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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	good_a	see_v	word_n	1,813	5	4.0812	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52284	A burning yet unconsumed bush, exemplified in the dolorous life and glorious death of ... Mrs. Mary Harrison, who departed this life June the 21st, in the 23d year of her age, or, A brief and faithful narrative of the effectualness of her conviction ... together with the author's speech to the inhabitants of Havant, at the close of her funeral sermon ... / by C. Nicholetts ...	Nicholets, Charles.	1700 (1700)	Wing N1084; ESTC R8929	72,094	172

And so I came to the words of the Text Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy Holy Temple Which after I had open'd by shewing in what Sense Jonah was cast out of God's ●ight and what was the meaning of his looking again toward the holy Temple I ●hewed what may befal many that God may yet be working Grace in and have designs of eminent Good unto First They may be in a State of Blindness and Darkness yea thick and gross Darkness may be a great while upon them We read in the Gospel of a Man that was stark Blind that was born so and liv'd so all his days yet by the Povver of Jesus he immediately receiv'd his sight Mark 10.51 52. Ah! present Darkness is no ground of Despair you may see vvhat God in his Word says to such Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that ●eyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh 〈◊〉 Darkness and hath no light Let him ●ust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon ●…s God Here is a certain Remedy for nose that are in Darkness to stay upon their God and here is a Duty that God requires even in a dark State to trust in his Name Secondly They may be as to their own Apprehension in a very hopeless and helpless Condition but yet even then there is both Hope and Help for them by looking toward the holy Temple that is by looking to Christ and believing what he is and what he says Oh! hear that sweet word flowing from his Lips Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach Deliverance to the Captives and recovering of sight to the Blind to set at liberty them that are bruised Oh! What can be more fully and plainly expressed What can Christ speak more comfortably and more encouragingly to poor wounded Souls to look unto him Thus the Church by Faith look'd to God in a sad State Lam. 3.55 I called upon thy Name O Lord out of the low Dungeon And did she call or believe in vain Oh! No. Pray mark the next words Verse 56 57 58. Thou hast heard my voice hide not thine Ear at my breathing at my Cry Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee Thou saidst Fear not O Lord thou hast pleaded the cause of my Soul thou hast Redeemed my Life And what the Church did here experience all afflicted ones in like manner shall experience to their unspeakable Joy if they take the same course of looking to the Lord in the day of Trouble Thirdly They may have no Sense of God's Work in their Hearts which yet for all that may be really carrying on We read of the Peoples smiting their Breasts upon the doleful sight of Christ's Agony on the Cross Luke 23.48 But many poor Souls are smiting their Breasts with Sorrow because they can find no effect of Christ's Death in their Hearts They have not yet Ta●ed that the Lord is Gracious 1 Pet. 2.8 And therefore they are breaking forth into hideous Lamentations and giving up themselves as lost Creatures Oh! but this is through a great Mistake there may be a blessed Work a glorious Work begun and yet you not at present sensible of it Fourthly They may be in their own Thoughts without the in●●…ential Motion of God's Spirit And hence they are day and night ●ourning though still preserved and not consumed as the built was Exod. 3.3 Oh! how many do look upon themselves in no better a Condition than those dry Bones which God shewed the Prophet and ask'd him whether they could live Ezek. 37.3 4. But as these Bones the forsaken Jews will live when the Spirit of the Lord blows upon them so those Creatures that are at present dry and vvithout Sap and therefore are mourning in secret and crying out bitterly because of their desolate State shall most certainly if they look toward the holy Temple as Jonah here did find and feel after a little time the vivifying Influences of God's Spirit to their exceeding Joy and Comfort I then drew some Inferences from all this which I will make a brief Rehearsal of and so proceed First Then even in such a State we are not really out of God's sight Jonah was obvious to God when he was shut up in the Whales Belly and so is every Mourning Soul though under the blackest Circumstances Hear the Apostle as to this Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do Not a Tear flows from our Eyes not a Sigh or Sob comes from our Hearts though in never so secret a manner in never so retired a place but is naked and open unto God Christ told Nathaniel John 1.48 When thou wast under the Fig-tree I saw thee Ah! When any poor Creature is Weeping Lamenting and Bemoaning himself in Holes and Corners even then and there God sees him Secondly Oh! Then this State is the Will of God which must be submitted to Is there any Evil in the City and the Lord has not done it Jonah being in the Whales Belly was the Act of God God put him there So whatever Mourning State thou art in it is the Lord 's doing As Christ speaking of God's Gracious Revelation of Gospel-Light and Knowledge rather to Babes than to the Wise and Learned resolves it into God's Free-Will and distinguishing Goodness as the only moving cause thereof Matt. 11.26 Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight So should every poor Creature under the pressure of Temptation under Spiritual Conflict and Soul-trouble say Even so Father it is thy Will it should be so It hath seemed good unto thee thus to lay thy hand upon me and therefore come to this ●●sult under such a Dispensation with 〈◊〉 dear Redeemer John 18.11 The Cap which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it So this stroak that my Father has laid upon me shall I not bear it Thirdly Then such a State is very dreadful to poor Creatures To be under the hiding of God's Face and left to the Hurries of the Tempter is sadly terrifying and affrightning The Spirit of a Man may sustain his Infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear If it was a grievous thing to Abraham to send away his Son and the Bond-woman out of his House Gen. 21.11 12. Oh! How much more grievous is it to poor Creatures when their Rest is gone Peace is gone and all Quietness is gone from them In such a Perplexity was Jonah here in the Whales Belly And thus David mournfully complain'd Psalm 30.7 Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled 'T is not a small but a very sore great tormenting Trouble when a Soul is left in the Dark

and cannot see any Rays of Divine Light Fourthly Oh! Then even in such a State God is with poor Creatures though they may not know it As he was with Jonah in the Whales Belly Joseph was in a sad Condition and without doubt not a little dejected in Spirit when he was put in Prison in a strange Land among a strange People far from his Father's House But the Lord was with Joseph Gen. 39.21 And so he is with all his Suffering ones He is with them to uphold them that they may not be wholly crush'd by Satan's Assaults and to help them to quench all the fiery Darts of the evil one which he will most certainly do in his own time We have his positive word for it Isa 41.14 Fear not thou Worm Jacob and ye Men of Israel I will help thee saith the Lord and thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel Though you find no help at present yet God will help you if you look to him according to his Promise for he is with you Fifthly Then God can open a Door of Comfort even in such a State as he did to Jonah here in the Whales Belly For his looking toward the Holy Temple implies no less As it was said of Ezra Neh. 8.5 And Ezra opened the Book in the sight of all the People for he was above all the People and when he opened it all the People stood up So when the blessed God who is over all and above all shall open a Door of Hope and such a Door he will open to every Mourner in Zion all his dejected ones that are now groveling in the Dust shall stand up yea they shall lift up their languishing Eyes as knowing and plainly seeing their Redemption draweth nigh See Oh! see what an overflowing Fulness there is in the Promise as to this H●s 2.14 15. Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her And I will give her her Vineyards from thence and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her Youth and as in the day when she came up out of the Land of Egypt You see what God has promised to do and he has promised no more than he can do than he has done than he will do to all that are in Bitterness of Soul and do with patience wait for him Sixthly Oh! Then such a State may be in order to the fitting us more for God more for his Will and Pleasure as Jonah's being in the Whales Belly was in order to a better fitting and disposing him to deliver that Message he at first declined We are told Psalm 5.5 The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight We are all Fools by Nature and we cannot stand in God's sight nor do him any Service till our Folly be purged out by the Fire of some Spiritual Tryal We have a famous Story in the Gospel of a Woman of Canaan Matt. 5.22 c. who was frown'd upon in her approach to Jesus called Dog put off a great while with many other Discouragements and kept in the dark without being taken notice of to the Wonder of the Disciples But 't was all the more to fit her for that Mercy our Lord Jesus design'd to bestow upon her Oh! that all in Spiritual Trouble would believe that God is in and by that Trouble the more preparing them for himself and the Reception of his special Grace and Favour Seventhly Then in such a State God may be working for us even whilst he is laying his heavy Hand upon us As God was working Deliverance for Jonah even then when he cast him into the Whales Belly God was with David whithersoever he went 2 Sam. 7.9 and was working for him in the lowest Ebb of his Affairs yea when he was crying out I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul So in like manner he was working for Jacob when the good old Man thought his Condition most deplorable Gen. 42.36 And Jocob their Father said unto them me have ye bereaved of my Children Joseph is not and Simeon is not and ye will take Benjamin away Ad these things are against me Whereas the Event shews that every one of these things did wonderfully make for him Ah! How much would the Belief of this Truth lighten the Load of Spiritual Trouble how heavy soever it seems to be Eighthly and lastly Oh! Then such a State may be and yet no real Anger in God towards the Creature It was in Love not Anger that God put Jonah in the Whales Belly God was not angry with Abraham when he took away his Wife from him Gen. 23.4 No more is he with those many poor Souls under the Oppression of Spiritual Grief whom he wounds with the Wounds of an Enemy and with the Chastisements of a cruel one hed●ing up their way with Thorns and filling them for a time with Woe and Bitterness And he sufficiently manifests that he is not angry by the Conclusion of his Work upon all such which is excellently set forth in Zech. 13.9 And I will bring the third part through the Fire and will refine 〈◊〉 as Silver is refined and will try them as Gold is tryed they shall call on my name and I will he●r them I will say it is my People and they shall say the Lord is my God Tho' you are in the Fire if the Lord will as nothing more sure than that he will refine you by the Fire Though you are in Darkness and walk as in the Shadow of Death for the present And if the Lord will as most certainly he will e'er long say Thou art my Child And if God will make you as all that you now endure is in order to it e'er long say The Lord is my God yea The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my Song he also is become my Salvation Then there is no Anger in the present Dispensation how grievous and lamentable soever it may seem to be And this I verily believe and that upon good grounds even Scripture-grounds will be the Event Wait but a little have Patience for a while and you will joyfully find it so to be Amen and Amen Thus I have given you a brief Account of what was that day more largely insisted upon and more particularly applied to her for whose sake it was studied and to whom in a more especial manner it was delivered After all was over I had some private Discourse with her much longing to know how it was with her whither any thing had affected her And to my no little refreshing I found her in a more calm composed Frame than I had ever seen her before since the beginning of her Troubles And at that time or a very little after she told me with some Pleasingness of Aspect which I observ'd in her Countenance S●e believ'd she should believe though she could not yet I do not remember she had any