation will there be when the one shall be set at the right hand of Christ the other at his left the one taken into Heaven and the other cast down into Hell Oh that all Husbands and Wives all Parents and Children all Masters and Servants would seriously think of this dreadfull separation and be thereby stirred up so to live together here in the fear of God that they may not be separated at the day of judgement when this sad and fearful separation shall be V. After this follows conviction of the wicked and a discovery of all their works Which is proper to go before giving of sentence For in all Courts of Justice there is no man condemned till he be convicted And therefore this Court of Christ being the most exactest Court for equity and justice we may well conclude that there will be no man condemned till he be convicted and his offences laid open before all And therefore at that day there will be 1. A conviction of the wicked and ungodly 2. A discovery of their sins to all the World Touching the conviction of the wicked two things are to be considered 1. The matter of their conviction or what they shall be convinced of 2. The means of their conviction or what they shall be convinced by I. The matter of their conviction shall be twofold they shall be convinced 1. Of their state That enquiry shall be made after this is evident Rom. 14.12 Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God that is what he is whether a sheep or a goat whether a believer or an unbeliever regenerate or unregenerate in Christ or out of Christ under the power of corrupt nature or sanctified by the grace of God Here in this world if carnal men make any enquiry after themselves at all it 's only after their outward wayes and actions not asking themselves What am I whose am I Am I of God or the Devil Am I in Christ or in my sins But for the most part enquiring only What have I done What life have I lived What course have I run 'T were well if there were more such enquiries as this now in this day Oh how seldome do we hear carnal men asking What have I done But in that day the great enquiry will be What art thou A Saint or a sinner A believer or unbeliever What charge hath been made upon thy nature Hath there been a work of grace wrought upon thee And as this will be the grand inquiry so this will be the great matter of conviction in that day Now men easily take themselves to be converts to be believers but then shall they be convinced of their mistakes and shall be made to acknowledge that they are still in their sins have rejected Christ and are strangers from the life of God 2. Of their actions as those that shall evidence what their state is All the wickedness of their lives shall be brought forth to light and made to stare them in the face and with such unquestionable evidence charged upon them that they shall stand speechless before their Judge not having a word to say to excuse and acquit themselves of this dreadful charge II. Touching the means of conviction know that this conviction will be by the opening of two books which we find mentioned in Scripture 1. The book of Gods Remembrance 2. The book of every mans Conscience The former we find mentioned Mal. 3.16 A book of Remembrance was written before God God hath a book of Remembrance as of the goods works and actions of the godly so of the evil works and actions of the wicked wherein their most secret abominations are registred and recorded Sinner all the wickednesses of thy life the secret villanies that thine heart hath been privy to which no eye of man ever saw or suspected all thy chamber sins all thy twilight sins all thy works of the night and of darkness yea secret and open which thou hast long since forgotten and buried out of thy sight all these are written and booked up before the Lord against that terrible day The latter book namely the book of Conscience we find mentioned Jer. 17.1 The Sin of Judah is written with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond it is graven upon the Tables of their hearts That is their sins are so fixed in their hearts and consciences that they cannot be forgotten but the memory of them all shall be revived And with the Apostle Their conscience also bearing witness and accusing them in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ. In this book of conscience which God hath given to every man and woman as in Gods book so in this also are written all their thoughts words and actions yea their sinful omissions as well as their sinful commissions their secret impurities as well as their open impieties Now many mens consciences are as it were asleep so that though they are guilty of manifold sins and transgressions yet their consciences do not accuse them for the same but their iniquity is still marked and at that day every mans conscience shall be awakened bring forth its black roule even all his sins and so shall be as a thousand witnesses against him Then the Covetous Shop-keeper shall remember all his deceits in trading his false weights and measures his lying and dissembling Then shall the unclean person remember all his watchings for the twilight all his speculative wantonnesses and contemplative as well as practical uncleannesses Then shall the proud man remember all his phantastick fashions The malicious man all his envious wishes all his plots and stratagems to ensnare and mischief the godly Yea then shall every one read in this book the hell of his nature as well as the hideous abominations of this life then shall he see all his former sins which he had forgotten to be written in his conscience with indelible characters never to be blotted out That work of accusing which the conscience here doth in some men imperfectly it will at that

lake which burneth with fire and brimstone to all eternity Oh me-thinks the name of eternal judgement should if not fright him out of his wits yet awaken eyely unregenerate man out of his security and stir him up without further delay to abandon his wicked and ungodly course of life and to set upon the practice of all holy and religious duties and to labour therein to get the work of Regeneration wrought in his heart that he may become a new creature It may be thou hast a plentiful portion of this Worlds goods enjoying what thine heart can wish or desire But oh what will it profit thee to live plentifully and prosperously here and to be eternally miserable hereafter Thy former happiness will serve only to make thee more sensible of future miseries And therefore when thou art tempted to any unlawfull pleasure or profit reason thus with thy self Shall I for a short momentary pleasure that will soon have an end run the hazard of an eternal judgement that will never have an end shall I for a little profit here loose my soul to all Eternity What greater folly yea what greater madness can be imagined Thus much of the miseries of the Unregenerate in this life Come we now to shew their miseries at death CHAP. VIII Sheweth the miserable and dreadfull condition of the Vnregenerate at their death IF the life of an unregenerate man be so miserable as hath been shewed How dolefull think you will be his death surely his misery then will be much increased As will appear from the consideration of these particulars I. When death shall appear unto thee and tell thee it hath a message from the Lord who hath sent an habeas corpus for thy body Then comes in Conscience if a little awakened with her books of accounts her black and bitter roul and shews thee thy old reckonings and arrears setting before thee the follies of thy youth the sins of thy riper years and the iniquities of thy whole life Ah sinners thou who goest on impenitently in thy wicked and ungodly course of life consider with what a ghastly countenance thou wilt look upon that black and hellish Catalogue of all thy sins thy lyes and oaths thy railing and rotten speeches thy scoffings at Gods people thy goods ill gotten thy time ill spent thy profanation of Sabbaths thy speculative wantonness yea thy many actual filthinesses and uncleannesses thy pride worldliness and covetousness thy sensual revellings and jovial meetings Ah sinner sinner what horrour will then possess thy soul no heart of man can conceive nor tongue of men and angells can express Indeed many there are who upon their death-beds have little right or sense of their sins neither do they think of judgement or eternity but drop into hell before they consider any thing But yet upon the approach of death commonly there is some terrour and trembling upon the consciences of carnal men and if ever any sin did formerly sting it will then especially Oh methinks a serious apprehension and sensible fore-thought of these things even at hand for ought any man knows should make the hardest heart to tremble and melt into tears of unfained sorrow II. The Devil will not be then wanting to aggravate thy sins and to set before thee the curses and the judgements due unto thee for the same thereby to drive thee to despair For when death layeth siege to the body then doth he most violently assault the soul. And the shorter he perceiveth his time to be the more eagerly doth he bestir himself And when through pain of body and perplexity of mind thou art least able to make resistance then will he most fiercely assault thee Whereas formerly his great design was to ●ull thee fast asleep in a presumptuous security by perswading thee that thy state and condition was as good as the best and thy salvation sure enough at thy death if he be not then also pursuing the same design if he can no longer hold thee under thy sleep it will be his great work to perswade thee that thy sins are greater than can be forgiven that there is no place for thee in Heaven and that it is impossible thou shouldst be saved He that hath made the way to Heaven so broad and the entrance so easie all thy life long will at thy death do his utmost to shut the door against thee III. Death puts an end to all thy Worldly comforts and contentm●nts which must all die with thee as to thy use and comfort It salutes thee with this sad word Thou hast received thy good things Now an end of thy Heaven and joy Particularly 1. Then thou must part with all thy carnal pleasures and delights which thou hast loved so dearly Yea then thou wilt find little comfort remaining of all thy former pleasures wherein thou tookest so much content and delight and for the enjoyment whereof thou dispensedst not only with the duties of thy calling but likewise with the duties of piety Yea it will be a very hell unto thee upon earth to consider what eternal torments thou art like to endure for those poor and perishing pleasures which thou enjoyedst here for a season Are these the things for which I dye Are these the price of my soul of my blood of my peace Ah sinner the remembrance of thy past pleasures will then possess thee with a double passion First with grief because thou art parting with them And then with d●t●station because they have brought upon thee such bitter sorrows and torments in hell with the Devils and damned to all eternity O the tayle of these Locusts whose fair faces have heretofore bewitched thee O the sting the sting that they carry in their tayles which is now all that remains to thee 2. Thou must part with thy nearest and dearest relations as thy dear Wife or dear Husband with thy beloved Children Death will separate thee from them all Ah sinners sad will it be to part with these here to live for ever with the Devils and damned in hell And how will it torment thee when you must part to remember to how little good purpose you lived together 3. Thou must part with thy wealth and riches carrying nothing away with thee of all thy enjoyments We brought nothing into the World and it is certain we can carry nothing out as the Apostle speaketh But as we came naked into the World so we shall go naked out of the World And therefore when rich men dye they are said to leave a good estate behind them And indeed they may well be said to leave it because they cannot carry it away with them Ah sinner I know it will be a death to thee to part with thy wealth which was thy life but to consider how thou hast damned thy soul for the getting thereof this will be an hell to thee 4. Thou must part with all the means and opportunities of grace Now thou enjoyest the ordinances of