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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	word_n	work_n	writing_n	132	3	8.6510	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51702	An offer of farther help to suffering saints, or, The best work in the worst times wherein the necessity, excellency, and means of preparation for sufferings are clearly evinced, and prescribed : in which, as in a glass, the people of God may see how to dress themselves for death, or any other suffering to which the Lord shall call : added as an appendix to the Sufferers mirrour.	Mall, Thomas, b. 1629 or 30.	1665 (1665)	Wing M334A; ESTC R232064	84,072	143

with Cords and carryed away by a potent Conquerour Or as others to the Watery Vapours which are bound up in the Clouds and carrved by the Wind according to the motion of the Clouds Even so was the Spirit of this Holy Man effectually subdued and determined to his Duty notwithstanding the hazards attending it that he could no more keep himself back from his duty to which the Spirit so strongly impell'd him than a man that is wedged in with a Crowd can chuse but move as it moves So powerfully doth the Spirit of the Lord by his convictions and secret perswasions subdue and determine the Spirits of the Saints to the Work God hath to do by them Jer. 20.9 Act. 4.20 And it was well that the Will of God concerning this dangerous Journey to Jerusalem was so convincingly revealed unto Paul For shortly after he met with three strange Rubs in his way able to have stagger'd any man that had not an extraordinary degree of clearness and satisfaction in his own Spirit The first was from the Disciples at Tyre who pretending to speak to Paul by the Spirit said unto him that he should not go up to Jerusalem Act. 21.4 The Lord by this trying the Spirit of his Apostle much as he did the young Prophet coming from Judah to Bethel 1 King 13.18 Shortly after this he met with another great discouragement at Caesarea where Agabus whom Dorotheus saith was one of the 72 Disciples and had before prophesied of the Famine in the time of Claudius which accordingly came to pass he takes Paul's Girdle and binding his own hands and feet with it said Thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles Act. 21.11 And he well enough knew what the rage and malice both of the one and other against him was and what he must expect if ever he fell into their hands And then lastly he meets with a greater discouragement and pull-back then any of the forme even that passionate storm of affection and love wherewith his Friends assault him begging him with tears to decline that Journey Oh they could not give up such a Minister as Paul was and therefore fell upon him with their pathetical Entreaties and multitudes of Tears which even melted him down and almost brake his heart Whence by the way you may note that we cannot judge our selves discharged from any service by God because we meet with strange hinderances and cross providences in our way Divine Precept not Providence is to rule out our way of Duty Never man met with sorer set-backs and remora's then Paul here did but notwithstanding all this being fully satisfied it was the Lords will he should accomplish that service at Jerusalem he resolutely breaks through all those intercurrent difficulties with this heroick and truly Christian Resolution in the Text I am ready not to be bound onely but to die at Jerusalem for Christ The words consist of two general parts 1. Paul's loving and gentle rebuke of the peoples inordinate and unseasonable sorrow for his departure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What do ye Or as it 's render'd What mean ye Pray forbear your tears restrain your unruly passion if you continue thus I shall not die at Jerusalem for Christ indeed you 'l break my heart here The words in the Greek are emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comminventes breaking it all to pieces crumbling it into dust Oh what a temptation was this but it moved him not from his purpose They had even broken but could not divert his heart from the Work of the Lord. 2. The Considerations or Argument he useth to quiet them For I am ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am in a ready posture fitted for the Work be it a Prison or be it Death Liberty is a dear thing the very Birds of the Air had rather be in the Woods with their liberty though lean and hungry than in a Golden Cage with the best attendance saith one But I am fitted for Bonds saith Paul Nay that 's not all but I am ready also to die at Jerusalem To part with life is the highest point of Self-denial because all lower Self-Interests in the World are as it were twisted with and wrapt up in this Interest of Life He that is ready to deny his life for Christ is also ready to sacrifice all other even his dearest enjoyments for him also because these are all wrapt up in Life Yet for this he professeth to them he was ready But what was in this to satisfie them whose trouble it was to see him so forward Why there are three things hereby suggested to them in order to the calming of their spirits 1. In this they might see a Divine Hand that had been at work upon his heart fitting it thus for that service for certainly flesh and blood could not produce this And if it were of God there was reason enough for them to be quiet and not strive against God For there is nothing in the World will sooner still and quiet a gracious Soul than this to shew him how God hath signified his Will in the thing 2. I am ready my heart stands fully bent to Jerusalem and therefore you had as good be quiet and satisfie your selves for I am fixt and resolved upon it my Will is subdued to the obedience of the Divine Will in this thing your Tears and Entreaties are all in vain 't will be but lost labour 3. As it would be in vain to them he resolving not to gratifie them in that so it would be of very ill use to him I am now ready saith he God hath fully satisfied my Soul in the thing and not onely am I clear in this that it is my duty but in a good measure I am fitted for it I have overcome the Contradictions and Reluctations of the Flesh and brought my heart to a quiet submission to the Will of God It is therefore as great a disservice as you can imagine to do me Now to unfix and disorder my heart again by casting such Temptations as these in my way and by your tempting Tears to make the flesh rebel and the Enemy that is within to renew its opposition Thus you see the equipage and preparation of Paul's Spirit for Christ's service at Jerusalem And as this was not a bravado before he saw the Enemy but real and in earnest appears by his acting full up to this his noble Resolution when it came to the tryal 2 Tim. 4.6 7. So that it was a very glorious and excellent Spirit by which he did exceedingly glorifie the Lord and this readiness of Spirit was of singular use also to himself for this enabled him to break his way through the many and strange hinderances and discouragements that he met withall in that Journey Now though the Text be pregnant with many excellent and useful Notes yet the main

be subject but now it submits Act. 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do In the day of Christs power he presents himself in all his drawing glory and lovelyness before the Will and cryes to that stubborn Faculty Open to me open to me with which Word there goes forth an opening and subduing Power which the Will no sooner feels but it spontaneously moves towards him and saith Stand open ye everlasting Gates that the King of Glory may come in Henceforth it votes for God subscribes and submits to his Will as its onely Rule and Law and indeed it becomes the principal Seat where Grace makes its Residence and where for the most part it is more visible then in any other Faculty For after a man hath searched for it in all other Faculties and cannot discern it yet here he ordinarily finds it to will is present Rom. 7.18 3 The Will being thus gained to Christ Love comes in of course it feeling the power of Grace also presently changeth its Object It seizeth not so greedily on Earthly Objects as before but is strangely cooled and deadned to them by the appearance of a far greater Glory in Jesus Christ which hath so captivated the Soul and strongly attracted this Affection that it s now become very remiss in all its actings towards them and often especially at first it is so weaned from all things on Earth that the Temptation seems to lye on the other Extream even in too great neglect of our lawful Employments and Comforts Now Jesus Christ Cant. 1.3 his Ordinances Psal 119.97 and his Saints 1 Joh. 3.14 are the onely Delights and sweetest Companions he could sit from Morning to Night to hear Discourses of Christ his beloved and could live and die in the company of his people whose company is now most delightful and sweet Psal 119.63 4 The Desires are altered they pant no more after the Dust of the Earth Psal 4.6 but pant for God as the Hart for the Brooks of water Psal 42.1 Yea so big is the Soul with them that it 's sometimes ready to faint yea to break with the longing it hath after him Psal 119.20 5 The Thoughts are changed Psal 119.113 and the Thoughts of God are now most precious Psal 139.47 musing when alone of him and in its Solitudes the Soul entertains it self with a delightful Feast which its Thoughts of God bring in to refresh it Psal 63.5 6. 6 The Designs and Projects of the Soul are changed all are now swallowed up in one grand Design even to approve himself to God and be accepted of him 2 Cor. 5.9 and if he fail not there it will not much trouble him if all his other Designs should be dashed It were easie to instance in the rest of the Affections and shew how Grace spreads and diffuses it self into them all as Light in the Air or Leaven in the Lump but this may suffice to shew how it passes upon the whole Soul and enters the several Faculties and Affections thereof And the Soul being thus possest for God the Body with all its Members is consequently resigned up to him also For the Will hath the Empire of the Members of the Body as well as of the Passions and Affections of the Soul These are not any more delivered up to execute the Lusts of Satan but are yielded up to God for his ends and uses Rom. 6.19 And thus you have the third thing in the Description made out also that it is an universal as well as a reall Change But then 4. Lastly You must know that by this change God prepares a man for choice and excellent services and this indeed is the main thing designed in this Capter and is the result and issue of all that hath hitherto been said about this work of Grace Beloved can you imagine that God would imploy his infinite and glorious Power to produce his new Creature in such an excellent nature it being the Masterpiece of all his Works of wonder wrought upon man and not aim at some singular use and excellent end Every wise Agent designs some end and what God aims at he hath told us Isa 43.21 Ephes 2.20 And accordingly he expects singular things from such persons Mat. 5.47 If God had not aimed at some new service he need not have made a new Creature the old Creature was fit enough for the old use and service it was imployed in But God hath some choice service to be done wherein he will be glorified He will have his Name glorified even in this world by the active and passive obedience of his people But this being far above all the power of Nature God therefore brings them forth in a new and heavenly nature endowed with rare supernatural and divine qualities by which it is fitted and excellently prepared for any service of God by doing or by suffering which before he had no fitness or ability for The very make and constitution of this new Creature speaks its use and end As now if a man look upon a Sword or Knife supposing he had never seen either before yet I say by viewing the shape and properties of it he will say This was made to cut Even so here This new Creature was formed for some glorious and singular service for God to which it is exceedingly advantaged whether God put you upon doing or suffering If you ask wherein this advantage of the new Creature to honour God either way lies I answer It principally consists in its heavenly inclination or natural tendency to God This is its great advantage For by vertue of this 1. If God call a man to any duty there is a Principle with in closing with the Command without and moving the soul freely spontaneously to duty Psal 27.8 If God say Seek my face such an heart ecchoes to the call Thy face Lord will I seek And this is it which is call'd The writing of Gods Law in the heart Jer. 31.33 and must needs be a mighty advantage for now its work is its delight and wages Psal 19.11 The command to such a Soul is not grievous 1 John 5.3 And by this it 's kept from tiring in duty and being weary of its work as you see what pains Children can take at play how they will run and sweat and endure knocks and falls and take no notice of it put them upon any manual labour and they cannot endure half so much When our work is our delight we never faint nor tire at it This inclination to God is to the Soul as wings to a Bird or sails to a Ship This carries the Soul easily through every duty O there is a vast difference betwixt a man that works for wages and one whose work is wages to him And here you may at once see wherein the principal difference betwixt the Hypocrite and the real Christian lies in the performance of duty and also have a true account of the reason why one perseveres in his

36.37 Jer. 29.11 12 13. All that comes from God to you or to you from God must come in this Channell Be convinced then of the need you have to improve your selves herein as ever you hope to stand in the evil day But how are these praying abilities capable of improvement in the people of God Quest Praying abilities are either externall and common or else internal and speciall Sol. The external and common ability is nothing else but that dexterity and skill men get to express themselves to God in Prayer which men have by nature or industry Thus many can put their meaning into apt and decent expressions to which the Spirit sometimes adds his common touches upon the affections And this Hypocrites rest and glory in Or else they are special and internal whereby men are enabled to pour out their souls to God in a saving manner And this may be considered either in the Habit or Act. The Habit is given by the Spirit when the principles of Grace are first infused into the soul Zech. 12.10 Acts 9.11 By being sanctified we are made near and by acting those principles in Prayer we are said to draw near Psal 10.17 Now in our actual drawing near to God the Spirit hath the chief and principal hand and his assistance therein is threefold 1. He excites the heart to the duty 't is he that whispers to the Soul to draw nigh to God Psal 27.8 2. He suggests the matter of our Prayers and furnisheth us with the Materials Rom. 8.26 guiding us as to the matter not onely to what is lawful but also to what is expedient for us 3. He stirreth up suitable Affections in Prayer Rom. 8.26 and hence those groans and tears those gaspings and vehement anhelations But notwithstanding all our Abilities both habitual and actual be from the Spirit and not from our selves yet are they capable of improvement by us For though in respect of acquirement there be a great difference betwixt natural and supernatural Habits yet their improvement is in the same way and manner and this improvement may be made divers wayes For First Though you have the Spirit and can pray yet you may learn to pray more humbly then before Though you rise no higher as to words yet you may learn to lay your selves lower before the Lord as Abraham and Ezra did Gen. 18.27 Ezra 9.6 Secondly You may learn to pray with more sincerity then formerly Ah! there is much Hypocrisie and Formality in our Prayers much of Custom c. Now you may learn to pour out more Cordial Prayers See Psal 17.1 Psal 119.10 Thirdly You may learn to pray with more zeal and earnestness then before Some Saints have excelled and been remarkable for this Dan. 9.19 Hos 12.4 James 5.16 Fourthly With more assiduity and readiness at all times for it Ephes 6.18 Praying alwayes with all Prayer Hence Christ gives that commendation to the Church Cant. 4.11 Thy Lips O my Spouse drop as the Honey Comb The Honey Comb often drops but always hangs full of Drops ready to fall Fifthly You may learn to pray with more Faith Oh the Qualms of Unbelief that go over our Hearts in a Duty Faith is the Soul of Prayer and according to the Faith God finds in them he accepts and values them Now in all these things you may improve your selves abundantly 1. By being more frequent in the Duty Job 22.21 acquaint thy self with the Almighty in the Hebrew it is accustom thy self Those that have been excellent have also been abundant in it Psal 55.17 2. By taking heed that you grieve not the Spirit on whose influences and assistances you so intirely depend Even as much as a Ship doth upon the Gales of Wind for its motion 3. By honouring the Spirit which enables you to pray and that especially two ways 1 By dependance on him go not forth in your own strength to the Duty trust not upon your own promptness or preparations 2 By returning and with thankfulness ascribing the praise of all to him Be humble under all Enlargements Say Not I but Grace 4. By searching your own Hearts and examining your Necessities and Wants when you draw nigh to God this will be a Fountain of Matter and give you a deep Resentment of the worth of Mercies pray'd for 5. Lastly By looking more at the exercise of Graces and less at the discovery of Parts by labouring for Impressions more and pumping for Expressions less And thus I have briefly shewed you how to furnish yourselves with this needfull Qualification also CHAP. XI Wherein is shewed the necessity of going out of our selves even when our habitual and actual Preparations are at the greatest height and depending as constantly and intirely upon the Spirit who is Lord of all gracious Influences as if we had done nothing Together with the means of working the Heart to such a frame THus you have seen your habitual and actuall readiness for Sufferings and blessed is the Soul that gives diligence to this work But now least all that I have said and you have wrought should be in vain I must let you know that all this will not secure you unless you can by Humility Faith and Self-denial go out of your selves to Christ and live upon him daily for supplies of Grace as much as if you had none of all this Furniture and Provision for Sufferings I confess Grace is a very beautiful and lovely Creature and it 's hard for a man to look upon his own Graces and not doat upon them But yet know that if you had all these excellent preparations that have been mentioned yea and all Angelical Perfections superadded yet are you not compleat without this dependance upon Christ Col. 2.10 When ever you go forth to suffer for Christ you should say in the Head of all your excellent Graces Duties and Preparations as Jehosaphat did when in the head of a puissant and mighty Army 2 Chron. 20.12 O Lord I have no might nor strength but my Eyes are unto thee This was one thing in which Paul excelled and was a special part of his readiness See 1 Cor. 15.10 What a poor Creature is the eminentest Saint left to himself in in hour of trial the Hop the Ivey and the Woodlind are taught by Nature to cling about stronger Props and Supporters What they do by Nature we should do by Grace The necessity and great advantage of this will appear upon divers Considerations 1. The Christians own imbecility and insufficiency even in the strength and beight of all his Acquirements and Preparations what are you to grapple with such an Adversary Certainly you are no Match for him that conquered Adam hand to hand in his state of integrity It is not your in●erent strength that enables you to stand but what ●ou receive and daily derive from Jesus Christ Joh. 15.5 Without me or never so little separated from me ye can do nothing all our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5

ply your preparation-work close then 3. This will best answer the Grace of God in affording you such choice helps and advantages as you have enjoyed How long have you enjoyed the free liberty of the Gospel shining in its luster among you This Sun which to some other Nations hath not risen and to divers on whom it hath shined yet it is but as a Winters Sun remote and its Beams but feeble But you have lived as it were under the Line It hath been over your heads and shed its richest influences upon you Yea Gods Ministers who are not onely appointed to be Watchmen Ezek. 3.17 but Trumpeters to discover danger Numb 10.8 these have faithfully warned you of a day of trouble and given you their best assistance to make you ready for it And is not their joy yea life bound up in your stability in such a day of Tryal Doth not every one of them call upon you in the words of the Apostle Phil. 4.1 Therefore my Brethren dearly Beloved and longed for my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved Will it not cut them to the very heart if after all their spending labours among you they still leave you unready Enemies still to the Cross of Christ impossible to be reconciled and perswaded to suffering-work for Christ I remember I have read of the Athenian Codrus who being informed by the Oracle that the people whose King should be slain in battail should be Conquerours He thereupon disrobed himself and in a disguise went into the Enemies Quarters that he might steal a death to make his people victorious Oh! how glad would your Ministers be if you might conquer and overcome in the day of temptation whatever become of their lives and liberties Yea and if they be offered up upon the sacrifice and service of your Faith they can rejoyce and joy with you all Such is their zeal and longing after your security and welfare But if still you remain an unready people and do become a prey to temptation Oh how inexcusable will you be 4. Remember how ready the Lord Jesus was to suffer the hardest and vilest things for you He had a bitter cup put into his hands to drink for you into which the wrath both of God and man was squeezed out Dolor Christi fuit major omnibus doloribus Aquin. Never had man such sufferings to undergo as Christs Whether you consider 1 the dignity of his persou who was in the form of God and might have stood upon his peerage and equality with him he is the sparkling Diamond of Heaven Acts 7.56 The Darling of the Fathers Soul Isa 42.1 glorious as the onely begotten of the Father John 1.14 yea glory it self James 2.1 yea the very brightness of glory Heb. 1.3 He is the deliciae Christiani orbis fairer then the Sons of men And for him to be so debased below so many thousands of his own Creatures become a worm and no man this was a wonderful humiliation It was Jeremiah's lamentation that such as were brought up in Scarlet embraced Dunghills that Princes were hanged up by the hands and the faces of Elders were not reverenced But what was that to the humiliation of the Lord of glory Or 2 that he suffered in the prime and flower of his years when full of life and sense and more capable of exquisite sense of pain then others Aquinas For he was optimae complexionatus of a singular constitution and all the while he hanged on the Tree his sense of pain not at all blunted or decayed Mark 15.37 39. Or 3 the manner of his death It was the death of the Cross which was as a Rack to Christ for in reference to the distention of his members upon the Cross is that spoken Psal 22.17 I may tell all my bones Or 4 That all this while God hid his face from him When Stephen suffered he saw the Heavens opened The Martyrs you see here were many of them ravished and transported with extasies of joy in their sufferings but Christ in the dark He suffered in 〈◊〉 Soul as well as in his Body and the sufferings of his Soul were the very Soul of his sufferings It was the Fathers wrath that lay so heavy on him as to put him into such an agony that an instance was never given of the like in nature For he sweat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great drops or clodders of blood which fell from his Body to the ground Luke 22.44 It amazed him and made him very heavy See Mark 14.33 yea sorrowful even to death Matth. 26.38 And yet as bitter as the Cup was he freely and willingly drank it up John 18.11 prepared himself to be offered up a sacrifice Psal 40.6.7 gave his back to the Smiters Isa 50.6 yea longed exceedingly for the time till it came Luke 12.50 Now if Christ so cheerfully prepared and addrest himself to such sufferings as these for you should you not prepare your selves to encounter any difficulty or hardship for him O my Brethren Doth not this seem a just and fair inference to you from the sufferings of Christ for you 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind Oh trifle no longer feed not your selves with fancies and groundless presumptions of immunity and peace but foresee difficulties and fit your selves to bear them CHAP. XIV Containing the last use of the point by way of support and comfort to poor trembling souls who do take pains to make themselves ready for sufferings but yet finding such strength in Satans temptations and their own corruptions fear that all their labour is in vain and that they shall faint and utteriy Apostatize when theis Troubles and Tryals come to an height IN the last place If it be such a blessed thing to be ready for Bonds or Death for Christ this may minister much comfort to such souls who though they cannot say as Paul here did that they are ready yet are at work daily upon their own hearts to make them ready and strive in the use of all means to conquer those corruptions that hinder it and improve those Graces in which it mainly consisteth O poor soul what ever present unreadiness or indisposition thou findest and complainest of in thine own heart yet thy condition is safe Oh but I cannot be satisfied in that Ob. I fear I shall be over-borne by Temptations when they come to an height I have such experience of the Deceits and Treacherousness of my own heart that it seems impossible to me to do as these blessed souls did when I come to the like Tryals It s well thou suspectest thine own heart Sol. and tremblest in thy self this sear will keep thee waking when others are securely sleeping It was a good saying of a Reverend Minister Mr A.H. now with God He that fears to flinch shall never flinch for fear It 's true seeming grace