Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	day_n	lord_n	sabbath_n	7,508	5	10.6028	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62644	Sixteen sermons, preached on several subjects. By the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the third volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1696 (1696)	Wing T1270; ESTC R218005	164,610	488

them then he takes on heavily hangs down his head and mourns as a Man would do for his first-born and is ready to cry out with Micah they have taken away my Gods and what have I more Upon every little loss the Covetous Man is undone tho' he have a hundred times more left than he knows what to do withal So deeply are the hearts of Earthly-Minded Men many times pierced with Earthly Losses as with Rachel to refuse to be comforted Nay St. Paul observes that the sorrow of the world sometimes worketh death 1 Cor. 7. 10. Fourthly But the saddest Consideration of all is that heavy and dreadful Account that must one day be given both of the getting and using of a great Estate They that have got an Estate by Fraud and Falsehood or by Oppression and grinding the face of the Poor may read their Doom at large James 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Go to now ye Rich Men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you your Riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten your Gold and Silver is canker'd and the rust of them shall ●e a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last days Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back b● fraud cryeth and the crys of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter And we must be accountable likewise for the using of our Estates God gives them to us in trust and the greater they are the more we are to account for so much as we need is ours but beyond what will support us and be a convenient provision for our Families in the rank God hath placed them all that is given to us that we may give it to others and indeed it is not ours we are the Proprietors of it in respect of Men but in respect of God we are but Trustees and Stewards and God will require an account of us how we have disposed of it And can there be a more reigning madness among Men than to take care only to increase their Account more and more by receiving much whereas our great Care and Concernment should be to clear our Account by laying out what we receive according to the trust reposed in us How much we shall receive of the Things of this World is in the Care and Will of our Master but our Care and Fidelity is seen in laying it out as we ought Among Men says one it is well enough if a Steward can give an Account of so much laid out and so much in Cash and upon this he shall have his Discharge but we cannot this way clear our Account with God for it is not offering him his own again that will satisfie him as we may learn from the Parable of the Talents So that upon the whole matter we should be so far from envying the Rich that we should rather envy the Safety and Happiness of those who are not intrusted with such dangerous Blessings and who are free from the Temptations of a plentiful Fortune and the Curse of a Covetous Mind and from the heavy Account of a great Estate I come now in the last place to make some Application of this Discourse to our selves 1. Let our Saviour's Caution take place with us let these words of his ●●nk into our Minds take heed and beware of Covetou●ness Our Saviour I told you doubles the Caution that we may double our Care It is a Sin very apt to steal upon us and sliely to insinuate it self into us under the spec●ous pretence of Industry in our Callings and a provident Care of our Families But however it may be coloured over it is a great Evil dangerous to our selves and mischievous to the World Now to kill this Vice in us besides the Considerations before-mentioned taken from the Evil and Unreasonableness of it I will urge these three more 1. That the Things of this World are uncertain 2. That our Lives are as uncertain as these Things And 3. That there is another Life after this 1. The uncertainty of the Things of this World This should very much cool our Affections toward them that after all our Care and Diligence for the obtaining of them we are not sure to enjoy them we may be deprived of them by a thousand Accidents This Consideration Solomon urgeth to take Men off from an over-eager pursuit of these Things Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for Riches certainly make to themselves wings they flye away as an Eagle towards Heaven After we have sat brooding over an Estate many years it may all on a sudden before we are aware take wing and flye away like an Eagle towards Heaven soaring suddenly out of our sight and never to return again And the same Argument St. Paul ●seth to take off Mens Affections from the World 1 Cor. 7. 31. because the fashion of this World passeth away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He compares the Things of this World to a Scene which is presently changed and vanisheth almost as soon as it appears Now seeing these Things are so uncertain we should take heed how we fix our Hearts too much upon them we should not make love to any thing that is so Fickle and Inconstant as this World is We should be afraid to contract too near and intimate a Friendship with any thing which will forsake us after we have Courted it with so much importunity and purchas'd it with so much pains and endeavour'd to secure it with so much Caution and Tenderness 2. Our Lives are as uncertain as these Things If our Estates remain with us we are continually in danger of being removed from them And as one says it is folly to build our hopes upon a Match where both Parties a●e so uncertain and inconstant Why should we place our dearest Affections upon Things which we are not sure to enjoy one Moment Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be taken from thee and then whose shall those things be I remember Seneca tells us a real Story just answerable to the Rich Man in the Parable of an Acquaintance of his who by long and great Industry had arrived to a vast Estate and just when he began to enjoy it after one of the first good Meals which perhaps he ever made in his Life that very night his Soul was taken from him for presently after Supper he died In ipso actu bene sedentium rerum in ipso procurrentis fortunae impetu In the heighth of his Prosperity and in the full career of his good Fortune But if we live to enjoy for any time what we have got we should remember that our Life is but a passage through the World and that we

design of them were to insinuate to us that God is to be prevailed upon by the meer importunity of our Prayers to grant our Requests but our Blessed Saviour who best knew his own meaning tells us that all he design'd by it was only to signifie that we ought always to pray and not to faint that is to continue instant in Prayer and not to give over after once asking as if we despaired of prevailing Not that meer importunity prevails with God to give us those things which he is otherwise unwilling to grant but because it becomes us to be fervent and earnest to testifie our Faith and Confidence in the goodness of God and the deep sense we have of our own weakness and wants and unworthiness and likewise that we set a true value upon the Blessings and Favours of God as worth all the earnestness and importunity we can use And in this decent and sober sense the success of our Prayers may truly be said to depend upon our importunity not that it is necessary to move God to grant our Requests but that it becomes us to be thus affected that we may be the more fitly qualified for the Grace and Mercy which God is willing to confer upon us I have been the longer upon this to give us a right notion of this matter and that we may the more distinctly understand the true Reason why our Saviour does require so much earnestness and importunity of Prayer on our part not at all to work upon God and to dispose him to shew mercy to us for that he is always inclinable to when ever we are fit for it but only to dispose and qualifie us to receive the grace and mercy of God with greater advantage to our selves Fifthly Provided moreover that we be not confident of our selves and of the force and strength of our own Resolution We know not our selves nor the frailty and weakness of our own Resolution 'till we are tried 'T is wise Advice which Solomon gives us and never more seasonable than in the day of trial Prov. 3. 5 6 7. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths be not wise in thine own eyes that is be not conceited and confident of thine own wisdom and strength or ability in any kind there is a secret Providence of God which mingles it self with the actions and spirits of Men and disposeth of us unknown to our selves and what we think to be the effect of our own strength and resolution of our own wisdom and contrivance proceeds from an higher Cause which unseen to us does steer and govern us So the Wise Man observes Prov. 20. 24. Man's goings are of the Lord how can a Man then understand his own ways And therefore we have reason every one to say with the Prophet Jer. 10. 23. O Lord I know that the way of Man is not in himself it is not in Man that walketh to direct his steps Our feet will soon slip if God do not uphold us by his hand Remember how shamefully the chief of our Lord's Disciples miscarried by too much confidence in himself I mean St. Peter in whose fall we may all see our own frailty if God do but permit the Devil to have the winnowing of us there will be a great deal of chaff found in the best of us What St. Paul said of himself 2 Cor. 12. 10. When I am weak then am I strong we shall all find true when it comes to the trial we are then strongest when in a just sense of our own weakness we rely most upon the strength and power of God Sixthly Provided furthermore that according to our ability we have been much in the exercise of Alms and Charity For well-doing or doing good is sometimes taken in a narrower sense not improper here to be mentioned tho' perhaps not so particularly intended here in the Text for works of Charity and Alms. As Heb. 13. 16. But to do good and to communicate that is to the necessities of the Poor forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased This kind of well-doing is a special Preservative in times of Evil there is no kind of Grace or Virtue to which there are in Scripture more special Promises made of our Protection and Preservation from Evil and Suffering of Support and Comfort under them and Deliverance out of them than to this of a Charitable and Compassionate Consideration of those who labour under want or Suffering Psal 37. 3. Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed And ver 19. speaking of Righteous or Merciful Men They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of Famine they shall be satisfied Psal 41. 1 2. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the Earth and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his Enemies There are likewise in the Apocryphal Books Excellent Sayings for the encouragement of Charity as that which will be particularly considered and rewarded to us in the times of Danger and Distress in the days of Affliction and Suffering Tob. 4. 7 8 9 10. Give Alms of thy substance and turn not thy face from any Poor Man and the face of God shall not be turned away from thee if thou hast abundance give Alms accordingly if thou hast but a little be no● afraid to give according to that little for thou layest up for thy self a good treasure against the day of necessity because that Alms do deliver from death and suffereth not to come into darkness Ecclus 3. 31. Speaking of him that gives Alms and is ready to do Kindness to others He is mindful of that which may come hereafter and when he falleth he shall find a stay And Chap. 29. 11 12 13. Lay up thy treasure according to the Commandment of the most High and it shall bring thee more profit than Gold shut up alms in thy store-houses and it shall deliver thee from all affliction it shall fight for thee against thine Enemies better than a mighty shield and strong spear I have often said it and am verily perswaded of it that one of the best ●igns of Gods Mercy and Favour to this poor Nation is that God hath been pleased of late years to stir up so general a disposition in Men to works of Alms and Charity and thereby to revive the Primitive Spirit of Christianity which so eminently abounded in this Grace and taught those who believed in God to be careful to maintain and pract●se good works And nothing gives me greater hopes that God hath Mercy still in store for us than that Men are so ready to shew Mercy there are great Objects to exercise our Charity upon in this

thus with us as he threatned the People of Issr●el Isa 27. 11. When the boughs are withered they shall be broken off and set on fire for it is a People of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour And now I have done with the three Points which I proposed to handle from this Text and the Discourse which I have made upon them does all along apply it self by dir●cting us how we ought to commit our selves to the Providence of God in all Cases of Danger and Suffering especially for the Cause of God and his Truth viz. in the faithful discharge of our Duty and a good Conscience and by a firm Trust and Confidence in the Wisdom and Goodness of the D●vine Providence not doubting but that he who made us and knows our frame will have a tender Care of us and not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able And as to our present Danger and that Terrible Storm which threatens us let us pray to God if it be his will to divert it but if otherwise he hath determined to fit and prepare us for it And let us be fervent and earnest in our Prayers to him not that he is moved by our importunity but that we may thereby be qualified and made fit to receive the Mercy which we beg of him And let us take this Occasion to do that which we should have done without it to brea● off our Sins by Repentance and to turn every one of us from the evil of our ways● that hereby we may render God propitious to us and put our selves under the more immediate Care and Protection of his Providence that we may prevent his Judgments and turn away his wrath and displeasure from us as he did once from a great and sinful City and People upon their sincere Humiliation and Repentance Jonah 3. 10. where it is said of the People of Niniveh That God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not Above all let us be sincere in the profession of our Religion and conscientious in the Practice of it nothing will bear us up under great Trials and Sufferings like the testimony of a good Conscience void of offence towards God and Men. I will conclude this whole Discourse with those Apostolical Blessings and Prayers Colos 1. 10 11. That ye may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work strengthned with all might according to his glorious Power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness And 2 Thes 2. 16 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting Consolation and good hope through Grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work To him be Glory and Dominion for Ever and Ever Amen A SERMON ON JOHN IX 4. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day The night cometh when no man can work THese words our Blessed Saviour spake of himself whilst he was upon Earth in which he tells us that he was sent by God into the World and had a certain Work and Imployment appointed him during his Abode in it A great Work indeed to instruct and reform and save Mankind A Work of great Labour and Pains and Patience not to be done in a short time and yet the time for doing it was not long after he came into the World It was a good while before he began it and after he began it the time of Working was not long before the Night came and put an End to it I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day The night cometh when no man can work But this which our Saviour here speaks of himself and which properly belongs to him and no other may ye● be accommodated to every Man with some Allowance for the Difference and Disproportion For tho' every Man be not sent by God into the World after so peculiar a manner and upon so particular and vast a Design Yet upon a general Account every Man is sent by God into this World and hath a Work given him to do in it which he is concern'd vigorously to mind and to prosecute with all his Might And tho' every Man be not sent to save the whole World as the Son of God was yet every Man is sent by God into the World to work out his own Salvation and to take Care of that in the first Place and then to promote the Salvation of others as much as in him lies So that every one of us may in a very good Sense accommodate these Words of our Saviour to himself I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day The night cometh when no man can work I shall therefore at this time take the Liberty to handle these words according to this moral Accommodation of them and apply what our Saviour here says of himself to every Man that cometh into the World And this I shall do by shewing these three things First That every Man hath a Work assigned him to do in this World by him that sent him into it and may in some Sense say as our Blessed Saviour did of himself I must work the works of him that sent me Secondly That there is a certain and limited time for every Man to do this Work in While it is day Thirdly That after this Season is expired the●e will be no further Oportunity of working The Night cometh when no man can work First Every Man hath a Work assigned him to do in this World by him that sent him into it and may in some sense say as our Blessed Sav●our did of himself I must work the works of him that ●ent me God who made man a reasonable Creature and hath endowed him with Faculties whereby he is capable of knowing and serving him hath appointed him a Work and Service suitable to these Faculties And having infused an immortal Soul into this Earthy Body hath certainly designed him for a State beyond this Life in which he shall be for ever happy or miserable according as he useth and demeans himself in this World So that the Work which every one of us hath to do in this World is to prepare and fit our selves for that Eternal Duration which remains for us after Death For the Life which we live now in this World is a time of Exercise a short state of Probation and Tryal in order to a durable and endless state in which we shall be immutably ●ixt in another World This World into which we are now sent for a little while is as it were God's School in which immortal Spirits clothed with Flesh are trained and bred up for Eternity and therefore the best