Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	abundance_n	good_a	speak_v	3,617	5	5.5017	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50106	The duty of submission to divine providence, in all its dispensations described and recommended from the example and argument of Job / by Samvel Masters.	Masters, Samuel, 1645 or 6-1693.	1689 (1689)	Wing M1070; ESTC R103	29,258	129

we do not look askew on them with an evil Eye or receive them awkardly with an unwilling Hand And to promote so good a Disposition of Mind we should consider that God is the absolute Lord of all his Blessings and may do with his own as he pleaseth that his Hand is guided by an unerring Wisdom so as to dispense them in an exact Proportion to every Mans Capacities and Necessities that he is not stinted by any Penury of Blessings or Envy of our Happiness that he could and would give more or sooner if he saw it fit for us that therefore it becomes us to contain our Desires within the same Bounds which his Wisdom hath prescrib'd to his own Bounty to accept of our Share which the great Master of the Family of the World hath alotted to us among the rest lest by any dissatisfaction we reflect on God as if he err'd in giving too little or on our Selves in desiring too much If them God thinks fit to give us only Necessaries let us stop our Desires there and not hanker after Superfluities if God gives us Health and Strength let us be contented if we are not also Rich let us be pleas'd and satisfied with the Children he gives us the Friends he raiseth up for us the Station he assigns to us and the Competency he provides for us And if he think fit to send us any good Things thrô our unw Industry or the Charity of others let us not be disconteneed thô we must labour or be beholden for them and if our Blessings come not so soon as we desired yet let it satisfy us that they come in that Season which Infinite Wisdom thought most fit Let us learn with St. Paul How to want Phil 4.11 and how to abound and in all estates to be contented and practise that Duty which he prescribes to all Christians Let your Coversation be without Covetousness Heb. 13.5 and be content with such Things as ye have 2. We should receive good Things from God's Hand with a Thankful Mind i. e. with a Mind dispos'd to acknowledg with grateful Affections God's great Bounty toward us and the Returns we owe to him for it To this end we should keep on our Minds such Apprehensions of God and our Selves and of the Blessings we receive as will promote and cherish in us the most grateful Resentments We should take care that we do not injuriously deny or carelesly overlook our great Benefactor lest we withhold his Praises or ascribe them to a wrong hand We should consider how high a Priviledg it is that the great God of Heaven will condescend to take care of us in a continual Providence We should consider also how unworthy we are of the Blessings we enjoy or rather how much we deserve the severest Punishments We should also rate the Blessings we receive with a just value and esteem none should sem small to us which come from so great a God to such worthless Persons we should also consider how innumerable they are how constantly and continually they flow into our Bosoms and how seasonable useful and delightful they prove to us And such Considerations as these should not only start up at the Receipt of some new Blessing but should dwell in our Minds to affect them always with a grateful Sense of the immense Goodness plenteous Bounty of our great Benefactor If God's Blessings find us thus dispos'd they cannot fail of a most affectionate Entertainment for the Thoughts which acknowledg and admire the Riches of Divine Goodness will easily inflame the Heart with a strong Love to God as to the best of Patrons the kindest Friend and most indulgent Parent they will melt us into sorrow for the inexcusable ingratitude of affronting and grieving so good a God in time past and excite in us the most earnest Resolutions of an entire Devotion to him for the time to come And out of the abundance of the Heart thus dispos'd our Mouths will speak forth his Praise and our own Thankfulness We shall not forbear to boast of God and his Favour towards us to declare his Goodness and to bless his Name both in our private and publick Devotion And these Cords of Love which ingage our Hearts will easily contain us in our Duty to so good a Lord and oblige us to be diligent faithful and cheerful in his Service and make us very zealous for his Glory Every Blessing receiv'd by such a grateful Mind will fall like Rain on good Ground and bring forth much Fruit to the praise of him that sent it With such Returns of Praise and Thankfulness we should always correspond with our great Benefactor sending up to Heaven our Tributes of Gratitude in some proportion to the Blessings God sends down to us which is not more our Duty than it is our Interest for as our God doth infinitely excel us in Goodness so he regards more kindly the unprofitable Returns we make to him than we do all the invaluable Blessings he bestows on us and will not fail to exceed our Gratitude with his Bounty After this manner have good Men dispos'd themselves for receiving the Blessings of Heaven among whom we need no better Pattern than the Royal Psalmist whose devotional Addresses consist chiefly of returns of Praise and Thanks who had fix'd his Heart and turn'd his Lyre purposely to this Duty and resolv'd to continue in it as long as he had a being who also often invites all other Men yea all the Creatures of God to join in Consort with him as sharers with him in the Blessings of Divine Bounty 3. We should receive our good Things from the Hand of God with an honest Mind i. e. which a Mind honestly dispos'd to acquire God's Blessings in his own Way and to imploy them only to that End for which he designed them If we project to obtain any Blessings by indirect Courses and unlawful Means we shall not receive but rather snatch them out of the Hand of Providence for he defrauds or robs God of his Blessings who procures them by Injustice Violence or Deceit and if God suffer him to succeed therein he must at last expect a Mixture of Sorrow with them as Jacob's Blessing was imbitter'd which he fraudulently wrested from his deluded Father We shall also greatly abuse God if we Use his Blessings to any other purpose than he intended How loud an Impiety must it needs be to make our Holy God a Caterer for our Lusts by making his Blessings a Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof To imploy the Riches he bestows to entertain our Luxury the Honour he confers to feed our Pride the Power he intrusts us with to revenge ourselves or oppress our Neighbour or the Health and Strength he preserves to us to sin against him more presumptuously What blacker Ingratitude and Injustice can we be Guilty of then to fight against God with his own Weapons to serve the Devil