Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	death_n	sin_n	sting_n	3,612	5	12.7179	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65073	The saints nearness to God being a discourse upon part of the CXLVIII Psalm / written at the request of a friend by Richard Vines ...	Vines, Richard, 1600?-1656.; Drury, William.	1662 (1662)	Wing V567; ESTC R3254	27,474	152

right Covenant is a perpetual Covenant such as they stand to through the attendance of unavoidable crosses and enemies Thirdly It is a Covenant which is not forgotten Men oft go so far as to make Covenants for ever but they forget them As mens evidences covered over with dust or thrown into a corner are out of sight and so forgotten so Covenants with God are covered over with sin or thrown into a corner a corner of the world pleasure or profit or credit and so are forgotten Hast thou not made a Covenant with God which is forgotten that some lust or other hath made thee quite forget it as if no such thing had been if thy Covenant be right 't is such a Covenant as is not forgotten The next signe of a Sign 2 Covenant-right is that where that is there are mutual passages of love and kindnesse as commerce and traffique so 't is between the soul and God in Covenant Then as God presents thee with mercy life peace friends presents with grace and the pearl Christ Jesus lockt up in the Cabinet of the Promises thou canst not but say as Peter said to the lame man asking an alms Such as I have I give thee though Silver and Gold have I none grace nor glory my goodnesse extends not to thee yet I give thee my self my thoughts affections and all I have I present thee my prayers and thanks and service Dost thou trade with him in duty as he traffiques with thee in mercy Hath he made thy heart his great staple of merchandize to exchange continually duty for mercy it is a sign thou art in Covenant with him On the contrary dost thou get what thou canst from him without leave without praying for them take things by force health wealth and the like not paying any thing any service not custome so much as the least deserved service it is a sign of one out of Covenant for only an enemy out of league will rob a Common-wealth or take things by force Lastly If thou art in league with God then thou hast common friends and foes with him Gods friends are thy friends and his foes thy foes Do not I hate Psal 139. 21 22. them that hate thee c. yea thou hatest sin and Psal 97. 10. the fuel and bellowes of sin the world and Satan which feeds and blows up sinne A man in Covenant hates sinne Men hate the sting and love the Serpent hate sin as 't is attended with Hell and death but love the sin it self Doest thou therefore hate sin thy worldly mindednesse or pride or uncleannesse or whatsoever it be so dost thou hate sinners as steept in sin as enemies too to thy inner man So again hast thou common friends with God to love where God loves and as far as he loves to love the very sight and shew of holinesse the name of a godiy man And doest thou love every thing that may confirm and continue the League the Ordinances betwixt God and thee though never so contrary and crosse to thy corrupt nature it is then a sign thou art in Covenant with God The second signe is from the second degree of nearnesse the nearnesse of Subject Whether art thou as a Subject of Gods or no if thou art a true Subject then thou obeyest his Laws and Proclamations then art thou confined in thy wayes within the precincts of his Laws so as to do thy indeavour to keep them even all of Psal 119. 33 34. them with thy whole man and that for ever Then all his Laws stand in force upon thy whole man till they are cal'd in by a new Act of the Court of Parliament of Heaven Thou endeavourest also to keep the least Commandment and doest not remain a wilfull breaker of it though it might get thee never so much Again Thou obeyest his Proclamations every promulgation of his will or any Law that by ill custome is ready to be antiquated and abolisht Every new duty commanded by his high Commission his Ministers whose office it is to beat down new up-rising enormities by dispeircing his Proclamations and fastening them upon the posts of mens hearts upon their consciences being faulty herein Whether again art Sign 3 thou near unto God as a servant is to his Master If thou art a servant of his then thou art faithfull unto him in all his house Heb. 3. 2. 'T is required Heb. 3. 2. in a servant that he be found faithfull as Moses was in all his house First Whether art thou faithfull and faithfull all his house First Art thou faithfull doest thou attend upon him and upon no other There are many in service with God that go for Christians and wear his Livery when their hearts attend upon Satan and the world Many are bodily conversant about him in Prayer and the Word whose hearts are left behind in the world and lusts Again They work not for him but themselves and so steale from him that which is his He is an unfaithfull servant that steals from his Master that which is his Men steal thus from God they steal from him his time his time of praying his time of hearing and reading and meditating and examining their hearts and lives and his time of receiving the Sacrament c. and give it to others to profanenesse give it to pride and worldly-mindednesse They steal from him also his Talents wit strength beauty health riches and give them to lusts and sinnes Art thou Secondly Faithfull in all his house to do all that his service requires Faithfull in regard of the Master to do all that concerns his person not one duty alone but all not only to tell him of things amisse in praying to him but also to hear him telling thee thy duty and obeying hearing his word and observing it Not only attending at his Table in coming to the Sacrament but also in loosing a meal in fasting when his service requires it and so every other day So faithfull in regard of thy fellow servants in helping and assisting them in their work in exhorting and encouraging them in well-doing in instructing them also and admonishing them when they erre and do amisse Faithfull in regard of all other things in the house Art thou then faithfull to thy Master and faithfull in all his house so as all his work is performed then art thou near him as a servant Contrary art thou sloathfull idle wronging thy Master in his goods and time and wronging thy fellow servants then art thou no servant of his but a servant of thy self 4. Whether art thou one of the friends of God or no If thou art a friend of his Then first thou lovest 1. Property of a friend him for himself thou lovest him for his purity and holinesse and excellency because he is so and not for that he hath Thou lovest not his but him for that is friendship to love a man for himself Many there are that pretend friendship to him

the Parable of those that were bidden to the Marriage Supper Luk. 14. 18. God there offered his Sonne if they would have him But they liked him not so well as the world else would they have taken him when God made them the motion of Marriage If thou then art Married to Jesus Christ thou likest him and his love better than all the world Therefore Cant. Cant. 1. 2. 1. 2. 'T is said His love is better than Wine that is than all the excellency of the creature that there is not any other Grape that yields such sweetnesse and comfort as his love no Grape of pleasure or credit or profit in all the Vyneard of the world that is like it to her Spouse-like-taste but Jesus Christ is better than all even as Wine exceeds all other liquors whatsoever What then is it that fills up thy heart that takes up the chiefest place and room there What is it sits highest and possesses the first room of thy liking the top of thy love Is it the world or is it Jesus Christ Is every pleasure or profit a thing that takes thee up from Jesus Christ that shuts him out of doores or makes him stand at the doore when they have easie entrance Does the world stay and lodge and walk in thy heart when Christ can have no room there or if he get in is he not admitted onely into some common outward room when the world hath the Parlour or chief room Does he not stay a while only when the world is intreated and forced to stay Is not the world as the chief of the house when Christ comes only as a servant for thy own good and safety If the world gets thus all away from Jesus Christ art not thou Married to it and not to him And therefore if thou pretendest never so much love to him and yet preferrest any thing before him thou art much mistaken if thou thinkest Christ thy Husband But Secondly If thou art 2. Sign of a Spouse near unto Christ as the Wife to the Husband then thou takest him for better for worse and thou keepest him for better for worse every Spouse does so if a right Spouse 1. Thou takest Christ for better for worse that is not only for his Crown but also for his Crosse not only for health and wealth and good report but for sicknesse and poverty and evil report not onely for what he hath but for what he wants to share with him alike in all conditions That which our Saviour Christ required of his Disciples to Take Matth. 10. 38. up his Crosse he requires also of every soul that espouses it self to him to take his Crosse is to take him with afflictions and not only so but with persecutions and death too And herein he deals as a man coming a Suiter to a woman tells her this I am worth and such and such like benefits you shall enjoy by me but withall you must take me with such an imperfection want of a legge or limbe with such a weaknesse and the like So God deals with men tells them of a Mark 10. 29 30. Kingdom and the Prerogatives of his Crown if they espouse themselves to him but withall they must take him with afflictions sicknesse poverty losses and crosses yea with persecution and death to take all into the bargain and so the match is made up not otherwise Every one is willing to take Christ as a Saviour to take him with peace and riches and a Kingdome But art thou willing to take him if he should not prove worth a Groate of worldly content If thou shouldest never see any thing but a rough Sea of troubles storm after storm poverty after sicknesse disgrace after poverty imprisonment and banishment after them and so as to faile all thy life time in this Sea that all Gods waves should passe over thee Art thou willing to take him though as many tempests of wrath should fall upon thee as did upon patient Job and keep thee to him It may be thou couldst take him with some one affliction but canst not endure to hear of another But canst thou take him or hast thou taken him with a willingnesse to loose that which is most dear to thee In thy wealth it may be thou likest such a match as Jesus Christ to have him with house and land with a full stock a gainfull trade But what doest thou or wouldst thou do to think on Cattle stolne or dying thy House spoiled thy Seed buried and rotten in the ground all cast away thy Trade decayed and worth nothing Couldst thou now keep thee to thy Husband when these things come by him and not seek to raise thy self by unlawfull courses of deceiving and stealing Or if these were not so much canst thou take him with losse of friends most endeared to thee losse of Parents Children yea the Wife of thy bosome Couldst thou be willing to have Job's boyles and to scrape thee with a Potsheard to loose all thy credit and good opinion of near friends and others and so to be left without any staffe of worldly comfort to rest on But this is not all canst thou take Christ with persecutions to be mockt and scorn'd for righteousnesse sake willingly bearing the worst of reproaches which the men of the world so warily avoid and to bear the utmost the malice and wit of men can impose If thou art rightly espoused to Jesus Christ thou takest him for this and more to endure the utmost rigour of torture that makes men by the only thought of it to tremble Thou wilt take Christ with this willingnesse to endure any thing and not make any exception Even as a Wife which takes a man for love takes him to endure any thing with him And as thou takest 2. Hold Christ him for better for worse so thou holdest him for better for worse A Wife that takes a man out of love to him she is not only willing to endure with him but she does it indeed She forsakes him not because he proves poor or sickly which are no causes of forsaking or that men speak against him but she holds against all such storms Many go so far as to take Christ for better for worse till the evill comes but in the time of affliction or persecution because their match proves full of crosses and because men speak against the match because they revile and slander the wayes of God they break away and divorce themselves from their Husband Christ Which is for a Wife because her Husband and she find crosses in their match to forsake her Husband whereas if the knot were tyed in a right choice and affection it would work of on such grounds all thought of forsaking So if the knot be rightly tyed between the soul and Jesus Christ it would hold against all the crosses and evils persecutions and deaths in the world And therefore in the Cant. 8. 7. 8th of the