Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	afflict_v	holy_a	zion_n	77	3	9.1344	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77618	The silent soul, with soveraign antidotes against the most miserable exigents: or, A Christian with an olive-leaf in his mouth, when he is under the greatest afflictions, the sharpest and sorest trials and troubles, the saddest and darkest providences and changes, with answers to divers questions and objections that are of greatest importance, all tending to win and work souls to bee still, quiet, calm and silent under all changes that have, or may pass upon them in this world, &c. / By Thomas Brooks preacher of the Word at Margarets New Fish-street London, and pastor of the Church of Christ meeting there.	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1660 (1660)	Wing B4962A; Thomason E1876_1; ESTC R209789	146,060	409

13 14. O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with saphires And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of carbuneles and all thy borders of pleasant stones And all thy children shall bee taught of the Lord and great shall bee the peace of thy children Inrighteousness shalt thou bee established thou shalt bee far from oppression for thou shalt not fear and from terrour for it shall not come near thee Though they have been long afflicted and tossed yet they shall at last upon glorious foundations bee established God will not onely raise them out of their distressed estate wherein now they are but hee will advance them to a most eminent and glorious condition in this world they shall bee very glorious and outshine all the world in spiritual excellencies and outward dignities Isa 60. 14 15. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet and they shall call thee The City of the Lord The Zion of the holy One of Israel Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went thorow thee I will make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many Generations Ah Christians I do not mutter nor murmure under your long afflictions for you do not know but that by these long afflictions God may prepare and fit you for such favours and blessings that may never have end by long afflictions God many times prepares his people for temporal spiritual and eternal mercies if God by long afflictions makes more room in thy soul for himself his Son his Spirit his Word if by long afflictions hee shall crucifie thy heart more to the world and to thy relations and frame and fashion thy soul more for celestial enjoyments hast thou any cause to murmure surely no. But Seventhly The longer a Saint is afflicted on earth the more glorious hee shall shine in Heaven 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18 Mat. 5. 10 11 12 the more affliction here the more glory hereafter This Truth may bee thus made out First The more gracious souls are afflicted the more their graces are exercised and encreased Heb. 12. 10. Rom. 5. 3 4 5. Now the more grace here the more glory hereafter the higher in grace the higher in glory Grace differs nothing from glory but in name grace is glory in the bud and glory is grace at the full glory is nothing but the perfection of grace 2 Cor. 3. ult happiness is nothing but the perfection of holiness grace is glory in the seed and glory is grace in the flower grace is glory militant and glory is grace triumphant grace and glory differ non specie sed gradu in degree not kinde as the learned speak Now it is most certain that the more gracious souls are afflicted the more their graces are exercised and the more grace is exercised the more it is encreased as I have sufficiently demonstrated in this treatise already But Secondly The longer a gracious soul is afflicted the more his religious duties will bee multiplied Psal 109. 4. For my love they are my adversaries but I give my self unto prayer or as the Hebrew reads it But I am prayer or a man of Psa 42. 1 2 3 4 5. Psal 63. 1 2 3 8. J●r 31. 18 19 Hos 5. ult with ch 6. 1 2 Psal 116. 3 4. and Psal 143. 6 7 prayer In times of affliction a Christian is all prayer hee is never so much a man of prayer a man given up to prayer as in times of affliction A Christian is never so frequent so fervent so abundant in the work of the Lord as when hee is afflicted Isa 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Now they do not onely pray but they pour out a prayer they were freely largely and abundantly in prayer when the rod was upon them Look as men plentifully pour out water for the quenching of a fire so did they plentifully pour out their prayers before the Lord and as affliction puts a man upon being much in prayer so it puts him upon other duties of Religion answerably Now this is most certain that though God will reward no man for his works yet hee will reward every man according to Matth. 25. 14. 26. God will reward his people secundum labo●em Bern. works 1 Cor. 15. ult Therefore my beloved Brethren bee yee stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 2 Cor. 9. 6. But this I say hee which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and hee which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully or hee which soweth in benedictions or blessings shall reap in benedictions as it runs in the original It is an excellent observation of Calvin upon Gods rewarding the Rechabites obedience Jer. 35. 19. God saith hee oft recompenceth the shadows and seeming appearances of virtue to shew what complacency hee takes in the ample rewards hee hath reserved for true and sincere piety Now if the longer a Christian is afflicted the more his religious services will bee multiplied and the more they are multiplied the more his glory at last will bee encreased then the longer a Saint is afflicted on earth the more glory he shall have when hee comes to Heaven But Thirdly The longer any Saint is afflicted the more into the image and likeness of Christ hee will bee transformed It is one of Rom. 8. 28 29 c. 2 Cor. 1 5 6 7 Phil. 3. 10 Heb. 2. 10 2 Tim. 2. 12. Gods great designs and ends in afflicting of his people to make them more conformable to his Son and God will not lose his end men often lose theirs but God never hath nor will lose his and experience tells us that God doth every day by afflictions accomplish this end upon his people the longer they are afflicted the more they are made conformable to Christ in meekness lowliness spiritualness heavenliness in faith love self-denial pitty compassion c. Now certainly the more like to Christ the more beloved of Christ the more a Christian is like to Christ the more hee is the delight of Christ and the more like to Christ on earth the nearer the soul shall sit to Christ in Heaven nothing makes a man more conformable to Christ than afflictions Justin Martyr in his second Apology for the Christians hath observed that there is scarce any prediction or prophecy concerning our Saviour Christ the Son of God to bee made man but the Heathen writers who were all after Moses did from thence invent some fable and feign it to have been acted by some one or other of Jupiters Sons onely the Prophecies about the cross of Christ they have taken for the