Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	day_n	lord_n	time_n	5,344	5	4.0909	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77362	Christs coming opened in a sermon before the honourable house of commons in Margaret's Westminster, May 17, 1648 being the day appointed for Thanksgiving for the great Victory in Wales / by William Bridge ...	Bridge, William, 1600?-1670.	1648 (1648)	Wing B4451; Thomason E471_3	19,393	30

step he takes shall be midnight both unto those he comes for and those that he comes against but woe to them whom he doth come against it is adreadfull thing to be cutt off suddenly and surprized in our sins This is a judgment threatned on the latter day Christ will come quickly be quick with men in a way of judgment as a thief in the night will he come when poor foolish virgins shall be fast asleep I would h●●e therfore exhort and beseech ye in the Lord to consider the grounds ye stand upon the principles ye worke by the cause ye mannage and I appeale to you whether do ye not thinke that God is in all these warres that the event of battels is only in the hand of God Some of you no friends to Parliament nor the cause of God in their hands have tryed many wayes as once Balaam to curse Israel sometimes ye have got upon one hill and there ye have built an altar thinking from thence to curse Gods people when that would not do then ye got upon a second when ye could not do it from thence then ye got to a third mountaine one while ye thought to have done it by the strength of your old skilfull soldiery when that would not do then ye came home and sought to make divisions among us and to raise jealousies between brethren seeing that would not do it sufficiently you have now gotten to a third mountain labouring to stir up the Countreys to make insurrection and yet you cannot curse them from thence Wherefore now after all do ye not thinke that God is against you can ye beleeve that God is with you after all these successive victories that have fallen against you Have ye not read that Scripture The Lord is knowne by the judgement which he executeth the wicked are snared in the workes of their owne hands and have ye not been snared in the works of your owne hands have ye not risen to fall have not your own doings been your undoing and will ye yet go on to plot consult designe what will ye never have done well then go on consult plot devise associate confederate together try the conclusion worke to the utmost yet know that when ye have done all and as you thinke have the better and all is your owne then will Christ come upon you at midnight in an houre and time when ye do least expect him and it will be a darker night then ever yet you saw for our Lord and Saviour Christ he doth come as at the last so now in these his precedaneous comings still at midnight he doth come at midnight Be wise now therefore O ye Princes Nobles Rulers Judges Gentlemen and others Kisse the Son lest ye perish in the way for Christ is upon his way unto his Kingdome Secondly This Doctrine looks wishly upon such as Christ comes for Why should any of Gods people despaire or be discouraged saying Christ is now gone and will never come againe he hath hid himself and I shall never see his face againe Nay but he comes at midnight that is his time a time wherein he is least expected a darke time the darkest time the sleepiest time the coldest time a time when all your candles are out and your comforts out when you cannot see your hand your working hand your praying hand when you say all is gone and lost and I shall never see the light againe comfort again then doth Christ say this is my time it is now darke and night and midnight with my servant now will I go and comfort and deliver him why should any godly man be discouraged what ever his condition be shall Christ come at midnight and shall I be discouraged because I am in the darke O my soule remember this Christ comes at midnight in all his comings still he doth come at midnight And that this is Christs constant course with all his people see what is said in the 6. of Hosea verse 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the raine as the latter and former raine unto the earth Oh! but I am a poore ignorant creature don't know or understand the mind and will of God in these actions and transactions of things abroad Be it so yet sayes the Lord you shall know him if you follow on to know him Oh! but I am in a sad and a darke condition benighted with some affliction Be it so Christ will come and he will come as the morning as sure and certain as the morning comes so will Christ come and though it be a darke night yet you say certainly morning will come againe so confident may you be of Christs coming for saith the text he will come as the morning that is certainly Oh! but I shall faint in the meane while he will stay long ere he comes Nay but he will come in season as the former and as the latter raine the former and the latter raine come in their seasons so will Christ do and therewithall your comforts shall be all revived and refreshed why should then any of Gods people be discouraged But suppose that the Lord Jesus do comfortably appear to us in a darke condition Quest when we look not for him as now he hath done to this Kingdome what is our duty that doth flow from hence First Answ If Jesus Christ hath appeared to you in the darke and come to you even at midnight Duty 1 then trust in the Lord for ever and againe I say trust in the Lord trust in the Lord at all times Here is one night over but another night will come I feare and it may prove a darker night night and day have their courses Nec super biendum rebus florentibus nec desperandum adversis But does Christ come at midnight why then should we not trust in God at midnight in the darkest time At what time I am afraid sayes the Psalmist I will trust in the Lord Faith moves Christ for to come the sooner And therefore sayes the Apostle Looking for and hastening the coming of the Lord. You reade it in the English 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hastening unto but according to the Greek the words may better be read thus looking for and hastening the coming of the Lord. Our very looking for his coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 3.12 doth hasten his coming Faith mitigates our calamities and holds the hands of our enemies I have read in the life of Tindall that he being in the Low-countreyes heard of a certaine Jugling Conjurer that could by his conjuring command a dish of meate from any Princes table in the world which he did use to do and would ordinarily invite his friends unto dinner Whereupon Master Tindall resolved that he would go see this act but would set himselfe to beleeve the contrary which he did the company being

come together and the Conjurer indeavouring the same was so hindred by the faith of Master Tindall that he cried out and said Fidearmatus dissicilia quaeq potest I cannot do it there sits the man that hinders me and holds my hands I say faith will hold the hands of wicked and devilish men such too many we have to deale with in these times Oh! that you would use your faith more and more And have ye not ground enough for it Christ comes at midnight why should you not beleeve what ever your condition be although it be never so darke Secondly If Christ come at midnight Duty 2 then why should those who are imployed for Christ be shaken or unsetled in his worke and service We many times leave Gods work and are not constant in it because of opposition which doth make us fear But will Christ come and own us and come in a time when we looke not for him in the darkest time then why should not men go on with all constancy even in their darkest feares Luther relates a story of Austins mother which also Austin doth mention who was much troubled for her son Austin because that for the space of seven or nine years he had been a Manichee she prayed continued praying for him at the last in the night she had as a word from God in answer to her prayer these words Qualis tu talis ille As thou so he Whereupon she was much refreshed and told him she had received a promise from the Lord that he should be converted from his error but he told her the meaning of the words was contrary that she should be as he was that is converted to his opinion But she did so constantly abide in her sence Ad-ò constant●r manebat in suo sen su ut Angustinus facile transivit in sententiam ma●ris Luth. in Gen. that Facile transivit in sententiam matris he easily turned to his mothers opinion And indeed what more convincing to an adversary then to see one constantly abiding by what is good A Christian especially a Christian Magistrate should be like to Christ who when he is in a way of mercy will not be put out of his way by men Isaiah 27. verse 4. Who would set the bryars and thornes against me in battell I would go through them I would burne them together At the 2. and 3. verse he speakes of his great love and care to and of his Church A vine-yard of red wine I the Lord do keepe it I will water it every moment least any hurt it I will keep it night and day I but in this vine-yard there may be many briars and thornes that may arise up to afflict Gods people True But sayes the Lord who would set the briars and thornes against me in battell I would go through them As if he should say Indeed these wicked men are as briars and thornes rending and tearing my poore people and as briars and thornes they do conjoyne and twist together but though they do rise up against me in the way of my mercy towards my people yet they shall not put me out of my way I will even passe through them yea and though they do rise it shall be to their owne ruine they shall burne together I would burne them together I the Lord would passe through them Now our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I hope is in the way of mercy to this poore Kingdome but certainly he is upon the way to his own Kingdome and though wicked men may obstruct and hinder us they shall never hinder him but he will passe through them Oh! therefore labour more and more to be like to Christ keep on your way for though it be late ere he come yet he will certainly come he comes at midnight Thirdly Duty 3 If Jesus Christ have come unto us even at midnight why should not all of us go forth to meet him with some present of thankfulnesse The more abundant full free and continued any mercy is the more it doth call for thankfulnesse Christ hath been in the field for you and fought your battels for these many years and I must needs say that of late our divisions and sins have been so great that I feared they would even drive Christ out of the field but now I see still he doth own your cause and own your forces still he doth keepe the field yea and goes on marching as if he were resolved not to leave the field till he hath conquered all this Kingdome with his love and he hath now given you a taste of his intentions and love in this victory a seasonable victory a wonderfull victory an unexpected victory a midnight victory Oh! thou Wonder-working God! shall we not now praise thy name We reade of a great straight and darke condition that Jehosaphat was in by reason of his enemies but he crying unto the Lord the Lord heard and delivered him and his people in so much as they kept a day of thanksgiving in the open fields and they called the name of the place Berachah the valley of blessing 2 Chron. 20.26 In Joshua's time the people of Israel were in a great straight by reason of the Amalekites who came upon them when they were weake but the Lord fought for his people smote their enemies and they were quite destroyed whereupon Israel made an Altar and called it Jehovah-nissi The Lord my shield In Samucls time again they were in a great distresse by reason of their enemies but they cried to the Lord and he delivered them and destroyed all their enemies then they set up a stone and called it Eben-ezer The stone of help saying Hitherunto the Lord hath holpen us Afterwards againe they were brought very low into a very darke estate sould into the hands of their enemies but the Lord raised them up Saviours Deborah and Barak and delivered them from all their enemies and then they penned a Psalme of praise the 5. of Judges wherein they do ascribe and give the glory of all unto God himself wherein they make an honourable mention of the instruments which God used they did not revile the instruments but honoured them wherein they condemned and cursed those that would not go forth to help the Lord curse ye Meroz Wherein they commended the Tribes and Countreyes who came forth and willingly offred themselves unto the service of the Lord wherein they prayed against the enemies of the Church And then marke the issue at the last verse And the Land had rest forty yeares And such an issue not onely forty yeares but many times forty yeares rest may you have as an issue of the praises of this day But yet observe still some monument of praise was erected sometimes a stone sometimes an Altar alwayes one monument or other of praise And have we no Altar no stone now no name of God to celebrate now no present of thankfulnesse to bring to our God this day