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	look_v	zion_n	21	3	8.4057	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

lose our carnal friends estates liberties and lives than part with Christs truths and a good Conscience as Zuinglius said What sort of death should not a Christian chuse what punishment should he not rather undergo yea into what vault of hell should he not rather chuse to be cast than to witness against truth Conscience 3. A natural death in Christ may be as safe to our selves but a violent death for Christ will be more beneficial to others by the former we shall come to heaven our selves but by the latter we may bring many souls thither The bloud of the Martyrs is truly called the seed of the Church Many waxed confident by Pauls bonds his sufferings fell out to the furtherance of the Gospel and so may ours In this case a Christian like Samson doth greater service against Satan and his cause by his death than by his life If we only die a natural death in our beds we die in possession of the truths of Christ our selves but if we die Martyrs for Christ we secure that precious inheritance to the generations to come and those that are yet unborn shall bless God not only for his truths but for our courage zeal and constancy by which it was preserved for them and transmitted to them By all this you see that death to a Believer is great gain it 's great gain if he only die in Christ it 's all that and a great deal more added if he also die for Christ And he that is assured of such advantages by death either way must needs feel his fears of death shrink away before such assurances yea he will rather have life in patience and death in desire he will not only submit quietly but rejoyce exceedingly to be used by God in such honourable imployment Assurance will call a bloudy death a safe passage to Canaan through the Red Sea It will call Satan that instigates these his instruments and all that are imployed in such bloudy work by him so many Balaams brought to curse but they do indeed bless the people of God and not curse them The assured Christian looks upon his death as his wedding day Rev. 19. 7. And therefore it doth not much differ whether the horse sent to fetch him to Christ be pale or red so he may be with Christ his love as Ignatius call'd him He looks upon death as his day of enlargement out of Prison 2 Cor. 5. 8. and it is not much odds what hand open the door or whether a friend or enemy close his eyes so he have his liberty and may be with Christ. O then give the Lord no rest till your hearts be at rest by the assurance of his love and the pardon of your sins when you can boldly say the Lord is your help you will quickly say what immediately follows I will not fear what man shall do unto me Heb. 13. 6. And why if thy heart be upright mayest thou not attain it Full assurance is possible else it had not been put into the command 2 Pet. 1. 10. The sealing graces are in you the sealing spirit is ready to do it for you the sealing promises belong to you but we give not all diligence and therefore go without the comfort of it Would we pray more and strive more would we keep our hearts with a stricter watch mortifie sin more throughly and walk before God more accurately how soon may we attain this blessed assurance and in it an excellent cure for our distracting and slavish fears 8. Rule Let him that designs to free himself of distracting fears be careful to maintain the purity of his conscience and integrity of his ways in the whole course of his conversation in this world Uprightness will give us boldness and purity will yield us peace Isa. 32. The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Look as fear follows guilt and guile so peace and quietness follows Righteousness and sincerity Prov. 28. 1. The wicked flee when none pursueth but the righteous are bold as a Lyon His confidence is great because his Conscience is quiet the peace of God guards his heart and mind There are three remarkable steps by which Christians rise to the height of courage in tribulations Rom. 5. 1 2 3 4. First they are justified and acquitted from guilt by faith v. 1. Then they are brought into a state of favour and acceptation with God v. 2. Thence they rise one step higher even to a view of Heaven and the glory to come V. 3. and from thence they take an easy step to glorying in tribulations v. 4. I say 't is an easy step for let a man once obtain the pardon of sin the favour of God and a believing view and prospect of the glory to come and it is so easy to triumph in tribulation in such a station as that is that it will be as hard to hinder it as to hinder a man from laughing when he is tickled Christians have always found it a spring of courage and comfort 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing even the testimony of our Consciences that in all sincerity and godly simplicity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in this world Their hearts did not reproach them with by-ends in Religion their Consciences witnessed that they made not Religion a cloak to cover any fleshly design but were sincere in what they professed and this enabled them to rejoyce in the midst of sufferings An earthen vessel set empty to the fire will crack and fly in pieces and so will an hypocritical formal and meer nominal Christian but he that hath such substantial and real principles of courage as these within him will endure the trial and be never the worse for the fire The very Heathens discovered the advantage of Moral integrity and the peace it yielded to their natural Consciences in times of trouble Nil c●nscire tibi nullâ pallescere culpa hic murus aheneus estc It was to them as a wall of brass much more will godly simplicity and the sprinkling of the bloud of Christ upon our Consciences secure and encourage our hearts This Atheistical Age laughs Conscience and purity to scorn but let them laugh this is it will make thee laugh when they shall cry Paul exercised himself or made it his business To have always a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men Acts 24. 16. And it was richly worth his labour it repayed him ten thousand fold in the peace courage and comfort it gave him in all the troubles of his life which were great and many Conscience must be the bearing shoulder on which the burden must lie beware therefore it be not galled with guilt or put out of joynt by any fall into sin 't is sad bearing on such a shoulder Instead of bearing your burdens you will not be able

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

should make Shipwrack both of our Temporal and Eternal mercies quickly were it not for the guidance of Divine Wisdom 2. To Extricate them when involved in difficulties So 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation They know not how but their God doth they are often at a lo●● but he is never So 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it 3. To over-rule and order all their troubles to their good and real advantage So runs that most comprehensive promise Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God In the faith whereof Paul concludes Phil. 1. 19. Even this shall work for his Salvation Thus the people of God were sent into captivity for their good Ier. 24. 8. and Ioseph into Egypt Gen. 50. 20. Ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive 2. Let us view the Wisdom of God in its Relation to his Providences for there it shines forth eminently Ezek. 1. 18. The wheels were full of eyes i. e. the motions and Providential revolutions in this lower world are very Judicious and advised motions Non caeco impetu volvuntur rotae It hath a fetch and design which no man understands till it open it self in the event The enemies of the Church are oft times men of the finest brains and deepest policies Herod a Fox for subtilty Luke 13. 32. Iulian and Ahithophel with many others who have digged as deep as Hell in their counsels and laid their designs so sure that they doubted not but to be masters of it yet their hands could not perform their enterprize The wisdom of Providence hath still befooled them and baffled the cunningest head-pieces that ever undertook any design against the Church as fast as ever they arose and here the Wisdom of Providence is remarkable in three things especially 1. In revealing and discovering the secret conspiracies and counsels of the Churches enemies and thereby frustrating their designs Gen. 27. 41 42. Providence as one calls it is the Bird of the air that carries tidings and whistles deeds of darkness Iob 12. 22. He discovereth deep things out of darkness and bringeth out to light the shadow of death And this God hath done both immediately and mediately 1. Immediately 2 Kings 6. 11. What counsel soever the King of Syria took in his Bed-chamber was still discovered by the Lord to the Prophet So true is that Iob 34. 22. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Thus the design of Herod is revealed to Ioseph in a dream But commonly he doth it by means as 1. By giving knowledge of it to some that are under obligations of duty or affection to reveal it to these that are concerned in the danger So Paul's Sisters Son Acts 23. 16. revealed the conspiracy against his life and so the Plot miscarried by revealing it before it was ripe for execution 2. By the failure of some circumstance the whole is brought to light there be many fine threds upon which the designs of Politicians hang if one break the whole design is unravelled Thus the Wisdom of God sometimes prevents his peoples ruine by taking away the speech of the trusty from him and making their own tongues to fall upon themselves 3. By their own confession So Psal. 64. 5 6 7 8. where you have the Plot laid ver 5. They encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares privily they say who shall see them The deep contrivance of it ver 6. They search out iniquity they accomplish a diligent search both the inward thoughts of every one of them and the heart is deep Their Plot destroyed ver 7. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded The method or way of Providence in destroying it ver 8. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flee away Thus hath the Wisdom of our God wrought for us this day beyond all the thoughts of our hearts and oh that it might make such impressions upon all our hearts as follow in the 9 and 10. verses All men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider his doing The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory 2. The Wisdom of God discovers it self in behalf of that people who are his own in diverting the danger from them and putting by the deadly thrusts their enemies make at them thus it spoils their game by an unforeseen rub in the green and that especially three ways 1. By making their counsels to jar among themselves in which jars is the sweetest harmony of providence thus the counsel of Ahithophel jars with the counsel of Hushai 2 Sam. 17. 5. 7. by which means David escaped the Pharisees clashed with the Sadducees Acts 23. 7. and by that means Paul escaped 2. By cutting out other work and starting some new design which like a fresh scent puts the dogs to a loss Thus the people of God in Ierusalem were delivered by a diversion 2 Kings 19. 7. Behold I will send a blast upon him and he shall hear a rumour and shall return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land so Rabshakeh returned By this means also was David delivered from the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 23. 27. And in this method of Providence that Scripture is often fulfilled Prov. 21. 18. The wicked shall be a ransom for the Righteous and the transgressour for the upright 3. By cutting off the capital enemies of his Church by whose seasonable destruction they are delivered Thus fell Iulian that bitter enemy of the Christians when he was preparing to put his last and most bloudy design against them in execution And thus fell Haman Nero and many more in the very height and heat of their designs against the Church 3. The Wisdom of God gloriously displays it self in causing the designs of the wicked like a surcharged gun to recoil upon and destroy themselves It often falls out with the undermining enemies of the Church as it sometimes doth with them that dig deep Mines in the Earth who are destroyed and buried in their own work Psal. 9. 15 16. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgajon Selah There is a double ●ercy in this providence