Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	according_a	know_v	way_n	2,112	5	4.8664	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09391	A direction for the government of the tongue according to Gods word	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.	1593 (1593)	STC 19688; ESTC S107173	27,185	80

A DIRECTION FOR THE GOVERNment of the Tongue according to Gods word PRINTED BY IOHN LEGATE Printer to the Vniversitie of Cambridge And are to be solde by Abraham Kitson at the signe of the Sunne in Pauls Church-yard in London 1593 TO THE READER CHristian Reader lamentable and fearefull is the abuse of the tongue among all sorts and degrees of men every where Hence daily arise manifold sinnes against God and innumerable scandals and grievances to our breethren It woulde make a mans heart to bleede to heare and consider how Swearing blaspheming Cursed speaking Railing Backbiting Slandering Chiding Quarrelling Contending Iesting Mocking Flattering Lying dissembling Vaine and Idle talking overflowe in all places so as men which feare God had better be any where then in the companie of most men Well then art thou a man which hast made little conscience of thy speech and talke repent seriously of this sinne and amende thy life least for the abusing of thy tongue thou crie with Dives in Hell Send Lazarus that he may dippe the tippe of his finger in water and coole my tongue And if thou be one which hast had care to order thy selfe in speech and silence according to Gods word oh doe it more For what ashame is it that men with the same tongue wherwith they confesse the faith and religion of Christ should by vaine and ungodly speech utterly denie the power thereof And for thy better helpe herein I have penned these fewe lines following concerning the Government of the tongue Vse them for thy benefite and finding profite thereby give glorie to God M.D.XCII Decemb. 12. W. Perkins OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGVE CAP. I. Of the generall meanes of ruling the tongue THE government of the tongue is a vertue pertaining to the holy usage of the tongue according to Gods worde And for the well ordering of it two things are requisite a pure heart and skill in the language of Canaan The pure heart is most necessarie because it is the fountaine of speech and if the fountaine be defiled the streames that issue thence can not be cleane And because the heart of man by nature is a bottomlesse gulfe of iniquitie two things are to be knowen first howe it must be made pure and then howe it is alwayes afterwarde to be kept pure The way to get a pure heart is this First thou must seriously examine thy life and thy conscience for all thy sinnes past then with a heavie and bleeding heart confesse them to God utterly condemning thy selfe Thirdly with deepe sighes and grones of spirite crye unto heauen to God the Father in the name of Christ for pardon I say for pardon of the same sinnes as it were for life and death and that day and night till the Lord send downe from heauen a sweete certificate into the perplexed conscience by his holy spirite that all thy sinnes are done away Nowe at the same instant in which pardon shall be graunted God likewise will once againe stretch forth that mightie hand of his whereby he made thee when thou wast not to make thee a newe creature to create a newe heart in thee to renewe a right spirite in thee and to stablish thee by his free spirite For whome he justifieth them also at the same time he sanctifieth The purified heart appeareth by these signes I. If thou feele thy selfe to be displeased at thine owne infirmities and corruptions and to droupe under them as men doe under bodily sicknesse II. If thou beginne to hate and to flie thine owne personall sinnes III. If thou feele a griefe and sorow after that thou hast offended God IIII. If thou heartily desire to abstaine from all manner of sinne V. If thou be carefull to auoid all occasions and intisements to euill VI. If thou trauell and doe thine indeauour in euery good thing VII If thou desire and pray to God to wash and rinse thine heart in the blood of Christ. When the heart is pure to keep it so is the speciall worke of faith which purifieth the heart Faith purifieth the heart by a particular applying of Christ crucified with all his merites Elisha when hee went up and lay upon the dead childe and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes upon his eies and his hands vpon his hands and stretched him selfe upon him the flesh of the childe waxed warme Afterward Elisha rose and spread him selfe upon him the second time then the child neesed seaven times and opened his eies So must a man by faith even spread himselfe upon the crosse of Christ applying hands and feete to his pearced hands and his feet and his wretched heart to Christes bleeding heart and then hee shall feele him selfe warmed by the heat of Gods spirite and sinne from daie to daie crucified with Christ and his dead heart quickened and reviued And this applying which faith maketh is done by a kinde of reasoning which faith maketh thus Hath God of his mercie given his owne Sonne to be my saviour to shed his blood for mee and hath hee of his mercie graunted unto mee the pardon of all my sinnes I will therefore endeavoure to keepe my heart and my life unblameable that I doe not offende him hereafter in worde or deede as I have done heretofore The language of Canaan is whereby a man endewed with the spirite of adoption unfainedly calleth upon the Name of God in Christ and so consequently doth as it were familiarly talke and speake with God This language must needes be learned that the tongue may be well governed For man must first be able to talke with God before he can be able wisely to talke with man For this cause when men are to have communication one with another they are first of all to be carefull that they often make their prayers to God that he would guide and blesse them in their speeches as David did Set a watch O Lorde before my mouth and keepe the dore of my lippes And againe O Lord open thou my lippes and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise where we may see that the mouth is as it were locked up frō speaking any good thing untill the Lord open it And Paul having the gift of ordering his tongue in wonderful measure yet desireth the Ephesians to pray for him that utterance might be given him and good reason because God ruleth the tongue CAP. II. Of the matter of our speech THe gouernment of the tongue containeth two parts Holy speech and holy silence In holy speech must be considered the matter of our speech and the manner The matter is commonly one of these three either God our neighbour or our selues As concerning God this caueat must be remembred that the honourable titles of his glorious Majestie be neuer taken into our mouthes unlesse it be upon a weightie and just occasion so as we may plainly see that glorie will redound to him thereby and for this cause

if hee will not blaspheme thee to thy face Such was the dealing of Doeg with David I sawe the sonne of Ishai saith he when he came to Abimelech the sonne of Ahitub who asked counsell of the Lorde for him and gave him victuals and he gave him also the sworde of Goliah the Philistin Here the backe-bither concealeth the necessarie circumstances whereby Achimelech might have beene excused as that David asked bread being hungrie and that he told not Ahimelech that he was out of Saules favour but he turneth all his speech to this end to bring the Priest into suspicion with Saul Thus the Pharises dealt Iohn came neither eating nor drinking and they say Hee hath a devill The Sonne of man came eating and drinking and they say Beholde a glutton and a drinker of wine and a friend of Publicanes and sinners Contrarie to this sobrietie is Flatterie whereby for hope either of favour or gaine men and especially such as are of dignitie and place are soothed up in their sinnes and extolled above measure even to their faces As when Herode arayed in royall apparell and sate on the judgement feare and made an oration the people gave a showte saying the voice of a God and not of a man But marke what Salomon saith He that praiseth his friend with a lowde voice rising earely in the morning it shall be counted to him for a curse One being asked which was the worst of all beastes answered Of wild beasts the tyrant of tame beasts the Flatterer And another said that Flatterers were worse then crowes For they eate onely dead carrion these feed on living men And of all kindes of Flatterie that is the worst when a man shall speake faire to his neighbours face and praise him but behinde his backe speake his pleasure and euen cut his throate David complaineth of his familiar friend that the words of his mouth were softer then butter yet warre was in his heart that his wordes were more gentle then oyle yet they were swordes The Pharises behinde Christes backe tooke counsell howe they might intangle him in talke but before his face they say Master wee knowe that thou art true and teachest the way of God truely neither carest thou for any man for thou considerest not the person of men Vrbanitie is a grace of speech whereby men in seemely manner use pleasantnesse in talke for recreation or for such delight as is joyned with profite to them selues and others The Preacher saith There is a time to laugh and a time to weepe When the Lorde brought againe the captivitie of Sion we were like them that dreame Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with joy Now this mirth must be joyned with the feare of God otherwise Salomon saith well I have saide to laughter thou art madde and of joy what is that thou doest And Christ saith Woe to you that now laugh for yee shall weepe Secondly with compassion and sorow for Gods people in affliction and miserie They drinke wine in bowles and annoint themselves with chiefe oyntments but no man is sorie for the affliction of Ioseph Thirdly it must be sparing and moderate Paul condemneth such as are lovers of pleasures more then of God Fourthly it must be void of the practise of sinne Moses is commended that he refused the pleasures of sinne The usuall time of mirth is at meates And here Sampsons practise may bee followed who at his mariage feast propounded a riddle or harde question to his friendes And Ambrose thinketh that he did this to stoppe the mouthes of talkers and to occupie their wits Withall it must bee remembred to be a Christian dutie even at the table to maintaine talke of religion and of duties of godlinesse after the practise of our Saviour Christ though many upon little ground thinke otherwise Tertullian recordeth of the Christians of his time that they used in their love feasts to talke togither as considering with themselves that they had God him selfe as an eare-witnesse to them Chrysostome of this point saith well I would to God saith he that in tavernes and feastes and at bathes men woulde talke and dispute of Hell for the remembring of Hell would hinder a man from falling to hell And it was the manner of the Primative Church at Dinner and Supper to use the reading of the Scriptures When ye come to the table saith Augustine heare that which is reade according to custome without any stirre or striving that your mouthes may not onely receive the meate but your eares may hunger after the worde of God And this holy rejoycing at meates is specially to be used with such as are godly As Salomon saith that hee vvhich eateth at the covetous mans table shall vomite his morsels and shall loose his sweete wordes The faithfull at Ierusalem did breake bread togither with gladnesse and singlenesse of heart Quest. Whether jesting be tollerable in any sort or not Answ. That jesting which standeth in quippes tauntes and girdes which serveth onely for the offence of some with the delight of others is not tollerable because all speech must edifie and minister grace to the hearers neither doeth it agree with Christian gravitie and modestie But two kindes of jesting are tollerable the one is moderate and sparing mirth in the use of things indifferent in season convenient without the least scandall of any man and with profite to the hearers The second is that which the Prophets used when they jested against wicked persons yet so as withall they sharpely reprooved their sinnes At noone Eliah mocked them and saide Crie alowd for he is a god either he talketh or pursueth his enemies or is in his journey or it may be he sleepeth and must be awaked As for laughter it may be used otherwise God woulde never have given that power and facultie into man but the use of it must be both moderate and seldome as sorrowe for our sinnes is to be plentifull and often This we may learne in Christ his example of whome wee reade that hee wept three times at the destruction of Ierusalem at the raising of Lazarus and in his agonie but wee neuer read that hee laughed Fidelitie is constancie in all our lawful sayings and promises A promise is to be made with this condition If God will and then if a man be prevented by death or by any like meanes hee is not to be blamed otherwise a mans lawfull worde and promise bindeth him according to the will and pleasure of him to whome it is made Nowe if afterwarde it be hurtfull to him that made it he may crave to be free from his promise and libertie being graunted take it But a promise bound with an oth is to be kept though private hinderances follow yet so as the Magistrate may order the matter and proceed in equitie that the dammage