Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	great_a	let_v	see_v	5,099	5	3.0617	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58147	Work & reward, or, The testimonial of a believer for his entrance into glory, examined and approved in a sermon at the interment of the vertuous lady, Margaret St. John, wife to ... Sir Alexander St. John, Septem. the 3. 1656 / by Francis Raworth ...	Raworth, Francis, d. 1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing R374; ESTC R21375	26,633	69

feci haec ego feci this and that have I done are but faeces dregs as Luther saith aptly so they must be qualified with sincerity while the peny is in the hand let Gods glory be in the heart Your lights must shine so that men seeing your good works may glorifie God but not that men should see your works and glorifie you and cry you up and down There goes a charitable man there goes a great worker Men judge of the heart by the work but God judgeth of the work by the heart At the Judgement Bar it will be no excuse before God if the matter of the work be ill to plead the goodness of the heart to say Though I was a common Blasphemer of thy name a common neglecter of holy duties yet I had an honest heart so when the heart is naught there is no pleading before God the goodness of the work you fasted and professed and were charitable Will the Lord say as he did to the Jews but was it for my Glory for the exaltation of my name out of the sense of my love Cains works had been good if Cains heart had not been evil How sad will it be for some to behold at the last day the mites of others to be received and their own talents rejected the good works of many to leave them and their evil works onely to follow them Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat 3. Work while you have time to work cast up your accompts before you come to give up your accompts or your accompts will cast up you How vainly do many talk of working for Heaven when they are going from the place of working to the place of rewarding of doing the greatest work to repent to believe when they have least strength to do them of turning their souls to God when they can hardly turn their bodies on their beds Believe it believe it Christians its too much for one man and that at one time to look after a sick soul and a sick body together if ever you would have your works to follow you when dead follow you your works while you live be earnest in self-examination industrious in making your Calling and Election sure like wise Virgins Get not onely lamps into your hands but oyl also into your lamps The Grave is a place for resting from out works not of working for rest The Judgement Bar is a place for the distribution of Justice not for the dispensation of Mercy now or never now if ever work out your salvation get the one thing necessary Surgunt impii non ad judicium sed ad condemnationem The wise man tells us There is no work to be done in the Grave that 's not a shop to work in but a Grave to rest in that 's not a time for the killing of the worm of guilt in our souls when the worms are gnawing and feeding on our bodies God will not send Prophets to the grave nor set up a Pulpit in Hell for the Preaching of salvation to the dead or damned Lastly I might adde Take examples from Gods Oracles and from Providence follow them that have so followed Christ as ever you would have your persons follow Gods servants to glory let your faith love follow their examples that are left behinde on earth FINIS Good Reader IN regard of the known exemplariness of the conversation of this vertuous Lady deceased I am perswaded from arguments brought as to the common good that this her following Character be annexed to my Sermon It is reported of a great man that he had good Intellectuals but bad Morals This honorable Lady had a good head and also the addition of a good heart not to mention her acquaintance with several Languages she was best versed in the Language of Canaan she was able solidly to maintain the controversies of the Church of God against Papists Socinians c. It was her Honor while other Ladies spent their time in reading Romances and painting their faces that she spent her time in reading the Oracles of God and adorning her soul Her private family duties justled not out her publique attendance on Gods Ordinances nor on the contrary some few have hearts but want time most have time but want hearts but as God gave her time so he also gave her a heart to serve him She never thought the Sabbath to be over till the duties of the Sabbath both publique and private were over She was able to comport her self with the highest yet she usually condescended both in discourse and behavior to the lowest and meanest of Gods children She brought forth much fruit and made but a little noise She had much glory by her Face but as Reverend Hall says of Moses in her proportion she had more glory by her vail I never heard she was reconciled to any for indeed I never heard she had an enemy The Ministry have lost a judicious Favorer the Poor a Physician her endeared Husband the best Companion in this troublesome world And that which is the Crown of all she acknowledged the imperfection of her own Duties and the necessity of Christs righteousness To conclude she was of the number of those few that lived and dyed in honour she hath done her work and is gone to sleep FINIS

WORK REWARD OR THE TESTIMONIAL OF A BELIEVER FOR HIS Entrance into GLORY Examined and approved In a SERMON at the Interment of the Vertuous LADY Margaret St. John Wife to the Right Worshipful Sir Alexander St. John Septem the 3. 1656. By Francis Raworth Teacher to the Church at Shore-ditch London Printed by T. Maxey for John Rothwell at the Fountain in Goldsmiths-Row in Cheap-side 1656. To his Honored Friend The Right Worshipful Sir Alexander Saint John Honored Sir THe great Design of God in this World is to exercise man and the greatest interest of man is to glorifie God who hath provided the Touch-stone of his Word to try our hearts by and the Balance of his works to weigh our Lives in So much strength as we have in a day of temptation so strong we are and since Temptation is for our Probation we have as much cause to bless God for our support under Tryals as for our deliverance from tryals It is true Satan hath his Sieve and his aim is to seperate the Wheat from the Chaff to give life to our sins by the death of our Graces but God hath his Fan in his hand and his design is to seperate the Chaff from the Wheat to give life to our Graces by the death of our sins I must acknowledge That God hath lately put into your hands a bitter Cup to drink off in the decease of your Vertuous and Beloved Consort onely this I presume doth support you That your eyes are opened to see that it was of your Fathers mingling This affliction is a sharp Arrow but it is shot out of a sweet hand amara sagitta ex dulci manu Dei as the Father speaks How excellent a thing is it when Gods Rod is upon our backs to have our hands upon our mouthes and not to murmur While unbelief commenceth an Action against and complains of the heavy hand of God to the World for us to complain rather of our own evil hearts to God Your experience Sir I trust in Gods School hath acquainted you with the Equity of his Discipline and Pedagogy Oh! What an advantage have we over Satan when we understand the intent and and possess the fruit of every Cross when we can see our Lashes to be our Lessons our Corrections to be our Instructions our Crosses to be the Executioners of our Corruptions It was an Heavenly Prayer of him that said Lord I do not desire that the Burthen should be taken off but that I might have stronger shoulders to bear it And an Heroick Experience of him that said If any man would ride post to Heaven let him get up upon the Cross The truth is every affliction is Gods Messenger and every one of his Messengers have their Errand to deliver The Rod must be heard or the Word will never be felt Though all that are corrected are not Gods children yet all that are Gods children are corrected Afflictions are favors and therefore when God threatens that he will shew mercy no more he threatens that he will afflict no more Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Lord rather let every gracious heart say let thine hand be laid on me then that I should be cast out of thy hand rather frown on me then that thou shouldst turn thy Face from and not look on me But the great Advantage of our tryal is to come here the Language of the rod is easie and plain but the Dialect of that Language is hard and difficult to be known conformity and self-denyal are indisputably the meaning of every blow but we are disposed to misconter Providence in Particular what God intends onely for our exercise we pretend is done out of his anger And therefore where the Text is obscure we must be wary in writing Cōmentaries we must take heed of turning his Reubarb into Ratsbane by reading wrath where God never wrote it There will come a time when God will interpret his own minde and satisfie us not onely in the Regularity and justice of his Rods but in the Reason and suitableness of them why we are almost burned and consumed while others were but singed why he drew so much blood from us more then from others that seemed more exorbitant God loves not to be stinging like the Bee he exhibits honey freely but he stings upon provocation his wisdom and our necessity weigh and prescribe every drop of gall that is put into our Cups and every lash of the Rod that is laid on our backs A Cordial is fitter for this man a Corrasive fitter for another Such a Christian will be wakned by the light of a Candle another stands in need of a Clap of Thunder How sweet is it to justifie God when he condemns us At last day we shall say The Lord knew our distemper and he let us blood in the principal Vein if we had not perished we had perished His Sun-shine melted us his Hammer brake us Blessed affliction that made us see more uglinesse and emptinesse in the Creature and more excellency in God that weaned our affections from the world and occasioned our more serious thoughts of Eternity It may satisfie us That God dealeth with his as the Persians I take it do with the offending children of their Princes they correct their Royal Garments in publick but let their Persons go free our Bodies are beaten and our Souls are bettered Here we must be polished by Tryals and hewn by Hammers and hereafter we shall be laid into Gods Building Nunc foris per flagella tundimur ut intus in Templum Domini disponamur Afflictions are the fruit of his Wisdom Repentance our fruit of his Afflictions The Lord grant that all our storms may drive us nigher to our Harbor I should humbly crave excuse for this freedom but that I know your Ingenuity and that your condition requireth support and as remembring that words spoken in season are like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver I am sorry of so sad an occasion of presenting this yet so seasonable a subject to you I request your acceptance of it the advantage whereof is the desire of Your worships much obliged to serve in the Lord F. R. From my Sudy in Shoreditch Decem. 20. 1656. Revel 14.13 And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them IN these Words we have two things The Work and the Reward of a Christian In the work of a Christian we have 1. Something Implyed It is supposed That those that die in the Lord do first live to the Lord For as it is impossible for one that lives well to die ill so it is impossible for one that lives ill to die well for on that to the last lives to the Divel to die to the Lord. 2. Something Expressed They are such as die in the Lord Some