Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	call_v	let_v	lord_n	4,494	5	3.9188	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61998	A sermon at the funeral of the virtuous lady, and honoured, Ann, late wife of Thomas Yarburgh, Esq . Preached on Monday, the 10th day of July, 1682. By Matthew Sutcliffe.	Sutcliffe, Matthew, 1637 or 8-1707.	1682 (1682)	Wing S6205B; ESTC R222127	17,195	23

Sun-shine day troublesome and sorrowful life is a gloomy and tempestuous day But it seems a day is too long a term for it and therefore the Prophet calls it a moment Isa 26.20 Hide thy self for a little moment until the indignation be over-past So vain a thing is man And that our days are few will further appear if we consider those similitudes by which the holy Scriptures do sometimes set forth the vanity of this our mortal life Job 7 6 7 9. Holy Job compares it to a Weaver's Shuttle that runs swiftly through the Web to the Wind that passeth away speedily and returneth no more to a Cloud which vanisheth and is seen no more when the Sun whose influence drew it up suddenly dissipates it by its Rayes He complains also that his days were swifter than a post Job 9.25 26. they flee away they see no good He compares also the course of our life to an hungry Eagle who besides the velocity of her natural motion being incited by the eagerness of her Appetite flyeth hastily upon her Prey to a Ship sailing swiftly before the Wind which loosing from the Harbour with a prosperous Gale immediately leaves the land behind and is soon out of sight leaving no footsteps or impression behind it by which it can be discern'd that it hath been there And as it is with the passengers that sail in it whether they sit or walk or howsoever they change their actions yet do they still go on to their designed Haven So it is with us whether we eat or sleep or whatsoever we do we are still posting forward toward our end Moses compareth our life to the grass Psal 90 5 6. which in the morning flourisheth and groweth up in the evening is cut down and withereth To a Sleep which insensibly passeth away before we know what we were doing in it and to a dream of the night than which nothing is more vain or uncertain This is a true representation of the vanity of our life which like the shadow of a Dial is in perpetual motion tho its progression be by minute and imperceptible steps Our days vanish and flye away as a vapor or the morning dew and we our selves as the flower of the field soon wither away By all this we see how little the Spirit of God esteems of that whereof the sons of men esteem so much Our sin hath shortned our days and made them few and miserable The pleasures of life are worm-eaten and the glory of the flesh is but like Jonas's gourd which one day grows up and the next day is consumed by the worms If Solomon who had experimented all the pleasures this life could yield after tryal of them cryed out all is vanity and Job when he was divested of all his wealth looking back to his fore passed days was constrained to confess I have possessed months of vanity how can we look to find more comfort or felicity in this wretched life than those holy men have found before us If we seek our comfort in the perishing gain glory or pleasures of this life we shall be compelled to lament at last That we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing we have wearied our selves in vanity and it doth not profit us Since then our days are few let it be our care to spend them well and to make the best improvement of them Let us therefore pray with the Prophet Moses Psal 90.12 Lerd so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom And the consideration of the shortness and vanity of our life will teach us true wisdom in these respects In reference to the works or actions of our life it will teach us to be wisely diligent Wisdom is requisite to direct our choice of the best business for the employment of our time For the best use we can make of this short life is to provide in it for a better For when death comes upon the stage it sweeps away all and as to the good things of this life is an utter privation of them Then the soul must go forth of this world and of all her followers in life can only be attended with good or evil If she have done good in the body her reward is great and certain in heaven but if she be surprized in sin hell shall be her share hell the lake of Gods wrath the storehouse of eternal fire a bottomless Abyss of misery where there is no evil but must be expected nor good that can be hoped And as Wisdom so Diligence is no less required of us Since we have much work to do and but little time to do it in it behoves us to beware that we squander it not away in trifling or idleness Seeing our time is short Eccl. 9 10. we must double our diligence Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledg nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest If we trifle away our days in vanity he that is the ancient of Dayes will call us to a severe account for them We should therefore be covetous of no worldly thing but Time and that not for the duration of our pleasures but to work out the salvation of our souls There is no usury so allowable as this not that men should sell time to improve money but husband time to improve grace Otherwise a long time will bring but a long and a sad reckoning When God gives us time to do the business we came for it leaves us either without imputation of idleness or without excuse Our life wears away by living and is diminished by addition every day added to it is so much taken from it Each step sets us forward to our graves and we are nearer now than when we entred the Church dores Time goeth away by minutes therefore it is not perceived the shorter steps it taketh the more insensibly it passeth Therefore as it stealeth upon us let us welcome it with good industry and as it stealeth from us let us send it away with a good Testimony Thus though it quickly leaves us it shall not leave us worse than it found us In reference to the good things of this world Phil. 4.5 it calls upon us to use moderation Let your moderation be known to all men the Lord is at hand The consideration of the fewness of our days may justly teach us to moderate both our desires and pursuits after and our enjoyments of the things of this world For why shouldst thou set thine heart upon that which is not As God said to Baruch by his Prophet Jeremy Jer. 45.4 5. I will destroy this whole land and seekest thou great things for thy self So shall we design or promise to our selves great things in this life when life it self so suddenly flyeth away Or shall we set our affections on the things of this world when they cannot