Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	air_n	element_n	fire_n	13,062	5	7.1789	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74704	To pneuma ksopyrén, or Sparkes of the spirit, being, motives to sacred theorems, and divine meditations. / By a reverend father of the Church of England.	Davies, Athanasius, b. 1620 or 21.	1658 (1658)	Thomason E1903_1; ESTC R209994	79,302	390

in my diet c Prov. 23.1 2. vigilant in my calling d 1 Pet. 4.7 and evermore wary that by surfetting and drunkenness I lose not my time e Eph. 5.16 spend my wealth f Eccl. 13. impair my health bring infamy to my name and calling and offend thy heavenly Majesty Oh spare me and save me from this Enormity through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. XXV A true Motion A Violent motion is quick in the beginning but slow in the end For a stone cast upward is then most weak when it is most high But a naturall motion is slow in the beginning and quick in the end Therefore when a man in his first conversion is exceeding quick but afterward waxeth every day slower slower in the waye of the Lord his motion is not n●turall and kinde but forged and forced Otherwise the longer he liveth and the neerer he runneth to the mark the more swiftly would he run to gain the Crown of Glory Sparke 25 O dear Father most gracious and wise God which hast ordained all thy creatures to avoid idleness Gen. 1. and to be alwaies in continuall motion giving and infusing into me such a soule as is alwayes in motion Grant I g may ever endeavour towards that which is before and forget that which is behinde and follow hard towards the marke for the high calling of our Lord Jesus Christ And seeing thou hast promised h 2 Tim. 4.8 us a crown of life if we continue to the end grant that we faint not i Gal. 6.9 nor be weary of well-doing but that we may so run that we may obtain k 1 Cor. 9.24 through Jesus Christ our dear and onely Saviour Amen Sect. XXVI Of Covetousness THere be foure kinds of Creatures that live each one upon that element in which he had his breeding First The miser's hunger The Want on the Earth Secondly The Herring on the water Thirdly The Chamelion on the Aire And Fourthly The Salamander on the fire But man being but dust of the earth is not contented to live on the earth the water the aire and the fire For his desire and unsatiableness is such that all these elements cannot give him content nor all the creatures that live thereon but if it were possible he would either go above the fire or under the earth to see if he could finde another element more than God made And therefore the Lord did wisely consider of our greediness when he hid so many treasures in the bottome of the sea and the heart of the earth least had they been within our view and easy reach we should make our goods our God fixing our hearts unto our treasures Sparke 26. O deare God and mercifull Father seeing only with thee is all plenty and no want q Jam. 1.17 all fullness and no scarcity all wealth and no poverty all solace and no sorrow all pleasure and no discontent I beseech thee Lord to establish my heart with thy r Psal 51.12 free Spirit to accomplish my desire with thy t Psal 145.16 bountifull hand and to replenish my soul with goodness of thy grace that I count u 1 Tim. 6 7 godliness to be the onely gaine and so to be content with what thou hast given me through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. XXVII Of Gods especiall Grace The growth of Grace AS the children of the bodily barren have been excellent pillars in Gods Church as Isaac of Sarah Joseph of Rachel Samuel of Anna John Baptist of Elizabeth So also they which have been begotten from spiritual barrennesse that is converted from a sinfull life have proved most famous instruments of grace as Zacheus from the world St. Mathew from the receipt of custome St. Paul from a persecutor to become an Apostle and many heathen Infidells to become glorious Martyrs for the crosse of Christ Sparke 27. O heavenly Father I confess unfainedly that I have been hitherto barren bearing but green leaves of outward profession onely and no efectuall fruits of a true faith Therefore Lord I beseech thee to dig and dung about me with thy grace and to water me with the dew of thy blessing that I may be like a tree planted by the water side which in due season shall bring forth fruits of land and praise to thy name Amen Sect. XXVIII Comforts for Women Women's wellfare LOrd what though I be a weak vessell and subject to many Infirmities yet have no cause to distrust thy help or despair of thy mercy and especially considering how compassionate and pitifull thou hast been to the weak sex of silly women John 8.11 as first to the unclean woman that w●s taken in adultery Math. 15. Secondly to the poore afflicted Cananite granting her request and commending her faith Thirdly Math. 9. to the sick diseased with an issue of bloud for the space of twelve years healing her with the hem of thy garment Fourthly Luk. 4.39 to Peters wife's mother whom thou didst presently heal of a languishing feaver Fifthly to Mary Magdalen whom thou hast freed from seven devills And to the two sisters Marye and Martha at whose pitteous moane John 11 thou hast raised up their brother Lazarus that had been four days in the grave Sixthly to thine own distressed mother by committing her being succourlesse to the guard and tuition of John thy beloved disciple Seventhly John 19. to all the women that wept when thou wentest to be crucified saying John 19. weep not for me Eighthly to the sorrowfull women that came to anoint thy body to the grave saying be not afraid you seek Jesus of Nazareth he is risen he is not here Lastly to a poor widow weeping for the death of her onely son to whom thou didst speake comfortably saying weep not and withall did'st restore her son to life Spark 28. O dear Saviour I am by nature in a more miserable case than all these were being but the unclean seed of my old seduced Grandmother Eve o Eph. 2.3 My condition is worse than hers having not onely d Psal 106. the seed of all sin staining the womb of my soul but also dayly polluting my whole body with all uncleanness and p 2 Chro. 6. actuall transgression Had the Adulteress Lord need of thy mercy so have I. For who f Prov. 20. can say my heart is clean Was the Cananite but as a Dogg before thee Alas good Lord without thy mercy I shall be more vile than a Toad in thine eyes Was her disease which the hem of thy garment did cure an unclean issue of twelve years continuance Alas sweet Saviour the issue of my sin did run upon me since I came from my Mothers k Psal 51. womb Ah! good Lord thou didst pitty the state of Peter's mother in Law having but a feaver and behold I consume away for fear of thy displeasure e Psal 6. my very

Sparke 99. O dear Father that art one God true and constant in all thy wayes and unchangeable yea a jealous God and a consuming fire grant that I may be true and constant in all my wayes not having a shew of godliness and denying the power thereof let me not become half a christian like Agrippa but grant unto me the love of thy servant John the heart and constancy of David the zeal of Phineas the boldnesse of Peter the resolution of Paul the patience of Job the perseverance of Joseph the courage of Joshua the earnestness of Moses and the constancy and integrity of my Saviour That so I may run the way of thy commandments and count it my meat and drink to do thy will Good Lord make me every day more fervent of thy glory more faithfull in thy service more fearfull of thy judgements and more sorrowful for my sins through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. C. The death of his Saints is dear in the Lords sight IT is not without great reason that murther is so hatefull unto God that the bloud of the slain crieth in his ears for revenge For if we respect the majesty of Goh himself what can be more odious to him than to see his own image defaced in his own presence or what can be more contemptuous than to kill one in his view which he loved so dear that he gave his onely son to dy for him Nay what more wicked than willfully to deprive him of life of whose life and safety God was so carefull that he numbred the haires of his head least one of them should perish Sparke 100. O Lord keep mee from bloud thirsty men give me grace to love thy image for thy sake and not to destroy that which thy hands have made and for whom thy son died Sect. CI. The beastly Man IT was not for nothing that the Poets did faine men to be transformed into the shape of some beasts for indeed we are worse in some things than beasts The drunkard is more filthy than the swine the murtherer more cruell than the tiger the wordling more subtile than the Serpent the cholerick more angry than the Wasp the covetous more greedy than the Wolf the adulterer more leacherous than the Goat Yea many beasts have exceeded us in vertue but we exceed all in vice Sparke 101. O Lord renew thy image in us and repaire our defects let us not any more with the Swine wallow in the mire of our filthiness Instruct thou us Lord and let us not be like horse and mule that have no understanding but keep us in thy wayes that we walk in thy wisedom through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. CII The Foolish Worldling and the wise Christian BOth will yield honour to man but diversely the one honoureth him that hath the richest garment and other externall ornaments glorious to the eye the other honours him most who is richly adorned within with wisedom and good qualities For as the world respects the outward man so do the chil of the world And as God respects the inward man so do the children of God For if a man be vain outwardly he is like unto the world and therefore the worldlings will honour him but if he be good inwardly he is like God and therefore the godly will reverence him Spark 102. O Lord grant I may give tribute to whom tribute honour to whom honour worship to whom worship and fear to whom fear is due through Jesus Christ Amen Sect. CIII Faith's feeding Some Creatures by the providence of God are said to live in the air as the Chamaeleon some in the water as Fishes c. some in the earth as Wants and Wormes c. some in the fire as Salamanders c but hope is such a creature that is not tied to any one Element but hath free liberty to comfort and refresh her self upon all these As first upon the aire and light of heaven For how can we see the sun and the rest of those glorious Planets to set and rise every day and not be confirmed in our hope of our own resurrection Secondly upon the fire which we see covered and buried at night in the ashes like our bodies in the dust and in the morning to be kindled with a little dry straw which may assure us that ●hough now the dust doth cover our bodies as it were for a night yet the joyfull morning of our resurrection will come when our bodies shall be quickened and lightened again with the candle of our soul through the power of our Saviour and the fiery force of the holy spirit that we may shine as bright lamps in his house for ever Thirdly is not our hope much sustained by the water which now we see to decrease and ebbe within few hours after to flow and fill again all those empty chinkes and channels which of late were dried up and so to revive them with a new floud and fresh current and shall not those empty veynes of our bodies and those holy arteries of our flesh at the spring-tide of the resurrection by the powerfull blowing of the Southern wind of Gods spirit be filled again with bloud and the spirit of life Fourthly shall we observe the earth to bring forth all things committed unto her and not hope without doubt that she will one day likewise deliver up our bodies committed to their trust and that much more glorious than she doth any corne or seeds which she keep but for lesse than a year Let us not think it therefore unlikely for our vile bodies to be made glorious seeing that fine paper is made of foul rags and pure glasse of the ashes of ferne yea of a heap of dry bones faire and stronge bodies and life given unto them with a blast of winde Ezek. 37 For could God create all things of nothing and can he not work his own will in his own creatures could he fetch light out of darkness as it were out of a grave can he in the womb of a woman of a little bloud frame a body distinguished with so many and sundry instruments as that it may go for a little world and within the space of some few dayes add lif● unto it And can he not restore the body that hath been so to what it was Can he quicken us in the womb of our mother and can he not receive us in the womb of the earth Can we fetch fire out of the flint and cannot he fetch us out of the earth 1 King 17.23 2 King 4 32 Acts 9.40 23.10 Could Eliah and Elisha raise the widow of Zareptha the Shunamites children Could Peter raise Tabitha and Paul Eutychus and cannot God their Lord and ours raise both them and us Sparke 103. O dear Father 1 Pet. 1. which by thy great mercy hast regenerated us to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Chrst from the dead 1 Tim. 3. Rom.

like thunderbolts or at least dissolved into water but if they be pure fine and dry they will be set on fire and burne with zeal to God in their exaltation as David Elias c. L●stly There be some that leek to exalt themselves by violence and indirect means as by treason oppression Tyrany bribery and extortion these as by their violence they mount up suddenly so do they soon fall fearfully as Saul Balthasar Haman Herod Gehezi and Judas did Spark 70. O Lord we are all in thy view and often tread within thy great chamber of presence grant that we may learne to be wiser unto Salvation Ephes 3.18 19. that we may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge that we may be filled with all fullness of God Let us after the example of our Saviour be so rooted in charity so grounded in humility and so humble in our owne conceit before thee that we may acknowledge with Abraham that we are but dust and ashes with Jacob that we are less than the least of thy mercies with the Centurion that we are not worthy that thou shouldest come under our roof and with the Prodigall child confesse that we be no more worthy to be called thy sons For he that humbleth himself shall be exalted of thee O King of Heaven and he that exalteth himself shal be brought low Good Father if it please thee to exalt us suddenly in thy mercy as thou didst David from the sheep-fold Mordeicai from the gate Joseph from the dungeon and Daniel from the Den let us not be puffed up but still say with David I will be more humble yet let us with Dauid cry out in the Court of the Lords house The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and with Elias mount up in a fiery Chariot of fervent zeal And if at any time thou please to correct us for our pride presumption good Lord cast us not down suddenly like a thunderbolt as thou didst Lucifer and Balthasar but give us grace and space to repent with Nebuchadnezzar that at last like a watry vapour we may melt in sorrow with Mary Magdalen and dissolve into tears with Peter through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. LXXI The Creature 's Call THe little birds when the day appeareth do in th●●● kinde seem to be thankfull for their rest and in the evening likewise with chirping notes th●y praise God for the light that they enjoyed and so take their rest again Shall we hear these to sing melody unto God and not sing the base with them to make up a perfect harmony and a full concent Sparke 71. Lord teach me to praise thee betimes in the morning Psal 55. and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice unto thee for Jesus Christs sake Amen Sect. LXXII The quick buried VVHen we begin to be men we begin to be sinners and when we begin to be sinners we begin to be dead and when we begin to be dead we begin to be buried first in our mothers womb th●n in the cradle afterwards in our beds and at last in our graves Sparke 72. Grant O Lord Psal 39. Rom. 8. that remembring my end I may live in thy fear and die in thy favour Amen Sect. LXXIII Sinners visage EVery sin seemeth fair before the action sweet in the action and poison after the action For three things follow after the committing of every sin to wit fear shame and guilt the fear of hell shame of men and guilt of conscience Sparke 73 Lord if these will not make me loath sin Exod. 20.6 yet let thy love make me leave it and thy mercy forsake it Sect. LXXIV The Covetousnesse of the Godly IF I be rich I may want If I be strong I may be overcomed If I be learned I may be deceived But if I be wise I shall be perfect For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisedom and a good begining maketh a good ending This made Solomon to pray for wisedom Moses to study for wisedom and the Queen of Sheba to travaile for wisedom Sparke 74. Grant O Lord that I may learn to fear thee that I may begin to be wise Prov. 1. Psal 111. and keep thy laws that I may have understanding Sect. LXXV Too much of one thing is good for nothing IT hath been said alwayes that the mean is best and that the middle way is the golden way But we see by experience that extremity beareth rule in this world For every Vertue there are two Vices we will be either too curious or too careless Either we cry Hosanna or Crucifie Either Christ must not wash our feet or else he must wash our feet and bodies together Either we say tast not touch not for it is unclean or else we say let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dy If we love we over love If we be fearfull we are too fearfull If angry we are too angry Spark 75. Lord give me grace to fear but not to despair Eccles 2. Psal 4. Ephes 4. Prov. 4. to be angry and not to sin to decline from thy Statutes neither to the right hand nor to the left Amen Sect. LXXVI The Flatterer's Gesture ON the Stage of wickednesse the Flatterer playeth his part best For he is like a shadow which doth imitate the gesture of the body For it stands when you stand walks when you walk sits when you sit and rises when you rise So the Flatterer will praise when you praise reprove when you reprove smile when you smile and frown when you frown till the Sun of his hope is set and then no shadow no Flatterer Sparke 76. Prov. 13. Deliver me O Lord from a flattering tongue and from the net that he spreadeth for my steps Sect. LXXVII The abused Creature 's Grave THe Glutton and the Covetous man never cease to bury Gods Creatures untill themselves be buried for the one burieth them unlawfully in his belly the other miserably in his chest Therefore at the generall resurrection these Creatures will rise in judgment against these men Spark 77. Keep me O Lord from surfeiting and excess and from coveting any thing but thy Grace Sect. LXXVIII The Careless Christian I See that every man saving a Christian studies to be perfect in his vocation and carefull to know and observe his grounds As the Grammarian his Rules The Philosopher his Axioms The Lawyer his Maximes The Physitian his Aphorismes The Musitian his Keyes Measures These observe their grounds though they be many in number But the Christian hath but few Principles and yet can keep few or none of them for all the Principles of Religion are to love God with all our heart and our Neighbour as our self Spark 78. Most loving Father grant me perfect love and then I shall fulfill thy Law