Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
glory_n	full_a	joy_n	unspeakable_a	3,596	5	10.3032	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93248	The glorious feast of the Gospel. Or, Christs gracious invitation and royall entertainment of believers. Wherein amongst other things these comfortable doctrines are spiritually handled: Viz. 1. The marriage feast between Christ and his Church. 2. The vaile of ignorance and unbeliefe removed. 3. Christs conquest over death. 4. The wiping away of teares from the faces of Gods people. 5. The taking away of their reproaches. 6. The precious promises of God, and their certaine performance. 7. The divine authority of the holy scriptures. 8. The duty and comfort of waiting upon God. / Delivered in divers sermons upon Isai.25 chap.6,7,8,9 verses, by the late reverend, learned and faithfull minister of the Gospell, Richard Sibbs, D.D. Master of Katharine-Hall in Cambridge, and preacher at Grayes-Inne, London. Perused by those that were instructed to revise his writings.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.	1650 (1650)	Wing S3736; Thomason E599_13; ESTC R206386	119,357	167

homeward yet hee will have it a state of good that we may not sinke in the way And not onely promises for in the way to heaven God keeps not all for heaven he lets in drops of comfort oftentimes in the midst of misery hee doth reveale himselfe more glorious and sweet then at other times there is nothing reserved for us in another world but wee have a beginning a taste an earnest of it here to support us till wee come to the full possession of what remaineth Wee shall have full communion of Saints there wee have it here in the taste of it Wee know what it is to be acquainted with them that be gracious spirits Wee have praising of God for ever there we know the sweetnesse of it here in the house of God which made David desire this one thing that hee might dwell in the house of God to visit the beauty of God c. There wee shall have perfect peace here we have inward peace unspeakable and glorious a peace that passeth understanding in the beginning of it There we shall have joy without all mixture of contrariety here we have joy and joy unspeakable and full of glory There is nothing in heaven that is perfect that is sweet and good and comfortable but we have a taste and earnest of it here The spirit will be all in all there there is somthing of it in us now more light in our understandings more obedience in our wills more and more love in our affections and it is growing more and more And therefore all is not kept for time to come we have somthing beginning here besides promises there is some little degrees of performance so that the state between us and heaven is a state mixt of good and imperfection Now God hath fitted graces suitable to that condition and that is expectation or waiting a fit grace and a fit disposition of soule from imperfect condition that is afterwards to be perfected for fruition is the condition of perfect happinesse not of waiting for waiting implieth imperfection This waiting carrieth with it almost all graces waiting for better times in glory to come it hath to support it It is a carriage of soule that is supported with many graces For first we wait for that we believe we have a spirit of faith to leade to it And then we hope before we waite and hope is the anchor of the soule that stayeth the soule in all the waves and miseries of the world it is the helmet that keeps off all the blowes This hope issues from faith for what we believe we hope for the accomplishment of it So that all graces make way for waiting or accompany it The graces that accompany the waiting for good things in time to come are patience to endure all griefes between us and the full possession of heaven Then long suffering which is nothing else but patience lengthned because troubles are lengthned and the time is lengthned So there is patience and patience lengthned which we call long suffering and then together with patience and long suffering there is contentment without murmuring at the dispensation of God something in the soule that he would have it to be so Hee that hath a heart to rise because hee hath not what hee would have hee doth not wait with that grace of waiting that issueth from a right spring God reserveth joy for the time to come for our home wee should be content to have communion with God and the soules of perfect men and not murmure though God exerciseth us with many crosses here And therefore the Scripture calleth it a silence In silence and in hope shall be your strength The soule keepeth silence to God in this waiting condition and this silence quells all risings in the soule presently As David my soule kept silence unto the Lord. It will still all risings of the heart issuing from a resignation of the soule to God to doe as he will have us to doe So it implieth patience and long suffering contentment holy silence without murmuring and repining And then it implies watchfulnesse over our selves till wee come to the full accomplishment of the promises that we carry not our selves unworthily in the meane time That wee should not spend the time of our waiting in wickednesse to fetch sorrow from the devill and the world to comfortus or to be beholding to Satan This is no waiting but murmuring and rebellion when in crosses and discomforts we cannot be content but must be beholding to the Devill so there must bee watchfulnesse and not onely so but fruitfulnesse in waiting For he waits that waiteth in doing good that waiteth in observance hee waiteth for his Masters comming that is doing his duty all the time in a fruitfull course of observance and obedience else it is no waiting waiting is not meerly a distance of time but a filling up of that time with all gracious carriage with obedience and with silence with long suffering and contentment and watchfulnesse wee take not any ill course and observance and with fruitfulnesse that wee may fill up times of waiting till performance with all the graces that we may have communion with God It is another manner of grace then the world thinks What is the reason of all the wickednesse of the world and barrennesse and voluptuousnesse but because they have not learned to wait They heare of good things and precious things promised but they would have present payment they will have somthing in hand As Dives sonne sonne thou hast had thy good things here they will have their good things here And what is the reason of wickednesse but because they will have present pleasures of sinnes Wee must preferre the afflictions of Christ before the pleasures of sin Now that shortnesse of spirit to have reward here is the cause of all sinne They have no hope nor obedience nor expectation to endure the continuance of diuturnity where then is patience and hope and contentment The character of a Christian is that he is in a waiting condition and hath the grace of waiting others will have the pleasures of sin their profits and contentments else they will cracke their consciences and sell Christ God heaven and all A Christian as he hath excellent things above the world so he hath the grace of expectation and all the graces that store up and maintain that expectation till the performance come And therefore it is an hard thing to be a good Christian another thing then the world taketh it to be For marke I beseech you what is between us and heaven that wee must goe through if ever wee will come there Between us and heaven the thing promised there be many Crosses to be met withall and they must be borne and borne as a Christian should doe Through many afflictions we must enter into the kingdome of Heaven Besides crosses there be scandalous offences

shall then enjoy it 151 3. God will have us have the best at last 251 As there is a time of our waiting so there will be a time of Gods performance 152 The present grace wee have is an earnest of what wee shall have 152 Incouragements to wait upon God 153 1. Gods time is best and it is set 154 2. God will effect the thing promised though by contraries 154 VVhat we should doe when God hath performed promise 1. Be thankefull to the Lord. 156 2. Be joyfull in the Lord. 158 159 Interest in God is the cause of all our joy 160 161 162 THE Marriage Feast BETWEEN CHRIST and his CHURCH ISAIAH 25. 6. In this Mountaine shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a Feast of fat things a Feast of Wines on the Lees of fat things full of Marrow of Wine on the Lees well refined IN the former Chapter the holy Prophet having spoken of the miseries and desolation of the Church in many heavy sad and dolefull expressions as the Vine languisheth the earth is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Lawes changed the Ordinance and broken the everlasting Covenant therefore the earth shall be accursed and they that dwell therein shall not drink Wine with a Song c. Here you see all sweetnesse and rejoycing of heart is departed from them yet even in the middest of all these miseries God the God of comforts makes sweet and gracious promises to his Church to raise it out of its mournfull estate and condition And therefore the Prophet in the former part of this Chapter speakes of blessing God for the destruction of his Enemies and for his great love to his Church And when he had spoken of the ruine of the enemie hee presently breaks out with Thanksgiving breathing forth abundant praises to his God as it is the custome of holy men guided by the motion of the blessed Spirit of God upon all occasions but especially for benefits to his Church to praise his Name not out of ill affection at the destruction of the Adversaries but at the execution of Divine Justice for the fulfilling of the truth of his promise as in the first Verse of this Chapter O Lord thou art my God I will exalt thee I will praise thy name for thou hast done wonderfull things thy Counsels of old are faithfulnesse and truth When the things that were promised of old were brought to passe the Church was ever ready to give God the glory of his Truth Therefore rejoyce not when thine enemies fall but when the enemies of the Lord are brought to desolation then we may nay we ought to sing Hallelujah to him that liveth for ever and ever I will now fall upon the very words of my Text. In this mountaine shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a Feast of fat things c. These words they are Propheticall and cannot have a perfect performance all at once but they shall be performed gradually The promise of a new heaven and a new earth shall be performed The conversion of the Jewes and the bringing in of the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall gradually be brought to passe All the Promises that ever God hath made before the second comming of Christ to Judgement shall be accomplished God hath made his peace with us in the Gospell of peace and when all these Promises shall be fulfilled then all imperfection shall be done away and wee shall never be removed from our Rock but our joy shall then be full nay even in this life we have some degrees of perfection we have grace and the meanes of grace the Ordinances of Christ and a testimony of everlasting glory In this Mountaine will the Lord of Hosts make a Feast In these words yee have set downe a glorious and royall Feast and the place where this Feast is to be kept is Mount Syon the Feast-maker is the Lord of Hosts the parties invited are all people the issues of it and the provision for the Feast are fat things and wine of the best a Feast of the best of the best a Feast of the fat and of the Marrow a Feast of wine on the Lees well refined Here you may see that God doth veile heavenly things under earthly things and condiscends so low as to enter into the inward man by the outward man for our apprehensions are so weak and narrow that we cannot bee acquainted with spirituall things but by the inward working of the Spirit of the Almighty This mountaine is the place where this Feast is made even Mount Syon which is a type and figure of the Church called in Scripture the holy Mountaine for as Mountains are raised high above the earth so the Church of God is raised in excellency and dignity above all the sorts of man-kinde As much as men above Beasts so much is the Church raised above all men This Mountain is above all Mountaines the Mountaine of the Lord is above all other Mountaines whatsoever Thou O Mountaine shalt stand immoveable when all other Mountaines shall smoak if they are but touched this is the mountaine of Mountaines The Church of God is most excellent in glory and dignity as ye may see in the latter end of the former Chapter how the glory of the Church puts down all other glories whatsoever The Moon saith the Prophet shall be confounded and the Sunne ashamed when the Lord of Hosts shall reigne in Mount Sion and in Jerusalem and before his Ancients gloriously So that the brightnesse of the Church shall put downe the glory of the Sunne and of the Moon Thus you see the Church of God is a Mountaine Reas First Because God hath established it upon a stronger Foundation than all the world besides It is founded upon the goodnesse and power and truth of God Mountaines of Brasse and Iron are not so firme as this Mountaine For what sustains the Church but the Word of God And being built upon his Word and Truth it may very well be called a Mountaine for it shall bee as Mount Syon which shall never be removed it may be moved but never removed Thus in regard of the firmnesse and stability thereof it may rightly bee termed a Mountain Again we may here speak in some sort of the visibility of the Church but here will arise a quarrell for the Papists who when they hear of this Mount they presently allude it to their Church Their Church say they is a Mount so saith the Scripture I answer 1. Wee confesse in some sort their Church to be a Mount though not this Mount for Babylon is built on seven Hills but if this prove her a Church it is the Antichristian Church Secondly That the Catholick Protestantiall Church had alwayes a being though sometimes invisible The Apostle writing to the Romans exhorts them not to bee high-minded but feare for saith hee if God hath broken off the naturall branches perhaps

have most joy hereafter Now for Use Here is not onely the mercies of God in Christ but the tender mercy that whereas our life is full of teares which we have brought upon our selves yet God stoops so low as to wipe our eyes like a father or mother his mercy is a sweet and tender mercy And as the Psalmist saith When wee are sick he maketh our beds in our sicknesse Christ will come and serve them that watch and serve him nay hee will attend them and sup with them He is not only mercy and goodnesse but there be in him bowells of mercy he not onely giveth matter of joy and comfort but hee will doe like a tender hearted mother wiping away all teares from our eyes we cannot apprehend the Bowells in Gods love the pitty and mercy of God towards them that be his and afflicted in the World specially in a good cause though they bee never so many if they bee penitent teares he will wipe them all away And whereas wee must shed teares here that we may be comforted hereafter take heed that we doe not in this life judge by sight but by faith if we live by sight wee are of all men most wretched In the world the Children of God are most miserable and of the Children of God the best Saints Who hath more cause of teares than the best Saints It is but seed time here while seed time continues there be teares The Husbandman while it is seed time cannot doe his office but with trouble the Minister cannot doe his office but he is forc'd to take to heart the sinnes of the times to see his worke go backward Governours of Families and such they carry their seed weeping yea the best men cannot doe good sometimes but they doe it with trouble in themselves and with conflict of corruptions There is no good sowne here but it is sowne in teares yet take no scandall at this God will wipe away all teares The head of the Church our blessed Saviour and all his gracious Apostles what a life did they live The glorious Martyrs that sealed the truth with their bloud And therefore as the Apostle saith If our happinesse were here onely we were of all men most miserable If we judge by sight wee shall condemne the generation of the righteous we live by sight when wee see any cast downe with sight of sinne sense of temptation distresse of conscience wee thinke him forlorne Oh take heed of that For those that shed teares here God will wipe them all away Woe to them that laugh now for they shall mourne hereafter Though wee weepe here yet matter of joy enough shall spring up hereafter Afflictions will yeeld a quiet fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12. 11. we may not see their fruits presently but afterwards And therefore be not discouraged for any thing we can suffer here or for the Church if we see her under pressure As darknesse is sowne for the wicked the foundation of their eternall torment is laid in their joy so the ground and foundation of all a godly mans joy is laid in teares Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Yet for the present there is more matter of joy than griefe if we look with both eyes as wee ought to have double eyes one to be sensible of our griefe as we must be the other of our comfort that we may not be surprized with griefe There is a sorrow to death an overmuch sorrow it is unthankfulnesse to God to forget our comforts as it is stupidity to forget our sorrow Take us at the worst have not we more cause of joy then sorrow Marke Rom. 5. Being justified by faith wee have peace with God and rejoyce under hope of glory Nay afterwards saith he we rejoyce in tribulations And why upon what ground Knowing that tribulations bring experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed Now we rejoyce in God reconciled in Christ So that as we ought to looke with one eye upon the griefe that we may have ground to exercise grace which we are not capable of without sensiblenesse so we must look to grounds of joy Our life is woven of matter of sorrow and joy as it is woven of both affections should be sensible of both that they may be more apprehensive of the grounds of comforts When the day of persecution approacheth this will make us comfortable for our life is a valley of teares and shall not wee go through this valley of teares to this mount where all teares shall be wiped away from all eyes When we be dejected with the losse of any friend they say as Christ said to the woman weepe not for me they be happy and all teares are wiped away from their eyes And therefore as it is matter of comfort while we live so ground of comfort when wee die for there is occasion of sorrow in death parting with friends and comforts of this world then teares are shed in more abundance and then wee bethinke our selves of former sinnes and there is renewing of repentance more then at other times yet then are we neer the time of joy and neerest the accomplishment of the promise that all teares shall be wiped away And so you have the whole state of a christian life an afflicted condition I but it is a comfortable condition The more afflictions here the more comfort here but specially hereafter The life of a carnall man is all in misery if he falls to joy he is all joy if to sorrow he is all sorrow hee hath nothing to support him he is like a Naball he sinketh like a piece of lead to the bottome of the sea like Achitophell downe he goeth when he is upon the merry pinne he is nothing but joy But a Christians state and disposition are both mixt he hath ground of sorrow for his owne sinnes and for the sinnes and miseries of the times So he hath matter of comfort for the present in the favour of God in the pardoning of sinnes in the presence of God in delivering him from trouble He hath speciall ground of joy in hope of glory in time to come Therefore as wee have a mixt state labour for a mixt disposition and labour to be in a joyfull frame so to grieve as out of it to raise matter of joy And when wee would joy grieve before for joy is sowne in griefe The best method of joy is for to take away all that disturbeth our joy search the bottome of the heart see what sinne is unconfest unrepented of spread it before God desire God to pardon it to seale the pardon When our soules are searched ro the bottome then out of that sorrow springeth joy and out of these sighs and grones that cannot be exprest commeth joy unspeakable and full of glory If a man will be joyfull let him labour to weepe first that

and praying and doing good and abstaining from evill the Law of the Spirit of life frees us from the Law of sinne and death I beseech you inlarge these things in your thoughts They bee things wee must all have use of beforehand against the evill day It should bee comfortable and usefull to us all to heare that our enemy our greatest enemy Death is swallowed up in victory And yet there 's more comfort in the Text. THE Fifth Sermon ISAIAH 25. 8. And all teares shall be wiped away from all faces NOt only death shall be swallowed up in victory but God will wipe away all tears from all eyes Religion shall be religion good things shall be good things nothing shall go under false notions all tears shall be wiped away we have now many causes of teares In the world there is continuall raising of clouds that distill into drops of teares had we nothing without us to raise a vapour to be distil'd in teares we are able to raise up mists from our owne mists from our owne doubts and conflicts within As we should weepe for our owne sinnes so for the sinnes of others as wee may see in Jeremy where the Prophet saith Oh that my head were a fountaine of teares that I might weepe continually for the sinnes of my people And indeed good men are easie to weepe as the heathen man observeth they are easie to lament not onely for their own sinnes but the sinnes and misery of another Our blessed Saviour himselfe we never read that he laughed wee have heard that he wept and for his very enemies Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem He shed teares for them that shed his bloud Teares were maine evidences of Christs sweetnesse of disposition as that hee would become man and a curse and die for us and that he would make so much of little children and call all to him that were weary and heavy laden that hee never refused any that came to him Hee that wept specially for the miseries and afflictions this shewed his gracious and sweet disposition And that in heaven he is so full of sympathies in glory that when Paul persecuted the Church Why dost thou persecute me So though he is free from passion in heaven he is not free from compassion from sympathie with his Church And so every child of God is ready not onely to grieve for his own sinnes and the miserie that followeth them but the sins and miseries of others Mine eyes gush out with rivers of teares saith the Prophet David when hee saw that men brake the law of God whom he loved A true naturall child takes to heart the disgrace of his father if we be not grieved to see our father disgraced wee are bastards not sonnes They that make a sport of sinne what are they Alas they have not one sparke of the spirit of adoption they are not children who rejoyce at that at which they should grieve So Saint Paul I have told you often and now tell you weeping there be many enemies of the crosse of Christ When he saw some men preach against and others enemies of the crosse of Christ whose end is damnation hee telleth them of it weeping Wee have cause therefore to mourne for the sinnes of others and for the miseries of others whether we respect God or the Church or our selves First the love of God moveth us to weepe when wee see him dishonored If we love the Church we should mourne for any sinnes that may prejudice their salvation Doth it not pitty any man to see an Oxe go to slaughter to see a man of parts otherwise by sinning against conscience going to slaughter to see an ordinary swearer an uncleane person a prophane wretch covering himselfe with pride as a garment scorning God and the world and all Can a Christian looke upon this see flesh and blood like himself under the Gospell under a cursed condition unavoidable without serious repentance and not be affected with it Can a man see a poore Asse fall under a burthen and not helpe to take it up and yet see man falling to hell and not be affected with it Thus we see wee have cause enough of teares And as there is cause so we should be sensible we ought to take to heart the afflictions of Joseph hee is a dead man that hath not sense in this kinde If wee go to the body and state or any thing about a man there is cause of griefe hath not every member many diseases and is not our lives a kind of hospitall some sicke of one thing some of another But as there is cause wee should bee sensible of it wee are flesh and not stones therefore it is a sottish opinion to be stockish and brutish as if to out-face sorrow and griefe were a glory When our Saviour was sent into the world Christi dolor dolor maximus there were no patience without sensiblenesse away then with that iron that flinty Phylosophy that thinks it a vertue to be stupid And as the Apostle saith Romans 1. 31. without naturall affections He counteth it the greatest judgement of God upon the soule yet they would have it a vertue Why should I smite them any more saith God they have no sense no feeling The proud Phylosopher thought it was not phylosophicall to weepe a proud stoicall humor but Christians desire it And therefore we ought to labour to be more sensible that we might make our peace and reverence the justice of God and be more sensible of him afterwards It is most true that Sapiens miser plus miser the more wise any man is the more sensible of misery And therefore of all men the best men have most griefe because they have most quicke senses they be not stupified with insensibility and resolutenesse to beare it bravely as the world but they apprehend with griefe the cause of griefe And as they have a more sanctified judgement than other men so they have a more wise affection of love and a quicker life of grace where life is there is sense and where there is a cleare sight or cause of griefe there is most griefe Therefore the best men have most griefe because they be most judicious most loving Then they have most grace to beare it out of all others therefore considering there is cause in our selves and in others of griefe continually wee ought to labour to be sensible of it else it were no favour to have teares wiped away So that there is cause of teares and teares is a duty of Christians sensible of the cause both of sinne and misery upon one and another And as it is an unavoidable griefe so it is good wee should grieve we must stoope to Gods course we must bring our hearts to it and pray that since our necessities and sins doe call for this dispensation that we must under correction he will make us sensible of his rod that

of waiting For waiting enlargeth the capacity and desires of the soule to receive more it commendeth the happinesse afterwards And therefore God keepeth the best for the last because he will never interrupt the happinesse of his children when they be in heaven there is a banishment of all cause of sorrow Hee will have a distinction between the Church-militant and Triumphant He will traine up his children here before he bringeth them to heaven he will perfume his Spouse and make her fit for an everlasting communion with him in heaven The third thing is that as there be promises and these promises are not presently fulfilled which put us in a state of waiting so God giveth grace to uphold in waiting Waiting is not an empty time to wait so long and no grace in the meane time but waiting is a fitting time for that we are to receive afterwards We see in nature In the winter which is a dull time to the spring and harvest and the times are very cold yet it ripens and mellowes the soile and fits it for the spring There is a great promotion of harvest in winter it is not a meere distance of time so between the promise and heaven it selfe it is not a meere waiting time and there is an end but it is a time which is taken up by the spirit of God in preparing the heart in subduing all base lusts and in taking us off from our selves and whatsoever is contrary to heaven The time is filled up with a great deale of that which fits us for glory in heaven The gracious God that fits us for heaven and heaven for us fits us with all graces necessary for that condition As faith to beleeve patience to wait for and to depend on that which he seeth not to be above sence a grace of hope to wait for that which he believeth to be an anchor to his soule in all conditions whatsoever And then a grace of patience to wait meekly all the while And then long-suffering patience lengthened out As the tediousnesse is long between us and heaven so there be lengthening graces We would have all presently How long Lord how long We are so short even David and others and therefore God giveth grace to hold out and lengthen our spirituall faith and hope and perseverance and constant courage to encounter with all difficulties in the way When the spirit of a man beholds heaven and happines and God it makes him constant in some sort as the things he beholdeth for the spirit transformeth him to the object Now he beholds a constant Covenant And as faith looks upon a constant God constant happinesse and constant promises it frameth the soule suitable to the excellency of the object it layeth hold upon And then the spirit of God in the way to heaven subdueth all evill murmurings and exceptions in suffering us not to put forth our hands to any iniquity though we have not what we would have he keeps us in a good and fruitfull way for to wait is not only to endure but to endure in a good course fitting us for happinesse till grace end in glory In the fourth place God will performe all his promises in time As the Church saith here This is the Lord we have waited for him Now he hath made good whatsoever he hath said To inlarge this point a little As there is a time of waiting so there will be a time when Gods people shall say Lee this is the Lord we have waited for him Why God is Jehovah a full and pregnant word a word of comfort and stay for the soule in this word Jehovah He is a God that giveth a being to all things and a being to his word and therefore what he saith he will make good He is Lord of his word Every mans word is as his nature and power and abilitie is the word of a man or the word of an honest man but being the word of a God he will make all good And then he will make all good because he is faithfull God he saith it and he will doe it you need no more reason then pitty to his people his bowels of compassion the hearts of people would faile if he should stay too long And therefore out of his bowels in his time which is the best time not only because he is faithfull but because he is loving and pittifull he will make good all his promises And then he will doe it for what is grace but an earnest of that fulnesse we shall have in heaven What is peace here but an earnest of that peace in heaven And what is joy here but an earnest of fulnesse of joy for evermore And wil God lose his earnest Therfore we shall enjoy what God hath promised and we expect because we have the earnest It is not a pledge only for a pledge may be taken away but an earnest which is never taken away but is made up in the full bargain Grace is made up in glory as beginnings are made up with perfection Where God layeth a foundation he will perfect it Where God giveth the first fruits he will give the harvest But it will be a long time before because he will exercise all grace to the uttermost You see how Abraham was brought to the last In the mountaine God provideth for a sacrifice when the knife was ready to seise on Isaacks throat We should answer with our faith Gods dealing that is if God deferre let us wait yea wait to the uttermost wait to death He is our God to death and in death and for ever If God performe his promise at the worst then till we are at the lowest we must wait And therefore one character of a child of God from others is this Give me the present saith the carnall beastly man the world but Gods people are content to wait he knoweth what he hath in promise is better then what he hath in possession The gleanings of Gods people are better then the others harvest The other cannot wait but must have present payment Gods child can wait for he liveth by faith And therefore we should learne patiently to wait for the performance of all Gods promises And to direct a little in that remember some rules which every man may gather to himselfe as Gods time is the best time Deus est optimus arbiter opportunitatis The best descerner of opportunities And in the mountain will God be seen Though he tarry long he will come and not tarry over-long and then all the strength of the enemy is with God Robur hostium apud Deum The strength of the enemy is in his hand he can suspend it when he pleaseth Then though God seemes to carry things by contrary wayes to that he promiseth which makes waiting so difficult yet he will bring things about at last He promiseth happinesse and there is nothing but misery he