Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	steal_v	thief_n	treasure_n	2,093	5	9.4580	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45322	Susurrium cum Deo soliloqvies, or, Holy self-conferences of the devout soul upon sundry choice occasions with humble addresses to the throne of grace : together with The souls farwell to earth and approaches to heaven / by Jos. Hall.	Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.; Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656. Soules farewell to earth and approaches to heaven.	1651 (1651)	Wing H420; ESTC R2803	81,778	407

performance yet thy mercies cannot faile in my acceptation Soliloq XXXVI Heavenly Ioyes DOubtless O God thou that hast given to men even thine enemies here upon Earth so excellent meanes to please their outward senses such beautifull faces and admirable flowers to delight the eye such delicate sents from their garden to please the smell such curious confections delicate sauces to please the taste such sweet Musick from the birds and artificiall devises of ravishing melody from the art of man to delight the eare hast much more ordained transcendent pleasures and infinite contentments for thy glorified Saints above My soule whiles it is thus clogged and confined is too straight to conceive of those incomprehensible waies of spirituall delectation which thou hast provided for thy dear chosen ones triumphing with thee in thy heaven O teach me to wonder at that which I cannot here attaine to know and to long for that happinesse which I there hope to enjoy with thee for ever Soliloq XXXVII Mixed Contentments WHat a fool were I if I should thinke to finde that which Solomon could not contentment upon earth his greatnesse wealth and wisdome gave him opportunity to search where my impotency is shut out Were there any thing under heaven free from vanity and vexation his curious inquisition could not have missed it No alas all our earthly contentments are like a Jewish Passeover which wee must eate with soure herbes Have I wealth I cannot bee void of cares Have I honour I cannot bee rid of envy Have I knowledge Hee that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow saith the Kingly Preacher Have I children it were strange if without crosses Have I pleasures not without a sting Have I health not without the threats of disease Have I full diet not without the inconveniences of satiety Have I beauty not without a snare to my soul Thus it is in all our sublunary comforts I cannot have the Rose but I must be content with the prickles Pure and absolute pleasure dwels elsewhere far above the reach of this vale of misery O God give me to seeke it there onely not without a contemptuous neglect of all those deceitfull vanities which would withdraw my soule from thee and there let me finde it whiles I am here by faith when I remove hence by personall fruition In the mean time let me take what thou givest me with patience and thankfulness thankfulnesse for the meat and patience with the sauce Soliloq XXXVIII True Wealth ALL a mans wealth or poverty is within himselfe It is not the outward abundance or want that can make the difference Let a man bee never so rich in estate yet if his heart be not satisfied but he is still whining and scraping and pining for more that man is miserably poore all his bagges cannot make him other than a starke beggar On the other side give mee a man of small means whose minde is throughly content with his little and enjoyes his pittance with a quiet and thankefull heart that man is exceeding rich all the World cannot rob him of his wealth It is not having by which we can measure riches but enjoying The Earth hath all Treasures in it yet no man stiles it rich Of these which the world call goods of Fortune onely opinion sets the value Gold and Silver would bee metals whether wee thinke them so or not they would not bee riches if mens conceit and institution did not make them such O my soule bee not thou carried away with the common Error to covet and admire those things which have no true worth in themselves If both the Indies were thine thou shouldest bee no whit the wealthier Labour for those riches whereby thy stocke may bee advanced The great Lord of all who knowes best where his Wealth lies and where thou shouldst hoord up thine hath told thee where to seeke it where to lay it Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where theeves break thorow and steale But lay up for your selves Treasures in Heaven There thou shalt bee sure to finde it entire free from plunder and all danger of diminution O God give me to covet that my minde may bee rich in knowledge that my soule may be rich in grace that my heart may bee rich in true contentation as for this pelfe of the World let it make them miserable that admire it Soliloq XXXIX False Light LOoking forth one starry evening my eye met with a glorious light that seemed fairer than its fellowes Whiles I was studying what Planet it might be it suddainly glided downe and vanished O God how can we hope to avoid delusions upon earth when even the face of heaven may thus deceive us It is no otherwise in the firmament of the Church How many have there been that have seemed eternally fixed in that high sphere which have proved no other than base Meteors gilded with fair beames they appeared starres their substance was but slime Woe were to the earth if a true starre should fall Yea I doubt whether the Fabrick of heaven would stand if one of those glorious Lights should drop downe If therefore the star Wormwood shall fall and imbitter the waters hee shall shew himselfe to be but a false star and a true Impostor else heaven should fall as soon as hee O my God give mee grace to know the truth of my substance and the firmnesse of my station Let me hate all counterfeit exhalations Let me know my selfe the least and most insensible star in thy Galaxie so shall I bee happy in thee and thou shalt be by me glorified Soliloq XL The haste of Desire HOw slowly the houres seem to pace when we are big with the desire and expectation of any earthly contentment we are ready to chide the time for standing still when wee would over-hasten the fruition of our approaching comfort So the School-boy longs for his play-day the Apprentice for his freedome the Ward for his livery the Bride for her nuptialls the Heire for his inheritance so approvedly true is that of wise Solomon Hope deferred makes the heart sick Were it not O my soule for that wretched infidelity which cleaves so close unto thee thou couldst not but bee thus affected to thy heaven and shouldst bee yet so much more as the joyes there are infinitely more exquisite than which this earth can afford Surely thou dost but flatter mee with the over-weening conceit of the firm apprehension of my faith whiles I finde thee so cool in the longing desires of thy glorification What hast thou no stomack to thy happinesse Hath the world benummed thee with such a dull stupidity that thou art growne regardlesse and insensible of eternall blessednesse Oh shake off this Lethargick heavinesse of spirit which hath possessed thee and rouze up thy selfe to those ardent desires of glory which have sometimes enflamed thee Yea Lord do thou stir up that heavenly fire that now lies

full and inimitable this seale cannot be counterfeit the graces of the Spirit which thou hast received thou feelest to be true and reall thou findest in thy selfe a faith though weak yet sincere an unfeigned repentance joyned with an hearty detestation of all thy sinnes a fervent love of that infinite goodnesse that hath remitted them a conscionable care to avoid them a zealous desire to bee approved to God in all thy waies Flesh and bloud cannot have wrought these graces in thee It is onely that good Spirit of thy God which hath thus sealed thee to the day of Redemption Walke on therefore O my soule confidently and chearfully in the strength of this assurance and joyfully expect the full accomplishment of this happy contract from the sure hands of thy God Let no temptation stagger thee in the comfortable resolutions of thy future glory But say boldly with that holy Patriarke O Lord I have waited for thy salvation Soliloq LVI Heavenly Manna VIctory it selfe is the great reward of our fight but what is it O God that thou promisest to give us as the reward of our Victory even the hidden Manna Surely were not this gift exceeding precious thou wouldst not reserve it for the remuneration of so glorious a Conquest Behold that materiall and visible Manna which thou sentest down from heaven to stop the mouths of murmuring Israel perished in their use and if it were reserved but to the next day putrified and instead of nourishing annoyed them But the hidden Manna that was laid up in the Arke was incorruptible as a lasting monument of thy power and mercy to thy people But now alas what is become both of that Manna and of that Arke Both are vanished having passed through the devouring jawes of time into meer forgetfulnesse It is the true spiritual Manna that came down from the highest heaven and ascending thither again is hidden therein the glorious Arke of Eternity that thou wilt give to thy Conqueror That is it which being participated of here below nourisheth us to eternall life and being communicated to us above is the full consummation of that blessed life and glory O give me so to fight that I may overcome that so overcomming I may bee feasted with this Manna Thou that art and hast given me thy selfe the spirituall Manna which I have fed on by faith and the symbolicall Manna whereof I have eaten sacramentally give me of that heavenly Manna whereof I shall partake in glory It is yet an hidden Manna hid from the eies of the world yea in a sort from our owne hid in light inaccessible For our life is hid with Christ in God but shall then bee fully revealed for it shall then not onely cover the face of the earth round about the tents of Israel but spread it self over the face of the whole heaven yea fill both heaven and earth I well thought O my God that if heaven could afford any thing more precious than other thou wouldst lay it up for thy Victor for it is an hard service that thy poore Infantry here upon earth are put unto to conflict with so mighty so malicious so indefatigable enemies and therefore the reward must be so much the greater as the warefare is more difficult O doe thou who art the great Lord of Hosts give me courage to fight perseverance in fighting and power to overcome all my spirituall enemies that I may receive from thee this hidden Manna that my soul may live for ever and may for ever blesse thee Soliloq LVII The Hearts Treasure IT is a sure Word of thine O Saviour that where our Treasure is there our hearts will be also neither can wee easily know where to finde our hearts if our Treasure did not discover them Now Lord where is my Treasure Surely I am not worthy to bee owned of thee if my Treasure be anywhere but in heaven my lumber and luggage may be here on earth but my Treasure is above there thou hast laid up for me the richest of thy mercies even my eternall salvation Yea Lord what is my richest Treasure but thy selfe in whom all the Treasures of Wisdome and Knowledge yea of infinite Glory are laid up for all thine All things that this world can afford me are but meere pelfe in comparison of this Treasure or if the earth could yeeld ought that is precious yet I cannot call that Treasure Treasure implies both price and store of the dearest Commodities never so great abundance of base things cannot make a Treasure neither can some few peeces of the richest mettals bee so accounted but where there is a large congestion of precious Jewels and Metalls there onely is Treasure If any at all surely very little and mean is the wealth which I can promise my selfe here perhaps some brasse Farthing or light and counterfeit Coine meer earthy dross which may load but cannot enrich my soule my only true riches are above with thee and where then should my heart bee but there My hand and my braine too must necessarily bee sometimes here below but my heart shall be still with my Treasure in heaven It is wont to be said that however the memory of old age is short yet that no old man ever forgot where hee laid up his Treasure O God let not that Celestiall Treasure which thou hast laid up for me be at any time out of my thoughts let my eye be ever upon it let my heart long for the full possession of it and so joy in the assured expectation of it that it may disrelish all the contentments and contemne all the crosses which this World can afford me Soliloq LVIII The narrow Way O Saviour I hear thee say I am the Way the Truth and the Life and yet again thou who art Truth it selfe tell'st me that the way is narrow and the gate straight that leadeth unto life Surely thou who art the living Way art exceeding large so wide that all the World of Beleevers enter into life by thee only but the way of our walke towards thee is straight and narrow Not but that thy Commandement in it self is exceeding broad for Lord how fully comprehensive it is of all morall and holy duties and what gracious latitude hast thou given us in it of our Obedience and how favourable indulgence and remission in case of our faylings But narrow in respect of the weaknesse and insufficiency of our obedience It is our wretched infirmity that straitens our way to the Lo heaven which is thy All-glorious Mansion when wee are once entred into it how infinitely large and spacious it is even this lower contignation of it at how marvailous distance it archeth in this Globe of aire and earth and waters and how is that again surrounded with severall heights of those lightsome Regions unmeasurable for their glorious dimensions But the heaven of heavens the seat of the blessed is yet so much larger as it is higher in place and more

and attend upon the Throne of thy Majesty the thousand thousands of thy blessed Angels Arch-angels Cherubim Seraphin Thrones Principalities Dominions which in thy presence enjoy a bliss next to infinite any one of which if wee could see him were enough to kill us with his glory Not one of those millions of mighty spirits but were able to destroy a World Oh then how infinitely transcendent is that power of thine which hast both created all this heavenly Hierarchy and so movest in them that onely in and by thee they are thus potent Yea Lord let me but cast mine eies downe to this earth I tread upon and view thy wonders in the deep how manifestly do these proclame thy divine Omnipotence When I see this vaste Globe of earth and waters dreadfully hanging in the midst of a liquid Air upheld by nothing but by the powerfull word When I see the rage of the swelling waves naturally higher than the shores they beat upon restrained to their bounds by thine over-ruling command When I see the earth beautifully garnished with marvailous variety of trees herbs flowers richly stuffed with precious metals stones minerals When I see besides a world of men the numberless choice and differences of the substance formes colours dispositions of Beasts fowles fishes wherewith these lower Elements are peopled how can I be but dissolved into wonder of thine Almighty power SECT. IV. NEither is thy power O God either more or more thy selfe than thy Wisdome which is no lesse essentiall to thee than infinite What have we to doe silly and shallow wretches with that incomprehensible wisdom which is intrinsecall to thy divine Nature the body of that Sunne is not for our weak eies to behold it is enough for mee if I can but see some raies of that heavenly light which shines forth so gloriously upon thy creature in the framing and governing whereof whether thy Power or Wisdome did and doe more exhibite it selfe thou only canst judge O the divine Architecture of this goodly Fabricke of Heaven and Earth raised out of nothing to this admirable perfection What stupendious artifice of composition is here What exquisite symmetrie of parts what exact Order of Degrees what marvailous analogie betwixt beasts fishes plants the natives of both Elements Oh what a comprehensive reach is this of thine Omniscience which at once in one act beholdest all the actions and events of all the creatures that were are or shall be in this large Universe What a contrivance of thine eternall Counsell which hast most wisely and holily ordered how to dispose of every Creature thou hast made according to the pleasure of thy most just will VVhat a sway of Providence is this that governes the world over-ruling the highest and stooping to the meanest peece of thy Creation concurring with and actuating the motions and operations of all second causes of whatsoever is done in heaven or in earth Yea Lord how wonderfull are those irradiations of knowledge and wisdome which thou hast beamed forth upon thine intelligent creatures both Angels and men As for those Celestiall spirits which see thy face continually it is no marvaile if they be illuminated in a degree farre above humane apprehension but that the rationall soule of man even in this woefull pilgrimage below notwithstanding the opacity of that earth wherewith it is encompassed should bee so far enlightned as that it is able to know all the motions of the Heavens the magnitudes and distances of Starres the natures properties influences of the Planets the instant of the Eclipses Conjunctions and severall Aspects of those Celestiall bodies that it can discover the secret Treasures of Earth and Sea and knowes to unlock all the close Cabinets both of art and nature O God what is this but some little gleame of that pure and glorious light which breakes forth from thine infiniteness upon thy creature Yet were the knowledge of all men on earth and all the Angels in heaven multiplied a thousand fold how unable were it being united together to reach unto the height of thy divine Counsels to fadome the bottome of thy most wise and holy Decrees so as they must bee forced to cry out with that Saint of thine who was rapt into the third heaven O the depth of the riches both of the VVisdome and Knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out SECT. V. BUt with what a trembling adoration O my soul must thou needs look upon the infinite Justice of thy God whose inviolable rule is to render to every man according to his workes Alas the little good thou wert able to do hath been allayed with so many and great imperfections that it can expect no retribution but displeasure and for the many evills whereof thou art guilty what canst thou look for but the wages of sinne Death not that temporary and naturall only which is but a separation of thee a while from thy load of earth but the spirituall and eternall separation from the presence of thy God whose very want is the height of torments Lo whatever become of thee God must be himselfe In vain shouldst thou hope that for thy selfe he will abate ought of his blessed Essence of his sacred Attributes That righteous doome must stand The soule that sinnes shall die Hell claimes his due Justice must bee satisfied where art thou now O my soul what canst thou now make account of but to despair and die surely in thy self thou art lost there is no way with thee but utter perdition But looke up O soul look up above the Hils whence commeth thy salvation see the heavens opening upon thee see what reviving and comfortable raies of grace and mercy shine forth unto thee from that excellent glory and out of that heavenly light hear the voice of thy blessed Saviour saying to thee O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in me is thy helpe Even so O Jesu in thee onely in thee is my helpe wretched man that I am in my selfe I stand utterly forfeited to death and hell it is thou that hast redeemed me with no lesse ransome than thy precious bloud Death was owing by me by thee it was payed for me so as now my debt is fully discharged and my soule clearly acquitted Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Lo now the rigor of thine inviolable justice is taken off by thine infinite mercy the sum that I could never pay is by the power of that faith which thou hast wrought in me set off to my all-sufficient surety by thy divine goodnesse graciously accepted as mine I have paid it in him he hath paid it for me Thy justice is satisfied thy debtor freed and thy mercy magnified SECT VI THere are no bounds to bee set unto thy thoughts O my soul since whatsoever thy God