Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bring_v	grace_n	life_n	4,032	5	4.4522	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64879	A sermon preached at Clonmell, on Sunday the sixteenth of September, 1683 at the assizes held for the county palatine of Tipperary / by Jo. Vesey ...	Vesey, John, 1636-1716.	1683 (1683)	Wing V281; ESTC R6797	12,340	24

this Curse and inflicted this Disease has not left us without Remedy The Curse is indeed heavy but the Remedy is light and easie the Disease is grievous but the Medicine to cure it is pleasant easie to be had and heals infallibly the poorest man may purchase it There is not any of Adam's Posterity but always stands in need of something or other the greatest Wants may be supplied by Prayer and there is no man but may pray if he please and the Duty of Prayer is so necessary that without it we shall not only want in this world but we shall be miserably in want to all eternity without it we cannot have Remission of our Sins nor the Gift of Gods Grace bestow'd upon us we cannot expect to be fed by his Mercy if we think it too much trouble to implore it we must have a very low esteem of Gods Blessings if we think them not worth the asking for and we are very little sensible of our Necessities if we will not so much as pray to have them remov'd he is doubly guilty that commits a Fault and persists in it and will not so much as ask Pardon for it In short whilst we are on this side Heaven we are continually wanting there is none that can supply our Necessities but God and there is no other way for us to be supply'd but by petitioning the Throne of Grace and therefore Prayer must needs be a necessary Duty This is the first Reason drawn from our own Wants and Necessities 2. The second Reason to enforce the Duty of Prayer is the Mercy of God in that he is willing to hear us There is nothing in the world so powerful as a man in Prayer and therefore 't is call'd the Key of Heaven What is there so difficult that Prayer cannot attain to It gives Victory to the weak and overthrows the Armies of the mighty it can make the Sun stand still for the space of a day it can bring a Drowth upon the Earth for three years six months and afterwards cause the Rain to fall plentifully upon the same if we are Enemies to God it can reconcile us to his Favour if we are in a state of Sin and Death it can renew the Image of God in us and put us in a state of Grace it can purchase for us the Blessings of this Life or which is far better the Art of Contentment without them and the Blessigns of the Life to come by Prayer we are not only in a condition of profiting our selves but of doing good to our Neighbour by it every man is a Priest and every man may be a Moses to atone for the Sins of the people to prevent the Destruction of a Nation though it hang over us and to bring down publick Blessings from on high the Blessings of Peace and Plenty the Liberty of our Religion and the Enjoyment of our Estates there is nothing so good but Prayer can purchase for us there is nothing so hurtful but Prayer can avert nay though the Sword be in Gods Hand and his Arm stretched forth to strike and the Judgment be ready to fall upon our heads yet Prayer is able to appease his Wrath and withdraw the Arm of the Almighty from confounding us and yet all this is not to be imputed to the meer force of Prayer it self but to the Goodness and Mercy of God who is so much in love with this Duty that he can deny us nothing we ask for faithfully he will certainly give us the very thing it self or something as good or better if the other be not convenient for us It has been objected by some as an Argument against Prayer That it either supposeth first God to be ignorant of our Prayers for if not say they what need we tell God that which he knows already Or secondly that he is not so bountiful to us as he ought in that he knows our Necessities and will not help us without so much intreaty Or thirdly that he is overcome by our Importunities and Sollicitations which is an argument of his Weakness and so would argue an Imperfection in him this was urg'd by one that was once an Atheist but afterwards died a great Penitent But to this the Answer is obvious For first Can there be a greater argument of Gods Goodness to us than to give us not only the Blessings of this Life but even Heaven it self for asking Secondly We do not pray to inform God of our Necessities that is too gross a Supposition but to shew our Faith and acknowledge his All sufficiency and our Dependance upon him Thirdly We are not so conceited of our Prayers as if we thought the meet Force of them or the Repetition of such and such Words though they come from a devout Heart to be able to wrest a Blessing from God whether he will or no but that God has ordain'd Prayer as the means and method of making our Addresses to his Divine Majesty 'T is true we are said to wrestle with God to prevail upon him to take Heaven by violence c. but these are figurative Expressions and bold Metaphors which are no arguments of his Weakness but of his Goodness in that he has given us so easie a method of addressing our selves to him not is it so much the force of our Prayers themselves as his infinite Goodness which moves him to answer our Petitions Ask and ye shall receive is a Promise that God will hear our Prayers and the Mercy of God prompted him to make this Promise as an encouragement to perswade us to this Duty our Prayers are offered up since this Promise and therefore it is not so much their Force that works upon God as his own Goodness that made him promise it is not any Power in us but Compassion in him A Petition may be very well drawn up but if the Prince to whom it is presented be not of himself inclin'd to do good he will never answer it meerly because it is well penn'd How many do we see attending with patience from day to day on the Persons of great Men for a Favour and value not the Slights that are put upon them so their Requests be at last but granted but God is more merciful he is more ready to hear than we to pray and does not only give us what we pray for but does encourage us even to pray And therefore if our own Wants and Necessities cannot awake us let the Goodness of God perswade us to this Duty who is so ready to hear us This is the second Reason to enforce the Duty of Prayer And so I have done with the first thing considered in my Text the earnest Injunction of a Duty O pray 2. The second thing to be taken notice of is the thing we are to pray for and that is the Peace of Jerusalem This Exhortation is directed to those that think Prayer a Duty and usually pray for themselves for they that