Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	part_n	whole_a	26,351	5	6.3148	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26337	A sermon preach'd at White-Hall on Sunday, September 8, 1695 being the day of thanksgiving for the taking of Namur, and the safety of His Majesty's person / by J. Adams ...	Adams, John, 1662-1720.	1695 (1695)	Wing A485; ESTC R20047	10,228	27

gladly acknowledge and adore His Goodness Whereas Wicked men very slowly discover it or very slowly Confess it They are taken up so Entirely with the World and themselves that they regard not the works of the Lord nor Consider the Operation of His Hands But attribute Every Extraordinary Event to Chance or to Necessity or else look upon it as the Natural Effect of Human Force or Prudence and Consequently undervalue it and despise it And tho an Ill man may possibly discern God's Goodness in some Publick and remarkable Blessing Yet this Will not move Him much He is too wise to admire any thing long and therefore takes no notice of it or forgets it immediately And indeed Praise is so Spiritual and so Heavenly a Duty that it is no wonder if it can take no Hold upon Such a mind as is weigh'd down by Sensual Desires and besotted in its Vices But on the other side as the Righteous discover God's benefits quickly so they are touch'd with them sensibly They are Entirely absolutely taken up with the Contemplation of His Love and the Gracious Evidences of it Break out so delightfully upon them that they are Continually falling into Raptures of praise and thanksgiving Such a Condition as this Holy David seems to be in frequently The Sense of God's Benefits make such a Lively impression upon Him that He cannot mention them without Extasie and He seems to labour With Holy Joy and to be in Pain How to Express it O God thou art my God early will I seek Thee my Soul thirsteth for Thee my flesh longeth for Thee Because thy Loving Kindness is better than life my lips shall praise Thee My Soul shall be satisfy'd as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall Praise Thee with joyful Lips Thou art my God and I will praise Thee Thou art my God and I will exalt Thee O Give Thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His Mercy Endureth for Ever There are many other Passages in the Psalms of this Kind But These may show sufficiently How fit the Righteous are to offer Praise and that particularly Because They soonest discern the Effects of God's Goodness and When they do so are touch'd with a more tender sense of it III. Another Reason why the Righteous are most proper to perform this Duty is because they have always a solid foundation of True Joy in a Good Conscience Joy is Essential to Thanksgiving 't is impossible to be grateful without we are pleas'd first But the sense of Guilt will never suffer this Innocence is the Only Ground of lasting Joy this is that Happy Spring of good Humour and Vivacity which gives a pleasing Air to all our Words and Actions This is that which brings down Heaven to Us or at least begins it here While God Himself vouchsafes to dwell in the pure and Spotless Heart O the unspeakable Happiness of a Good Conscience This makes us at the same Time Easie to our selves delightful to our Friends and Dear to our God 'T is True Wicked men will often make some show of Satisfaction and Joy But in this They are the greatest Hypocrites in the World Alas to be pleas'd with a Well told story to be delighted with witty and malicious Censure to be Exalted with the spirits of strong liquors is not to be joyful Sen. Ep. 23. mihi Crede Res severa est verum gaudium True joy does not Consist in Wild and thoughtless Gayety but is a Sober and Severe thing Because 't is the Effect of our Having Moderated our Passions and Appetites of our Having absolutely Conquer'd our Vices and not the Act of Indulging them Besides tho God's Blessings are never so Great or so Publick the Wicked cannot have the Confidence to think that they were bestowed for their sakes or belong to them in the least but the thoughts of their Guilt must strike them with shame and sorrow when they behold the joy of the Righteous and Consider that they Have nothing to do with the Cause of it But the Righteous may apply Gods mercies without presumption to themselves They may reflect with pleasure upon their former Prayers and Humiliations and look upon themselves without Vanity as Benefactors to their Country for the Goodness of one Private man brings down blessings upon the Publick and prevails more at Home than the Strength and Policy of many in the Field And as these Arguments of God's Goodness must cause Joy and Satisfaction in a Righteous Man so His Heart by Being Kept still in order by a Constant Course of Virtue is always Ready and as it were in Tune to Sound forth the Praise of God IV. The Righteous are most Proper to Praise Him Because of the fitness and Congruity which there is between Praise and other Virtues This is that Reason which the Psalmist gives Here in Particular included in those Words Praise is Comely for the Upright As the Beauty of the Body Consists in the Exact Dimensions of Every part and the Symmetry and Proportion of the whole So does the Beauty of the Soul Consist in the Exercise of All Christian Virtues and in the mutual Relation which they have to each other and if any one be Wanting 't is a plain Deformity and will be perceiv'd immediately Thus should those who are Righteous in other Respects be Negligent in their Praise they themselves Hold the light by which they are discover'd and those Virtues which they have will show the Deformity of their Ingratitude and make it the more inexcusable But when the Upright joyn Thanksgiving to their other Works of Righteousness all is compleat and uniform this is Agreeable to their other Actions it bears proportion with them and receives a peculiar Grace from them and in this Consists that Comliness of Praise and that Beauty of Thanksgiving which makes it pleasing and Acceptable in the Sight of God and Man On the other side What should Praise do alone without any other Virtue What Absurdity and Hypocrisie is it for ill men to Pretend to it As a Well Shap'd Garment would not become a Crooked Body so the Praise of God can never become a Wicked Heart therefore as St. Basil says upon this place it is probable that our Saviour Rebuk'd the Devils and would not Suffer them to Confess Him Because Such Mouths were not fit to Pronounce such a Name To this purpose is that of the Psalmist Psal l. 16. upon the Wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth Seeing thou Hatest Instruction and Castest my words behind thee What indeed has He to do to Pronounce the Name of God under pretence of shewing forth His Glory Who has been us'd to pollute it Every moment by His Oaths and Blasphemies Or how can He pretend to praise the bounteous giver of all things Who has been a Disgrace to His Goodness and Turn'd His own Benefits Against Him by making