Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	brother_n	life_n	love_v	4,173	5	7.3769	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66075	Counsels and comforts for troubled consciences contained in a letter, lately written to a friend / by Henry Wilkinson ...	Wilkinson, Henry, 1616-1690.	1679 (1679)	Wing W2234; ESTC R34095	48,680	121

be no more sorry for your sins If this be your condition as my hope it is you can pray better than you are aware of For saith the Apostle the Rom. 8. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onus vicissim attollit ex altera parte ne sub eo fatiscamus Beza spirit helpeth our infirmities The Original word is very Emphatical It follows For we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Herein consists the great duty to be importunate with God for the assistance of his holy Spirit and to apply the promises That God will give Mat. 7. 11. good things to them that ask him And what 's that good thing even the best of all things is promised Your heaven Luk. 11. 13 ly Father shall give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Object Object And whereas you complain of your barrenness and unprofitableness under the means of Grace and of your slippery and failing memory Answ Answ I answer that it 's a good sign to be sensible of your failings and to bewail them It 's a grand Duty incumbent on you to be heedful and vigilant It 's the Apostles caution Therefore we ought to give Heb. 2. 1. the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip or as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original implys let them run out as leaking vessels do and let out precious liquor as soon as it is poured into them At for your unprofitableness if we all in particular reflect upon our selves all our faces will gather blackness and we have all cause to complain that when we have Luk. 17. 10. done all that we can we are unprofitable servants Wherefore being conscious to our selves of our great unfruitfulness under the means of Grace and notwithstanding fatning Ordinances we have lean souls let 's supplicate Isa 48. 17. unto the Throne of Grace Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way which thou shouldest go Object And whereas your misgiving heart injects many fears unto you as if none of the Promises appertain'd unto you Answ Answ I answer That it 's more than you know For a poor doubting trembling Christian may have the root of the matter in him and a right to the promises though at present he may want the manifestation of those consolations which the promises afford But do not you judg your self unworthy of eternal life Cast not away the Anchor of your hope let not go your hold on the Promises for they are a stay and a staff for you to support your soul upon when you apprehend your self even in a tottering condition Are you thirsty after Christ Apply your self to the Promises for they are as so many Wells of Salvation Therefore with joy shall Isa 12. 3. ye draw water out of the wells of salvation Do you desire a word of comfort to be spoken to your Soul Make hast to the Promises for they are the breasts of consolation which Isa 66. 11. can satisfie you Sect. 13. A few Questions I propound unto you and after your most serious and composed thoughts I expect your Answer Do not you love God Q. You cannot say but you do A. Then the Promise is your portion And we know that all things work Rom. 8. 28 Qui dicit omnia excipit nihil together for good to them that love God Observe that all things are promised and nothing is excepted Your present troubles of mind though for a time they may be grievous yet in Gods good time shall all work together for your good Do not you hate the ways of sin Q. and love the ways of holiness If so as I have no reason to think A. otherways then you are in a hopeful condition The Psalmist professeth his love to the Law of God and his utter hatred and abhorrency of every false way and especially lays down an evidence of his uprightness by keeping himself from bosom-sins for said he I was also upright Ps● 18. 23. before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity Another Question I shall only propound to you Do not you love the Q. Children of God You dare not say otherways for those are the company with whom you converse and delight Hence you may evidence that you A. ●oh 13. 35 are a Disciple of Jesus Christ By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another This is an evidence of regeneration to love the Brethren We know saith 1 John 3. 14. the Apostle that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren he that loveth not his brother abideth in death I knew one upon his death-bed who took great comfort in this evidence of loving the Children of God A Third Impediment to be avoided 3. Imped Too much retiredness and respectiveness is too much retiredness and reservedness Do not feed and nourish a melancholly humour by separating your self from the society of such who would gladly administer comfort to you The society of experienced Christians and frequent conference with them may be of great advantage to you for the establishment of your heart by giving seasonable and suitable Answers to those doubts which trouble you One Coal may inkindle another and one Iron may sharpen another and so one Christian may be instrumental both for inkindling and quickning the Graces of Gods Spirit in another I advise you to be very seldom alone during your Troubles and Temptations unless in two special cases As first when God is speaking to you in his Word when you read the Word of God and faithful Writers and Expositors thereof Which read you must labour to digest by Prayer and Meditation and make of all particular application unto your own Soul And secondly When you are speaking to God in Prayer and Supplication then is a fit season to be alone and in your secret recesses to pour out your heart unto the Lord. My further advice unto you in love is That you would beware of idleness and sloth Although I suspect you not nor can accuse you yet in love to your precious soul I cannot but premonish you both to avoid the sin of idleness and the miserable consequences thereof For if the Devil can prevail by his temptations to gain you to idleness and sluggishness and to the neglect of your duties which concern both your general and particular calling then he will get ground of you and lay his Snares and Gins to intrap you and so go away Conqueror That therefore you may prevent the mischievous designs of Satan I counsel you to be industrious in your particular calling and imployment with diligence and care provided that you above all

discover and remove some impediments and obstructions which as a Remora to a Ship stops the sailing or as a stumbling-block laid in the way of such who run a race hinders their passage After the removal of those hinderances some Duties are commended to point of practice and for a conclusion some Grounds of Comfort are as seasonably mentioned and as necessarily to be applied to humble penitent and broken-hearted sinners It 's abundantly known to such who are no strangers to the new birth and to all such who have been train'd up in the School of affliction and have experienced the Conflicts and Antipathies between the flesh and the spirit and as Job had have the Arrows of the Almighty Job 6. 4. sticking in them that many black clouds storms and tempests even Euroclydons desertions suspensions and withdrawings of Gods gracious countenance have for a time been the lot and portion of the dear children of God whom God hath took into Covenant with himself Job David Heman St. Paul and many other precious Servants of God have met with various dispensations and variety of tryals and perplexities of spirit Their condition may be resembled to high-water and low-water ebbing and flowing and yet the water runs still and is not dryed up Christians sometimes may be in a prosperous condition other-times in an adverse condition and yet in both may have fixed and setled hearts So David had as may appear upon reading of Psal 57. 8. and Psal 108. 1. Then he was in great adversity for that 57th Psalm was pen'd when he fled from Saul in the cave The Title of that Psalm was Al-taschith Michtam of David or destroy not and then he confest that his soul was among Lyons even Psal 57. 4. among them that are set on fire even the Sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword Afterwards he was in great prosperity when he pen'd Psal 108. and yet in both Psalms David professeth O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my glory His tongue he accounted his glory and so he imployed it in celebrating the praises of the Lord such a condition may befall the Children of God as they cannot tell how to understand it nor what to make of it at the first as we read Zach. 14. 6 7. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to pass that at evening-time it shall be light We know that there is a considerable distance of time betwhen sowing and reaping and though the seed may be under clods and not visible to our eyes for the present yet afterwards it may fructify abundantly and yield many handfuls for the reaper Light is sown saith the Psalmist for the Ps 97. 11. righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Let us seriously consider that such as are inwardly afflicted and have wounded spirits however they may argue against themselves are not alone and without company though it so falls out that they complain amidst their heavy pressures that never was any ones case like theirs The Apostle rectifies all such mistakes For saith 1 Cor 10. 13. he 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 you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Many Eminent Servants of God have been encountred by Satan and through mercy have return'd with Trophies of victory It 's one of Satans master-pieces of policy to take advantages of sick beds and corporal infirmities and so to act his inveterate malice with the greatest violence Many instances might be produced as of Luther who was assaulted with such violent temptations that neither speech sense blood or heat appeared in him Mr. Bolton as it 's reported in his life much resembles Luther who when the sense of sin and the guilt thereof were set home upon his heart he roared for grief of heart and rose out of his bed by reason of the anguish of his spirit I may add the Examples of Mrs. Katharine Brettergh and Mrs. Margaret Corbet who were much assaulted by the Temptations of Satan upon their sick-beds and yet after those storms and tempests they enjoyed a marvellous calm and serenity of spirit before their dissolution But hastning to a Conclusion I shall insist only on three more Examples of men eminent for Parts and Graces One is of Mr. Peacock a Batchelor of Mr. Peacock Divinity and then Fellow of Brazen-nose Colledg in Oxford He was a great Scholar and a laborious Tutor in that Society and Divinity-Reader of Magdalen Hall His life and conversation was unblameable and notwithstanding in the sickness whereon he died he complained against himself That he had no Grace at all Dr. Ayry Mr. Dod and many others visited him in his sickness and imparted spiritual counsels and comforts to him and he told Mr. Dod That he had no love for Gods children and a little after he said so he manifested his love to Mr. Dod by the great care he took for him for he gave charge that something should be provided for the refreshment of Mr. Dod and that his Clothes should be dried because they were wet with the rain After a dark night light appeared and God graciously setled the heart of this good man in a holy tranquillity and peace as it 's published in Print For said he a little before his See Mr. Peacock's Visitation death you all expect that I should declare what I think of my own Salvation God is so indulgent to those whom he hath ever loved that he never forsakes them and therefore I am assured that I shall go to Heaven Most happy are those fetters into which I was cast by a most merciful God I shall add another instance of Mr. Mr. Pemble of Magdalen Hall Oxon. Pemble a man of great learning and of a holy life and conversation He was Divinity-Reader and a Tutor in Magdalen Hall and the Ornament of that flourishing Society where he lived many years He went to visit his learned and religious Tutor Mr. Capel at his house in Estington in Glocestershire where he ended his days In his last sickness Satan assaulted him with vehement disputations and as a Reverend Divine whose memory I honour informed me that the Devil urged Dr. Robert Harris late Pastor of Hanwell in Oxfordshire many perplexing arguments and managed his disputations like an old crafty sophister and shot his fiery darts against the said Mr. Pemble Satan knew his fittest season to catch advantages and that now or never he must act his part for the time of sickness and extremity was the fittest season for Satan to play his last game But