Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	abraham_n	call_v	canaan_n	1,554	5	10.1521	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52802	A Christians walk and work on earth, until he attain to heaven which may serve as a practical guide, and a plain direction in his pilgrimage thither, through his personal and relative duties : marvelously useful to all persons, and families of all ranks and qualities, both in city and country / by Christopher Nesse ...	Ness, Christopher, 1621-1705.	1678 (1678)	Wing N443; ESTC R3369	121,975	273

of Honour from them Deo servire est regnare saith Augustin And David accounted it a greater honour to be Gods Servant then to be Israels King Psal 18. Title The great God is the most honourable Master who Employs his Servants in this most honourable work and will undoubtedly pay them with the most honourable wages even with an hundred fould in this life and in the World to come with life everlasting Mark 10. 30. I have no cause to doubt but that you are both of you already true Spiritual Pilgrims in this Divine walk and work And I cannot but be confident that you both do Ardently affect what soever may promote your Progress herein O that my poor Labours might contribute any thing to further your passage If but some few steps I could then wish every word were Ten every line a Leaf and every Leaf a Volum and that both my Tongue and my Pen might have ten-fold more of the Divine tincture upon them to be serviceable to you thereunto Your God and the God of your Fathers hath already done singular things for you and therefore he doth expect singular things from you Math. 5. 47. Where the Husbandman bestows his greatest cost there he expects his largest crop Your Trading and your Talents should be proportionable to whom much is given of them much is Required Luke 12. 48. I beseech you therefore as ye have received how ye ought to walk and to work in this paradise of christianity into which the second Adam hath graciously restored you as the first Adam cast you out in himself from thence so ye would abound more and more 1 Thes 4. 1. According to the Divine directions herein presented you That ye may follow the foot steps of your Father Abraham who followed God blind-fold when called as you have been out of one Land into another Heb. 11. 8. That ye may be called at last from Earth to Heaven in Soul and Body as ye are already in Spirit after ye have walked out your generation-work in Abrahams steps to be safely lodged in Abrahams bosom that the blessing of Abraham may come upon the hearts of your Son and Daughter and of their seed for ever and that your Walls and theirs may be continually before the Lord of the whole Earth Isa 49. 16. All this is the unfeigned desire and hearty Prayer which shall never be wanting of Your Worships sincerely and thankfully Devoted Christopher Nesse To the READER Candid and Christian Reader HEre I present you with the Walk and Work of a Christian upon Earth till he get to Heaven Wherein 1. Observe the matter And 2. The method hereof 1. The matter is twofold 1. Your Walk and 2. Your Work 1. As to your Walk there be three remarkable phrases in the holy Scriptures that all concern your Christian Walk 1. A walking with God 2. A walking before God And 3. A walking after God The first was that Walk of Enoch who is said to walk with God Gen. 5. 22 24. as a man walks with his friend with whom he is well agreed Amos 3. 3. hand in hand and heart in heart aequis passibus in equal pace and equipage And this he did not only for an hour or a day or a week or a month or a year but for 300 years Alas we can neither watch with Christ nor walk with God for the space of one single hour Mat. 26. 40. The second was the Walk of Abraham who is bid to walk before God Gen. 17. 1 that is to set himself evermore solemnly in Gods Presence as having the great God always in his Rear his Lieutenant-General and for his rereward Isa 52. 12. Thus the people of the God of Abraham had the cloudy pillar behind them in their passage through the red Sea Exod. 14. 19 20. where Jehovah himself brought up the Rear of 600000. Now to know that you are ever under Gods eye and ever before him this must needs make you walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accurately Eph. 5. 15. and not to take up one foot until you know where to set down the other walking exactly by line and by rule and as it were in a frame footing it rightly and uprightly as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Gal. 2. 14. striving to get to the very top of Godliness The third was the Walk of Israel who were commanded to Walk after the Lord Deut. 13. 4. as after the Captain-General of their salvation Heb. 2. 10. Thus the pillar of glory went before them through the wilderness and they followed after it in all their removes Exod. 13. 21 22. Thus Caleb with a better Spirit than that of the World walk'd after God fully Numb 14. 24. as the needle doth after the Load-stone that draws it Cant. 1. 4. Joh. 6. 44. you walk after a good guide while you walk after your good God and in so doing you cannot easily wander in this wilderness of the World This will be a blessed Antidote to you against cursed Apostacy 2 Pet. 3. 17 18. and thus God must be your All and in All Col. 3. 11. he must be with you before you and behind you also that you may be as a Ship under Sail carried end-ways strongly by a favourable Wind and fearing neither Rocks nor Sands in the River of Gods Paradise Psal 46. 4. Gen. 2. 10. to 15. This same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Revel 10. 9 10. Or little Book is a rude draught or Plat-form or Land-Skip of the Gospel-garden of Eden the true Spiritual Paradise of pleasure the sublimest Spring-garden of Scriptural-Holiness wherein you have not only pleasant Rivers as above but also delightful walks far surpassing the best gardens and galleries that can be found in this Chabul 1 King 9. 12 13. or dirty world Herein you are directed not to be Idle nor to stand still but to go forward as walkers do and to walk Arm in Arm as it were not only with God but with his holy Angels Zech. 3. 4 5 7. Mat. 22. 30. Isa 57. 2. And that not in one walk only but in many Delectable walks whereof this blessed Paradise of Piety consisteth insomuch that as the laborious Bee in a fruitful field of fragrant Flowers when Tyred with one Flower flyeth to another even so you when wearied with one walk or duty for you may be weary in it when you are not weary of it then may you pass to another without nauseating upon any one only you may walk Orderly out of one Ordinance to another Secondly as to your work which is as the walk the best work in the World though it be least minded by the World 't is a work wherein you serve the most honourable Master that employs his Servants in the most honourable work and will reward them with the most honourable wages to wit with an hundred fold in this life and in the world to come again with life everlasting Mark 10. 30. yea 't

forme but you cannot die by a forme T is the power of godliness that is godliness indeed Godliness quasi Godlikeness it makes you like God as ungodliness makes you unlike God holy as he is holy 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. 22. As Godliness is the recovery of the Image and likeness of God which man lost by ungodliness in eating the forbidden fruit So 't is the whole frame of grace spreading like blessed leven over all the three measures of meal not only the understanding will and memory but also the Body Soul and Spirit Matth. 13. 33. 1 Thes 5. 23. through the gracious overshadowings of the holy Ghost Godliness is as it were God manifest in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. as God was manifest in the flesh of his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodily Col. 2. 9. Joh. 1. 14. So God is manifest in the Flesh of his Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritually as the Father Son and Holy Ghost are all said to take up their abode and to live to dwell to tabernacle and to temple in them Joh. 14. 23. 17. 23. Gal. 2. 20. Eph. 3. 17. Revel 21. 3. 1 Cor. 6. 19. Rom. 8. 11 c. 23. Godliness is a compound of all the graces of the Spirit as so many Ingredients to the making up of this blessed Composition 't is the life and exercise of every grace of faith and love of joy peace and praise of Self-denial and devotion of patience and obedience of hope and perseverance It containes in it your trusting in God your worshipping of God and your obedience to God yea lastly your very Victory and Triumph over all your Enemies the flesh the World and the Devil Godliness therefore must be the main thing that you must look for and labour after as 't is the main thing that God looks after Psal 14. 2. God looked down from Heaven what for Not to see how fair how strong how Rich how great how Honourable Men were but how good how godly how Righteous how Religious they were 24. Hence Solomon tells you that wisdom is the principal thing and with all your getting you must get it principally Prov. 4. 7. and one greater than Solomon even your blessed Saviour bids you Seek first the Kingdom of God and all other things shall be added unto you as paper and pack-threed are cast into the bargain Matth. 6. 33. Godliness is the Sublimest wisdom 't is wisdom that is from above Jam. 3. 17. and the fear of God is the beginning of this wisdom Psal 111. last Deut. 4. 6. Yea 't is not only the beginning of it but 't is also the middle and the ending thereof too Say the world what it will Godliness is the greatest gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. and brings a great deal of gain with it besides it self though it self be great gain Godliness is great gain of it self though no more be gained but it self having the promises of both lives annexed to it 1 Tim. 4. 8. 'T is a fat land and fruitful of all sorts of blessings at its gates are all manner of pleasant fruits laid up for those that do inhabit it Cant. 7. last 'T is a tree of life on which do grow Temporal Spiritual and Eternal blessings and you may count all the Stars sooner than all the mercies that come flying upon the wings of Godliness 25. Yea Godliness is not only great gain but 't is better than gain for you cannot carry your gain 1 Tim. 6. 7. out of the World but you may your Godliness and your works of Piety shall follow you into a better world Revel 14. 13. besides Godliness is such a blessed thing in it self that it is a reward to it self in as well as for keeping Gods commandments there is great Reward Psal 19. 11. therefore look upon it as not only your duty but also your priviledg not only your work but your reward too Wickedness is a punishment to it self in the many Cordoliums and heartquakes that do attend it but Oh the peace and pleasantness that is found in the pathes of Divine wisdom Prov. 3. 17. a sweet tranquillity of mind doth always attend upon a Godly life 26. You may aske all those blessed spies which the Lord hath sent to spie out this Land of Godliness as they did the Land of Canaan Numb 13. 17 18 19 20 27. they can tell you that the Land is a good Land a fat not a lean Land a land that floweth with Milk and Honey and they can shew you some of those blessed clusters of Canaans grapes saying this is the fruit of the land The plagues of the Lord fall upon those that bring an evil report upon this good land Numb 13. 32. with 14. 37. The Apostle tells you that Godliness is profitable unto all things The Babylonians faith Plutarch make 360 commodities of the Palm Tree but there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thousand benefits to be got by godliness Riches Honours Delights Pleasures life and length of days Seed and posterity are all entailed upon godliness Prov. 3. 15 16. Oh who would not then turn Spiritual purchaser and with all his gettings get Godliness with any pains and for any price the least dram whereof is saving and so better worth then the Riches of both Indies 27. They bring up an evil Report upon this good land that slanderously say Godliness doth beggar Men whereas 't is more truly said that ungodliness doth begger Men. That this contrary is the truth the Vales of Godliness are above the wages of wickedness the gleanings of the former is above the whole Vintage of the latter do but look into the world and you may behold many fair Estates have been melted away by Whoredom Idleness Pride and Drunkenness Such ungodly wretches are doubly undone by their own ungodliness they are undone in this life and undone in the life to come while the little that a godly Man hath by a special blessing of God upon his godliness doth encrease to a thousand Psal 37. 16. Abraham Job David and others were richer than any and so might Men be now If they could or would be as godly as they were They sought godliness and Gods Kingdom first and therefore other things sought them and so they would do us would we or could we but run the same method They did not read Gods truth backward making Earth their Throne and Heaven their footstool as the Heathens Vertue after Money Philosophy teaches to seek first bona Animi the good of the Soul and Divinity Regnum Dei the Kingdom of God then the over-plus shall be added as the wise God Judges meet the Proverb of blind Popery shall shame those slaunderers Meat and Mattens never hinders thrift 28. Another evil report upon godliness is that it destroys all mirth delight and pleasure alas Swine think that sheep have no pasture because they feed not upon draff as they do So the wicked World accounts godliness a Melancholy fancy

that I refer you to that Religious Duty of Meditation which followeth here there is another Conversation of your Tongue as to that I refer you to that Religious Duty of Conference which followeth also in ' its place here As to your Conversation in natural and civil Actions which is not my present Work I refer you to my Crown and glory of a Christian from Page the 78. to Page 121. Wherein you have directions to guide you therein 2. Religious Duty in the Walk of a Christian is therefore a comprehensive Word and contains in it the All of mans duty both to God and to Man as the first Table in the Decalogue is before the second Table First in Order because first in nature and Excellency I shall begin therefore with your duty to God in Religious Actions And first with Meditation which is a Scripture duty Phil. 4. 8 that all the Sons and Daughters of Abraham should live in the practice of as Isaac did Gen. 24. 63 the heir of Abraham you must walk in Abrahams and in this Son of Abrahams steps in this World If you would lodge in Abrahams bosome that Synonymon of Heaven in the World to come alas those licentious times have almost Antiquated the power and practice of this Religious Duty in which you should be conversant all your days This holy Patriarch was not of so loose a mind as those in our loose times that would spend the evening of the Sabbath in Sports and pastimes for he spent the Evening in holy Meditation 3. The Word Shuach in the Hebrew Signifies to speak with a low voice as in the heart and the Word in the Septuagins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signifies a satiating Soliloquy as if Isaac had his fill of Divine talking both with his God and with his own heart It was his holy Exercise and Recreation thinking the latter part of the day as fit for Acts of Holiness as the former part was It was a pleasant and delightful pastime as the Greek Version is to the Patriarch and he found more heart-Ravishing complacency in it then can be found in all the delights of the Sons of Men and no less it was to the Prophet who professes he found more transcendent sweetness in Meditating on the Word then in the honey or in the honey-comb Psal 19. 10. 94 19. 139. 17. 119. 103. he found marrow and Gold yea better in it 4. Oh then do you account it your duty and your priviledg to take a few turns daily upon this Mount Tabor of Divine Contemplation which is an Heaven upon Earth a beginning of the beatifical vision an Employment as it is in a manner without the body plainly Angelical 't is an handsel of Happiness and a Foretast of Heavenly Joy Oh who would not but be an Anchorite to be pent up in the Voluntary Prison-walls of this Religious Action and to say with Peter 't is good being here No doubt but Moses was ravished in Spirit all the 40. days he conversed with God yet longs he still for more crying I beseech thee shew me thy glory Exod. 33. 18. 5. Objection but you will say how can such a duty be so delightful that is so difficult to this I Answer by Similies difficulty and delight may be found in one and the same Action there may be difficulty in the beginning and delight in the progress and ending the root may be Bitter and the fruit Sweet 1 Simile 'T is in this duty as it is in the heating of an Oven the first kindling of the fire in it may be not only difficult but painful the fewel must be set on fire and then it must be blown up with labour into a Flame after that the Oven begins well to warm the fewel will then catch and kindle of it self no sooner is a stick thrown into the Oven but presently 't is all on a blaze So where there is but a little sparke of grace in the heart at first it requires some paines to blow it up into a Flame but when the heart is once heated with the true Flames of Love then doth it enflame all the thoughts and sets the affections on fire insomuch that then this duty will not only be without difficulty but with much delight 6. 2 Simile 'T is with your heart as it is with that wax which hath been laid in cold places it thereby becomes hard and unpliable to your hand insomuch that it will break rather then bend but if laid a while in the Sun or by the fire or if wrought a while in your warm hand then doth it soften and become pliable and so capable of any Impression Thus will it be with you in this Divine duty the greatest difficulty lyes in your entrance into it for corrupt nature and carnal principles will put forth a repugnancy against it and therefore flesh must be put to silence in this blessed duty which is mainly the exercise of the Spirit in you the experience of all ages tells you as well as your own 3 Simile that the entrance into Learning is attended with difficulties and discouragements but when once the Nut-shell is crack'd and the sweetness of the Kernel tasted then do youth pass through all difficulties with delight till at last they become Famous Instruments in Church or State 7. 4 Simile This duty is indeed as the climbing upon some high Tree Monument or Mountain all hard Work but then there is a blessed compensation for all your paines at the top of all these First at the top of this Tree of life there be the choicest fruits to nourish up your Soul to eternal life Secondly at the top of this Monument of mercy you have the most lovely and Soul-refreshing and heart ravishing prospect even transforming and transfiguring you into the glory of it Thirdly at the top of this Mountain of God and of Holiness you may behold not only the Kingdomes of this lower World and the Vanity of them quite contrary to the Devils land-skip showed to your Lord but also the glories of a better World as Moses from the Top of Pisgah the upper land of Canaan that transendently flows with Milk and Honey Digging in Mines of the Earth a pressing of grapes in the Wine press c. Are both hard works yet finding fine Gold in the Mines of the Scriptures by this Spiritual digging and a rich Wine flowing from this blessed Wine-press of Divine Meditation will make a satisfactory Amends for all your paines at last 8 Having removed this Objection out of your way as Amasa's body was out of the Armies way that their March might not be hindred 2 Sam 20. 12 13. Let us now proceed to shew as I st how pleasant this duty is so 2ly how profitable both to your self and to others 1. Io your self upon a twofold account 1. For preventing evil Belzebub that Prince of Flies cannot Fly blow your heart so long as it is boiling a good matter