Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	good_a	work_n	write_v	2,667	5	5.4737	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08804	The broken heart: or, Davids penance fully exprest in holy meditations upon the 51 Psalme, by that late reverend pastor Sam. Page, Doctour in Divinity, and vicar of Deptford Strond, in the countie of Kent. Published since his death, by Nathanael Snape of Grayes Inne, Esquire.	Page, Samuel, 1574-1630.; Snape, Nathaniel.	1637 (1637)	STC 19089; ESTC S113764	199,757	290

that sinned are not capable of it The Angels that stand in their first estate never came to miserie and they stand by the providence and love of God But sinfull man maketh God called mercifull and he putteth him to his multitude of tender compassions This is the rock of our refuge our strong Citie of refuge against the pursuer it is our hiding place In nothing doth God comfort us more Therefore be ye merciful with this sicut Sicut pater vester coelestis as your heavenly Father There is nothing that flattereth sinne more and that giveth it growth and vegetation amongst us then the overweening of this mercie Every wicked man can say God hath multitude of tender compassions and his mercies are more then my sinnes it is true But what interest such a one may have in those mercies he little considereth For with the Lord is mercie that he may be feared and that a sinner may apply himself not to continue in his finne presuming upon it but for sake it beleeving it for he that confesseth and for saketh his sinne shall have this mercie Let us therefore begin with David at Confitebor contra me I will confesse against my self and say Peccavi contra Dominum I have sinned against the Lord with a conscience of our sinnes and a sense both of the pollution of them within our selues and of the provocation of Gods due displeasure against us for them Then it will be in season to call for mercie But if we over-weene our own integritie as some justiciaries do Sani non egent medico the whole need no Physitian or if we sinne on in confidence of mercy at last We shall finde that God sitteth in his throne and judgeth uprightly and that the ungodly shall not stand in judgement nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous For the Lord knoweth the way of the just but the way of the ungodly shall perish 3. What effect he desireth of these mercies This is varied in phrase for he is passionate and exceeding earnest with God and plieth him with strong cries and supplications 1. To blot out his transgressions 2. To wash him throughly 3. To cleanse him 1. The blotting out of his transgressions hath reference to the books of God wherein all our transgressions are recorded 1. The book of Gods remembrance 2. The book of our conscience 1. The book of Gods remembrance God is a Seer and there is nothing hid from his eye and he doth consider the sonnes of men his eyes are upon all his wayes There is not a thought in our hearts but he knoweth it long before we our selues know it As he seeth so he remembreth and that we call his book of accounts wherein he recordeth all that is said done or thought that he may judge us according to all that is registred in that book whether it be good or evill He is said to blot us out of that book when our true repentance and his free pardon hath removed our iniquity from us Two Doctrines arise from hence 1. One of terrour all our sinnes are booked and kept upon record 2. Another of comfort they may be blotted out thence 1. Doctr. Knowing the terrour of the Lord we must be wariehow we sinne against him for though we love sinne he hateth it He is a God that loveth not wickednesse neither shall any evill dwell with him Though we sleight sinne and passe it over gainsomely and pleasantly yet he taketh it to heart and recordeth it that he may be able to set all our sinnes in order before us when time comes This is a black book and it will be a fearfull and shamefull thing to behold all our sinnes inventoried together All our idle words vain lascivious malitious false slanderous speeches all our loose thoughts all our vast and unlawfull desires all our ungodly works done all the good duties omitted all the evils we would have done all the imaginations of the thoughts of our hearts are not all these things written in his book We may conceive it by this David hath the honourable memory of walking in all the wayes of God alwayes save onely in the matter of Uriah the Hittite That matter is recorded in this living book of holy Scripture so are many of the infirmities of his holy ones chiefly for terrour of his children that they might feare to sinne against him who keepeth so exact a score of all our transgressions These are called debts and God our creditour keeps his debt-book very perfect The Steward in the parable called his Masters debtors they could tell every man what he owed but who knoweth how often he hath offended We have no hope to pay these debts and therefore we desire mercy to blot them out of the book And if we look back upon the transgressions of our whole life we shall see need not onely of the loving kindnesse of the Lord but of the multitude of his tenderest compassions 2. Another book is the book of our Conscience this also keepeth a record against us It was called of old our inwit for though our appetite and witbe so corrupt that the deceivable lusts of the flesh do often transport us to Gods offence yet our understanding and reason and memorie informe our conscience of our sinnes and that booketh them This book is not so exactly kept as the other because 1. Many sinnes passe us which we are not aware of 2. Many thoughts words and works escape us which we think to be no sinnes our consciences not being rightly informed 3. Many sinnes our memory doth not retein which should give in evidence to our conscience against us 4. The conscience it self may be corrupted benummed seared and so many foule deeds may escape unrecorded Yet for all this if we had no other book opened against us to convince us of sinne but this This alone would call us guilty and expose us to wrath David sueth to have his transgressions blotted out of both these books For if the tender mercies of God should blot his book and the book of our conscience remaine against us we should live upon the rack in a perpetuall torture our spirit wounded within us It is well observed of Cardinall Bellarmine Sciebat David ex actione peccati relinqui in anim● reatum mortis aeternae David knew that by the acting of sinne in his soul was left the guilt deserving eternall death You may discerne the convulsions and strong cramps of the soul for sinne in David There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne So long as we live in sinne we feele not the pain of it David for ten moneths found no great need of these mercies of God For a sinner during his impenitencie is as a man besides himself but reversus ad se returning to himself then he bethinketh in what case he stands before God Demersus in profundo drowned in the deep the Sea above him seems not heavy Elementa in loco non

in this kinde of light doe farre out-●●●●e us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowing creatures and live wee never so long wee shall never know so much as they doe here Socrates so famous in heathen story as Saint Augustine saith he was by the oracle declared the wisest of then living got his honorable estimation of wisdome from the sense and profession of this Hoc scio quia nihil scio I know this that I know nothing This superba scientia proud knowledge is a disease in our spirituall and intellectuall part which must be purged and our spirits must be broken of it For it is a great hinderance to our endevour to purchase more when we think we have enough already 2 Another disease of the spirit is when wee are over-curious in seeking to know above that which is written which the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For I say through the grace given unto me to every one that is among you not to think of himselfe more highly then hee ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of saith Quasi nos arceat Apostolus a perscrutatione rerum magis subtilium quàm utilium As if the Apostle restrained us from the search of things more subtile then profitable So Lyra●us quia qui perscrutator est majestatis opprimetur à gloria because the searcher out of majesty shall be oppressed with glory This ambition of unrevealed knowledge hath added so many fancies of men to the written Word of God and pieced out the story of the Bible with many unwritten and legendary supplements and traditions and it hath moved many unnecessary cuestions in religion This was the sin of Adam and the fall of man in him the losse of Paradise then and wil be the losse of heaven for ever if we desire to be like God in omnisciency Some have intemperatly busied their brains to enquire what God did in that immense eternity before the Creation of the World before time was and finding no work for him have determined that Mundus is aeternus the World is eternall and so they evacuate the story of the Creation and give Moses the lie Others dream of more Worlds as those Lunaticks who think the Moon another World such as this in which we live and our World to be a Moon to them as that is to us Many beyond sobriety are over-busie in searching after things to come prying into the secret closet of the Almighty and desiring to be of his counsel for future events The Devill took a great advantage of this and set up Oracles for the nonce which abused many and brought him much custome From hence came the auspicia q. av●spisia Divinations by the flight of birds Auguria ab avium garritu praedictions from the chirping and chattring of birds Aruspices such as divined by the inwards of beasts offered by their Priests upon their altars by the colour of the entrails the soundnesse of them the motion the flame the smoke of the burning Of this ● The King of Babel consulted with Idols he looked upon the liver There were so many illusions in this kinde to abuse the credulitie and to satisfie the curiosity of men ambitious of knowledge beyond their bounds as that it grew into a kinde of profest study and practice The Augures in Rome having priviledge above all other Priests for being convicted of never so heinous a crime they never lost their office for it Necromancy Geomancy Chiromancy Hydromancy Onomancy grew hence And all Magicall conjurations effected by compact and stipulation with the Devill These were studies and books were written of them Many that used curious arts brought their books I●nius out of the Syriack readeth Multi magicam artem exercentes Many that were exercised in the Magick art For the Ephesians were very notorious this way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grew into a Proverb concerning the magicall inscriptions of amulets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 charmes worn about the neck Our times are not free of this dotage consulting wise-men and wise-women for things lost for things to come going to Ekro● as if there were no God in Israel The wise sonne of Syrach adviseth us well Seek not things that are too hard for thee neither serch thou things that are above thy strength But what is commanded thee think theron with reverence for it is not needful for thee to see the things that are in secret Be not curious in unnecessary matters for more things are shewed to the● 〈◊〉 men understand The spirit must be broken of these studies they are diabolicall and do but fasten us so much more to the familiaritie of that roaring lion who playeth the cunning Serpent with us to deceive 3 Another disease of the spirit is vain knowledge when we spend our time in a frothy learning of hamane wit neglecting the solid study of the way of our salvation The reading of the books of time the Chronicles and Annals of former ages the judicious survey of the Histories of our own or other Nations The industrious and ingenuous search into the excellent wisdome of the ancient Poets and Mythologists is no losse of time where a sober discretion hath the menage of them and these studies as hand-maids do look upon the hand of their mistris the doctrine of Godsfeare and of the way of life But when these take up the whole man and recreations do turn to our set work this overdoing in them joyned with neglect of that unum necessarium one thing necessary proves a disease in the spirit and benighteth us so that we shall hardly finde the way to Heaven Our times have exceeded the former ages in the innumerous spawn of idle Pamphlets and much of our little time is vainly cast away upon them Wee must redeeme the time a talent for which wee shall be answerable to our God and break our spirits from these vanities also The way to reforme this is to propound to our selves the knowledge of God and him whom God hath sent Iesus Christ in chiefe and to use all other studies and arts our own and others wits to the advancing of this maine science And for that Iushious and sensuall delight which looser and lighter studies do bring to fall out with it and as the wiseman adviseth to say to laughter thou art mad and to pleasure what meanest thou There is a sweetnesse in the Law of God and in the holy study of his testimonies which if our tast were rectified as Davids was would surpasse the relish of hony and the hony combe But diseased tastes cannot relish this sweetnesse When Saint Paul the chiefe learned man of the thirteen Apostles did come to himself hee esteemed to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified Againe I thinke all things but losse for the excellent knowledge sake of Christ Jesus my Lord and dojudge them but dung that I might win Christ It is no easie matter to