Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	cloud_n	earth_n	rain_n	2,189	5	9.5355	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54949	A spittle sermon preach'd in St. Brides Parish-Church, on Wednesday in Easterweek, being the second day of April, 1684 before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, and the sheriffs of the now Protestant, and loyal city of London / by Thomas Pittis ...	Pittis, Thomas, 1636-1687.	1684 (1684)	Wing P2318; ESTC R10785	19,235	47

Pensioners This the Wise-man obviates too at vers 2. Give a portion sayes he to seven and also to eight to some and to more according to thy proportion and ability which one man cannot set for another unless he is acquainted with his estate and circumstances And he adds an Argument and Motive to this For thou knowest not sayes he what evil shall be upon the earth Thou knowest not what mischief thou maist prevent by thy Charity to another Nor what evils may betide thy self when thou maist by the mutability of affairs stand in need of help or assistance from others But farther because in an affair of this nature men are so loth to part with that wealth which they love so well and to resign a possession in hope only of a future reversion and therefore are very curious in making their choice of those Objects on whom they may bestow their Charity which must cost them that money which they prize equal to their lives The Preacher sends them to take a view of the influence of the Heavens and fetches an argument out of the Clouds that they may not alwayes look upon the Earth but sometimes lift up their eyes to Heaven If the clouds sayes he be full of rain they empty themselves upon the earth And that none may be disheartned or rather willingly excuse themselves from Noble and Godlike acts of Bounty because the Receivers are frequently so unworthy or ingrateful the Wise-man goes on in the third Verse If the tree fall towards the south or towards the north it is indifferent so it falls at all for in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be Thy Charity however let the receiver be never so unworthy or unthankful shall be accepted by him who has enjoyned it as thy duty if thou hast placed it with a good mind For he that usually stayes too long wavering and deliberating about such things as these misses often a fitting Object and frequently does not give at all but loses his season and reward too he slips his seed time and cannot well expect an harvest For as it follows ver 4. He that observeth the wind will not sow and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap So that upon the whole when we are able we must be alwayes willing to give Because as it is in the latter part of the Verse in which my Text is placed with reference either to time or persons we may easily be deceived For we know not what gift may prosper either this or that or whether they may not be alike good Give often therefore as Seneca adviseth because perdenda sunt multa ut semel ponas bene many are to be lost that you may sometimes or at least once place your benefits well However follow the advice in my Text In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand And now these words from their plain coherence with the former part of this Chapter present to us that publick duty of Charity to those who stand in need of our aid and relief A duty that is inscribed on the minds of men which nature it self inclines us to So that we must renounce the Principles of Humanity and bid defiance to the dispositions of our minds if they are not fill'd with dirt and rubbish or shrunk by an unnatural nay devilish fierceness and cruelty when we refuse to commiserate persons in affliction or cease to be according to our abilities charitable to the Poor The Jews would formerly have directed us to this duty The Heathen will upbraid us if we renounce it The Beasts themselves will gladly suffer their own kind to feed with them And the damned in Hell have had so much kindness and compassion too to wish well to their Brethren even whilst themselves have been tormented in the flames Charity is a duty pleasant in the exercise glorious in it self and brings a large and a rich portion to those who love and therefore espouse it For it entitles men to the blessing of God which the Scripture tells us maketh rich 'T is that which the covetous and sordid men of this lower World will commend in others however they may be loth to practise it themselves Nay the Devils in Hell will laugh at us when we cease to be kind to our own species 'T is that without which all our larger proprieties must cease Humane Government and Society must be dissolved and if a tolerable care were not taken of the Needy the greatest Empires would quickly be laid in dust and ruines when the Poor are every where more numerous and consequently stronger than the rich It preserves Power and Authority among us whilst Order betwixt superiors and inferiors is by a suitable allowance to the different states and ranks of men not violated but preserved entire The rich cannot live without the poor and in common prudence they ought to be maintained that some may do the drudgery of the World We may as well think that Trade and Commerce can be supported with Foreigners without Ships to transport the growth and product of our own soil and bring to us the advantages of another That these flying Arks riding on the Waves and mounted by the wings of the Wind can sail with safety and directly to their Ports by the steeridge of a Pilot without common Sea-men that may with toil and labour hoist or shift or take in the Sails What pitiful Trades should we quickly have in this renowned City had we not Porters and Carmen to bear the burdens How would the destroying Plague invade us had we not Scavengers to cleanse the Streets Nay Great men and the most delicate Ladies would hardly know how to live but Pestilence and Infection would seise their Houses and the very Air in which they breathe had they not those contented and in their condition happy Inferiors to endure the heat and burthen of the day whilst they keep all sweet and clean So that the Rich can no more live without the Poor than they can without the Rich. But besides all this the Christian Religion which we profess more especially enjoyns Charity to its Disciples not only that love which if sincere will certainly cover a multitude of sins but also their Alms and Bounty to relieve others That whilst the Rich enjoy their State and Plenty none may be starved for want of Bread There is nothing more frequent than Exhortations and Commands with reference unto Charity so commonly dispersed in the New Testament as well as the Old that to repeat them would be thought an unreasonable lengthning of my discourse and reflect disparagement upon so Religious and Honourable an Assembly as if I preached to such who could not or did not read the Scriptures All therefore that I shall at this time farther attempt shall be discharged in a performance of two things First In shewing how this Charity in dispersing our Wealth may besides our ordinary and common Alms be

demolished will remain in the Memories of some men as long as the Annals of time shall last till they become as old as History Hence came our Magnificent Buildings our Churches Colledges Hospitals and the like things that are the glory of a Land which Domesticks enjoy and Foreigners stand amazed at whilst they make narrow Inspections into them and carry reports into their own Countreys that the Examples may be entered amongst the Records of time From hence proceed our publick Revenues that enrich those Buildings which are an Ornament to themselves so that they become open Attestations to the great transcendent and infinite glory of the Supream God whom we pretend to worship are Seminaries and publick Schools of Literature or a lasting and perpetual relief to the Poor They proclaim the Religion and Charity of Nations and are acceptable to all that see or know them These Munificent gifts have been so common in former days that they almost seem needless in our own So that Charity which then ran in one stream has been forced by Laws to divert into divers and yet Chanels are opened for more So that although in some times the sence of Mens Consciences may be more affected with these things and they who receive more than ordinary influence from the Heavens are so spurr'd forward to Gratitude and returns that their inward shame may forcibly provoke them to publick acts of Benevolence and Bounty Yet the reason when time draws men towards the dregs and bottom of the World why they grow more contracted and penurious is not because we have fewer Objects or less Arguments to prevail for our Munificence but because mens Hearts and Consciences are narrowed being heated and scorched another way they are shrunk to this and by a long and continued time of tenderness they now grow hard and brawny Or else because their Iniquities abound so that the Charity of many is waxen cold and fashionable Vices become so numerous that they are also very chargeable to maintain For though it cannot but be apparent to the World that in this great and renowned City many famous and publick Buildings have like the Phoenix arisen out of ashes and the Charity of well-disposed persons has been sent abroad to both Universities and to other Publick Places of the Land Yet the increase of Wealth must alwayes be an argument to enlarge our Bounty since the Necessitous will continue to be more numerous than the Rich And should we take a view of the large and stately Structure of Solomon's Temple under the Law and thereby measure the enlarged hearts of the Professors of that antiquated Religion by those many great and splendid gifts that were amass'd together to compleat the building and the rich Utensils that were contained in it we must presently vilifie and explode our selves in the same Periods in which we magnifie and extol them There are two Churches that yet lie waste in this City which Christian men of ingenuity and Purse methinks should have some regard to And this I speak with the more confidence because I have no Free-hold in either the one bears the name of Christ the great Saviour and Redeemer of the World to which two of your Hospitals are specially related The other that of the most famous S. Paul who being his extraordinary Apostle became the Teacher and Doctor of the Gentiles the posterity of whom we cannot deny our selves to be unless we had rather be accounted Jews The building these which are now the blemish would mightily advance the ornament of this City and far exceed the glory of all the largest Inscriptions and heighth of a Monument But alas I am too mean to direct However I wish I had time enough to epitomize Examples of the great Bounty of the Primitive and most refined Christians in works of Piety and enlarged Charity although they were harassed with Tryals and Afflictions yet they liberally dispersed what the rage of their adversaries permitted them to enjoy The Rich and the Poor the hard season then requiring it threw all into a common bag laying it at the Apostles feet and rather became Objects of their own Charity than others should want sustenance and relief And afterwards when the Sun shined more favourably on them they scattered their Bounty as he did his Rayes In the morning they sowed their seed and in the evening they withheld not their hands knowing that in proportion to their seed so would the increase of their harvest be But alas this would be too large a task for me to accomplish and too much for you to hear at once Nay a Breviary of their pious and charitable works might seem only to enlarge our arraignment and upbraid our neglects Let us a little consider the fresh charity of later Ages especially that which I am bound to recommend and that shall be all that I will trouble you with upon this last Head And here you must understand the charitable and encreasing Fund by the largeness of the Disbursement which will appear by this True Report c. All that I need to note from hence is what is remark'd in the Report it self that the disproportion betwixt the Revenue and the Disbursements is an argument to engage the direction of mens Charity to these most Christian and Compassionate Foundations And now I have nothing else remaining but to exhort you according to your abilities to be followers of the best and most charitable examples And in this I must crave leave to beg a rais'd attention though it has been already sufficiently tired because time commands me to crowd my materials into a narrow room and only to mention those Heads that might be enlarged to fill a Volume Charity is so great and such a spreading duty that it makes men to be like God himself who causes his Sun to shine and strains his refreshing showers through the Clouds both upon the just and the unjust who giveth liberally and upbraids not the receiver It imitates the great Saviour of the World whose Charity to men was that which brought him down from Heaven and was the motive that caused him to mediate betwixt God and man that a whole Species might not be eternally ruined This caused him to preach his Doctrine on the earth to go about doing good and to endure his Tragical Tortures and Death It treads in the steps of the holy Spirit of God who diffuses the rayes of glorious light and sheds his influence on all that are qualified to receive it Charity is an eternal Vertue venerable not only for its excellence but its age For as God was from all eternity good so will he remain beyond all periods And as this is a Vertue communicated to men in which he delighteth they shall carry it with them into the most lofty Regions when they shall be for ever with the Lord when Faith shall be swallowed up in Vision and Prospect and Hope in an everlasting Fruition 'T is the only way that we