Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	great_a	see_v	world_n	7,593	5	4.4143	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12788	A learned and gracious sermon preached at Paules Crosse by that famous and iudicious diuine, Iohn Spenser ... ; published for the benefite of Christs vineyard, by H.M.	Spenser, John, 1559-1614.; Marshall, Hamlett.	1615 (1615)	STC 23096; ESTC S521	35,428	60

that When yee haue done all that you can wee must say that yee are vnprofitable trees not worthy the care and cost the feeding the watering the graces the continuance bestowed on them in this world no more then the fruites of the Orenge and Lemmon and Figge-trees in this our colde land are answerable to the extraordinary charge of their planting and maintaining yet notwithstanding all this euen these our sowre and vnperfect fruites howsoeuer defectiue in themselues are yet sufficiently profitable for the vses of the Church during this her warrefare wherein any meane thing is very comfortable and troubled waters doe often serue for Souldiers drinke and in that regard all they are pleasing to the great husbandman to see these his plants in some degrees profitable to the world and by their fruits louing cherishing and feeding one another as their roote doth feed them But for the Crowne of heauen and a kingdome of eternall glory this riseth aboue the compasse of the deseruings of seruants It passeth to vs by another right and claime by inheritance due onely to vs as sonnes and therefore children and babes as soone as they are adopted in Christ thecues and murtherers like the prodigall sonne vpon their faithfull return to God though they die immediately as the theefe on the Crosse before the time of fruit-bearing and working in the Vineyarde yet by right of this their new birth and adoption into Christs body they haue a right to heauen equal with their brethren that haue spent all their life in painefull fruit bearing for if sonnes then heires sayth the Apostle euen fellow heyres with Iesus Christ For notwithstanding for the present whilest these sons continue in their minority they differ not from seruants though they bee Lords of all Gal. 4.1 they obey their Fathers commandements and they labour in his Vineyard and doe more faithfull seruice in the house one sonne of loue then twenty hyred seruants do for feare of stripes and this is to them as discipline healthfull and necessary for their owne good also and in their time of liuing the foundation of their perfection in grace to make them fit for that heauenly place in all vertues qualified for so great an inheritance in a society so glorious And as for the reward of such obedient sonnes wee haue our fathers answere to the elder brother that challenged his fathers iustice for his bounty towards his vnthrifty sonne hardnes towards him who had continued most faithfull in his seruice Sonne saith our Father thou art alwayes with mee and all that I haue is thine as obedient sonnes therfore wee are alwaies with our father this is our security and all is ours because sonnes VVhat can we desire more Our good works and seruices of piety are therefore as S. Barnard most excellently concludeth of them in the very end of his Booke De libero Arbitrio They are the nurceries of our hope the Ministeries of our loue tokens of our secret predestination foretokens of our future blessednesse Via regni non causa regnandi they are the way vnto our kingdom they are not the cause why wee shall raigne as Kings Now if notwithstanding all this wee Christians cannot be induced to exercise our faculties in doing good and to bring forth fruits of loue answerable to our new nature as all other creatures do in their kind without some reward and hire behold first we are created or dained redeemed furnished with gracer maintained in our estate with bountifull supplies of all necessaries for our place and what greater reward doth the Vine or the Oliue or any other Creature expect for their fruits but their maintenance euery thing in their kind the Centurion in the Gospell that had Souldiers vnder him and could say to one Come and hee came and to another Goe and he went though into certaine danger of his life what greater rewardes could hee giue to them then this present abundance and maintenance or what greater rewards doth any seruant expect at his masters hand for as great seruice and as faithfull as we men performe to God Againe were our naturall loue and seruices one towards another as ready and as perfect as are the duety of one member in the body to another for the Apostle proposeth as the sampler of our duety yet wee receiue a further sufficient reward the like mutuall helps from them againe and what other reward doth the eye or feete or hand expect for their daily atrendance but the like mutuall seruice from the body Againe this is the Apostles counsell Gal. 6.1 If any man bee falne yee that are spirituall restore him considering thy selfe lest thou bee also tempted Euen as trauellers doe mutually aid comfort and in any distresse releeue one another without any further respects of priuate gaine If all this will not stirre vp our Christian hearts to performe the duties of a Christian man by which their owne soules are bettered and increased in grace Behold yet a further commodity from the Master of the Vineyard his speciall blessing and increase of his care and graces vpon these plants which are most fruitfull For euery branch that beareth not fruite in mee hee taketh away and euery branch that beareth fruite hee purgeth that it may beare more Ioh. 15. Thus haue they increase of graces from heauen which is the greatest of all graces the grace of perseuerance whē other perish they are preserued and watered when fruitles branches are cut off for the fire for he not onely blesseth their store who spend it vpon their brethren as springs that runne are fed that they may continue but hee dealeth mercifully also with them that are mercifull to his children and his pitty is ready to pardon their offences to remit their chasticements who are kind and pittifull one to another how gracious is our God to his vines that bring forth grapes who hath reward for those that giue but a cuppe not of the iuyce of grapes but of colde water to any little one for his sake Thus doth the temporary fruits of our loue mercy make a way for vs to Christs mercy and so to our eternall peace Lastly if all this cannot stirre vp the graces of God in vs vnto fruitfulnesse Christs finall separation triall of his sheepe from goats of his members from aliens and strangers his finall publike sentence of life and death giuen in the sight of men and Angels shall bee grounded not vpon the diuersity of their inward hidden natures but vpon their seuerall kind of acts proceeding from them vpon the seuerall kind of mens fruits for euery tree is known by their fruits all Christs branches yeelded grapes all his members as they were possessed so they were moued did work by the spirit of loue Hereby yee are known to be mine if ye loue one another Iohn 13.35 and therefore this sentence also is our times be of any better kinde the exact iudgement of this point belongeth

therefore conceiued no need of repentance and redemption by an other Sauiour Thus he generally affirmeth of the Iewes whose eares and hearts were by custome growne more then as all men naturally are so obstinately hardned in contempt against the word of truth that Mat. 11.21 had the signes and wonders that were done amongst them beene done in Tyre and Sydon nay in Sodom they would haue repented in Sackcloth and Ashes as the Nineuites did at the preaching of Ionas onely And this is that obstinate opposition of some against the ordinary meanes of mans saluation that caused not onely the Prophets to mourn but our Sauiour Christ to sit down and to weepe ouer Ierusalem when he saw that shee would not bee gathered to her Redeemet as if Christ should haue said as God by our Prophet What could I haue done more for my Vineyard which I haue not done 3 After the consideration of this so exceeding great cost and care bestowed vpon the Lords Vineyard wee are in the third place to looke vnto the end of these his labours and husbandry bestowed on his Church that is the same which euery man which plāteth a vineyard doth expect of his plants fruits I looked for grapes fruites naturall and proper to a Vine proper to a Christian that receiueth the nature the sappe the spirit of the roote Christ Why the good workes and fruites of Christians are compared to grapes and themselues to vines I partly shewed before For as nothing is created for it selfe so the poorest creature that GOD hath made is inabled with some gift to imitate the bounty and goodnesse of the Creator and to yeeld somthing from it selfe to the vse and benefit of others and this is their naturall worke thus the Sun and Moone and Starres as they are indued with light vertue so they restlesly moue to impart their light and influence to the inlightning and quickning of the inferiour world Thus doe the cloudes flie vp and downe emptying themselues to inrich the earth of which notwithstanding they reape no haruest Thus doth the earth without respect of her priuate profit liberally yeelde her riches and fatnes to the innumerable armies of creatures which all sucke her brests and hang on her for maintenance as on their common mother and not to depart frō our Parable thus doe all fruit-bearing trees spend themselues and the principall part of their sappe and moisture not on the increase of themselues but in making some pleasant fruit or berry of which neyther they nor their young springs shall taste and this when it is ripe perfect they voluntarily let fall at their masters feet thus neither doth the Vine make her selfe drunke with her owne grapes nor the Oliue annoint her selfe with her own oyle and yet they striue to abound with fruites For the more euery thing furthereth the common good of the world the higher is the excellency of the nature thereof and the greater resemblance it hath to the Creators goodnesse Now when heauen and earth are fruitfull in their kinde when neyther beast nor tree are idle but are alwaies bringing forth something to the good of others when not onely the creatures vnder man but the blessed Angels of heauen are ministring spirites perpetually and willinglie seruing for our good when God the father himselfe with the Lord our King are yet working and diuiding the streames of their goodnesse to the best behoofe of the world how can it bee allowable that when all the Armies of heauen and earth the Creator with the creatures are thus busied in bringing forth fruit onely man should remaine vnfruitfull his faculties and graces idle himselfe a burthen to the earth It cannot be for not onely the Church of God for the gathering of her children the propagation of truth and piety amongst them but the world it selfe for the vpholding of her estate doth necessarily require mans fruits for seeing we grow together as members in a body and branches in a tree the life and sappe strength and helpe of the root and head cannot be deriued to vs vnlesse it be conuaied by ioynts and by sinewes by armes and by boughes by the mutuall ministery of man by the works of iustice and mercy from one to another and therefore vnlesse the Pastor yeelde the fruit of his light and knowledge vnlesse the Magistrate do yeelde the fruit of his iustice and authority vnlesse euery priuate man doe yeeld forth the fruite of those faculties graces which they receiue not for themselues but for the good of the body they are no parts of Christs body neyther haue they the spirit of the head the spirite of loue in them but they are theeues and murtherers enemies to Christ and to his Church they starue his body and purloine from their fellow members those good things which the mercifull head hath so intended by them to vs that the benefite might be ours and the thanks theirs and al might grow by the naturall fruits of loue But here ordinarily ariseth in the mind of man a vaine shift which much hindreth his fruitfulnes and maketh him draw in all to himselfe and recall his sappe from the fruits into the roote againe and that is a false reasoning with himselfe that because doe he the best he can yet his fruits will bee earthly and sowre and neuer perfect and kindely ripened because were they neuer so perfect and abundant yet they cannot merite lifes eternity to him that beareth them and because that which is wanting is fully supplied in the all-sufficient fulnesse and superrogatiue merits of the head and therefore it is but lost labour to spend himselfe in bringing forth such vnperfect fruites so helpeles in the worke of his owne saluation thus doth iniquity lie vnto her selfe and turneth the truth of God into a lie for though those three promises are all true yet the conclusion we inferre vpon them is altogether vncoherent True it is that though wee bee ingrafted into the eternall Vine Christ yet wee retaine something of the nature of the olde stocke whence wee were taken which giueth to our best fruites an earthly taste and some relish of the olde man True it is that though we are planted with the best heauenly plants of piety yet they grow in a forraine soile and in a colde clime farre from the Sun and our fruites are not concocted and perfect euen our most spirituall fruits our prayers haue not a pleasing taste vnlesse they haue some sweetning But this defect is supplyed by the great Angell of the couenant who when he presenteth these our fruits to God the great husbandman addeth to them of his owne precious incense which helpeth their infirmity and harshnes and maketh them acceptable Renel 8.4 Again true it is that these our fruits were they neuer so abundant and as excellent as mans perfectly restored perfection can afforde yet can they not merite those crownes and kingdomes and the eternity of that glory but