Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	christian_a	great_a	religion_n	4,028	5	5.6166	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30441	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Honourable Robert Boyle at St. Martins in the Fields, January 7, 1691/2 by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1692 (1692)	Wing B5899; ESTC R21619	22,132	38

secret Addresses to God and indeed it appeared to those who conversed most with him in his Enquiries into Nature that his main design in that on which as he had his own Eye most constantly so he took care to put others often in mind of it was to raise in himself and others vaster Thoughts of the Greatness and Glory and of the Wisdom and Goodness of God This was so deep in his Thoughts that he concludes the Article of his Will which relates to that Illustrious Body the Royal Society in these Words Wishing them also a happy success in their laudable Attempts to discover the true Nature of the Works of God and praying that they and all other Searchers into Physical Truths may Cordially refer their Attainments to the Glory of the Great Author of Nature and to the Comfort of Mankind As he was a very Devout Worshipper of God so he was a no less Devout Christian. He had possessed himself with such an amiable view of that Holy Religion separated from either superstitious Practices or the sourness of Parties that as he was fully perswaded of the Truth of it and indeed wholly possessed with it so he rejoyced in every discovery that Nature furnisht him with to Illustrate it or to take off the Objections against any part of it He always considered it as a System of Truths which ought to purifie the Hearts and govern the Lives of those who profess it he loved no Practice that seemed to lessen that nor any Nicety that occasioned Divisions amongst Christians He thought pure and disinteressed Christianity was so Bright and so Glorious a thing that he was much troubled at the Disputes and Divisions which had arisen about some lesser Matters while the Great and the most Important as well as the most universally acknowledged Truths were by all sides almost as generally neglected as they were confessed He had therefore designed tho' some Accidents did upon great Considerations divert him from settling it during his Life but not from ordering it by his Will that a liberal Provision should be made for one who should in a very few well digested Sermons every year set forth the Truth of the Christian Religion in general without descending to the Subdivisions among Christians and who should be changed every Third year that so this Noble Study and Imployment might pass through many Hands by which means many might become Masters of the Argument He was at the Charge of the Translation and Impression of the New Testament into the Malyan Language which he sent over all the East-Indies He gave a Noble Reward to him that Translated Grotius his incomparable Book of the Truth of the Christian Religion into Arabick and was at the Charge of a whole Impression which he took care to order to be scattered in all the Countries where that Language is understood He was resolved to have carried on the Impression of the New Testament in the Turkish Language but the Company thought it became them to be the doers of it and so suffered him only to give a large share towards it He was at 700 l. Charge in the Edition of the Irish Bible which he ordered to be distributed in Ireland and he contributed liberally both to the Impressions of the Welsh Bible and of the Irish Bible for Scotland He gave during his Life 300 l. to advance the design of propagating the Christian Religion in America and as soon as he heard that the East-India Company were entertaining Propositions for the like design in the East he presently sent 100 l. for a Beginning and an Example but intended to carry it much further when it should be set on foot to purpose Thus was his Zeal lively and effectual in the greatest and truest concerns of Religion but he avoided to enter far into the unhappy Breaches that have so long weakened as well as distracted Christianity any otherwise than to have a great aversion to all those Opinions and Practices that seemed to him to destroy Morality and Charity He had a most particular zeal against all Severities and Persecutions upon the account of Religion I have seldom observ'd him to speak with more Heat and Indignation than when that came in his way He did throughly agree with the Doctrines of our Church and conform to our Worship and he approved of the main of our Constitution but he much lamented some abuses that he thought remained still among us He gave Eminent Instances of his value for the Clergy Two of these I shall only mention When he understood what a share he had in Impropriations he ordered very large Gifts to be made to the Incumbents in those Parishes and to the Widows of such as had died before he had resolved on this Charity The Sums that as I have been Informed by one that was concerned in two Distributions that were made amounted upon those two Occasions to near 600 l. and another very liberal one is also ordered by his Will but in an indefinite Sum I suppose by reason of the present condition of Estates in Ireland So plentifully did he supply those who served at the Altar out of that which was once devoted to it though it be now converted to a Temporal Estate Another Instance of his sence of the Sacred Functions went much deeper Soon after the Restoration in the Year Sixty the great Minister of that time pressed him both by himself and by another who was then likewise in a high Post to enter into Orders He did it not meerly out of a respect to him and his Family but chiefly out of his regard to the Church that he thought would receive a great strengthening as well as a powerful Example from one who if he once entered into Holy Orders would be quickly at the Top. This he told me made some Impressions on him His mind was even then at Three and thirty so intirely disingaged from all the Projects and Concerns of this World that as the prospect of Dignity in the Church could not move him much so the Probabilities of his doing good in it was much the stronger Motive Two things determined him against it one was That his having no other Interests with relation to Religion besides those of saving his own Soul gave him as he thought a more unsuspected Authority in writing or acting on that side He knew the prophane Crew fortified themselves against all that was said by Men of our Profession with this That it was their Trade and that they were paid for it He hoped therefore that he might have the more Influence the less he shared in the Patrimony of the Church But his main Reason was That he had so high a sense of the Obligations of the Pastoral care and of such as watch over those Souls which Christ purchased with his own blood and for which they must give an Account at the last and great day that he durst not undertake it especially not having felt within himself an