Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	bless_a	body_n	lord_n	4,175	5	3.5352	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63883	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable Sir Henry Tulse, Lord Mayor of the city of London and the court of aldermen, together with the governors of the hospitals at the parish-church of St. Bridget, on Easter Monday, March 31, 1684 by the Right Reverend Father in God Francis Lord Bishop of Rochester ...	Turner, Francis, 1638?-1700.	1634 (1634)	Wing T3284; ESTC R38919	18,664	40

needs say in the second place That some extraordinary Object of Compassion may be so pressing and lye so hard on the Conscience of any Christian as to bear it down and the feed of Grace the Vital Act in the Heart may be utterly destroy'd for the present if he turns away his Face and does not put forth his hand to save his Brother for whom Christ was pleased to Dye The Priest and Levite who past by the Poor Man that had fallen among Thieves and left him there weltring in his Blood they drew it no doubt upon their own heads and are Condemn'd by the Mouth of our Blessed Lord for so not loving their Neighbour as if they had been Accessories to the killing of him nay Principals not only in mortally Wounding his Body but their own Souls But I must also offer this as my Third Conclusion That a Passionate a Vehement an Affectionate or for want of an English word to hit my Conceptions fully give me leave to call it an Affectuous setting the Heart upon Wealth and worldy Goods more than upon Heaven and the way to Heaven by Charity is a state of Sin and of Death tho the Conscience like his who had great Possessions be so partial to its self as being not throughly Examined to make a Return not Guilty of any Gross Omissions in this kind or of any notorious Act of Uncharitable dealing or of any Habit to make one appear Hard-hearted yet if your Treasure be upon Earth and your Souls be set upon it they must needs be stak'd down here too and mount no higher for it is a Judg'd Case and with all the Reason in the world That where your Treasure is there will your Hearts be also But it may be Objected and Thoughts may arise in your Hearts if there be so much danger of doing too little and too slender Alms then What is enough for the Rich to bestow upon Charity shall I say whatever they can spare from their own Occasions that will not advance one foot toward stating the Question 't is only raising another a harder Question which the best Casuists will never be able to settle De abjiciendo Superfluo of the parting with our superfluity to relieve those in need or necessity But what is superabundance to some is scarce a Competency to others in different Circumstances Upon the whole matter no precise bounds and limits can be set for all Men nor for any two Men in the World tho we could suppose them exactly alike in Minds Bodies and Estates It must be when all is done in taking the measures of this or any other Christian Graces prout vir prudens definiverit as Old Philosophy could never otherwise assign the constant Exercise of moral Virtues its just Ampliations and Restrictions but only as Prudence should define them in particular Cases indeed to suit this with Divinity it must be Christian Prudence that is well guided Piety or Conscience wisely directed Nor do's the Apostle St. Paul go very much farther towards fixing the definite Proportions of Charity in the almost infinite Circumstances of men than the Masters of our morals had gone before him in describing the Lines and Limits of what they called Mercy only St. Paul seems to enjoyn one thing necessary to Enter and Engage good Christians in a Course of Charity that they all should have set times as they are the Stewards of God to make up their Accounts for Pious Vses that these set times should be so near one another as to keep the Trade of Charity quick upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store But when it comes to naming the Sum that every one must allow St. Paul himself could not offer any common measure he does not decimate or call upon them for a Temh nor yet for a Twentieth Part or Exact upon them at any determinate Rate But let every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him If it be Reply'd that this is to leave our Duty at such Uncertainty as makes it hard to know when our Righteousness that is our Charity exceeds theirs who shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven my Answer is All such Scruples are easily removed if insted of disputing how much 't is our Obligation to give we fall to practising and abounding in the Work of the Lord this is to take the safe and the high-way to Heaven And this falls in with my second Part Here is a matter of Precept mixt and joyn'd with matter of Counsel and Advice concerning the Manner the Measures the Rules of Proportion and Decency to be observed in doing our Alms-Deeds Here are excellent Directions given us to do them presently and with our own hands rather than leave them to be done by others after our Deaths to do them Diligently Chearfully Plentifully nay Openly sometimes as well as Secretly at other times to do them with all the Condescending Kindness of Entertainers for such good natur'd Qualifications as these are implyed in these words When thou makest a Feast Call the Poor This saying differs much from that other saying Sell what you have and give to the Poor so says our Blessed Saviour St. Luke xii but it is a plain Case That was only propos'd and advis'd to some never impos'd by Christ upon any but one that Rich Young Man we spoke of His Case was singular Our Lord discerned him to be as worldly as wealthy therefore it was necessary for his Eternal Salvation to part him and his Great Possessions But good Amends would have been presently made him he would have been admitted to be one of the Peculiar Followers of Jesus and probably the Power of working Miracles would have been given him But for the Generality of Mankind they are left free and forced upon none of these Extraordinary Attainments whether they will or no He that lyed to the Holy-Ghost in the matter of Alms was told by St. Peter While the Land remained was it not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thine own power that is to do what he pleas'd with the Money paid fot it And yet such as sould their Lands and laid the prices at the Apostles feet and Distribution was made unto every man according as he had need these have that Character immediately given them that Great Grace was upon them all Notwithstanding which to say that our Saviours words in St. Luke Sell what you have and give to the Poor obliges the Rich to part with all or as Zacheus did and it was well done of him with the one half of his Goods to the Poor this was one dangerous part of Pelagius'es Heresie Therefore Christ did not pr●ss that Publican to so vast a Proportion of Alms as he gave unaskt and then Christ Graciously Accepted it nor does Christ Labour the Pharisee in my Text to devest himself of his whole Estate at once But implies sufficiently that

during his Pilgrimage here takes up that Lamentation I have no place to flee in●o and no man careth for my Soul yet 't is most dear unto God and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of any Saint tho' he be as contemptible as Lazarus was in the Eye of the Rich Man yet the Angels of God are to carry his better part into the place of Rest if he be Rich in Faith if he well perform that Part which God has Appointed him in this Life for as Human Life is aptly enough compar'd to the Acting upon a Stage so he that Acts the Beggar well and throughout maintains the decorum of the Person whom he sustains deserves to be sent off with as great Applause as he that stands for the Great Man in the Fable since he is only the Richer Pageant of the two and if it be truly said by the Psalmist that every Man is a Lye then it may not be altogether improperly said the Greater Man the Greater Lye But if on the other side you see yet a sadder Spectacle that is pinching extream Poverty with lewd manners for alass desperate wickedness and cruel want are often found to joyn their hands how useful is even such an Object of Sin and Misery together in those whom the Psalmist describes that will run here and there for Meat and grudge if they be not satisfied 't is well if they do not Curse too how instructive are such miserable sights to make us pray heartily with the Son of Syrach Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with food convenient for me not Riches fore-seeing an evident Danger of Luxury and Epicurism leading to direct Atheism lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord and Danger too on the other side lest I be Poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain either forswearing himself to get off from Punishment facing Almighty God when he sneaks and shrinks from Man or else 't is meant of habitual common Swearing which heretofore few would be guilty of so Abject a Vice it was thought but the meanest People of as little Honour as Conscience But besides such Reflections as these which the sight of the miserable will suggest to raise and keep up Piety 't is our Advantage on another and greater Account that the Poor we have always with us Our Saviour has said it as it were Congratulating us the never-failing Opportunities of Exercising our Charity for were it not in Charity to us as well as to them that we may do our selves good has God any need of our Aid to provide for those whose Condition seems so necessitous Thou Lord of thy Goodness hast prepared for the Poor says the Royal Prophet 't is his Goodness to those that give and not only to them that receive that he will convey his Largesses through our hands to theirs for all the Beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the Cattel upon a thousand Hills If I be hungry says he the Great Creator and so if the least of his Creatures be hungry I will not tell thee for the whole World is mine and all that is therein Is there not Silver and Gold enough in the bowels of the Earth and Pearls in the bottom of the Sea enow to satisfie all Mens wants and leave none to complain in our Streets or is God's Hand shorten'd that he cannot rain Quails again with Manna every Morning so all Men shou'd Eat Angels Food and have Meat enough but the Divine Wisdome is not wont to be lavish of Miracles and 't is perfect Goodness to make us Men God's Instruments good Angels as it were to Guard and Assist our fellows in their Extremity nor is this left to our Choice to do it or not to do it I call'd it a Precept or a Command to the Rich and it was the very form of Asking an Alms by the Poor among the Jews Give me as God has appointed or bidden you to do 'T is an affirmative Precept Call the Poor and being such does not oblige ad Semper as the Schools use to speak that is it does not bind us to do it at all times or without any Intermission whereas Negative Precepts as Thou shalt do no Murther does so perpetually oblige that we may at no time break them but perhaps there are few more dangerous fallacies yet none more common than this because I cannot Charge another for wanting Charity tho he be not opening of his Hand and giving every minute of his Life the Man but 't is the Old Man still within us will be apt to Conclude if the duty of doing his Alms takes no fast hold of him now nor to morrow nor at any set time hereafter then when does it lye upon him on this supposition i● will be very rarely or never Practis'd It gives little less than a general Dispensation tho not by Absolving a Man from any Tye upon him yet by representing it as no moral sin to defer it as lon● as he pleases yet all this while his Conscience may quiet it self This was the Case of the Rich Young Man in the Gospel All the Commandments saith he have I kept from my Youth St. Chrysostome and most others are of Opinion that he was no Hypocrite yet we are sure that he was not sincerely a Saint but he did not lay his uncharitable Omissions to Heart for he that lov'd his Mony better than Christ must needs have been guilty of shutting up his Bowels of Compassion many a time when he saw his Brother have need tho' his own memory could not perhaps reproach him with any one Odious Instance of having deny'd an Alms when he thought himself strictly bound in Conscience to bestow it But now to state our own Obligation First you may set it down as a certain Truth that our Saviour here calls upon us to get the Habit of Charity for the Habit of Uncharitableness is utterly inconsistent with a state of Grace Now a Habit of this nature cannot be gotten but by many Acts and to think that one or a few inconsiderable Acts in the course of a Man's Life will suffice to acquire and confirm this excellent Grace of Charity 't is as wild Divinity as that in the Jesuits Morals where they have the hardiness to maintain That one such Act of Love to God tho' no more be exerted by one Man may serve his turn and Save him Once then for all we may take the perfect notion of this or any other Acquir'd Habit from the great Philosopher who if he were not more a Divine yet was less a Heathen is then many of those Romish Casuists A Habit is then atrain'd when we have gain'd the Point upon our selves to work as we ought with li●tle or no difficulty If then we give not easily willingly constantly or at least very frequently we are still to learn and to seek for the Habit of Charity I must