Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	believe_v	lord_n	unbelief_n	5,320	5	10.6764	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30676	The husbandmans companion containing one hundred occasional meditations reflections and ejaculations : especially suited to men of that employment : directing them how they may be heavenly-minded while about their ordinary calling / by Edward Bury.	Bury, Edward, 1616-1700.	1677 (1677)	Wing B6207; ESTC R23865	229,720	483

thy hand and a wedding-garment on thy back improve thy talents well that Christ may say well done good and faithfull servant enter into thy Masters joy when others only wish for heaven do thou work for it Oh my God I have been one of these loitering truants that am justly here reproved and sent again to school to the meanest of thy creatures their diligence shames my negligence they have only an instinct of nature to guide them I have reason experience Scripture and example to put me on they labour only for the body I for the soul and body they for the meat that perisheth I for that which endureth to eternall life they for a winter I for eternity yet are they diligent and I negligent Heaven and earth may stand amazed at my folly Lord pardon what is past and incline my heart for the time to come to give diligence to make my calling and election sure Let me so run that I may obtain so fight that I may conquer and be faithfull to the death that I may receive the crown of life Upon the gorgeous dresse of Flowers 18. Med. WHen I seriously considered the various dress the curious colours of the herbs and flowers which diapred the plot I took some delight to consider the power of God in them and how far he condescended to please our fancies and delight our sences when I saw how gorgeously they were attired how beautiful they appeared it led me up to the fountain-head even to God who is beauty and comeliness it self and the greatest beauty that the world can brag of is but a spark to this fire a ray to this Sun and a drop to this ocean if the creature can be so beautiful what is the Creator end if earth be so pleasant what is heaven but when I considered also the transitory fading nature of these short-lived flowers how soon when they were in their prime they withered away and perished this put me in minde of the vanity of man which is compared to a flower which cometh up and is cut down like a flower and never continueth in one stay and not only he but all earthly enjoyments are short-lived and soon perish But when I considered their beauty with their fading nature it minded me of our Saviours words Mat. 6.28 c. Why take you thought for raiment consider the lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory is not arayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe ye O ye of little faith c. he sends us in the former verses to the sparrows which though they neither plough nor sow reap nor mow nor carry into barns are yet fed by divine providence so here he sends to the grass and flowers who though frail vanishing things are gorgeously attired by him and all is to put us on to depend upon our fathers providence for the force of the argument is thus If God feed these worthless sparrows and not one falls to the ground without his providence and so clothe the withering grass in such a dress doubtless he will not suffer his sons and servants to want necessary food and rayment which as they are better so are a thousand times dearer to him then the fowls or flowers There is in every man by nature a conceit of self-sufficiency as if by our own diligenee we could provide for our selves and are ready to undertake Gods part of the work Now this self-confidence is the daughter of unbelief as one saith is the mother of carking care and carnal thoughtfullness Our Saviour here by many arguments disswades us from these there is a care of the head not only lawfull but commendable but there is a carking distrustfull diffident care of the heart here condemned when a man hath done his utmost endeavour in the use of lawfull means yet vexeth himself about the event what if this or that follow I fear I shall die a beggar c. One day saith David I shall perish by the hand of Saul What shall I eat or what shall I drink c. because God will not let us know how we shall be provided for therefore we are ready with Israel to question Can God provide a table in the wilderness Psa 78.19 Oh my soul how justly art thou reproved and sent to these poor creatures to school hast thou not had distracting thoughts and distrustfull fears hast thou not oft been questioning What shall I eat or what shall I drink or wherewithall shall I be cloathed what shall become of my wife and children when I am dead c. even contrary to the express command of the great God as if thou hadst had no father to provide for thee or no God to depend upon or no promise to uphold thee and though God hath ofttimes silenced thy fears and husht thy cares by an unexpected providence yet upon the apprehension of new danger new fears arise like murmuring Israel though they had seen Gods wonders in Egypt at the Red Sea in feeding them with Manna yet cry out Can he furnish a table for us in the wilderness Psal 78.19 yea though thou hast never wanted food nor rayment nor any thing truly necessary and hast a promise thou shalt never want any thing that is good and though God hath bid leave your fatherless children with me and let thy widdows trust in me yet how hard is it to commit wife and children to him if there be no visible means for their subsistance or to trust him when means are out of sight and the world doth not pass for payment what if thy food be not so dainty nor thy cloathes so fine if the one nourish thee and the other keep thee warm it matters not if thou do not fare deliciously every day nor go in purple and fine linnen thy betters have fared harder and gone more meanly clad reade Heb. 11.36 and be ashamed of murmuring others had trials of cruel mocking and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandred about in sheeps-skins and goats-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in desarts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth what if thou hast no certain dwelling-house thy dear redeemer had not where to lay his head and those Worthys were worse bestead then ever thou wast Oh my God charge not upon me those distrustful thoughts but strengthen my faith in thy promises Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not this sin have dominion over me Enable me to say with Job though he kill me yet will I trust in him and with Ely 't is the Lord let him do what seemeth him

will become of my wife and children c. as if when the pipe is cut there were no water in the fountain are not these sometimes thy thoughts and fears and though thou hast had many silencing providences and God unexpectedly hath removed thy doubts and answered thy objections yet upon new apprehensions of danger how hard dost thou finde it to trust God upon his bare word when the world frowns and will not pass for payment or to depend upon him when deliverance is out of sight hath not Christ himself told thee that if thou seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof all other things shall be added to thee Mat. 6.33 grace is the way to glory and holiness to happiness if men be not gracious there is no heaven to be had if they are they shall have heaven and earth also for godliness hath the promise of this life and that to come all earthly enjoyments that are good for thee are entayled upon piety but alass the strength of the ground is so spent in nourishing weeds and trash that the good corn is starved and choaked these thorns do choak the seed and it becomes unfruitful temporall things are nec vera nec nostra but there are certain and durable riches that nec prodi nec eripi nec surripi possunt he that enjoys them cannot lose them hath not God promised he will never leave thee nor forsake thee and is not this better then if all the Kings upon earth had said so to thee that thou shalt want nothing that is good and wouldst thou have that which is hurtful was he ever known to be worse then his word and canst thou imagine he will first fail thee will he that feeds the fowls and cloaths the grass starve the children oh my soul make sure of the main and use diligence for the rest cast thy care upon God and make thy requests known to God and he can as well deny himself as deny thee in any lawful suit five thousand years experience cannot produce an instance of any godly man that was forsaken make sure of the main bargain and all other things will be given in as paper and packthred oh my God I believe help thou my unbelief pardon my distracting and distrustful thoughts increase my faith silence my doubts and fears by clearing up my evidences for heaven Upon provision made for birds in a hard winter 62. Med. WHen after a cold pinching frosty winter wherein the snow had long covered the face of the earth and hid it from man and beast the trees and bushes for many weeks together being loaded and burthened with it I saw and considered the numberless number of birds of all sorts and kindes that escaped in that hard season when all sorts of provision seemed to be cut off and survived these troubles which threatened them with death when neither the rivers which were frozen up nor the fields which were covered nor the trees nor bushes could give them relief yet God provided them their meat and they received it at his hands and were nourished by his providence when in my apprehension they were like to have been lost and starved and famished for want of food especially some of the wilder sort that neither frequent house nor barn from whom all sorts of provision seemed to be lockt up or cut off but God fed them out of his storehouse Psal 147. he gives the beast his food and the young ravens when they cry hence it is that our Saviour Christ sends his querellous and desponding servants to school to the fouls of heaven to learn to depend upon their fathers providence Mat. 6.26 consider the fouls of the air they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feedeth them are ye not much better then they ask the beasts saith Job and they shall teach thee and the fouls of the air and they shall tell thee or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this in whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankinde Job 12.7 8 9.10 as he made them all so he it is that maintains them he takes care for the ostriches young ones and feeds the young ravens when they cry Psal 147.9 they take no care nor have care taken for them yet are they provided for did man but look up to the birds or down to the lillies he would not so dispond and so distrust Gods providence shall the great housekeeper of the world water his flowers prune his plants fodder his cattle feed his birds and yet starve his children it cannot be is there not a sparrow can fall to the ground without his providence nor a hair from our head without his knowledge and can we think he takes no care of us Mat. 10.29 30. one pearl is more worth then many peebles and the righteous is more excellent then his neighbour as one lark is worth many kites God will have a care of his jewels they are as the apple of his eye thousand thousands of those fouls there are that man takes no care of makes no provision for knows not upon what they feed yea seek their destruction some out of envy as birds of prey others to feed upon yet God maintained them in their feveral species almost six thousand years at his own cost and charges Man by all his diligence cannot make provision for them neither can he destroy them by all his cunning God hides them as well as feeds them and they are not beholding to man for their lives The thoughts of this methinks may silence those Athiestical conceipts that are apt to arise in wicked mens hearts that there is no God when they see his providence so plainly asserted and may silence those distrustful thoughts and fears which are too apt to creep in and to disturb the quiet and tranquillity of the hearts of Gods own people upon the apprehension of approaching danger and threatning wants when they observe those lesser creatures guided by an overruling providence and if God preserve every species of his creatures notwithstanding men combine their destruction no wonder if he preserve his own Church amidst their numerous enemies oh my soul while there is life and breath in that body of thine praise bless and magnifie God for his works of providence to his creatures in making provision for all the works of his hands especially for his Church whom he feeds as a few lambs in the midst of innumerable wolves and they are not able to devour them and though many times he suffers some to be worried yet it proves rather the augmentation then the diminution of his flock the blood of the Martyrs proves the seed of his Church yet let these convincing providences to thy self never be forgotten but let them breed