Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	inquire_v	part_n	watchman_n	32	3	15.9591	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88600	The watchmans watchword. A sermon preached at White-Hall upon the 30 of March last, being the fifth Wednesday in Lent, and the day of the monethly fast: by Richard Love D.D. Master of Corpus Christi Colledge in Cambridge, and chaplain in ordinary to his Majestie. Published by command.	Love, Richard, 1596-1661.	1642 (1642)	Wing L3193; Thomason E145_4; ESTC R19765	34,052	46

stroke was Davids ward When David had displeased his God by numbering the people 2. Sam. 24.2 and have not we done so whosoever in such times as these doth not daily number up his sinnes he doth number the people whosoever not relying and daily addressing himself to God trusts to his own plots and projects to his wit and policie he doth number the people well when David had thus offended the Text saith His heart smote him 2. Sam. 24.10 If our hearts did truly smite us with a sense of our transgressions God either would not strike us or striking would not hurt us His rod and his staffe should comfort us Psal 23.4 But if thy heart with David will not strike thee then do thou as the Publicane strike thou thy heart percussit pectus He struck his breast and said God be mercifull to me a sinner Luke 18.13 If thy heart will not complain complain of thy heart grieve because thou canst not grieve But if we be so hard hearted to our selves and tender hearted to our sinnes that we will neither strike our heart nor our heart strike us then what shall I say Nothing remains for me but onely to pray to God to take away these hearts and to give us new ones Cor novum crea c. Make us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us Psal 51.10 In the words of Ezekiel That God would take away these hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh Ezek. 11.19 Nay rather with Bonaventure that God would take from us these hearts of flesh and give us hearts of stone Were our hearts of stone they would surely feel the rod of God When Israel was in distresse and in a night of judgement ready for thirst to perish God by the hand and rod of Moses struck the stonie rock and the waters gushed out and the streams flowed withall Psal 78.21 O that God by that powerfull rod of his would strike the stonie rocks of our obdurate hearts that those waters the waters of repentance might gush out Our Repentance this is it which God expects that he hath long called for early and late both in the morning and in the night even that we should inquire return and come so saith the Text The Watchman said the morning cometh and also the night if ye will inquire inquire return come IF ye will inquire inquire return come That is the latter part the Directory of our Watchmans Watch-word A part that is rich in matter and full of life but must be strangled by the time The steps are three The Prophet hath expressed them in three words I must dispatch them in almost as few Where our first inquirie is about Inquiry if ye will Inquire Inquire Inquire of Whom and of What Of what Inquire of thy own state to Godward Then of whom shouldst thou inquire but of God and thee Inquire of God in his Word of thy self in thy Conscience P●…s Nec te quaesiveris extrá Let Gods Word tell thee what thou oughtest to do Let thy conscience tell thee what thou hast done The result of these two inquiries will tell thee truly in what state thou standest to God Gods Word is speculum voluntatis divinae a perfect glasse of his ordinance concerning thee and thy conscience is speculum vitae the most perfec glasse where by reflection thou mayest see thy performance toward him I see now adayes many much delighted in their looking-glasses we will be sure to use them every morning and every night we dresse us and undresse us by them Nay we are not onely dressed by them but dressed with them we wear them at our girdles they are become part of our apparell Nay no room almost is now dressed up without a looking-glasse and that in folio a glasse in the largest volume It may be you shall not find a Bible there no not in the least O that the glasse of Gods word the miroir of eternall life were in half so much use and esteem amongst us I will not say as Tertullian seemeth that they are Nundinatrices pudicitiae quae consiliū formae à speculo petunt Tertull. de vel vug c. 12. That they set their bodies out to sale that dresse their faces by a glasse No Socrates long since gave way to it in his scholars A fair face saith he may learn even from the glasse to beautifie the soul that so either part may answer other and those who are deformed may learn from thence the more to adde beauty to the soul to recompense defect Apul. Apol. 1. Pharar in praceptis conjug Sen. 1. Natural Quast cap. 17. But this I will say that they who more consult their glasse then they do their Bible inquire more whether they be fair then good and this is not the inquiry of the Text. No if ye will inquire inquire that is inquire to Godward These inquire more into mans pleasure their own pride then into Gods will and their own duty First look on Gods glasse and then in Gods name look on thine If thou once truly seest the deformity of thy soul I dare trust thee thou wilt never pride thy self more in the beauty of thy body In Grac. Epigram Lais the famous Curtezan the pride of her youth being past when she saw her wrinckles threw away her glasse alas the fault was in the face not in the glasse And too many of us upon the consciousnesse of our own sinnes we throw away our Bibles In our Bibles we all as in a glasse with open face behold the glory of the Lord 2. Cor. 3.18 But when by a glimpse in our own consciences we perceive that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3.23 then we throw away the glasse and then we either go on carelesly in a bold presumption or fall suddenly into the pit of fearfull desperation Now God forbid No inquire you must nay and inquire you may Search the Scriptures yea and search your hearts John 5.34 yea search them throughly if ye will inquire inquire Psal 4.4 search to the very bottome Let me have no slight and superficiall inquiry make not a pretence of inquiring no such matter Scrutemur vias nostras studia nostra in eo se judicet quisque profecisse non cùm non invenerit quod reprehendat sed cùm quod invenerit reprehendit Bern. Serm. 58. in Cant. Never cease to search till thou hast found that thou hadst cause to search When Eliah sent his servant to the top of Carmel to report what he saw the Text saith He went up and looked and said Non est quicquam There is nothing Well go again saith Eliah seven times 1. Kings 18.43 and at the seventh time the servant said Behold there ariseth a little cloud Sicut vola hominis like a mans hand 44 But suddenly it came to