Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	body_n	duty_n	great_a	42	3	2.1433	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61848	Heavenly treasure, or, Mans chiefest good wherein the several workings of the heart about, and in pursuance of its chiefest good are solidly and judiciously discovered / by William Strong.	Strong, William, d. 1654.; Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658. Elisha his lamentation upon the sudden translation of Elijah.	1656 (1656)	Wing S6004; ESTC R25154	135,945	535

there shall be a perpetual separation between him and the thing he loves whereas the greatest cordial to godly man is the contrary and therefore an ungodly man when he dies his love dies because he is continually separated from the thing he loves for love ceases in him and all the comforts in the acts of it so because a godly man shall never be separated from the thing he loves therefore a godly mans love shall be made perfect I am afraid saith one I shall lose my estate another I shall not die in honour a third I shall be cut off from such a pleasure that is the comfort of my life by this you shall know your love what you fear to be separated from that the love of your hearts goes out after Lastly Love is victorious love is strong as death Cant. 8. 6. Strong as death why saith the Apostle Rom. 5. death hath raigned here lies the strength of death it exercises such dominion as no man was ever able to stand out against its Scepter No standing out against it there is a kinde of dominion in love Consider I pray look unto the love that men bear to the things of this life Let them have the riches of Christ and the glory of heaven tendred them as the young man in the Gospel had Sell all that thou hast and thou shalt have treasure in heaven the love of the world overcomes love is victorious so on the other side offer a godly man all the comforts of this life whatsoever his heart could wish yet not withstanding his love to God outbids them all for love is like lime in that respect Many waters cannot quench it no the more water you pour upon it the more it burns Consider I pray but that very instance of Luther in his Epistle to Henry the eight King of England he speaks of the abominable slanders that were cast upon him for they did not spare him in that kinde they that thirsted for his blood did not spare to blast his name but what doth he say of this Si absque animorum suorum damno fieri posset ex omnibus talia audirem Lutherus pascitur convitiis the truth is if this could be done without hurt to their own souls I should be glad if all the men in the world would lay as much upon me as they could By these reproaches I am made fat a man would have thought that this would have mightily cooled the mans zeal and earnestness in the profession of Religion and the doctrine of the Gospel no his love to truth overcame these so pray consider wherein are you Conquerors for not only faith overcomes the world but love conquers the world Examine what proffers so ever thou hast made thee it may be the great things of this world honors preferment riches reputation and whatever else but still love to Christ and the interest of Christ overcomes Try your selves by these Rules where the love is there is the heart where the heart is there is the treasure and there is the heaven and the happiness And so much for the Doctrinal part For the Application there are three Uses that I shall propose to you of it The first is general a Use of Instruction in two things First from hence see the fulness of the Scriptures every short sentence you see how full of mysterie it is the Jews have an ordinary Proverb among them In lege non un a literula a qua magni non suspensi sunt montes there is not the smallest things in Scripture but there are great truths depending upon them and therefore the Father cryes out Adoro plenitudinem scripturae that he did admire the fulness that he found in the Scriptures of God I speak it the rather because many things in the Scripture we are apt to pass over with a slight eye It is an observation one hath worth our note Intoleranda est blasphemia asserere in Scriptura vel unum inveniri verbum otiosum It is the greatest blasphemy that can be to think that in the word of God there should be found one idle word he that will judge you for idle words will not write one idle word unto you that is certain admire the fulness of the Scriptures from what you have heard The Jews indeed were superstitious in this they made great matters of every word and tittle in the Law but what they did in a way Cabalistical that you should do in a way truly Christian and spiritual there is one place which because Chrysostom instances in I shall briefly hint to you t is but barely to give you an instance 1 Tim. 5. 23. Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomack sake and for thy many infirmities Chrysostom hath eight wonderfull great truths out of this ordinary Scripture and I speak it to this end that you may pass by nothing in the Word but that you may labour to understand wonders in it as 〈◊〉 Godly men out of love to duty neglect the body Secondly Godly men are very watchfull and moderate in the use of the creatures least they should be brought under the power of them they be great truths and clear in the Text what need Timothy else to make a great scruple about drinking of wine but he must drink water also Thirdly consider in this weakness he did not cease from his charge he had infirmities yea open infirmities but yet he did not neglect the preaching of the Gospel and the affairs of the Church Fourthly Godly men may yet too far neglect their bodies even to offend therein for he prescribes him this that argues he did not do his duty to repair the breaches made upon his body Fifthly use a little wine every creature is good in its season yea those creatures that commonly by men are most abused Sixthly Godly men may be subject to great bodily infirmities and often men of great service when ungodly men and of little or no use in the world are healthy and strong yet many a man of great service in the Church of God are subject to great and often infirmities Seventhly In the decay of Nature the creatures are to be used for its repair but according to the proportion of natures necessities and Lastly there is a moderation appointed in the receiving of the creature even when a man doth it for necessity for he that prescribes him the wine prescribes him the measure drink a little wine he prescribes him to use herein as medicine Now when men read over such portions of Scripture let them consider and learn there may be great mysteries in the smallest portions of Scripture and know this when the word of God upon this accompt becomes sweet to a man and men love to hear it delight to meditate upon it it s a great argument of growth in grace and spiritual knowledge in that man as Quintilian tels us It is a great argument of a mans profiting in eloquence the

very nature of the reasonable soul to go out for somewhat as treasure out of it self this was the very nature of it in the Creation it hath this common with every creature not only to seek its own preservation but it s own perfection this is the condition of every creature but much more of the reasonable creature because it hath not a fountain in it self therefore it must go out to draw because it hath not food at home therefore it must go out to buy the greatest part of the world indeed mistake it and place their chief good in hell when they should place it in heaven but yet every one goeth out to somewhat and saith Who will shew us any good It is the observation of Austin Anima quae vivit ad infimum vivit misere ad summum beate Man is a middle creature and hath something above him and something below him that soul that hath its chief good below it self is a miserable soul whatever it is But here is the happiness now of the Saints their chief good is above themselves but it goeth out of themselves still Christ speaks of the food of the soul Iohn 6. 27. Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life the soul goeth out of it self for somewhat to eat and drink there are hungrings and thirstings for its provision is not in himself therefore the soul that lives upon some what above it self that lives blessedly but Isa 44. 24. he feedeth upon ashes c. the man was seduced by the Serpent and the Serpents curse is upon him All the comforts to which his soul goeth out all is feeding upon ashes as the Prodigal is said in his absence from his father to feed upon Husks Let me point at that place before named Psal 62. 10. If riches increase set not your hearts upon them as it is with insensitive creatures herbs and plants they put their mouths into the ea●th as the Philosopher saith so do they here apponere Cor that as they suck the sap and juyce the nourishment that is proper to their natures so take a man whose heart goeth out to the creatures he sets his heart upon them that from thence he may suck somewhat for his preservation and perfection And this brings me to consider of that place Isa 32. 11. they shall lament for the teats the fruitfull fields and the pleasant vineyards lament for the teats what is the meaning of that Forelius indeed and some others expound it pro lactantibus for the children that suckt the dug But Mr. Calvin and some other Interpreters do understand these teats figuratively The teats were the fields and the vineyards and at these they suckt and by these the happiness and the comfort of their lives came in Now saith God I will cut off and dry up the teats you read the same Metaphor Isa 66. 11. They shall suck and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation This then is a truth that the happiness of man his treasure is not in himself but he doth naturally go out to somewhat without himself only I say indeed the greatest part of the world they do mistake therein Now give me leave before I pass this second particular to shew you the folly of sucking dry teats to let you see the miserie of those men that seek happiness and go out of themselves for any treasure below God Doth the heart of man go out for treasure naturally Oh the misery of those men that go out of themselves for any treasure below God! Consider but these three things First consider you draw where there is no water the creature is but vanity all things below God are you suck where there is no milk all these things are empty and that 's one great misery But there is another which heightens this wonderfully and that is the more your soul goeth out to these things for its treasure the more the appetite is increased but never satisfied For I told you its true all the creatures below came under mans Covenant in the Creation and by that means came under mans curse in the Transgression Now there is this curse come upon all the creatures ever since the Fall they enlarge the appetite but never satisfie them Now you would say this were a sad curse upon any man in the world suppose it so still in natural things that the more he eats and drinks the more hungry and thirsty he is therefore lust in the Scripture is compared to drunkenness Nay consider further yet hereby you become subject to your own servants he places his chief good in that which God hath given to serve him The height of iniquity lieth in this when a man commits adultery with his own servant God gave him the Creature to serve and use and he will have them to enjoy t is the height of a mans misery Besides consider in the last place what is there to be had in these when your souls are gone out to them Look to Jer. 2. 13. a known place My people have forsaken me the fountain of living water and have dig'd to themselves broken cisterns that will hold no water Me thinks that very Scripture should wonderfully keep off the heart from going out to creatures for happiness for his treasure pray consider there be two things in it to be opened First all the good in the Creature is but water in a Cistern what doth that imply why first It implyes this it hath no good in themselves they have no more then is put into them Cisterns have no more water then is put into them God can put a great deal of good into a creature that is true but still remember it is but a Cistern Secondly a Cistern is of small compass it will hold but a little a man may see the end of the perfection of the creatures we cannot say so of the Fountain Besides Thirdly it is water that will die in reference to that expression so commonly used of living water they will not be lively refreshing comforts Lastly they will all leave you for they be broken cisterns the world passes away and the fashion of it But now What is water in the fountain treasure laid up in God Why it is in a Fountain 1. It is originally in him 2. It is a continual Fountain it is always running 3. It is in him inexhaustibly never drawn dry 4. It is in him communicatively a fountain gives out water and doth it naturally Lastly comfort in God is living comfort the water in the Fountain is living water in these respects you may see the miserie of that man whose soul goeth out for treasure to any thing without God that 's the second general proposition Every mans treasure is without himself Thirdly it is a matter of great concernment in Christs accompt and should be in ours where our hearts are why Where your treasure is there your hearts will be Give me leave to open