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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	new_a	scripture_n	testament_n	8,305	5	8.0705	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78903	The godly mans ark or, City of refuge, in the day of his distresse. Discovered in divers sermons, the first of which was preached at the funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore. The other four were afterwards preached, and are all of them now made publick, for the supportation and consolation of the saints of God in the hour of tribulation. Hereunto are annexed Mris. Moores evidences for Heaven, composed and collected by her in the time of her health, for her comfort in the time of sickness. / By Ed. Calamy, B.D. and pastor of the church at Aldermanbury.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.; Moore, Elizabeth, d. 1656?	1657 (1657)	Wing C247; Thomason E1616_1; ESTC R209627	96,958	299

together in 1 Cor. 1. 10 the same minde and in the same Judgement 19 Study often and often the quatuor novissima The four last things Death Judgement Hell and Heaven The meditation of Death will prepare you for Death The meditation of Heaven will make you heavenly-minded The meditation of Hell will keep you from Hell Therefore Bernard Descendamus viventes ut non descendamus morientes perswades us to go often down to Hell by meditation while wee live and wee shall not go down to it when wee dye The meditation of the day of Judgement will bee both fraenum calcar a bridle to curb you from sin and a spurre to incite you to all godliness that so you may give up your account with joy at that terrible day 20 Study the exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel make a Catalogue of them meditate on them and labour to apply them to your own souls for your everlasting comfort And for this purpose read over these Sermons and study them in time of health that you may injoy the benefit of them in the time of sickness Lastly Let mee intreat you to praise God in my behalf that hee hath been pleased out of his free love to uphold mee amongst you in my Ministerial imployment for these eighteen years And to continue your earnest prayers unto him that hee would make my labours more useful and successful that hee would guide mee that I may guide you that hee would not only make but keep mee faithful in these backsliding times and teach mee so to preach and so to live that I may save my self and those that hear mee Your Servant in the work of the Ministry E. C. The Reader is intreated to correct these following Errata's or else hee will scarce understand some passages in the Book PAge 12 for 2. r. 20. pig 25. dele 1. pag. 29. for chasteneth r. chastenest pag. 32. for buld r. build p. 48 for imittantur r. immittantur p. 65 for policarp r. Politian p. 73 for Cranmor r. Cranmer p. 79 dele 1. p. 85 for John r. Jehu p. 150 for those r. these p. 161 for third Sermon r. fourth Sermon p. 167 for tells r. tell p. 167. for contest r. fear p. 199 for appliable r. applicable p. 222 for sixt r. fift Here followeth the Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mris. Elizabeth Moore the 27th of February last at Aldermanbury The Godly mans Ark OR City of Refuge in the day of his Distresses SERMON I. PSAL. 119. 92. Unless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in mine affliction THis Psalm out of which my Text is taken exceeds all the other Psalms not onely in length but in excellency so far in the judgement of Ambrose as the light of the Sun excels the light of the Moon As the Book of Psalms is stiled by Luther An Epitome of the Bible or a little Bible So may this Psalm fitly bee called An Epitome of the Book of Psalms It was written as is thought by David in the dayes of his banishment under Saul but so penned that the words thereof suit the condition of all Saints It is penu doctrinae publicum unicuique apta convenientia distribuens A publick store-house of heavenly doctrines distributing fit and convenient instructions to all the people of God and therefore should bee in no less account with those who are spiritually alive than is the use of the Sun Air and Fire with those who are naturally alive It is divided into two and twenty Sections according to the Hebrew Alphabet and therefore fitly called A holy Alphabet for Sions Schollars The A B C. of godliness Sixtus Senensis calls it An Alphabetical Poem The Jews are said to teach it their little children the first thing they learn and therein they take a very right course both in regard of the heavenly matter and plain stile fitted for all capacities The chief scope of it is to set out the glorious excellencies and perfections of the Law of God There is not a verse except one onely say some learned men in Print but are therein deceived but I may truly say Ames Couper Except the 122. and the 90. verses in this long Psalm wherein there is not mention made of the Law of God under the name of Law or Statutes or Precepts or Testimonies or Commandements or Ordinances or Word or Promises or Wayes or Judgements or Name or Righteousness or Truth c. This Text that I have chosen sets out the great benefit and comfort which David found in the Law of God in the time of his affliction It kept him from perishing Had not thy Law been my delights I had perished in my affliction The word Law is taken diversly in Scripture sometimes for the Moral Law James 2.10 Sometimes for the whole Oeconomy Polity and Regiment of Moses for the whole Mosaical dispensation by Laws partly moral partly Judicial partly Ceremonial Gal. 3.23 Sometimes for the five Books of Moses Luke 24. 44. Sometimes for the whole Doctrine of God contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament John 7. 49. By Law in this place is meant all those Books of the Scripture which were written when this Psalm was penned But I shall handle it in a larger sense as it comprehends all the Books both of the Old and New Testament For the word Law is sometimes also taken for the Gospel as it is Micah 4.2 Isa 2.3 The meaning then is Unless thy Law that is Thy Word had been my delights I should have perished in mine affliction David speaks this saith Musculus of the distressed condition hee was in when persecuted by Saul forced to flye to the Philistins and sometimes to hide himself in the rocks and caves of the earth Hic vero simile est fuisse illi ad manum codicem divinae legis c. It is very likely saith hee that hee had the Book of Gods Law with him by the reading of which hee mitigated and allayed his sorrows and kept himself pure from communicating with the Heathen in their superstitions The Greek Scholiasts say That David uttered these words A Saule pulsus apud Philistaeos impios homines agere coactus when driven from Saul and compelled to live amonst the wicked Philistins c. for hee would have been allured to have communicated with them in their impieties had hee not carried about him the meditation of the word of God Unless thy Law had been my delights c. In the words themselves wee have two Truths supposed and one Truth clearly proposed 1 Two Truths supposed 1 That the dearest of Gods Saints are subject to many great and tedious afflictions 2 That the word of God is the Saints darling and delights One Truth clearly proposed That the Law of God delighted in is the afflicted Saints Antidote against ruine and destruction 1 Two Truths supposed The first is this Doct. 1. That the best of

example of holy David set down in the Text. Let us make the Law of God our joyes and our delights Let mee speak to you in the words of the Apostle Col. 3. 16. Let the VVord of God dwell richly in you c. not only with you but in you And in the Words of Christ John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for therein you hope to finde eternal life The Greek word signifieth to search as men do under ground for treasures or to search as men who dive under water for something that is at the bottom Let us with Job 23. 12. Esteem the VVord of God above our necessary food Let us love it above gold yea above fine gold let it bee dearer to us than thousands of gold and silver sweeter than the hony and the hony-comb You that are Gentlemen remember what Hierom reports of Nepotianus a young Gentleman of Rome qui long â assiduâ meditatione scripturarum pectus suum fecerat bibliothecam Christi who by often and assiduous meditation of the Scriptures made his breast the library of Christ Remember what is said of King Alphonsus that hee read over the Bible fourteen times together with such Commentaries as those times afforded You that are Schollars remember Cranmor and Ridley the former learnt the New Testament by heart in his journey to Rome the latter in Pembrook-hall walks in Cambridge Remember what is said of Thomas a Kempis that he found rest no where nisi in angulo cum libello but in a corner with this book in his hand And what is said of Beza that when hee was above fourscore years old hee could say perfectly by heart any Greek Chapter in Pauls Epistles You that are women consider what Hierom saith of Paula Eustochiam and other Ladies who were singularly vers't in the holy Scriptures Let all men consider that hyperbollical speech of Luther That hee would not live in Paradise without the VVord and with it hee could live well enough in Hell This speech of Luthers must bee understood cum grano salis Qu. May not a wicked man delight in the VVord of God is it not said of Herod Mark 6. 20. that hee heard John Baptist gladly and of the stony ground Luk. 8. 13. that it received the Word with joy Is it not said of the Israelites remaining wicked that they delighted to know Gods waies and took delight in approaching to God Isa 58. 2. and of the Jews Joh. 5. 35. that they were willing for a season to rejoyce in the Light held forth by the preaching of John Baptist Answ There is a wide and vast difference between the joy and delight which a true Saint takes in Gods Word and that which may bee found in an hypocrite 1 The delight of a godly man is orderly and seasonable It is the consequent of conviction and humiliation For though Joy bee the great work of the Spirit yet it is not the first work First The Spirit by the Word convinceth and humbleth and then comforteth therefore Christ saith Mat. 5. 4. Blessed are those that mourn for they shall bee comforted and David saith Psal 126. 5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy But the joy of an hypocrite is unseasonable and disorderly It is his first work It is said of the stony ground that when they heard the Word they received it immediately with gladnesse Mark 4. 16. It is not said they received it first with sorrow and then with gladnesse Here is mention of joy without any antecedent humiliation Nay the Text saith expresly Luk. 8. 6. it lacked moisture and therefore it withered away There are many Professors in our daies that skip from sin to joy at first that all in an instant are in the highest form of sin and in the highest form of comfort that skip out of the lap of the Devil into the lap of joy These are as the stony ground These are wanton Christians They sow before they plough they know not the bitternesse of sin and therefore in time of temptation fall away 2 The delight that a godly man takes in the Word is a well-rooted delight It is rooted in an humble good and honest heart as is said of the good ground Luk. 8. 15. But the delight of an hypocrite is shallow and superficial as his graces are sleight and formal so are his delights Therefore it is said of the seed that fell upon the stony ground that it had no root Luk. 8. 13. and Matth. 13. 5. it wanted depth of earth and therefore when the Sun arose it was scorched The Apostle hints this Heb. 6. 4. and have tasted the good Word of God The delight of a wicked man in the Word is but a tasting and sipping no soaking a floating aloft in the river of Christs blood no diving down to the bottom A man may taste a thing and not like it taste and like it and yet not come up to the price of it as the young man Matth. 19. 22. Hee was very desirous to injoy eternal life but hee would not part with his possessions for the obtaining of it A Cook tasteth of the meat hee dresseth but they only that are invited eate of it Tasting doth not imply habitual grace A man may taste that which hee never digesteth nor concocteth The Israelites tasted of the first fruits of the Land of Canaan and yet did not enter into Canaan Such is the joy of the hypocrite It is outward and superficial But the delight of a true Saint is inward solid and substantial Jeremy saith that the Word of God was the joy and rejoycing of his heart and that hee did eat it Jer. 15. 16. hee did not only taste it but eate it And Paul saith Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man His delights had depth of earth they were well digested and concocted 3 It is superlative and overtopping A godly man delighteth more in God and his Word than in any worldly thing whatsoever Lord lift thou up saith David Psal 4. 6 7. The light of thy countenance upon us thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine encreased So also Psal 43. 4. unto God my exceeding Joy Psa 137.6 If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief Joy And Psal 119.72.127 The delight of a Saint in Gods Word overtoppeth all his creature delights and injoyments and for the joy he findes in it he will fell all hee hath to purchase it Matth. 13. 44. But the joy of a wicked man is of an inferior nature hee rejoyceth more in Corn Wine and Oil c. And when it comes into competition hee will leave his spiritual and heavenly rather than lose his creature and carnal pleasures Thus Herod rejoyced in the word that John Baptist preached but hee rejoyced more in his Herodias and when it came to the tryal hee chose to behead John Baptist rather than to part with Herod●as 1