Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	brethren_n	know_v	life_n	4,656	5	5.3920	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93754	Sermon I. on Phil. IV. 11.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1698 (1698)	Wing S5131C; ESTC R233366	22,642	26

is the drift design and tendency of the whole Scripture As also of all our Preaching that ye may obey God and keep his Commandments in all things Now that our own will should be brought under and given up to the Will of God that our Spirit should be subject unto the Father of Spirits this is an essential part and act of obedience unto God and herein also Contentment doth consist Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his Holy Habitation Zech. 2. 13. And so to be silent and to hold our Peace and to take it quietly whatever it be to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God Here is the mind that hath wisdom here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints This is the very temper and disposition of the Servants of the Lord God Now for the use and application of the foregoing discourse let him who shall hear or read these lines see well to it that the same mind be in him also Whensoever we hear good and right things spoken of there let our Hearts and Consciences be upon the work upon the examination and application of it all to our selves At the time and place of hearing How findest thou it O man or woman to be with 〈…〉 How do such and such good things belong to thee Canst thou find an Interest Propriety and share in them Is the blessing thine Why really here is the Life and Benefit of all Preaching and Hearing when we can say in truth and without deceit or a lie of the good things of God that they are mine When our Souls can Eccho back as we hear him Named that saying of Thomas one of the twelve Disciples My Lord and my God Thomas spake thus after he had reached his hand and thrust it into the side of Jesus Christ who was the Word And so Proportionabl● more is the comfort and rejoycing when the words of God reach not our outside only but our inside also and then that Inhabitant which is within the Soul and Conscience doth answer thereupon My Lord and my God here is both Edification and Comfort in this as also it is a most Quickening and Powerful Exhortation to do all things whereby we may please and approve our selves unto our beloved There are more comfortable words to the same purpose in this very same 20th of John Go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Hereby in a most eminent manner he shews himself to be the first born amongst man● Brethren having infinitely greater Priviledge and Prerogative with the Father For by expres●ing it on that wise My God and your God He doth as it were in the first place single out God to himself and then he communicates him forth unto us If we may here use such Plainness of Speech as the Holy Ghost doth elsewhere upon like occasions It is like carving for ones self in the first place and then helping others And I am sure there is none of his disciples and followers do in the least grudge or think much that Jesus our fore-runner whom our Soul loves should thus in all things have the Pre-eminence especially s●nce that he hath Purc●ased a Church with his own blood he hath t●e assured pr●mise that he shall see the travel of his soul he hath obtain'd of God such inexpres●●ble Priviledges for poor mankind whose Portion before was folly misery shame Death thus it is that he doth convey forth thro' his own Life as a Pipe or Conduit his Goodness ●rier●s●ip Love to u● whom he vouchsases to call brethren Here is the sufficient rejoicing satisfaction to the reasonable creature who doth know conceive of these things as much as can be expected on this side of heaven To have the hope Assurance that our Creator is our Father and God is our God when we can say so in the Congregation and Communion if Saints each of us particularly hath the voice of God witnessing from within our selves that ●e is our God For as he is the God of Abraham Isaac Jacob so he is likewise the God of all his Saints servants by their several respective Names who do the works of Abraham and then the necessary consequence is that all things are ours if he is our God who is the ●reato● Proprietor and Disposer of all things who hath promised and will perform it The Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will be with-hold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84 11. Here some may be apt to think all this is very good But what is it to the D●ct●ine of Contentment It doth pertain and relate thereto for as there is a certain Band and Connexion which tyes and knits all the several visible Parts of the Creation together So it is as to the invisible and future things of God and of his Kingdom There is a certain Subordination and Connexion of one to another or one goes before another and so indeed there is of all the Graces and Gifts of the Spirit and of all the Duties pertaining to Religion As in the Natural Body of ours there are Ligatures and Strings Nerves Arteries and Sinews Which do hold the Bones and the several Parts together So likewise it is the very same as to the invisible Works of God and what pertains to the Souls of Men. In the last quoted place out of the Psalmist it is said The Lord will give Grace and Glory the one before the other the one here and the other hereafter And as the Blessing and Good Things of God given here in hand and in this Life are expressed throughout all the Old Testament by the Word Peace that is to say Peace of Mind and Conscience of Soul and Spirit Which also is confirmed and often mentioned again in the Gospel with this Addition and Improvement to it The Peace of God which passeth all understanding What is all this for So much promised by God and so much desired by his Saints But because that this same thing of Peace was an Earnest and Assurance a forerunner and certain token of the future and enduring blessedness which God would give unto them in the unseen State Now under the word Peace Contentment is also included and contained for they both signify near the same But only Peace is much more comprehensive and extensive then Contentment Inasmuch as Peace chiefly relates to inward Spiritual and Eternal Things and Contentment is as pertaining to out ward and Temporal things But seeing that to the well Being and Happiness of the whole Man there must of necessity be a Connexion of all things together in order to render any one in a Good State and Condition So that as Grace is a Pledge and Forerunner of Glory true and perfect Peace is a sure Token of Eternal Salvation So as it is written Who hath Sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts 2 Cor. 1. 12. Even so this Christian Contentment afore-mentioned and afore-treated of is an Earnest and Seal before hand of that Rest which remaineth for the People of God So that in order to arrive unto and partake of that rest hereafter we must come unto and have Contentment here Vnto which promise our Twelve Tribes instantly serving God Day and Night hope to come Act. 26. 7. As this is the End of all our Religious assembling our selves together to worship the Lord and hear his word to set us one step yet nearer to it So there being a promise left us of entring into his Rest If you would indeed not come short thereof but enter therein you must of necessity do all the Mean and Preparatory Acts towards it See therefore well to it that ye have either Learned already or do for the time to come Learn in whatsoever State ye are in therewith to be content Written by RICHARD STAFFORD and Printed at London 1698.