Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	blood_n	sin_n	wash_v	5,624	5	9.0032	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31893	The art of divine meditation, or, A discourse of the nature, necessity, and excellency thereof with motives to, and rules for the better performance of that most important Christian duty : in several sermons on Gen. 24:63 / by Edmund Calamy ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1680 (1680)	Wing C227; ESTC R952	107,034	224

pleased to put these things in practice will find his heart will never want matter to meditate upon So much for the Intellectual part of Meditation which is the knotty and difficult part 2. Now I come to that which is the easiest part of Meditation I mean easie to understand but not easie to practice I come to that which is the best part of Meditation the very life and soul of Meditation and that is to help you to get your affections warmed and heated by the things you meditate upon for the work of the understanding is nothing else but to be as a Divine pair of bellows to kindle and inflame the heart and affections the work of the understanding is to chew and prepare matter to help the affections Now then I am to give you some directions and helps for the affectionative part to get your affections warmed and heated so as to stir up piety and devotion in your souls Now for the working upon your affections learned men that write upon this subject propound six common-place-heads as so many ways to raise the affections and to get them so excited as to increase grace and holiness in the soul. 1. You must labour to get a relish and a savour of the things you meditate upon 2. You must complain before God for the want of that relish 3. You must wish you had a supply of what you want of this relish and taste of the things you meditate on 4. You must confess your inability as of your selves to do this 5. You must petition to God for help 6. You must confidently believe God will help you Here are six helps for the affectionative part of Meditation now that you may know the use of these helps I shall crave leave to go over them all by way of instance I have given you an instance concerning the sinfulness of sin I went over nine common-place heads and shewed you how you should enlarge in every particular about the sinfulness of sin now I will proceed further in this instance and shew you how you should make use of these Particulars to get your affections raised and warmed and stirred up to more holiness After that I have traversed all the heads of reason and have considered the description the distribution cause and effects of sin now I come to the work of the affections And here 1. I will labour to get my heart affected with the bitterness of sin I will labour to taste the bitterness of it and to get my heart in a mourning frame and I will thus say to my self Oh my soul is sin so odious to God that no sacrifice but the sacrifice of the blood of God can appease Gods wrath and shall it not be odious to me was sin so displeasing unto God and so defiling to the soul that no bath but a bath of Christs blood can wash away the stain of it and shall I make a mock of that sin that cost the blood of Christ was sin a burden to Christ and shall it not be a burden to me Thus I would reason with my self Did sin make Christ shed drops of blood and shall it not make me shed a few tears Did Christ cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me for our sins I mean for our sins he took upon him and shall I make a sport of sin shall I make a mock of sin Doth David complain That his sins was a burden too heavy for him to bear And doth Paul cry out Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin And shall not sin be bitter to me shall not I mourn that I have sinned against so gracious a God so merciful a Redeemer so holy a Sanctifier 2. I would proceed to the second and begin to complain of the hardness of my heart and of my unaffectedness with the sins I am guilty of and I would thus say to my soul Oh my soul how is it that thou canst mourn for any outward loss if thou losest but a child though it may be thou hast half a score if thou losest but one of them thou canst mourn immoderately if thou losest thy wife thy husband any part of thy estate thou canst mourn too much but thou hast not one tear for thy sins how is it Oh my soul that thou shouldest be thus hard-hearted and unaffected with thy sins Is not sin Deicidium is not sin a murdering of God in as much as in us lies is not sin animaecidium that which slays the soul is not sin a dethroning of God a robbing of God an injuring of God how is it then that I am no more affected with my sin how is it that after so many Sermons so many Sacraments so many years being in the School of Christ after so many mercies received from God so many afflictions the Lord hath inflicted upon me yet my heart should be so hard and so flinty and so stony I can easily hate my enemy too too soon which I should not do but Sin that is my greatest enemy I cannot hate that which I should hate most of all I must love my outward enemy but God bids me hate my Sin God doth not bid me love the Devil or the works of the Devil I can hate that which I should love but I cannot hate that which I should hate I cannot hate my Sin 3. I would proceed to stir up my affections to a passionate wish and I would say to my soul thus Oh that my heart were more soft Oh that I could mourn with a godly mourning not with a legal mourning but with a mourning that is out of love to God Oh that I could mourn with repentance unto life with a Gospel-sorrow for all my sins of omission commission my Sacrament-sins my family-sins my Closet-sins the sins of my youth the sins of my riper age for all my unkindness against my God Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I could mourn day and night for my sins and the sins of the times and the sins of the place wherein I live Oh that rivers of tears would run down my eyes because I have sinned against my God! Thus would I wish and passionately express my self that so I might get my heart raised up Oh that the Lord would pour down the spirit of mourning upon me 4. I would make an humble confession of my own inability to mourn and I would say thus O Lord thou knowest it is not in man to direct his own ways it is not in man to guide his own steps I know Oh Lord that I am not able of my self to think a good thought it is easier for me to cleave a rock in pieces than to cleave my rocky heart by my own strength there must be an Almighty power to get my heart to be soft for my heart Oh Lord is harder than the nether milstone and I cannot soften it I would mourn that

or sealing up all the benefits of our Redemption and it is an exhibition of Jesus Christ it is a deed of gift of Christ God goes about giving of Christ to thee and me and all that labour to come worthily Oh! there cannot be a greater feast wherein Christ is the gift that is bestowed Christ is the banquet Christ and all his benefits 5. You must meditate of your own unworthiness O Lord I am not worthy to pick up the crumbs that fall from thy Table I am not worthy to eat my daily bread much less worthy to eat the Sacramental bread Oh the thought of this will make you say with Mephibosheth What am I a dead dog that my Lord and King should invite me to his table What am I dust and ashes sinful wretch that the Lord Jesus should invite me to such an Heavenly banquet 6. You must meditate of your spiritual wants and necessities what grace dost thou want that thou maist get supplied what sin doth bear most sway in thee that thou maist get it more mortified Now the more sensible you are of your spiritual wants the more will your appetite be quickned to this blessed feast 7. You must meditate of the cursed condition of an unworthy receiver an unworthy receiver is a Christ-murderer a soul-murderer a body-murderer he is guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ he eats and drinks down his own damnation he is guilty of bringing diseases For this cause that is for unworthy coming to the Sacrament many are sick and many weak and many die 8. I would have you meditate of the happy condition of those that come worthily to the Sacrament though you do not bring a legal worthiness yet if you have a Gospel-worthiness God will accept of you and the bread that we break shall be the Communion of the Body of Christ and the cup of blessing which we bless shall be the Communion of the Blood of Christ to you the communion of all the blessings of Heaven to thy soul. It shall be the bread of the Lord to you and the bread of life and the cup of Salvation unto you 9. I would have you meditate sometimes of the Sacramental Elements when you see the bread I would have you meditate of the analogy and proportion between bread and the body of Christ you know that bread is the staff of life so is Christ the staff of a Christian bread is not for dead folks but for living folks bread doth not beget life but increaseth and strengthneth life so the Sacrament is not for those that are dead in sin the Sacrament doth not beget Grace but nourish and increase Grace And then I would have you consider the analogy between Wine and the Blood of Christ As Wine refresheth the spirit and cheereth the heart so the Blood of Christ cheereth the soul of every worthy receiver 10. I would have you meditate of the Sacramental actions for all the actions of the Minister at the Sacrament are mystical they all represent Christ Christ is to be read by a spiritual eye in every thing that is done by the Minister the breaking of the bread represents Christs body being broken upon the Cross for our sins and the pouring out the Wine represents how Christs Blood was poured out for us and the giving of the Wine represents how Christ is offered and tendered unto us the taking of the bread and wine represents how thou by faith takes Christ for thy everlasting comfort Every thing in the Sacrament is the object of Meditation and it is a rare thing for a Christian to make the Sacramental Elements to be his Bible when he is at the Sacrament and when he finds his heart dull to look at the Elements the breaking of bread and pouring out of wine which are all spiritual helps to raise up thy heart unto Christ. 11. You must meditate of the Sacramental Promises Christ Jesus hath promised Take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me that is the Sacramental Promise This is my blood which is shed for you do this in remembrance of me Christ hath promised that whensoever we do take this bread and drink this cup worthily he will convey himself to us Now we must feed upon this promise and come to the Sacrament in the strength of this promise and he hath promised that the cup of blessing shall be the cup of the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread that is broken shall be the communion of the body of Christ Now we must meditate upon these Promises and act faith upon them 12. When all this is done I mean when thou hast received the Sacrament then thou must meditate what retribution to make unto Christ for this you must say as David doth Psal. 116. 7. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me Thou must say to thy soul Oh how ought I to love that Christ that hath loved me and became a curse for me how ought I to be willing to die for that Christ that hath shed his blood for me Oh what singular thing shall I do for that Christ that hath become man that hath left the Throne of Heaven and hath taken my nature and hath given himself for me upon the Cross unto me at the Sacrament what great thing shall I return unto this God! Oh that I were made up all of thankfulness Oh that I could do something worthy of this God! This must be your Meditation and you must study to find out some rare piece of service to do for this Christ that hath done and suffered so much for you and you must never leave meditating till you have found out some singular thing As for example such an enemy hath done me wrong I will requite him in loving him the more I will do him the more offices of love that is to walk worthy of Christ who loved me when I was an enemy and then there is such a deed of charity such a poor Christian his family is undone I will do this service for Christ I will give him some proportionable gift some worthy gift that his soul may bless God for me Again Christ Jesus this day hath given me himself he hath given me his body and blood I will go and be willing to die for him I will say with Thomas Come let us die for him I will be willing to suffer reproach for him if he shall call me These are the Meditations wherein you are to spend your time when you are at the Sacrament Now let me say but thus much What rare Christians would we be if from month to month we did thus spend our Sacramental hours surely great would be the benefit and the fruit of it Thus I have done with the time when we are to meditate 3. I am to speak of the properties and qualities of Divine Meditation in all holy duties it is not so much the