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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	job_n	lord_n	patience_n	2,472	5	9.2343	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47324	The Christian sufferer supported, or, A discourse concerning the grounds of Christian fortitude shewing at once that the sufferings of good men are not inconsistent with God's special providence : as also the several supports which our religion affords them under their sufferings, and particularly against the fear of a violent death / by Richard Kidder ...	Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.	1680 (1680)	Wing K398; ESTC R656	85,271	258

and indifferent the loose and the profane Let us then be exhorted to ask and seek and knock Let us now fervently implore this Holy Comforter this Spirit of truth and power I need not tell you what great need we have of power from above We are weak Creatures full of our fears exposed to many evils and sufferings and need an help from above to confirm and strengthen us We know not how soon we may be called forth to suffer the extremest evils or may be stript and deprived of all our worldly Goods and Possessions We cannot tell how soon we may lie upon our dying beds when our Soul shall sit ready to take its flight from our trembling lips when our Flesh shall fail us and we shall be abandoned by our earthly comforts and supports Whither shall we go for comfort then What will support us under these trials but the sense of Gods love and the Joy of the Holy Ghost This Comfort will reconcile us to Prisons and to Poverty and to Death it self We shall then have hope even in Death it self Rom. 5.5 And such an hope as maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us CHAP. VI. I Shall in the next place consider the Example of Christ and of holy men who have suffered the greatest evils which this world could inflict upon them And for the better speaking to this I shall First Take notice that the Holy Scripture calls upon us to reflect upon these Examples under our afflictions Secondly I shall give you a very short account of their sufferings Thirdly I shall shew you the great usefulness of these great examples unto us 1. I shall take notice that the holy Scripture calls upon us to reflect upon these examples under our afflictions The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives us a large account of the sufferings of holy men And then subjoyns Chap. 11. Heb. 12.1 2. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame c. He animates them by these great examples which they were therefore obliged to keep in their eye And they are at once put in mind to reflect upon the exemplary sufferings of holy men and of our blessed Saviour To the same purpose St. James exhorts those to whom he writes Jam. 5.10 11. Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Ye have heard of the Patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. i. e. as ye have read or heard of the Patience of Job who lived many Ages before and probably suffered before the Law of Moses was given so ye have many of you seen how patiently our Lord Jesus suffered It was one end of our Lords sufferings that we might learn patience from his example 1 Pet. 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps And indeed the holy Scripture is very large and very particular in giving us an account of the sufferings and of the patience of Christ and of holy men that we might learn to write after so fair a Copy and imitate them in patience and resignation to the Will of God which in them was so exemplary For whatsoever things were written afore time Rom. 15.4 were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope 2. I shall give you a very short account of their sufferings And First Of the sufferings of Jesus the Author and the finisher of our faith His whole life was little else than a continual suffering And he was a most unparallel'd example of Innocence and of suffering and not only of sufferings but of the greatest meekness and exemplary patience under them He was born in a Stable and died upon a Cross Born among Beasts and died among Malefactors He was persecuted as soon as he was born and when he was capable of doing no evil he was hunted after as a Malefactor His Persecution began from Herod an Idumaean it was carried on by the Jews his Countrymen and compleated by Pilate the Roman And though he hurt no man yet he was pursued by all His great Poverty did not protect him from Envy His profound Meekness did not preserve him from the Contradictions of Sinners And his known Innocence did not save him from the Sentence of Death His body was like one of ours He was as sensible of pain as we are And certain it is that his Enemies loaded it greatly What part of him was exempt His Head was Crowned with Thorns his Hands and Feet were pierced with Nailes his Side was goared with a Spear his Shoulders loaded with a Cross He was spit upon buffeted and scourged And at last hanged on a Tree without regard and pity His Soul was afflicted greatly Mat. 26.37 38. Mar. 14.33 He was sorrowful and heavy and that even to death He was sore amazed Luk. 22.44 and very heavy He was in an Agony and sweat as it were drops of bloud Psal 22.14 His heart was like Wax melted in the midst of of his Bowels At length he is forced to bear his Cross on that he is hanged there he bleeds and there he cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But as he endured the Cross so he despised the shame For his death was ignominious as well as painful He died among Criminals and the death of the worst and vilest of men Thus did our Saviour suffer Thus entred he into his glory And all this he bore with invincible patience He did not want power to rescue himself and to punish his Enemies nor did he want the greatest provocation He was innocent and had lived an useful life But for all this he is not provoked against his Enemies nor does he complain against God For as he prays for his enemies so he resigns himself unto God Secondly For the sufferings of Holy men both before and since our Saviours death I must not undertake to give you an account It would fill some Volumes to be particular in this Argument We read of those before our Saviours sufferings of whom this world was not worthy that had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings Heb. 11.36 of bonds and imprisonments That were stoned and sawn asunder tempted and slain with the Sword that wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflictted tormented They wandred in Deserts and Mountains and were in Dens and Caves of the Earth And for the

the fire that never goes out What proportion is there between Time and Eternity Between a sorrow that lasteth for a moment and that sorrow which excludes all hope of an end But then if we think of the Joys of Heaven that are the portion of the Pious and persevering Christian we shall find that all the sorrows of this life bear no proportion to them The Apostle tells us that they are not to be compared I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 If then we turn our Eyes from Time upon Eternity from the sufferings we feel to the glory which we wait for we shall not easily sink under our burden nor any longer impeach the Divine Care and Providence 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not says the Apostle For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen Let us now consider 3. The ends and usefulness of these Evils which happen to good men in this life For though we call these sufferings evils yet are they occasions of very much good And 1. They are for the general good of the world and the advancement of Religion amongst men Hereby men have taken occasion to enquire into the Principles of them that suffer and to acquaint themselves with that Religion which they overlooked before Hence they have been convinced of the truth of Religion and that it is a reality and will bear men up under all the evils of this world The patient sufferings of Holy men have greatly adorned and spread the Religion for which they suffered Hence many new Converts have been brought into the Faith and hereby men have been confirmed in the truth The undanted sufferings of good men for Religion have spread it more than learned Books and subtle Arguments could do Every man is not able to judge of the strength of an Argument nor to detect the Sophistry of cunning men He that is constant to the death does more by his patient sufferings than he could have done by his Wit and Learning We gain a great credit to our Religion when it supports us under our Evils which we suffer They that see this are convinced greatly in their Consciences They now believe Religion not only true but a Principle of power and great efficacy and that the pious man serves God for greater respects than any worldly thing It was a great Calumny against Job that he served God for his worldly ends only Job 1.11 But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face Thus doth Satan accuse Job unto God How false this Accusation was appeared from what followed By his patient enduring he shewed that he was a perfect and upright man that feared God and eschewed evil It is a cheap thing to profess Religion when there is no danger in it This does not recommend it unto others Men will suspect that this profession either serves a worldly interest or was owing to our education or some chance But he that dares to die for his Religion does greatly commend it to the Consciences of men By this means the world was vanquished and Christian Religion planted among men This course was of great power towards the confounding of Infidels and the gaining new Believers It served to strengthen the weak and confirm the strong The bloud of Martyrs was the Seed of the Church and he that died for his Religion spread it This was of greater moment than learned Arguments or carnal weapons Our Religion was founded upon sufferings and built upon a Crucified Saviour 2. As the sufferings of good men are for the good of the world so they are for the good of those men who suffer They are gainers by their sufferings and this Consideration doth serve to clear the care and Providence of God It may seem strange that the severe afflictions that befall us should be for our advantage That I should bury my only Child and my dearest Friend lose my Estate and be cast in a righteous cause that I should meet with contempt and scorn and great disappointments are indeed great trials but such as may conduce if I be not wanting greatly to my advantage It is true that the sorrowful sufferer does not see how this can be But yet afterwards he sees it clearly and lives to bless God for those very evils under which he sometimes groaned We know that Fire and the Lance rough and harsh medicines and methods cure some men that were in danger of perishing Joseph's imprisonment was no likely way to his advancement but yet God made it the occasion of his rise We do not presently understand these things but what Jesus said to Peter we find often verified in the case before us Joh. 13.7 What I do says he thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter One would think Clay and Spittle might put out the eyes of him that sees and yet we know our Lord by this means cured the blind I shall lay before you some of the advantages which a good man receives from the sufferings which befall him in this life First These evils conduce much to the destroying of the remainders of sin in a good man Our evil habits are not rooted out all at once There is some folly bound up in the hearts of good men which this rod of correction serves to beat out Prosperity generally hides our wickedness from us Afflictions are faithful friends they tell us our fault plainly they awaken us and conduce much towards our amendment And that they may gain their end it is frequently so contrived by the wise Providence of God that we may read our sin in our very suffering As our affliction is the unhappy off-spring of our fault so it hath upon it some features and signatures that speak it like its Parent We may very often read in our suffering what was our sin It were very easie to give you many instances to this purpose were it not too much out of the way of the present discourse It is very certain that our afflictions are instructive and very faithful Monitors to us Psal 119.67 71. Before I was afflicted I went astray says the Psalmist but now have I kept thy word Again It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes There is nothing so formidable as a constant and uninterrupted prosperity We are generally the worse for being prosperous And it is too often so that our Vices and our Prosperity grow up together It is rarely seen but even good men are somewhat the worse on this score It was a saying of one of the Ancients That he thought none could be more unhappy than that man who never met with any adversity