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_v	lord_n	name_n	9,330	5	6.2154	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56701	A sermon preached at St. Paul's Covent Garden on the day of thanksgiving Jan. XXXI, 1668 for the great deliverance of this kingdom by the means of His Highness the Prince of Orange from popery and arbitrary power / by Simon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1689 (1689)	Wing P847; ESTC R18296	19,982	42

every little cross occurence This alone will turn his Thoughts from the Infinite Goodness of God in the most Signal Blessings which he bestows upon the Nation wherein he lives By which Means God will lose all the Praise of his Mercies because they will not be at all observed or regarded by such ungrateful Souls Who must first be disposed to be Serious Sober-Minded and Attentive to what is done in the World and is of universal Concernment to it before they can be made sensible of the loving kindness of the Lord. II. Which when we observe we must carefully remember and lay up in our Minds Or else these two Mischiefs will ensue First that we shall have only a Flash of Devotion kindled in us for a few moments And Secondly we shall thank the Divine Goodness only for present Mercies but not for those that are past We must imitate the Psalmist therefore in that Admirable Hymn Psal CIII 1 2. saying Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Of which there is no more remembrance in some Mens Minds than there are footsteps of a Bird newly flown by left in the Air. One may as well go to search out the Path of a Fish in the water as ask them which way God hath gone to do them good So thin so fluid and inconsistent are their Minds that they retain no impressions that are made upon them A most fearful Example of which we have in the Israelites who too soon forgot the Works of God and remembred not the multitude of his Mercies that they provoked him at the Sea even at the Red Sea At that very place where they had been newly saved by a most miraculous Providence Ps CVI. 7. 13. I beseech God we may never be guilty of the like Horrid Ingratitude Unto which there seems to be too great an Inclination in some among us who a few Weeks ago long'd and sigh'd for Deliverance from those Dangers which were ready to swallow us up And were no sooner delivered but as if nothing had been done for them they fell a murmuring against their Deliverer the great Instrument I mean of their Preservation Because every thing was not managed according to the model of their desires This is an Humour we must indeavour to cure if any of us have been infected with it Because it makes us soon forget the Works of God and that will make us unthankful For a thankful Temper of Spirit must be made and maintain'd by considering and often revolving those Observations of the Divine Providence which we have reposited in our mind We must frequently turn over as I may say the Leaves of the Book of Remembrance which we have written in our Hearts of the several Notes we have taken of the loving Kindness of the Lord. Which is so much of the Essence of Thankfulness that when we would express the contrary Ingratitude we say Men are unmindful of their Obligations Now that which will most impress the Benefits we have received upon our Minds is the observation of those Circumstances where with they were Cloathed and came attended to us As the manner how they were conveyed and that they were unlikely to be effected by such means that a Deliverance was unexpected and unlook'd for and yet the arrival of it most seasonable to save us from Ruine and that there was nothing in us to invite it but we rather deserved to be made more miserable and yet God took compassion upon us and made those very things contribute to our Salvation which were design'd for our Ruine These and such like other Circumstances which are very applicable to our present Case will make God's goodness admirable in our Eyes And that which strikes us with admiration will be longest remembred III. When we would give solemn thanks to God for his Mercies we must set our selves to consider and ponder the worth and value as well as count the multitude of them We must weigh as well as number them So the Psalmist teaches us if we compare the LVII Ps 7. with the CXXXIX 17. In the former he tells us his Heart was fixed his Heart was fixed so stedfastly setled that is that he would not let it stir from this Work and then he sang and gave praise And in the latter he admires God's Mercies first as they are invaluable O how pretious are thy Thoughts towards me O God and then as they are innumerable how great is the Sum of them Thus if we apply our Thoughts to the present Deliverance which God hath wrought for us we shall find the Miseries from which we are preserved so innumerable and consequently such a multitude of Mercies for which we are indebted and those so dear so precious all that we are worth either as Men or as Christians our Civil Rights and Liberties but especially our Holy Religion secured to us that it is impossible not to have our Hearts affected with God's goodness at present and if we keep those things in mind not to give thanks unto him as long as we live and praise him while we have any being That 's the next IV. We must by these Considerations affect our Hearts with God's Innumerable and Inestimable Mercies vouchsafed to us And make them sensible of the Obligation which they lay upon us So that we may say with David Ps LXIII 3. c. Because thy loving kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I live my Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips. He speaks you see of God's Benefits with such a sensible relish as demonstrated he more than tasted the Sweetness of his Loving Kindness and valued the Love that gave them more than the best and most excellent of them We had need practice the foregoing Duties well of serious fixing our Heart and setting a just value and due price upon God's Blessings for otherwise we shall not be so affected towards him as we ought nor make him those Returns of Gratitude which he expects For such is the Imperfection of our Nature we are least apt to mind and observe those things which are nearest to us and in our quiet Possession Our Souls being herein like to our Eye which sees nothing that lies upon it and touches it but discerns it clearly when the Object is removed to some distance from it We mind not those Blessings while we enjoy them and have them in our hands which we hold to be very pretious when they are taken away and carried from our Embraces Without serious Consideration and frequent Reflections the more we have of the best things the less we shall be affected with them The Plentifulness of the Choicest Fare in the World makes it no Dainties with us but breeds in us such a fulness and satiety as makes it less