Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	find_v	follower_n	great_a	110	3	2.1332	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51026	The good patriot set forth in the example of the publick-spirited centurion in a sermon preached in the Gray-Friar Church of Edinburgh, on the first Munday of June, 168-, being the day ordinarly [sic] observed for the anniversary commemoration of George Herriot, the religious founder of the hospital called after his name Herriots Hospital.	Mackqueen, John, d. 1734.	1694 (1694)	Wing M227; ESTC R22268	32,260	60

Elders Men for their Experience more knowing by their Station more competent Judges of his Desert by their Authority less lyable to the impressions of Fear or Favour so more faithful distributers of due praise Indeed the Approbation of Men of Wisdom and Power is the best Pillar and Preserver of Reputation The good * Gratior validior ●st decem virorum bonorum sententia quam totius multitudinis imperítae Cicero pro plant Opinion of a few Judicious Persons is preferrable to the Populat Vogue and will preponderate the clamorous censures of the Giddy and Unskilfull Croud King Antigonus thought more renown accreased to him from the single Testimony of Zeno than from the Applause of his whole Court The Love and Esteem of Honest Men is one of the most desirable things in the World Gloria vera consentiens laus bonorum and is according to Gicero's Notion the best basis of true Honour and Glory Certainly next the Commendation of GOD and our Consciences there can be nothing more comfortable than the concurrent Testimony of Excellent Virtuous Persons Ea est prof●cto jucunda laus quae obbis profisiscitur qui ipsi in laude vixerunt Cic. Tanto major famae sitìs est quam virtutìs quisenim virtutem amplectitur ipsam praemia si tollas Juvi Sat. 1. The harmanous Approbation of such as proclaim us Worthy is not further to be valued than it is truely Reciprocal and they Worthy to receive what they so liberally bestow and their praises recoil duely to themselves We are all but too covetous of Praise and Reputation we need neither spurr or wand as we say to excite us to pursue this Virtue it self for all its charms would languish for want of Suiters if this Waiting-Maid did not attend her yet are they Adulterous Lovers who transferr the Affection due to the Mistriss to prostitute it to her Hand-maid Would GOD we were all as carefull to be that in reality we are sollicitous to bear the World in hand we are Let us do worthily in our Capacities whether the World notice us or no * Namque iicet virtus semet contenta quiescant sola tamen justos virtus assciscit honores solaquese merito landum fulgore coronat Ang politianu● Virtue is sufficient Reward and Solace to it self without this slender Recompence It is better to have Worth without Repute than Repute without Worth Yet if they go together a wise Man will take any esteem he has as a Favour of Providence oblieging him to deserve it by continuance in well-doing as a Provocation to excell himself in some fresh instance or new Experiment And will so much the more regard it as it begets a generous Emulation in others to Honour Imitate or Outdo his Virtue whosoever makes this improvement of it cannot miss the commendation of our Text He is worthy However as I would not have you disdainfully slight nor industriously court the Approbation of others so when you meet with Praise or a fair Representation weigh the Airth whence this wind blows and value it no further than it is the Echo of Virtuous Deeds reflected from the hearts and mouths of true Lovers of Worth and Merit These are the most discerning Umpites of it and the justest Dispensers of such gratefull retributions the Best are ever less byass'd with partiality to lessen any performance less acted by prejudice against our Profession or Persons to depretiat what we do or defraud us of any Tribute of Praise or Commendation due to us upon the account of any Excellency or perfection And this we see if we consider in the next place the condition of the Object on whom they bestow this Encomium he was a Centurion as you would say a Captain of an hundred Men a Commanding Officer a Stranger to their Countrey a Gentile or Heathen by his Birth and Extraction as is apparent and by reason of these Circumstances less gracious to them who looked upon themselves as the LORDS Select People yet maugre these Objections they become Sollicitors for him at our Saviours hands his Zeal for their Religion old remove any averseness they might have had against him on score of his Pedegree as an Alien His Affection to their Nation made them overlook the concomitant faults of his Galling as a Souldier for which they being now a Conquered People it is not probable they had any great kindness and no wonder persons of that imployment are not ordinarly the most Humane or Oblieging yet his Excellent Qualities make them Advocates for him and Trumpeters of his praise He is worthy c. It seems the Roughness of the Military profession took not away the softness of his Natural Disposition nor did the attendant temptations of that Office corrupt his inclinations Enervat the Sanctity of his Mind contract the Liberality of his Heart or restrain the Charity of his Hand For all his being a Souldier and a Stranger yet he is an affectionat Lover of their Nation a great Encourager of their Devotion a mighty Favourer of their Religion a person beyond all peradventure who as he was formerly instructed in the Jewish profession is now become no small Proficient in the Christian otherwise our Saviour had not passed the Judgement on him in the 9 verse That He bad not found so great Faith No Not in Israel All which considered may furnish us matter for this reflection Religion may have its Favourers and Followers its Lovers and Admiters every where in the Camp as well as the Cloister in the Court as well as the Church Piety and War are not inconsistent Devotion may keep Quarters in a Souloiers Tent the Military Profession has afforded as Illustrious Examples of Virtue yea as Eminent Saints as many other Vocations We find in the Gospel and Ecclestastick Historie some of this Imployment no less Renowned for their Goodness than others of more peaceable Occupations Matth. 27.54 did not a Souldier become a Remarkable Confessour for Christ When his Followers shrunk his Disciples fainted the Jews mocked and derided him The Noble Army of Martyrs who planted the Church by their pains Watcht it by their Prayers Watered it by their Tears and fatned it with their Blood Went not some of the Military Discipline in its Front and Reer Eusebius You 'l find a Sebastian in the head of Diocesians Troops disputing for precedency with some Resolute Christians who should first have the honour of Mattyrdome Hormisdas for Constancy in the Christian Faith is degraded by the Persian Monarch from being General of his Forces to be the Keeper of his Camels yet would not change his Religion to exchange his Disgrace or recover his former Post I will not wade any further for Instances to prove the Happy Agreement of Piety and Zeal with the qualitys of those that follow the Court and Camp It would take up too much of your time to speak of Gideon and of Barak of Sampson and of Jephtah

Grace the Centurion is remarkable for is his Humility he neither thought himself worthy to address so Great a Person as the Saviour of the World or that he should honour his House with His Presence he saith Lord trouble not Tby Self Vers 6.7 for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roofe whefore neither thought I my self worthy to come into Thee By these steps of his self abasement or to speake with the Mysticks of his self annihilation he opened a door to receive Christ into his Heart who delights to dwel with humble Souls Psalm 38.6 Magnum miraculum altus est Deus at dum te e●rigis a te fugit Augusti and beholds the proud a farr off It is strange pride by aspiring after an undue Exaltation is cast down by seeking to approach near GOD is banished to a greater distance while Humility is the source of our Advancement draws the Grace of GOD to our Hearts and his Blessing to our Homes by keeping distance and rebounds towards Glory by descending to the abyss of misery His Humility is so much the more Conspicuous that He is a Person in Power and Authority the voluntary debasement of such is the exaltation of this Vertue which in the eyes of the World suffers some prejudice in its reputation when Peasants and Mechanicks persons of mean birth or servile imploy act its Part For the Humility of such is suspicious and it may be presumed they disparage it while they make but a Virtue of necessity Indeed for one who is found among straw and cob webs as soon as he is dropt into the World for one keept under Hatehes by the Disadvantage of an Obscure Pedegree a Sordid Education a Blunt Wit a Narrow Fortune a Rustick Society and a Chain of Vnfavourable Accidents for such a one to be Humble and condescending is no matter of great praise But to see one poor in Spirit in plenty of Riches moderat in a Fortune ever upon increase humble under the promising favour of the Prince the bewithching smiles of the Court the hearty Applause of the People This sets a Crown of honour and a Diadem of Glory on the head of Humility When those whose Elevation seems to indispose them whose temptations to the contrary are so strong that its Exercise becomes more difficult to themselves and less expected by others from them when such in despight of all these averting Seducements practise it It makes it so much more acceptable to GOD and deserving of Praise among Men. For the Promise of Exaltation to these who humble themselves must needs be forthcoming to them in a peculiar manner commensurate to the degrees of their heights and falls of their Superiority and Submissions Let this teach those whom a Happy Providence has raised beyond others that their Advancement does not exeem them from the Exercise of this Grace all CHRIST's Spiritual Injunctions are very consistent with the severall Distinctions and Temporal Orders among Men. The Eminency of your State does so much extoll the Lowlíness of your Mind the heart and the Spiritual part is the Region of Virtue and it may be preserved and practised in the highest Elevation the Prince may have more of it in his Chair of State than the Prostrat Supplicant before him has in his Knees And he that gives Alms may be as poor in Spirit as the Clamorous Petitioner that craves them with great Importunity and solemn Profession of his Wants although the Circumstances of such Mens Condition in the World will not permit them to accomodat themselves to all the Exteriour Expressions of it Some Recluse Monk who counts his Beads in stead of his Prayers Sed Caesares credidis sent super Christo si aut Caesares non essent seculo necessarii aut si Christiani potuessent esse Caesares Ap● cap 21. and makes his Fingers the Intelligencers of his Faith may think the maximes of Christianity incompatible with those of the Court or Camp And Tertullian in regard of the depraved manners and prevailing corruption of the Grandes of his time seems to Glance a little this way when he sayes if Christians could have swayed the Seepters of Caesars or the Caesars abundoned the World CHRIST's Harvest would have been greater and his Conquest larger Some may think poorness of Spirit cannot sit under a company of State or lodge within Palaces of Ma●bel that pureness of Heart cannot be preserved at Court amidst the Flames the charmes of some sparkling Conversations might there kindle Or in the Camp when the Beauties of the Countrey became Supplicants to or part of the Booty of the Conquerour That Humility cannot keep Pace with Success and Victory in the field Or ascend the Throne when thousandsly prostrate at the Footstool That Hunger after Righteousness cannot consist with Thirst after Kingdoms That meekness of Temper to forgive Injuries cannot sort with an absolute power of Revenge But there are upon Record some excellent Heroes in whom these have been so happily conjunct without interferring That may convince the World the Court and the Church the Camp and the Cloister are not so opposite as the two Poles or so distant as East and West There have been who counted nothing great but what was Just nothing Glorious but what was the Reward of Virtue nothing Honourable but what was honestly obtained and enjoyed without remorse There have been who never invaded Kingdoms from ends of Ambition and Covetousness but to subdue them to the Cross of Christ Who never made War but upon necessity who have been humble in the midst of a great confluence of Admirers of their Worth And I may say Adorers of their Dignity Who have retained their Innocency amidst all the Tempting Vanityes of the Court been chaste in despight of all the enticeing Blandishments of Sense mortified amidst appetizing delights and possessed a Spirit of Forgiveness and Long-suffering amidst all the Temptations which power and Opportunity could Minister to fury and revenge In short they have been Proof against all the flattering Allurements and perswasive Arts wherewith Vice accosted them and sought in all its Gayety and Bravery to inviegle and betray them If others reconciled the Exercise of so many Virtues to such difficult and I may say contrary occasions if the great and the Noble may and should transcribe the Centurions example of Humilty how much more are these of Inferiour Rank to conform themselves to this Pattern whose order and state in the World may faciliate the practice of this Virtue to them you may plead excuse for the Nonobservance of some other qualiues of your Betters as their Bounty Hospitality and Charity c. You have not abilities proportionable to the outward exercise of such and the like costly vertues But what Shield or Buckler of defence can you hold up to blunt the force of their example in these or the like instances for which your Low condition in the World does capacitate and