Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	good_a	heaven_n	lord_n	9,663	5	3.6882	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39658	The balm of the covenant applied to the bleeding wounds of afflicted saints First composed for the relief of a pious and worthy family, mourning over the deaths of their hopeful children; and now made publick for the support of all Christians, sorrowing on the same or any other account. To which is added, A sermon preached for the funeral of that excellent and religious gentleman John Upton of Lupton esq; by John Flavell, preacher of the gospel at Dartmouth in Devon.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1688 (1688)	Wing F1157; ESTC R222662	58,144	192

speak of outward Afflictions certainly others would be glad to exchange conditions with us and account themselves happy in our circumstances Consider the description given of those persons Iob 30.3 4 5. and how little they differ in the manner of life from bruit Beasts and if we speak of inward troubles compare your own with those of Heman and Asaph in Psal. 77. and Psal. 88. and if of both together and that in an intense degree consider Iob 6.4 and you will soon find your condition full of sparing Mercy these excellent persons that were so much above you in Grace were yet plunged so much deeper than you into Affliction And is it not then vile ingratitude in you thus to mutiny and charge your God foolishly 3 But especially here lies our ingratitude in quarrelling and censuring those Providences whose very end and errand is our eternal good Heb. 12.10 But be for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness 7. 'T is a sin that deprives us of the fruits and benefits of our Afflictions a tumultuous raging Spirit reaps no good by the Rod. The fruits of Affliction are called the peaceable fruits Heb. 12.11 because they are always gathered and reaped down by the afflicted soul in a quiet and peaceful temper Anima sedendo quiescendo fit sapiens Blossoms and Flowers open not in the boysterous storms of Winter but in the mild and gentle Spring Well then be convinced of the sin and danger of a discontented Spirit under the hand of God and instead of mourning over lost Relations now mourn for the loss of Patience the want of Submission and for the pride and arrogancy of your own Reason that presumes to correct the works of the Almighty and say to God as Ioseph did to his Father when he wittingly crossed his hands in blessing Ephraim and Manassah Not so my Father This is not fit Query 3. But how may these Evils be prevented or cured and the tempestuous soul calmed under the the Rod How shall all strifes betwixt God and his People be ended and the soul made quiet at his feet Reply This blessed frame of Spirit may in a great degree and measure be attained in the use of the following Directions I say ●n their use and application not by the prescription or simple knowledge of them And Rule 1. The first Rule or Direction is this Study well the glorious soveraignty of God over you and aw your hearts with the consideration of it From his meer pleasure you and all that is yours proceeded on his pleasure you depend and into that good pleasure of his will your wills therefore ought to be resolved Whatever the Lord pleased that he did in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places Psal. 135.6 Man and man stand on equal ground and if our Reason be not satisfied about the equity of mens dealings with us we may ask who did it and demand the reasons why he did it but when we have to do with God we mus● not dispute his pleasure Let the Potsherd strive with the Potsherd of the Earth but let not the Clay dispute with the Potter Now the Soveraignty of God is gloriously display'd in his Decrees Laws and Providences 1. In his Decrees appointing the Creatures to their ends whether to be Vessels of Mercy or of Wrath Rom. 9.18 19 20. In this case there must be no disputing with God. 2. In his Laws appointing the work and duty of the Creature as also the Rewards and Punishments Jam. 4.12 There is one Law-giver that is able to save and to destroy In this case his Soveraignty immediately and indispensably binds the Conscience of man and no humane Authority can dissolve that Obligation Nor must we snuff at the severest command 3. The glorious Soveraignty of God is display'd in his providential administrations appointing every man to that station and condition he is in in this world whether it be high or low prosperous or afflicted Psal. 75.6 I said to the fools Deal not foolishly c. for promotion cometh not from the east or the west but God is Iudge he putteth down one and setteth up another Let not them that are at the top of the world be lifted up nor those that are at the bottom be dejected for God cast every mans lot and changeth their condition at his pleasure a word of his mouth plucks down the lofty and exalts the lowly he woundeth and his hands make whole Hence it becomes the afflicted to be still and know that he is God Psal. 46.10 to put his mouth in the dust and quietly to wait for his salvation All our fretting and struggling cannot shake off the Yoak which he hath put upon us but a weak and quiet submission to his will and compliance with his designs is the best expedient to procure our freedom There is not one circumstance of trouble befals you without his order nor can you expect deliverance but by order from him Rule 2. Study the transcendant evil of sin and what the demerit of the least sin that ever you committed is This will becalm your tempestuous Spirits and at once work them into Contentation with your present state and Admiration that it is no worse Lam. 3.22.39 40. Consider thou querulous and discontented Soul that the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. ult that tribulation anguish and wrath are due by Law to every soul of man that doth evil that so often as we have sinned so often have we deserved Hell and shall we then charge God with severity for scourging us with the Rods of gentle fatherly chastizements Is this Hell Dare you say the severest affliction that ever was upon you is above the demerit of your sin 'T is true indeed the Lord tells Ierusalem that she had received of his hands double for all her sins Isai. 40.2 But that is not the language of strict Justice but of Compassions rolled together There is not a gracious soul in all the world but will readily subscribe Ezra's Confession that God hath afflicted it less than its iniquities deserve Ezra 9.13 Oh if once we measure our afflictions by our sins we shall admire they are so few so mild and gentle as they are Rule 3. Consider what a difference there is betwixt the Saints meeting with afflictions and their parting with them You meet them with trembling and astonishment but you shall part with them with praise and thanksgiving blessing God for the manifold blessings they have instrumentally conveyed to your souls It is good for me saith David that I have been afflicted By these things sin is prevented discovered and mortified the ensnaring World imbittered and the Rest to come sweetned Many other excellent Rules may be added try these and the blessing of the Spirit accompany them To conclude be not swallowed up of sorrows for what you have lost but balance all the troubles of this life with the hopes of the next Your dear Children are gone your sweet Husband is gone but consider who took them and whither It is said of Enoch Gen. 5.24 He walked with God and was not for God took him Mr. Upton is not and yet he is He is not with men he is with God He ceases not to be though he cease to breathe He is taken away but God took him He is better where he is than where he was Though he be not in your Bosom he is in Christ's Imitate his Zeal Plain-heartedness diligence in Duties and you shall shortly meet him again and never part any more For this we say by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words Did you but know the deep Emphasis of these words ever with the Lord I doubt not but you would find Comfort enough in them for your self and a great overplus for the comforting of others FINIS w. 2. v. 3. Psal. 30. Psal. 101.2 3 4 5 6 7. Plus est quam haec domus mea ante deum Jon. 2 Sam. 7.12 13 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordinavit disposuit aptavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 custodivit ser●avit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccl. 9.2 Virgil. Zech. 12.10 Psal. 119.92 Job 6.2 3. Psal. 60.3 Psal. 94.19 Jer. 2.13 Isai. 57.12 Joh. 14.18 Heb. 6.17 18. Isai. 56.4 1 King. 17.18 Job 16.8 Isai. 33.24 Psal. 103.1.3 1 Cor. 15.55 Ovid. Jer. 31.33 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It respects the propitiatory expiation of sin by Christ who is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 2.2 Rom. 3.25 Psal. 89.30 31. Ezek. 1.18 Isai. 40.13 14. Jer. 32.40 Psal. 119.71 Psal. 94.19 Isai. 27.9 Isai. 27.8 Eph. 4 6. Exod. 33.15 Psal. 89.33 Jer. 31.34 Joh. 10.28 2 Cor. 6.10 2 Cor. 6.9 Psal. 6.1 1 Thess. 4.13 14 15 16 17 18. Isai. 26.19 Rom. 4.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro mittere qua si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in manibus Psal. 102.26 27. Psal. 116.7 Gal. 2.21 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. Psal. 119.50 Rom. 15.4 Job 33 23. Jam. 5.11 Filius mihi erat Adolescens solus vitae successor solatium senectae gloria generis flos aequalium sulcrum domus aetatem gratiosissiman agebat c. III. IV. Ierom à lapide Iustin Martyr Doctr. 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 Reason 4 Reason 5 Reason 6 Reason 1 Use. 2 Use. 3 Use. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temerè ambulabo 1 Thess. 4.15 16 17 18.

together saith God. O blessed fruits of ●anctified Rods such precious ef●ects as these richly repay you for ●ll the pain and anguish you feel And thus as the wound of a Scor●ion is healed by applying its own Oyl so the evil of Affliction is cured by the sanctified Fruits that ●t produceth when it is once put ●nto the Covenant Argument III. The Covenant doth not only alter the nature and property of the Saints Afflictions but it also orderl● disposes and aptly places them in the frame of Providence among th● other means and instruments 〈◊〉 our salvation so that a Counc● of Angels could never place them or the least circumstance belonging to them more aptly and a●vantageously than it hath done The knowledge of this must need quiet and fully relieve the afflicted soul and who can doubt it that believes it to be a Covenan● ordered in all things as the Te● speaks Here all things yea th● most minute-circumstances that be●fal you are reduced to their proper Class and place of service s● exactly ordered that all the wi●dom of men and Angels know not how to mend or alter any thing to your advantage If a small Pin be taken out of the frame of a Watch and placed any where else the motion is either presently stopped or made irregular And as Gallen observes of the curious Fabrick of an humane Body that if the greatest Naturalist should study an hundred years to find out a more commodious scituation or configuration of any part thereof it could never be done 'T is so here No man can come after God and say this or that had been better placed or timed than it is if this Affliction had been spared and such an enjoyment stood in the room of it it had been better All God's Providences are the results and issues of his infinite Wisdom for he works all things according to the counsel of his own will Eph. 1.11 The Wheels i. e. the motions and revolutions of Providence are full of Eyes they are well advised and judicious motions Non caeco impetu volvuntur rotae they run not at random The most regular and excellent working must needs follow the most deep and perfect counsel Isai. 28 29. He is deep in counsel and excellent in working Now every Affliction that befals Gods covenanted People being placed by the most wise and infinite counsel of God in tha● very order time and manner in which they befal them this very Affliction and not that at this very time and not at another it being always a time of need 1 Pet. 1.6 and usher'd in by such fore-running occasions and circumstances it must follow that they all take the proper places and nick exactly the fittest seasons and if one of them were wanting something would be defective in the frame of your happiness As they now stand they work together for your good which displaced they would not do It 's said Ier. 18.11 Behold ● frame evil and I devise a devi● It 's spoken of the contrivance and frame of Afflictions as the proper work of God. The project of i● is laid for his glory and the eternal good of his People It turns to their salvation 1 Phil. 19. But oh how fain would we have this or that Affliction scrued out of the frame of Providence conceiving it would be far better out than in O if God had spared my Child or my Health it had been better for me than now it is But this is no other than a presumptuous correcting and controlling of the Wisdom of God and so he interprets it Iob 40.2 He that reproveth God let him answer it God hath put every Affliction upon your Persons Estates Relations just where you find and feel it and that whole frame he hath put into the Covenant in the vertue whereof it works for your salvation and therefore let all disputings and reasonings all murmurs and discontents cease nothing can be better for you than as God hath laid it and this one would think should heal and quiet all You your selves would mar all by presuming to mend any thing Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord or being his counsellour hath taught him With whom took he counsel and who instructed him and taught him the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and shewed him the way of understanding Well then be satisfied 't is best as it is and nothing can be so advantageous to you as God's project and contrivance which you are so uneasie under and dissatisfi'd about Argument IV. As the Covenant sorts and ranks all your troubles into their proper Classes and places of service so it secures the special gracious presence of God with you in the deepest plunges of distress that can befal you which presence is a full relief to all your troubles or else nothing in the World is or can be so The very Heathens thought themselves well secured against all evils and dangers if they had their petty houshold Gods with them in their Journeys but the great God of Heaven and Earth hath engaged to be with his People in all their afflictions and distresses As a tender Father sits up himself with his sick Child and will not leave him to the care of a Servant only so God thinks it not enough to leave his Children to the tutelage and charge of Angels but will be with them himself and that in a special and peculiar way so run the express words of the Covenant I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me Here he undertakes for both parts himself and them I will not and they shall not Here is the Saints security for the gracious presence of God with them a presence which dispels all the Clouds of affliction and sorrow as the Sun scatters the morning Mists The God of all consolation is with you O poor dejected Believers and will not such a presence turn the darkness into light round about you There is a threefold presence of God with his Creatures 1. Essential which is common and necessary to all 2. Gracious which is peculiar to some on Earth 3. Glorious which is the felicity of Heaven The first is not the priviledge here secured for it is necessary to all good and bad in him we all live and move and have our being The vilest Men on Earth yea the Beasts of the Field and the very Devils in Hell are always in this presence of God but it is their torment rather than their priviledge The last is proper to the glorified Saints and Angels Such a presence imbodied Saints cannot now bear but it is his special gracious presence which is made over and secured to them in the Covenant of Grace and this presence of God is manifested to them two ways 1. Internally by the Spirit 2. Externally by Providence 1. Internally by the Spirit of Grace dwelling and acting