Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A61227
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Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them, Psal.39.6.
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Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing S5142; ESTC R221820
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22,526
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32
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Truth And considering in my Mind the exceeding preciousness and necessity of the Truth in order to bring others and my self unto eternal Life it being equally necessary for that end as Meat and Drink to keep and preserve temporal Life as eternal Life is much beyond and better than this present temporal Life yea more then Ten Thousand fold here to allude unto those words of the Apostle Yet I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue In like manner if I had so much Money I had rather bestow five Pounds towards the Publishing of God's eternal Truth which is to feed up the Soul unto eternal Life then Ten Thousand Pounds to feed the Poor that is to feed their Bodies only Or suppose I had wherewithal and I did bestow five Pounds towards the Publishing of God's eternal Truth and also I did indeed bestow Ten Thousand Pounds towards feeding of the Poor yet I should have more expectation of a better Reward from God for the five Pounds expended that way than from the Ten Thousand Pounds distributed the other way because of the so much more Excellency and Preciousness of Truth which is for the saving of the Soul over outward Alms which is only for feeding of the Body It is the Command of God Buy the Truth and sell it not also Wisdom Instruction and Understanding For should not People lay out their Money to help forwards the saving of their Souls as the Truth doth Yet contrariwise People do day after day buy Meat and Drink to feed their Bodies but they grudge and will not lay out their Money for such Books wherein are contained the Words of Truth which are requisite and necessary to feed up the Soul unto eternal Life and to make it prepared for the Lord all one as Meat and Drink are necessary to nourish and keep the Body in Life The reason why People do not alike in one Case as in the other is besides that enmity against the Truth which is a Root of bitterness springing up and troubling them and thereby many are defiled Heb. 12. 15. Because also they are not alike sensible of the necessity of the Truth to the saving of the Soul as they are sensible of the necessity of Food in order to feed the Body But when that time is come which hasteneth upon all us living when now Meat is for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God shall destroy both it and them The Grass withereth The Flower fadeth and so all material visible things come to an utter end and shall be no more at all but the word of our God shall stand for ever Then shall ye return and discern of what necessity the knowledge of the Truth would have been to the saving of your Souls much more than ye can now discern in these Days of your flesh and ye will then be more sensible of that reproof of the Spirit of God Wherefore do you spend Money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Isa 55. 2. Wherefore do People spend all their Money for that Bread which was only for the support of this dying Life whereas it it is his requiring also that they should Consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance towards the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4. 13. And towards the making known his Truth Even then at the very time of receiving it might be perceived that the outward Bread though indeed it did feed the Body yet it did not satisfie the Soul and so it was not Bread to the Soul as it was to the Body Man doth not live by Bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of the Lord doth Man live By the Word of God the Soul is to live eternally This is that Bread which cometh down from Heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are Dead and so they that have what can be desired for Food and Rayment must die He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Now we are taken up chiefly if not wholly with things sensible then we shall be let into things Spiritual and they will by their remaining always before us be then the whole of our Thoughts although perhaps now it be none or the least of all It will be the Question and Reproof in the state of Eternity Why People did in the Days of their Flesh bestow their labour for that which satisfieth not The Scene will then change things will then appear opposite and contrary to what they do now O thou that dwellest upon many Waters abundant in Treasures thine end is come and the measure of thy Covetousness Jer. 51. 13. Then it will appear how little it doth sifnifie to have heaped up Riches and gotten Gain or to have been Cumbred abovt many things when one thing was needful and we should have chosen the better part which would not have been taken from us now all other things shall fail Then also it will most eminently and clearly appear how that Man did throughout this Life on Earth walk in a vain shew And he disquieted himself in vain He heapeth up Riches and knoweth not who shall gather them There is somewhat alike to this in Hab. 2 6. Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his How long And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay O that such People would consider of this who make it their main and principal end of Life and consume almost all their time in getting of Money or Riches They know not or are not sensible of as much or at least they do not take such warning so as to refrain how that the Spirit of God doth pronounce a Wo against them To Build and another shall Inhabit or to Plant and another shall eat the Fruit thereof is according to the Curse of God in the Book of Deuteronomy as also it is a Discouragement Vexation and Disquiet to the Creature in its seeking and labouring thereafter That increaseth that which is not his Ay but saith the Creature it is mine when I have it To which the Answer of God presently and immediately succeeds How long That is How long will it be before it is taken from thee Or how long will it be before thou shall be taken from it One Day will certainly come when it shall be no longer his when he shall be dislodged from this Tenement of Clay that is the Body and then he can no longer lade himself with thick Clay that is heap up Silver or Gold Let People be never so much Busied or Employed in heaping up Riches or getting Estates yet the Forty Ninth Psalm lies express against them For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his Glory shall not descend after him By reason that Death is to succeed and shut up all Therefore Man walketh in a vain shew Surely they