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 justice_n son_n 18 3 4.3574 3 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A31657 A sermon preached for the funeral of that humble and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, Mr. Nathanael Smith late of Malmesbury, in the county of Wilts. : with a brief account of his life, in an epistle to Dr. Annesley / by Henry Chandler ... Chandler, Henry. 1691 (1691) Wing C1927; ESTC R43079 16,505 32

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

indeed in whom there was no guile Reverend Sir I cannot but presume That you will readily grant upon a Supposition that this Account is true as God knoweth it is That he was a very good man and consent That his Name should be kept alive and his good Example recorded for others Imitation For this End I have adventured thus to appear in Publick by Printing this well-meaning poor Discourse which I humbly lay at your Feet as a Token of my unfeigned Gratitude for your undeserved Love to me The Lord recompence you Bless this Essay to the Souls of them that shall read it and incline your Heart to Pray for London May 8. 1691. SIR Your Obliged Humble Servant HENRY CHANDLER JOB I. 21. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. THE Words acquaint us with the incomparable good Temper of Soul that Religious Job possessed in the midst of an unparallell'd Affliction His case was thus A most tremendous Hurricane of Providence had overturned and swept away almost all his earthly Comforts his Oxen and Asses were seiz'd by the Saheans his Sheep destroyed by Lightning his Camels carried away by the Caldeans his Servants slain and which was worst of all his dearer Children unhappily taken away in the midst of their Mirth and the terrible Advice hereof brought him in Parcels by Messengers one upon the heels of another in one day A thing so dreadful that at first sight one would think it was a Conspiracy of Providence to make as great and dismal Destruction amongst his Graces within as it did amongst his Goods and Chattels and Children without and indeed this was the design of Satan but not of God as will appear to the serious Considerer of the meek and composed Remark he makes upon the Providence in the Words of my Text The Lord c. where he doth not only implicitly acquit God of all Unrighteousness or Cruelty but expressly praise and bless him A frame of heart as signally and wonderfully holy as God's Providence was dreadful and astonishing I shall consider this Practice of Job not only as a matter of History but as an example of Piety proposed to us by the Holy Ghost for our imitation And then they afford us this Observation Doct. Every Christian is indispensibly obliged to bless the afflicting taking God I shall endeavour to give you the Sense manifest the Truth and shew you the Usefulness of this Doctrine In the Explication of the Doctrine I shall first prevent some mistakes and shew what is not the Sense of it As 1. This Doctrine doth not mean that we should love our Afflictions for their own sake Malum qua malum non est appetibile I humbly conceive that this is impracticable and our Religion obliges us not to the Practice of things absolutely imposible as is the loving any Evil as Evil Pain Loss Poverty Sickness or Death cannot be loved for themselves 't is repugnant even to innocent Nature Christ Jesus himself could not practice it as we are taught by that Expression Matth. 26.39 If it be possible let this cup pass from me Neither 2. Doth this Doctrine designedly plead for a Stoical impenetrableness as tho it were a Virtue to be insensible of and unconcerned at the Afflictions of Providence this is very alien from the Sense of the Holy Ghost the Frame of Job or the Design of this Sermon As the first is impracticable this is inhumane if not impracticable too for by the way I think as few of the Stoicks arrived to their admired Apathy as Quakers to their pretended Perfection However to entertain the Rebukes of Providence with a moderate proportioned sorrowful Resentment I account virtuous and commendable Job himself expresseth somewhat of this nature by rending his Mantle shaving his Head and falling down upon the ground And God teacheth us this Lesson by creating us with a Disposition to grieve when his Providences call for it for God maketh nothing in vain then what need of Water and Sluices if the one must never run nor the other ever be drawn But affirmatively the Doctrine doth intend 1. When God afflicts us by taking away from us we must carefully prevent or suppress all quarrelling Discontent we are bound to see that there be no Rebels in our Hearts that find fault with God or that rise up and charge him foolishly 't is our Duty to keep the King of Heaven's Peace in our Souls at such times to watch carefully againgst Tumults and Mutinies in our Hearts which are ever and anon apt to rise at the least Provocation imaginable yea many times when there is none given at all Here I conceive are two things to be minded 1. In all our Afflictions we must take heed that we do not rashly and proudly call our God to account concerning his Providences for he is infinitely above us and who dare say unto him What doest thou Job 9.12 If we cannot understand the Wisdom or Usefulness of his Methods Watson we must silently adore where we cannot fathom and patiently wait till he unvail them The Examination of a God is not the Province of a Creature though we may humbly enquire for our own Instruction yet we may not proudly ask for Examination This is more than his Angels ever durst pretend to 2. We must be as careful that in our Judgment made upon his Providence we reflect not upon his Attributes In the Language of Scripture that we do not attribute Folly to God we may not in any case think that God hath forgot himself or acts unlike himself for if we should 't would be nothing less than speaking Blasphemy in our Hearts whose Words are as audible to God as those of our Mouths If I mistake not the Religious Aaron lived both these Particulars when being afflicted severely by the Lord in the Death of his two Sons Lev. 10.3 He held his peace his profound silence loudly speaking a Resolution in him not to examine nor impeach the Great and Holy God 2. Our blessing the afflicting taking God includeth a readiness in us to proclaim the Righteousness and Justice of all his afflictive Dispensations In all our Distresses and Sorrows 't is our Duty to think and acknowledge that God hath not wronged us by exceeding the demerits of our Sins but that we truly deserve the strokes we smart under be they never so many thus the poor afflicted Church of the Jews acknowledgeth and so will every gracious Soul and thus doth Job himself If I justify my self Ezra 9.13 Job 9.20 mine own mouth shall condemn me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse A gracious heart will justify God tho by so doing he unavoidably throws dirt in his own face he desires to honour God by Confession tho it be to his own disparagement as he rejoyces to see the Sun rise tho it put out the Moon and all the Stars 3.