Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	love_n	love_v	world_n	20,088	5	6.2970	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30698	The celestial race a discourse perswading to the practice of celerity, constancy, & sincerity in the ways of God : preached at the funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Knack, daughter of Mr. Thomas Knack of Edgerton in Kent, who died January 2, Anno Dom. 1692 in the eleventh year of her age / by William Bush ...	Bush, William.	1692 (1692)	Wing B6232; ESTC R1534	21,943	74

Doom You may now for ought you know be hearing of your last Sermon and offer up now your last Prayer and have no other opportunity than this that you now enjoy to prepare and make ready for Eternity but be immediately summoned to appear at the Tribunal of God to render an Account to him of all your publick and secret Actions for all that you have ever thought ever spoke or done for all the Talents the Time the Mercies the Health the Strength the Opportunities and the Seasons and Days of Grace that you ever had for all the Evil that you might have avoided for all the Good that you might have done and did not and all this before that Judge who has beheld your ways from your Birth to the Grave Vid. Mr. Roger's Practical Discourse of Sickness and Recovery page 49. before that Judge who cannot be deceiv'd and who will not be imposed upon And is there not then a necessity of being speedy in your Course Do you apprehend so much as one minute to loyter in seeing you know not whether you may live so small a space of time longer And when this Life is ended our work is done for after this Life there will be no place for Pardon nor space for Repentance There is no work Eccl. 9.10 nor device nor knowledg nor wisdom in the grave whither we are all going Therefore must we be speedy in the ways of God because the time of our lives which is all the time we have is so short so uncertain and hasting away so fast from us The second Reason may be drawn from the great Work that we have to do in this little time How many Corruptions have we to subdue and Lusts to mortify and Temptations to resist What loads of Sin yet lye upon many of us unpardoned because unrepented of What subtil politick powerful Enemies have we to engage with such as the World the Flesh and the Devil The World is daily enticeing of us with its Pleasures Profits or Honours perswading us to place our Affections upon these fading Vanities and to accept of its favours which alas are but as the Salutes of an Enemy and yet how hard is it for the best of God's People to keep themselves from the Pollutions of it That it is so our own daily Experience teacheth us and yet this so enticing an Enemy we must keep our selves from the loving of for if any Man love the World i. e. with a predominant Love or the things that are in the world 1 John 2.15 the love of the Father is not in him A second Enemy is the Flesh which always murmurs at Subjection and is at continual variance with the Spirit Gal. 5.17 and there is great difficulty in overcoming so near a Foe This was it that made that great Apostle volens nolens become a Captive Rom. 7.19 Caesar being once ask'd What was the most difficult thing to overcome in this Life Answered Seipsum vincere to overcome himself and his untamed Affections The third is the Devil called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Leigh's Crit. Sacra p. 235. from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sitnah which is Adversarius an Adversary he is really the implacable Enemy of our Souls and joyns his Assistance to the World and Flesh that so by one means or other he might destroy us this is he that tempts so subtilly so frequently that we must and ought to be always prepared for him and unless we are furnished with the whole Armour of God Ephes 4. from 13. to 18. 't is impossible for us to withstand him so subtil and potent is he that the holiest Souls at some time or other have been overcome by him Now what great reason is there for us to use the greatest speed we can that have not only so little time and so much work to do in it but also such subtil and potent Enemies to contend with and to overcome Well might the Apostle say * Phil. 2.12 Non dicit Apostolus nude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est accuratè magnoque cum studio operamini Chrys Work not play or idle out your salvation with fear and trembling Well may the Church of God be called Ecclesia Militans seeing it has so many and so great Enemies continually to engage with A third and last may be drawn from Example Those that run an earthly Race tho but for a mean Reward what pains do they take how extremely do they strain themselves that they may run swiftly to obtain And shall we that run the Celestial Race and that for so great a Reward as Heaven is run slowly Shall they take greater pains and be more swift and speedy for a perishing Reward than we for an eternal one God forbid The Sun too may be an Example to us in this respect Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber Psalm 19.5 and rejoyceth as a strong man to run his race And not only is the Sun an Example to us but also our Lord himself who whilst he was in the World was never idle He wrought the works of him that sent him John ● 4 while it was day He left the bosome of his Father and came into the World and became Man and was like unto Man in all things Sin only excepted overcame Death and Hell fulfill'd the Law of God and satisfied his Justice for us appeased his Wrath against us and has purchased for his People by his Death Everlasting Life Thus was all his time vigorously employ'd in performing the work he came about well might the Church compare him for his swiftness to a Roe Cant. 2.9 or a young Hart. Thus have I prov'd That Celerity and Speed in the ways of God must of necessity be practised by those that would obtain Everlasting Life And that First because of the shortness of our Lives and their speedy passing away from us so soon are our days done that if we are not speedy they will be gone before our work be done Secondly Because of the great work we have to do in this little time which is so great that we have need of more rather than spare for Sin and Vanity any of that we have Thirdly Because of the Examples of Swiftness and Speediness that we have not only of Persons that run with the greatest speediness an earthly Race for the fading Vanities of the World and of the Sun but also of our Lord himself who was most speedy in working out our Redemption and ought to be imitated of all Christians For every Action of Christ ought to be instruction unto us Omnis Christi actio nostra debet esse instructio Gregor Joh. 14.6 he hath left us an Example let us therefore tread in his steps who is the way the truth and the life Now this Celerity this Speediness in the ways of God must be constantly and

their Graces as Faith Hope Love Obedience Patience and Humility 1. Faith is exercised in Affliction by considering the causes of God's Permission and believing most assuredly his Promises concerning our Deliverance We look by an Eye of Faith beyond all outward Helps and Means to that unseen Hand of Power that is able and willing to deliver us and we believe and know it shall be so because of his Word 2. Hope By assuring our selves of the Rewards promised to those that suffer patiently hope keeps our hearts from breaking and it being a well-grounded hope 't is when exercised in the greatest afflictions comfortable 3. Love is exercised in affliction by considering the love of Christ in suffering for us and thereby we are engaged to suffer for him again 4. Obedience by conforming our wills to the will of God Must I suffer well says the soul I am contented seeing it is my Father's pleasure I freely submit because my Lord has taught me so to do and in obedience to God's will the soul will submissively say Not my will but thine be done tho it be never so contrary to nature tho never so hard to bear In the greatest afflictions the Child of God will submissively say Lord this is nothing to what thou didst undergo for me 5. Patience is exercised in affliction by suffering quietly willingly and cheerfully Thus was the Lord pleased to exercise Job's Patience and although God had permitted Satan to tempt him Job 1. his enemies to undo him his Children by sudden death to be taken from him his body to be afflicted with boils and sores having no part free from pain and grief his Wife to be an occasion of offence unto him which in these distresses should have been a comfort yet notwithstanding all this Job sin'd not against his Maker Thus was the Patience of the Apostles and Martyrs tried and exercised namely by and in Affliction who were so far from being impatient and from murmuring that they quietly and chearfully laid down their Lives for the Gospel 6. Humility by abasing our selves in the sight of God acknowledging that these Sufferings these Afflictions are nothing in comparison of Hell which for our Sins we have deserved tho our Affliction may be many times more than we are able to bear yet it is not so much as we do deserve Lastly The Lord suffereth his People to be afflicted that the greatness of his Power and the infiniteness of his Mercy might be shown in the delivery of us You read that when the Disciples ask'd our Saviour the reason why the Man was born blind He tells them Not for his own sins nor for the sins of his parents but that the works of God should be made manifest in him John 9.2 3. from which we may truly gather thus much That the Man was born blind that Christ might have occasion to shew the greatness of his Power in restoring his sight So 't is said of Lazarus Joh. 11.4 that he died to this end that God might be glorified in raising him from the dead Thus have I shewn you for what reasons God suffereth his People to be afflicted Now from all that hath been said we may see that Afflictions are rather helps than hindrances to us in this Heavenly Race therefore be not discouraged because of Afflictions for the Lord in his due time will deliver you out of them all rather pray that God would sanctify your Afflictions than remove them and endeavour to arm your selves with the whole armour of God Ephes 6.13 that so you may not by reason of Satan's Temptations and the prevalency of your own Corruptions fall under them And seeing Afflictions are so convenient for us let us learn to bless God for them for had it not been for these we might have been yet for ought we know in love with the World and Sin which at last would have brought us to Hell Thus by Divine Assistance have I spoken what I design'd on this Subject O that God would now be pleased to make it effectual for you Souls good for the stirring of you up to be more speedy constant and sincere in running your Race O that at the Day of Judgment I might meet you all that are here this day at the Right Hand of Jesus Christ which will be an assurance to us of our entring into Glory for 't is to these he will say Matth. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Now the little time that remains let us resolve to improve by being more speedy constant and sincere in running our Race O let us be stedfast unmovable 1 Cor. 15.58 always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. FINIS