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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	ghost_n	son_n	work_n	16,121	5	6.3028	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95842	An antidote against sorrovv, in order to the obtaining of sanctified joy. An excellent treatise first written in French by N. Vedelius, then translated into Latine by Gallus Pareus, and now into English, by Cadwallader Winne, M.A.	Vedel, Nicolaus, 1596-1642.; Winne, Cadwallader, b. 1622 or 3, translator.	1650 (1650)	Wing V167; Thomason E1421_1; ESTC R209478	59,453	229

without persecutions would never have been so much amplified and increased Againe what honour is it to be Gods instrument to cast down and overthrow all infernall and worldly powers to destroy principalities and powers that rebell against him And I beseech thee knowest thou not what is the cause of the ruine of Empires Kingdomes and Common-wealths it is because they make insurrection against Gods children persecuting them otherwise they might have subsisted longer for Jerusalem is a cup of trembling unto the people round about Zach. 12.2 The Church is like unto mount Sinah whereunto if a man or beast drawes neere is thrust through and killed with darts from heaven or an anvill whereupon all the hammers that strike or beat are broken into shivers so that the enemies of Gods truth cannot commit a greater measure of foolishnesse and prove more prejudiciall unto themselves then when they fight against Gods Church they undoe themselves thereby turning upside downe their thrones losing their Crownes and casting headlong their children and posterity into a miserable condition And thus much of the inestimable good things of the third sort of afflictions Seeing these things are so who seeth not that all the afflictions mentioned are not signes of Gods wrath and indignation but of his love forasmuch as they obtaine such a glorious end And thus the Holy Ghost himselfe giveth his verdict of chastisements in particular whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth If yee endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sonnes for what sonne is he whom the father chasteneth not and if ye be without chastisements whereof all are partakers then are you bastards not sonnes Heb. 12.6,7,8 Now if chastisements and punishments inflicted for sinnes are not signes of Gods wrath wee are to esteem no otherwise of the other sorts of afflictions When Satan therefore shall suggest unto thee what the Jewes said once to Christ if thou be the Sonne of God come down from the crosse Mat. 27.40 Answer him clean contrary because I am the child of God I will mount the crosse and through much tribulation enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Acts 14.22 Moreover since the afflictions of Gods children carry with them such good things and are signes of Gods fatherly love they are causelessely as they are commonly called evills but contrarily deserve to be stiled good things To this purpole the Prophet David speaks It is good for mee that I have been afflicted Psal 119.71 and Jeremy it is good for a man that he beare his yoak in his youth Lam. 3.27 Certainly hee that saith it is good to be afflicted declares likewise that afflictions are good and profitable which must not be understood as though they were good in their owne nature for if thou considerest all calamities in their first Originall they are the brood and off-spring of death whereunto all men were adjudged by God's sentence but now they became good things in regard of the metamorphosis or transmutation of their nature when incident to Gods children which are no otherwise then the Prophet Jeremy made a defenced City and an iron pillar and brazen wals Jer. 1.18 against which the darts lose their heads and are not able to doe any hurt That they doe change their nature Saint Paul inintimateth when hee saith wee know that all things work together for good to them that love God who are called according to his purpose Rom. 8 28. Of this change the crosse of Iesus Christ is the cause through whom God is our father This is the tree that takes away the bitternesse of the waters of Marah whereinto we fall in the wildernesse of this world This is that brazen Serpent whereupon if wee look afflictions invading us and as it were a Serpent biting our heeles our heart shall live and her head shall be bruised He that was present with the three children in the midst of the fiery furnace will be present with us also when we suffer-persecution for his name sake The tree of the crosse beareth excellent fruit especially those of righteousnesse whereof the Apostle speaketh Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous neverthelesse it yieldeth the peace of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 so that to stile the afflictions of Gods children then when their genuine nature is explicated evils infelicities calamities is nothing else then to imitate the negligence of a certain undiscreet Apothecary that leaves the inscription of Arsenick upon his boxe when as there is nothing else in it but Rubarb or Manna yea it is an adulterous false marke proper unto those with whom Christ hath no communion and unto whom punishments are not available but are tastes and harbingers of those everlasting torments which abide them after this life Hence it is manifest that the condition of Gods children is to bee preferred to the state of the children of this world wee have declared in the beginning of this Chapter that all afflictions are promiscuously common as concerning their outward forme so that there is not any adversity which may not as equally befall an obstinate sinner as a godly man The difference then consisteth herein that the wicked persevering in their sinnes can have no true consolation because they can gather no good thing out of their calamitie whereas the case is far otherwise with the afflictions of Gods children for they procure them inestimable good things and by the vertue of the crosse of Christ doe become a new kind of goodnesse whereupon they find therein true firme consolation so that certainly the apprehension and consideration of afflictions were there no other cause for a sinner to returne unto God go on in the way of salvation and live in the feare of God should sufficiently move him to be at rest in the day of adversity Lastly if there be such good and excellent things in afflictions If their ends bee so glorious and happy why art thou therefore devout soule dejected and sorrowfull in affliction which doth now possesse thee Thou wilt say because it is grievous to flesh and blood that is true but the case is of like nature in a Medicine the taste whereof doth not argue it to be wholsome but its vertue and operation otherwise thou mayest take Poyson instead of Medecine and embrace death for life that thou mayest not injure and deceive thy selfe in the consideration of afflictions set before thy view their fruit and end which is very excellent and of greater value than one is able to conceive This is it which thou shouldest think upon in thy present affliction Now since thy containe and procure thee such good things as wee have demonstrated it behoves thee to bee of a joyfull mind which St. James requireth of thee My brethren count it all joy when yee fall into divers temptations Ja. 1.2 and especially when thou sufferest for the testimony of Gods truth and constant profession of the

world Joh. 5.4 But what is it to overcome it It is not for one to make himselfe a slave thereunto neither to stoop to adversities on the one side nor to place his felicity therein on the other Hee that doth this may assuredly perswade himselfe to be borne of God and to enjoy Gods benevolence and grace whereby the world is vanquished Contrarily one by being sorrowfull plainly testifieth that he is desperately in love with this world Moreover it openeth a gap to the devill to assault him with divers temptations and bring him into thousand evills and hainous sinnes The murtherer Cain may serve for an example whose anger was not onely kindled but his countenance fell assoone as God disrespected his sacrifice which moved him to kill his brother It induces him to become an Apostate or revolter from the true Religion subscribing and consenting to the lies of Satan when calamity is set before his view as Poverty banishment imprisonment and death which hee is bound to suffer for the confession of truth It makes him dispaire and to lay violent hands upon himselfe and ministreth an opportunity to the devill to set aside his proper shape and appear unto such as give themselves thereunto visibly as it hapned to the Egyptians in times past which were as the wise man witnesseth scattered under a darke vaile of forgetfulnesse being horribly astonished and troubled with strange apparitions Wisd 7.3 It gives way to the envious man the devill to perswade him to make a covenant with him and renounce his baptisme as witches are wont to doe which being done hee possesseth vexeth and tormenteth him after a wonderfull manner Behold the mischiefes thereof behold the off-spring the sorrowfull man breedeth in his bosome who seeth not that the grievousest plague is that of the heart Eecl 25.13 And it cannot be but it should produce the greatest mi●fortune and misery it being the grievousest punishment and curse which God threatneth to the transgressors of his Law The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind Deut. 28.65 I will distresse Jerusalem and there shall be heavinesse and sorrow it shall be unto me as Ariel Esay 29.2 Thus saith the Lord of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel they shall eat their bread with carefulnesse Ez. 12.19 Remove farre from thee this most dangerous disease and embrace Godly mirth which as hath been said doth not onely become Gods children but affords excellent commodities It represents to the joyfull mans view the happy successe of future things causing him to beare all things patiently and to follow his businesses or employments or forgoe them having regard to time and other circumstances And howsoever all things fall not out according to his mind yet he is contented with his condition Hee handles worldly things as they are in their owne nature fading and indifferent and being not clogg'd by them he goes on lustily in the way of life till hee hath prosperously finished his journey Hee leads his life as quietly as hee can in this world neither aggravates it with new miseries being burthensome enough of it selfe His understanding is sound and perfect in that hee judgeth not according to his affection but as reason directeth him his body is recreated and refreshed thereby Hee knowes experimentally what Solomon speakes of a merry heart doth good like a medicine Prov. 17.22 A merry heart hath a continuall feast Prov. 15.15 and againe The gladnesse of the heart is the life of man and the joyfulnesse of a man prolongeth his dayes Eccl. 30.22 Moreover one endued with this sanctified joy is most assured of Gods love and throughly furnished against Satan so as he cannot exercise his power and force upon him In briefe the blessing of the heavenly father resteth upon him and in that hee rejoyceth it is the worke of grace and because he rejoyceth in God it is an infallible signe that God hath pleasure in him Wherefore be not sorry for the joy of the Lord is our strength Neh. 8.11 and say I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyfull in my God Esay 61.10 CHAP. III. The third ground or reason why the faithfull man should abandon it and be joyfull is drawn from Gods spirituall grace in Iesus Christ THere is nothing which should beget a greater measure of joy in the faithfull man than the contemplation and enjoyment of spirituall benefits which God hath conferred upon him for thereby he is freed from the grievousnesse of his misery and translated into a most happy condition which thou faithfull soule being in misery and sorrow which now boils within thee and is fixed in thy breast shouldst especially take into consideration That thou maist cleerly perceive as thou oughtest Gods grace and judge more rightly of the excellency of his benefits Consider with me I beseech thee these three things to wit thy state past present and to come What is man in respect of his past estate but naturally the child of wrath and eternall condemnation for whereas he was originally created after the image of God now hee is deprived thereof by his incredulity and rebellion which is the cause that by the most just sentence of God hee is adjudged to death that is to all manner of miseries spirituall and corporall temporall and eternall wherein hee involved all his posterity Hence it is that man is conceived and borne in sin and so being deprived of righteousnesse he inclines to all vice his understanding darkned his will maliciously bent all his affections depraved and out of order Out of this corrupt fountaine it cannot be but an infectious and corrupt streame should flow to wit perverse abominable thoughts words answerable to the abundance depravation of his heart actions altogether unsavory to Gods will Briefely he is dead in sinnes and so cursed in the sight of God unto whom that speech of Martha may be applied Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath beene dead foure dayes Jo. 11.39 for whereas once hee was the temple of God how he is become a noisome den and sinke whereinto that infernall soule disburthens his filth Nay hee rebells against God and enters into acts of hostility the wrath of God is thereupon revealed from heaven against all his unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse Rom. 1.17 Being left then to himselfe by Gods judgement he followes his own wayes he is given to a reprobate sense whereupon he feeles divers curses inflicted by God who either punisheth him in his goods in his body in his honours or in such as are deere unto him one while hee armes the heaven to be his enemy otherwhile the Elements otherwhile beasts otherwhile he makes men to fall out amongst themselves At length he cuts him off from the land of the living whom vengeance dogges no lesse than before for his soule no sooner forsakes the body but it endureth infernall paines untill the resurrection at what time the

body shall be re-united to the soule and the whole man tormented with the devill with horrible unspeakable and eternall torments The state of that man for misery surpasseth infinitly the condition of dogs swine and serpents for these beasts are reduced to nothing affoon as they expire Whereas when he is dead his torments begin to act their parts so that what hee suffered or could endure in this world is onely a forerunner or tast of those torments he must undergo after this life Behold thy first genuine naturall state wherein God verily might have left thee and then thou shouldest most miserably and eternally perish but hee would not deale so severely but according to the multitude of his mercies had compassion upon thee translating thee into a farre happier condition wherein now thou art Consider with me what will afford thee joy and comfort how happy is thy condition that whereas God passed by many myriads of men who miserably perish for ever hee hath chosen thee out of his free grace and mercy in Christ Jesus for which purpose it was his pleasure that God should be made man that the word should bee clothed with an infants nature and that that heavenly bread as one of the fathers stiles him should bee made grasse for all flesh is grasse Hee would have him first to be conceived and inclosed within the wombe of a woman ere his vertue and power should be dispersed throughout the whole universe by the preaching of the Gospell like Gideons fleece which was first bedewed ere the dew came downe to the plaines And that through his holinesse and innocency hee might cover before Gods face our impurity and uncleannesse hee would bee borne of a virgin and that great with child not by man but by the Holy Ghost for the Arke was overlayed with pure gold within and without Exod. 25.11 And the high priest was not to defile himselfe for his father or for his mother Levit. 21.11 Further it behoved him not onely to be borne but live and die for thee that thou mightedst obtaine everlasting life remission of sinnes and righteousnesse And that this might not be fruitlesse unto thee hee is risen from the dead ascended into the heavens and sitteth on the right of God his heavenly father And that this also might tend to thy good and salvation he hath called thee unto his Church made thee a denison of that citie that is set upon the hill and saith unto thee as he did once unto Soul arise and go to the city and it shall be told thee what thou must doe Act. 9.6 He found thee in a desart land and in the waste howling wildernesse he made thee ride on the high places of the earth Deut. 30.10.13 and placed thee in the land of uprighteousnesse Esay 26.10 hee hath given for food and sustenance his word that angelicall bread when others are fed but with the chasse and straw of that darkesome Aegypt whereunto they are most miserably enslaved and that thou mightest assuredly bee perswaded that what Christ did and suffered concerned thee hee ordained sacraments as certaine assurances or pledges of his grace Further he hath communicated with thee his spirit which sanctifieth thy heart with faith openeth the eyes of thy understanding wherby thou mayest not onely with Adam behold thy nakednesse but contemplate his grace changeth thy will purifieth thy affections so that not without a miracle thou art renewed into his image much like that King of Israel who was changed into another man restrains thee from committing such sins as the unregenerate perpretate consequently preserveth thee from horrible judgements and punishments due unto the same There redounds unto thee being in the state of grace honour felicity and profit for what great honour is it to thee to have God for thyfather what advancement is it for thee to be partaker of the divine nature in Christ and therein superiour to the Angels themselves Hee took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Heb. 2.13 And that heavenly Joseph had in such esteeme the worme-eaten sack of our flesh that he vouchsafed to put into it the inestimable treasure of our salvation On the other side Angels are but ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation Heb. 1.14 and consequently for thee in particular Moreover what honour is it to be a Prophet Priest and Prince over all the creatures which soveraignty thou hast purchased by Christ so that all things are thine 1 Cor. 3.22 and appertaine unto thee which in due time thou shalt enjoy after thou hast fought in this world the good fight a plenary possession of The commodities accrewing unto thee in the state of grace are innumerable for thereby thou art shot free from the thunderbolt of the Law there being no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 And howsoever there be some remainder of infirmities in thee which the flesh sinfully puts in practife yet they are covered with the robe of thy eldest brother the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ yea thine owne sins conduce to thy salvation thine own experience and the sense of the deformity thereof provoking thee to hate them working in thee sincere humility and inducing thee to behave thy selfe for the future more wisely and warily Being in the state of grace thou hast freer accesse unto the throne of grace in all thy necessities so as thou mayest plentifully pour teares into his bosome hee perswades thee with precepts and allures thee with promises His providence leads and preserves thee as a cloud by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night Esay 4.5 He provides thee all necessaries that relate to this life and that which is to come his Angels are a brazen wall to defend thee Adde hereunto that the afflictions themselves are not signes of his wrath but pledges of his grace and markes of his fatherly care to thy triall and spirituall exercise yielding the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse Heb. 12.38 Hee is present with thee in all temptations and conflicts strengthning thee by the power of his spirit by whom hee ascertaines thee of thy eternall salvation perswading thee that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers not things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate thee from the love of God in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.37,38 Whereupon he plants in thy heart such a firme hope of eternall happinesse as if thou hadst already a plenary possession thereof for hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given us Rom. 5.5 These spirituall benefits are of that nature that they will never diminish nor faile Nay look how much the faithfull man affects them so much the more they increase like to the nurses milke which the more it is suck'd the more it abounds And