Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	earthquake_n	lord_n	wind_n	4,960	5	10.8107	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65276	Autarkeia, or, The art of divine contentment by Thomas Watson.	Watson, Thomas, d. 1686.	1654 (1654)	Wing W1102; ESTC R23954	98,303	304

sweetning the present triall God will bee with us in trouble not onely to behold us but to uphold us as he was with Daniel in the Lions den and the three children in the furnace What if wee have more trouble then others if we have more of God with us then others have we never have sweeter smiles from Gods face then when the world begins to look strange Thy Statutes have been my songs where not when I was upon the throne but in the house of my pilgrimage We read The Lord was not in the winde nor in the earthquake nor in the fire but in a metaphorical spiritual sense when the winde of affliction blowes upon a beleever God is in the winde when the fire of affliction kindles upon him God is in the fire viz. to sanctifie to support to sweeten If God be with us the furnace shall bee turned into a festival the prison into a Paradise the earthquake into a joyful dance Oh why should I be discontented when I have more of Gods company 6. These evills of affliction are for good as they bring with them Certificates of Gods love and are evidences of his speciall favour Affliction is the Saints livery 't is a badge and cognizance of honour That the God of glory should look upon a worme and take so much notice of him as to afflict him rather then lose him is an high act of favour Gods rod is Sceptrum Regale a Scepter of dignity Iob calls Gods afflicting of us his magnifying of us Some mens prosperity hath been their shame when others affliction hath been their crown 7. These afflictions worke for our good because they work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory That which works for my glory in heaven works for my good we do not read in Scripture that any mans honour and riches doe work for him a weight of glory but afflictions do and shall a man be discontented at that which works for his glory The heavier the weight of affliction the heavier the weight of glory not that our sufferings do merit glory as the Papists do wickedly glosse but though they are not causa they are via they are not the cause of our crown yet they are the way to it and God makes us as hee did our Captain perfect through sufferings and shall not all this make us contented with our condition Oh I beseech you look not upon the evil of affliction but the good Afflictions in Scripture are called visitations the word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to visit is taken in good sense as well as a bad Gods afflictions are but friendly visits behold here Gods rod like Aarons rod blossoming and Ionathans rod it hath honey at the end of it Poverty shall starve our sinnes the sicknesse of the body shall cure a sin-sick soul O then in stead of murmuring and being discontented blesse the Lord hadst thou not met with such a rub in the way thou mightest have gone to hell and never stopp'd SECT 7. The seventh Argument to Contentation The next Argument to Contentment is consider the evill of discontent Male-content hath a mixture of grief and anger in it and both these must needs raise a storme in the soule Have you not seen the posture of a sick man sometimes he will sit upon his bed by and by he will lie down and when he is down he is not quiet first he turnes on one side and then on the other he is restlesse this is just the embleme of a discontented spirit the man is not sick yet he is never well sometimes hee likes such a condition of life and when he hath it yet he is not pleased he is soone weary and then another condition of life this is an evill under the Sun Now the evill of discontent appears in three things 1. The sordidnesse of it it is unworthy of a Christian. First it is unworthy of his profession It was the saying of an Heathen Bear thy condition quietly nosce te esse hominem know thou art a man So I say Bear thy condition contentedly nosce te esse Christianum know thou art a Christian. Thou professest to live by faith what and not content Faith is a grace that doth substantiate things not seen saith looks beyond the creature it feeds upon promises faith lives not by bread alone When the water is spent in the bottle faith knowes whither to have recourse now to see a Christian dejected in the want of visible supplies and recruits where is Faith Oh saith one my estate in the world is down I and which is worse thy faith is down Wilt thou not be contented unlesse God let down the vessel to thee as he did to Peter wherein were all manner of beasts of the earth and fowles of the aire must you have first and second course This is like Thomas Unlesse I put my finger into the print of the nailes I will not beleeve So unlesse thou hast a sensible feeling of outward comforts thou wilt not be content True faith will trust God where it cannot trace him and will adventure upon Gods bond though it hath nothing in view You who are discōtented because you have not al you would let me tel you either your faith is a non-entity or at best but an embrio t is a weak faith that must have stilts crutches to support it Nay discontent is not only below faith but below reason why are you discontented is it because you are dispossessed of such comforts wel have you not reason to guide you doth not reason tell you that you are but tenants at will and may not God turne you out when he please You hold not your estate jure but gratis not by a juridical right but upon favour and courtesie 2. It is unworthy of the relation wee stand in to God a Christian is invested with the title and priviledge of sonship he is an heir of the promise Oh consider the lot of free-grace is fallen upon thee thou art nearly allied to Christ and of the blood royall thou art advanced in some sense above the Angels why then art thou being the Kings sonne leane from day to day 2 Sam. 13. 4. Why art thou discontented Oh how unworthy is this as if the heire to some great Monarch should go pining up and down because he may not pick such a flower 2. Consider the sinfulnesse of it which appeares in three things of it The causes The concomitants The consequences 1. It is sinful in the causes which are these 1. Pride He that thinks highly of his deserts usually esteemes meanly of his condition a discontented man is a proud man he thinks himself better then others therefore findes fault with the wisdom of God that he is not above others Thus the thing formed saith to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus Why