Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	body_n	soul_n	union_n	7,440	5	9.4929	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94058	A sermon preached at a visitation held at Lin in Norfolk, June the 24th anno 1633. Being an admonition to the clergy to remember and keep those severall oaths, promises, and subscriptions, which they solemnly have made at the taking of their degrees, their ordinations, and institutions to their benefices. By William Strode D.D.	Strode, William, 1600 or 1601-1645.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5986; Thomason E1035_8; ESTC R203693	17,644	32

unwillingly or admitted silently not without Age and Triall not without humble suite not without solemn protestation made to severall Proposalls irrevocably utter'd and openly testified before God whom we fear before men whom we reverence his owne Ears pressing to his Conscience what his Mouth hath spoken And what 's the matter of a Vow Some over passing good plac'd within our Power Why good not indifferent lest instead of a Promise we seem to offer a threat Why over-passing lest for a singular praesent we offer a new Bond of an old vulgar debt Why within our Power lest we offer the Sacrifice of fools which vanishes with their breath Such it must be some Excellent piece of Virtue without Gods precept but within His Counsell without the common path but within some private reach not binding our necessary and absolute duty by an Epidemicall Command but inclining our free respective Devotion through personall grounds Is not the businesse of Priesthood the very same Good no doubt for it is God's Ordinance and evidently surmounting mans common duty else all the Sheep are bound to be Shepheards yet surely manageable by some particular Abilities rais'd by the Spirit of God and singled out by his attractive Motion for some must needs bear the heat of the Day and whether ye be the men or no whether inwardly call'd is the Bishop's question when he outwardly ordains Lastly what 's the end of a Vow or what of Priesthood the same of both For whether we dedicate our Goods our Bodies our Souls or our Service still we aime at a neerer Union of the Creatures with God whereby the Glory of the one is exalted the Happinesse of the other increas'd And now what think you you have seen a severe search you find a perfect agreement in their Nature Conditions Matter End I may seem to decoy your favourable Opinion towards Vowes by this ingagement of your Office but I hope to excite a reciprocall zeal towards your Office by the Commendation of Vowes There are two Grounds whereon all possible vowes are safely built The one is Baptism in which a generall promise to forsake the World the Flesh and the Divel all Negative vowes of Mortification and Abstinence are super-induc'd on this Foundation and rais'd by particular Motives of the Person vowing able at a farther distance to chase away these deceivers The second Ground is that generall Precept Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart all positive vowes of free Devotion or Almes spring from this Root Where God hath plac'd an Extraordinary gift serviceable for eminent Acts and Offices he loves not his Lord with all his heart who refuses to take a burden answerable to his shoulders When St. Paul commends Virginity he doth not commend it to all he doth not impose it on any True yet whatsoever is not necessary for all is not therefore unlawfull for some but rather laudable for such as can and will Betwixt Must and must not there is May and may not As a contingent may be truly affirm'd or denied so it may be honestly done or not done as Occasion or Circumstance shall sway the Subject be the matter Virginity or any other unusuall Abstinence or work of Excellence So it stands God could have multiplied his Law into so many particular branches as might have expressely determin'd all variety of persons to their severall duties but out of his great bounty he hath left us an occasion to be bountifull towards Him he hath not in plain terms challeng'd all our just debt that we by a Voluntary Offer might more ingratiate our selves into his Favour he hath left his Rule under a seeming imperfection that we might appear before him the more perfect and receive the reward of diligent servants apt to understand his silent intimation and doing things reducible to his Command though not commanded Under the Law where he exercis'd the place of a Judge the vow which he would not directly injoyne he plainly suppos'd and punctually prescrib'd set forms unto it Under the Gospell where he personates a Gracious Father he leaves it more to the Love of his Children Though the form be now antiquated with the Ceremoniall Law the Morall substance doth yet remain instead of a sacrifice we may vow our goods instead of a Carcasse we may offer Our-selves a reasonable and living sacrifice with willingnesse and cleannesse of heart out-passing all former Ceremony And we find in the 18 of the Acts that St. Paul an exemplary Minister of the Gospell yoak'd himselfe under a vow though what it was I leave to Conjecture Sorry I am that any Extraordinary Vertue is as odious here as Extraordinary Vice as dangerous now as in the dayes of Aristides and must forthwith be banisht the Land To man we may be as good as we list not to God by any means we must be sure to keep him ever short in our service for him we cannot serve sufficiently we must beware of Liberality to Him for He gives us all things O the Logick of a corrupted Christian should we not so much the rather stretch our weaknesse to make up in Will what is wanting in Power and at least strain our Poverty to a shew of thankfulnesse Many wayes a Man may vow to man his Goods by Reversion his Body by Wedlock his Service by Indenture and there is good Law for this Is there no Gospell to secure a Conveyance to God to incourage the spirituall wedlock of vow'd Chastity to countenance the vow of our Ministry and shew that God is a Master fit to be dealt with We may all vow one to another no man excepted and behold God himselfe hath freely vow'd himselfe to us all He sent his only begotten Son to pay the vowes which he often made to Abraham and to his Seed and to all Nations shall only a Reciprocall relation of man to God be totally defective in all When his turn comes shall we pretend an utter disability of performing any promise Let not a Neighbour hear us none then will take our words for a Groat Why are we only there tenacious where it is greatest gain to be Liberall A promise past to thy Neighbour tends to his good When God receives a Promise he is gracious to thee not needy in himself Qui non crescit ex redditis sed in se crescere facit redditores saith St. Austin Ep. 45. who cannot grow by thy Addition but will make thee grow by Diminution adding and bettering thy Payments into thine own bosome as he makes thy grasse to flourish by the vapour sent up to himward and thence distilled back again Thus he answers thee not onely at the time of Payment but at the time of Promise As Solomon was the richer for finishing the Temple so was David the abler for promising Wilt thou build a house for me saith God behold I have built thee a house for ever A willing heart is blest with a large hand but coldnesse of