Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	earth_n	good_a	lord_n	9,702	5	3.6330	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86479	A letter from Sr Matthew Hale, Kt. sometime Lord Chief Justice of England: to one of his sons, after his recovery from the small-pox	Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676.	1684 (1684)	Wing H247A; ESTC R228016	15,415	40

means and hath given you an indication that it was done by his own immediate power and that he delivered you above and beyond means It is true you had a very able and careful Physitian and very great attendance and care was used about you But when your Physitian and all that were about you began to despair of your recovery when means proved ineffectual when the strength of Nature was exhausted and baffled by your Disease God Almighty upon a suddain and beyond expectation relieved you and as it were by his own hand brought you back from the very threshold of the Grave And this he did that you and all about you and all your Relations might take notice of it that it was he that did it And thus Almighty God hath exercised towards you two great Experiments the first of his severity the second of his mercy And as your Sickness and Rod had its voice a lowd and sharp voice so your recovery and deliverance hath its voice also a sweet gentle and I hope effectual voice and I will as shortly as I can tell you what it is First Remember this benefit remember it was reached out unto you from the mere power goodness and mercy of God Remember evermore in your Heart and Soul to be thankful to him for it Remember as long as you live upon all occasions to acknowledge it daily to return upon your knees humble thanks for it to him that had regard to you and remembred you in your low Estate to him that forgave your Iniquities and healed your Disease to him that did this for you when all means failed that did it for you when you had not the understanding to call upon him for it to him that did it for you that deserved it not for you that had provoked him and neglected him too much in the time of your health This God it was that thus delivered you Read often the 103 Psalm attentively and apply it to your own Condition it will do you good 2. Remember to acknowledge this goodness of God with all humility your deliverance was not the purchase of your own power nor of your own desert it was an Act of the free and undeserved goodness of God what Almighty God said by Moses unto the Israelites Deut. 9.4.6 I shall say to you with some variation understand therefore that the Lord thy God hath not given thee this deliverance for thy Righteousness No it is the mere effect of his own goodness and to give you opportunity to praise him and serve him better than ever you did before 3. Remember that although great deliverances require your great acknowledgments yet there is somewhat more required namely a real practical glorifying of God by ordering your Conversation aright by serving him pleasing him obeying him living to his honour This Almighty God expects as well as praises and acknowledgments As the end of God in afflictions is to make men better so the end of God in deliverances is to make men better and if we are not the better men by both dispensations we do as much as in us lies disappoint Almighty God in his design and disappoint our selves of the benefit and advantage intended in both and easily to be gained by both This therefore is the voice of this deliverance it calls sweetly and gently indeed but earnestly and effectually for amendment of life And that upon two great and moving arguments 1. Your recovery and great deliverance calls for this from you upon the accompt of common ingenuity and good nature which obligeth a man to be observant and dutiful to his benefactor God Almighty is the greatest Benefactor and hath manifested himself such to you upon a visible and eminent account this is engagement enough upon the account of common humanity to be dutiful and obedient to him When therefore you are at any time by the Temptation of your own Corruption or by the sollicitation of evil persons sollicited to evil Actions Consider thus with your self Is this a becoming return to that God that hath thus wonderfully delivered me Is this the requital that I shall make to him for his mercy Shall I please a vain Lust or a vain Companion and displease the great God of Heaven and Earth that hath thus delivered me and done me more good than all the World could ever do me or than I can ever recompence Do ye thus requite the Lord O ye foolish People and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee Deut. 32.6 2. This mercy calls for your obedience to God in an eminent manner upon the account of common prudence and discretion the benefit of your obedience to him will be your own your own happiness in this Life and in that to come There is no greater moral security against future dangers and troubles than obedience and reformation of Life upon great deliverances received nor is there any greater invitation of new troubles and mischiefs than ingratitude disobedience and great sins after great mercies and deliverances There is a kind of certain and infallible connexion between great sins after great mercies received and great Judgments to follow Ingentia beneficia ingentia peccata ingentia supplicia Again as I have formerly told you you do not know how soon you may stand in need of the same mercy and goodness of God which you have formerly found You are never out of the reach of his power and the necessity of his help what ever you do therefore never disoblige him by whom you Live and whose extraordinary mercy you may stand in need of you know not how soon There is nothing in the World doth more provoke God than neglect forgetfulness or willful disobedience after signal mercies These provoke the merciful God to a severity of the highest kind because the sweetest and most obliging call of mercy and deliverance is neglected Read the first Chapter of the Proverbs attentively And the merciful God hath given us a plain Rule and Method how he may be served obeyed and pleased he hath given us a plain discovery of his will in the Scriptures of both Testaments Read that often you have it by you and you need not go far to find what is your Maker's Will and what that obedience is that he requires as the return of this and all other his mercies Yet I think it not amiss to mind you of some particulars that may be useful for you upon this occasion and to direct you how particularly to improve it and so order your future Life in some measure answerable to it 1. I would have you make it your first business after your perfect Recovery to Consider the course of your Life past since you came to the Age of discretion and see what hath been amiss in it whether you have not neglected Religion and the Duties of it too much as Prayer hearing the Word Preached observing the Lords day receiving the Sacrament