Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	church_n	faith_n	zion_n	23	3	8.6202	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56801	A beam of divine glory, or, The unchangeableness of God opened, vindicated, and improved : whereunto is added, The soul's rest in God / by Edward Pearse ; to which is prefixed the author's last letter, written in the time of his sickness to some peculiar friends.	Pearse, Edward, 1633?-1674?	1674 (1674)	Wing P970; ESTC R32172	116,330	239

plunged into very deep and sore distresses such as are ready to sink and overwhelm Her she is oftentimes afflicted tossed with tempests and not comforted Isa 45.11 Such indeed is Her condition at this day and as good old Ely sate trembling for the Ark of God a Type of the Church 1 Sam. 4.13 so it may be some may now sit trembling for the Church of God fearing how 't will go with Her and indeed he is not one of Sions Children that is not concerned for Sions Afflictions But loe my Beloved in the midst of all such fears and tremblings of heart here is is strong consolation God is Unchangeable and being Unchangeable he will certainly support and deliver his Church and that in the best way and fittest season God has never yet sail'd his Church in Her afflictions yea 't is admirable to consider how hitherto he has carried it towards Her under all Her distresses how sweetly he has supported Her and how seasonably he has delivered Her When they were in Egypt in the Iron Furnace when they were in the Wilderness when they were in the Red Sea when they were in Babylon in Hamans time and in Herods when the Neck of the whole Church of God was upon the Block at once as it were And also all down along through the times of Antichristian Tyrany and Persecution to this very day O how admirably has God wrought for them both in supporting and delivering of them and certainly what he has done that he can and will do for them again as the case shall require God is Unchangeable His Hand is not shortned that he cannot save nor his Ear grown heavy that he cannot hear Isa 59.1 God being Unchangeable he is as tender of and careful for his Church and People as ever he was being Unchangeable he is every way the same to his People now as he was formerly the same in his Love to them his Jealousie for them his Sympathy with them his Interest in them he stands in the same Covenant-Relation to them that ever he did he is their King their Head their Husband their Friend their Father their Shepherd now as well as heretofore and he is every way as able to help them and accordingly will support and in due time deliver them and this Faith sees and rests assured of Isa 51.9 10 11 12. Awake awake put on strength O Arm of the Lord awake as in the ancients dayes in the Generations of old Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon Art thou not it which hath dryed the Sea the Waters of the great Deep that hath made the depths of the Sea a way for the ransomed to past over c. So again 2 Cor. 1.9 10. But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God who raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Mark Faith you see argues from what God has done to what he will do for his poor Church and People And what bottom or ground has it so to do but his Unchangeableness Let Sion therefore the Church and People of God take heed of that language which she spake of old Isa 49.14 Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me And as Jacob elsewhere My way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over by my God for God must change e're this can be True God may permit his Church to be sorely afflicted as at this day but 't is but to illustrate his own Glory the more in Her support and deliverance 3. God being Unchangeable his Enemies shall be destroyed they shall all die and perish I mean his incorrigible implacable Enemies who will not stoop to the Scepter of his Kingdom God may and sometimes does permit his and his Peoples Enemies to practise and prosper and that for a long time together he lets them alone in their sins and oppositions against both himself and them yea he even fills their belly with his hid Treasure as you have it Psal 17.14 he lets them injoy some of the best of outward Comforts and contentments and that in great fulness which oftentimes proves a great burthen and temptation to his poor afflicted People such as is ready even to sink and bear them down So it was with the Psalmist Psal 73. beg and 't is so many times with us but Remember that God is Unchangeable and being Unchangeable though he may permit his and his Peoples Enemies to practise and prosper for a time yet not alwayes no they shall be destroyed and that with a great destruction Pray observe how things issued at last in that very Psalm Psal 73.10 c. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors c. Pray observe he was not more offended at nor was he more ready to envy their prosperity before than now he wonders at their ruine and destruction So Psal 37.35 c. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found the transgressors shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off So Deut. 32.35 36. To me belongeth vengeance and recompence sayes God in reference to his and his Peoples Enemies their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things which shall come upon them make hast for the Lord shall judge his People c. Still you see though God permit his and his Peoples Enemies to prosper for a time yet at last they are destroyed and as sure as God is Unchangeable they shall be destroyed Pray compare but my Text with the verse immediately preceeding Mal. 3.5 6. I will come near to you to judgment sayes God and I will be a swift witness against the Sorcerers and against the Adulterers and against false Swearers and against all that oppress the Hireling in his Wages the Widow and the Fatherless and that fear not me saith the Lord. q.d. I 'le suddenly and terribly destroy all mine Enemies all that go on in their sinings against me But how shall we be assured of this He tells you in the next words for I am the Lord I change not q.d. as sure as I am God and Unchangeable they shall be destroyed O Sirs though God permits his and his Peoples Enemies to prosper for a time yet he alwayes certainly destroys them in the conclusion and he will do so still because he is Unchangeable God is every way the same that ever he was the same in Holiness Jealousy Justice Power that ever he was He is as holy now as ever he was and so does hate sin as

dealt with the Church of old Sometimes I am under some revivings which seem to give hopes of a return from the Grave Anon nothing but Death seems to be in view And in this dubious state I am waiting upon the Will of God which I am sure is Holy Wise and Good and which I hope shall be welcome to me whether it be for Life or Death Hitherto through Grace Death hath not been terrible to me what it may be in its nearest approaches I cannot tell but I look to and rest upon him who hath destroyed both Death and him that had the power of Death And now only two things I beg of you One is That you all give me a room in your Prayers while I am in the Land of the Living and I desire you would beg of God these things for me First That all sin and guilt cleaving to me may be fully expiated and discharged through the Blood of Christ O beg both forgiveness and repentence for me which God knows I greatly need Secondly That my Will may be throughly resigned up into the Will of God either for Life or Death Thirdly That I may have much of God's Presence with me and may alwaies have good Thoughts of Him and his Dispensations towards me in all He doth or shall lay upon me Fourthly That if God shall please to restore me I may come out of this Furnace purisied and refined as Gold that is tryed seven times and more fitted for my Masters Service or if his pleasure is which seems at present most probable to put a period to my mortal life that his Love and the Light of his Countenance may shine upon me to sweeten the bitter pangs of Death to me we cannot live comfortably without his Love much less can we die comfortably without it That is my first request The other is That you will accept and embrace some plain but weighty counsels God is my Record that my hearts-desire and Prayers for you is and has been that you may be saved and in love to your salvation I leave these Directions with you 1. Above all things look well to and labour to make sure of an Union with Christ knowing assuredly that without Union with him all your Religion is vain and ineffectual 2. Take heed of too much addictedness to his World as remembring that if any Man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him and that the friendship of this World is enmity to God 3. Dwell much within and be much conversant in Heart-work in studying the Heart searching the Heart cleansing the Heart keeping the Heart looking alwaies upon it as the veriest Cheat and Impostor in the World deceitful above all things and desperately wicked 4. Take heed of splitting upon that fatal Roek of self-deceit of which you have sometimes heard and upon which the greatest part of Professors split and perish for ever 5. Set up and keep up the Worship of God both in your Families and Closets for the Lord's sake let none of yours be Prayerless Families 6 Alwaies maintain a great honour and reverence for all God's Ordinances and in an especial manner honour and sanctifie his Sabbath The Sabbath-day is your Souls Market day O lose not your Market 7. Be universally honest and upright in your Callings and your Dealings in them the fraudulent dealings of Professors do much reproach the Gospel 8. Covet to seat your selves under a sound clear searching Gospel ministry and keep mainly to the same Ministry and the Lord guide you therein 9. Labour that your profiting under the Ministry may appear unto all men it will be a dreadful thing to enjoy rich means and bring forth no fruit to perfection O Sirs be fruitful Christians 10. Expect further Trials and Sufferings and prepare for them there is a dark and gloomy Day coming such as I am apt to think you and I have never seen any like unto it and such as wherein possibly you will think it best with them that God shall have hid in the Grave before hand But be not troubled it will be short and a glorious Day will follow a Day wherein the Church of God shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb a Day wherein our dear Lord and Head shall reign gloriously And therefore 11. Pray and long long and pray much and earnestly for the coming of the Day of God for the coming of Christ's Kingdom Thy Kingdom come is a Petition should be much upon our hearts O do not Rest in low things as to divine appearances and manifestations both in the World and in your own Souls These Counsels I leave with you out of that entire love and affection I bear to your salvation and our Lord's honour as concerned in you I will conclude all with ●hat solemn and cordial profession to you which Augustine often made to those to whom he was wont to preach viz. that it is the desire of my Soul that as we have been often crowded together to worship God in one Earthly House or Temple so we may all worship him together for ever in the Heavenly House or Temple And if we must never Pray and Preach and Hear and Mourn together more on Earth yet we may Love and Sing and Praise and Admire and Rejoyce together for ever in Heaven Which that we may do the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shephed of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you and me that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen and Amen My dear dear dear Friends I am your weak and languishing but yet Cordial Friend and willing Servant in Christ and for Christ EDWARD PEARSE Hampstead Octob. 3. 1672. A Beam of Divine Glory OR The Unchangeableness of God Asserted Opened Vindicated and Improved from Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed CHAP. I. Wherein way is made to the Text the Words thereof opened the Foundation of our intended Discourse laid and the principal Matters to be considered in the prosecution of it hinted at IT is a great as well as a true Observation which I have read in a Learned Man namely That all the many various Attributes of God mentioned in the Scripture are no other than his very Essence Multae est varia Dei attributa sunt ipsa Dei essentia Deo propter captum nostrum tribuuntur qui non possumus sub uno nomine aut actu intellectus quod de Deo percipiendum est intelligere Schar and are ascribed to him to help us in our Conceptions and Vnderstandings of Him who are not able to apprehend what may be known of God under any one Name or Notion or by any one Act of the Intellect We read you know of

to him So again Psal 142.4 5. I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me resuge failed me no man cared for my Soul Well and what then Why he runs to God vouches him afresh for his I cryed unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the Land of the living So the Church in Her great troubles and afflictions does in like manner the Lord is my Portion saith She Lam. 3.24 Sometimes upon occasion of some eminent mercy or deliverance wrought by God for them they do make a new choice of God and vouch him afresh to be theirs so those Exod. 15.2 The Lord is my strength and song and he is become my Salvation He is my God I will prepare him an Habitation my Fathers God I will exult him He wrought a signal deliverance for them he had carried them through the Red Sea delivered them from Pharaoh and the Egyptians whom he drowned for their sakes and now they sing a song of praise to God and vouch him to be their God they renew Covenant with God and so their choice of him as their Rest their Portion their All for ever Thus the Church does Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our God and guide even unto Death God had done great things for Her and hereupon she vouches him afresh for hers David often does the like sometimes again upon occasion of some fresh discoveries made of God in his love and beauty to them or their being taken into some near and intimate communion with him then they chuse him afresh and vouch him to be theirs afresh So Psal 73.25 26. the Psalmist whoever he was did Whom have I in Heaven but thee saies he to God and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee thou art the Rock of my Heart and my Portion for ever Here is a new choice of God made by this holy Man and upon what occasion was it Why he had been with God in his Sanctuary that is he had been conversing with God in his Word and Ordinances he had had some new displayes and discoveries of his Love Beauty and Excellency made to him and hereupon he chuses God afresh and vouches him to be his All both in Heaven and upon Earth So you know when the Spouse had been led into the Banquetting House by Christ and had had the Banner of his Love displayed over Her when She had been feasted by him in his House of Wine then She made a new choice of Christ and vouches him for hers afresh My Beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.6 Thus the Saints both at first and also often afterwards in their walking with God have chosen and do chuse him to 〈◊〉 their God and Portion their Rest and Happiness and should they not then Rest in him● Surely this choice of theirs calls aloud and should be a mighty Obligation upon them to live at Rest in God for ever 3. The third Obligation the Saints are under to live at Rest in God is this God is at Rest in them as the Saints have chosen God for their Rest so God hath chosen them for his Rest and his Soul is at Rest in them Psal 132.13 14 The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation this is my Rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Zion here is a Type of the Church and People of God and as such God's Soul is at Rest in Her This is my Rest The Saints are and to eternity will be a delight and solace to the Soul of God God is indeed delighted and at Rest in his People above all the workes of his hands Hence the Church is called The delight of God Isa 62.4 Hence also he is said to rejoice over them with joy to rest in his love upon them and to joy over them with singing Zeph. 3.18 God is in some sort more delighted and at Rest in his People than in the Angels themselves and indeed he sees a greater beauty and glory upon them than upon the Angels he looks upon the Angels as standing in their own Beauty their own Holiness and Righteousness only but he looks upon his Saints as standing in and cloathed with the Beauty and Righteousness of Christ and that is much more glorious than the Angels The Beauty and Righteousness of the Angels is the Beauty and Righteousness but of Creatures but the Beauty and Righteousness of the Saints is the Beauty and Righteousness of him that is God-man God as well as Man Rom. 1.17 and on this account God's Soul is more at Rest in them God is chiefly delighted and at Rest in himself and the perfections of his own being next to himself his Soul is delighted and at rest in Christ as Mediator Behold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth saith the Father of him Isa 42.1 and next to Christ the Mediator his Soul is at Rest in his Saints and People in and through Christ he looks upon them not as they are in themselves but as they are in Christ not as aapart from Christ but as made one with Christ and so as shining in his Beauty and clothed with his Righteousness as participating in all his Amiablenesses he lookes upon them not so much according to what they are at present as according to what they are in the Counsels of his own love and what he intends to make them and so they are all glorious both within and without and accordingly he is delighted in them Now is God's Soul at Rest in them and should not their Souls be at Rest in him O what a mighty Obligation is this upon them alwaycs to be at Rest in God! 4. The fourth Obligation the Saints are under to live at Rest in God is this They hope to and assuredly shall live at Rest in God and with God for ever in Heaven Heaven is a state of Rest so the Apostle represents it their remaineth a Rest to the People of God Heb. 4.9 't is a state of Rest in God and with God and in this Rest the Saints hope to live and live for ever Hence they are said to have this Hope every one that hath this Hope 1 Joh. 3.3 this Hope that is the Hope of seeing Christ and being made like him in the other World the Hope of Heaven the eternal Rest Saints then are persons that have this Hope hence also Heaven and the Rest to come is called Hope the Hope which is laid up for you Spem hic posuit pro rc sperata nam spes in animis nostris est gloria quam speramus in Caelis Calv. in Loc. Col. 1.5 and the blessed Hope looking for the blessed Hope Tit. 2.13 In both these places Heaven and the coming Rest is called Hope For Hope here as Calvin and others observe is put for the Object of Hope or the Good