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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	word_n	wrath_n	write_v	238	4	5.1195	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26967	Now or never the holy, serious, diligent believer justified, encouraged, excited and directed, and the opposers and neglecters convinced by the light of Scripture and reason / by Richard Baxter ...	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1662 (1662)	Wing B1320; ESTC R11592	92,411	266

have found the way of applause and prosperity as well as they and that no man takes that for his misery which he chooseth If this kind of preaching or writing offend could not I have avoided it I am not in love with sufferings from men nor will I escape them at the rates of Gods displeasure I never think my self in the highest form of christians till I am more conform to the sufferings of Christ and have endured more then yet I have It is the Christians old Apology in Tertullian Quasi non totum quod in nos potestis nostrum si Arbitrium Certe si velim Christianus sum tunc ergo me damnabis si damnari velim Quum vero quod in me potes nisi velim non potes jam meae voluntatis est quod potes non tuae potestatis Proinde vulgus vane de nostra vexatione gaudet Proinde nostrum est gaudium quod sibi vendicant qui malumus damnari quam a Deo excidere Contra illi qui nos oderunt dolere non gaudere debebant consecutis nobis quod eligimus Tert. Apologet. cap. 39. That is As if all that you can do against us were not our own choice or will Certainly it is because I will that I am a Christian therefore if I will be condemned then thou wilt condemn me And when that which thou canst do against me thou canst not do unless I will it is not now from thy power that thou canst do it but from my will And therefore the vulgar do in vain rejoyce at our vexation And therefore it is our joy which they challenge to themselves while we had rather be condemned then fall from God On the contrary they that hate us should grieve and not rejoyce while we attain but what we choose For my part if the world will needs be mad I think both the laughing and the weeping Philosopher are more excusable then he that would be over-angry at them or over-busie in disputing with them saith Seneca Quare fers aegri rabiem phrenetici verba nempe quia videntur nescere quid faciunt Quid interest quo quisque vitio fiat imprudens Sen. de Ira. l. 3. c. 26. Anger and phrensie are but several wayes of a mans losing his wit and therefore he that can bear with one should somewhat bear with the other Though indeed voluntariness or involuntariness maketh a great difference It is not worth a man's time and labour and cost to be over solicitous in his own vindication let the world say of him what they please Multum temporis ultio absumit Multis se injuriis objicit dum unam dolet Diutius irascimur omnes quam laedimur Sen. de Ira. l. 3. c. 27. Revenge takes up a deal of time He that complaineth of one injury objects himself to many We are all angry longer th●n we a●e hurt I have truly given you now the Reasons why I rather choose to speak these common necessary things against the Devils party the ungodly the enemies or neglecters of serious Holiness agreeable to the subject of his Majesties Christian and excellent Declaration against Debauchery at his entrance upon his Royal Goverment then to meddle with any of the contending parties of these times who are so angry because in obedience to authority I once endeavoured to reconcile them or to be unseasonable in pleading any cause that is my own And now referring the Reader to this short Discourse I must first desire that he misunderstand me not in one or two passages 1. That my citation of the passage in the Homiles be not taken as if I spoke a word against it though I say I dare not my self subscribe it For though I think my self that seeing a persecutor like Saul may repent and be pardoned a mocker at Godliness may Repent and be forgiven also Yet I am resolved still to suspect my own understanding rather then to speak against the doctrine of the Church 2. Think it not strange that I reprehend even Ministers that are secret or open opposers of a holy diligence For our foresaid Homily telleth us as followeth Hom. for Inform c part 2. p. 150 251. Examples of such scorners we read in 2 Chron. When the good King Hezekiah in the beginning of his Reign had destroyed Idolatry purged the Temple and Reformed Religion in his Realm he sent Messengers into every City to gather the people to Jerusalem to solemnize the feast of Easter in such sort as God hath appointed The Posts went from City to City And what did the people think ye Did they laud and praise the name of the Lord that had given them so so good a King so zealous a Prince to abolish Idolatry and to restore again Gods true Religion No no the Scripture saith the people laughed them to scorn and mocked the Kings messengers And in the last Chap. of the same Book it is written that Almighty God having compassion on his people sent his Messengers the Prophets to them to call them from their abominable Idolatry and wicked kind of living But they mocked his Messengers they despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people and till there was no remedy The wicked people that were in the dayes of Noah made but a mock at the Word of God when Noah told them that God would take vengeance on them for their sins Lot preached to the Sodomites that except they repented both they and their City should be destroyed They thought his sayings impossible to be true they scorned and mocked his admonitions and reputed him as an old doting fool But God burnt up those scorners and mockers of his holy Word And what estimation had Christs doctrine among the Scribes and Pharisees What reward had he among them The Pharisees which were covetous did scorn him in his Doctrine O then you see that worldly rich men do scorn the doctrine of their salvation the worldly wise men scorn the Doctrine of Christ as foolishness to their understandings These scorners have ever been and ever shall be to the worlds end For St Peter prophesied that such scorners should be in the end before the latter day Take heed therefore my brethren take heed be ye not scorners of Gods most Holy Word provoke him not to pour out his wrath upon you as he did upon those Gibers and Mockers Be not wilful murderers of your own souls Thus far the Homily And no marvel if Priests may be guilty as well as people if it be true that is said by the Church in Hom. 3. against peril of idolatry p. 56 57. But a true Preacher to stay this mischief is in very many places scarcely heard once in the whole year and somewhere not once in seven year as is evident to be proved Further it appeareth not by any story of credit that true and sincere preaching hath endured in any one place above an hundred years But it is

Authority the Work it self I desire you but to receive what is there delivered not by any factious persons but by the Church Do this and we are agreed and satisfied And I make it my request to the Reader to peruse both Parts of that Homily that he may know how far the Church of England is from the loose conceits of the enemies of Godliness And if also you will read over the Homilies against the peril of Idolatry you will the fuller know the Judgement of the Church about the manner of Gods worship Indeed the whole Book is such as the people should be acquainted with I Have done my part to open to you the Necessity of SERIOVS DILIGENCE and to call up the sluggish souls of sinners to mind the work of their salvation and to do it SPEEDILY and with all their MIGHT I must now leave the success to God and you What use you will make of it and what you will be and do for the time to come is a matter that more concerneth your selves then me If long speaking or multitude of words were the way to prevail with you I should willingly speak here while my strength would endure and lengthen out my exhortations yet seven-fold But that 's not the way A little wearieth you You love long feasts and long visits and plays and sports much better then long Sermons or Books or Prayers But it is no small grief to us to leave you in a case of such importance without some considerable hopes of your deliverance Sirs the matter is now laid before you and much in your own hands it will not be so long What will ye now do Have I convinced you now that God and your salvation are to be sought with all your might If I have not it is not for want of evidence in what is said but for want of willingness in your selves to know the truth I have proved to you that it is a matter out of controversie unless your lusts and passions and carnal interest will make a controversie of it I beseech you tell me if you be of any Religion at all why are you not strict serious and diligent and mortified and Heavenly in that Religion which you are of Sure you will not so far shame your own Religion whatever it be as to say that your Religion is not for mortification holinesse heavenliness self-denial or that your Religion alloweth you to be ambitious covetous gluttonous drunken to curse and swear and whore and raile and oppress the innocent It is not Religion but Diabolical serpentine malignity that is for any of this It s wonderful to think that learned men and Gentlemen and men that pretend to reason and ingenuity can quietly betray their souls to the Devil upon such silly grounds and do the evil that they have no more to say for and neglect that duty that they have no more to say against when they know they must do it NOW or NEVER That while they confesse that there is a God and a life to come a Heaven and a Hell and that this life is purposely given us for preparation for Eternity while they confess that God is most wise and holy and good and just and that sin is the greatest evil and that the Word of God is true they can yet make shift to quiet themselves in an unholy sensual careless life And that while they honour the Apostles and Martyrs and Saints that are dead and gone they hate their successors and imitators and the lives that they lived and are inclined to make more Martyrs by their malicious cruelty Alas all this comes from the want of a sound belief of the things which they never saw and the distance of those things the power of passion and sensual objects and inclinations that hurry them away after present vanities and conquer reason and rob them of their humanity and by the noise of the company of sensual sinners that harden and deaffen one another and by the just judgement of God forsaking those that would not know him and leaving them to the blindness and hardness of their hearts But is there no remedy O thou the fountain of mercy and relief vouchsafe these miserable sinners a remedy O thou the Saviour of lost mankind have mercy upon these sinners in the depth of their security presumption and misery O thou the Illuminater and Sanctifier of souls apply the remedy so dearly purchased We are constrained oft to fear lest it be much long of us that should more seriously preach the awakening truths of God unto mens hearts And verily our consciences cannot but accuse us that when we are most lively and serious alas we seem but almost to trifle considering on what a message we come and of what transcendent things we speak But Satan hath got his advantage upon our hearts that should be instrumental to kindle theirs as well as on theirs that should receive the truth O that we could thirst more after their salvation O that we could pray harder for it and entreat them more earnestly as those that were loath to take a denial from God or man I must confess to you all with shame and sorrow that I am even amazed to think of the hardness of my own heart that melteth no more in compassion to the miserable and is no more earnest and importunate with sinners when I am upon such a subject as this and am telling them that it must be NOW or NEVER and when the messengers of Death within and the fame of mens displeasure from without doth tell me how likely it is that my Time shall be but short and that if I will say any thing that may reach the hearts of sinners for ought I know it must be NOW or NEVER O what an obstinate what a lamentable disease is this insensibility and hardness of heart If I were sure this were the last Sermon that ever I should preach I find now my heart would shew its sluggishness and rob poor souls of the serious fervour which is suitable to the subject and their case and needful to the desired success But yet poor sleepy sinners hear us Though we speak not to you as men would do that had seen Heaven and Hell and were themselves in a perfectly awakned frame yet hear us while we speak to you the words of truth with some seriousness and compassionate desire of your Salvation O look up to your God! Look out unto eternity Look inwardly upon your souls Look wisely upon your short and hasty Time and then bethink you how the little remnant of your Time should be employed and what it is that most concerneth you to dispatch and secure before you die Now you have Sermons and Books and Warnings It will not be so long Preachers must have done God threatneth them and death threatneth them and men threaten them and its you it s you that are most severely threatned and that are called on by Gods warnings