Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	act_n	sin_n	soul_n	2,417	5	4.9548	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45564	A sad prognostick of approaching judgement, or, The happy misery of good men in bad times set forth in a sermon preached at St. Gregories, June the 13th, 1658 / by Nathaniell Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1658 (1658)	Wing H743; ESTC R334	20,404	40

be cut off by their bloody enemies though these do it in malice he suffers it in love For tell me is it not a mercy to be put into a safe harbour before the stormy tempest arise To get into the House before the thunder and lightning rain and hail fall This is Gods design in taking away his Servants and therefore they have reason to bid death welcome Indeed the strongest consolation against death is the consideration of the terminus ad quem to what the righteous are taken even that good and bliss and glory to come They are taken to an innumerable company of Angels to the spirits of the just men made perfect They are taken to a Palace of Glory a Paradise of Pleasure and a Mansion of Eternity Finally they are taken to the Beatifical Vision of the face of God and the full fruition of his glorious presence But withall it is confortable to reflect on the terminus a quo from what they are taken from the evil misery and calamity to come upon the place where and people among whom they lived 2. Terrour to the wicked Nothing more usual with ungodly men then to rejoyce when the righteous are taken away from among them They had rather have their room then their company as being desirous to be rid of them Hence it is that they are not only glad of but many times very active in taking away the righteous They do not account themselves safe whilest the godly are among them But oh what fools are they and how grossly deceived Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy saith the Church So may every Sonne of the Church Little cause have the wicked to rejoyce Nay instead of laughing they have more cause to weep when the righteous are taken away For if the righteous be taken away from it must needs follow that their taking away is a sign of evil to come So that the death of the godly is a sad Prognostick of the destruction of the wicked What a wall is to a Town an hedge to a Field a pillar to an House that is a righteous man to the place where he liveth And therefore as men when they intend to take the Town batter the walls to lay waste the Field pluck up the hedge to pull down the House take away the pillar So Almighty God when he designeth to pluck up to overthrow and to pull down a Kingdom or a Nation he first removeth his own Servants Wicked men look upon the good as thornes and pricks to offend them whilest they have more cause to account them as Chariots and Horse-men to defend them They think themselves most secure and happy but indeed they are then nearest to misery and ruine when the godly are taken from them By taking away the righteous they intend a courtesie to themselves but it is in truth as a courtesie to the good so an injury to themselves Though yet such is the blindness of their minds they will not see and the hardness of their hearts that they will not consider it Which leads me to the Other part of the text the Complaint which the Prophet taketh up against the wicked in these words No man layeth it to heart none considering It might be here taken notice of in general that the sin which the Prophet declaimeth against is not positive but negative Not the bloody taking away of righteous ones not the cruel rejoycing at their fall but the not laying it to heart Indeed to be an Instrument of or laugh at the calamity of the godly making their tears our wine their ruine our sport is abhominable But though we be not in the seat of the scorners yet if we be not in the posture of mourners it is justly culpable Thus Dives is charged by our blessed Saviour not with oppressing Lazarus by taking any thing from him but not relieving him in giving something to him There are sins of omission as well as commission There are breaches of the negative as well as of the afffirmative Precepts We sin as well though not so much in not doing the good required as in doing the evil prohibited Not only the wastfull Steward but the unprofitable Servant shall be cast out The Vine that bringeth sorth no grapes shall be cut down as well as that which bringeth forth wild grapes Those whom Christ will at the last day set at his left hand are not accused with any evil or unjust acts they did but only with neglect of those charitable acts they ought to have done Oh let us make conscience of not doing as well as doing To let this go the sinne in particular reproved is not laying to heart and considering the death of the righteous Concerning which I shall briefly discover three things the nature the extent and the guilt of it 1. The Nature of the sin what it is will the better appear if we observe the Emphasis of the words the one whereof considering is an act of the Judgment weighing things in the ballance of Reason the other laying to heart refers to the affections Since then any thing is laid to heart when we are deeply affected with it These do one infer the other since what we affect we take into consideration and by considering we come to be affected Whilest I was musing the fire kindled saith David The consideration of any object causeth sutable affections If delightfull joy if hurtfull sorrow The fault then here characterized is that though the righteous were taken away before their eyes yet they did not lay it to their hearts And though they could not but take notice yet they would not consider it at leastwise not so seriously and affectionately as they ought 2. The Extent of this sin will be the more evident if we observe the several Circumstances by which it is aggravated 1. It was not the death of any but a righteous man not of one but of many mercifull men and some of those men of God and yet it was not laid to heart 2. These righteous and mercifull ones did not die a natural death but were taken away when yet they might have lived in course of nature many yeares longer and done a great deal of service for God in their Generation And yet this was not laid to heart by them 3. This taking away the righteous by death did portend no lesse then ruine and misery to come and that upon themselves And yet they were so stupid as not to consider it 4. And which enlargeth the Complaint their fault was general None considered none laid to heart That is very few as else-where There is none righteous By which phrase is intimated though not a nullity yet a paucity not one of many were sensible of the losse a spiritual Lethargy had seized upon the most and the disease was become Epidemical 3. The Guilt of this sinne how great it is will be manifest in a three-fold respect 1. In regard of God it argueth

his delights are with the sonnes of men and his love to mankind is greater then to any of his creatures upon which account the Psalmist saith a little before Lord what is man that thou takest knowledg of him or the sonne of man that thou makest account of him And as God hath a more special love to man then any other creatures so he hath a more peculiar love to the righteous then any other men in which respect the Psalmist saith elsewhere Thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a Sheild In this construction there is very good use to be made of the word in this Scripture 1. Partly to inform us that they who perish in this world may yet be Gods favourites Men are apt to think that God should not let the wind blow upon his darlings but they are deceived his love is not a Motherly and cockering but a Fatherly and prudent love Benjamin was not the lesse regarded by Joseph because the Cup was found in his sack We must not infer from the presence of outward afflictions the absence of divine affection When he who was the righteous one of whom the Father said This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased was a man of sorrowes and acquainted with griefs Yea upon the Cross breathed forth that dolefull language My God my God why hast thou forsaken me as being left by God to the will of his enemies Let us not doubt but that righteous persons though they perish by the malice of men are yet in favour with God 2. Partly to comfort righteous ones in the midst of all their sufferings considering that while the world frowns God smiles Though the cold wind of persecution blow yet the Sun-beames of divine affection shines upon them Though they are rejected as dross by men yet they are accounted by God as his Jewels What matters it for mens hatred so we have Heavens love This may make the righteous not only contented but cheerfull in suffering the cruelty of their enemies that they are the men whom God markes out for the objects of his mercy 2. But though this construction be pious and congruous yet I rather incline to the active notion of these words so much the rather because of that parallel place in the Prophet Micah where it is said The good man is perished out of the earth In this sense men of mercy are such as exercise mercy towards them that are in misery Mercy in its general notion is alienis miserijs condolere easque proviribus sublevare a tender condolence with others miseries and a ready willingness to succour them according to our ability Such is the activity of this grace that it runs through the whole man In the understanding it is a serious consideration how we may do good The liberal man saith the Prophet deviseth liberal things His thoughts are taken up with consulting for the relief of the distressed In the memory it is a continual setting the miseries of our Brethren before us The mercifull man forgetteth the injuries that are done to himself and remembers the miseries that are suffered by others he still thinketh he heareth them groaning and seeth them bleeding In the will and affection it is a sweet sympathy whereby we do nolle malum velle bonum nill the evil and will the good of another The mercifull mans heart aketh for his Brethren and he resents their sufferings as if they were his own Nor doth mercy only retire it self into the chambers of the soul but looketh out at the windowes and goeth out of doors for the succour of the afflicted It opens the eye to see and search out the miserable which beholding them maketh report to the heart and that being affected with sorrow causeth the eye to drop down teares it quickneth the ear to attend and listen to the cries of the calamitous like the tender Nurse which heareth the least whimpering of the Child It unlooseth the tongue to speak a word in season pleading with God and man for them It puts under the shoulder to bear a part of the burden according to that Apostolical counsel Bear you one anothers burdens It unclaspeth the hand to relieve and knocketh off the fetters from the feet so that they are ready to go nay runne in behalf of the miserable In one word the mercifull mans head is full of thoughts his heart of sorrowes his eyes of teares mouth of Prayers and hands of gifts Thus every truly godly man is not only just but good righteous but mercifull He puts on viscera bowels of mercy and tender compassions towards them that are afflicted he is ready to do opera works of mercy according to his power By the one he draws out his soul to the hungry by the other he reacheth forth his hand to the needy Righteous men know that almes is the poor mans due and mercy is a debt they owe to the miserable no wonder if they are carefull to pay it And look how far the misery of the distressed reacheth so far the mercy of the righteous extendeth both to the souls and bodies of others Namely they are men of mercy especially to the souls of others instructing the ignorant confirming the weak counselling the doubtfull warning the unruly perswading the obstinate and comforting the grieved Nor are they unmindfull of the bodies of others cloathing the naked feeding the hungry refreshing the thirsty visiting the sick and entertaining the stranger Nor is their mercy only confined to friends but enlarged to foes They are men of good will even to those that bear them ill will They do good where they have received evil They requite injuries with courtesies and want not compassion for those who are the instruments of their passion Whilest then the Jesuited Saints wear the red Coat of blood and cruelty let Gods holy ones be cloathed in the white of innocency and pitty and whilest their zeal flames in fury let our love shine in mercy Whatever they pretend they are no other then Sonnes of Belial who delight in blood who slay the Fatherless and the widowe and make Persons Families may Nations miserable He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord thy God requireth of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God So we read in the Prophecy of Micah Sow to your selves in righteousness and reap in mercy that is the Prophet Hosea his counsel Christs blessed ones are such as hunger after righteousness and withall are mercifull And here the Characters of a godly man are righteous and mercifull I have done with the first branch which is the Saints pious disposition I now hasten to 2. His Calamitous condition which is represented in those words perisheth and taken away The first word perisheth which is of a large acception may be capable of an harsh construction and such as cannot