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A76814 Living truths in dying times: Some meditations (upon Luk. 21.30. [sic]) occasioned by the present judgement of the plague. / By Thomas Blake. Blake, Thomas. 1665 (1665) Wing B3146A; ESTC R223024 90,620 229

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the Description I told you the soul is renewed Old things must pass away Christ must be sanctification as well as Righteousness John 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God There must be a new Birth a new work of God must pass upon the soul that renewing work it is in all the powers and faculties of the soul The old Nature it is in some measure weakened in all the faculties of the soul though not wholly driven out of any of them There is something of God spread over the whole soul but yet not so but that there is room for the soul to complain as Paul did Rom. 7.3 Who shall deliver me from this body of death The soul it is brought to thoughts of God that once it had not and thoughts of sin that once it had not it is a real though but an imperfect work it is a work really begun upon the soul really wrought upon the heart though not presently perfected It is an earnest and pledge of that that shall be wrought out and compleated in the season thereof Now here is the question you are to put to your hearts What beginnings of this Work have you upon your souls H●ve you thoughts of God you had not and thoughts of sin you had not and thoughts of holiness that you were once utter strangers unto 4. This is in the description the soul is made to be for Christ Titus 2.13 14. Who gave himself for us that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people c. Christ did purchase a people to himself Time was thou wert all for sin and Sathan but now thou art for Christ thy Vote is on his side though sometimes sin and Sathan may carry it against thee 5. The bent of the heart is for God the ship that is bound for the Indies a long voyage it meets with many cross winds and is often driven back but yet being bound for the same place it still sets out with the first fair wind and makes forward as much as it can It is thus with the soul that shall stand with Christ it is bound for God for heaven it meets with many cross winds the winds makes the waves of the sea boisterous and the soul is brought back again to as bad or it may be to its own apprehension a worse condition then at first when it set out for God yet bound for God it is and therefore it improves all its opportunities for God that is the bent and frame of such a soul Isa 26.8 The desires of our soul are toward thee c. 6. It is desirous to be found in the whole will of God not that it is always found in the will of God but yet the desires are after it that is the inclination of the heart to be found in the whole will of God in one part as well as another Caleb was a type of them that shall stand before Christ Num. 14.24 But my servant Caleb because he had another spirit and had followed the Lord fully c. He was to go to Canaan and he was a type of all that shall inhabit the heavenly Canaan that shall sit down in the land of rest they are persons of such spirits that they are willing to follow the Lord fully to be found in the whole will of God in the duties of the first Table in the worship of God with his people in their family Psal 4.3 Therefore called the godly man They are for the second Table-duties to do the duty of their places and relations towards God and all men therefore Tit. 2.11 The grace of God teacheth to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts c. Now see how is it with thee thou hast corruptions remaining sin dwelling in thee and thou art found but little in the way and work of God but which way is the bent of thy heart which way do the strongest desires of thy heart run 7. It is willing not onely to do but to suffer for God to be true to his name his honor and glory whatever it may cost him to submit his life liberty estate honor or whatever he hath to the will of Christ if the Lord wills me to suffer I will undergo it if I may but any way further and promote his glory that is the requirement of Christ in Mark 8.38 Whoever shall be ashamed of me c. he that will not own Christ and his way and work in the face of the utmost hazard that he can run he shall not be owned of Christ when he shall come so Rev. 2. Fear none of those things be faithful to death c. So consider and commune with your spirits in this matter are you willing to do his will and suffer his will is it the design of your spirits to stand perfect in the whole will of God It is good if so and such as I have here described shall be sure to stand before Christ whoever be rejected in that day And this brings me to the fifth thing to shew you what is the best frame that the soul should be most ambitious of and that will best fit it to stand before the Son of m●n What is the best frame ●o stand before Christ in the day of Christ There are these five things necessary if you would be able to meet Christ without any consternation of spi●it if you would be able to meet him with setled confidence boldness besides what I have already laid down Five things are needful 1. To have the love of God in Christ witnessed and sealed up to the soul It is a great mercy to have an interest in Christ to have taken hold on his righteousness but it is a further and greater mercy to have the love of God in Christ witnessed and manifested and sealed up to the soul by the Spirit of Christ souls this is that mercy which the Saints have been breathing after Psal 4.6 Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us this is that mercy which the Saints have prized above the dearest and best of all the mercies of this life Psal 163.3 Because thy loving kindness is better then life c. life is better then any other thing in this world but the love of God manifested to the soul that is better then life this is that that the Saints of God have travelled for and for which they are travelling for which they are waiting upon the Lord from time to time and from duty to duty this is that that their souls are set upon Psal 77.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord to behold his face c. Psal 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee c. This is that the soul of the Psalmist was seeking after this is that that carries the soul couragiously and comfortably through the most rugged and unpleasing paths
in his day will have to do with both It will not be as it is in outward calamity in which the body falls onely but Christ will sit in judgement upon the inward man also And therefore it is said in Mat. 23. Fear not him that can kill the body onely but him that can cast both body and soul into hell Christ is able to reach souls as well as ●odies and he will make it known that he is able to do it in the day of Christ 6. Common calamity and the day of Christ differ upon this account if in outward calamities upon the body any sin be brought to remembrance it is not such a bringing sin to remembrance as shall be in the day of Christ I confess in days of outward calamity there is a bringing of sin to remembrance but not such as shall be in the day of Christ God did bring sin to Jobs remembrance in the time of his calamity Job 13.26 Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth This was the case of poor Job he was under outward afflictions and God also did set home some sin upon his soul and brought that to remembrance And this was also the case of David Look upon my pain saies he and forgive me my sin and therefore he prays in another verse Forgive me the sins of my youth In his affliction God made him remember the sins of his youth but in the day of Christ there will be another kind of bringing sin to our remembrance then there is in any calamity whatsoever All the sinners sins shall then be presented to him at once with all their aggravations with every circumstance attending it and what dread what confusion will it bring upon the heart when it shall be at this pass Psal 50.21 These things thou hast done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self but I will set them in order before thee Now the great day of setting them in order it will be the day of Christ that will be the special season when the Lord will set them in order before the soul 7. Farther there is this difference In outward calamities God deals secretly with men but in the day of Christ he will deal with them in the sight of the whole world In a calamity God deals secretly and cuts off a sinner now and then and there is no great noise about it but in the day of Christ he will deal with them in the sight of all now the publikeness or solemnity of an action makes it the more eminent and terrible It puts a great deal more of dread and terror into the malefactor to be tryed and executed in the face of the Country the solemnity increaseth the terror Oh my friends when you come to stand before the Son of man you shall stand also before men and Angels the work of that day shall not be done in a corner but whole heaven and earth shall be spectators and witnesses of what is done and what passes in that day and therefore it is said in that forementioned place Rev. 20.12 I saw the dead both small and great standing before the Lord they were all standing before God Mat. 25.31 32. The Son of man shall come in his glory and all his holy Angels with him the whole host of Angels shall be present And what more And before him shall be gathered all nations This shall be a great appearance and in the sight of God Angels and men all shall be done at that day and in that respect there is a great deal of difference 8 There is a great deal of difference upon this account as for common calamities it is possible they may be escaped you may live in the midst of Gods judgements and yet be preserved yea possibly a sinner for the sake of some that fear the Lord may be preserved in a common calamity as was Noahs case he and his wife and his sons and their wives all escaped the flood but it was Noah was the righteous person the rest were given in for his sake it may be a righteous soul beggs preservation for some poor sinners or other and for their sakes God gives them a preservation but none can be indulged in the day of Christ every one must then fall under the sentence that shall be pronounced by Christ whatever it be There is no way to prevail for indulgence for thy absence at that day Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for all men once to dye and after that the judgement good and bad all must pass through the gate of death and must all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ and as the wise man speaks of death so may I speak of succeeding judgement Eccl. 8.8 No man hath power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war so may I say No man hath power in the day of Christ and there is no discharge from that war Thou must ride out that storm and see and bear the worst of it for thou must appear before the judgement-seat of Christ 9. There is yet this difference some that fall under a common calamity suppose this of the Plague God takes away their reason so that they do not feel the dread of it it is no more to them nor are they sensible of any more pain then those that are in health and strength but in the day of Christ we shall all stand before him in our sences we shall then know and understand and feel what the weight and dread and majesty of Christ is in that day and at that time Rev. 1.5 He comes in the clouds and every eye shall see him and they also that pierced him they that would be most willing not to see and behold Christ they must see their sences shall all be set at work to understand what the dread glory and majesty of that day is 10. There is this difference also in a common calamity it may be if it lights upon thee some friend some indulgent relation will stand by thee to help support thee and bear thee up but in the day of Christ thou must stand single My friends though these be plain things they may do our souls a great deal of good if God will bless them it is a great relief in a calamity when the hand of God is upon you when you are sick and weak and full of pain if some friend will stand by to help thee to bear thee up and indeavour to relieve the outward man but in the day of Christ all will stand at a distance the knots of all relations except those onely that are spiritual must be at an end when life ends and when thou comest to stand before Christ thou must stand singly nakedly and alone none to stand by thee thou wilt have none to befriend thee at that hour unless Christ be thy friend it is well for them that have a