Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	aaron_n	hand_n	sin_n	74	3	4.3052	3	false

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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

on the other side of him and there hee sees infernal fiends in fearful shapes amazing and terrifying of him and waiting to receive his despairing soul as soon as shee shall take her leave of his wretched body hee looks above him and there hee sees the gates of Heaven shut against him hee looks beneath him and there hee sees hell gaping for him and under these sad sights hee is full of secret conclusions against his own soul there is mercy for others saith the despairing soul but none for mee grace and favour for others but none for mee pardon and peace for others but none for mee As that despairing Pope said the cross could do him no good because hee had so often sold it blessedness and happiness for others but none for mee there is no help there is no hope no Jer. 2. 25. ch 18. 1● this seems to be his case who died with this desperate saying in his mouth spes fortuna v●lete farewel life and hope together Now under these dismal apprehensions and sad conclusions about its present and future condition the despairing soul sits silent being filled with amazement and astonishment Psal 77. 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak But this is not the Silence here meant But Seventhly and lastly There is a prudent Silence a holy a gracious Silence a Silence that springs from prudent principles from holy principles and from gracious causes and considerations and this is the Silence here meant And this I shall fully discover in my Answers to the second Question which is this Quest 2 What doth a prudent a gracious a holy Silence include Answer 1 It includes and takes in these eight things First It includes a sight of God and an acknowledgement of God as the author of all the afflictions that come upon us And this you have plain in the Text I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it The Psalmist In second causes many times a Christian may see much envy hatred malice pride c. But in the first cause he can see nothing but grace and mercy sweetness and goodness looks through secondary causes to the first cause and so sits mute before the Lord. There is no sickness so little but God hath a finger in it though it bee but the aking of the little finger As the Scribe is more eyed and properly said to write than the pen and hee that maketh and keepeth the Clock is more properly said to make it go and strike than the wheels and weights that hang upon it and as every work-man is more eyed and properly said to effect his works rather than the tools which hee useth as his instruments so the Lord who is the chief Agent and mover in all actions and who hath the greatest hand in all our afflictions is more to bee eyed and owned than any inferiour or subordinate causes whatsoever So Job hee beheld God in all Job 1. 21. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Had hee not seen God in the affliction hee would have cried out Oh these wretched Chaldeans they have plundred and spoiled mee These wicked Sabeans they have robbed and wronged mee Job discerns Gods Commission in the Chaldeans and the Sabeans hands and then laies his own hand upon his mouth So Aaron beholding the hand of God in the untimely death of his two sons holds his peace Levit. 10. 3. the sight of God in this sad stroak is a bridle both to his mind and mouth hee neither mutters nor murmurs So Joseph saw the hand of God in his brethrens selling of him into Egypt Gen. 45. 8. and that silences him Men that see not God in an affliction are easily cast into a feaverish fit they will quickly bee in a flame and when their passions are up and their hearts on fire they will begin to bee sawcy and make no bones of telling God to his teeth that they do well to bee angry Jonah 4. 8 9. Such as will not acknowledge God to bee the author of all their afflictions will bee ready enough to fall in with that mad principle of the Manachees who maintained the Devil to bee the Author of all calamities As if there could bee any evil of affliction in the City and the Lord have no hand in it Amos 3. 6. Such as can see the ordering hand of God in all their afflictions will with David lay their hands upon their mouths when the Rod of God is upon their backs 2 Sam. 16. 11 12. If Gods hand bee not seen in the affliction the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction Secondly It includes and takes in some holy gracious apprehensions of the Majesty Soveraignty Dignity Authority and presence of that God under whose afflicting hand we are Hab. 2. 20. But the Lord is in his holy Temple let all the earth bee silent or as the Hebrew reads it bee silent all the earth before his face When God would have all the people of the earth to bee husht quiet and silent before him hee would have them to behold him in his Temple where hee sits in state in majesty and glory Zephan 1. 7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God Chat not murmure not repine not quarrel not Whist stand mute bee silent lay thy hand on thy mouth when his hand is upon thy back who is totus oculus all-eye to see as well as all hand to punish As the eyes of a well-drawn picture are fastened on thee which way soever thou turnest so are the eies of the Lord and therefore thou hast cause to stand mute before him Thus Aaron had an eye to the soveraignty of God and that silences Levit. 10. 3 Job 37. 23 24. 1 Sam. 3. 11 19. him And Job had an eye upon the majesty of God and that stills him And Elie had an eye upon the authority and presence of God and that quiets him A man never comes to humble himself nor to bee silent under the hand of God till hee comes to see the hand of God to bee a mighty hand 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God When men look upon the hand of God as a weak hand a feeble hand a low hand a mean hand their hearts rise against his hand Who is the Lord said Pharaoh that I should obey his voice Exod. 5. 2. And till Pharaoh came to see the hand of God as a mighty hand and to feel it as a mighty hand hee would not let Israel go When Tiribazus a Noble Persian was arrested at first hee drew out his sword and defended himself but when they charged him in the Kings name and informed him that they came from the King and were commanded to bring him to the King he yeelded willingly So when afflictions arrest us we shall murmure and grumble and struggle and strive even to the death before wee shall yeeld to that God that

if not cease from murmurings where murmuring is in its reign in its dominion there you may speak and write that person ungodly let murmurers make what profession they will of godliness yet if murmuring keeps the Throne in their hearts Christ will deal with them at last as ungodly sinners a man may bee denominated ungodly as well from his murmuring if hee lives under the dominion of it as from his drunkenness swearing whoring lying stealing c. A murmurer is an ungodly man hee is an ungodlike man no man on earth more unlike to God than the murmurer and therefore no wonder if when Christ comes to execute judgement hee deals so severely and terribly with him In the wars of Tamberlain one having found a great pot of Gold that was hid in the earth hee brought it to Tamberlain who asked whether it had his Fathers stamp upon it but when hee saw it had not his Fathers stamp but the Roman stamp upon it he would not own it but cast it away The Lord Jesus when hee shall come with all his Saints to execute judgement Oh hee will not own murmurers nay hee will cast them away for ever because they have not his Fathers stamp upon them Ah souls souls as you would not go up and down this world with a badge of ungodliness upon you take heed of murmuring Thirdly Consider That murmuring Numb 16. 41. ch 17. 10. is a mother sin it is the Mother of harlots the Mother of all abominations a sin that breeds many other sins viz. disobedience contempt ingratitude impatience distrust rebellion cursing carnality yea it charges God with folly yea with blasphemy Judg. 17. 2. the language of a murmuring a muttering soul is this Surely God might have done this sooner and that wiser and the other thing better c. As the River Nilus bringeth forth many Crocodiles and the Scorpion many Serpents at one birth so murmuring is a sin that breeds and brings forth many sins at once Murmuring is like the Monster Hydra cut off one head and many will rise up in its room Oh! therefore bend all thy strength against this Mother sin As the King of Syria said 1 Kings 22. 31. to his Captains Fight neither with small nor great but with the King of Israel So say I fight not so much against this sin or that but fight against your murmuring which is a Mother sin make use of all your Eph. 6. 10 11. Christian armour make use of all the ammunition of Heaven to destroy the Mother and in destroying of her you will destroy the daughters When Goliah was slain the Philistians fled when a General in an Army is cut off the common souldiers are easily and quickly routed and destroyed So destroy but murmuring and you will quickly destroy disobedience ingratitude impatience distrust c. Oh! kill this Mother sin that this may never kill thy soul I have read of Senacherib that after his Army was destroyed by an Angel Isa 37. and hee returned home to his own Country hee enquired of one about him what hee thought the reason might bee why God so favoured the Jews hee answered that there was one Abraham their Father that was willing to sacrifice his Son to death at the command of God and that ever since that time God favoured that people well said Senacherib if that bee it I have two Sons and I will sacrifice them both to death if that will procure their God to favour mee which when his two Sons heard they as the story goeth slew their Father Isa 37. 38. chusing rather to kill than bee killed So do thou chuse rather to kill this Mother sin than Psal 137. 8 9 to bee killed by it or by any of those vipers that are brought forth by it Fourthly Consider That murmuring is a God-provoking sin it is a sin that provokes God not onely to afflict but also to destroy Numb 26. ult Numb 12. 10 Rev. 16. 8 9 10 11 a people Numb 14. 27 28 29. How long shall I bear with this evil Congregation which murmure against mee I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel which they murmure against mee Say unto them As truly as I live saith the Lord as yee have spoken in mine ears so will I do to you Your carkasses shall fall in this wilderness and all that were numbred of you according to your whole number from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against mee 1 Cor. 10. 10. Neither murmure yee as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer All our murmurings do but provoke the Lord to strike us and destroy us I have read of Caesar that having Seneca prepared a great feast for his Nobles and Friends it so ●ell out that the day appointed was extream ●oul that nothing could be done to the honour of the meeting whereupon hee was so displeased and enraged that hee commanded all them that had bows to shoot up their arrows at Jupiter their chief God as in defiance of him for that rainy weather which when they did their arrows fell short of Heaven and full upon their own heads so that many of them were very sorely wounded So all our mutterings and murmurings which are as so many arrows shot at God himself they will return upon our pates hearts they reach not him but they will hit us they hurt not him but they will wound us therefore it is better to bee mute than to murmure it is dangerous to provoke a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult Irenaeus calleth murmurers ora diaboli the Devils mouth Job 1. 8 9 Luk. 22. 31 -34 2 Cor. 12. 8 9 10 Fifthly Consider That murmuring is the Devils Image sin and punishment Satan is still a murmuring ●hee murmures at every mercy that God bestows at every dram of grace hee gives hee murmures at every sin hee pardons and at every soul he● saves a soul cannot have a good look from Heaven nor hear a good word from Heaven nor receive a Love-letter from Heaven but Satan murmures at it he murmures and mutters at every act of pittying grace and at every act of preventing grace and at every act of supporting grace and at every act of strengthening grace and at every act of comforting grace that God exercises towards poor souls hee murmures at every sip at every drop at every crum of mercy that God bestows Cyprian Aquinas and others conceive that the cause of Satans banishment from Heaven was his grieving and murmuring at the dignity of man whom hee beheld made after Gods own Image insomuch that Gen. 3. hee would relinquish his own glory Satan can never bee quiet nec victor nec victus neither conquered nor conquerour to devest so noble a Creature of perfection and rather bee in Hell himself than see Adam placed in Paradise But certainly after his fall murmuring and envy at mans innocency and felicity put him upon attempting

is in the body of man that although in some degree or other more or less there bee a mixture of all the four elements not any of them wholly wanting yet there is some one of them predominant that gives the denomination in which regard some are said to be of a sanguin some of a phlegmatick some of a cholerick and some of a melancholick constitution So it is also in the souls of men though there bee a general mixture and medly of all evil and corrupt qualities yet is there some one usually that is Paramount which like the Prince of Devils is most powerful and prevalent that swayeth and sheweth forth it self more eminently and evidently than any other of them do And as in every mans body there is a seed and principle of death yet in some there is a proneness to one kinde of disease more than other that may hasten death So though the root of sin and bitterness hath spread it self over all yet every man hath his inclination to one kinde of sin rather than another and this may bee called a mans proper sin his bosome sin his darling sin Now it is one of the hardest works in this world to subdue and bring under this bosome sin Oh! the prayers the tears the sighs the sobs the groans the gripes that it will cost a Christian before hee brings under this darling sin Look upon a Rabbets skin how well it comes off till it comes to the head but then what haling and pulling is there before it stirs So it is in the mortifying in the crucifying of sin a man may easily subdue and mortifie such and such sins but when it comes to the head sin to the master-sin to the bosome-sin Oh! what tugging and pulling is there what striving and strugling is there to get off that sin to get down that sin Now if the Lord by smiting thee in some near and dear enjoyment shall draw out thy heart to fall upon smiting of thy master-sin and shall so sanctifie the affliction as to make it issue in the mortification of thy bosome corruption what eminent cause wilt thou have rather to bless him than to fit down and murmure against him and doubtless if thou art dear to God God will by striking thy dearest mercy put thee upon striking at thy darling-sin and therefore hold thy peace even then when God touches the apple of thi●e eye Ninthly Consider That the Lord hath many waies to make up the loss of a near and dear mercy to thee hee can make up thy loss in Mat. 19. 27 ult something else that may bee better for thee and hee will certainly make up thy loss either in kinde or in worth hee took from David an Absalom and hee gave him a Solomon hee took from him a Michal and gave him a wise Abigail hee took from Job seven sons The first and last chapters of Job compared Joh 16. 7 8. c. Act. 2. and three daughters and afterwards hee gives him seven sons and three daughters hee took from Job a fair estate and at last doubled it to him hee removed the bodily presence of Christ from his disciples but gave them more abundantly of his spiritual presence which was far the greater and the sweeter mercy If Moses bee taken away Joshua shall bee raised in his room if David bee gathered to his Fathers a Solomon shall succeed him in his Throne if John bee cast into prison rather than the Pulpit shall stand empty a greater than John even Christ himself will begin to preach hee that lives upon God in the loss of creature-comforts shall finde all made up in the God of comforts hee shall bee able to say though my childe is not my friend is not my yoak-fellow is not yet my God liveth and blessed bee my Rock Psal 89. 46. though this mercy is not and that mercy is not yet covenant mercies yet the sure mercies 2 Sam. 23. 5. of David continue these bed and board with mee these will to the grave and to glory with mee I have read of a godly man who living near a Philosopher did often perswade him to become a Christian Oh but said the Philosopher I must or may lose all for Christ to which the good man replied if you lose any thing for Christ hee will bee sure to repay it a hundred fold I but said the Philosopher will you bee bound for Christ that if he do not pay mee you will yes that I will said the good man So the Philosopher became a Christian and the good man entred into bond for performance of covenants sometime after it happened that the Philosopher fell sick on his death-bed and holding the bond in his hand sent for the party engaged to whom hee gave up the bond and said Christ hath paid all there is nothing for you to pay take your bond and cancel it Christ will suffer none of his children to go by the loss he hath all and hee will make up all to them in the close Christ will pay the reckoning no man shall ever have cause to say that hee hath been a loser by Christ and therefore thou hast much cause to bee mute thou hast no cause to murmure though God hath snatch'd the fairest and the sweetest flower out of thy bosome Tenthly How canst thou tell but that that which thou callest a near and dear mercy if it had been The Lamentations of Jeremiah are a full proof of this continued longer to thee might have proved the greatest cross the greatest calamity and misery that ever thou didst meet with in this world Our mercies like choice Wines many times turn into Vinegar our fairest hopes are often blasted and that very mercy which wee sometimes have said should be a staff to support us hath proved a sword to peirce us how often have our most flourishing mercies withered in our hands and our bosome-contentments been turned into gall and wormwood If God had 2 Sam. 12. 16. continued the life of Davids childe to him it would have been but a living Monument of his sin and shame and all that knew the childe would have pointed at him yonder goes Davids bastard and so This age affords many sad instances of this nature who can think of Tiburn question it and of killing drowning and say how can this bee have kept Davids wound still a bleeding many Parents who have sought the lives of their children with tears have lived afterwards to see them take such courses and come to such dismal ends as have brought their gray-hairs with sorrow to their graves It had been ten thousand times a greater mercy to many Parents to have buried their children as soon as ever they had been born than to see them come to such unhappy ends as they often do Well Christian it may bee the Lord hath taken from thee such a hopeful son or such a dear daughter and thou sayest how can I hold

put off the motions of his Spirit the directions of his word the offers of his grace the entreaties of his Son and therefore what can be more just than that God should delay thee for a time and put thee off for a season who hast delaied him and put off him daies without number if God serves thee as thou hast often served him thou hast no reason to complain But Seventhly and lastly The Lord delaies his people that Heaven may be the more sweet to them at last here they meet with many delaies and with many put offs but in Heaven they shall never meet with one put off with one delay here many times they call and cry and can get no answer Lam. 3. 8 44 here they knock and bounce and yet the door of grace and mercy opens not to them but in Heaven they shall have mercy at the first word at the first knock there whatever heart can wish shall without delay be enjoyed here God seems to say sometimes souls you have mistaken the door or I am not at leasure or others must be served before you or come some other time c. But in Heaven God is alwaies at leasure and all the sweetness and blessedness and happiness of that state presents it self every hour to the soul there God hath never God will never say to any of his Saints in Heaven come to morrow such language the Saints sometimes hear here but such language is no waies suitable to a glorified condition and therefore seeing that the Lord never delaies his people but upon great and weighty accounts let his people bee silent before him let them not mutter nor murmure but be mute And so I have done with the Objections I shall come now in the last place to propound some helps and directions that may contribute to the silencing and stilling of your souls under the greatest afflictions the sharpest trials and the saddest providences that you meet with in this world and so close up this discourse First All the afflictions that come upon the Saints they are the Prov. 3. 12 Jer. 9. 7 fruits of divine love Rev. 3. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten bee zealous therefore and repent Heb. 12. 6. For whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom hee receiveth Job 5. 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty ch 7. 17 18. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him And that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment Isa 48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction When Munster lay sick and his friends asked him how hee did and how hee felt himself hee pointed to his sores and ulcers whereof hee was full and said these are Gods Gems and Jewels wherewith hee decketh his best friends and to mee they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world A Gentleman highly prizes his Hawk hee feeds her with his own hand hee carries her upon his fist hee takes a great deal of delight and pleasure in her and therefore hee puts vervells upon her leggs and a hood upon her head hee hood-winks her and fetters her because hee loves her and takes delight in her So the Lord by afflictions hood-winks and fetters his children but all is because hee loves them and takes delight and pleasure in them there cannot be a greater evidence of Gods hatred and wrath than his Hos 4. 14. 19 Ezek. 16. 42 Isa 1. 5 Nihil est infaelicius ●o cui nil unquam contigit adversi Seneca refusing to correct men for their sinful courses and vanities why should you bee smitten any more you will revolt more and more where God refuses to correct there God resolves to destroy there is no man so near the Axe so near the flames so near Hell as hee whom God will not so much as spend a Rod upon God is most angry where hee shews no anger Jerome writing to a sick friend hath this expression I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity I judge you to bee miserable because you have not been miserable nothing saith another Demetrius seems more unhappy to mee than hee to whom no adversity hath hapned God afflicts thee O Christian in love and therefore Luther cries out strike Lord strike Lord and spare not who can seriously muse upon this and not hold his peace and not bee silent under the most smarting Rod Secondly Consider that the trials and troubles the calamities and miseries the crosses and losses that you meet with in this world is all the Hell that ever you shall have here you have your Hell hereafter you shall have your Heaven this is the worst of your condition the best is to come Lazarus had his Hell first his Heaven Luke 16. 19 29 last but Dives had his Heaven first and his Hell at last thou hast all thy pains and pangs and throws here that ever thou shalt have thy ease and rest and pleasure is to come here you have all your bitter your sweet is to come here you have your sorrows your joyes are to come here you have all your winter nights your summer daies are to come here you have your passion week your Ascension day is to come here you have your evil things your good things are to come death will put a period to all thy sins and to all thy sufferings and it will bee an inlet to those joyes delights and contents that shall never have end and therefore hold thy peace and be silent before the Lord. Thirdly Get an assurance that Christ is yours and pardon of sin See my Treatise called Heaven on Earth yours and divine favour yours and Heaven yours and the sense of this will exceedingly quiet and silence the soul under the sorest and the sharpest trials a Christian can meet with in this world hee that is assured that God is his portion wil never mutter nor murmure under his greatest burdens hee that can groundedly say nothing shall separate mee from the love of God in Christ hee will be able to triumph in the midst of the greatest Rom. 8. 33 ult Cant. 2. 16 tribulations hee that with the Spouse can say My Beloved is mine and I am his will bear up quietly and sweetly under the heaviest afflictions In the time of the Marian Act. Mon. Persecution there was a gracious woman who being convened before bloody Bonner then Bishop So John Noyes Alice Driver Mr. Bradford Mr. Taylor and Justin Martyr with many more of London upon the trial of Religion hee threatned her that hee would take away her husband from her saith shee Christ is my husband I will take away thy childe Christ saith shee is better to mee than ten Sons I will