Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	action_n	good_a	sin_n	2,029	5	4.5198	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93063	Davids deliverance and thanksgiving. A sermon preached before the King at VVhitehall upon June 28. 1660. being the day of solemn thanksgiving for the happy return of His Majesty. By Gilbert Sheldon, D.D. and Dean of His Majesties Chappell Royall. Published by His Majesties speciall command.	Sheldon, Gilbert, 1598-1677.	1660 (1660)	Wing S3068; Thomason E1035_1; ESTC R203558	25,453	52

there 's the promised deliverance for his hearing is delivering And thou shalt praise me there 's the duty enjoyned The two first are past with us God be thanked for it We prayed we asked we called he heared he delivered Now remains our duty our praise and thanksgiving A small Tribute The duty easie God knows a duty so easie nothing can excuse us from it Other duties want not excuses have some just impediments in some persons and at some times as poverty impotency sickness or the like this hath none can have none All may do it and at any time the rich and the poor the sick and the well the lame and the sound He that wants not an heart though he want all things else though a tongue may yet give thanks and praise Ipsum voluisse laudasse est non enim verba quaerit sed cor Aug. in Psal 134. When all other ways of expressing our thanks fail us if sincerely and in earnest we would do it we have done it 2. Little And as what he requires is easie so 't is little very little little in it self what can be less then Thanks but compared with his great mercies then this little is just nothing The Patriarch Jacob confessed to God that he was less then the least of his Mercies Gen. 32. 10. Yet he a Gyant in vertue and worth we the best of us but Pignies to him and if He as great as he was were less then the least What are ●e to his great mercies but just nothing Yet such poor wretches we are 't is All we have for him All we can return to him and if he will have any thing he must have this nothing And so gratious he is that he calls for it he accepts it he is content with this nothing such as it is Requires no more from us then thanks and praise and a great vouchsafement it is that he will suffer us to do it so great and glorious he so vile and despicable we yet he will have it he is pleased with it But that too for us 3. Profitable to our selves not for himself we gain by it not he 't is nothing to him much to us he is neither the better if we thank him nor the worse if we thank him not whether we praise or dispraise him he is still the same but we are both better or worse as we do it or neglect it t is ever better with us when we do it worse when we do it not Cast any thing up toward Heaven it falls down upon thee again send up thanks and praise and they descend in new favors and blessings send them not up and look for no more Accipiendis indignus qui de acceptis ingratus Bern Nay look to lose those thou hast for be sure they will wither and come to nothing either they will be taken away or if they stay they shall not minister comfort not that very comfort which in their own nature they seem to bring they are not they shall not be blessings to thee the comfort is gone and that 's not all they turn to curses become aggravations of sin additions to judgement Such a wretched change doth unthankfulness make Do but observe how uneasie some men are in the affluence of all earthly blessings how froward how discontent how little joy they take in them and God grant it be not many a mans case amongst us and even in the enjoyment of our present blessings examine the cause search the root of this mischief and 't will be found nothing but Ingratitude to God for them who though he leaves the things themselves yet takes away the blessing the joy the comfort of them And who can say but that a slight esteem a negligent acknowledgment of his great favors deserves all this Since then this duty of praise and thanks is so profitable if we do it so mischievous if we do it not since we are happy if we do it for do that and God will do the rest Continue to multiply his blessings upon us preserve what we have and give more even more then we need more then we ask and on the other side we are utterly undone if we do it not for then there is no keeping of what we have or if the thing stay by us the blessing of it will be taken from us and we shall be as miserable in Peace and much more then we were in war And as we cannot keep what we have so we cannot hope for what we want Our Ingratitude hath stopped the passage dryed up the Fountain of his Mercies towards us all our hopes are at an end And the case being thus 't is most necessary that our next enquiry be What this duty of thankfulnesse is and how we may discharge our selves of it as we ought GRATITUDE in its general notion Gratitude is that vertue by which we make some convenient or fitting return to another for some free benefit received from him and the several acts parts or duties of it are three 1. To acknowledge the benefit 2. To thank and praise the Benefactor 3. To repay him with the like or some other kindness as our ability will serve and opportunity is offered So that 't is in the mind first then in the mouth both full of praise and thanks yet the duty not full untill it fill the hands too conceived it must be in the heart declared it must be by the tongue perfected it must be by the hand And that all these may do their parts we will a little consider them apart 1. And first 1. In the heart the root of this lies in the heart the fountain of every good action Gratitude must begin there by an inward acknowledgment and just esteem of the benefit received not to acknowledge or deny it is an impudent piece of Ingratitude to forget it base and to undervalue it comes not far behind either All these sins I fear we have much to answer for and such as brought our late judgments upon us Now a just estimate of what we have received is a remedy against all these For if we find that great especially in any high measure we cannot for shame either deny undervalue or forget it and therefore that we may do our duty in the business we are met about our main first and chiefest work must be to fix upon our hearts a due esteem a true sense of the worth and value of the great blessing we have lately received from God and are here met to pay our thanks for and the best measure of it is taken from the consideration 1. Of the Giver 2. The benefit it self 3. The manner of giving 4. The time when 5. And the persons upon whom bestowed All or any of which use either to heighten or lessen a benefit received 1. And first 1. A due esteem of the Giver the Giver commends the gift the hand it comes from adds value to

and Oppression Luxury and Prophaneness Lust and Uncleanness and what not But above all our base Ingratitude amidst the greatest Blessings ever restless and impatient complaining of the Times and murmuring at those under whose blessed Government we enjoyed them with so great security Our own hearts must needs witness against us That the accusation is most just and 't is not a time to trifle with our selves to palliate and extenuate our sins but freely and fully to confess them if we mean not to make void his present Mercies and pull yet greater Judgments upon us This sin made us think our Peace a burden and gave us no quiet till we had thrown away those inestimable blessings and for want of other Enemies with our own hands pull mischief upon our selves mutually scourging and afflicting one another by all the miseries of a bloudy civil and unnatural War And thus came his Judgements upon us And now to proceed 2. When Gideon returned from the pursuit of the two Kings of Midian 2. What under them and had torn the men of Succoth and Penuel with the thorns and bryars of the Wildernesse 't is said that with them he taught the men of Succoth Judg. 8. 16. because afflictions and punishments use to do it use to teach men Wit and Vertue use to restrain them from their wicked courses Did our mutual tearing of one anothers flesh teach us Had it so good an effect upon us Alas no we grew not better but worse by it our sins multiplied with and much beyond our sufferings especially Atheism Profanenesse Sacriledge Perjury Oppression innocent Blood of all Degrees Vulgar Noble Sacred and Royal not to be mentioned without tears of blood to bewail it So that when we were come to this height of wickedness and made our selves the reproach of the whole world what could we in reason expect but that the full Vials and the very dregs of his wrath should be poured down upon us and we utterly destroyed from the face of the earth 3. Yet so wonderful was his mercy 3. What at the time of our Deliverance even in in this state and condition when our provocations reached up to Heaven seemed to contend and prevail too both against his Love and Anger abusing the one contemning the other and profiting by neither when thus full ripe for destruction yet as if he were resolved not to be overcome by our ingratitude nor suffer any thing to hinder his gracious purposes towards us he hath by a Miracle of Mercy removed his Judgments from us and becalmed that tempest that lay so heavy upon us what can we do less then cry out with our Prophet O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Psa 107. And now if we be not wholly drowned in sensuality if we be not guilty of a stupidity beyond what humane nature seems capable of we must needs be highly and passionately sensible of so melting so surprizing so amazing a Mercy so exceeding great in all considerations So great the Giver so vile the Receivers the Gift so great the Manner so kind the Time so seasonable and We so unworthy of it what can be more to commend it to us And therefore if we have but near that relish of it in the heart as we ought and as it deserves it will break out at the mouth and break out it must into Praise and Thanksgiving For that was the next part of Davids Gratitude and must be so of ours I will give thanks unto thee O Lord and sing praises to thy Name among the Heathen 2. If Gratitude be in the heart 2. Gratitude in the tongue if all be right within something will appear without If there be that apprehension that estimation of the blessing as it deserves it cannot be kept there no more then fire in the bosome it will break out in thanks and praise the full heart will run over at the mouth it must have a vent by the tongue And so indeed it should both for our own good and for others too The tongue was principally given you know to set forth his praise and glory and it concerns us to use it accordingly We offend with it as much as with any member and therefore should by it endeavour to make some compensation and take care it be as serviceable as before sinful We pull down Judgments by it and 't is but meet we give thanks with it for our Deliverance else we shall be found guilty of cold affections dull resentments of his favours We rob God of his Glory and others of the benefit of his Mercies to us for whose sakes we receive them as well as for our own that they as well as we may have comfortable hopes of Deliverance when in distresse and learn by our example to give Praise and Glory to his Name Necessary then it is 1. Publickly that the Tongue have its part in the discharge of this duty our thanks must be vocal and more then that they must be publick too and diffusive David would not pay them privately and to a few but publickly even among the Gentiles in the Church and without even to all mankinde He was a Prophet and foresaw the conversion of the Gentiles and that the Psalm he composed should be sung to the praise and glory of God among them that his example should minister matter of thanks to all succeeding ages But I promised not to meddle with the Prophetical sense at all the Literal reacheth far enough to our instruction and may suffice to teach us to imitate him in publishing our thanks as he did who that none might be ignorant of his Gratitude who had heard of his Deliverance would do it in the great Congregation and among much people Psal 35. 18. He calls to others to assist him and joyn with him to do it themselves Tell the people what things he hath done Psal 105. 1. O come hither and hearken and I will tell you what he hath done for my Soul Psal 66. 16. And O praise the Lord with me and let us magnifie his name together Psal 34 3. O be joyful all the Lands and many such like He will do it to every body that all may praise God as well as he he will not be ashamed nor should we to own and confesse and acknowledge and publish his bounty in all places and before all persons as occasion and opportunity is offered A heart truly affected with a sense and due esteem of his mercy will do it cannot forbear to do it is restless till it have done it Both publickly and chearfully too another circumstance in the manner of giving our thanks of which likewise The Prophet gives here an example 2. chearfully for he will not onely say but Sing praises unto his Name declare a joyfulness as well as thankfulness And so it should be and so it must

be For as to Feast when God calls to Fast to sing when he calls to sigh is in the Prophet an iniquity not easily purged Isai 22. 12 13 14. To frolick it under his judgments and to despise them so much as not to seem sensible of them is a great sin and I fear no small part of our former guilt So on the contrary to carry sour countenances vvhen his shines upon us to entertain his mercies vvith a sullen and sad heart an unfeeling disposition or but vvith an indifferency not to be at all transported at all moved vvith them is a sin that deserves a desertion a recalling of his favors a doubling his judgments upon us A sad example vve have in the people of God Deut. 28. 47 48. Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things Therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies in hunger thirst and nakedness and in the want of all things An heavy doom and the reason of it is vvhere there is no joy without there can be no hearty thanks within For how can we esteem any thing a blessing that delights us not And how are we delighted if we shew no signs of joy for it And how does he value a Deliverance that expresses no comfort he takes in it This is certainly a great sin an high provocation of God What shall we say then to those sowre and over-leavened natures that with the same countenance keep a Fast and a Festival a day of Humiliation and Thanksgiving both alike with sighs and groans and cast down looks as if griefs and groans were a certain sign of Grace and Godlinesse when the Devils howl and are tormented But I would not be mi●●aken 't is not a profane rejoycing a sinful mirth we plead for far be it from us How much those usual expressions of jollity singing feasting and the like are abused to Luxury and Riot Excess and Wantonness Novimus Dolemus as the Father we know it we grieve for it we detest it as much as any An horrid sin it is in stead of thanking God to sacrifice to Bacchus to express Publicum gaudium per Publicum dedecus as Tertullian of the Heathen That 's to pay thanks with unthankfulnesse to make Mercy the Mother of Sin to return evil for good the worst the highest the basest Ingratitude The corruption of the best things is ever the worst and what 's most necessary in the use is ever most dangerous in the abuse And so 't is here abuse Mirth and nothing worse use it right and nothing better keep it within its bounds suffer it not to transport us beyond our duty into sin and 't is the Balm of this Life the Earnest of a better the Condiment and seasoning that which makes pleasant all actions Moral and Religious 'T is an excellent Rule of Life St. Bernard gives Do well and be merry as merry as you will the more the better keep to the first you cannot offend in the second And let me tell you that Vertue and Religion are the most chearfull things in the World however some make them sowr and severe they are like God himself all light and serenity joy and comf●rt especially in his service God loves the chearful Servant and who does not We may judge it by our selves Who cares for him that goes to his work as if he went to the Stocks or a Prison All parts of Gods service even the sowrest and severest had we time to shew it are mixed with comforts and should be performed joyfully this of Thanksgiving above and beyond and more then any For here we swim with the stream We are naturally chearful after a mischief avoided a danger escaped and being so well prepared for it should with all alacrity sing out our thanks and his praise declare an exultation of mind in all innocent and decent expressions of joy and gladness 'T was ever the custome of all mankind to do it in all Ages and places Instances are infinite both within the Church and without But in this hast we need go no further then the Prophet David who in the Book of Psalms for his several deliverances is ever at I will sing or O sing unto the Lord either doing it himself or calling others to do it not coldly or faintly but zealously and heartily Sing aloud make a chearfull noise Sing lustily unto him with a good courage But this will not serve the turn neither unless he call for Instruments as well as men to assist Bring hither the Tabret the merry Harp and the Lute blow the Trumpet too all to incite quicken and enflame his heart and affections even to a transporting extatick joy of gratitude We should indeed labour to foment it in us as much as may be for the greater joy without the greater sense and esteem of his bounty within and the greater that is ever the more and the more sincere Gratitude which if it be not heard in our Tongues is certainly not felt in our Hearts and therefore there it must be also And when this is done the second part of Gratitude is performed the Tongue hath done her part but all is not yet done this is but Gratiarum dictio it reacheth no further then words and something must be done as well as said The thanks of some are vocal enough 3. Gratitude in the hand too much because nothing else nothing but sound and noise and better a dumb heart then not sincere Words are a cheap way of payment and the world delights much in it Gods benefits are not words but deeds and our Gratitude will be found short if it reach not beyond words to deeds Nay Honesty and Reason require that the compensation exceed the benefit received that the return be made both in greater measure and with greater alacrity if it may be Because he that gave was not obliged he that returns is the one comes from a free and liberal mind the other is a piece of Justice and a Debt And though we have paid what 's due to Justice in returning as much as we received yet we are not upon even terms unless we suffer one kindnesse to beget another and return something over and above and more then we received A good man will do it when he can and have a good mind an earnest desire to do it when he cannot And so should we to God since 't is impossible to make him answerable returns in fact we must do it in voto in desire And though neither our deeds nor desires can in any degree equal his Bounty but we must needs fall infinitely short in both yet if we do what we can and heartily wish we could do more 't is accepted with him And something sure we can do and that something we must do Now to learn what it is we must consider why we were afflicted and why delivered afflicted we were for our sins