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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	good_a	lord_n	praise_v	2,545	5	9.3917	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93740	The great, useful and blessed duty of a contentment, willingness and desire to die set forth upon true and assured grounds, in several discourses on these following scriptures. By Richard Stafford, A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Recommended as more proper and beneficial to be given at funerals than gloves or rings.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1700 (1700)	Wing S5119A; ESTC R223444	53,707	69

fruits of his Servants do occasion God to be glorified that is to be well thought off and well spoken off and for praise and honour to be ascribed unto him To pursue here the like reasoning which Moses doth in Deut. 4. 6. 7 8. So in this case strangers and those people who as yet know not God will be apt to think and say that God himself must be a very Good and Wise and Holy and Beneficial a being inasmuch as they see evidently with their eyes that such and such people who serve and ●mitate him are very Good and Wise and Holy and ●nblameable in their conversation and they do whatever good they can unto others Said one of the Antients This is true Religion to imitate him whom thou Worshippest For to be Godly is to be like unto God and to be like unto God is to be Godly And so to do good is a true resemblance and likeness unto the God-Head in that He did good giving us Rain from Heaven and it is 〈◊〉 likeness unto Christ also who went about doing good This doing good is a bearing fruit and a bringing forth herbs meet for whom it is dressed For the fruits of the Earth and Tree do nourish and delight us the Corn feedeth us the Barly is made serviceable to quench our ●hirst and gratifie the appetite Wine makes glad the heart of Man and oyl a chearful countenance all which are good unto the Body and the instance of God's doing good in Acts 14. 17. Is there assigned in Giving us Rain from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness So that the more good any Man or Woman doth the more he or she is like unto God and Christ When thou seest and observest any one to do good more than ordinary and that same person seems to serve God very much this is an evidence that he doth it in sincerity and reality and that God doth indeed command and require him so to do and also it is an endeavour after his likeness The good works and good fruits which appear forth through any Man or Woman are the actings of God through his Creatures For 't is not so much they but Christ who dwelleth in them that doth this or that good thing and therefore it is meet and right that God should have the Glory and Honour of it Which causeth through us thanksgiving unto God for the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the Saints but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God 2 Cor. 9. 11 12 As indeed such people who are Spiritually knowing when they see any good works they do thereupon glorify our father which is in Heaven for he is indeed the author and original of them and thus it comes to pass that through the instrument who visible the invisible God is glorified thereby The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmam●… sh●… his handy work Even those Creatures which ha●… no Life nor Speech nor Language yet by their having ha●… a Being from him and Greatness or Beauty they are stan●ing Monuments of his Praise Like as a Curious an● well drawn Picture doth always shew forth the skill 〈◊〉 the Painter altho' it hath no Mouth to utter it fort●… Even so those great and wonderful Works of the Crea●… on of God do declare and shew forth the Glory H●nour and Power of God and their Voice tho' it is ●…lent and inward is heard or rather understood wherev●… those wonderful Works of the Creation are seen In th● sense The Sun and Moon and Stars of Light and the H●…vens of Heavens do all praise God as in Psal 148. Th●… are called upon so to do and they do it according●… In Ver. 5. the Reason is observable why they should 〈◊〉 it Let them praise the name of the Lord for he command●… and they were Created And so to come down to the lo●er parts of the Creation Praise the Lord from the Ea●…ye Dragons and all Deeps Fire and Hail Snow and Vapo●… Stormy wind fulfilling his Word Mountains and 〈◊〉 Hills Fruitfull Trees and all Cedars Beasts and all C●…tel creeping things and flying Fowl Ver. 8 9 10. Whi●… is the living Creation And in the next Verse he com● to the reasonable understanding Creation Kings of 〈◊〉 Earth and all People Princes and all Judges of the Ear●… both young Men and Maidens Old Men and Childre● let them praise the Name of the Lord for his Name alo●… is excellent his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven He●… some are sullen and unthankful and do it no more tha● according to outward Form but they do it not in the common Discourse As to this matter the Holy Gho●… Exhorts on this wise By him therefore let us offer the S●crifice of Praise to God continually that is the fruit of 〈◊〉 lips giving thanks to his Name Observe that Adver●… Continually for it is not said only in the Congregation or at no time but when we are saying our Prayer● but continually which extends to our common talk an● ●…scourse Observe here again how it is called the fruit 〈◊〉 our Lips Intimating hereby that offering up of Praise ●…d giving thanks unto God is the proper fruit of our Lips 〈◊〉 that if our Lips do not yield and bring forth this ●…uit they are as barren Trees fit for the fire and not ●…r our Master's use We have very often in Scriptures which make known ●…e mind of the Lord Glory and Honour and Praise As●…ibed unto him Now indeed God doth not at all want ●…lory no more than the Sun doth want Light for with ●ee is the fountain of Life so with him is the fountain 〈◊〉 all Glory and Excellency and from him is derived ●…wn whatever Glory and Excellency is in any of the ●reatures He is infinitely happy and allsufficient in ●imself he doth not want the services of Angels much ●…ss of sinful Men. If thou be Righteous what givest thou him 〈◊〉 what receiveth he of thine hand or is it gain that thou ●…akest thy way perfect all which imply a strong Negative ●hat it is not so But yet if God had never Created a●y thing there would not have been any thing to have ●iven up and ascribe Glory unto him nor yet to Cele●rate his Name For the Grave cannot praise thee Death ●annot celebrate thee and so a state of Annihilation can●ot do it But now since he hath created all things for ●is Pleasure and to receive Glory from them this thing ●of Glory is the best and most proper thing which the Rea●onable Inhabitants of the Earth can conceive of to as●ribe up unto God Give unto the Lord the glory due unto ●is Name Psal 29. 2. So that it is a just debt It is therefore accordingly given and rendred up unto him by ●ll his Saints and Servants throughout the Earth Give ●hanks unto the Lord call upon his name Make known his ●eeds among the people sing unto him

THE Great Useful and Blessed DUTY OF A Contentment Willingness and Desire TO DIE Set forth upon true and assured Grounds in several Discourses on these following Scriptures Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy word For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Luke 2. 29 30. Into thine hand I commit my Spirit Thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of truth Psal 31. 5. I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 17. 4. By RICHARD STAFFORD A Servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ Recommended as more proper and Beneficial to be given at Funerals than Gloves or Rings LONDON Printed and are to be sold by the Book-sellers of London and Westminster 1700. Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy Word For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Luke 2. 29 30. FRom these Words I shall treat through God's Assistance and according to the Knowledge given me O continue thy loving kindness to them that know thee and thy Righteousness to the upright in heart of our contentment and willingness to Die or depart from off this Earth Why Is there any need to perswade or exhort People to a Willingness and Desire to surrender back their Spirits unto the God who gave them This seems to be but what is Natural and Reasonable Yet still there is a reluctancy and backwardness in our Spirits to do this because the Spirit is conscious of having offended God and is afraid to meet with him Angry or as a God that ●aketh Vengeance And therefore until this same God is perfectly Reconciled unto and at Peace with her and he is sensible and assured thereof the Soul must needs be affraid and backward to come and appear before him A diversity is to be observed when it is written Into thine hand I commit my Spirit Thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth The Psalmist doth not here say Thou hast Created me O Lord God of Truth Though indeed this is true yet that is not altogether so satisfying 〈◊〉 Reason for him to willingly commit his Spirit into God's Hand as the consideration of his having Redeemed him is Because that by Nature we are the Children of Wrath as well as others and we are shapen in Iniquity and in Sin doth our Mother conceive us So that until this same Sin and Iniquity which is the Object of God's Hatred Displeasure and Punishment be done away and we are Redeemed from it for by his Redeeming us we are in a state of Reconcilation again as this is God's Act also as well as of Creating us we are not meet and consequently there cannot be a Willingness upon good and true Grounds to give up our Spirits unto God or to say with old Simeon in the Text Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace Even this old Simeon though he had already lived long on this Earth yet he would not have been so contented and desirous to have departed out of it unless he was to depart in Peace Not to depart generally as most People do in doubt fear and trouble but to depart in Peace If we could have our choice and it were so in our power as to be Immortal here and never to Die as for my part I should desire and pray unto God either to depart in Peace or not to depart at all Fo●… as it is said of the Son of Perdition It would have been good for him if he had never been Born so it may be here affirmed of those who do not depart in Peace It would be good for them not to depart or not to dye at all Not but that some may go off disturbedly and yet go off safely The Soul may be sometimes in a state of Peace and yet not be sensible thereof Who feareth th● Lord and obeyeth the voice of his Servant and yet walketh in darkness and have no light Isa 50. 10. But when one hath true and assured Grounds of Departing in Peace as Simeon here had there one may pray and appeal to God for him to let our Soul depart from the Body What were those true and assured Grounds which Simeon had of departing in Peace They are contained in the following Verse For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation From hence it appears that the true and assured Ground● for which any one is willing and contented to Dye is Because he hath seen the Salvation of God or for the committing our Spirit into the Hand of God is Because he hath Redeemed us Now to see the Salvation of God or for God to Redeem us do amount to near one and the same thing As it is written The Kingdom of God cometh not with Observation in the Margent there it is with outward shew Neither shall they say Lo here or Lo there for be●old the Kingdom of God is within you So here it may be reasoned and supposed The Salvation of God is not outward nor yet cometh with Observation but the Salvation of God is within us It is wrought and accomplished within us And thou shalt call his Name Je●us for he shall save his People from their Sins Mat. 1. 21. Who is a Prince and a Saviour and the Author of E●ernal Salvation to all that obey him and the Salvation of God As to all this Christ is no otherwise a Saviour ●r doth save us or is the Salvation of God than as he ●oth save us from our Sins and turn us from our ●aiquities For this is laying the Ax to the Root of ●…e Tree and digging to the very Ground-work and ●oundation because that only by reason of Sin we be●…me liable and obnoxious to Death Misery and Punishment So that by certain and necessary Consequence 〈◊〉 we are saved from Sin then also we are saved from ●eath Misery and Punishment Hence again appears that this is the Salvation of God to save us from our Sins ●nd to save us from the Guilt and Corruption of our ●ature from whence these same Sins do proceed forth and so in those many places of Scripture where Salvation belongeth unto our God and is ascribed unto him 〈◊〉 he is called the God of Salvation there it is meant of ●…ving us from our Sins Where he saves from our E●…mies Sin is the greatest Enemy for 't is Sin in such a ●…an or Woman which only makes him or her to be our ●nemy Thou hast led captivity captive Psal 68. 18. that 〈◊〉 God hath led Sin and Corruption which doth in●lve the Children of Men in Captivity Captive by 〈◊〉 having received gifts for Men. And then it follows ●lessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with Benefits and ●…imating thereby that to be saved from our Sins or to ●…d that Captive which before held us in Captivity is 〈◊〉 greatest Benefit And then it follows Even the God of our Salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto

done the Work and Will and Business of his Creatour according as it was expected from him and consequently the Creature can then return with more Comfortable Expectation unto him And now come I to thee We cannot better and more willingly surrender back our Spirits to the God who gave them then when they have faithfully performed that very same thing for which God sent these Spirits into these Bodies for to do And now O thou invisible Creator the invisible part of us which was by thee Created comes to thee From what hath been afore written it appears that there are three things especially which upon good and true grounds can make any one contented willing and desirous to Dye First When one hath seen the Salvation of God Secondly When the Lord God of truth hath Redeemed us Thirdly When one hath Glorified God on Earth and finisbed the Work which he gave us to do It was Revealed unto Simeon by the Holy Ghost that he should not see Death until he had seen the Lord's Christ And he came by the Spirit into the Temple and when his Parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for him after the Custom of the Law then took he him in his Arms and Blessed God and said mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation So that Simeon his seeing the Salvation of God was seeing Jesus Christ in the Flesh But since the fullness of time is over and past we cannot now see him in the Flesh here on Earth yet we may see him in his Grace and Revelation But chiefly to see Christ the Salvation of God the Power of God and the Wisdom of God is with the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightened and turned inwards to see Christ within us Little Children of whom I travail in Birth till Christ be formed in ye And so to have Christ formed in us this is to see the Salvation of God Now this is a work of time and succession as it is of forming the Infant in the Womb. To have or see Christ formed within us is the Business and Work of our whole Life here on Earth which the Preaching and Ministry of the word doth help unto And when once Christ is throughly formed within us and we see the Salvation of God then we may be well contented willing and Desirous to dye for this Reason For as when the Chick sees the Kite or Hawk which would devour it if she can run under the Hens wings then she is safe For as the Hen was at first Instrumental to give it Life and Being so it will still preserve it Even so by seeing the Lord 's Christ who is the Prince of Life and the Salvation of God the faithful Soul who is in Covenant with him runs and makes unto Christ who promises and performs it also He shall cover thee with his Feathers and under his Wings shalt thou trust Psal 91. 3. and gathereth his Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings Here let Death and the Devil come and destroy that Soul if they can Christ is greater in power and might Forsamuch then as the Children were partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same that he through Death might Destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And destroy them who through fear of Death were all their life time Subject to Bondage If we are first saved from Sin and Guilt then w● are also saved from the wrath to come And then w● may be contented and willing to dye for therefore People are afraid to dye Because they are afraid to fall under the wrath of God Now if they are sure and safe from that then Death is without any sting at all which is Sin And then also we shall be safe saved and preserved from all the Evils Plagues and Punishment● of the World to come So that after all the Miseries and Irksomness of this present Life for as there is a satiety of all things so at length there is a satiety even of Life it self after all the toyl and wearisomness and labour thereof God our Creator will comfort us for this same toil and the times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Blessed be his Name for it He doth here in this valley of Tears and place of Weeping afford us some good and Comfortable things yet seeing that he hath appointed our time on Earth as the days of an Hireling we may willingly and contentedly give up our Breath and commit our Spirits into his hand saying with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Because we shall have yet better and more Satisfactory things when we depart hence To be patient to Live and willing to Dye is the temper and disposition of Soul which I desire and would endeavour at And this my willingness to dye should not proceed out of a Melancholy temper Like Jonah in an Angry Mood who would have the Lord to take his Life from him For it was better for him to Dye than to Live only forsooth because he was displeased at the time that the Lord did not destroy Nineveh according to the word which he had Preached But this was only a pettish humour of his And so others at this day upon a sudden Affliction and Vexation are forthwith weary of the world and call to Death to come and ease them of the present Burthen Trouble Grief or Uneasiness But give me the mind that is willing to dye upon the same Reason as the Apostle was Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 23. Then the best condition here on Earth when also it can truly be said To me to dye is gain For by Death I shall gain or get more Good more Satisfaction more Comfort more Happiness and Blessedness then ever I had on this Earth Then only Death is gain when to live is Christ when we lay out our selves and live only for Christ that is in his service and to get Christ formed within us then truly Death is gain But if on the other hand People live to themselves or for themselves as in the service of Mam mon and for Pleasure and they are wanton on the Earth the consequence thereof is they have nourished their heart as in the day of Slaughter or against the day of Slaughte● to such to dye is not Gain but Loss for thereby they los● their Pleasure they lose their Mammon and they receive n●… good instead thereof but only Punishment and wrath Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord. But 't is only those who live unto the Lord that is in his service and Obedience that Dye in the Lord. If we mean to gain by ou● Death that is to get and obtain more good thereby tha● we had here we must do somewhat for it whilst we are in Life

they who order their conversation aright do glorifie God for 't is only those who glorifie God here on Earth who can come unto him with comsortable expectation and assurance of seeing yea of partaking his Salvation also The words may be truly Read thus whoso ordereth his conversation aright glorifieth me as well as whoso offereth praise glorifieth me for none in truth can offer up praise such as acceptable with God but he that ordereth his conversation aright for praise is not seemly in the mouth of a Sinner neither is God pleased with the sacrifice of foots But they that order their conversation aright do bri●… praise and glory unto God and therefore it is sutab●… for such only who have clean lips and obedient hearts 〈◊〉 offer it up according to what is written Take with yo●… words and turn to the Lord and say unto him Take aw●… all iniquity and receive us graciously So will we render t●… calves of our lips which plainly shews forth that whe●… people are turned to the Lord and he takes away all iniqui●… then only they are meet and fit to offer up Prayer an● Praises unto the most high God and until that be don● he will not receive them graciously Now they orde● their conversation aright whose Conversation is as becometh the Gospel of Christ or whose conversation is ordered according to the whole written word of God from which we are not to add nor diminish In a word they that fea● God and keep his Commandments these do glorifi●… him In that day shall there be upon the bells of the Horses Holiness unto the Lord. So it should be written on the fore head of each of us and it should be ingraved in the Table of our Hearts that it may be continually in our mind and remembrance O Man or Woman calling them by their several and respective names thou art m● Servant in whom I the invisible God will be glorified 〈◊〉 which should indeed engage us so to walk circumspectly and order our conversation aright so as in truth to glorifie God From the things that have been spoken now let the question be asked and put severally to the People o● this generation taking them one by one How hath God been glorified in any of us throughout all the foregoing part of our Life I am afraid that here we should be at a stand and we could give but a poor and indifferent account as to that Many people will not be able to make so good an answer as that of the unprofitable servant who yet for all that was doomed to be cast into utter darkness Lord Thou hast thine own again For they have not been only idle in the management thereof but they have also wasted and consumed the Talent that was committed unto them Yea those who have ●ade an addition and improvement thereon so as to have ●…ined more Talents yet still they have fallen short of that was the expectation of God and themselves yet ●ight have done more For all even they that believe ●entioned in the foregoing verse yea the very best Ser●ants of God in the several Generations and Countries ●s only Son Jesus Christ the Righteous excepted Have ●…ned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. ●ut however let the question be throughly put to our ●ouls What fruit have we severally brought forth unto God Bring forth fruits meet for Repentance and so the Apostle writeth to the Colossians The Gospel came unto ●…u as it is in all the world and bringeth forth fruit as so it doth in you That is it did make a sensible alter●tion in their lives and manners and it had an oper●tion and working upon them yea farther there was 〈◊〉 visible appearance of it for fruit is to be seen Here again it must be acknowledged that even the very best ●rimitive Christians although they did bring forth ●…me fruit yet they did not bring forth so much and so ●ood fruits as the Gospel would have enabled them to ●ring forth and themselves might have done The fruits ●ere not answerable and equal unto what God might ●nd did look for and expect which should teach and instruct us to be upon the bringing forth fruit and good works as much as ever we can Herein is my Father ●orified that ye bear much fruit It is not said fruit in●efinitely or only some fruit but much fruit So shall 〈◊〉 be my Disciples So that to bring forth fruits meet for ●epentance or to bring forth fruits unto God by our Gospel conversation is another part of our glorifying God here on Earth It is what God looks for Isa 5. 4. and expects from ●s For the Earth that drinketh in the Rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom 〈◊〉 is dressed receiveth Blessing from God but that which beareth thorns and Briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned The good Trees are known from the barren by the fruit which the one bringeth forth and the other doth not In like manner the true Servants of God may be distinguished from the barren professors of the Gospel for as these may be likened to such Trees only that have leaves on them but as for the former sort By their fruits you shall know them The first sort do shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom and the Gospel in them bringeth forth fruit and bringeth forth herbs meet for whom it is dressed so they bring forth fruits meet for him by whom they are dressed and that is God for by his Word and Spirit they are dressed The word and spirit is like putting dung unto soil so these do prune dress and manure the hearts of people and gather out the stones thereof Isa 5. 2. A stony heart will he take away and give them an heart of flesh and all this is to bring forth fruits unto God And as is aforesaid that Hypocritical outward Worshippers do rather dishonour than glorifie God so do those professors who bring forth wild Grapes instead of Grapes or who instead of being a Nobel vine and wholly a right seed are of a sudden turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine So contrariwise when those who are indeed the Servants of the most high God do indeed bring forth good grapes and good fruits such as in truth are becoming the Gospel of Christ these again do as much glorifie God as the other sort do dishonour him This appears from that aforecited Scripture Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples Intimating there by that people may have the name of Christ's Disciples but they are not so indeed unless they bear much fruit But this is yet more evident from the following Scripture Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven For the good works or good