Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
glory_n	affliction_n	eternal_a	moment_n	4,141	5	9.1958	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26785	The divinity of the Christian religion, proved by the evidence of reason and divine revelation by William Bates ...	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1677 (1677)	Wing B1104; ESTC R33149	60,636	228

in the troubles of this mortal state the Gospel assuresus of their blessed issue at the last The main design of Philosophy was to reconcile the mind to every condition that nothing might be able to discompose its tranquillity As some high Mountains that ascend above the middle Region whiles Clouds charg'd with Thunder break upon the sides and Storms encompass it below yet the top has a pure Sun and calm Air. Thus the Philosophers pretended to raise Man to that height of vertue that the superiour part the mind should be serene and undisturb'd what ever was done to his lower part the body But their Principles were insufficient on which they built their Perswasion Some pretended that Men were abus'd by words and that was the cause of their misery The loss of Estate of Relations of Health were not real evils but only call'd so Sottish Wisdom as if things by the change of names would alter their qualities Call them by what soft titles you please still they are injurious and afflictive to our nature and to perswade the contrary is to deprive us of Sense Others tell us that the evils we suffer are fatal and to resist inevitable destiny is to no purpose But this is to exasperate instead of allaying our sorrows This is to turn our fears into despair to make an afflicted condition absolutely uncomfortable Others direct us to look abroad into the wretched World and compound a Medicine of the miseries of others for our own griefs But this as 't is vicious in its Principle so it affords no true relief For that another suffers in the same or different manner does not lessen the evil that oppresses me Nay if humane affections are not extinguish'd by a sorrowful influence increases it Others discourse of the vanity of Riches Pleasures Dignities and Life it self to make us quietly to part with them But this discourse though true and useful yet cannot afford contentment unless to a Christian whose hopes extend to a future state of blessedness For how mean so ever these things be yet if we know no better they are our felicity Some attribute to naked Vertue a power sufficient to support a Man under the heaviest troubles This they affirm'd to be the true Philosophers Stone that purifies and exalts the basest Mettals turning them into fine Gold that enables a person not only to be content in every state but to enjoy torments and be pleased with the greatest disasters that befal him But they took so high a strain that humane Nature could not uphold The indifference and equality of mind they so much pretended to was but an empty appearance One might discover unquiet agitations under all that feigned insensibility and true servitude under that imaginary soveraignty of their wise Man Indeed without the stedfast belief of another Life the reflection upon unhappy vertue inflames the wounded spirit and kindles in the breast murmurings against Providence so that 't is so far from making the afflicted happy that 't is rather the seed of new misery for the unequal distributions here Christian Religion alone affords us solid and everlasting comfort It does not disguise the nature of things but allows that present afflictions are not joyful but grievous It doth not promise an exemption from misery Nay it foretels that besides the common troubles that rain upon mankind there are some proper to sincere Christians to which they are expos'd upon the account of their holy Profession But it assures them that all things shall work together for the good of those that love God As in mixt bodies the Divine Power is admirable in tempering the qualities of the fighting Elements in such a manner that what in it self is a destructive contrariety becomes only a diversity to preserve the compounded beings that result from them Thus the wise and gracious Providence of God makes all things even the most adverse to conspire for the final happiness of his faithful Servants Their light Afflictions that are but for a moment work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory This makes them to possess their Souls in patience to rejoyce in hope and to be triumphant conquerers over the greatest outward troubles Who can dispute felicity with that person who is upon certain grounds perswaded that nothing shall separate him from the love of God Nay that the worst evils he suffers promoet his supreme happiness For the afflictions that befal a Christian upon the account of Religion render him more dear to God and those that are the effects of his Sins if humbly submitted to and improved for holy ends confirm his Faith in the Divine Mercy The Gospel is that Paradise wherein the Tree of Life is whose leaves are for the healing the Nations 4. Christian Religion promises for the reward of Obedience a Blessedness most becoming the glorious goodness of God to bestow and the reasonable Creature to desire that is the perfection and satisfaction of his most noble Faculties in the clear vision and full enjoyment of God himself in a perfect eternal state The Heathens wretchedly mistook in their opinions about the last end of Man There is a secret instinct in the humane nature towards a felicity sutable to the more excellent and divine part but stifled under darkness and concupiscence that is become a second nature Reason is misled by Sense after the fickle appearances the deceitful vanishing colours of Good And this is a certain indication that Man is fallen from the degree of his Original Perfection For if he had been never corrupted he should enjoy with assurance true compleat happiness if he had been always corrupted there would be no glimmering Idea of an happiness above what this present World affords no inclination towards it This is the spring of his misery and sin that the spiritual eternal good is undiscerned unregarded whilst he seeks for happiness in numberless vanities The Philosophers themselves were extreamly divided and mistaken in this main point This was indeed the master-piece for which all their Philosophy was design'd and their pretences to make this discovery gave them reputation From all parts some came to Athens as the universal Mart to be furnished with felicity From hence sprung the variety of Sects among them by this Livery they were distinguish't For Philosophy being the rule of life is specified by the end to which it leads From hence arose their sharp contentions every Sect being concern'd to defend their Palladium And as the Wasps fly about with noise and sting those who provoke them make combs like Bees but without Wax or Honey Thus the Philosophers were full of glorious presumptions were vehement against dissenters and had the appearances of Wisdom but afforded no certain light to direct the Mind no Heavenly motives to allure the Will They were not competent nor sincere searchers after true Happiness For I. The darkness wherein all Men are born involved them and without