Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	prayer_n	spirit_n	supplication_n	3,599	5	11.3996	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32726	A treatise of divine providence I. In general, II. In particular, as relating to the church of God in the world / by ... Mr. Steph. Charnocke ...	Charnock, Stephen, 1628-1680.	1680 (1680)	Wing C3712; ESTC R13224	166,401	418

Ark and forsaken by his Sister who stood aloof off to see how Providence would conduct him When Laban was possessed with Fury against Jacob God countermands it and issues out his own order to him how he should behave himself towards his Son * Gen. 31.24 29. God times his kindness so that it may appear to be nothing else but Grace Grace with a Witness that his people may be able to understand the very particularities of it Isa 30.18 therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you He leaves them therefore for a while to the will of their enemies verse 17. At the rebuke of five shall you flee till you be left as a Beacon upon the top of a Mountain and as an Ensign upon a Hill Never is Salvation sweeter and Mercy better relisht then when it snatcheth us out of the teeth of danger God would have his mercy valued and 't is fit it should And when is a Calm more grateful than after the bitterest Storm attended with the highest despair Gods mercy in sparing Isaack after the knife was at his throat was more welcome and more delitious both to Father and Son than if God had revealed his intent to Abraham in the three days Journey to the Mount Moriah But God suspending his Soul in bitterness all that time prepared his heart for the valuation of that mercy When humane help forsaketh us God most embraceth us Psal 27.10 When my Father and Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up 4. God glorifies his Righteounsess and Justice There is a measure of wickedness God stays for which will be an object of his Justice without exception When the measure of a peoples Covetousness is come then their ●nd is come and God will fill them with men as with Caterpillers and they shall lift up a shout against them * Jer. 5● 13 14. Hereby God clears the Justice of his proceedings that he exercised Patience so long that things were come to that pass that either his People or his Enemies must be destroyed As the case was with the Israelites had not God marvellously appeared every man of them had been cut off or reduced to Slavery The Dye was cast either the Egyptians or the Israelites must be defeated either God must appear for his Church or none would be left in the World to profess him In such a case the Justice of God is more unexceptionable No man has any semblance for complaining of him For he struck not till the safety of his Adversaries was inconsistent with his own Honour and Interest in the World When men come to such a height as to slight and resolve to break the laws of God then is the time for the Honour of his Righteousness in his own institutions to vex them in his sore displeasure Psal 2.3 5. The● shall he speak to them in his wrath and vex them c. When When they resolve to cast away his bands and cords from them ver 2. He is forced to rise then when men make void his Law and tread down the Honour of it When they would not have God to have a standing Law in the World or a people to profess him Psal 119.126 'T is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy Law When the Grapes of Wickedness are thus fully ripe then is Gods time for the honour of his Justice to cast them into the Wine-press of his Wrath * Rev. 14.19.20 This is Gods set time when he may glorify without any exception his Justice in punishing his enemies sins his Wisdom in defeating his enemies Plots his power in destroying his enemies strength and his mercy in relieving his Peoples wants Thirdly Such extremities and deliverance in them are most advantagious for his People 1. It being a season to improve and know their Interest Men do not usually seek to God or at least so earnestly as when they are in distress the time of the tempest was the time of the Disciples praying to Christ The Israelites you scarce find them calling upon God but in times of danger and distress hereby God doth incourage and give an argument for Prayer The Psalmist useth the extremity of the Church often as an Argument to move God to pity Psal 123.3 Have mercy upon us O Lord have mercy upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt We are glutted with contempt as low as low can be so Psal 44.23 24. Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever our soul is bowed to the dust That is the most successful time for Prayer which is the time of the stirring of Gods Bowels He hath been a strength to the Poor a strength to the Needy in his Distress a refuge from the Storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a Storm against the Wall * Isa 25 4 They in such a time find how considerable their interest is with God when upon their Prayer they shall find relief suitable to every kind of danger they are in The Spirit of Prayer upon the Church is but the Presage of their Adversaries ruin When God seeks to destroy the Nations that come against Hierusalem he will pour upon the Inhabitants of it a spirit of Grace and of Supplication Zach. 12.9 And in that day I will seek to destroy all the Nations that come against Jerusalem and I will pour upon the house of David and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and of Supplication This time of extremity when all their hands fail should edge the Churches Prayers Our great Intercessor seems in this case to set us a pattern Z●ch 1.12 O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy upon Jerusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 single by it self not in an affix When all the Earth sits still and is at rest unconcerned in the affairs of thy Church if thou wilt not have mercy on them in this strait who shall relieve them none else have any mind to it then issue out comfortable words to the Angel from the mouth of God This is an advantage of extremity it sets Christ a pleading and the Church on praying 2. As a season for acting Faith at present and an encouragement of relyance upon him in future straights As a season for acting Faith at present Our Saviour lets Lazarus dye and stink in the Grave before he raised him that he might both confirm Faith in his Disciples hearts and settle it in the hearts of some of the Jews * John 11 15 45. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent that ye may believe What let Lazarus die one that he loved one so strongly pleaded for by two Sisters that he loved too and sollicited upon his friendship to relieve him v. 3. Behold he whom thou lovest is sick and our Saviour glad he was not there to prevent it yes not glad of

to Gods honour and give us an advantage for imitating some one or other of his perfections Crosses in the Scripture are not excluded from those things we have a right to by Christ when they may conduce to our good 1 Cor. 3.22 Life and Death things present and things to come are yours and you are Christs Since the Revelation of the Gospel I do not remember that any such complaint against the Providence of God fell from any holy man in the new Testament for our Saviour had given them another prospect of those things The holy men in the Old Testament comforted themselves against this objection by the end of the wicked which should happen and the rod cease * Psal 73. Rom. 8. In the New Testament we are more comforted by the certain operation of crosses to our good and spiritual advantage Our Saviour did not promise wealth and honour to his followers nor did he think it worth his pains of coming and dying to bestow such gifts upon his Children He made Heaven their happiness and the Earth their Hell the Cross was their badge here and the Crown their reward hereafter they seemed not to be a purchase congruous to so great a price of Blood Was Gods Providence to Christ the more to be questioned because he was poor Had he the less love to him because he was a man of sorrows even while he was a God of glory Such groundless conceits should never enter into Christians who can never seriously take up Christs yoke without a proviso of afflictions who can never be Gods Sons without expecting his corrections 2 God never leaves good men so bare but he provides for their necessity Psal 84.11 the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly If any thing be good an upright man may expect it from God's providence if it be not good he should not disire it Howsoever grace which is necessary for preparing thee for happiness and glory which is necessary for fixing thee in it he will be sure to give we have David's experience for it * Psal 37.5 in the whole course of his life 3. The little good men have is better then the highest enjoyments of wicked men Psal 37.16 a little that a righteous man hath is better then the riches of many wicked not better then many riches of the wicked but better then the riches of many wicked better then all the treasures of the whole Mass of the wicked world others have them in a providential way good men in a gracious way Pro. 16.8 better is a little with righteousness then great revenues without right without a Covenant right Wicked prosperity is like a shadow that glides away in a moment whereas a righteous mans little is a part of Christ's purchase and part of that inheritance which shall endure for ever Psal 37.18 their inheritance shall be for ever i. e. God regards the state of the righteous whether good or evil all that befals them God doth all with a respect to his everlasting inheritance No man hath worldly things without their wings And though the righteous have worldly things with their wings yet that love whereby they have them hath no wings ever to fly away from them how can those things be good to a man that can never tast them nor God in them 4. No righteous man would in his sober wits be willing to make an exchange of his smartest afflictions for a wicked mans prosperity with all the circumstances attending it It cannot therefore be bad with the righteous in the worst condition Would any man be ambitious of snares that knows the deceit of them Can any but a mad man exchange Medicines for poysons Is it not more desireable to be upon a Dunghil with an intimate converse with God then upon a Throne without it They gain a world in prosperity a righteous man gains his Soul by afflictions and possesses it in patience is the exchange of a valuable consideration God strips good men of the enjoyment of the World that he may wean them from the love of it keeps them from Idolatry by removing the fuel of it sends afflictions that he may not lose them nor they their Souls Would any man exchange a great goodness laid up for him that fears God for a lesser goodness laid out upon them that are Enemies to him * Psal 31.19 Who would exchange a few outward comforts with God's promise inward comforts with assurance of Heaven Godliness with contentment a sweet and Spiritual life Soveraignity over himself and lusts though attended with sufferings for the Government of the whole World 5. It is not ill with the righteous in afflictions because they have high advantages by them That cannot be absolutely evil which conduceth to a greater good As First Sensible experiments of the tender providence of God over them If the righteous had not afflictions in this life God would lose the glory of his providence and they the sweetness in a gracious deliverance from them in ways which makes the affliction the sweeter as well as the mercy they would lose the comfort of them in not having such sensible evidences of God's gracious care The sweetness of the promises made for times of trouble would never be tasted Psal 37.19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time that is they shall be mightily encouraged and supported God's people do best understand God's strength when they feel the smart of mens malice 2 Tim. 4.17 the Lord stood with me and strengthened me he had never felt so much of God's strength if he had not tasted much of mans wickedness in forsaking him Psal 37.39 he is their strength when in times of trouble they experiment more of his care in preserving them and his strength in supporting them then at other times Abundance of consolations are manifested in abundance of sufferings * 2 Cor. 1.5 1 Pet. 4.13 14. A greater sense of joy and glory lights upon them in a storm of persecutions Men see the sufferings of the godly but they do not behold that inward peace which composeth and delights their Souls worth the whole Mass of the Worlds goodness and pleasures of the unrighteous 2. Inward improvements Opportunities to manifest more love to God more dependance on him the perfection of the Soul 1 Tim. 5.5 Now she that is a Widow indeed and desolate trusts in God and continues in Supplications and Prayers night and day there is a ground of more exercise of trust in God and supplication to him The poor and desolate have an advantage for the actual exercise of those graces which a prosperous condition wants God changeth the metal by it what was Lead and Iron he makes come forth as gold Job 23.10 when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold Crosses and sufferings which fit good men for special service here and eternal happiness hereafter can no more be