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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	day_n	great_a	time_n	4,794	5	3.3956	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26870	A breviate of the life of Margaret, the daughter of Francis Charlton ... and wife of Richard Baxter ... : there is also published the character of her mother, truly described in her published funeral sermon, reprinted at her daughters request, called, The last work of a believer, his passing-prayer recommending his departing spirit to Christ, to be received by him.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1681 (1681)	Wing B1194; ESTC R1213	62,400	127

is a good friend But Art and Industry are necessary to the improvement And no wonder when we fetch not the help and comfort which we might have from God from Christ himself from Heaven from Scripture for want of improving skill and industry O how easie is it when our friends are taken from us to say Thus and thus I might and should have used them rather than so to use them while we have them I hope God will help me to make some better use of thee while we are together and at a distance O let not a hearty request to God for each other be any day wanting Dear heart the time of our mutual help is short O let us use it accordingly but the time of our reaping the fruit of this and all holy endeavours and preparatory mercies will be endless Yet a little while and we shall be both with Christ. He is willing of us and I hope we are willing of him and of his Grace though the flesh be weak I am absent but God is still with you your daily Guide and Keeper and I hope you will labour to make him your daily Comfort And now you have none to divert and hinder you to say When I awake I am still with thee And when you are up I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved And when Thoughts crowd in In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul And when Thoughts would trouble and perplex you My Meditation of him shall be sweet and I will delight in the Lord. And when your Wants and Duty call you to him It is good for me to draw nigh to God All other comforts will be as the things are which we take comfort in that is Helpful if the things be helpful and used but as Helps Hurtful if the things be hurtful or hurtfully used Vain if the things be vain Short if the things be transitory and durable if the things are durable to us And this is the chief comfort which you and I must have in one another that is as helpful towards God and as our converse with him will be durable The Lord forgive my great unprofitableness and the sin that brought me under any disabilities to answer your earnest and honest desires of greater helps than I afford you and help me yet to amend it towards you But though my Soul be faulty and dull and my strength of Nature fail be sure that he will be a thousand fold better to thee even here than such crooked feeble useless things as is From Hampden Thy R. B. CHAP. IX Of her Bodily Infirmities and her Death § 1. HER diseased frightfulness and many former sicknesses I have mentioned before A great pain of the Head held her from her youth two or three days every Fortnight or little more and upon every thing that did irritate the matter she had a constant straitness in the Lungs a great incapacity of much exercise motion or any heating thing Ever since her sickness 1659. she hath lived in an ill-conceited fear of distraction which greatly hurt her It was because she had an Aunt long so deceased and her Parents were naturally passionate and her spirits over-quick and her blood thin and Mobile and though wisdom hid it from others in her converse she felt the trouble of her own mind in things as aforesaid that much displeased her and so lived in a constant fear which tended to have brought on her what she feared But her understanding was so far from failing that it was higher and clearer than other peoples but like the treble strings of a Lute strained up to the highest sweet but in continual danger § 2. About three years ago by the mis-perswasion of a friend drinking against the Collick a spoonful of powdered Ginger every morning near a quarter of a year together and then falling into some over-whelming thoughts besides it overthrew her Head for a few days but God in great mercy soon restored her § 3. Ever since that time her Head-ach abated and she complained of a pain in one of her Breasts and her uncurable timerousness setled her in a conceit that she should have a Cancer which I saw no great cause to fear but she could neither endure to hear that it was none or that it was but in fearing uncertainty prepared constantly for a sad death And several Friends Neighbours and Relations lately dying of Cancers increased her fear but she seemed to be prepared cheerfully to undergo it § 4. The many and weekly rumors of Plots Firings Massacres c. much increased this fear as is aforesaid and the death of very many Neighbours young strong and excellent Christians of greatest use and many near friends did greatly add to her sadness and expectations of death But little of this was seen to any she purposely carried it pleasantly and as merrily to others when she was troubled § 5. The fears of a Cancer made her take the Waters for Physick often and she kept down her body so in her diet that about five Ounces of Milk or Milk and Water with a little Chocolate in it morning and night and about one or two bits at Dinner was her diet for many years § 6. At last about ten weeks before her sickness almost all her pain went out of her Breast and all fixed in a constant pain upon the right Kidney and with the pain her Urine stopt that about four parts of five ceased for about ten weeks She divers days drunk Barnet-Waters but I think they were the last occasion of her sickness and too much tincture of Amber which work't too powerfully on her Brain and suddenly cast her into strong disturbance and deliration in which though the Physicians with great kindness and care did omit nothing in their power she died the 12th day She fell sick on Friday Iune 3. 1681. and died Iune 14. § 7. Though her understanding never perfectly returned she had a very strong remembrance of the affecting passages of her life from her childhood Mrs. Corbet whom she dearly loved and had newly got into the house to be her companion with others standing by she cried out to me My mother is in Heaven and Mr. Corbet is in Heaven and thou and I shall be in Heaven And even in her last weakness was perswaded of her salvation § 8. She oft shewed us that her soul did work towards God crying out complaining of her Head Lord make me know what I have done f●r which I undergo all this Lord I submit God chooseth best for me She desired me to pray by her and seemed quietly to join to the end She heard divers Psalms and a Chapter read and repeated part and sung part of a Psalm her self The last words that she spake were My God help me Lord have mercy upon me § 9. God had been so many years training her up under the

and trouble upon my spirits and well it may be so for the sins of this day have been very great My heart hath not answered the expressions of thanks which have been uttered by the mouths of those that spake them to God No no my heart hath not stirred and been drawn out towards my God! The thoughts of his love have not ravished my Soul Alas I scarce felt any holy spark to warm my Soul this day This day which was a day of the greatest mercy of any in all my life the day in which I have had an opportunity to give thanks for all the mercies of my life and thanks it self is a greater mercy than the rest All other mercies are to prepare for this This is the work of a glorified Saint even a Saint in heaven before the blessed face of God It 's his everlasting business to Sing the Songs of Thanksgiving and Praise to the Most High But my thoughts have not been filled with the sweet foretasts of this blessed work which I might have had this day O God I beseech thee forgive my sin and lay not my deadness to my charge but overlook all my transgressions and look on me in Jesus Christ my Saviour I am thine Lord and not mine own This day I have under my Hand and Seal in the presence of Witnesses nay in thine own presence who art Witness sufficient were there no eye to see me or ear to hear me Thou Lord that knowest all things knowest that I have devoted my All to thee Take it and accept my Sacrifice Help me to pay my vows Wilt thou not accept me because I do it not more sincerely and believingly O Lord I unfeignedly desire to do it aright O wilt thou strengthen my weak desires I believe Lord help my unbelief Thou that canst make me what I am not O make me what thou wouldst have me be In thee there is all fulness and to thee I desire to come by Christ. Wilt thou now cast me off because I do it not unreservedly Lord I confess the Devil tempteth and the flesh saith Spare something what let all go And I find in me a carnal selfish principle ready to close with the temptation But thou canst prevent and conquer all and speak death to these corruptions and bid the Tempter be gone It is thy pleasure here to suffer thy dear children to be tempted but fuffer not temptations to prevail against thy Spirit and Grace If temptation be like a torrent of water to smother quench or hide the flame yet wilt thou never let all the sparks of thy Grace be put out in the soul where once thou hast truly kindled it But Lord suffer not such floods to fall on my soul where the spark is so small already that it is even scarce discernible O quicken it and blow it up to a holy flame Most gracious God! O do it here who hast done it for many a soul O what have I said that I have a spark of grace why the least spark is worth ten thousand times more thanks than I can ever express and I have been dead and unthankful as is before confessed And is that a sign of grace Unthankful dead and dull I have been and still am but yet it must needs be from Gods gift in me that I have any desires after him and that this day I have desired to devote my self to him and that I can say I would be more holy and more heavenly even as the Lord would have me be Nay I do know the time when I had none of these desires and had no mind to God and the ways of godliness and do I not know that there be many in this condition who have no desires after Christ and holiness Here then is matter of comfort given me from him that doth accept the desires of his poor creatures even the Lord Christ who will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised reed I see then that I have yet matter of rejoycing and must labour to be so humbled for my remaining sins as may tend to my future joy in believing but not so as to be discouraged and frightned from God who is longsuffering and abundant in mercy Rouze up thy self then to God my soul humbly but believingly repent that thou hast been so unthankful and insensible of the benefits this day received up up and lie not down so heavily God hath heard prayers for thee and given thee life and opportunity to serve him He hath given thee all the outward mercies thy heart can desire He hath given thee dear godly able friends such as can help thee in the way to heaven yea he hath set them to beg spiritual mercies for thee who prevailed for temporal for thee and oft for many others why then shouldst thou not watch and pray and wait in hope that he hath heard their prayers this day for thy soul as formerly for thy body They are things commanded of God to be asked and we have his promise that seeking we shall find It may be this night many of Gods dear children will yet pray for my soul I doubt not some will and shall I not be glad of such advantage I heard this day that I must not forbear thanks because the mercies are yet imperfect else we should never give thanks on earth Though therefore my Grace be yet but a spark and weak my body weak my heart sad all these administer matter of thanks and praise as well as of supplication Let me therefore keep close to both they being the life of my life while I live here and having daily need of supply from God let me daily be with him and live as in his presence Let him be the chief in all my thoughts my heart and life And let me remember to be earnest for my poor Relations and dear Friends and the Church and people of God in general And let me strive to keep such a moderate sense of sorrow on my soul as occasion requireth I have now cause of sorrow for parting with my dear friends my Father my Pastor He is by providence called away and going a long journey what the Lord will do with him I cannot foresee it may be he is preparing some great mercy for us and for his praise I know not but such a day as this may be kept here on his account The will of the Lord be done for he is wise and good we are his own let him do with us what he pleaseth all shall be for good to them that love God I have cause to be humbled that I have been so unprofitable under mercies and means it may grieve me now he is gone that there is so little that came from him left upon my soul. O let this quicken and stir me up to be more diligent in the use of all remaining helps and means And if ever I should enjoy this mercy again O let me make it appear that this night

duties for them besides the time and perhaps caring thoughts that all his Family expences and affairs will require And then it will disquiet a man's mind to think that he must neglect his Family or his Flock and hath undertaken more than he can do My conscience hath forced me many times to omit secret prayer with my Wife when she desired it for want of time not daring to omit far greater work 2. And a Minister can scarce look to win much on his Flock if he be not able to oblige them by gifts of charity and liberality And a married man hath seldom any thing to spare especially if he have children that must be provided for all will seem too little for them Or if he have none House-keeping is chargeable when a single man may have entertainment at easie rates and most women are weak and apt to live in fear of want if not in covetousness and have many wants real or fancied of their own to be supplied 3. In a word St. Paul's own words are plain to others but concern Ministers much more than other men 1 Cor. 7. 7 c. I would that all men were as I my self It is good for them they abide even as I 28. Such shall have trouble in the flesh 32. I would have you without carefulness He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord but he that is married careth for the things of the world how he may please his wife This is true And believe it both caring for the things of the world and caring to please one another are businesses and troublesome businesses care for house-rent for children for servants wages for food and rayment but above all for debts are very troublesome things and if cares choak the word in hearers they will be very unfit for the mind of a Student and a man that should still dwell on holy things And the pleasing of a Wife is usually no easie task There is an unsuitableness in the best and wisest and likest Faces are not so unlike as the apprehensions of the mind They that agree in Religion in Love and Interest yet may have daily different apprehensions about occasional occurrences persons things words c. That will seem the best way to one that seems worst to the other And passions are apt to succeed and serve these differences Very good people are very hard to be pleased My own dear Wife had high desires of my doing and speaking better than I did but my badness made it hard to me to do better But this was my benefit for it was but to put me on to be better as God himself will be pleased That it's hard to please God and holy persons is only our fault But there are too many that will not be pleased unless you will contribute to their sin their pride their wastfulness their superfluities and childish fancies their covetousness and passions and too many who have such passion that it requireth greater skill to please them than almost any the wisest can attain And the discontents and displeasure of one that is so near you will be as Thorns or Nettles in your bed And Paul concludeth to be un-married is the better that we may attend the Lord without distraction v. 35 38. And what need we more than Christ's own words Mat. 19. 10 11 12. when they said then It is not good to marry he answers All men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given For there are some Eunuchs who were so born from their Mothers womb and there are some Eunuchs who were made Eunuchs by men and there be Eunuchs which have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake He that is able to receive it let him receive it Oh how many sad and careful hours might many a Minister have prevented And how much more good might he have done if being under no necessity he had been sooner wise in this § 18. Another Use of this History is to shew men that it is not God's or our Enemies afflicting us in worldly losses or sufferings especially when we suffer for Righteousness sake which is half so painful as our own inward Infirmities A man's Spirit can bear his Infirmities of outward Crosses but a wounded Spirit who can bear My poor Wife made nothing of Prisons Distrainings Reproaches and such Crosses but her burden was most inward from her own Tenderness and next from those whom she over-loved And for mine own part all that ever either Enemies or Friends have done against me is but as a flea-biting to me in comparison of the daily burden of a pained Body and the weakness of my Soul in Faith Hope Love and Heavenly Desires and Delights § 19. And here you may see how necessary Patience is and to have a Mind fortified before-hand against all sorts of Sufferings that in our Patience we may possess our Souls And that the dearest Friends must expect to find much in one another that must be born with and exercise our Patience We are all imperfect It hath made me many a time wonder at the Prelates that can think it the way to the Concord of Millions to force them to consent to all their Impositions even of Words and Promises and Ceremonies and that in things where Conscience must be most cautelous whereas even Husband and Wife Master and Servants have almost daily Differences in judging of their common Affairs § 20. And by this History you may see how little cause we have to be over-serious about any worldly matters and to mind and do them with too much intensness of Affection and how necessary it is to possess them as if we possest them not seeing the time is short and the fashion of this world passeth away And how reasonable it is that if we love God our selves yea or our Friends that we should long to be with Christ where they are far more amiable than here and where in the City of God the Ierusalem above we shall delightfully dwell with them for ever Whereas here we were still sure to stay with them but a little while And had we here known Christ after the flesh we should so know him no more Whereas believing that we shall soon be with him even those that never saw him may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory § 21. Lastly Here you may see that as God's Servants have not their portion or good things in this Life so they may have the same Sicknesses and manner of Death as others Lazarus may lie and die in his sores among the Dogs at the door when Dives may have a pompous Life and Funeral There is no judging of a mans Sincerity or of his future state by his Disease or by his Diseased Death-bed words He that liveth to God shall die safely into the hand of God though a Fever or Deliration hinder him from knowing this till Experience and sudden possession of Heaven convince him Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Rev. 14. 13. Therefore in our greatest straits and sufferings let us comfort one another with these words That we shall for ever be with the Lord. Had I been to possess the company of my Friends in this Life only how short would out comfortable converse have been But now I shall live with them in the Heavenly City of God for ever And they being there of the same mind with my forgiving God and Saviour will forgive all my Failings Neglects and Injuries as God forgiveth them and me The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away And he hath taken away but that upon my desert which he had given me undeservedly near Nineteen years Blessed be the Name of the Lord. I am waiting to be next The door is open Death will quickly draw the Veil and make us see how near we were to God and one another and did not sufficiently know it Farewel vain World and welcom true Everlasting Life FINIS