Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	let_v	lord_n	pharaoh_n	2,368	5	10.5791	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33971	Par nobile two treatises, the one concerning the excellent woman, evincing a person fearing the Lord to be the most excellent person, discoursed more privately upon occasion of the death of the Right Honourable the Lady Frances Hobart late of Norwich, from Pro. 31, 29, 30, 31 : the other discovering a fountain of comfort and satisfaction to persons walking with God, yet living and dying without sensible consolations , discovered from Psal. 17, 15 at the funerals of the Right Honourable the Lady Katherine Courten, preached at Blicklin in the county of Norfolk, March 27, 1652 : with the narratives of the holy lives and deaths of those two noble sisters / by J.C.	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.; Collinges, John, 1623-1690. Excellent woman.; Collinges, John, 1623-1690. Light in darkness.	1669 (1669)	Wing C5329; ESTC R26441	164,919	320

for hearing the Word of God at her Ladiships charge But she according to the will of God had with David served her generation and her time now was come when she must fall asleep It must and may be owned for she judged it no blot upon her honour that she was a Non-conformist as to some Modes of Worship in present use as well as to some Doctrines more now in credit than formerly for the latter she was beholden to her Noble Father who as it was said before early prejudiced her against the Arminian principles and for the former she was wont to acknowledge it to those who had the charge of her tender years who sowed those seeds which afterwards brought forth this fruit indeed nothing so prejudiced her against forms of Prayer as her own experience of them For the two or three last years of her life therefore she restrained her self to those exercises of Religion which were performed within her own walls or in some other places not so publick As to which she yet injoyed a great liberty by reason of that honour which persons of all perswasions had for her It was not the will of God she should long survive that liberty which was so precious to her The Lords day next preceding the time when the Act restraining religious meetings took place was if I remember right the last time she went down her stairs I remember while I helped her in going up the stairs from her Chappell to her Chamber that night she told me The Act would do her no prejudice for she should never go down more This as I remember was about the latter end of June or beginning of July 1664. The Dropsie her fatal disease had three or four moneths before seized upon her but death by it made such gradual approaches that till that time she was able without much disturbance to walk up and down That very night as I remember was the first time that she complained of her leggs failing her to that degree yet was her life lengthened out till the latter end of November following Indeed her whole life was a time of Afflictions through the valetudinarious condition of her Noble Husband the loss of Children and her own subjection to distempers through stubborn splenetick obstructions Nor was she for some years before without some prospect of the death by which she should dye though it was a kind of death which she above all others dreaded and would often say concerning it Father if it be possible let that Cup pass from me The time of her last sickness presented us with no great variety of temper in her as to her spiritual condition 〈…〉 kept on her course of Religious Duties in her House and Chamber as formerly Her work was done both as to this and as to another life her House and her Soul was set in order so as she had little to do but to sit still and wait for the salvation of God all the remaining dayes of her appointed time till her great change came I do not remember that during her long sickness she more than twice discovered to me any conflicts in her Spirit though I constantly attended upon her and as constantly inquired upon the frame of her spirit She had sown in tears before and had now nothing to doe but to reap in joy Her death was a long time both by her self and us foreseen in its causes but as to the particular time we were a little surprized when she thought the day of her change in probability at some distance she lost her senses and speech and after two or three dayes quietly fell asleep in the Evening upon the Lords day Nov. 27. 1664. Thus lived thus dyed this twice noble Excellent Lady about the 61 year of her Age. Possibly the Noblest Example of Piety and truest Pattern of Honour Liberality Temperance Humility and Courtesie which it hath pleased God in this last Age to shew upon the stage where he had fixed her A Woman indeed not without her infirmities to assert that were to discharge her of her relation to Humane Nature but as they were of no scandalous magnitude and the products of Natural Temperature not of Vitious Habits so they were so much out-shined by her eminent Graces and Vertues as a curious eye would hardly take notice of them In short None ever lived more desired nor died more universally lamented by all sober persons in that City to which she related She was buried in a Vault belonging to the Family of her Dear and Noble Husband at Blicklin in Norfolk Decemb. 1. 1664. therein paying her deceased Husband a last Obedience who as I have often heard her pleasantly say made it his first request to her upon her Marriage-day PROV 31. V. 29 30 31. Many daughters have done vertuously but thou hast excelled them all Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates OVT of the abundance of the heart saith our Saviour the mouth speaketh which argues every man in the best capacity to discourse upon such Subjects which have had the latest and fullest possession of his thoughts you know I suppose what hath made the latest and deepest impression on my thoughts I think I may say upon yours also I mean the severe dispensation of God to us all in taking from us to use Solomon's expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A noble vertuous woman An elect Lady to use the Apostles phrase A great mother in our Israel Upon whose separation from us who is there amongst us fearing the Lord that is not crying out Ah? my mother my mother The Chariots of Norwich and the horsemen thereof I have therefore resolved to make an Excellent woman the subject of my discourse upon this occasion you have had her pattern in that noble example whom now the Providence of God hath taken from us you have her description in the text A woman fearing the Lord while I am discoursing the Excellency of the woman in the text both absolutely as considered in her self and comparatively as weighed with others in the ballances of Religion and Reason I shall satisfie my self that as to our deceased friend I shall fulfill the will of God in the close of my text Giving of her the fruits of her hands and causing her own works to praise her in the gates We reade of Solomon 1 Kings 4. 32. that he spake three thousand Proverbs Some of the principal of which are doubtless recorded in this excellent portion of holy writ The notion of Proverbs must not be taken so strictly as we usually take it but in a further latitude of sense as comprehending all figurative speeches especially such as have in them ought of a similitude Nomine He. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significatur omnis sermo figuratus Mercer of which sort are many of these

have judged thus What Roman did not prefer Cato before Clodius or Catiline In the mean time what account is made amongst us of men and women fearing the Lord they are counted as the filth and off scouring of the earth Fanaticks Precisians Puritans the vilest persons on the earth the only persons fit for all manner of filth to be thrown upon all manner of injuries to be done unto the only persons fit to be thrown into Gaols c. Yea and this fear of Jehovah is become their crime if they dared to sin against God they might avoid these dangers Nor is it any wonder at all The Disciple is not above his Master nor is the Servant above his Lord. They that said of our Saviour He hath a Devil may be allowed to say so of his Disciples I hope The Apostle calls wicked men and such as have 2 Thes 3. 2. not faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unreasonable men The Scripture ordinarily calleth them fools Want of reason and understanding in men and women appears in nothing so much as in their judgement about persons and things that differ Would not you account that man a fool that should chuse an Apple before a piece of Gold and prefer a serving-man because dressed up in gay clothes before a Prince or noble man or before some other person of known intrin●ecal worth and excellency and are not those persons fools and unreasonable men who when reason thus many waies evinceth the fear of the Lord to be the most excellent thing and persons fearing the Lord to be the most excellent persons yet dote upon other things and persons as more excellent than it or them desire chuse delight in any persons rather than these yet this is the ordinary course and practice of the world What more despicable than the fear of the Lord Who makes himself so much a prey so odious and despicable as he who dares not to sin against God and is afraid of disobeying his sacred precepts Is not their judgement an evidence of their folly Do they not still make it good that wanting faith they are unreasonable men But leaving the ignorant world which Use 2 knoweth not the excellency of Grace and is no fitter to judge between things earthly and spiritual than the blind man is to judge of colours that differ Will not this Doctrine convince Gods people of many errours in practice There are a people in the Lord who own the Lord and seriously profess unto his fear yet neither live as if they judged the fear of God the most excellent thing or those who fear the Lord the most excellent persons Give me leave to speak freely to you who I know do own what you have heard to be truth and will profess a cordial assent unto it Do you indeed judge the fear of the Lord Grace the best and most excellent thing Do you judge persons fearing the Lord the most excellent persons I had rather you should judge your selves than my self to pronounce sentence against you Let me therefore only offer you two or three Questions to propound to your selves 1. Whether do you not value your selves more for other things than for the fear of the Lord with which you are blessed It is true through a demissiori and humbleness of mind Some naturally have lower opinions of themselves than others have but there is none lives but hath some value for him or her self Men will speak vilely and meanly of themselves and a child of God from a principle of Grace is vile and mean in his own eyes but yet there is none who hath not some good thoughts for himself Now I would have you inquire of your own souls what that is which raiseth your thoughts of your selves Whether it be the fear of the Lord or no The Prophet calleth out to us Jer. 9. 24. Let Jer. 9. 24. not the strong man glory in his strength nor the wise man in his wisdom nor the rich man in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth the Lord. I am afraid that if we ask our own hearts wherein they chiefly glory we shall find them sincerely making us some other answer than this that we glory chiefly in this that we understand and know the Lord. Take a man or woman fearing God if they have but the advantage of a little parentage a little birth or breeding or some great relations are they not apt to glory in these more than in this That God is their Father the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour c. If they have but a little honour or estate are not their hearts more apt to glory in this than in the riches of grace they have in possession or the riches of glory which they have in reversion than in this great honour which the Lord hath dignified them with that they should be called the Sons of God It is reported of Theodosius a Christian Emperour that he gloried more in this that he was the servant of Christ than that he was the Emperour of a great part of the world I am sure we should glory more in our interest in Christ than in all the world besides But alas how few are to be found that are truly of that good Emperours mind that make their boast of God and what he hath done for their souls and look upon this as their great glory yet if they do not they do not in practice attend to what they profess to believe concerning the excellency of the fear of the Lord. 2. Whether do you value others according to the fear of the Lord which you see in them The Psalmist gives this as the character of one who shall come to Heaven Psal 15. 4. He in whose eyes a vile person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. Who is a vile person there is a vile person in mans account thus those are vile who are poor and servile whose condition in the world is mean and abject are accounted vile There is also a vile person in Gods account so the only vile person is the lewd debaucht impenitent sinners such as God hath in judgement given up to vile affections Rom. 1. 26. One that speaketh villany Isa 32. 6. Thus 1 Sam. 3. 13. The Sons of Samuel that lay with the women who came to the Tabernacle and were prophane in abusing holy things are called vile persons So the prophane swearer curser blasphemer the bruitish drunkard the beastly unclean person these are all vile persons God counts them so the Scripture calls them so let their circumstances in the world be what they will God overlooks them as signifying nothing in his eyes they are all base vile persons in his eyes Now this is made the character of one that shall dwell in Gods holy hill he must be one in whose eyes a vile person is contemned Not that he shakes off his natural duty or his moral subjection and duty to

to the performance of it under the fear of the greatest terrours such the terrours of the Lord are and under the incouragement of the largest promises and upon the highest principles of ingenuity A man or woman not fearing God may be under obligations to do no man wrong to give to every one his due to do good to others c. But I pray what are his obligations Let us weigh them apart and consider them with the obligations to the same things which are upon the hearts of persons fearing the Lord and who have in them this same principle 1. Others may be under the obligations of humane Laws and blessed be God for them to them we are beholden that there are in the world no more murthers thefts and other disorders to the utter confusion of humane society Men are afraid of the Ax the Gallows c. But alas what is the force of these compared with the terrour of everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels If he be under an obligation to avoid these enormous disorders in humane society who is only awed from them with the fear of a Gaol or Gallows what is he think you who is afraid of being tormented in Hell by the wrath of God to all eternity Where the worm never dieth and the fire never goeth out It is true there is the same obligation upon him that feareth not God he is in danger of Hell fire but it is the person fearing God who alone firmly and fixedly believeth any such thing Others if they do not laugh and mock at such things yet very faintly assent to Propositions of such a nature 2. Obligations may lie upon others to just and vertuous actions from the rational beauty and comeliness of a just and sober conversation above one which is lewd and debaucht Until reason in man be out-lawed and beas●ly passions and affections have perfectly subdued it moral vertue will commend it self to humane nature But what is the force of this obligation compared with the Will of God to that man who hath said the Lord shall rule over him Or to the apprehension of a Conformity by such actions to Jesus Christ to him to whom Christ is precious who hath avowed Christ to be his Master and assumed to be his Disciple What is this obligation to the consideration of a gracious man that these are the fruits of the Spirit which he hath received and in which he standeth obliged to walk and that the contrary acts are the fruits of the flesh which he standeth obliged to mortifie which if he so much as savours they will argue him to walk after the flesh and conclude him liable to condemnation as having no interest in Jesus Christ The gracious man does not these things because reason only approves them but because God hath commanded and because God doth approve them because they are the Will of God concerning him because Jesus Christ while in the flesh so walked setting him an an example c. 3. Thirdly Others may have obligations upon them to do some such things from good nature Some naturally are of more sweet and ingenuous natures than others are more naturally inclined to justice pitty mercy and this obligation worketh very high where it is found But alas what is this to his obligation who hath these things as branches of the Law of God ingraven upon his heart and that in that deep sculpture which the finger of the holy Spirit useth to make to his who hath a new name yea and a new nature given to him and from that new nature acts according to the prescript of Divine Law freely and ingenuously not from constraint Luther sometimes said of such a one Justus non debet bene agere sed bene agit A passage that had need of a candid interpretation but thus far true That a man or woman truly fearing God is not so much constrained by the force of a Divine Law in which sense it may be the Apostle saith that the Law is not made for him as compelled by his new nature and the generous principles of the new creature his nature is quite altered the things which he hated he now loveth and what he formerly loved he now abhorreth 4. Again a man or woman not fearing God may be under some obligations to just and vertuous actions which may make him a good neighbour From Honour obedience to Governours Courtesie to some who have done him a kindness or an ingenuous nature abhorring to do wrong to such as have done him none But alas what are these compared with the honour of maintaining the repute of a Christian of a child of God who is concerned to walk unblameably as a Spouse of Christ which must be presented without spot and wrinckle who is pressed to these actions from a far higher ingagement upon his ingenuity as they are the prescripts of that God who hath loved him with an everlasting love of that dear Saviour who hath not loved his life for his sake I saith he must love mine enemies do good to them that hate me bless them that persecute me and pray for them who despitefully use me Thus I shall be like my Father which is in Heaven Thus I shall fulfil the Royal Law of Love under which my Saviour hath laid me I cannot say I love him if I do not keep his Commandments 5. One not fearing God may be principled to some such actions from some hopes either from some particular friends who if he behave himself vertuously will do well by him make him their heir or for some hopes of honour credit and repute in the world and these things oft-times go a great way But how much greater is the obligation to these things under which a gracious soul is from his hopes of the injoyment of God here and the blessed fruition of him in the beatifical vision hereafter These are the hopes of a person fearing the Lord how infinitely higher than all earthly hopes of what nature soever What are all the hopes in the world laid in ballance with them how much lighter than vanity I will add but one thing more 6. A person not fearing the Lord may be ingaged to the doing of these things from some Law that he hath laid upon himself some Oath or Promise But what are these to the correspondent engagements of this nature which are upon the hearts of all truly fearing the Lord. To say nothing of the Baptismal Engagements common to others with them though better remembred by such as have not received the grace of God in vain or such as they have renewed in their daily prayers in sicknesses or so oft as they have come to the Lords Table What think you of that great engagement to these things amongst others which every one fearing the Lord taketh upon him in the day when the Lord calleth him out of darkness into marvelous light and putteth his Spirit into him There is no obligation like

King 21. 19 20 21. to tell him in short that God would ruine him and his family and all that belonged to him v. 27. Ahab hears those words he rends his cloths puts sackcloth upon his flesh fasteth lyeth in sackcloth and goes softly Here 's the best of a carnal man if his dread of God in his Judgements worketh thus far and to a temporary abstaining from some gross sins it is all you read not a word of Ahabs tending to inquire of the Lord not a word of any cordial humiliation or resolved reformation 2 King 22. 11. Josiah findeth the Book of the Law and heareth there of the wrath of God he rends his cloths so did Ahab but he resteth not here v. 13. He tends to inquire of the Lord for him and for the people and for all Judah c. was this all No chap. 23. He sets upon a real and effectual reformation with all his might Thus you see how the dread and awe of God upon the heart of a child of God doth not drive him from God but unto him it doth not stupifie but quicken him it doth not put him upon a formal temporary particular reformation but upon a fixed real general reformation Pharaohs fear flartled him and put him upon sending to Moses to pray for him and put him upon some good thoughts and resolutions at present but yet Pharaoh notwithstanding this was one who feared not the Lord. But thus much may serve to have spoken to this branch of Application I come now to the last branch I will shut up this discourse with a few words of Exhortation I will reduce all to three particulars 1. To such as have not this fear of God in Exhort their hearts to perswade them to labour for it 2. To such as have this fear of God to perswade them 1. To labour to grow in this habit and exercise 2. To live like excellent persons and to shew they have this excellent blessing 3. Lastly To the men of the world in general to perswade them 1. To an undervaluing of all other excellencies 2. To a true value of this excellent thing and these excellent persons 3. To give them of the fruit of their hands and to suffer their works to praise them in the gates In the first place let me press a word of 1 Branch Exhortation upon such as yet fear not Go● to perswade them to it It is a frequent precept in holy Writ Levit. 19. 14. Fear thy God I am the Lord ch 25. v. 17. 43. Eccles 5. 7. Matth. 10. 28. 1 Pet. 2. 17. Rev. 14. 7. Eccles 12. 13. God calls to you Fear God Solomon calls to you Fear God Our Saviour calls to you Fear him that can cast both body and soul into Hell fire The Angels in Heaven call to you Fear God All the Prophets and Apostles call to you unâvoce and this is that which they say Fear God The meaning of this you have heard Not only dread the great and living God in the secrets of your hearts but let all your conversation savour of this fear so comport your selves in your whole carriage both towards God and towards your neighbours as you may evidence to the world not only that you have a natural sense of that infinite distance which is between your Creatour and you and the power that he hath over you but that you may shew that you have this gracious habit of fear wrought in you and that you fear God in the Scripture phrase You see this is a great picce of the will of God concerning you pressed upon you again and again in holy Writ Give me leave to inlarge a little in pressing it upon you I shall first give you some Arguments Secondly I shall offer you some directions in the case from the text And what I have said furnisheth me with two great Arguments 1. This is Wisdom This is Grace Job 28. 28. ●●e fear of the Lord that is wisdom Prov. 1. 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge That man who hath nothing of the fear of God in him hath nothing of God nothing of the Grace of God in him On the other side that person who hath in him the fear of God hath all that is an holy that is a gracious man There can be no more said of any than that he or she are persons not fearing God Nor can there be better said of any that he or she is a person fearing God 2. Secondly You have heard a person fearing God is the most excellent person in the world Favour is deceitful Beauty is vain but a woman fearing the Lord she shall be praised Others may call themselves excellent and the men of the world may call the proud happy but the truly happy the truly excellent person is one fearing God I might add a third 3. This is the only person who deserveth to be praised and whose works will truly praise him Let others be commended and admired for beauty for riches and honour and another for learning as the end of all is to fear God and keep his Commandments So that person that truly answereth this end and doth fear God and keep his Commandments will upon the best evidence which is that of Scripture and reason appear to be the person that is most worthy of praise and commendation Now if I could say no more than this to engage any to this study yet in other things this would be enough Every one naturally desireth the things that are excellent and is naturally covetous of honour and praise Would you have that which is in it self most excellent that which will make you above all others excellent that which most truly deserveth praise and will make you the truest objects of praise Oh get this fear of the Lord Give me leave to add another Argument or two 4. In the fourth place Consider the many Promises made in Scripture to the fear of the Lord Prov. 10. 27. The fear of the Lord prolongeth daies Prov. 14. 26 27. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children shall have a place of refuge The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death Prov. 15. 16. Little with the fear of the Lord is great gain v. 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom Prov. 19. 23. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life ch 22. 4. By the fear of the Lord are riches Psal 112. Psal 128. are full of Promises to the man that feareth God The things promised in these and those many other Promises annexed to the fear of the Lord are such as every one defireth Who would not have long life riches and honour Either you believe the Scriptures or you do not believe them if you believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God you must assent to whatsoever Propositions are revealed in them as Propofitions of eternal and

infallible truth whether the Proposition be dogmatical or promisory c. And indeed if you so believe you cannot but judge your selves reasonably engaged to labour for this fear of the Lord which shall most certainly have such a train of blessings waiting upon it 5. I will add one thing more There is no such preservative from all evil both of sin and punishment Evil of punishment is sensible evil Evil of sin is the greater evil but not so obvious to sense while the poor creature liveth here As to the former the evil of sin there 's no such preservative against that Prov. 16. 6. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil It is of the nature of fear well rooted in the heart to lay a restraint upon us from provoking the person of whose power we are afraid And 't is impossible that a soul should truly fear God and yet boldly knowingly and deliberately provoke him to vengeance There is no such preservative from the evil of sin as the fear of the Lord is Nor is there any such preservative from evils of punishment This indeed followeth upon the other for all punishment is the fruit of sin Prov. 28. 14. Happy is the man that feareth alway but be that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief It is not he that feareth alway but he that bardneth his heart that falleth into mischief I shall add but one thing more 6. Lastly There is no such remedy against the slavish fear of the creature as this filial and reverential fear of God Isa 7. You shall find v. 3. That God sent the Prophet to meet Ahaz His business was to incourage him a●d to del●ver him from the fear of the two potent adversaries Rezin and Pekah chap. 8● v. 13. saith he Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts So out Saviour Ma● 10. 10. and let him be your fear and let him be your dread And indeed it is but a reasonable thing A greater fear doth as naturally swallow up a lesser as a greater pain of the Stone or the like drowneth the lesser and causeth it hardly to be discerned Now this is no small advantage The bondage of fear which in this life we are subject to is no small bondage and it is no small blessing to be delivered from it But let this be enough to have spoken by way of motive to perswade people to this fear of Jehovah I have spoken so much concerning the excellent habit that me thinks I cannot but in charity judge there is by this time kindled in your hearts some desires after it and hear you whispering How should I get this fear of the Lord In order to it let me commend to you something of Meditation Observation Caution Faith Prayer 1. The first thing is Meditation as to which in this case let me commend to you a double Object The Word of God The Works of God The Word of God Deut. 4. 10. I will make them to hear my words that they may learn to Deut. 4. 10. fear me all the daies they shall live The holy Scriptures as to the matter of them have much in them which hath a natural tendency to affect the hearts of men and women with this dread of God 1. They tell you what God is what a great and glorious Majesly what a pure and holy God he is what a just and severe God he is How infinite his Power is that he killeth and saveth alive whomsoever he pleaseth throws to Hell and brings to Heaven whom he pleaseth from whence every rational soul must necessarily conclude the subjection of his poor feeble nature unto him and this apprehension as to any thing is the foundation of fear in us I mean of all reverential and servile fear They likewise tell you what God is in his Goodness and Mercy and the apprehension of this is the foundation of all filial fear 2. They tell you what God hath revealed that he will be and shew himself to be both to all impenitent and presumptuous sinners and to all those who are his children And 3. They tell you much what God hath been towards all sorts in the ancient issues of his Providence Now I would have you not only to read these but to meditate on them Meditation is the souls stand upon its object it s weighing of matter proposed and attention to it The want of this is one great cause there is so little dread of God in the world Have not men the Scriptures What house is there amongst us in which are not many Bibles Do they not read them many do but they do it in a vain formality without a due digestion and meditation so as the notions of holy Writ leave no impression upon their hearts Would men but allow the Word to have a place in their hearts did the Word of God dwell in them it were impossible one would think but this savour of it should be left behind men could not talk and walk as they do 2. Let the Works of God be also the matter of your meditation Come and see saith the Psalmist what desolations he hath wrought in the earth The truth is the wheel of Providence hath turned so strangely in the world since the world had an existence that if men could give themselves leisure to think of its motions to consider them in their causes in the manner of their revolution in the things brought to pass by them one would think it impossible but that it should affect their hearts with a dread of the Divine Majesty But of this more by and by 2. The second thing which I shall commend to you is Observation Observation of the motions of Providence I remember it is reported of Waldus the Father of those famous Christians the Waldenses that he was converted by seeing the sudden death of one of his companion● in the daies of his vanity Would we but obs●rve how Providence is every day ratifying the Promises cutting of blood-thirsty and deceitful me● who he hath said shall not live out half their daies bringing the Councils of Ahitophels to folly striking sinners dead in their full career of sin and sending them down in a moment to the pit and many other waies men could not but fear that great and glorious Name but we see and do not see These and such like examples are daily before our eyes and we observe them not and therefore we fear not God Christians if you would fear God observe the workings of his Providence much how in his great works he is daily confirming his Promises to his people and his threatnings to his enemies If the Word of God will not make you fear him yet surely his works must his works by which you see him justifying and giving a Being to his Word 3. If you would get this fear of God take heed of those things which have a direct tendency to harden your hearts from his fear 1. Take heed first of Atheistical Principles

betraies your intellectuals as want of judgement in things that differ and your judgement cannot but be erroneous where it is contrary to the judgement of God and of holy men who spake in Scripture as they were inspired by God 2. Let what you have heard bespeak a due value in you both of the fear of the Lord as the best thing● and persons fearing the Lord as the most excellent persons Certainly it is but reasonable that we should judge of persons and things as God judgeth of them as Solomon and David and those great Worthies we find recorded in Scripture have judged David Psal 16. calleth the people of God The excellent of the Earth Solomon tells you here that Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain but a woman fearing the Lord she shall be praised Though many Daughters have done vertuously yet she hath ascended above them all Oh let us thus iudge Regard not what vain men talk of people fearing God they speak after their Father whose works they do they do but disgorge the prophaneness filth and malice of their own hearts They have hated Christ and no wonder if they hate all those who bear any thing of the Image and superscription Let not the railings of these men let not their hard speeches and bitter censures and more bitter dealings guide your judgement You will one day find that the men whom they thus abuse are no Reprobates Men in power and authority one day will know that these are not these evil doers to whom they should be a terrour Ministers will know that they have abused their texts to turn the drift of them against persons fearing the Lord under the disguise of Schismaticks Fanaticks c. terms which many use in these daies not understanding what they mean If it be some mens worldly interest to do these things yet my Brethren take you heed of treading their steps Let who will revile and curse and blaspheme God hath blessed the persons that fear him and you shall one day see they shall be blessed Behold the Lord cometh saith the Apostle Jude with ten thousand Jude v. 13. of his Saints to execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Lastly Are persons fearing the Lord the most excellent persons give them then the fruit of their hands and let their own works praise them in the gates It is Solomons improvement of this notion in the words following my text Certainly there is nothing more reasonable than this is if it were give such persons as these the fruit of your hands it were but according to the manner of men who use to give Presents to Princes Favourites It were but to make friends of your Mammon of unrighteousness that when these things fail you may be received into everlasting habitations But I say no more than give them the fruit of their hands do not defraud abuse them give them that honour that room in the world which they deserve which they labour for and let their own works praise them in the gates Envy them not the praise of their own labours the honour which their own works purchase for them This brings me ●o my last part of my work that I may fulfil my text upon this Noble person for whom we are all mourners But I shall reserve that to a more full and particular discourse LIGHT IN DARKNESS OR A twofold Fountain of Comfort and Satisfaction to those who walking with God yet live and may die unsatisfied as to the sensible manifestations of DIVINE LOVE Discovered In a Discourse first Preached at the Funerals of the Right Honourable the Lady Catharine Courten late Wife to William Courten Esq and since inlarged for more publick profit By John Collinges late Preacher of the Gospel in Norwich Isaiah 50. 20. Who is amongst you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and seeth no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God LONDON Printed in the year 1669. To His Worthy and Honoured Friend WILLIAM COURTEN Esq Sir WHen I had once resolved to joyn these Sheets long since drawn up and in the hands of some of your noble friends in one Book with those relating to your Noble Aunt I had no great dispute with my self to whom according to the usual custom I should inscribe them You are the only Male Branch of this excellent Root the Heir of her Religion Vertue and Honour you were while she lived next to your dear Father the great object of her Love Care and Pious Sollitude For you it was that she so often so passionately even in her greatest Agonies begg'd our prayers she had you only and your sister to pour out sighs and tears to God for that you might be found constant and walking in the truth You alone can lay a just claim to her picture and these other Papers devoted to a memorial of her You are fittest to undertake the Patronage of her Honourable and Precious Name against such as to justifie others would fasten a Debauchery in Religion upon her Urn after fifteen or sixteen years rest in which since her death it might prescribe for the Faith in which she not only truly died but in so eminent a Profession and such particular Declarations of it as are not ordinary Alas Dear Sir for the sad occasion of this so late an impudent a slander but the judgements of God are a great deep You Sir since her death have been visiting the seat of iniquity the Country of the great Whore which hath made so many drunk and is yet by parcels intoxicating souls with her superstitious and idolatrous abominations you went not out of curiosity but upon a just call and to pay a duty to your Fathers Sepulchre Had your rare Mother lived till you took that Journey she would have cryed out with another kind of Devotion than Horace for his friend Virgil. Sic te cunctipotens Dues Sic pelagi Dominus Ventorumque regat Pater Obstrictis aliis praeter Naves quae tibi creditum Debes finibus Italis Reddas incolumem precor Et serves animae dimidium meae But it pleased God by death seven years before to deliver her from those fears in which your two years absence would have kept her and though she lived not so long as to attend you with her fervent prayers yet Sir I can tell you she had treasured up a large stock of prayers for you and she had begg'd a moving stock which was working for you when she ceased to be and by the infinite goodness of God hearing those prayers you were preserved both in your going and coming in the perils you ran by Land and by Sea Yea and preserved also free from those sensual and superstitious tinctures which too too many bring home with

them You have dear Sir made it appear in your practice that the fopperies of the Romish Religion are baits fit for no noble and ingenuous souls nor any that have once seen them in their proper element You have had an ocular demonstration of the folly that attends it and the licentious leudness tolerated and patronized by it and while others in a Land of Righteousness have learned wickedness and from the very Tents of Protestants have proved Renegadoes to the Faith makeing shipwrack both of it and a good conscience You have defied the Babilonish Whore in her very bed of filthiness and been faithful where Satan hath his Throne treading upon the Lion and the Adder and without harm trampling the young Lion under your feet 'T is Sir I hope because the Lord hath set his love upon you that he hath delivered you and he will set you on high because you have known his Name Go on dear and honoured Sir to make the tear of your Parents to be your fear to love that dear Saviour whom above all the world your dying Mother begged for your portion You must Sir give me leave chiefly to insist upon the mention of your Mother you know she alone was known to me so much as by face Go on Sir to justifie her interest in Heaven by making it appear that her prayers were for you heard and accepted Let all her Vertues and Graces be read in your holy conversation When she came to die though it was in the prime of her years it was no grief of heart unto her that she had consecrated her life to God and early drawn off her self from the perishing vanities of the world I can assure you Sir she never repented her of one of those very many hours which she had spent in prayers and tears on the behalf of her and your immortal soul or which she had spent in reading the Word of God or in hearing of it preached in season and out of season I speak this not Sir as in the least suspecting your forgetfulness of the Law or the life of your Mother but you can never enough remember her and as the Apostle speaketh I only desire to stir up your mind by way of remembrance I hope dear Sir you will please to pardon my offers of these Papers to you I have told you your interest in them and though they be but an inconsiderable Present yet your ingenuity will inforce your acceptance of them from him who under his present circumstances knows not better how to improve himself Sir Your most affectionate Friend and Servant J. C. LIGHT in DARKNESS PSALM 17. 15. But as for me I will behold thy face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake or in watching for thy likeness THE life of a Saint lies in contemplation and action Contemplation what God is in himself and what he is unto him And spiritual action doing what lies in his power for God The triumphing Saint beholdeth the face of God continually and this is the militant Saints object too but with this difference The Saint triumphant beholdeth the face of God in glory The Saint militant beholdeth his face in duty The one in Happiness the Psal 27. 4. 1 Cor. 13. 12. 1 Joh. 3. 2. other in Righteousness The former sees him face to face clearly these see him but it is in a glass darkly The former see him as he is the latter as he will please to reveal himself and as they are able to comprehend him yet both of them behold his face the one by faith the other by sight And the way to behold the Lords face in glory is first with the Psalmist to behold his face in Righteousness Satisfaction to our minds is the greatest blessing we are capable of and indeed the portion of none but Gods people who have an object in God proportioned to the capacity of their souls Other souls may be filled with wind but these only with wholesome sood Yea and every gracious soul hath it for his portion though in different degrees and from different accounts The Saints in glory see and are satisfied The children of God in this life believe and are satisfied both are satisfied the one from Faith the other from Sight the one from the evidence of things not seen the other from the glory and fulness of things which are seen Those in Heaven with waiting upon God these on Earth with watching for Gods likeness The living Saints satisfaction is not so full as his whose corruptible hath put on incorruption In some things he may be unsatisfied yea and go down to his grave in that dissatisfaction having received no other satisfaction from God but what he hath found in the performance of his duty but if he doth so fall asleep yet he shall awake and when he awakes he shall be satisfied with the divine likeness So saith the Psalmist When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness I think it needless to dispute whether David was the Author of this Psalm or no. A critical Expositor Lorinus ad loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes that some Greek Copies seem to favour another opinion reading the title of it A Psalm to or for David The Hebrew affix though it gives a latitude to such a conjecture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet it no way necessitates such a construction being indifferently used to express the Genitive as the Dative Case It is generally agreed to be a Psalm of David and the title is no other than that of other Psalms which were unquestionably penned by him Interpreters cannot agree the particular V. Vicars ad loc time or occasion of the composure Some of the Hebrew Writers affirm it composed at that time when Rabbah of the Ammonites was besieged by Joab as Captain General of Davids Army the story of which you read 2 Sam. 12. But as I see no foundation for that conjecture so I have this to offer against it That David at that time being settled upon his Throne and able to spare an Army to invade his enemies it is probable he had not so many nor so considerable enemies as he seems to complain of in this Psalm But leaving that disquisition the matter of the Psalm seems to us more considerable Who so wistly casteth an eye upon it will find it representing a child of light in darkness the man according to Gods own heart under a very great ecclipse as to the light of his countenance and that not only with respect to more external Providences but also as to more internal influences He had enemies from without v. 9. The wicked oppressed him deadly enemies compassed him about They spake proudly v. 10. They compassed him in his steps v. 11. They were to him like Lions and young Lions v. 11 12. As to internal influences his condition was sad He knew not what God would do with him v. 2. He prayes Let my sentence come forth

he who said If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 102. 3. never thought that himself should 2. Secondly Therefore this Righteousness of Sanctification is taken in an Evangelical sense and so it signifies 1. That universal habit of holiness of which the child of God is possessed teaching him to hate and strive against every sin to love and to press after every good work and to endeavour to do the whole will of God though it may be in many things he doth offend and this is that Righteousness which the most solid Interpreters judge here to be chiefly intended that which the holy Psalmist elsewhere calleth a respect to all Gods Commandments Psal 119. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I shall have respect to all thy Commandments I will not restrain the text to this but this doubtless is a great part of Davids meaning I will live an holy and righteous conversation having a due regard to all thy Commandments and keeping up in my soul a true hatred of every sin and of every false way Though I want the fulness which sinful men have though I be in a sad and afflicted condition though I be in the dark and cannot behold the light of thy countenance though my oppressors and my enemies be many and cruel and bloody yet will I not live like wicked and ungodly men who live more at case and have a greater degree of fulness but I will keep on the course of an holy life and conversation and then I shall behold thy face either here or hereafter either before I fall asleep in death or when I shall awake in the resurrection This righteousness then is the righteousness of a good conscience that which Saint Paul calls a living in a good conscience before God And again he tells us herein he did exercise Acts 23. 1. himself to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men The Chaldee Paraphrast reads it Truth In truth will I behold thy face Truth is opposed to Hypocrisie and to all falshood of conversation And indeed none can without presumption hope to see God but he who looks to behold his face in the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to him 2. In the righteousness of an holy life and conversation Without holiness saith the Apostle none shall see God 3. But there is yet a third thing which some understand by righteousness in this place Alii per justitiam intelligunt innocentiam versus hostes Lor. and in other texts is most certainly understood by it It is the particular habit of Justice and Innocency i. e. having an innocent heart and a righteous cause against unrighteous men I will come to thee O God who art a God of Justice and a Protector of innocent persons Holy David at this time was afflicted either by the persecution of Saul as some think or the rebellion of Absolom as others judge both of them rose up against him without a cause on their part not for my wickedness nor for my sin as he elsewhere saith Now saith David though my enemies be many and great and cruel yet I have done them no harm I have as to them a righteous heart and against them a righteous cause I will bring this righteous cause before thee This is the righteousness of which he speaketh v. 3. Let thine eyes behold the thing that is equal thou hast proved mine heart thou hast visited me in the night thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing So probably v. 1. he prayes Hear the right O Lord where the same word is used This sense will afford us this note Those who make their appeal to God in any cause and seck his face hoping to behold his face directing countenancing or assiting them must be sure their cause be a righteous cause One of the Hebrew Writers reads I will behold thy face for Alms the Rabbies so interpret the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they say to give Alms is both a piece of righteousness and a fign of it Indeed whosoever goes to God goes for Alms. But I shall discourse no more as to this term In Righteousness 1. In the Righteousness of my Lord the Mediatour 2. In the Righteousness of an holy conversation 3. In the Justice Innocency and Righteousness of my cause This is all comprehended in the term Righteousness I now proceed Will I or shall I behold thy face The word indifferently signifies the act of the body and of the mind Psal 58. 10. The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance that is when he shall with his bodily eyes see the righteous God revenging him upon sinful men Exod. 18. 21. Thou shalt provide there it doubtless implieth an act of Moses his mind weighing and considering what persons were fittest for Magistrates 2. But it sometimes signifies not a bare intuition but a most curious careful scrutiny or beholding It signifieth to contemplate Now when a man contemplates he doth not barely look upon a thing but he sixeth his eyes and thoughts and studies upon it from this word Prophets we are called Seers and it is a word often applied to their vision in which their minds were wholly taken up and their souls as it were wrapt up in exrasies Star-gazers from this word had their name in Hebrew And Criticks tell us our English word Gaze hath its original from it Now you know we use that word Gaze to express the action of them who are a long time looking upon a thing fully steadily and busily Further yet the word sometimes signifies to behold with delight and Pleasure To behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple Psal 27. 4. That was a pleasant sight Psal 84. 1. I will behold thy face in righteousness that is with the eye of my body or mind or both I will diligently constantly earnestly behold I will take pleasure in beholding Thy face The word used here signifies any outward superficies or exterior countenance of a thing being applied to God it signifies the manifestations of divine love whether in the gracious issues of providence or in the more inward influences of divine love God hath neither essential nor integral parts as we have he hath no head no hands no face these things only agree to God by analogy The face is the more noble outward part of as man most conspicuous and by which he is most known in which more than by any part else a mans temper and particular inclination and disposition to us is known So the face of God signifies 1. The favour of God in the sensible manifestations of it When we are angry we turn away our faces from our neighbours and being reconciled again to them we again look upon them So is the Lord in Scripture set out to us Psal 13. How long wilt thou hide Psal 13. thy face So when God is expressed as in favour with and reconciled to