Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	aaron_n	act_n	immediate_a	16	3	10.4735	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94070	XXXI. select sermons, preached on special occasions; the titles and several texts, on which they were preached, follow. / By William Strong, that godly, able and faithful minister of Christ, lately of the Abby at Westminster. None of them being before made publique.	Strong, William, d. 1654.	1656 (1656)	Wing S6007_pt1; Thomason E874_1; ESTC R203660	309,248	523

generation then take heed to walk close with God It is good for you to draw neer to God But Secondly it is good for you to draw neer to God when all things else withdraw themselves from you My Beloved it is good for a Christian to make such a supposition as the Prophet Habbakuck doth in Chap. 3.17,18 Though the Fig-tree should notblossom though there be no fruit in the Vine though the labour of the Olive should fail and the fields should yield no meat the flocks should be cut off from the folds and the Herds from the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and I will triumph in the God of my salvation Mark he doth not only pitch upon those comforts that are rather for complement then necessity but the choicest provision as I may so speak of the worlds making here is the Fig-tree the Vine the Olive the Field the flock and he saith not If any of these should fail then they might be recompenced with the labour of the other but if all these should fail together and conspire to make man miserable and not only to fail in hope but even what you have already in possession When doth a man think his flocks to be certainer then in his folds and his herds then in his stalls but though the flocks and the herds should fail what now will bear up his soul I will rejoyce in God Oh it is time to keep close to God let me tell you the Land reels to and fro like a Drunkard sometimes leanes this way you know it and sometimes that way truly when the Land begins to sink under a mans feet once foundations shake then it is time for a man to lift up his hands and to take hold of heaven restat iter coelo for this will be the great cut to a mans heart when he shall be shut out of all things here below as it was with Saul in his agonie the Philistins made war against him and God hides his head the Philistines made war so they did many times before and Saul got the better Saul had now an Army in the field I but though he had an Army Saul had lost his God the Lord is departed from me and answers me no more This is the best way indeed to keep close to God it is time to draw neer to God when all things else withdraw themselves from you Thirdly it is best because if you draw neer to God God will certainly draw neer to you he hath promised it in Jam. 4.8 Draw neer to God and he will draw neer to you and the approach of God summs up all Gen 15.1 for in his presence is fulness of joy It is a mighty expression Rev. 21.7 that he that overcomes shall inherit all things I and that of our Savtour Mark 10.30 If a man forsake father and mother house or lands he shall have a hundred fold more in this life a hundred fold in some respect he cannot have an hundred Fathers or an hundred Mothers but Interpreters say it is not to be understood formaliter but eminenter he shall have all the comforts in God that these could afford him if they were a hundred times more Oh then draw neer to God and God will certainly draw neer to you But I but name things Fourthly to draw neer to God is best for by this means you shall be preserved from the evil that other men suffer the evil of suffering The promise is in Psal 91.10 He that dwelleth under the shaddow of the most high no plague shall come nigh him he will give his Angels charge over thee it notes a constant fellowship thou shalt be the special charge that the Angels have I shall desire you but to consider the Lord hath projects of providence for his peoples preservation as well as for his enemies destruction Noah walked with God and had an Ark when the rest of the world of ungodly men perished in the waters David a man that kept constant communion and we see how the Lord owns him in all his tryals and appears for him upon all the glory there shall be a covering and there are projects of providence beyond the wisdom of men or Angels for the Lord knows how to deliver the just from all their trouble and how to reserve the wicked to the day of Judgement These things now I am forced to pass over Lastly and so we will hasten to the Application It is best for men to draw neer to God because a close communion keeps up in a mans soul those qualifications as shall make every afliction comfortable and easie be the times never so bad for the drawing neer of the soul to God is like the Sun to the earth which by its heat and perfect influence puts life vigour and beauty into things dead and withered before Cant. 1.12 Communion with God is the spring-time of all grace and therefore I will but name them First Communion with God will keep a mans soul in a silent humble frame that was the fruit of Aarons Communion in Levit. 10.3 a great cross be fell him he lost two Sons taken away by an immediate act of Gods hand even in an act of sin yet Aaron held his peace Aaron held his peace fellowship with God will certainly keep the soul in a peaceable submissive frame that be the affliction what it will be the soul shall say Gods will is the rule of goodness when Judgement was pronounced against Hezekiah good is the word of the Lord and Iob the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away Secondly fellowship with God will keep a mans soul in a holy independency upon the things below there is nothing my Beloved puts a mans soul out of band with the creature like communion this is the way to have the Moon under your feet as the expression is for that in fellowship with God a man that knows what it is to have close communion knows that he doth really set his feet where other men set their hearts it puts the mouth out of tast to all creature comforts to him Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost though the world were on fire about his ears yet he hath lost nothing for his portion is enough In the third place as a holy independency so a holy magnanimity of spirit he shall not think those things great that other men think insupportable Iesus Christ endured the Cross and despised the shame and the shame of the cross was the greatest suffering Why do you weep and break my heart I am ready not only to be bound but to die for him Luther And Luther I remember when the enemies gave out that he had recanted he writes in a Letter of his that I will never recant think that I will do any thing rather then recant be the dangers and threatnings what they will be they are not careful to answer thee in this matter omnia de me praesumes praeter fugam