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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	die_v	life_n	think_v	9,849	5	4.3485	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46652	A sermon preached before the King and Queen, at White-Hall, in November 1692 by William Jane ...	Jane, William, 1645-1707.	1692 (1692)	Wing J458; ESTC R3438	13,891	32

very timerous or at least inconstant when it comes We have a sad example of this in no less a Person than St. Peter How confident was he in protesting and promising and resolving that he would stick to Christ even to the death A threefold rashness some have observed in his behaviour in that business he opposed himself to our Saviors forewarning him of his fall He prefer'd himself indiscreetly before the rest of his fellow Disciples and he took the matter wholly upon himself as that which he thought himself upon his own strength to be well enough able to account for Though all should be offended because of thee yet would not I. I will never deny thee though I dye for it I will lay down my life for thy sake I am ready to go with thee unto prison and unto death Matt. 26.21 Jo. 13.38 And what more pregnant testimony than this of his love to Christ and resolution to adhere to him Greater love than this in the Apostles Judgment no man hath than to lay down his life for his friend And this St. Peter had if we may believe himself yea he began to express some acts of it when with his usual boldness and fervency of Spirit he manfully drew his sword in his masters quarrel And yet all this proved nothing but a piece of gallantry an heat and bravery in our Apostle he had never forcasted with himself what might ensue and his vain glorious resolution included a thousand particulars which he was not aware off For see how soon the Scene is changed This great Champion of our Saviour is of a sudden daunted and stricken out of countenance he that had his name from a rock is immediatly shaken like a reed and after so solemn an engagement and protestation not to forsake Christ tho every one else should he is driven from this steadfastness by the voice of a silly Damsel and was the first of all that not only disown'd but even with oaths and imprecations deny'd and forswore his master Surely this was written for our admonition and left upon record for a standing example of the deceitfulness of our own hearts the frailty of the greatest passions the folly of presuming upon our own strength that every man at his best estate is altogether vanity and that the deepest thoughts and most advised consultations are all little enough to support and strengthen our resolutions But secondly and more particularly it is required for the forming a fixt and steady resolution that the mind be prepar'd for all events and arm'd and fortify'd against the worst of evils that can befal us To which purpose it will highly contribute if we make these things as much as we can actuall and present to our thoughts and suppose our selves at our first setting out already incompast with all those difficulties and distresses which we may reasonably expect will afterwards assault and set upon us in our Journey Under these apprehensions it was that the prophet David here made and continued and renued his resolutions of stedfast adherence to his God The wicked says he have laid a snare for me yet I erred not from thy precepts v. 110 and 109. My soul is continually in my hands i.e. every moment ready to be snatcht out of them yet do I not forget thy law Thus v. 87. they had almost consumed me upon earth but I forsook not thy Commandments and v. 157. Many are now my persecutors and enemies yet do I not decline from thy testimonies And surely he that deliberately and entirely devotes himself to the service of religion has forcast with himself the worst that can happen and so is by that means ready and prepared with an undaunted resolution to encounter it He has considered what it is and so is well enough contented to deny himself to renounce the friendship of the world to smile upon the face of danger to hate Father and mother brother and sister lands and possessions and even life it self rather than part with that without which even life it self is not worthy the enjoying Through honour and dishonour through evil report and good report through a red sea and a wilderness through watchings and fastings through afflictions and distresses through dangers and discouragements he will press forward towards the prize of his high calling and will neither be byast from his mark by the flattering considerations of the world nor forc't from it by any terrors or sufferings whatsoever He that frames his resolution with this prospect will not so easily fail in the execution of it he foresees what he must trust to he knows the worst of it he will not have his arms to seek when the enemy is upon him and so is not likely to be surprized with sudden assaults or to be beaten off and worsted in the conflict And this is the method which our Saviour took with his Disciples and also with others who offer'd themselves to be his proselites He acquaints them before hand what they must look for in divers places plainly teling them that they must expect in this world the worst of temporal evils that so they might be enabled to meet them with courage and resolution and habituate their minds to entertain them We read Mat. 8.19 that a certain Scribe struck with admiration of our Saviours miracles was very earnest to become one of his Disciples He comes to him with a very forward profession of his Zeal to serve him Master I will follow thee wheresoever thou goest Our Saviour to try what grounds he had for such a confident resolution informs him how mean and contemptible his worldly condition was the Foxes have holes and the Birds of the Air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head He bad him think of this and then resolve what to doe We do not indeed read what became of him afterwards but from the silence of the Evangelists it is very probable that he slunk away in the Croud as frustrated and disappointed in his mighty hopes and expectations And thus our Saviour frequently deals with those whom he had chosen for his Disciples In the world ye shall have tribulation Joh. 16.33 Ye shall be hated of all men for my name sake Mark 13.13 And if this should not alwaies happen to be their lot yet the constant resolution to undergoe this heavy task was absolutly necessary For Matt. 10.24 The Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the servant as his Lord. And if they have called the master of the house Belzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold and v. 36. He that taketh not up his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me And least we should think these to be only Counsels of perfection or particular injunctions as some doe and not necessary precepts to which all Christians are obliged our Saviour

A SERMON PREACHED Before the King Queen AT WHITE-HALL In November 1692. By WILLIAM JANE D.D. Dean of Gloucester and Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties Published by their MAJESTIES Command OXFORD Printed at the THEATER for Thomas Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard London 1692. PSAL. CXIX 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments THE Prophet David spends this whole Psalm partly in recounting his own misfortunes partly in magnifying the study and meditation of God's Law as the greatest comfort and refreshment that he met with in all his distresses and persecutions He enlarges throughout upon the excellency the necessity and advantages thereof that the true and only felicity of man attainable in this life depends upon it and that so great was the satisfaction so chearful the reflections he derived from it that all the pressures and afflictions of the world were not able to make him miserable He frequently declares the high esteem and value that he had for it his stedfast resolutions to continue and persevere in the observance of it together with a constant intermixture of his earnest and fervent Prayers for Gods Grace and assistance to enable him so to doe In this verse we have a noble expression of an Holy and Couragious resolution flowing from the conviction of his Judgment and deeply rooted in his heart I have sworn and I will perform it or as the other translation has it I have sworn and am steadfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgments i. e. By my admission into the number of thy people I am entered into a solemn Sacramental Covenant to perform obedience to thy Commands Hammond in loc I do now acknowledge my self indispensably engaged to thy Service and withal renew my vows and resolutions never to depart from it The only inference I shall make from the words at present shall be only to shew of what great use benefit and advantage it is in the business of religion to lay down fixed and steady resolutions to undertake it and to pursue the designs of it with the whole bent and bias of the Soul And thus we find the Saints in Scripture have usually devoted themselves to the service of their God Thus David in another place my heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Ps 57.7 Thus Mattathias 1. Mac. 2.19 Tho all the Nations under the Kings Dominions shall fall every one from the Religion of their Fathers yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the Covenant of our Fathers Thus those in Jer. 51.5 Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten And this Barnabas recommends to the Converts at Antioch Acts 11. 23. that with full purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. A certain velleity a languid and incomplete will some zealous pang of devotion may be discern'd in Ahab and Herod Balaam and Agrippa I am almost perswaded to be a Christian says one and O that I might dye the death of the righteous says another but they were still destitute of the true foundation of religion a strong firm and well bottomed resolution they had not wrought their hearts to the Psalmists conclusion I have sworn and am steadfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgments In discoursing of this point I shall shew First What is required to the forming a firm and settled resolution Secondly The great moment and importance of such a resolution in the business of religion And 1. of the First of these what is required to the forming a firm and settled resolution And here first it is requisite that it be the result and issue of a mature and serious deliberation Now deliberation is an act or exercise of the practical Judgment or understanding employ'd and set on work by the will to consult and debate the proper means conducible to the end together with a due weighing and ballancing the several conveniencies and inconveniencies that attend them This is the work of deliberation in general and is of very great moment throughout all the actions of our lives In the present Case it is a thorow and impartial consideration of the Duties and difficulties of Religion the pleasures of sin for a season and the bitterness of them in the event and issue a due comparing of rewards and punishments the present and the future the sweetness of a good Conscience and the torments of a bad the beauties of virtue and the deformity of sin the shortness of time and the length of Eternity till upon a fair representation of the whole Series of things to our own minds we have at length brought the debate to this determination that all the advantage lies on the side of religion that the reward of obedience has infinitly more weight to perswade than all the hardships we must grapple with have to dishearten and discourage us that there is no proportion between a moment and eternity and that all the pleasures profits and honours of the World are of no account at all when they are laid in the ballance with the everlasting concerns of our immortal Souls This method of the workings of our own minds in forming a setled resolution Divines have very fitly represented by Joshuas dealing with the Children of Israel Jos 24. where he summons the people together and plainly sets before them the great obligations they lay under to forsake all strange Gods and faithfully adhere to the Worship and Service of the God of Israel He represents to them on the one hand what great things God had done for them and what greater things he would still doe if they continued steadfast in his Covenant On the other hand he acquaints them with the difficulty of God's Service the accurate purity and strictness which was required for the performance v. 19. Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an Holy God To this he adds the dreadful Judgments he would bring upon them in case they should transgress his Covenant and goe and serve other Gods for he is a jealous God he will not pardon your transgressions nor your sins And at last after a great many arguments to this purpose and those repeated and inculcated to make the stronger impression upon their minds he refers the matter to their own choice v. 15. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve Not that he hereby set them perfectly at liberty as if it were a matter indifferent whether they serv'd God or Idols For his whole design had bin hitherto to confirm them and their posterity for ever in the worship of the true God and in Case they had revolted from it he would never have suffer'd their Apostacy to go unpunished In the words therefore he eloquently insinuates to them the gross inequality of the Comparison that being stir'd up with indignation at so vile a choice as the preferring dumb