Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	ask_v	fly_v	impotency_n	56	3	16.0525	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40888	LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.; Sermons. Selections. 1672	Farindon, Anthony, 1598-1658.	1672 (1672)	Wing F429_VARIANT; ESTC R37327	1,664,550	1,226

The unbelieving man that dwelleth not in Christ hath either no place to fly to or else that he flyeth to is as full of molestation and torment as that he did fly from He flieth to himself from himself He flieth to his wit and that befooleth him he flieth to his strength and that overthroweth him he flieth to his friend and he faileth him He asketh himself counsel and mistrusteth it He asketh his friend counsel and is afraid of it He flieth to a Reed for a staff to Impotency and Folly and hath not what he looked for when he hath what he looked for He is ever seeking ease and never at rest And vvhen these evils vvithout him stir up a worse evil within him a conscience which calleth his sins to remembrance vvhat a perplexed and distracting thing is he what shifts and evasions doth he catch at He runneth from room to room from excuse to excuse from comfort to comfort He fluttreth and flieth to and fro as the Raven and would rest though it vvere on the outside of the Ark. This is the condition of those vvho are not in Christ But he that dwelleth in him that abideth in him knoweth not vvhat Fear is Col. 2.3 because he is in him in whom all the treasures of wisdome and power are hid and so hath ever his protection about him He knoweth not vvhat danger is for Wisdome it self conducteth him He knoweth not what an enemy is for power guardeth him He knoweth not vvhat misery is for he liveth in the region of happiness He that dwelleth in him cannot fear what Man vvhat Devil vvhat Sin can do unto him because he is in his armory abideth safely as in a Sanctuary 2 Tim. 1.12 under his wing I know whom I have trusted saith S. Paul not the World not my friends not my Riches not my Self Not onely the World and Riches and Friends are a thin shelter to keep off a storm but I know nothing in my self to uphold my self but I know whom I have trusted my Christ my King my Governour and Counsellor who hath taken me under his roof who cannot deny himself but in these evil dayes in that great day will be my patrone my defence my protection Thus doth the true Christian dwell abide in Christ 1. admiring his majesty 2. loving his command 3. depending vvholly upon his protection These three fill up our first part our first proposition That some act is required on our parts here expressed by dwelling in him We pass now to our second That something is also done by Christ in us some virtue proceedeth from him vvhich is here called dwelling in us There goeth forth virtue and power from him from his promises from his precepts from his life from his passion and death from vvhat he did from vvhat he suffered as there did to the vvoman who touching the hem of his garment was healed of her bloody issue Mark 5. Luke 8. a power by which he sweetly and secretly and powerfully characterizeth our hearts and writeth his mind in our minds and so taketh possession of them and draweth them into himself The Apostle telleth us he dwelleth in us by his spirit Rom. 8 11 14 and that we are led by the spirit in the whole course of our life Eph. 2.22 and that we are the habitation of God through the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his tabernacle his temple which he consecrateth and setteth apart to his own use and service There is no doubt but a power cometh from him but I am almost afraid to say it there having been such ill use made of it For though it be come already Rom. 1.16 for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation yet is it still expected expected indeed rather then hoped for For when it doth come we shut the door and set up our will against it and then look faintly after it and perswade our selves it will come at last once for all There is power in his Precepts for our Reason subscribeth and signeth them for true There is power in his Promises they shine in glory These are the power of Christ to every one that believeth And how can we be Christians if we believe not But this is his ordinary power which like the Sun in commune profertur is shewn on all at once There yet goeth a more immediate power and virtue from him we deny it not which like the wind worketh wonderful effects but we see not whence it cometh John 3.8 nor whither it goeth neither the beginning nor the end of it which is in another world The operations of the Spirit by reason they are of another condition then any other thought or working in us whatsoever are very difficult and obscure as Scotus observeth upon the Prologue to the Sentences for the manner not to be perceived no not by that soul wherein they are wrought Profuisse deprehendas quomodo profuerunt non deprehendes as Seneca in another case That they have wrought you shall find but the secret and retired passages by which they wrought are impossible to be brought to demonstration But though we cannot discern the manner of his working yet we may observe that in his actions and operations on the soul of man he holdeth the course even of natural agents in this respect that they strive to bring in their similitude and likeness into those things on which they work by a kind of force driving out one contrary with another to make way for their own form So Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac Jacob and every creature begetteth according to its own kind Plato said of Socrates's wise sayings that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of his mind so resembling him that you might see all Socrates in them So it is with Christ Where he dwelleth he worketh by his spirit something like unto himself He altereth the whole frame of the heart driveth out all that is contrary to him 2 Cor. 10.5 all imaginations which exalt themselves against him and never leaveth purging and fashioning us till a new creature like himself be wrought till Christ be fully formed in us Gal. 4.19 So it is with every one in vvhom Christ dwelleth And this he doth by the power of his Spirit 1. by quickning our Knowledge by shewing us the riches of his Gospel his beauty and majesty the glory and order of his house and that vvith that convincing evidence that vve are forced to fall dovvn and vvorship by filling our soul vvith the glory of it as God filled the tabernacle vvith his Exod. 40. that all the powers and faculties of the soul are ravisht vvith the sight and come vvillingly as the Psalmist speaketh fall down vvillingly before him by moving our soul as our Soul doth our Body that when he saith Go vve go and vvhen he saith Do this vve do it So it is in every one in vvhom Christ dwelleth 2. He dwelleth in us

Goods which are of no value whilst they are in our hands and never estimable but in his whose they truly are all ill materials to make a pillow to rest on In a word in this our irregular motion we look tovvard the rising Sun and travel tovvards the West vve run from the shade into a tempest vve seek for ease and rest and have thrust our selves into the region of Noise and Thunder and Darkness Ask those boysterous and contentious spirits which delight in war ask the Tyrants of the earth those publick and priviledged Thieves ask those who wade to their unwarranted desires through the fortunes and bloud of others and see how they are filled with horrour and anxiety how the riches which they so greedily desired have eaten them up Behold them afraid of their fortunes of their friends of themselves even fainting and panting on the pinnacle of State ready to be blown down with every puff of wind as busie to secure their estate as they were to raise it and yet forced to that unhappy prudence which must needs endanger it Behold one slain by his friends another by his sons a third by his servants and some by their very souldiers who helpt to raise them to this formidable height Look over all the Tragedies which have been written scarce any but of these Ad generum Cereris sine caede vulnere pauci Descendunt Juven sat 10. Few of them have brought their gray hairs unbloudy to their grave And if this be to be quiet we may in time be induced to believe that Rest and Peace may be found even in Hell it self This then is not the way If we will reach home to the end we must choose that path which leadeth unto it This is not the Apostle's method No saith S. Paul Rom. 12.4 We have many members in one body and all members have not the same office Having therefore different callings and different gifts and different places to move in let every man wait upon and move in his own for there he may be quiet and no where else Let the Lawyer plead and the Divine preach let the Husbandman plough the earth and the Merchant the sea let the Tradesman follow his trade let the Magistrate governe and let all the people say Amen Let all men make good their place and every man do his own business and so rejoyce together in the publick order and peace And as Cuiacius that famous Lawyer in France Papyrius Masson●us in Elog. illust Viror in vita Cuiacii when he was askt his opinion in points of Divinity was wont to give no other answer but this Nihil hoc ad edictum Praetoris This which you ask me hath no relation to the edict of the Praetor so when any temptation shall take us and invite and flatter us ire in opus alienum to put our hands to another mans work let us drive it back and vanquish it with this considerate resolution That it is not amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is none of our business no more pertaining to our calling then Divinity doth to the Edict of the Praetor And then as we confine our selves to our own calling so let us be active and constant in our motion in it and as it followeth in the Apostles method let us shake off Sloth and work with our hands Which is next to be considered For indeed Idleness is the mother and nurse of this pragmatical Curiosity Mostell Haec mihi verecundiam virtutis modum deturbavit saith he in Plautus This taketh off our blush and maketh us bold adventurers to engage our selves in other mens actions When the mind of man is loose not taken up and busied in adorning of it self then Dinah-like it must gadd abroad to see the daughters of the countrey Gen. 34.1 and mingle it self with those contemplations which are as it were of another tribe and nation meer strangers unto her It is the character of the strange woman That she is garrula vaga Prov 7.11 loud and ever stragling devium scortum as Horace calleth her her feet abide not in her house Lib. 2. od 11. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. 7. c. 3. saith Aristotle He that will be idle will be evil and he that will do nothing will do that he should not And the reason is given by the Stoick Mobilis inquieta mens homini data est The mind of man is full of activity ever in motion and restless now carried to this object and anon to that It walketh through the world and out of the world and is not at rest when the body sleepeth And if it do not follow that which is good it will soon fasten to that which is evil For it is not as a wedge of Lead but of the nature of an Angel which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 8. Polit. c. 6. cannot sleep As Aristotle spake of Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it cannot rest and be quiet And therefore the same Philosopher much commendeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archytas his rattle as a profitable invention for being put into the hands of children it keepeth them from breaking vessels of use So this restless humour is made less hurtful by diversion And such a course God and Nature may seem to have taken with us not to dull this activity in us but to limit and confine it As God hath distributed to every man a gift so he hath allotted to every man a calling answerable to that gift that every man being bound to one may have the less scope and liberty to rove and make an incursion upon another mans calling This is a primordial Law of as great antiquity as the first man Adam That we must work with our hands For God will not every day work miracles for us and send us as he did the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil speaketh food without the labour of plowing and sowing Every Dew will not bring us Manna nor every Rock yield us water No In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread was a command as well as a curse and God hath so ordained it that by fulfilling the command we may turn the curse into a blessing We are not now in Paradise but as our first Father after he had forfeited it mundo dati quasi metallo De pallio Psal 24.1 115.16 as Tertullian speaketh condemned to the World as to the mines to labour and dig and so find that treasure we seek for As Heaven so the Earth is the Lords and he hath given them both to the sons of men The food of our souls and the food of our bodies are his gift and he giveth them when he revealeth and prescribeth the means how we shall procure them For the one he hath given us Faculty and Will for the other Strength and Appetite Neither will the Heavens bow themselves down to take

we now speak of a thousand a million a world of men are with him but as one man When the Lord Chief Justice of Heaven and Earth shall sit to do judgement upon sinners what Caligula once wantonly wished to the people of Rome all the world before him have but as it were one neck and if it please him by that jus pleni dominii by that full power and dominion he hath over his creature he may as he welnear did in the Deluge strike it off at a blow His judgements are past finding out and therefore not to be questioned A Platone dicitur Deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Plutarch Quaest. convival l. 8. q. c. He is the great Geometrician of the World which made all things in number weight and measure and doth infinitely surpass all humane inventions whatsoever and therefore we cannot do him less honour then Hiero King of Sicily did to Archimedes the great Mathematician When he saw the engines he made and the marvellous effects they did produce he caused it to be proclaimed that whatsoever Archimedes did after affirm how improbable soever it might seem yet should not once be called into question but be received and entertained as a truth Let the course of things be carried on as it will let Death pass over the door of the Egyptian and smite the Israelite let God's Thunder miss the house of Dagon and shiver his own Tabernacle yet God is just and true and every man a liar that dareth but ask the question Why doth God this Look over the book of Job and you shall see how Job and his Friends are tost up and down on this great deep For it being put to the question why Job was so fearfully handled his Friends ground themselves upon this conclusion That all affliction is for sin and so lay folly and hypocrisie to his charge and tell him roundly that the judgments of God had now found him out though he had been a close irregular and with some art and cunning hid himself from the eye of the World But Job on the contrary as stoutly pleadeth and defendeth his innocency his justice his liberality and could not attain to the sight of the cause for which Gods hand was so heavy on him Why should his Friends urge him any more Job 19.22 or persecute him as God They dispute in vain Job 21.34 for in their answers he seeth nothing but lies At last when the controversie could have no issue Deus è machina God himself cometh down from heaven and by asking one question putteth an end to the rest Job 38.2 Who is this that darkneth counsel by words without knowledge He condemneth Job and his Friends of ignorance and weakness in that they made so bold and dangerous an attempt as to seek out a cause or call God's judgments into question 2. Because this is a point which may seem worthy to be insisted upon for it hath well-nigh troubled the whole world to see the righteous and wicked tyed together in the same chain and speeding alike in general and oecumenical plagues that Mans reason may not take offense and be scandalized we will give you some reasons why God should hold so unrespective a hand First good reason it is that they who partake in the sin should partake also in the punishment Now though in great and crying sins the righteous partake not with the wicked yet in smaller they evermore concur For who is he amongst the sons of men that can presume himself free from these kind of sins And then if the wages of the smallest sin can be no less then death and eternal torment we have no cause to complain if God use his rod who might strike with the sword if he chastise us on earth who might thrust us into hell This is enough to clear God from all injustice For who can complain of temporal who doth justly deserve eternal pains Or why should they be severed in the penalty who are joyned together in the cause But further yet what though the fault of the one be much the less yet it will not therefore follow if we rightly examine it that the punishment should be the less For though it may seem a paradox which I shall speak unto you yet it will stand with very good reason that great cause many times there may be why the smaller sin should be amerced and fined with the greater punishment In the Penitential Canons he that killeth his mother is enjoynd ten years penance but he that killeth his wife is enjoynd far more And the reason is immediately given not because this is the greater sin but because men are commonly more apt to fall into the sin of murdering their wives then their mothers It is true the reason is larger then the instance and it teacheth us thus much That in appointing the mulct for sin men ought not onely to consider the greatness of it but the aptness of men to fall into it For that of St. Augustine is most true Tantò crebriora quantò minora Because they are the less men presume the oftner to commit them And therefore it may seem good wisdome when ordinary punishment will not serve to redress sins to enhance and improve their penalty We read in our books that there was a Law in Rome that he who gave a man a box on the ear was to pay the sum of twelve pence of our money And Aulus Gellius doth tell us that there was a loose but a rich man who being disposed to abuse the Law was wont to walk the streets with a purse of money and still as he met any man he would give him a box on the ear and then twelve pence Now to repress the insolence of such a fellow there was no way but to encrease the value of the mulct Which course the God of heaven and earth may seem to take with us when his ordinary and moderate punishments will not serve to restrain us from falling into smaller sins He sharpneth the penalty that at last we may learn to account no sin little which is committed against an infinite Majesty and not make the gentleness of the Law an occasion of sin And to this end he coupleth both good and bad in those general plagues which by his providence do befall the world He speaketh evil he doth evil to whole Nations amongst whom notwithstanding some righteous persons are Ah sinful nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers Isa 1.4 10. princes of Sodom people of Gomorrah these are the names by which he stileth the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem amongst whom we cannot doubt but there were many good though no other yet certainly Isaiah the Prophet who spake these words And as he giveth them all one name without regard of difference so he maketh them all good and bad to drink alike of one cup of captivity though no doubt many of great uprightness though