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
A93751	A sermon on Phil. IV., 11, 12. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am in therewith to be content I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every where, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1698 (1698)	Wing S5131A; ESTC R230357	23,094	32

A SERMON ON Phil. IV. 11 12. For I have Learned in whatsoever State I am in therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound Every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need THese latter Words of the Apostle Paul do cheifly and immediately relate to that two fold Condition of Life Prosperity or Adversity Plenty or Poverty in the one of which all People are in or in an even middle State between them both And therefore by Gods assistance which I do humbly and earnestly pray for O send out thy Light and thy Truth let them lead me I shall endeavour to treat of them under this Limitation and Restriction That we may know how to demean behave and carry our selves either in Prosperity or Adversity either in Plenty or under Poverty or in that even middle State and Condition between them both So that Every where and in all things we may be instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need When I have felt and experienced within my self some Covetings and Aspirings above my present condition I have checked the same again with this thought and consideration That if I my self were to be upon a level and an equality with the rest of Mankind I should not then have so much nor yet so good of the sort of outward things as I have had throughout all my past Life and yet I have right unto And I both know and have often reasoned within my self That the same God who caused me to have been born of such Parents might have made me a Beggars Off-Spring and have at first placed me in the Lowest and Poorest State and Condition that any of his reasonable Creatures are in throughout this Earth This following Scripture hath run very much in my mind When the most High divided to the Nations their Inheritance when He separated the Sons of Adam He set the bounds of the People according to the Number of the Children of Israel Deut. 32. 8. It is here said According to the Number of the Children of Israel So He did at first things near by an Equality and accordingly He doth now proportion it out both to this and to other Nations and Countreys Allotting to each such a Number of Inhabitants as He knows it will conveniently feed and maintain And after that God had in his Infinite Knowledge and Wisdom so divided to the Nations and set forth the bounds of the People according to the Number of its several Inhabitants Evil came presently afterwards into the World with Covetousness and Discontent and the Sons of Violence and Transgression Sprang up Wickedness quickly Got head and the greater part of its side And then some by Labour and Industry obtained what others through Negligence and Idleness parted withal the World going on in the usual way as it doth now But the Great Landlord of all Whose is the Earth and the fullness thereof hath originally given enough for all for the Fruits and Cattel Blessed be his Goodness are abundantly sufficient to maintain all its Inhabitants But He hath set Limits Bounds and Landmarks that every one might know what was his own with a severe forbidding and Curse Annexed to him that Shall remove his Neighbours Land-mark We may here use such Boldness of Speech God who giveth the Beasts their Food and the young Ravens which cry is if we may so speak bound that is it is a thing which belongs to him and is expected from him to give necessary Food unto his Living Creatures and accordingly He doth so stand obliged in Covenant yea and He doth perform the same That is to say To supply real Wants and not unnecessary Lusts to give what is absolutely necessary or sufficient but not superfluities or needless things Behold the Fowls of the Air for they sow not neither do they reap nor Gather into Barns Yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them Mat. 6. 26. We may as it were see with our Eyes his watchful and especial Providence or providing for that is the proper signification of the Word Providence over all his Living Creatures The Eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every Living thing Psal 145. 15 16. Who covereto the Heaven with Clouds who prepareth rain for the Earth Who maketh Grass to Grow upon the mountains He giveth to the Beast his Food and to the young Ravens which cry Psal 147. 8 9. Are ye not much better then they Yea much more Men and Women the Principal part of the Creation of God are under his Care and Provision Every least Part Word and Syllable in Scripture is significative and when it is Written I know that the Lord will maintain the Right of the Poor Psal 140 12. We may hence assuredly Gather and Conclude That the Poor have as much Right unto necessary Food and Raiment as any have to his House Lands or Money I will go on to add and I will prove it That they have more and greater Right unto that by this Law and true saying of God then they have a right unto the other things only by the Laws and Establishment of Man Now the first is of as much greater Force and Authority as the Law of God is above the Law of Man which is as much as God is greater then Man which again is as much as the vast fabrick of the World doth exceed in bulk and dimension one single dust of the Ballance or the least Grain of Sand. Again whereas it is Written When the Poor and Needy seek water and there is none and their Tongue faileth for Thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Jacob will not forsake them Isa 41. 17. How is this fulfilled and found true For I my self have seen a Poor and Needy Creature look with much Earnestness and Anguish for a meal of Victuals when He hath been hunger bitten and for all that He hath been at length forced to go away without it Nevertheless this Promise of God stands firm and sure to such as to futurity and in the time of the restitution of all things it will be literally made Good But here again it may be surmised What is this the near if one shall be famished in the mean while as I have heard that in an hard Winter or in a Dearth or scarcity of Victuals some have dyed for want of necessaries The sin whereof will be required of that respective Place and Generation if the Inhabitants thereof could have possibly prevented and avoided it Yet still there is a great deal in this Promise of God for He that turneth Man to Destruction will say Return ye Children of Men Psal 90. 3. He will raise up and restore that same Life which they lost and will so order the matter that