Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	behold_v	strength_n	zion_n	26	3	8.3468	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39696	Two treatises the first of fear, from Isa. 8, v. 12, 13, and part of the 14 : the second, The righteous man's refuge in the evil day, from Isaiah 26, verse 20 / by John Flavell.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1682 (1682)	Wing F1204; ESTC R177117	170,738	308

Rev. 18. 7. O it were well for us if in the midst of our pleasant enjoyments we would be putting the difficultest cases to our selves and mingle a few such thoughts as these with all our earthly enjoyand comforts I am now at ease in the midst of my habitation but the time may be at hand when my habitation shall be in a Prison I see no faces at present but those of friends full of smiles and honours I may see none shortly but the faces of enemies full of frowns and terrors I have now an estate to supply my wants and provide for my family but this may shortly fall as a prey to the enemy they may sweep away all that I have gathered reap the fruits of all my labours Impius has segetes I have yet my life given me for a prey but O how soon may it fall into cruel and bloud-thirsty hands I have no better security for these things than the Martyrs had who suffered the loss of all these things for Christs sake a double advantage would result to us from such meditations as these viz. The Advantage Troubles 1. Of Acquaintance with 2. Of Preparation for 1. Hereby our thoughts would be better acquainted with these evils and the more they are acquainted the less they will start and fright at them We should not think it strange concerning the fiery trial as it is 1 Pet. 4. 12. It is with our thoughts as it is with young colts and so they start at every new thing they meet but we cure them of it by bringing them home to that they start at and making them smell to it better acquaintance cures this startling humour at them The newness of evil saith a late grave and Learned Divine is the cause of fear when the mind it self hath had no preceding encounter with it whereby to judge of its strength nor example of another mans prosperous issue to confirm its hopes in the like success For as I noted before out of the Philosophers experience is instead of armour and is a kind of fortitude enabling both to judge and to bear troubles for there are some things which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scarecrows and vizors which children fear only out of ignorance assoon as they are known they cease to be terrible I know our minds naturally reluctate and decline such harsh and unpleasant subjects 'T is hard to bring our thoughts to them in good earnest and harder to dwell so long as is necessary to this end upon them We had rather take a pleasant prospect of future felicity and prosperity in this world of multiplying our days as the sand and at last dying quietly in our Nest as Iob speaks Our thoughts run nimbly upon such pleasant fancies like oyled wheels and have need of trigging but when they come into the deep and dirty ways of suffering there they drive heavily lik Pharaohs Chariots dismounted from their wheels But that which is most pleasant is not always most useful and necessary Our Lord was well acquainted with griefs though our thoughts be such great strangers to them he often thought and spake of his sufferings and of the bloudy Baptism with which he was to be baptized Luke 12. 50. and he not only minded his own sufferings before hand but when he perceived the fond imaginations and vain fansies of some that followed and professed him deluding them with expectations of earthly prosperity and rest he gave their thoughts a turn to this less pleasing but more needful subject the things they were to suffer for his name instead of answering a foolish and groundless question of sitting on his Right and Left hand like earthly Grandees he rebukes the folly of the Questionist and asks a less pleasing question Matth. 20. 22. But Iesus answered and said Ye know not what ye ask are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of And to be baptized with the baptism that I shall be baptized with q. d. You do but abuse your selves with such fond and idle dreams there is other imployment cut out for you in the purpose of God Instead of sitting upon Thrones and Tribunals it would become you to think of being brought before them as Prisoners to receive your doom and sentence to die for my sake these thoughts would do you a great deal more service 2. As such meditations would acquaint us better so they would prepare us better to encounter troubles and difficult things when they come Readiness and preparation would subdue and banish our fears we are never much scared with that for which our minds are prepared There is the same difference in this case as there is betwixt a Souldier in compleat Armour and ready at every point for his enemy and one that is allarm'd in his bed who hath laid his cloaths in one place and his Arms in another when his enemy is breaking open his chamber door upon him It was not therefore without the most weighty reason that the Apostle presses us so earnestly Eph. 6. 13 14. Take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand Stand therefore having your loyns girt about with truth and having on the breast-plate of Righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace We see the benefit of such previsions and provisions for sufferings in that great example of courage and constancy Acts 21. 13. I am ready saith Paul not only to be bound but to die at Jerusalem And the same courage and constancy remained in him when he was entering the very Lists and going to lay his very neck upon the block 2. Tim. 4. 6. I am ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a libation or drink-offering wherein some conceive he alluded to the very kind of his own death viz. by the Sword His heart was brought to that frame that he could with as much willingness pour out his bloud for Christ as the Priests used to pour out the drink offering to the Lord. 'T is true all the meditations and preparations in the world made by us are not sufficient in themselves to carry us through such difficult services 't is one thing to see death as our fancy limnes it out at a distance and another thing to look death it self in the face We can behold the painted Lyon without fear but the living Lyon makes us tremble but yet though our suffering-suffering-strength comes not from our own preparations or forethoughts of Death but from Gods gracious assistance yet usually that assistance of his is communicated to us in and by the conscionabl● and humble use of these means let us therefore be found waiting upon God for strength patience and resolutions to suffer as it becomes Christians in the daily serious use of those means whereby he is pleased to

fears troubled with a bad heart and a busie devil 〈◊〉 well as you they also had their clouds and damps as you have yet the Almighty power of God supported them and out of weakness they were made strong Despond not therefore but get a judgment satisfied Psal. 44. 22. A Conscience sprinkled 2 Tim. 1. 7. And a Call cleared Dan. 6. 10. Exercise Faith also with respect to Divine assistances and everlasting rewards as they did and doubt not but the same God that enabled them to finish their course with joy will be as good to you as he was to them Consider Christ hath done as much for you as he did for any of them and deserves as much from you as from any of them and hath prepared 〈◊〉 same glory for you that he prepared for them ● that such considerations might provoke you to shew as ●uch courage and love to Christ as any of them ever 〈◊〉 7. Rule If ever yi will get above the power of your own fears in a ●●ffering day make haste to clear your interest in Christ and your pardon in his blood before that evil day com The clearer th●●s the bolder you will be an assured Christian w●●●never known to be a coward in sufferings It is impo●●●ble to be clear of fears till you are cleared of the ●●ubts about interest in and pardon by Christ. N●thing is found more strengthening to our fears th●● that which clouds our evidences and nothing ●●re to quiet and cure our fears than that which clears ●r evidences The shedding abroad of Gods love i● our hearts will quickly fill them with a spirit of g●●rying in tribulations Rom. 5. 5. When the beli●●ing Hebrews once came to know in themselves t●●t they had an enduring substance in Heaven they quickly found in themselves an unconcerned heart for the loss of their comforts on earth Heb. 10. 34. and so should we too For 1. Assurance satisfies a man that his treasure and true happiness is secured to him and laid out of the reach of all his enemies and so long as that is safe he hath all the reason in the world to be quiet and chearful I know saith Paul whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day 2 Tim. 1. 12. And he gives this as the reason why he was not ashamed of Christs sufferings 2. The assured Christian knows that if death it self come which is the worst men can inflict 〈◊〉 shall be no loser by the exchange nay he shall 〈◊〉 the best bargain that ever he made since he 〈◊〉 parted with all in his afflictions to follow Christ There are two rich bargains a Christian makes 〈◊〉 is whe● he exchanges the world for Christ in his ●●rst choice at his conversion in point of love and stimation the other is when he actually parts wit●'he world for Christ at his dissolution both th●e are rich bargains and upon this ground it wa●●the Apostle said To me to live is Christ and to die is ●●ain Phil. 1. 21. The death of a believer in Chr●● is gain unspeakable but if a man would ma●● the utmost gain by dying he shall find it in dyin● for Christ as well as in Christ And to shew you werein the gain of such a death lies let a few particul●●● be weighed wherein the gain will be cast up in b●●h he that is assured he dies in Christ knows 1. That his living time is hi●●labouring time but his dying time is his harvest ti●● whilst we live we are plowing and sowing in all te●● duties of Religion but when we die then we reap 〈◊〉 fruit and comfort of all our labours and duties Gal. 6. 8 9. As much therefore as the reaping time is better than the sowing and plowing time so much better is the death than the life of a believer 2. A Believers living time is his fighting time but his dying time is his conquering and triumphing time 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. The conflict is sharp but the triumph is sweet and as much as victory and triumph is better than fighting so much is death better than life to him that dieth in Jesus 3 A Believers living time is his tiresome and weary time but his dying time is his resting and sleeping time Isai. 57. 2. Here we spend and faint there we rest in our beds and as much as refreshing rest in sleep is better than tiring and fainting so much is a Believers death better than his life 4. A Believers living time is his waiting and longing time but his time of dying is the time of enjoying what he hath long wished and waited for Phil. 1. 23. Here we groan and sigh for Christ there we behold and enjoy Christ and so much as vision and fruition is better and sweeter than hoping and waiting for it so much is a believers death better than his life 2. As the advantage a Believer makes of death is great to him by dying only in Christ so it is much greater and the richest improvement that can be made of death to die for Christ as well as in Christ For compare them in a few particulars and you shall find 1. That though a natural death hath less horrour yet a violent death for Christ hath more honour in it To him that dies united with Christ the grave is a bed of rest but to him that dies as a Martyr for Christ the grave is a bed of honour To you saith the Apostle it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe but also to suffer for his sake 1 Phil. 29. To you it is granted as a great honour and favour to suffer for Christ all that live in Christ have not the honour to lay down their lives for Christ. It was the great trouble of Ludovic●s Marsacus a Knight of France to be exempted because of his dignity from wearing his chain for Christ as the other Prisoners did and he resented it as a great injury Give m● saith he to his Keeper my chain as well as they and create me a Knight of that noble Order 2. By a natural death we only submit our selves to the unavoidable consequence of sin but in dying a violent death for Christ we give our testimony against the evil of sin and for the precious truths of Jesus Christ. The first is the payment of a debt of justice due by the fall of Adam the second is the payment of a debt of thankfulness and obedience due to Christ who redeemed us with his own bloud Thus we become witnesses for God as well as sufferers upon the account of sin In the first sin witnesseth against us in this we witness against it and indeed it is a great testimony against the evil of sin We declare to all the world that there is not so much evil in a Dungeon in a bloudy Ax or consuming flames as there is in sin That it is far better to

Iud. 5. So in Ezekiel's vision a part even of those hairs which were spared were afterwards cast into the fire Ezek 5. 4. Preservation from the dominion of sin and the wrath to come is peculiar to Gods own people but as for temporal deliverances we cannot infer that conclusion 2. Nor yet can we say that all Gods people shall be preserved that promise Zeph. 2. 3. leaves it upon a may be many a precious Christian hath fallen in the common calamity they have been preserved in but not from trouble But it is usual with God to preserve some in the sorest judgments And the grounds of it are 1. Because some must be left as a seed to propagate and preserve the Church which is perpetual and can never fail he never so overthrows nations as Sodom was overthrown Isa. 1. 9. this was the ground of that promise Ier. 30. 11. For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee And of that plea Amos 7. 2. O Lord God forgive I beseech thee by whom shall Iacob arise for he is small Except the Lord had left a small remnant we had been as Sodom Remarkable to this purpose is that Scripture Isa. 6. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten As a Teyl-tree and as an Oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof This preserved remnant is the holy seed by which the Church is propagated and continued Psal. 102. 28. 2. Because God will even in this world own and reward the fears and sorrows of his people for the sins of the times and sufferings of the Church with the joy and comfort of better times and a participation of Sions consolation so Isa. 66. 10. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem ye that have mourned for her They that have sown in tears do sometimes live to reap in joy Psal. 125. 6. they shall say as Isa. 25. 9. Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he is come to save us And those that live not to reap down in this world the harvest of their own Prayers and tears shall be no losers a full and better reward shall be given them in heaven Isa. 57. 22 3. Because the preserved remnant of Saints are they that must actually give unto God the glory of all his providential administrations in the world both of judgments and mercies upon others and towards themselves They that go down to the pit do not celebrate his praise the living the living they praise him Isa. 38. 18 19. Thus when God turned back Sion's captivity the Remnant of Saints that were preserved were they that recorded his praise Psal. 126. 1 2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter And fully to this sense is that Scripture Psal. 102. 19 20 21. He delivers those that are appointed to death i. e. That men had doomed to death That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Jerusalem 4. The hiding of the Saints in evil days is the greatest discovery of the hand of God in the world when he hides them he shews himself and that both to the Saints and to their enemies It is one of the most glorious mysteries of providence that ever the world beheld viz. the strange and wonderful protection of poor helpless Christians from the rage and fury of their mighty and malicious enemies though they walk visibly among them yet they are as it were hid from their hands but not from their eyes So Ier. 1. 18. You find God made that Prophet among the envious Princes and against an enraged and mighty King As a defenced City and as an iron pillar and as a brazen wall And indeed it was easier to them to conquer and take in the strongest Fort or Garison than that single Person who yet walked day by day naked and open among them So Luther a poor Monk was made invincible all the Papal power could not touch him for God hid him All the world against one Athanasius and yet not able to destroy him for God hid him This is the display of the glorious power of God in the world and he hath much honour by it Well then if there be a God that takes care of his own in evil days do not you be distractingly careful what shall become of you in such times you cannot see how it is possible for you to escape bu● 2 Pet. 2. 4 5 6. the Lord knows how to deliver when you do not Little did Lot know the way and manner of his preservation till God opened it to him nor Noah till God contrived it for him There was no way to be contrived by them for escape He that knew how to deliver them can deliver you also Leave your selves to Gods dispose it shall certainly be to your advantage the Church is his peculiar care Isa. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day The more you commit your selves to his care the more you engage it Isa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in prefect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee He will certainly find a place of safety for his people under or in Heaven Neither be too much dejected when the number of visible professors seems but small think not the Church will perish when it is brought so low This was Elijah's case he thought he had been left alone that Religion had been preserved in his single person as the Phoenix of the world but see 1 Kings 19. 18. God hath enough left if we were in our graves to continue Religion in the world it concerns him more than you to look to that CHAP. V. Evincing the fourth Proposition viz. That God usually premonisheth the World especially his own of his judgments before they befal them SECT I. GOd first warns and then smites he delights not to surprise men when indignation was coming he tells his people of it in the Text and admonisheth them to hide themselves Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets to his servants the Prophets Amos 3. 7. Thus when the flood was to come upon the old world he gave them one hundred and twenty years warning of it Gen. 6. 3. compared with 1. Pet. 3. 19. So when Sodom was to be destroyed God would not hide it from Abraham Gen. 18. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do The like discovery was made unto Lot G●● 19. 12 13 14. So when the Captivity was at hand Ezekiel was commanded to give the Iews solemn warning of it from God Ezek. 3. 17. Hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me And when their City and Temple was to be destroyed by