Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A57733
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The fire upon the altar. Or Divine meditations and essayes containing the substance of Christian religion
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Rowe, Cheyne.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing R2061A; ESTC R218415
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226,122
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405
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man but a diligent Servant shall share the Inheritance with the Sons Pro. What delight can dull lifeless service be to him whom we serve Our service should be suited to the delight of him whom we serve And Our service should be to the honour of him whom we serve But slothful and lifeless service is to the dishonour of God therefore he saith Mal. 4. v. Offer it now to thy Governour and see whether he will accept it The fruit of Christs death is the Zeal of good works Titus 2.11.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people Zealous of good works From Thence it appeares that the note of Gods people is a Zeal of good works namely the works of mercy charity and piety They shall run and not be weary walk and not faint That obedience sway the conscience that the ends and aims be good that we should advance piety to the utmost and repress sin If we expect any benefit by our service we must not do it negligently but with Zeal the more Zeal the more comfort and satisfaction and the more will be our reward Zeal breaks through any restraints that would keep us from God Though Michael scoffed yet David would not leave off his dancing before the Ark. Consider how violent and earnest carnal men are in the ways of sin and shall they serve Satan better than God is served wicked men are so active and laborious that they are said to draw iniquity with cart-ropes they are not drawn into sin but draw sin there is no lust but costs them some self-denial Their pride must feel no cold the worldly man incroaches not only upon the pleasures of his life by rising early and going to bed late but also defrauds himself of necessary comforts they are wise in their generation like the unjust steward If Ammon be sick for Tamar shall not the Spouse be sick for Christ shall they take more paines to undo themselves than the Servants of God to save themselves Consider that you have been violent in the ways of sin and will you not do as much for God Rom. 6.19 I spake after the manner of men as you have yeilded your selves Servants of sin so now yeild your selves Servanss of Righteousness unto holiness So much as you have spent in and upon sin 't is but a modest proposal of the Apostle that you would spend so much in the service of God How can your conversion be right when sin hath more of your heart than God 2 Cor. 5.13 If we be besides our selves it is for Christ he had been mad against Christ 't was not unmeet if he seemed mad for Christ your pace was furious like Jehu's for your beloved lusts will you be slow for God Consider It may be you set out late towards Godliness therefore you must make the more haste Let the time spent in your lusts be sufficient All men set out too late we are transgressors from the womb God loved us before we were from eternity he loved us before we loved him or knew how to love him Consider what Christ hath suffered for us his bloody agonies and the sorrows of his Cross He is the Captain of our salvation and we must follow him He hath given us heaven as God gave Canaan to the Israelites but they were to force their way The power of Satan is broken but some relicts are left for our exercise Consider the enemies of our souls are violent The Devil compasseth the earth therefore we had need to stand upon our guard the enemy watcheth and do you sleep Whilest men slept the enemies sowed tares among their Corn. Whilest we are careless the enemy prevails when we make speed in our flight the enemy hath no advantage Whilest the Disciples were a sleep Judas and his Company were watching Small measure of grace must not content the professors of Christianity Except your righteousness exeed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven A temporary believer goeth far but a true believer must go farther Consider that all things in Religion are high and call for more than ordinary from us There are great obligations upon us He had no greater gift to give us than his only Son He could do no more for us then he did in his agonies and sufferings and laying down his life undergoing that intollerable pain that made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me So that in love God hath gone to the uttermost for us in his power he hath not so every mercy received obligeth us to do more than we have done the supplies of the Spirit of God which come in upon us and help more than we have done The supplys of the Spirit of God which come in upon us and help our infirmities oblige us The heathen some of them have gone so far by the light of nature that because they could not mortify their lusts they have put out their eyes this they did without those helps which we have Christ Jesus a person of the God head meriting our salvation and interceding for us The Spirit helping us to work out our salvation and the holy precepts of the law of God which is pure converting the soul Psal 19.19 Psal 119. The law of the Lord is exceeding broad It is another obligation that we have a hope exceeding all that we can imagine 2 Cor. 4.16 We have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory laid up for us Besides these obligations the dreadful threats might make us earnest in the works of religion which if a man do but think of it causeth horrour Consider the danger of coldness in dutys if we don't go forward we go back like those that row against the stream Before we lose our first works we lose our Love first men grow careless then off goes religion and the service of God Some that are high in professing are cold in practice To provoake one another to love and good works is a good contention for solemn piety we cannot do too much In sin every thing is too much in grace nothing enough in particular exercises there may be too much in the love of God there can be no excess many come short Rom. 2.9 They come short of the glory of God 2 Peter 1.11 We are to labour that an abundant entrance may be given us into the Kingdom of Christ Jesus Consider if your heart is dead and cold you loose the comfort of Christian priviledges and duties a dead Christian is as none A change without life is but a morral reformation That is true conversion where we are not meerly changed but quickned by a new principal of life heathens have been changed from profaness to a morral life I am come saith Christ that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly All the true members of Christ are
living stones in that building whereof he is the corner stone our Hope is but a fancy if we be dead and slugish 1 Pet. 1.7 It is called a lively Hope and our life a living by faith Consider the burning Zeal of the antient Servants of God Psal 119. My soul breaketh out for the fervent desire that it hath always to thy commandments My soul is a thirst for God Psal 42. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so longeth my soul after thee O God Psal 16.3 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth after thee And Psal 119. Do I not hate them that hate thee and am I not vexed with them that rise up against thee yea I hate them with a perfect hatred as though they were my enimies So Righteous Lot was vexed with the unclean conversation of the wicked others loved not their lives unto death The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Jacobs wrestling with God prevailed It is one of the characters of those that are Redeemed as it is said in the Epist of St. That he may purchase to himself a peculiar people Zealous of good works Strive to enter in at the strait gate Many lets we find Be not weary of well doing But the further we run in this race the fresher we are and like bodies tending to their center Velocius in fine quam in principio So the Righteous bring forth more fruit in their latter end When Christians shew their fervour of Spirit in the service of God it is but a scandal to religion to say they are young converts The hypocrite desireth no more but what may be sufficient to serve his turne but the true Christian desires to grow in grace and to abound in the work of the Lord and is grieved that his graces are not perfect By this we imitate Christ for it is said of him The Zeal of Gods house hath eaten him up It was his love to God which caused such Zeal so Davids love made his eyes gush out with water to behold sin Our Blessed Saviour wrought out our salvation by agonies And we are commanded to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling And all the duties of religion are wrought with Agonies striving and Zeal First our faith is to be strived for Philip. 1.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then in prayer we are to strive as it is said Striving togetheir in prayer And this is that circumstance that makes it prevail The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much The whole Stadium of the Christian life is to be run that motion is the most violent in nature The whole life of a Christian is a continual fighting of a battle wherein we put forth all our strength That gives no time for Diversions and but very little for necessary refreshings with food and sleep All our service we do to God must be with a fervent Spirit If this fire goeth out our services are dull flat and liveless For where there is life there is heat the maxim holds as well in things of Grace as in things of Nature therefore if thou wouldest not offer a sacrifice without a heart so oughtest thou to beware of dulness and coldness in Duties and Graces So if thou wouldest not have thy Spiritual Enemies to get any advantage against thee thou must be watchful And that thou maist fight against them and subdue and conquer thy corruptions thou must put forth all thy strength and all little enough when we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses in High places And although we do thus fight and put forth all our power and watch against these enemies that they get no advantage and redeem the time from our worldly business diversions and recreations Yet we shall find our selves so hardly beset at all times and too easie to be overcome unless we look to Jesus Christ the Authour and Finisher of our Faith for his succour through whose assistance we become more than Conquerours who is both able and willing to succour his that are tempted This looking to Christ is to set him before us to imitate and call upon him in time of Temptation with fervent Prayer as before is mentioned and to wait upon him for strength as the eyes of a Maid are unto the hands of her Mistriss so our eyes wait upon thee until thou have mercy upon us And so doing we shall find that he is our strength and present help in trouble and know how his strength is perfected in weakness He that saith he is not able of himself to overcome his Spiritual enemies therefore will not put forth all his power and use all these means he is content to be led Captive by them What is it will make thee earnest and servent Consider What it is that lyes at the stake what thou strivest to save and searest to lose Is it a small and light matter or is it a thing of more value to thee than the whole World Thy Immortal Soul and the Eternal welfare thereof This thou strivest for Who doth not strive and struggle to save his Life when in danger much more then must we strive for the saving of our Eternal Life What perils and labours do Men undergo by Land and Sea to get a livelihood for their bodies though they know not how short a time they may live to enjoy it and frequently lose their precious lives in the acquisition of the sustenance of their Lives But how few venture so far for the Eternal sustenance of their Soul or labour so hard or undergo such difficulties to solace or save their immortal Soul How readily doth the Sea-beaten Merchant tossed with the Winds and Waves of the Raging Sea throw hastily over-board all his precious substance gotten with great labour and peril of Life to save his short uncertain Life And wisely too But much more wise is he that throweth away his perishing goods his life and all to save his Immortal Soul and his Eternal Life and well-being He that is the only wise hath told us that we must sell all to purchase Heaven that we must cut off our right hand and pull out our right Eye if they offend us that he that will not forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children and life it self for him is not worthy of him he that will save his Life shall lose it Lord God we will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways delight in thy Statutes rejoyce in the way of thy Testimonies and take counsel of them But quicken thou us according to thy Word Ps 119.14 15 16 25. that we may not faint nor be weary Be wise then O my Soul for thy great interest thy main chance to save that with the expence and loss of thy perishing momentary concerns and to bestow thy pains and industry upon this And