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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	faith_n	pray_v	prayer_n	7,073	5	6.7309	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23806	A funeral handkerchief in two parts : I. Part. Containing arguments to comfort us at death of friends, II. Part. Containing several uses which we ought to make of such losses : to which is added, Three sermons preached at Coventry, in December last, 1670 / by Thomas Allestree ...	Allestree, Thomas, 1637 or 8-1715.	1671 (1671)	Wing A1197; ESTC R14326	214,765	404

I know there is a kind of bastard counterfeit patience which as one saith ariseth from the natural constitution whereby the heat not abounding too much the man is not so prone as some others to choler and discontent but useth his reason in ordering of himself and bears what he cannot avoid but this is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shadow and picture of true patience which indeed is an herb of Grace not growing in Natures Garden or if you will it is a Slip taken from the Tree of Life and planted in the Soul by the finger of God it is of an heavenly extract or descent from God as well as Faith Phil. 1.29 Men naturally meek good natures as we call them may bear a little but not enough nor in a right manner nor to right ends without the supernatural work of patience The Apostle placeth it amongst the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 23. Well then If any man be afflicted let him pray Jam. 5.13 Let him under loss of Friends or any other Affliction lay open his sad condition before God in prayer as a man opens his mind to his Friend So did Hannah 1 Sam. 1.12 and then with her ver 18. he may in time come from prayer and his countenance no be more sad The End of the First Part. Deo gratias A Funeral Handkerchief The Second Part. Containing severall Uses which we ought to make of the Death of Friends By Thomas Allestree M. A. Rector of Ashow in the County of Warwick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nocumenta documenta Hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Psal 90.12 LONDON Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1671. To that Worthy Gentleman and my much esteemed Kinsman Mr. William Allestree Living in Darby Grace and Peace be multiplied Dear Sir DIvine Providence hath deprived you of many dear Friends and Relations amongst others he hath taken away your Religious Parents and lately your dear * M●is Frances Lorymore Wife the choicest under heaven of all your outward Possessions and Delights made nearer unto you by Marriage than either Father or Mother I call her one of Gods Jewels such there are Mal. 3.17 she was little of stature but of great worth She was a Great Fortune but which is more considerable she was an huge good person She was a constant frequenter of the Ordinances a strict observer of the Sabbath her Family-devotion was great and her secret ejaculations fervent and constant She was meek modest chaste courteous charitable patient humble c. These and the like Virtues came streaming into her Soul from the Fountain of Divine Grace She was no scoffing Michal nor you a churlish Nabal The onely strife betwixt you was this which should shew most dearness and tenderness so pleasing was your deportment each to other that one would think one Soul animated two Bodyes You did never grieve her Spirit but by your excessive grief to see her in that extreamity of She dyed in child-bed pain which with greatest care you could not remedy and with admirable patience and Christian courage she chearfully underwent She was not afraid of Death Though she loved her Husband as dearly as any Christian ought to do yet she loved him much less than her Saviour and she knew that Death would bring her to an happy sight of him and I doubt not but she is with him whom her soul longed for What remains sweet Sir but that you look upon your self at least as half dead and become a most serious and mortified man I know when God first snatched this precious Jewel out of your bosom you were sadly affected with your loss indeed her Funerals were celebrated with great solemnity with many a weeping eye and sorrowful heart let not sensual delights make you to forget it Labour to get good by this affliction Let her Memory be still pretious with you not for adoration leave that foppery to the Papists but for imitation And that you may make a right use of this and such like losses which have and may still befal you let me entreat you to peruse this following Treatise to which I take the boldness to prefix your Name to testify my thankfulness for former Favours and to declare to the world That I am SIR Yours unfainedly T. Allestree Ashow March 3d. 1670. A Funeral Handkerchief Part 2. CHAP. I. Containing several Uses which we ought to make of the Death of Friends SAint Austin cryed out against some who did not profit by afflictions August de Civit. Dei lib. 2 cap. 33. Perdidistis utilitatem calamitatis Ye have lost the benefit of your affliction Christians should improve cross Providences to their spiritual advantage Sad it is when as Salvian Salvian lib. 7. de Cub Dei p. 231. complains Curâ ipsâ deteriores sumus we are made worse by that which should make us better It is with Spiritual as with bodily Physick if it makes us not better it leaves us worse than we were before I shall therefore Courteous Reader for thy spiritual benefit shew thee what Use ought to be made of the Death of Friends which discourse like the Wine in the Gospel John 2.10 though it come now at last yet through God's blessing may be best of all And here my Prayer is That my Doctrine may drop as the Rain my speech distil as the Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the Showers upon the Grass Deut. 32.2 Now if you would make a right Use and spiritual improvement of the Death of Friends and Relations you must Use 1 1. Eye the hand of God in such losses Gods Providence reacheth to all worldly occurrences Not a Sparrow falls to the ground nor an Hair from our Heads without the will of our heavenly Father Mat. 10.29.30 Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11.36 God worketh all things after the Counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 There is no evil befalls us but God hath a hand in it Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City he speaks of malum culpae of the evil of punishment and the Lord hath not done it God is the appointer of the Rod as the Prophet Micah tells us Mic. 6.9 In particular God hath an hand in loss of Friends as I shewed at large in the former Treatise and therefore under such losses look up to God and give him the glory of all The Psalmist Psal 28.5 there threatens with destruction all such as regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands So Isa 26.11 Lord saith the Prophet when thine hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed It is a most grievous sin when people do like the Dog snap at the stone forgetting the hand of him that sent it It is a

cold soon nips it or heat withers it or wind shakes it the beauty of it is soon gone Psa 103.15 16. O formose puer nimium nè crede colori Virg. Eclog. 2. The wise man tells us Beauty is vain Pro. 31.30 Anceps forma bonum mortalibus exigui donum breve temporis Senec. A fit of the Small Pox which the purest complexions are most subject to may make such graves in thy childs face as may bury in case it live all its beauty An old Jezebel albeit she be painted 2 King 9.30 is full of aged wrinkles So that if sickness do not waste it a few years will 6thly and lastly to shut up this we say and that truly Gratior est pulchro veniens de corpore virtus It is an exceeding great ornament to have inward Graces of the Soul attended with outward gracefulness of the body to have a * Veniunt ad candida tecta Columbae Ovid. Dovelike soul in a fair Tabernacle Now if thy child was a proper child or exceeding fair as it is said of Moses Heb. 11.23 Acts 7.20 If he was as it is according to the Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fair to God or in his sight then the King of Heaven took delight in thy childs beauty Psal 45.11 and hath taken away this Jewel out of the mire of this world that it might shine in Heaven And hast thou cause to be discontented at this Surely no. Another cryes out 4th Apology answered This Child of mine that God hath taken away was very hopeful an ingenious witty Child Divine Sentences dropt from his his lips like hony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. He would have been an excellent pattern of Virtue he was of a very sweet disposition mild humble temperate modest chaste affable c. and what was said of Bonaventure might be said of him if it be not a saying too hyperbolical In hoc homine non peccavit Adam Adam's depraved nature was scarce visible in him Or as Greg. Naz. said of Basil the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he held forth Learning beyond his age and affixed composure of Manners beyond his Learning Or as was said of Titus Vespasian he was Deliciae Humani generis the Darling and Delight of Mankind he would have come in time to great preferment he would have been a Jewel fit to hang at a Kings ear This Plant being watered by Heavens blessing might have shot up in short time to great perfection but alas it is of a sudden cut down by the merciless syth of Death And this troubles me Answ Indeed by the sweetness of the Blossom our expectations are raised to look for deliciousness in the Fruit And when pregnant hopes prove abortive it is extreamly afflictive to us But Consider Many seem hopeful and virtuous Dum aetas metus Magister prohibeant Ter. being young under Tutors and Governours but when once the reigns are laid on their necks like Phaeton's wild Horses Ovid. Metam Sponte suâ properant labor est inhibere volantes They are too apt to fly out into licentious courses They many times meet with evil company which corrupts good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 Blazing Comets may shine for a while more bright than fixed Stars Both Sacred and Prophane Story abounds with instances of this nature Joash was seemingly good during the life of his Uncle Jehoiada 2 Chro. 24.2 c. but he being dead his devotion died with him for he became an Idolater v. 16 17 c. So Uzziah sought the Lord in the dayes of Zechariah 2 Chron. 26.5 who steered him in the right way to happiness but afterwards his hypocrisie appeared v. 16. So Judas carried it fairly for a time as may be gathered from Mat. 26.21 22. The Disciples there had good thoughts of him better than of themselves and yet he was a damnable hypocrite Mat. 27.3 c. I might tell you of Hymeneus and Alexander 1 Tim. 1.19 20. of Phygellus and Hermogenes 2 Tim. 1.15 of Demas 2 Tim. 4.10 and many others who at first were seemingly religious yet have departed from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4.1 Nero was hopeful in his youth Quinquennium Neronis and his first five years of reigning fairly promising but afterwards he became a most detestable Tyrant It was said of Antiochus Epiphanes that he was a good child an ill youth and a wicked old man called in derision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a mad man Julian the great Professour became an Apostate and a great Persecutor of God's Church and at last died blaspheming Vicisti ô Galilaee Pelagius who as some think was fostered and brought up in Cheshire was at first very hopeful but afterwards became an Arch-Haeretick Prosper Aquitanus in this Verse of his calls him the British Adder Pestifero vomuit coluber sermone Britannus Mr. Leigh's Observations on Cheshire A British Snake with venemous tongue Hath vomited his Poyson strong He died an enemy to the free-grace of God We have many sad instances of this point in our dayes God may complain of many in England as once of Israel Hos 8.3 They have cast off the thing that is good And as of Ephraim and Judah Hos 6.4 Their goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Many that were seemingly religious and forward for praying reading hearing receiving the Sacrament c. now have left off the thing that is good But there are many sad Texts for such Apostates to champ upon See Psal 125.5 Ezek. 18.24 Hos 7.13 Luke 11.24 25 26. 1 Tim. 5.12 Heb. 6.4 5 6. Heb. 10.26 27 28 37. 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. Their case must needs be sad for Corruptio optimi pessima The purest flesh putrified is most loathsom And the most generous Wine degenerated makes the sharpest Vinegar Buxtorf floril Hebraicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acetum filius Vini These bring an ill report on Religion as the Spyes did on Canaan Numb 13.32 as though there was no sweetness and comliness in the wayes of God Hi sunt Christiani ad contumeliam Christi Salv. lib. 8. de Guber pag. 290. as Salvian speaks These cause the enemies of God to blaspheme as David's partial backsliding did 2 Sam. 12.14 Rom. 2.24 1 Pet. 2.15 The fall of such causes others to fall with them as the fall of Sampson was the fall of many Philistines In a word these are the greatest Factors for the Devil and his Angels who were the first Apostates Jude v. 6. Well then this Child of thine like some buds fairly promising might have been blasted and not come to greater perfection He might have faln into gross sins or grievous errors wounding conscience and staining reputation and this would have been just matter of grief to thee But if thy Child was really gracious which is more than thou canst be assured of for as the Apostle saith of

Christ they are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 that is They are certain things and shall be effected in his due time if God see that the accomplishment of them make for his Glory and his Peoples good Psalm 84.11 For he is faithful that hath promised Heb. 10.23 3. And lastly Because he would have his People delivered to praise him See Psal 50.15 Call upon me saith God in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me God delivers them that they might glorifie him with their lips and with their lives Of which you shall hear more hereafter The second part is this God suffers his People to be very sick before he hath mercy on them or sends in deliverance And this I conceive he doth likewise for three Reasons 1. Because God is delighted with his Peoples Prayers he loves to hear often from them And they pray most frequently and fervently when they are in greatest danger and outward means seem to fail So the Church Psal 108.12 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man So the Disciples came to Christ in a great tempest and awoke him saying Lord save us we perish Matth. 8.24 25. So we read Acts 12.5 how Prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for Peter when in most deadly danger Christ saith to the Spouse Cant. 2.14 Let me hear thy Voice for sweet is thy Voice Their Voice is sweet at all times but as Musick it is most pleasant proceeding from persons upon the Waters of affliction God loves as one saith to see his People in a praying posture and to hear them in a weeping tune Jer. 31.9 As therefore we deal with Musicians deferring their pay that they may play the more So God deals with his People sic parvis componere magna deferring their deliverance that they may pray the more earnestly unto him 2. Because by this means deliverance will be more prized when it comes We usually say Lightly come lighty go That which is soon got is soon forgot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 difficilia quae pulchra Things got with difficulty are most prized How welcome was Isaac to Abraham and Sarah Jacob and Esau to Isaac and Rebekah Joseph to Jacob and Rachel Samuel to Hannah How were these Children prized by their Parents whom God gave to them after abundance of prayer and waiting How welcome was the Dove to Noah when she returned with an Olive Leaf in her mouth in token that the Waters were abated which thing he desired to see Gen. 8.8 11. So David said of the Sword of Goliah 1 Sam. 21.9 There is none like that because it was got with difficulty and might serve to mind him of God's gracious assistance and to encourage his Faith in the like future dangers So Psal 126. we find the Church joyfully celebrating their incredible return out of captivity This deliverance out of sickness is most prized when it is a fruit of Prayer and unexpectedly comes in when all hopes of recovery seem to fail 3. And lastly Because by this means God gets most glory Zelatur Deus propter gloriam God will not part with his Glory This he will not give to another He therefore helps not many times till persons be deadly sick that so they might see Digitum Dei the Finger of God in their deliverance and give him the sole praise of all As Christ said of Lazarus's sickness It was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby John 11.4 As Aquinas Aquin. in Phil. 2.27 said here of Epaphroditus's sickness Erat supra judicium medicorum non autem supra providentiam divinam sed ad honorem Dei Gods glory appeareth in recovering him whom Physicians and Friends have given over for a dead man God at such a time of extremity hath an opportunity of shewing forth those three great Attributes which are as Pearls of his Crown Wisdom Power and Goodness It is called the Veil of Christs flesh Heb. 10.20 For as the Veil of the Temple did hide the Holy of Holies so Christ's humane Nature did hide and obscure the Glory of the Divine so that but little in comparison appeared Truly my Beloved in a deliverance where there is much of flesh or humane assistance there is but little Divine Glory taken notice of but when humane helps fail then God's Glory is most seen in a deliverance To shut up this as the Limner layes the Foundation of every curious Picture in dark Ground-work to set it off So God layes the Ground-work of a merciful deliverance in sad distresses that his glory may the more appear Having thus taken the parts asunder I should put them together again according to my promise and make some application of the whole which I intend to do but give me leave first to answer a Scruple or Question which may hence arise and here most fitly receive an answer Quest Why did not the Apostle cure Epaphroditus seeing he had the gift of Miracles as well as others Mat. 10.8 Do we not read how he cured a Cripple from his Mothers Womb Acts 14.8 How he cast out a spirit of Divination Acts 16.16 How he restored to life Eutychus who falling asleep as Paul was long preaching fell down dead from the third Loft which Example should awaken all Church-sleepers So we read he cured the Father of Publius who lay sick of a Feaver and Bloody-flux and many that were in the Island came and were healed by him Acts 28.8 9. Why did he not then cure Epaphroditus whom he so dearly affected and whose recovery he so much desired Answ The Apostles could not heal the sick or work Miracles as Piscator Piscat in Phil. 2.27 saith Propriâ virtute ac pro suo arbitrio by their own power and at their own pleasure but only when there was a necessity for Conversion or Conviction of Unbelievers then onely the Holy-Ghost enabled them to do it see Acts 3.12 so Acts 9.41 42. Act. 4.4 Peter's restoring Dorcas to life as well as healing the Cripple converted many to the Faith Paul though sometimes he wrought Miracles yet he was not the Author but Instrument in the Miracles he wrought acting onely when how where and on whom the Spirit of God pleased Paul could not cure Epaphroditus no nor Trophimus 2 Tim. 4.20 nor Timothy neither but onely Consilio medicinae saith Aquinas Aquinas in 1 Tim. 5.23 per quod datur intelligi quod non ad omnes utebatur miraculis sed quando expediebat propter fidem The reason then why the Apostle did not miraculously cure his beloved Epaphroditus was because he could not the Holy-Ghost not exciting him thereto Use and Application 1. By way of comfort Vse 1 This Text affords abundance of comfort to several persons in several cases 1. This Consideration affords comfort to God's Servants under sickness and deadly dangers See that former-quoted