Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	bread_n	lord_n	wine_n	3,679	5	7.3104	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60681	Agapai aspilai The Norfolk feast : a sermon preached at St. Dunstans in the East, upon the 18th of July, 1671, being the day of the anniversary feast for that county, for some years omitted, but now intended to be continued / by a minister of that county.	Smythies, William, d. 1715.	1671 (1671)	Wing S4366; ESTC R223729	14,570	43

receive from him The Beasts of the field when they are afforded fresh Pasture or any extraordinary Provision they do some way or other express that they Feast and are Merry The pritty Birds have no sooner filled their Crops but they sing the several notes which their Creator hath appointed them to tune we observe some of them rising from their turff when filled their bellies but with little stones or some such contemptible fare singing merrily and soaring higher and higher as if they were going to thank their Maker for a Feast The Earth when it brings forth its fruit Sic prata viderunt Virgil. expresseth mirth and jollity The Pastures are not seen in a sable hue or mourning habit but appealed with such gorgeous attire that Solomon in all his Glory is not to be compared to one of the flowers of it Math. 6.29 The Corn Fields are seen with a merry countenance when they grow near unto Harvest the Harvest men may hold their tongues and mind their work The Fields themselves make their own Acclamations and sing their own Harvest Songs Psal 65.13 Lataseges The little Hills rejoyce on every side The Vallies are covered over with Corn they shout for joy they also sing And if the Servants be so merry when they bring in the Provision how may the Master rejoyce for whom it is provided God will have man to rejoyce in every condition in his Religious capacity as a servant to God The Apostle commands the Philippians to rejoyce in the Lord always and then he calls for a second part to the same tune and again I say rejoyce Phil 4.4 When we pray unto God we must not come like Malefactors before a Judge but as Children to a Loving Father who delights to give whatsoever is good for them Ask in faith and come boldly are expressions to chear the heart of man in this piece of his Religious Service In our Meditations it is not pleasing to him that as sometimes did the Psalmist we should think of God and be troubled but that our Meditation of him should be sweet as they were other while to David who could willingly lye awake to solace himself with the thoughts of him In Afflictions God will not have us dejected but merry accounting his rod as well as his staff a comfort we may well rejoyce if we are accounted worthy to suffer The adorning of our houses with the richest furniture should not be so pleasing as the spoiling of our Goods should be rejoyceing no Musick more pleasant in the ears of God then to hear the Apostles those birds of Paradise singing in their Cages No melody on Earth more pleasant to God then to hear a Saint sing in sufferings or glorying in tribulations Rom. 5.3 And if it becomes us to be merry when there is seeming cause of sorrow surely it doth not please God that we should be sorrowful when we have an apparent cause of rejoycing If we must be merry and joyful when we have nothing but the bread of Sorrows and water of affliction we may and ought to rejoyce when God gives abundance we may then eat our bread with a merry heart and drink our Wine with chearfulness as those in the Book of Ezra Chap. 6.22 who kept the Feast with joy because the Lord had made them joyful 2. Feasting is lawful in that it is the occasion of mutual love and Friendship which is so acceptable to God and so beautiful an aspect void of Spots that the Scripture it self knows not how to express the splendour of it Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity The same word which in the singular number signifyeth Love Psa 133.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural signifieth Feasts to let us know that we do not meet to eat and drink but to express love one to another or as if meat and drink were meer intruders and that Feasting consisted in nothing but the multiplication of Love The Pen-man of the Book of Job describing his happiness after the large Inventory of his goods gives an account of his comfort in his Children and that particularly in their mutual love which was expressed by the brothers Feasting in each others house and calling their sisters to eat and to drink with them what their meat and drink was is not set down nor is there any reason why it should 'T is enough to say they eat and drink together and we may suppose that they Feasted with the mutual love and embraces of brothers and sisters When Isaac saw Abimelech and the two others coming towards him his heart began to rise at the sight of one whom he supposed to have too little love for him but after some parley Isaac makes them a Feast which proved a confirmation of the League made between them Our Feasting is or should be some resemblance of future happiness we all meeting to enjoy good from God and to love one another till we come to Feast with our elder brother in his and our Fathers kingdom where our Souls shall be filled with the Glory of God as our bellies are now with his good Creatures where we shall drink with him of that wine of joy which he promised us I will not drink of the fruit of the Vine till I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom Luke 26.20 4. Feasting is good as it gives opportunity for acts of Charity to those that are in misery I am a stranger to the manner of proceedings in these Festivals having never been either Preacher hearer or spectator at of any them But I was lately informed that there hath been upon the like occasion a Collection for the relief of some distressed Countrymen a practice very commendable and very antient too for it was antiently one of the great designs of Christians in their Love-Feasts Our Saviour observing too great a neglect of this seems to command that none but the poor should be invited When thou makest a Dinner or a Supper call not thy Friends Luke 14.13.14 neither thy Kinsmen c. but call the poor the maimed the lame the blind That which is done to our poor brethren is done to Christ himself Better not Feast at all than that Christ should say they Feasted but there was not one Morsel for me I was Hungry and you fed me not 'T was said of the Jews Est 9. ver 22. that they observed days wherein they rested from their Enemies and a month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day in which they made them days of Feasting and Joy and of sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor There was a Feast carried on well a good occasion which God had given they rested from their Enemies good deportment they rejoyced and a good conclusion they sent gifts to the poor they were not so merry as to forget those that were

ground 1. From the Guests intruding if not voluntarily entertained or from their Deportment when they were Feasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sine metu timore They neither feared Gods displeasure nor cared for his love I begin with the first Feasting is lawful had I said commendable the expression in the Text would have born it out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Feasts of Love in which you express a love of complacency which you take in the enjoyment of a Christian Society and by which you take opportunity to shew your love of Pity to those that are in want though absent both which are Christian Practises highly commendable I intend not here to prove the Assertion by the Instances of those Religious Feasts which God commanded nor shall I need for there are instances enough concerning civil Feasting which though not commanded by God yet are recorded amongst other commendable practices of good men in Holy Writ for our imitation or at least to secure us that we shall not offend God unless it be accidentally as we may do in our most Religious Services Lot Feasted the Angels Abraham Feasted at the weaning of his Son Isaac Gen. 19.3 21.8 26.30 2 Sam. 3.20 Isaac Feasted Abimelech and others David Feasted Abner These were all good Men who valued the favour of God above all earthly enjoyments and were as ready to Fast as to Feast and as willing to be in houses of Mourning as of Rejoycing yet when there was extraordinary occasion of rejoycing they did no more omit that then the other But why should I mention these instances our Saviour himself was present at several Feasts nay the leading Miracle was at one of them at which he did not turn Bread into Stones to dis-appoint them by which unlawfulness might have been supposed but their water into wine thereby allowing what they did and encouraging them in it More particularly it appears that Feasting is lawful 1. From the bounty of God from the kindness of whose Providence we furnish our Tables with plenty of meat and drink whose are the Cattel upon a thousand hills and who giveth us our meat and our drink in their season 1. The bounty of God appears in the aboundance of the creatures bestowed on us far more then what are necessary for mans subsistence Some think that half the Creatures might be spared if God who made nothing in vain did not intend man should take delight in the extraordinary use of them Deus multo plura condidit Beza quibus carere possumus quam quibus necessario nobis opus est There are some of the Creatures might be wholly spared from mans necessity they being in their very natures only delightful and adorning as Oyl to make the Face to shine and wine to chear mans Heart What needs the Silk Worm spin out its own bowels working it self to death when the Sheep can very well spare its Fleece from its own back to make man a covering for his What need a thousand that is an innumerable company of Hills be covered with Cattel ready to be driven down to the Slaughter-house when as the Corn and Herbs might preserve the life of man as some think with a more healthful constistution Many impute the long lives of the Fathers before the Flood to such a kind of dyet as one cause of them Wine is not necessary and yet God does not only give it for the use of man but gives it in abundance That as Solomon saith the presses burst forth with new Wine Pro. 3.10 'T is very observable that in the forementioned place Jo. 2 our Saviour did not only turn the water into wine but for the quality of it into that which was very good which they might delight to drink of So pleasant it was that the Ruler of the Feast wished he had had it sooner and doubtless feared that there was but little of it but he needed not for besides the delightfulness of it as to the quality there was a very great quantity five water-pots containing two or three Firkins a piece I might mention to you the abundance of that Provision Lenten fare which the Sea affords enough for ought I know to Feast all the world I am sure it could not but be a very extravagant expression in Moses and proceeding from his passion as meek as he was when he said Shall all the Fish of the Sea be gathered together to suffice them Num. 11.22 although there were six hundred thousand footmen who might probably be very hungry Travellers To conclude this particular if the great provider affords such plenty we may well think that he intends an extraordinary entertainment when the great House-keeper lays in so much Provision we may conclude he intends a Feast 2. Gods bounty does not only appear in the Creature bestowed but also in the manner of giving which is with delight and cheerfulness God doth not only afford us his creatures but bids us eat and drink abundantly how great soever our entertainment be we are welcome to it He gives liberally and upbraideth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not telling us of our sin of what faults we have been guilty which would make our meat unpleasant to us He that did not grudge us the Blood of his Son will not grudge us the Fruits of the Earth He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all How shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gives gratis whatsoever we do cannot pay God for our meat and drink though we never Feasted nor does God expect any thing as a satisfaction from us but whatsoever service and obedience we perform is requited in another world we have not only our Corn but our Money in our Sacks I am sure good men have little reason to question this when they consider the bounty of God to those that are wicked because they are his Creatures and so of his Houshold we are not to imagine that the worst of men steal their Riches from God or that their substance is disposed to them by an unwilling Providence but from the free pleasure of their Creator who gives them Portions in this life who refuse the inheritance of the Saints in light The Earth is given into the hand of the wicked Job 9.24 And the expression in the Parable of the rich man Luke 16. tells us that he had a lawful propriety in what he enjoyed Thou in thy life time hadst thy good things God does not only give but liberally and chearfully He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil Luke 6.35 2. As Feasting appears lawful from the bounty of God the great Feast hainer so likewise from the good that is occasioned by it 1. It is the occasion of rejoycing and this is no ways offensive but acceptable and pleasing unto God who hath caused all the Creatures to rejoyce in the good which they do