Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	seed_n	sow_v	word_n	3,227	5	5.0642	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61587	Protestant charity a sermon preached at S. Sepulchres Church, on Tuesday in Easter week, A. D. MDCLXXXI / by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1681 (1681)	Wing S5622; ESTC R8099	23,524	56

their prayer for you which long after you for the exceeding Grace of God in you Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift Wherein he supposes the thing as already done as believing it impossible for them to resist the force of so many Arguments And yet all this while Saint Paul supposes their condition to be such as in a little time they might stand in need of relief from others which he thought was so far from being an Argument against present Charity that he useth it the other way that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want that their abundance may also be a supply for your want i. e. Do not consider what times may come upon your selves so as to hinder doing Good while it is in your power to doe it leave those things to the wise Providence of God if he think fit to reduce you to want he that now excites your hearts to doe good to them will stir up others to make up the same measure to you So that while the Christians were either under great persecutions or in expectation of them through the Power of the Magistrates or the Rage of the People yet the Apostles pressed them and that with great success to a free cheerfull liberal contribution to relieve those who labour under greater wants than others 2. This very consideration is used as an Argument in Scripture to perswade men to Charity viz. That we do not know what times may come upon us Give thy portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth This seems to the men of this World a strange way of reasoning and it may be they suspect from hence that Solomon was not so wise a man as they took him to be What! give away what one hath because one knows not what times may come No certainly say they we ought to get what we can and to save what we have for that reason The difference of reasoning in this case proceeds upon the different Principles on both sides Solomon believed a Divine Providence and they do not And he thought that would be particularly concerned for the good of those whom no sad prospect of Affairs could discourage from well-doing according to their Ability and Opportunity II. And so I come to the Incouragement here given to patient continuance in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Wherein are three things considerable 1. The certainty of a future recompence for well-doing We shall reap 2. The time of receiving it not immediately but in due season 3. The condition supposed on our parts which is continuance in well-doing If we faint not Some understand it as relating to the reward that we shall receive it without fainting reaping and harvest being a time of labour and sickness but the more natural meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to be the taking the participle as implying the condition on our parts 1. The certainty of a future recompence for well-doing God is not unrighteous saith the Apostle to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister Though it be a work and labour though it may seem uneasie and troublesome for a while yet being a work and labour of love it is but the work and labour of sowing which a man goes through the more cheerfully because he expects a plentifull increase He doth not reap presently the very same which he sowed but a wonderfull improvement of it when the seed being cast into a fruitfull soil brings forth some thirty some sixty some an hundred fold And this Harvest doth not depend upon the uncertainty of the Weather here are no fears of blasting and mildew or locust to prevent the joyfull expectation of it no danger of the seed rotting in the ground or being pickt up by the fowls of the air but he that ministreth seed to the sower will multiply the seed sown and increase the fruits of their righteousness His Word is engaged that they which sow shall reap a plentifull increase and therefore God will not be unrighteous in not performing his Promise This men may as certainly depend upon as that Night and Day shall follow each other for Heaven and Earth may pass away but the Word of God endureth for ever 2. The time of this retribution in due season Most men are unwilling to trust God too long upon his bare Word they would have something in hand and the remainder hereafter And God by the course of his wise Providence doth very often order things so in this World that the most charitable men although they may not abound with the greatest riches yet generally meet with the fewest difficulties and in their straights find more unexpected assistance than other men David made it the observation of his own time that in all his days though he was then grown old he never saw the righteous i. e. the charitable man forsaken nor his seed begging bread And they have far more reason than other men to hope that if they do fall into trouble and sickness God will have a particular regard to them and besides this they have the natural or rather spiritual contentment that follows doing Good and they have more satisfaction and ease in it than others have in hoarding up Wealth for they know not whom But none of all these are the reaping here mention'd They are like Ruth's gleaning of handfulls in the field of Boaz which shewed a more than ordinary kindness notwithstanding which he said The Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust So it is here they may have better gleanings and fuller handfulls sometimes in the common Field of Providence but this is not the full recompence which the God of Mercy will give to those that trust in his Word That is onely to be expected at the great Day when the Lord the righteous Judge shall say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me For inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me O the infinite Goodness and unexpressible Kindness of our Blessed Saviour who in the day of Judgment will interpret all Acts of Charity so much to the advantage of those that doe them Who would deny any thing to a Servant of that Lord who takes all kindnesses to them as done to himself and rewards them accordingly What other apprehensions will