Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	great_a	place_n	sea_n	5,022	5	6.4533	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20960	Theophilus, or Loue diuine A treatise containing fiue degrees, fiue markes, fiue aides, of the loue of God. Translated by Richard Goring, out of the third French edition: renewed, corrected and augmented by the author M. Peter Moulin, preacher the reformed Church of Paris.; Theophile ou de l'amour divin. English.	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Goring, Richard.	1610 (1610)	STC 7339; ESTC S118661	51,058	311

grounded but vpon the loue of our selues wherfore wee must mount higher and come to the second step The second degree of Gods loue THe second step of Gods loue is to loue him not onely for our profits sake but euen for his owne sake to wit that laying aside all consideration of his benefites yea and our hope of any profit from him yet to loue him aboue all things Dauid speaketh of this loue in the 69. Psalme ver 37. Let all them which loue thy name reioyce Hee wold haue vs loue God for his names sake that is to say because he is soueraigne Lord wise in his counsels iust in his actions true in his promises dwelling in glory which none can attaine vnto possessing a soueraigne perfection God whose life is without beginning and ending his eternitie without change his greatnesse without measure his power without resistance who hath made the world by his word gouerneth it by his sight and shall ruinate it by his will who in one vertue and perfection which is his essence incloseth all vertue which is euery where dispersed in the creatures as diuers lines which meete in one center do disperse thēselues by their extentiō For these considerations God ought to be loued more then for the good which he doth vs. Iesus Christ himselfe teacheth vs the same in the prayer he formed for vs in which he appointeth vs to demaund the sanctifying of his name and the aduancement of his kingdome before we craue any thing for our profit A desire which so possessed the spirit of Moses and the Apostle S. Paul that forgetting themselues they desired rather to be blotted out of the booke of life and to be accursed then that God should not be glorified Wherefore to plant in vs this loue which loueth God for his owne sake it is necessarie to know so farre forth as we may what he is in himselfe and wherefore soueraignly to be beloued Wee naturally loue beautie now light is the chiefe of beauties without which all other beauties do nothing differ from deformities God then being the chiefe light is necessarily the chiefest beautie He is the Father of lights saith S. Iames. The fountaine of light is in him and through his light we see crearly saith Dauid in the 36. Psalme For this cause when hee first set his hand vnto the creation he began with the light as a thing best representing his nature He is the Sunne of iustice the Sunne which setteth not which maketh no shadow vnto which all things are transparent which not onely enlighteneth the eyes but euen giueth sight And iudge you what this soueraigne brightnesse is seeing that the Scraphins standing before the Throne are dazeled and faine to couer their faces with their wings as Esay saith being not able to endure so great a splendor For if at the glorious apparition of the humanitie of Iesus Christ the Sunne shall be darkened as some litle light at the appearing of a greater what may be the splendor of his Diuinitie If you will consider the life of God ours is but a shadow and nothing in comparison For our life is a flowing and succession of parts but God possesseth his life entirely at one instant and all at once He who wil know what the life of God is in comparison of mans life let him compare the sea with some litle brooke 1. The sea is very great and the brooke very little 2. The sea budgeth not from his place but the brooke runneth still forth and is alwayes a new water 3. The waters of the Sea come from no other place but all running waters come from the sea and return thither The like is the life of God compared with ours 1. His life is infinite and ours verie short 2. His life consisteth in rest and to possesse all his life at one instant but our life is a fluxe and succession of parts 3. His life commeth from none other but our life commeth from him Acts 17. ver 28. and returneth vnto him againe as Salomon saith in the 12. of Ecclesiastes The earth returneth vnto the earth as it was before and the spirit vnto God which gaue it Gods knowledge is also a bottomlesse pit He knoweth all things yea euen such as are not Things passed are not passed vnto him the future are present before him He soundeth the heart he seeth through the cloake of hypocrisie We behold things one after another but he seeth them all at one view as if a man were all eye and should see all that were about him without turning himselfe We see things because they are on the contrarie things are because God seeth them For in God to see is as much as to will and his will is to do To know things we looke vpon them but God to know things looketh on himselfe because that in his wisedome hee hath the models of all things and in his will the sentence of all chances How admirable also is his holinesse It infinitely surpasseth the holinesse of Angels and Saints as it is said in the booke of Iob chap. 15. Behold he hath no assurance in his Saints and the heauens are not pure in his sight how much more abhominable and vile is man who drinketh iniquitie like water Euen as the holy Scripture calleth the highest heauen the heauen of heauens because it incloseth the inferiour so also it calleth God the holie of holies because his holinesse incloseth that of all the Saints as being infinitely inferiour The holinesse of the creature is a qualitie that of God is his substance God is holy of himselfe but men and Angels are not Saints but because God hath sanctified them Also after a cleane contrarie manner vnto men is he iust For men are iust because they do iust things In God it is otherwise for the things are iust because God doth them For he is iustice it selfe Wherefore he is iust for no other cause but for that hee doth according to his wil according to which he hath giuen vs his law the perfect rule of iustice which he not only setteth before vs but also writeth it in vs and engraueth it with his finger in the stone as he promiseth vs in the 31. of Ieremie I will put my law into them and will write it in their harts He loueth iustice and truth He hateth the workers of iniquitie he rooteth out liers he hateth the bloud-thirsty and deceitful man Psal 5. What shall we say of his goodnesse through which he loueth them which hate him by which hee causeth his Sunne to shine vpon the iust and vniust the good and bad by which hee raineth down his goodnesse euen into the mouthes which are open to blaspheme him Aboue all this infinite goodnes shineth in the person of his Son This Sonne so begotten before all eternitie that he yet now begetteth him Sonne without beginning of time Sonne of the like age as his Father Essentiall

to these allurements possessing as saith Saint Paul our vessels in holinesse abstain your selues not onely from euill but also from all appearance and occasions of euill Eschue idlenesse for it is the pillow of vices Let Satan coming to assaile you find you euer occupied Flie bad companie filthy talke books of loue for they are fire-brands of lust the hookes and baits of the diuel None cometh to do euill but by these accessaries yea the euill is alreadie in these accessaries Many will say that they are chast of bodie but their eyes their eares and their thoughts are culpable of lust Yet Christ saith that he who looketh on his neighbours wife to lust after her hath already committed adultery The best companie and the best busines to diuert our minds from this euill is the carefull reading of the word of God ioyned vnto prayer Saint Augustine in the eight book of his Confessions cap. 8. 12. saith that when he was vpon termes of rendering himselfe a Christian that which most troubled him was that hee must leaue his fornication and that in this combatfull anguish hee withdrew himselfe into a garden where twice he heard the voice of a child as it were coming from the houses hard by saying Take and reade At this voice he tooke the booke of the Epistles of S. Paul and chanced at the first opening of the booke on this text of the 13. chapter to the Romains where he saith Let vs walke honestlie as in the day time not in riot and drunkēnesse not in chambering and wantonnesse neither in strife or enuie but put you on the Lord Iesus Christ and haue no care of the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof There was enough for him and thereupon were it that this voice came from God or that it chanced by other meanes he resolued to follow the counsell of the Apostle who without looking for any reuelation therupon doth sufficiently manifest vnto vs the wil of God touching the laying off of these desires The second marke of the loue of God THis same loue bringeth forth another effect by which it is to be knowne to wit the peace and tranquillitie of the soule it chaseth away feares asswageth cares sweetneth afflictions For what euill soeuer happeneth him who loueth God he wil euer remember the sentence of the Apostle Rom. 8. That all things turne to the best for them which loue God Euen their crosses becom blessings their bodily pouerty is a spiritual diet vnto them their banishments teach them to leaue the world their sequestring from honors is their approch vnto God their enemies are their Physitions causing them to be warie and to liue in Gods feare Their corporall diseases are spirituall cares death is an entrie into life and a bringing forth by which the soule is deliuered of the bodie as of her last after-birth and cometh forth of a darke den to enter into Gods light The passage through afflictions resembleth the passage of the red sea for the wicked are ouerwhelmed therein they are vnto them forerunners of damnation but the faithfull and Gods people finde that way a passage vnto the land of promise This verie same loue of God will suggest vnto the faithfull this thought Seeing that I loue God it is certaine that he loueth me For Saint Iohn saith that we loue him because he loued vs first For I had not naturally in me any inclination to loue him but it was hee who louing me framed my heart to loue him Now if God loue mee he intendeth my good and he can do all that he will nothing hapneth but according to his will He will not then permit that any euill happen me he will turne my euils vnto good for my saluation he will leade me thereunto through a way thornie vnto flesh but healthfull to my soule Briefly the loue of God excludeth feares and is the prop of our assurance as saith the Apostle Saint Iohn There is no feare in charitie but perfect charitie driueth forth feare This same loue sweetneth afflictions and maketh our Lords yoake easie and tollerable For you shall see by experience that in a house where loue is great betweene the husband and the wife they passe the bad time ouer with content and haue mutuall consolatiō one of another yea to haue a faithfull friend into whose bosome you may shed your teares and powre forth your complaints doth bring a man much ease although it bring no remedy How much more shall the faithfull soule find feele in the loue of his God of God who not onely knoweth our euils counteth our sighes layeth vp our teares in his vessels but who can and will remedie them and not onely remedie them but turne them to good giuing vs in our afflictions not onely occasion to suffer but euen matter of reioycing So the faithfull speake in the 46. Psalm Let the waters of the sea make a noise and let the mountaines shake by the rising of his waues in the meane time the brookes of the riuer shall reioyce the city of God These troblesome waters are the people banded against God as is expounded in the Apocalypse chapter 17. These brookes which in the meane time do reioyce the holy citie are the instructiōs of Gods word whose voice is our consolation For in his afflictions the faithfull will turne aside his eyes from his enemies and from all second causes and will say Lord it is thou that hast done it I receiue this affliction at thy hand make this proue healthfull vnto me and permit not that I euer come to murmur against thee or to kicke against the pricke We swallow with the better resolution a bitter potion when it is presented vs by a friendly hand whose ignorance or falshood we feare not We finde all these things in God who moreouer maketh venomes themselues to prooue good medicines So the loue of God is a retraite and shelter against all anguish it is the groūd of true peace it is the prop of our assurance which causeth vs to despise the threatnings of men to looke on the enterprises of great men and the risings of people with disdaine which causeth vs to find ease on the rack and to looke on deaths face with assurance and take off his maske to see Iesus Christ which cometh vnto vs vnder that shew which maketh the faithful to stand vpright in the middest of the ruines of his country This holy loue made S. Paul to say Rom. 8. If God be with vs who shall be against vs He which hath not spared his owne Sonne but deliuered him ouer for vs how shall not he giue vs all things with him Let vs likewise say He that laieth vp our teares wil not he gather vp our prayers He without whose prouidēce a sparrow lighteth not on the ground wold he permit that our soules should fall into hell for lacke of caring for them Hee who extendeth his care to gather vp our teares yea to count