Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	david_n	king_n	saul_n	6,232	5	10.0779	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78903	The godly mans ark or, City of refuge, in the day of his distresse. Discovered in divers sermons, the first of which was preached at the funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore. The other four were afterwards preached, and are all of them now made publick, for the supportation and consolation of the saints of God in the hour of tribulation. Hereunto are annexed Mris. Moores evidences for Heaven, composed and collected by her in the time of her health, for her comfort in the time of sickness. / By Ed. Calamy, B.D. and pastor of the church at Aldermanbury.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.; Moore, Elizabeth, d. 1656?	1657 (1657)	Wing C247; Thomason E1616_1; ESTC R209627	96,958	299

them that ask him The office of the holy Spirit is first to seal grace and then to seal to grace First the Spirit sanctifieth us then it witnesseth to our Ephes 1. 13 Spirits that wee are sanctified Pray therefore unto God that hee would not only work grace in you but witness unto the grace which hee hath wrought Pray for the sanctifying and sealing work of the Spirit That hee would not onely fit you to have an interest in the promises but assure you of your interest in them Rule 13. Study thy interest in the promises in the time of health and outward The 13. Rule for the right Application of the Promises prosperity For I find by experience that a childe of God under outward affliction or divine desertion or extream melancholy is many times like a man in the dark A man in the dark cannot though never so learned read in a book of the clearest print or fairest character hee cannot though never so active undertake any thing of weight No more can a childe of God in the hour of distress read his evidences for heaven much less study to finde out evidences hee looks upon all the promises with a black pair of spectacles and wants light to see his interest in them When Sion was in distress shee said God had forsaken Isa 49. 14. Psal 116. 11. her and her Lord had forgotten her When David was persecuted by Saul hee said in his haste All men were liars and when Samuel himself who had told him that God would bestow the Kingdome on him hee Psal 31. 22. Psal 88. 3. 14 15 16 17 18. said in his haste hee was cut off from before Gods eyes Thus did Heman Christ himself cried out when hee was upon the Cross with a loud voyce My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee As men in Agues and Feavers are not fit judges of meats and drinks whether they bee good or bad because their pallats are out of taste So a distressed Christian when under extream melancholy divine desertion or some great affliction is no fit judge at such a time of his interest in the promises And therefore my advice is Make out thy interest in time of prosperity and live upon it in time of adversity Make and read over thy evidences for heaven in time of health and learn then by heart that when thou comest into a dark condition thou mayest neither have them to make or to read Do as Tamar did Gen. 38. 18. 25. When Judah her Father in law lay with her shee took as a pledge his signet bracekets and staffe And afterward when shee was in great distress and ready to bee burn't as a Harlot shee then brought her staffe and signet and bracelets and said By the man whose these are am I with childe and thereby shee saved her life So must you do In time of health study thy interest in the promises and in time of sickness live upon what thou hast studied then bring forth thy staffe and bracelets c. then produce thy evidences and make use of them as spiritual butteresses to keep thee from falling into despair Mrs. Diggons dwelling with Mr. Moor in Aldermanbury I knew a very godly woman not unknown to many here who in her life time had taken a great deal or pain to compose and write down her evidences for heaven and who also kept a Diary of her life and wrote down how shee spent every day when shee lay upon her death-bed it pleased God to with-draw himself from her for a while and to let the Devil loose who tempted her to despair told her shee was an Hypocrite a Formalist and that shee had no true grace in her Shee sent for mee made her bitter complaint to mee and sadly bewayled her condition Then shee told mee which before I knew not how shee had spent her life how careful shee had been in searching her wayes in observing how shee spent every day and how exact in collecting evidences for heaven the book was sent for I read a great part of it to her and took much delight and content in what I read And it pleased God to come in to her with comfort in the reading of it Shee shewed her staffe and her bracelets and thereby quenched the fiery darts of the Devil Thus I have in three Sermons taught you how to make use of Scripture-promises as conduits of soul-supportation and soul-consolation in the day of distress When you hereafter read the Bible remember the promising-word as well as the commanding and threatning word make a Catalogue of the promises meditate upon the pretiousness freeness usefulness latitude richness and immutability of them They are as certain as God himself they have the strength of God the comforts of God and assistance of God in them Above all labour to make application of them to your own soul For this purpose study these thirteen Rules and Directions Pray unto God to give thee spiritual eyes to see thy interest in them and spiritual hands to reach out after them Pray to God to give thee spiritual ability to act faith upon the promises to draw vertue from them as the woman who had the bloody issue did from Christ to suck out all the sweetness that is in them to hang upon them as the woman did upon the Prophet and as a Bee doth upon a flower and by application of them to thy soul to live in God and on God here till thou comest to enjoy the blessings promised with God for ever in heaven There is one Objection behinde which when I have answered I have done For a distressed Christian will object and say Object Though the promises are rare cordials and shall all of them bee certainly fulfilled yet God is oftentimes long before hee fulfills them and while God is fulfilling of his promises I may in the mean time perish in my affliction Ans It cannot be denied but that God is oftentimes very long in fulfilling his promises He promised that the seed Gen. 3.15 Luk. 18.7 8. of the woman should bruise the Serpents head but it was Four thousand years before that promise was actually accomplished Hee promiseth to avenge his elect of all their enemies to do it speedily And the souls under the Altar cry How long Lord when wilt Rev. 6.10 thou avenge our blood c. But this is not yet fulfilled Nay I must adde That God is not onely a long time performing his promises but sometimes instead of performing them hee seems to the eye of flesh and blood to walk contrary to them Sometimes the Providences of God run cross to his Promises God promised to make David King instead of this hee is persecuted by Saul as a Partridge upon the mountains hee is driven to that extremity that hee begins to doubt of Gods promise and to say That one day hee should dye by the hand of Saul God promised to Joseph That the

will avail no more than a painted helmet or a painted ship and not only a True but also a strong Faith A little faith will faint under great afflictions when the winds began to blow fiercely Peters little Faith began to fail Matth. 14. 30. 2 A great measure of patience to inable us to wait quietly and contentedly till God come in with help for many times hee tarrieth till the fourth watch of the night as hee did Matth. 14. 25. And therefore wee have need of patience to keep us from murmuring or repining 3 A great stock of Self-denial humility repentance contempt of the world and heavenly-mindednesse Hee that is furnished with grace in an evil hour will bee as safe and secure as Noah was in the Ark in the time of the deluge or as those-were who had sufficiency of corn in the time of the seven years dearth in Aegypt 2 A stock of Assurance of salvation For though a man hath never so much 2 A stock of Assurance grace yet if hee wants the assurance of it hee cannot receive any comfort by it in the day of his distresse Jacob was not at all quieted in his spirit for Josephs being alive till hee came to know of it And therefore wee must not only provide grace but the assurance of grace that wee may bee able to say with confidence as Job did upon the dung-hill Job 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth and with the holy Apostle Rom. 8. 38 I am perswaswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That man who hath got a Scripture assurance of his salvation will bee more than a conqueror in the day of his distresse 3 A stock of divine experiences Happy 3 A stock of divine experiences is that man that lodgeth up in his heart all the former experiences hee hath had of Gods love and mercy towards him and knoweth how to argue from them in the day of calamity Thus did Moses in his prayer to God Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according unto the greatnesse of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now Because God had forgiven them therefore Moses intreats him to forgive them this argument is drawn from former experience And thus David incourageth himself 1 Sam. 17. 37. The Lord hath delivered mee out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear and hee will deliver mee out of the hand of this Philistine Thus also Paul reasoneth 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver and in whom wee trust that hee will yet deliver us Divine experiences are the Saints great incouragements in the day of Affliction Blessed is the man that hath his quiver full of these arrows 4 A stock of Sermons Wee must do 4 A stock of sermons with Sermons as the Trades-men do with the mony they get some of it they lay out for their present use and some of it they lay up against the time of sicknesse That man is an ill husband and an unthrifty trades-man that makes no provision for old age or for an evil day and that man is an unprofitable hearer of the word who doth not stock and store himself with Sermons whereby hee may bee comforted in the hour of affliction And therefore the Prophet Isaiah adviseth us Isa 42. 23. to hear for the time to come or as it is in the Hebrew for the after-time Sermons are not only to bee heard for our present use but to bee laid up for after-times that when wee lye upon our sick-beds and cannot hear Sermons we may then live upon the Sermons wee have heard 5 And lastly Wee must prepare 5 A stock of Scripture promises and provide a stock of Scripture-promises which will bee as so many reviving Cordials to chear us and as so many spiritual Anchors to uphold us from perishing in the day of our tribulation What these promises are you shall hear afterwards These upheld David in the hour of his distresse and therefore hee saith in the Text Unlesse thy Law had been my delight I had perished in mine affliction If this our dear Sister had not had this stock shee had been quite overwhelmed under the grievousnesse of her tormenting pains Bee wise therefore O yee Saints of God and prepare these five provisions in the time of health that so you may live joyfully in the time of sicknesse 3 As wee must expect and provide for afflictions so also wee must labour 3 Gods people are to improve afflictions when afflicted to improve them for our spiritual benefit and advantage Wee must pray more for the sanctification of them than for their removal It was not the staffe of Elisha that revived the dead child but Elisha himself It was not the troubling of the waters of the Pool of Bethesda that made them healing but the comming down of the Angel It was not the Clay and spittle that cured the blinde eyes but Christs anointing them with it It was not the cloak of Elijah that divided the waters but the God of Elijah Troubles stroaks blows afflictions and distresses will do us no good unless the Lord bee pleased to make them effectual And therefore let us pray unto God that hee would give us grace together with our affliction That hee would adde instruction to his correction that hee would make us good schollars in the school of afflictions and inable us to take out all those excellent lessons which hee would have us to learn in it that thereby wee may come to know God more powerfully and experimentally and to know our selves and our own frailty and our absolute dependence upon God more effectually that thereby we may bee more purified and refined that the wind of temptation may cleanse us from the chaffe of our corruption that wee may learn righteousness by Gods judgements and bee made partakers of his holinesse Such a good Scholar was Manasses hee got more good by his Iron chain than by his Golden chain Such another was the Prodigal child who was happier amongst the Swine than when in his Fathers house Such was Paul his being strucken down to the ground raised him up to Heaven by the blindnesse of his body his soul received sight and hee was turned from a persecuting Saul to a persecuted Paul Such another was David who professeth of himself that it was good for him that hee was afflicted and such Scholars ought wee to bee There are some that are arrant dunces in this School that are like unto the bush which Moses saw which burned with fire but was not consumed the fire did not consume the thorny bush Many such thorny sinners are burnt up with