Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	church_n	militant_a	triumphant_a	4,315	5	11.6530	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65809	The practice of Christian perfection wherein several considerations, cautions, and advices are set down, for the perfecting of the saints, and completing them in the knowledge of Christ Jesus / by Thomas White ...	White, Thomas, d. 1682.	1651 (1651)	Wing W1852; ESTC R39071	46,849	191

honour him but as we would honor the holiest man in the world nay the highest Angel in Heaven is nothing and as great derogation to his glory as to give his glory to them for to give the honour due unto God to a creature and to give that that is due unto a creature unto God are equally vitious butlet us deal freely and openly with our own souls Do we do so much as that which if we did no more we were guilty of that great sin of the Heathens which the Apostle in the forenamed place doth condemne do we honour God as much as we do honour an Angel or an holy man let us but ask our own consciences and they wil tell us Would we do that in the presence of either of them as we do in the presence of God nay of a child that is come to that understanding to distinguish between good and evill Secondly By these words we are enjoyned that our words actions gestures and all our carriages should be such as may be sutable and fit to raise up those high thoughts of God in others as we our selves have for instance in prayer we ought not only our selves to admire and adore our good and glorious God but so to lift him up and hold forth his excellencies by our very expressions pronounciations and gestures that they may be such as not only may be sutable to our inward admirings of him but fit to beget the same thoughts in all that hearus our loves should be like a flame that takes hold of all that comes near it Thirdly We should as much as in us lies do all our actions and speak all our words with an actuall intention by them to edifie others to cause them to glorifie the Lord Now how far we come short of this we may even be confounded with shame to speak of it The second place that sets down Christian perfection is Phil. 3. 20. We should have our conversation in Heaven we should think with our selves how we should live when we come thither or how those live that are there or one would live that should come from thence to live on earth again how feelingly would they speak of God how fervently would they praise him how would their songs of praise be all flames of love how are they continually taken up with thoughts of admiration of the excellencies of God of the love of God let us not dally with our selves or God but consider with our selves whether we live in any measure sutable to such a life But to proceed let us consider another place Eph. 3. 19. To say of such an one that he is a godly man the holy Spirit of God is in him that he is ful of the Holy Ghost that he is filled with all the fulness of God if one went upon such relations and expressions to see him of whom they were spoken doubtlesse one should come with great expectations to meet with one that was wholly taken up with thoughts of God and if one spake any thing to him of God doubtless one would expect that he should speak wonderful things of God with so much admiration such zeal such love with such feelings that his very word would be able to enflame our hearts with love of God but if when one came to see such an one he should entertain one with vain and idle jests with discourses of the world and spend the whole day generally in recreations and somtime when he hath nothing else to do go and spend half an hour in reading or in praying and when he comes from those duties Iron wil be red hot if it be put into the fire for any time speak as savourly and with as much delight of the vanities of the world as if he had spent his time not in prayer but in admiring and gazing upon the beauty of the creature and if one should speak to him somthing of God he should answer one overly would ye not think in your own souls is this that holy man you spoke of is he that man that was full of God But to proceed a little further 2 Cor. 3. 18 the Apostle says of himself and of Christians in his days that they were transformed into the Image of God that is lived the life of God such a life as Christ lived when he was here on earth nay the grace of God in them was in such an high degree that it might be rather called glory then grace they lived as if they were of the Church triumphant in respect of holinesse though of the Church militant in respect of afflictions their grace was of such an high degree that it was more like glory as was said before then grace yet they did not content themselves with that neither but made a progresse from glory to glory Dear Brethren are our Saviours words but winde and can we imagine that the lives of those that take upon them the names of Christians are any whit sutable to these expressions many times have I thought of that saying of Erasmus That since men could not bring the world to Christianity they have brought Christianity to the world and those expressions and precepts that have been too strict to give us liberty to follow the vanities of the world we have found out vain distinctions and expositions of the places to make them signifie no more then we do and to quiet our consciences that they being deceived and laid a sleep we might not be troubled with their clamours Our Saviour says That for every idle word we must give an account at the last day Mat. 12. 36. The words are so plain that it wil ask one a great deal of labour to find out such an exposition as might not be a continuall accuser of us in all companies in all discourses our Saviours example is the best exposition of this precept we do not read in all the Scripture one word that he spake but was some way or other to edification and yet how loose are wee in our discourses as if there were no such place of Scripture in the whole Bible as these words surely our time would be better spent in praying to God for strength against our corruptions then in studying to finde out excuses and intricate expositions of plaine places to justifie them But you will say that it is true these are excellent things if one could live so it were a blessed life but alas who can doe it I answer First If thou sayst thou canst not live thus I ask thee how dost thou know didst thou ever try what might be done in this case didst thou ever make it thy businesse It may be thou hast had some perfunctory and carelesse desires some cold prayers and faint endeavours but didst thou ever set thy self to it didst thou ever spend as much time so many thoughts with as much earnestnesse to get acquaintance with God as men in the world doe in their trades to get a little