Selected quad for the lemma: head_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	foot_n	heart_n	knee_n	3,987	5	13.1456	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41110	A divine message to the elect soule delivered in eight sermons upon seven severall texts / by that laborious and faithfull messenger of Christ, Mr. William Fenner ...	Fenner, William, 1600-1640.	1647 (1647)	Wing F685; ESTC R177004	156,509	316

wickednesse As Huntsmen observe that the hounds cannot well hunt in the Spring as Theophrastus and Pollux and others observe the sweet odors of the flowers and herbs sayes Oppian hinder the hounds from smelling the hare so it is with Meditation it is hard for it to track the heart in the green Spring time of civill honestie and formalitie And therefore let Meditation make diligent search saith he The third duty hale thy heart before God and let Meditation bring it before his throne and there powre out thy complaint against it before God there out with all thy villany and article against thy self and bring as many complaints against thy self before heaven as there be drops in a bucket full of water So do the godly I powred out all my complaints before him Psal 102. in the preface I powred out my complaints as a man powreth out water out of a vessell generally men are willing to call for mercie but they are not so willing to bring complaints unto God against themselves ye shall have them whisper after the Minister as he is begging for pardon and mercie but they will not do so whiles he is complaining of their sins the hellish and devillish abominations of their heart These are men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith and shall never have mercie till they be as forward to complain of their sins as to be plaintives for mercie When a man in Meditation meets with a hard matter that he cannot sufficiently dive into he breaks it to another so do thou to God break all thy heart to God tell him of thy hardnesse of heart of the pride of thy heart of the desperate prophanenesse of thy heart but take these rules with thee First thy complaint must be full of sorrow Psal 55. Secondly it must be a full complaint of all thy sins and of all thy lusts Lam. 2.18 19. Poure ou● thy heart like water before the face of the Lord. Water runs all out of a vessell when you turn the mouth downward never a spoonfull will stay behind The wicked will not complain of their sins fully they make hypocriticall professions If it be a sin I am sorry for it saies one if it be naught I cry God mercie saith another when their own consciences tell them it is a sin yet they will not complain of it absolutely Thirdly thy complaint must be with aggravation thou must aggravate thy sins by all the circumstances that may shew it to be odious as Peter did when he thought thereon he wept Mark 14.72 the originall hath it he cast all these things one upon another Wretch that I was Christ was my master and yet I denyed him such a good master that he called me before any of my fellow Apostles and yet I denyed him I was ready to sink once he denyed not me I was to be damned once he denyed not my soul and yet I denyed him he told me of this sin beforehand that I might take heed of it and yet I denyed him I said I will not commit it nor forsake him and yet I denyed him yea this very night no longer ago did I say and say again I would not deny him and yet I denyed him yea I said though all others denyed him yet would not I and yet worse then all others I denyed him with a witnesse before a maid before a damosel nay more filthy beast that I am I said I did not know the man nay more I sware I did not know him nay more then all this I did even curse my self with an oath that I did not know him nay more all this evill did I not above five or six strides from my Lord and Saviour nay more even then when if ever I should have stood for him I should have done it then when all the world did forsake him Oh wretch that I was I denyed him he cast up all these circumstances together and meditating on them he went out and wept bitterly Fourthly thy complaint must be a self-condemning complaint thou must condemn thy self and lay thy self at hell gates and set the naked point of Gods vengeance at thy throat Thus and thus have I lived damned cast-away as I have deserved to be So did Ezra in the behalfe of the Jewes Ezra 9. For 1 He fell on his face he did not bow down on his knees but like a man astonished he fell on his knees ready to feele on the ground in amazement 2. He spread out his hands unto the Lord verse 5. as if he should say here is my heart-bloud Lord here is my breast Lord we deserve thou shouldst stab us with thy wrath 3. He blushes to look heaven in the face verse 6. so vexed to think on the sinnes of his people that he is even confounded to beg mercy 4. He is as it were dumb and speechlesse before God And now our God what shall we say after all this for we have forsaken thy commandements verse 10. Shall I excuse the matter alas it is inexcusable What shall we say after all this Shall we call for thy patience We had it and yet were little the better Shall we call for mercie Why we had it and yet our stubborne hearts would not come downe I know not what to say for our selves for we have sinned against thee 5. He declares Gods truth that he had warned them by his Prophet● vers 11.12 but no warning can better us 6. He shewes how God had punished them yet they would not be humbled for all that God had brought upon them lesse evils then they deserved and wrought deliverances for them which they could not have expected What shall we say should we for all this break thy Commandements verse 13 14. What can we expect but hell and confusion 7. He is sensible of Gods judgements and righteousnesse O Lord thou art righteous as if hee should say How canst thou spare us for this sinne How can it stand with thy righteousnesse How is it that such hell-hounds as we are should live above ground when thou art so righteous a God It is a wonder that the earth opens not her mouth for to swallow us up quick for O Lord thou art righteous 8. He laies downe his soule and all the peoples soules at Gods feet as if he should say here we be thou maist damne us if thou wilt Behold we are all here before thee in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this ver 15. Behold here we are rebels we are here are our heads and our throats before thee if now thou shouldst take us from our knees unto hel from our prayers unto damnation we cannot aske thee why thou doest so Oh it 's mercie it 's mercie indeed that we have been spared Thus meditation must bring our hearts before God and there complaine against them before heaven Meditation should deale with the heart as the Father did with his possessed child who carried him to