Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	key_n	open_v	shut_v	4,249	5	9.3501	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38021	The plague of the heart its [brace] nature and quality, original and causes, signs and symptoms, prevention and cure : with directions for our behaviour under the present judgement and plague of the Almighty / by John Edwards ...	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1665 (1665)	Wing E209; ESTC R41111	40,611	53

thought worthy to lye under the Rich mans table but now he is taken into Abrahams bosom So true is that of the Sweet Singer of Israel Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace but the transgressours shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off Another duty that I must direct you unto and desire you to be servent in is Seeking of God by Prayer This is seasonable at all times but now more especially in the needfull time of trouble When should we with greater importunity make our addresses at the Throne of Grace then when we are in the jaws of death and are like to be swallowed up hourly When thou canst do nothing else thou mayst pray and cry mightily unto God in behalf of th●s distressed Land Oh! labour to extort mercy from God by a holy violence do thou with Moses stand in the gap and turn away Gods wrath take this holy cens●r of Prayer and with Aaron stand between the living and the dead God is our refuge and strength a very present help in time of trouble And to God the Lord belong the issues from death To him therefore do thou lift up thy soul begging earnestly that He would fit thee for trouble sorrow and sickness that he would strengthen thee upon the bed of languishing and make all thy bed in thy sickness then be sure 't will be soft and easie that he would remove his stroke or Plague away from thee and from the place where thou livest Is any among you afflicted let him pray This is St Iames his Catholicon or Vniversall remedy this is that powerfull key which heretofore hath opened the windows of heaven and made a paessage from the belly of the whale and this is the key which still opens the doors of mercy Open therefore with Prayer in the morning and shut up with it in the evening have frequent recourse to him that heareth prayers make thy complaint to God when none else will hear it send up strong crys and groans to Heaven and be sure to remember this that 't is not fluency but f●rvency 't is not ●loquence but importunity 't is not many words but the Spirit which God most minds and will answer thee for To Supplication thou must add Thanksgiving bless God therefore for his sparing thee and this Land so long bless God this sad season that thou enjoyest any mercy it is Gods goodness patience and long sufferance that we are engaged unto for so long a respite and freedom from the Pestil●nce It is many years since this noisome disease hath made any considerable inroads upon us and now that it is broken out amongst us those of you my Beloved who by divine providence watching over you are wholly shielded and secured from this grievous Plague and Sickness so that it neither touches you nor your Relations those of you I say are more especially bound to praise and magni●ie the singular goodness of God And you have all of you without distinction abundant cause to praise and extoll the Lord of heaven and earth that though the Plague walks through your streets and poverty like its companion goes along with it yet he hath not wholly taken away his mercies from you The generality of persons in this place are as healthful now as heretofore The staff of bread is not broken God crowns the year with his goodness and makes his paths drop fatness But be thy case never so mean be thou and thine reduced to never so great straits be thy condition worse then I can express thou hast still reason to praise God He hath not dealt with thee after thy sins nor r●warded thee according to thy iniquities Thou art not worthy of the least mercy thou deservest nothing at Gods hands but H●ll and therefore thank God heartily that he hath not crushed thee to pieces and caused the pit to shut its mouth upon thee The next thing I would commend unto you for the upholding of your spirits in sad times is that in imitation of the best and holiest servants of God you would make use of former experiences Remember the days of old look back and consult the mercies you have received heretofore Do you not observe that in this time of Sickness persons ask after the old Plagu●-water the anti●nt Antidotes and Electuaries used in former years of Contagion Let us in like manner call to minde those former gracious Instances and Experiments of Gods loving kindness to us Oh taste and see that God is good Labour to regain that excellent taste and rellish which you once had upon your souls They that know thy name will put their trust in thee ●aith the Psalmist Your experimentall knowledg and observation of divine goodness in times past should be used as an argument to induce you to trust in God for the future So it was in St Pauls Logick Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us As there are some who have nothing to live upon these sad times but what they have laid up before so let me desire you in another and better sense to spend now upon the stock that is remember how good God hath been to you and do not look upon the mercies already received as so many sad omens and forerunners of your ruine but rather as pledges and earnests of greater blessings And as you must look backward unto Gods former mercies so look forward and prepare for further afflictions Lay in yet a larger stock thou wilt have need of it all when thou art sick and in sorrow Provide then for affliction by meditating on it before hand make it now familiar to thy thoughts and so it will be entertained with contentment when it comes Ask thy self thus How should I bear it if God should cast me on a bed of sickness What if I should go down the wind if my credit should crack and my friends fail me What if God should take all my outward enjoyments from me stripping me naked and turning me so into the wide world I have received good things at Gods hand how shall I do to receive evill things Thus by putting these demands to thy own soul and by conversing as it were with the cross thou doest take it up by little and little thou bowest thy neck and fittest it for the yoak Oh then fail not to parly thus with afflion at a distance for thou knowest not how soon it may enter thy doors break into thy family and lodg with thee and thine whether thou wilt or no. Prepare for Gods hand provide for thy departure think that thou hearest those words spoken to thee which were once to Hez●kiah Set thy house in order for thou must dye Be not afraid to take Death by the cold hand and go along with him and lye do●n in the dust Being prepared