Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	air_n	fire_n	water_n	32,759	5	7.2266	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67778	A sovereign antidote against all grief extracted out of the choisest authors, ancient and modern both holy and humane : necessary to be read of all that any way suffer tribulation / by R. Younge ...	Younge, Richard.	1654 (1654)	Wing Y190; ESTC R483498	105,217	98

Mary send to Christ as desiring him to come and restore Lazarus their sick brother to health Joh. 11. 3. expecting him without delay now hee loved both Martha and her Sister and Lazarus ver 5. yet hee neglects coming for many days lets him die bee put in the grave untill hee stank but what of all this he that would not restore sick Lazarus to health restored dead Lazarus to life which was a greater mercy than they either did or drst ask Neither did this onely increase their joy and thankfulness give them occasion ever after to believe and hope above and against all hope but it made many of the Jews believe 〈◊〉 him which before did not ver 45. Thirdly and lastly hee delaies thee the longer that when hee coms he may bring with him the greater recompence of reward for bee will comfort us according to the days wee have been afflicted and according to the years that we have seen evill Psal. 90. 15. Neither will hee stay over-long for behold saith he I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his works shall bee Rev. 22. 12. and suffering is accounted none of the meanest works So that the harder the conflict the more glorious the conquest Wherefore hold out yet a little and help shall not bee wanting to the combatants not a crown to the conquerours Yea fight to the last minute for the eye of thy Saviour is upon the if thou faint to cheer thee if thou stand to it to second thee if thou conquer to crown thee whereas no combate no conquest no conquest no triumph Object But my sufferings are so great that if they continue I shall never bee able ●…o hold out Answ. True if thou trustest ●…o thine own strength for perseverance is the gift of God yea it is hee that worketh in us both to will and to do at his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. For first mans will is a fugitive Onesimus and God must call home that runagate subdue that rebell befor●… wee can chuse that which is good Neither when wee have begun can we continue perficit qui efficit Hee that begun a good work in us will perform 〈◊〉 Phil. 1. 6. Jesus is the founder and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. 2 Neither can wee of our selvs suffer for him Datur pati it is given to us to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. Without mee yee can do nothimg Joh. 15. 5. not parum but nihil But in him and through him all things I can do all things through him that strengthens mee Phil. 4. 13. In our selvs wee are weak Captives in him wee are more than Conquerours Rom. 8. 37. Whence it is many sick men undergo patiently such pressures as when they were in health they would not have beleeved they could have born The truth of grace bee the measure never so small is always blest with perseverance because that little is sed with an everlasting spring Yea if grace but conquer us first wee by it shall conquer all things else whether it bee corruptions within us or temtations without us for as ●…he fire which came down from heaven in Elias time licked up all the water to shew that it came from God so will this fire spend all our corruptions No affliction without or corruption within shall quench it Wherefore do but thy endeavour to hold out I mean with patience for that Spirit which came in the likeness of a Dove will not com but upon a Dove and pray for divine assistance this sadness shall end in gladness this sorrow in singing But above all pray unto God for Praier is the key of heaven as Saint Austin tearms it and the hand of a Christian which is able to reach from Earth to Heaven and to take forth every manner of good gift out of the Lords Treasury Did not Elias by turning this Key one way lock up the whole Heaven from raining for three years and six months and another while by turning the same Key of prayer as much another way in the turning of a hand unlock all the doors and windows of heaven and set them wide open that it rained and the earth brought forth her ●…uit Yea as all Samsons strength lay in his hair so all our strength lyeth in Praier Praiers and tears are the Churches Armour Praiers and patience her weapo●…s and therefore when Pe●…er was imprisoned by cruel Herod the congregation joined their forces to pray for him and so brake his chains blew open the Iron Gates and fetch'd him ou●…t Act. 12. 4. to 18. Arm●… Christianorum in adversis alia esse non debent quàm patientia precatio saith Salmeron Yea praier is so powerfull that it commandeth all things in Heaven and Earth It commandeth all the four Elements Air Iam. 5. 17. 18. Fire Ecclesiasticus 48. 3. Dan. 3. 27. ●…ater Exod. 14. 21. and 15. 25. Earth Num. 16. 31. 32. 33. Nay the Praier of one devou●… man is able to conquer an host of enemies in battell Exod. 17. 11. What shall I say it hath made the Sua stand still in the Firmament one while go back another fetch fire and hait-stones from heaven thrown down the walls of Iericho subdued Kingdoms stopt the mouths of Lyons quencht the violence of fire c. Yea Praier is so potent that it raised●… the dead 1 King 17. 21. overcometh Angels Gen. 19. 22. casteth out Devills Matth. 17. 21. and that which is yet more wonderfull overcometh him that cannot be overcome and mastereth even God himself for doth not the Lord say to Moses ●…et mee alone And Moses would not let him alone till he had obtained his petition Exod. 32. 10. 14. And again to Iacob wrestling with him let mee go and Jacob would not let him go untill he had prevailed Gen. 32. 16. Wherefore Pray upon all occasions and that without doubting say not to God as the Leper said to Christ If thou wilt thou canst make me clean for hee both can and will as that very text Matth. 8. 2 3. proves Yea I would to God wee were but so willing as hee is for hee desires to bee desired Neither hath hee his own will except wee have ours Christ doth ask no more of us but onely that wee would vouchsafe to ask him True the fainting heart that hath waited some time may with the Psalmist mutter out some such speech as this Hath God forgotten to bee gracious Psal. 77. 9. But if hee forgets any of his he hath lost his old wont for who can no●…inate one that ever came to Christ with any lawfull suit that received a repulse Who ever asked any thing of him which was profitable for him to receive and did not obtain his suit Did not the sick ever receive their health The lame their limbes the blind their sight Did ever any sinner implore the forgiveness of his sins which did not receiv full remission and pardon Yea did not

takes them from troubles by receiving them into his heavenly rest where they shall acknowledge that God hath rewarded them as far beyond their expectation as hee had formerly punished them less than they did deserve Objection Oh! but my condition is so desperate and irrecoverable that it 's impossible I should ever get out of it Answ. There is no impossibility saith Ambrose where God is pleased to give a dispensation But bethink thy self is it worse with thee than it was with those before-mentioned and yet they were delivered Or is thy case worse than that of Jonas in the Sea yea in the Whales belly and yet hee was delivered Worse than Nebuchadnezzars grazing in the Forrest among beasts even untill his hairs were grown to bee like Eagles feathers ●…nd his nails like birds claws Dan. 4. 31. to 36. and yet hee again reigned in Babell Worse than Josephs when hee was thrown into a Pit and left hopeless or when sold to the Ishmaelitish Merchants and then cast into prison yet after all this his said brethren were fain to become petitioners to him Worse than Job when hee sate scraping his soars on the dunghill had all his houses burnt all his cattell stollen and his children slain yet hee was far richer afterwards than before How rashly then hast thou judged of thy Makers dealing with thee It were more agreeable to reason and religion to conclude the contrary for both experience and reason teacheth that violent pressures like violent motions are weakest at the furthest When the morning is darkest then coms day yea usually after the lowest ebbe follows the highest ●…ingtyde And religion teaches that if wee love God all things even the worst of afflictions shall so concurre and co-operate to our good that we would not have wanted them for any good Wherefore hold but fast to God and my soul sor thine neither affliction nor ought else shall hurt thee You know while Adam was at peace with God all things were at peace with Adam Now this doctrine well digested will breed good blood in our souls and is especially usefull to bound our desires of release for though wee may bee importunate impatient wee may not bee stay hee never so long patience must not bee an inch shorter than affliction If the bridge reach but halfe way over the brook wee shall have but an ill favoured passage Wee are taught in Scripture to praise patience as wee do a fair day at night Hee that indureth to the end shall bee saved Matth. 24 13. Whereas coming but a foot short may make us miss the prize and loose the wager wee runsor and then as good never have set foot out of doors Much the better for that light which will not bring us to bed perseverance is a kind of all in all continuance is the Crown of all other graces and heaven shall bee the Crown of continuance But not ●…ldom doth the Lord only release his children out of extreme adversity here but withall makes their latter end so much the more prosperous by how much the more their former time hath been miserable and adverse Wee have experience in Job You have heard saith Saint James of the patience of Job and what end the Lord made with him What end is that the holy Ghost tells you That the Lo●…d blessed his latter end more th●…n his beginning and gave him twice as much as hee had before for whereas at first hee had 7000 Sheep 3000 Camels 500 yoak of ●…xen and 5●…0 shee Asses after his reparation he had 14000 Sheep 6000 Camels 1000 yoak of Oxen and 1000 shee Asses every one double and whereas the number of his children remained the same they were before namely seven Sons and three Daughters the number of them were also doubled as the learned observ for whereas his Beasts according to the condition of Beasts utterly perished the souls of his Children were saved so that hee had twice so many children also whereof ten were wit●… him on earth and the other ten with God in heaven Job 42. 10 to 14. And in Joseph who was bred up in the school of affliction from his infancy yet when his turn was come one hour changes his setters of Iron into chains of Gold his rags into Robes his stocks into a Chariot his prison into a Palace the noyse of his Gyves into a brooch and whereas he was thirty years kept under hee ruled in the height and lustre of all honour and glory the space of eighty years And one minute made in Lazarus a far greater chang●… and preferment And in David who for a long time was in such fear of Saul that hee was forc'd to flie for his life first to Samuel where Saul pursued him then to Ionathan where his grief is doubled then to Ahimele●…k where is Doeg to betray him after that hee flieth to Achish King of Gath where being discovered hee is in greatest fear of all lest the King should take away his life and lastly when hee returns to his own Ziklag hee finds it smitten and burnt with fire and his wives take●… prisoners and in the mid'st of all his grief when hee had wept untill hee could weep no more the people being vexed intend to stone him so that as hee had long before complained there was but a s●…ep between him and death but mark the issue though his heart were now not onely brimfull but ran over with grief yet within two days the Cr●…n of Israel is brought unto him and hee is anointed King 2 Sam. 1. and for the present hee was able to comfort himself in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30. 6. Yea after th●…s when by that foul sin of Adultery and Murther hee had brought more enemies about his ea●…s God and men and Devills having once repented his fault hee was able to say with confidence O God! thou hast shewed mee great troubles and adversities but thou wilt take mee up from the depth of the earth and increase my honour Psal. 71. 20 21. He kn●…w well enough that it is Gods use to bring comfort out of sorrow as hee brought water out of the rock and that cherishing was wont to follow stripes And indeed how oft hath a Tragick entrance had a happy end Like that wee read of Michael who was condemned to death by the Emperour Leo upon a false accusation but before the execution the Emperour died and Michael was chosen in his stead And of Mordecay who being in the fore-noon appointed to the Gibbet was in the after-noon advanced next of all to the throne And Queen Elisabeth of blessed memory who reigned at the same time that shee expected to suffer and was Crowned when shee looked to bee beheaded God loves to do by his children as Ioseph did by his Father first wee must have our beloved Ioseph a long time derained from us then hee robbes us of Simeon after that sends for our best beloved Benjamin and makes us beleeve hee will rob