Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	air_n	body_n	water_n	10,358	5	6.5960	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12345	[The examination of vsury in two sermons.]	Smith, Henry, 1550?-1591.	1591 (1591)	STC 22660; ESTC S107786	20,249	52

deceiued if there were no slaunder thē we should not be slaundered if there were no enuie then we should not be enuied if there were no extortion thē we should not be iniuried if there were no Vsury thē we should not be oppressed Therfore Gods law had bene better for vs then our owne law for if his law did stand then we should not be deceiued nor slaūdered nor enuied nor iniuried nor oppressed God hath commaunded euery man to lend freely who would not borrow freely Therefore they which brought in Vsurie brought in a law against themselues The first Vsurers which we read of were the Iewes which were forbidden to be Vsurers yet for want of faith and loue Ezekiel and Nehemiah doth shew how the Iewes euen the Iewes which receiued this law from God himself did swarue from it as they did frō the rest First they did lend vpon Vsurie to straungers after they began to lend vpon Vsurie to their brethren and now there be no such Vsurers vpon earth as the Iewes which were forbidden to be Vsurers Whereby you may see how the malice of man hath turned mercie into crueltie For whereas lending was commaunded for the benefite of men Vsurie hath turned it to the vndoing of men for they take when they seeme to giue they hurt when they seeme to helpe they damage whē they seeme to vātage therfore it is well noted that vsurie hath her name of byting and she may wel signifie byting for many haue not onely bene bitten by it but deuoured by it that is consumed all that they haue therfore as the Apostle saith If you bite one another take heede you be not deuoured one of another so I may say if you be vsurers one to another take heede you be not deuoured one of another for vsurers are byters As the name of the deuill doth declare what an enemie he is so the name of vsurie doth declare what an enemie she is That you may know vsurie for a byter her name doth signifie byting If there were one byting vsurie and another healing vsurie then vsurie should haue two names one of byting another of healing but all vsurie signifieth byting to shewe that all vsurie is vnlawfull Now you haue heard what vsurie is of what it is deriued you shall heare the vnlawfulnesse of it First it is against the law of charitie because charitie biddeth vs to giue euerie man his owne and to require no more than our owne but Vsurie requireth more than her owne and giues not to other their owne Charitie reioyceth to cōmunicate her goods to other and Vsurie reioyceth to gather other mens goods to her selfe Secondly it is against the law of Nations for euerie Nation hath some law against Vsurie and some restraint against Vsurers as you shall heare whē we speake of the punishment Thirdly as it is against the law of Nations so it is against the law of Nature that is the naturall compassion which should be among men You see a riuer whē it goeth by an emptie place it will not passe vntill it hath filled that emptie place then it goeth forward to another emptie place and filleth it so to another emptie place filleth it alwayes filling the places which are empty so should we the rich should fill the poore the full should fill the hūgry they which abound should fill them which want for the rich are but Gods Amners their riches are cōmitted to them of God to distribute and do good as God doth him selfe As the water is charitable after a sort so is the ayre for it goeth to emptie places to and filleth them as the water doth Nature cannot abide that any place should be emptie and therefore the ayre though it be a light body and so naturally ascendeth vpward yet rather than any place in the earth should be empty the ayre will descend as it were from his throne and go into caues into dennes and into dūgeons to fill them If the rich were so good to their empty brethrē as the ayre and water are to other emptie things as there is no emptie place in the world so there should be no emptie person in the world that is the rich in Israell would fill the poore in Israell but the rich make the poore to fill them for Vsurers feede vpon the poore euen as great fishes deuoure the small Therefore he which said Let there not be a begger in Israell sayd to let there not be an Vsurer in Israell for if there be Vsurers in Israell there will be beggers in another For Christ said to his disciples Loue one another as I haue loued you But it may be said of the Vsurer see how he hateth other and loueth himselfe For when he saith that he lendeth for compassiō he meaneth for cōpassion of him selfe that he may gaine by his pitie The Vsurer loueth the borrower as the Iuye loueth the Oke The Iuye loueth the Oke to grow vp by it so the Vsurer loueth the borrower to grow rich by him The Iuye claspeth the Oke like a louer but it claspeth out all the iuyce and sap that the Oke cannot thriue after So the Vsurer lendeth like a friend but he couenanteth like an enemie for he claspeth the borrower with such bands that euer after he diminisheth as fast as the Vsurer encreaseth Christ expounding the commandement which forbiddeth to steale saith lend freely shewing that Vsurie because she lendeth not freely is a kind of theft the Vsurers a kind of theeues for else this expositiō were not right Therfore Zacheus as though he had stolne other mens goods when he began to repent he restored them agayne foure foulde euen as theeues are inioyned to restore foure foulde for that which they haue stolne so Zacheus restored foure fould as though he had stolne It seemeth that Zacheus was no great theefe because he restored foure foulde for all that he had gotten wrongfullie for he got but the fourth part of his goods wrongfullie at the most or else he could not haue restored foure foulde agayne But now if some should restore foure foulde for all that they haue gotten wrongfullie they should restore more than they haue because all which vsurers get they get wrongfullie for their occupation is a sinne and therefore one saith Because they cannot restore foure foulde here they shall suffer an hundreth foulde hereafter Amaziah is forbidden to strengthen himselfe with the armies of Israell onely because Israell had offended God if Amaziah might not ioyne the armies of Israell with his armies to strengthen him darest thou ioyne the goods of the poore with thy goods to enrich thee When God set Adam his worke he sayd In the sweate of thy browes shalt thou liue not in the sweate of his browes but in the sweate of thy browes but the Vsurer liueth in the sweat of his browes her browes that is by