Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	beget_v	love_v	sarah_n	51	3	15.9601	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27153	The journal or diary of a thankful Christian presented in some meditations upon Numb. 33:2 / by J.B., Master of Arts, and Minister of the Gospel at Barnstone in Essex.	Beadle, John, d. 1667.; Fuller, John, b. 1640 or 41.	1656 (1656)	Wing B1557; ESTC R20752	111,367	248

God hath not onely enough in himself to enable him unto all this for he is the only wise and almighty God but he hath also enough to encline him thereunto for he is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort Yea he hath enough to engage him for he is in covenant with us and that covenant is under seal that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation 4. It will much enlarge our hearts in kindnesse and compassion to our brethren for because as the Psalmist saith our goodnesse cannot extend to God it shall to the Saints that are in the earth And surely he that loveth God loveth him also that is begotten of God And suc● love to the Saints is very profitable 1. For the present for it is a good evidence that we are past from death to life because we love the brethren He that loveth not his brother abideth in death 2. For the future it shall be remembred and rewarded at the last day For Christ will say to such In as much as ye did all this to one of these my Brethren ye did it unto me Come ye therefore ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world 5. The keeping of such a Journall especially if we look often into it and read it over will be a notable means to encrease in us that self-abasement abhorrency of spirit that is most acceptable in the sight of God The more we look upon the loving kindness of the Lord the more vile shall we be in our owne eyes When I consider saith David the heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained What is man that thou art mindsull of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him Alas man is not onely srail as a creature but filthy also as a sinner yet the riches of Gods grace overlooks ●all so that God will bestow his thoughts upon him and visit him We may be very mindful of such as we do not we cannot visit but God will do both David in another place goes a step higher What is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the Son of man that thou makest account of him Man is like to vanity his days are like a shadow that passeth away Man is not worthy that God should cast an eye upon him and make any account of him and yet the highest Lord will take knowledge of the lowest worm Majesty will make some reckoning of meanness Oh! how will the serious survey of such a Journal abase the soul before the Lord When David did but tell Mephibosheth what he would do for him and he cryes out from the sense of his owne vilenesse What is thy servant that thou should look upon such a dead dog as I am A dog yea a dead dog What more vile in the world But when God told David how he would build him an house and set up his seed after him he replyes Who am I and What am I that thou hast brought me hitherto And this was yet but a small thing in thy sight O Lord but thou hast spok●n of thy servants house for a great while to come If God be great and good in our eyes we shall be little and vile in our owne sight If God be high in our hearts we shall be as low in our thoughts as we are in our deserts And this will be for our profit for if we be mean in our owne account God will set his heart upon us and magnifie us for as he resisteth the proud so he giveth grace to the humble 6. This Journal with a survey of all the good things God hath bestowed on us and continued to us will much provoke us to thankfulnesse They that have but heard much of Gods goodnesse cannot be unthankfull Indeed they that were born deaf remain dumb they that could never hear can never speak They that could never hear the voyce of the Son of God and live are tongue tyed in his praises But they that have heard of him by the ear seen him by the eye and every day taste of his bounty their mouths will ever run over with thanksgiving Now certainly the more thankfull any man is the more successefull As faith is the way to thankfulnesse so thankfulnesse is the way to thrive It is said that Aaron had on his robe round about a bell and a pomegranate the Bell signified thankfulnesse and the Pomegranate fruitfulnesse He that offereth me prayse saith God glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright I will shew the salvation of God I will not be in his debt but work some great extraordinary deliverance for him Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee saith the Psalmist Then shall the earth bring forth her increase and God even our own God shall blesse us Prayers get mercies but praises keep them and enlarge them with a blessing and a little blessed is better then the whole world enjoyed 7. Such a course would very much help our faith Every experiment of Gods former goodnesse is a strong prop for our faith for the future When Moses went up to the Mount to pray for Israel and against Amalek he took the rod of God in his hand And the reason certainly was because by that rod God had done wonderful things for his people and against their enemies as by that he turned the waters into blood by that he brought frogs and lice upon the land of Aegypt by that he divided the waters of the Red Sea And the very fight of that rod did encourage Moses to trust in God for the deliverance of his people and the overthrow of their enemies and that from the experience of his former goodnesse Now questionlesse the best way to be stored with such experiments is to keep such a Journal or Diary by us And who can read such an history but must needs say Why should not I trust to and depend upon such a God at all times and for all things First I say at all times for there is not prius posterius in Deo first and last in God as in man He can do what he hath done I am is his name I have been young and now am old was the language of David but not of David's God Secondly as at all times so for all things for there is not majus minus in Deo not more and lesse in God he can do what he will do he can pardon all sins as well as one supply all wants as well as one subdue all our enemies as easily as one I cannot do as I have done is the voyce of the creature not of the Creator See how Jacob reasons from experience when he blessed Joseph's Son The God which fed me

a most excellent duty and practised by many whose example we may follow As 1. It hath been the practice even of the very Heathens even from a principle of common reason who made use of white and black stones for these two ends One was They gave them to persons at their arraignment before the Judges If any were condemned to death they gave him a black stone but if absolved and set free a white stone To which custome the holy Ghost seems to allude in that Epistle to the Angel of the Church of Pergamus in these words To him that overcometh wil I give a white stone c. A second use of those was That by them they might keep an account of all the good dayes or evill they had met withall in their lives Hence Persius advised his friend Macrinus to remember a good day so Hunc Macrine diem numer a meliore lapillo Count this day Macrine with a better stone 2. Persons of good quality have a long time practised this duty How many noble Theophilus's and Elect Ladies have such Diaries by them But if any men of worth be imployed in the service of the State either by Sea or Land it is their common practise They that go to Sea will tell you of their Journall book that on such a day they went aboard the Bonaventure and on such a day they weighed anchor and fell downe to Gravesend on such a day they met with the whole Fleet on another day they had stormy weather or fought with the enemy c. How exactly doth S. Luke set down S. Paul's shipping towards Rome how a perfect a Journall of that dangerous voyage even day by day If they be employed by Land and do either besiege a Town or are besieged not a a sally undertaken not a mine sprung not a breach made not a man of note slain not a tyre of Ordnance discharged but is is every day recorded as you may see in that famous siege of Ostende But in the 3. place God himself seems to keep a Journall by him of all the care he hath of us the cost he bestows upon us and the good things he gives to us He hath a book of remembrance of every passage of providence that concerns us And indeed the Scripture for a great part is little else but a history of his goodnesse to his people And that you may see that God is very punctuall in keeping accompt of his mercies bestowed on us you shall find that in the Gospel of St. John when Christ turned the water into wine it is said This is the beginning of miracles that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory And when he healed the noble mans Son This is again the second miracle that Jesus did when he came out of Judea into Galilee Thus God doth keep an account of his mercies bestowed on us This is the first Magistrate and this is the second Minister and this is the third affliction and that is the fourth deliverance you have had And if we remember them not to Gods glory he will remember them to our shame as he did to Eli I did plainly appear unto the house of thy Father when they were in Aegypt in Pharaohs house and I did choose him out of all the Tribes of Israel to be my Priest to offer upon mine Altar and to burn incense c. The like he said to Saul by Samuel When theu wast little in thine owne fight wast thou not made head of the Tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed thee King over Israel And how doth God reckon up the many 〈◊〉 f●vors vouchsafed to David especially in that great advancement of him to the throne and delivering him from the hand of Saul All these things are repeated to Eli Saul David for the greater aggravation of their sins nay Gods very judgements executed are particularly recorded by him as you may see in divers places especially that of Amos ch 4. ● 6. to the end of that ch his several judgements and their incorrigiblenesse Doth God keep a book of Remembrance and shall we ●e without our Journall God forbid Secondly it is very just and equall that we should thus remember God who remembers us daily and that not only for the supplying our wants or delivering us in our extremity but also in the accepting of our persons and our sincere performances 1. For the first God remembred Noah when he was in the Ark and sent him forth God remembred Abraham in that great overthrow of the Cities in the Plain and sent Lot to him to warn him to comfort him God remembred Rachel and gave her a Joseph God remembred Hannah and made her fruitfull God remembers our wants and supplyes them our friends and requites them our enemies and plagues them nay our very cattle and preserves them God did not only remember Noah in the Ark but he remembred every living thing and all the cattle God chides Jonah for being angry for the losse of his gourd upon this account Thou hadst pity on the gourd c. and should not I spare Nineve● that great City wherein there are so many children and also much cattle Doth God remember and take care for oxen and will he not much more remember his people No saith the Lord I cannot Can a woman forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the Son of her wombe Yea they may forget Yet will not I forget thee saith the Lord of his people A Mother may break the bonds of Nature but I cannot break the bonds of my Covenant Why so Because I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands I may as soon forget my self as forget thee thy walls are ever before me Now that which is continually before us we well remember Will not God forget us And shall not we use all means that we may remember him Rather then fail chalk up his loving kindnesses 2. We never shewed any love to God in our lives but he remembers it I remember saith God to Israel the kindnesse of thy youth the love of thine espousals Sarah spake but one good word in that foolish fit of her unbelief when she laught and slighted the promise of a Son she call'd her Husband Lord After I am waxen old shall I have pleasure my Lord being old also This one good word is not forgotten but set down in a book by the hand of Peter Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him Lord. Not a prayer made nor a tear shed but he hath a book for the one and a bottle for the other rather then they should be lost Put thou my tears into thy bottle O Lord saith the Psalmist are they not in thy book If Gods people meet together and pray and speak often one to another he hearkens and hears that is he doth most diligently attend to all