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	weight_n	10,184	5	9.3838	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29181	Practical discourses upon the parables of our blessed Saviour with prayers annexed to each discourse / by Francis Bragge ...	Bragge, Francis, 1664-1728.	1694 (1694)	Wing B4201; ESTC R35338	242,722	507

the World And which is the wisest Man he that ruins his Soul for the Gain of even the whole World or he that counts all these sublunary things as Dung in Comparison with Religion and is ready to part with all that this Earth can afford him for the Joys of a good Conscience here and the Glories of Heaven hereafter He that prefers the World in his Choice deprives himself of the greatest Comfort of this present Life and parts with the certain Reversion of eternal Happiness in Heaven for Pleasures that don't deserve that Name they are so empty and unsatisfying he brings most exquisite and everlasting Misery upon his whole self Soul and Body for a very short liv'd imperfect Gratification of his brutal Part only and purchases the Torments of the other World by making himself unhappy in this In a Word therefore as much as to be like God in Holiness and Happiness is to be preferr'd before being like the Devil in Sin and Misery as much as Satisfaction is better than Disappointment Peace and Quietness and Content than Vexation and continual Disturbance and Perplexity of Mind a confirm'd Health and long Life than the Diseases and hasty Death that follows Debauchery and the comfortable Expectation of being for ever happy with Saints and Angels and the blessed God in the Coelestial Paradise than the confounding Dread of the Judgment of the great Day As much as Immortality is more to be prized than a Life of a Span long and the Enjoyment of the chief Good than the Pleasures of a Swine of so much gerater Value is Religion than all that this World can afford and indeed the only desirable Treasure and a Pearl of inestimable Price And now if what has been hitherto discours'd be true the Application is easy If Religion be of all things the most precious let us make it more and more our Endeavour to inrich our Souls with this Treasure to adorn our rational Nature with this Pearl of great Price and with the Merchant in the Parable think nothing too much to part with that we may purchase that Heavenly Wisdom which will make us wise to Salvation For sound Wisdom as the wise King expresses it Prov. 3.18 is a Tree of Life to those that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her She shall give to thine Head an Oranment of Grace Prov. 4.9 and a Crown of Glory shall she deliver to thee But he that would have this Wisdom and find this Pearl must not only wish and desire but with the Merchant in the Parable diligently seek it seek and ye shall find says our Lord Pro. 2.4 5. and Solomon assures us That if we seek Wisdom as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure then shall we understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Religion is not acquired without Diligence for though it be the Gift of God yet the Soul must be prepared to receive it all evil Habits must be broke and rooted up and pious Dispositions planted in their Room and the Temper of the Mind changed by Repentance and all the Powers of the whole Man become pliable to the Motions of the Spirit of Holiness before the divine Likeness can be formed in the Soul And though 't is the Grace of God that enables us to go thus far for without it we can do nothing yet our own Concurrence and Co-operation with his Grace is necessary to bring the blessed Work of Regeneration to Perfection An obstinate Resistance of preventing Grace will grieve and quench that Life-giving Spirit and such a Soul shall know no more of Religion than that it was invited to it but rejected the Offer and might have been happy in the Enjoyment of so great a Treasure but it would not But when a Soul with Joy embraces the Motions of the holy Spirit to a new Life and makes it her great Endeavour to remove all Obstacles out of the Way that they may make a due Impression and hungers and thirsts after new Degrees of Righteousness This Soul shall be fill'd with the Treasures of the divine Grace and the Power of Godliness will be visible in all Manner of holy Conversation But this can't be perform'd without a watchful persevering Diligence there is so much Opposition from within and without to this great Business that like Nehemiah's Labourers Neh. 5.17 we must work with our Swords in our Hands and fight and strive that we may carry on the Building of a living Temple for our God and make our Souls Houses of Prayer adorn'd with religious Affections and sit to receive him that hates Iniquity He that is thus diligent shall grow rich towards God and daily increase in the Knowledge and Love of him 'till Mortality shall be swallow'd up of Life and then all the Labours of Religion shall for ever be at an End and nothing remain for the happy Soul to do but to enjoy to all Eternity the glorious Rewards of it Let us all therefore be stedfast unmoveable and always abound in this Work of the Lord for as much as we know our Labour shall not be in vain and to our diligent Pursuit of this inestimable Treasure of Religion let us add frequent and earnest Prayer to God who is the only Giver of every good and perfect Gift that he would send down Wisdom from his holy Heaven that being present she may labour with us that we may know what is pleasing in his Sight and set our selves to do it with all Alacrity running with Diligence and Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despising the Shame Heb. 12.1 2. and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God remembring that we also shall reap in due Season if we faint not And if we part with all the vile Affections for the Sake of Religion in this World and are ready in Preparation of Mind to suffer any worldly Loss even to that of Life it self for the Sake of Jesus and his Truth we shall find such a Recompence of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven as will abundantly compensate all our Sufferings here for our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Happy is the Exchange of all that this World can afford for a Jewel of so great Price as Religion and for such inexhaustible Treasures of Bliss as are reserved to Reward it in the Presence of God What is our greatest Interest therefore let us before all things persue and where our Treasure is there let our Hearts be also The PRAYER I. O Mercifull Jesu Who hast prepared for us a Treasure in Heaven and taught us the Way to attain it and warn'd us of the Emptiness of this World 's Good that we may not be

and if they do not Thrive they will be inclined to follow the Course of those that do as looking upon Prosperity to be an Argument of the Favour and Blessing of God But All this is throughout a great and dangerous Mistake and Worldly Prosperity is neither a certain Argument of God's Favour to Men in this World or of their Happiness in the next Neither is Affliction a certain Sign of God's casting Men off here or a sure Forerunner of Eternal Misery hereafter but frequently on the contrary the Good are calamitous in this World but received into Abraham's Bosom in the other and those that are Prosperous and Happy here too often have their Portion in the Flames of Hell hereafter Prosperity is in it self indeed a Blessing and promis'd as a Part of the Reward of Godliness and accordingly many good Men are Happy even here and were All truly good All would be Prosperous and Happy for 't is Sin only that makes the World miserable And on the other side Affliction is in it self a great Evil and by no means joyous but grievous and is always the Punishment of some Offence But oftentimes Worldly Prosperity is sent as a Curse rather than a Blessing and is the Effect of God's Displeasure and the only Happiness that some shall e'er enjoy And Adversity proves a great Blessing and is an Expression of God's Favour and Paternal Regard the only Misery some shall ever feel and an Introduction to Eternal Happiness some in mercy being corrected here for their Faults that they may escape the everlasting Punishments of the other World and others fatted up here as to a Day of Slaughter and suffered since they choose it to have their Portion in this Life As Abraham in the Parable said to the Rich Man who through the Excess of his Torment begg'd that he would send him who was once a poor Lazarus but then in a Place of Happiness to dip his Finger in Water and come and cool his Tongue Son remember that thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good Things and likewise Lazarus his evil Things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And indeed it is no wonder that it should be so and that Prosperity in this World should so often end in Misery in the next and the Afflictions Men meet with here be turn'd into Happiness hereafter For Worldly Prosperity however charming it may appear to us is a State so full of Dangers so beset with Temptations to Vice so apt to divert Men from attending to Things of infinitely greater moment and laying up a Treasure in Heaven and Adversity on the contrary though very uneasie to Flesh and Blood yet is so apt therefore to wean Men from the World and the fading Vanities of it and make them out of Love with what is so fickle and uncertain and full of Trouble and is a State that humbles Men much and increases Devotion and Trust in God and puts 'em upon Repentance and a Desire of enjoying that Heavenly Treasure which shall never be taken from them That for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven seems by far the greater Difficulty and more likelihood is there of the Calamities of this World bringing a Man to that happy Place than the prosperous Enjoyment of its Pleasures And accordingly says the Apostle Not many Rich not many Mighty are called and that Riches are a Temptation and a Snare and drown Men in divers hurtful Lusts and bring them to Destruction and Perdition and therefore exhorts Men to count it all Joy when they fall into divers Temptations or Afflictions The Use then that we may make of this first Part of the Parable is this not to be dejected under Adversity as if cast off by God and utterly depriv'd of his Favour nor puff'd up by Prosperity as if peculiarly dear to Heaven but in every State to make it our greatest Care and Endeavour to secure our main Interest and with Fear and Trembling in the one Condition as well as the other to work out our Salvation by the Practice of that Holiness without which no Man whether Rich or Poor Calamitous or Prosperous shall see the Lord and with which any Man in whatsoever Circumstances he is in this Life shall be sure of a glorious Eternity in the Presence and Enjoyment of his Maker If Riches increase by honest Industry and conscientious Dealing and prudent Management we ought to esteem it as a Blessing and humbly thank God for it but by no means should we set our Hearts upon them nor grow high-minded and conceited of our selves as if greatly in Favour and Esteem of God and our Prosperity the Reward of our extraordinary Vertue nor despise the Poverty of others looking upon them as less Holy because not so prosperous as we Neither should we grow vain and luxurious or covetous and sordid but make Friends with the Mammon of Unrighteousness and act like good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God being given to Hospitality and ready to relieve the Necessities of such as are in want remembring always that many have all their Share of Happiness in this Life and while they dote immoderately upon the World and place their chief Good in being prosperous here forfeit their Glorious Reversion hereafter And always fearing lest our Prosperity become a Snare to us in this Matter and we turn it into a Curse by our ill Use of it and become such Fools as for the Gain of a little of the World to lose our Immortal Souls What Comfort had the Rich Man in the Parable of all his former Prosperity when he lay weltring in the Flames of Hell All his Purple and Fine Linnen and Sumptuous Fare because he abus'd 'em to Luxury and Excess and grew negligent of laying up a Treasure of good Works in Heaven ended at length in the Want of a Drop of Water to cool his inflam'd Tongue If Affliction and Poverty should be our Lot 't is then our Duty to endeavour to be contented and not despond as if utterly rejected of God but to remember that there is a better World in which those shall be unspeakably and for ever happy that are patient and resign'd in this Vally of the Shadow of Death that the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth and that if we comply with the Ends of his Correction and amend under his Paternal Rod our light Affliction which is but for a Moment shall work for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Lazarus in the Parable we read was miserably poor desirous though but of the Fragments that fell from the Rich Man's Table and full of noisom painful Sores a sad Spectacle both to himself and others and yet when he died was carried up by Angels into Abraham's Bosom 'T is not a Man 's outward Circumstances that God respects but the inward Temper of his Mind and often makes his outward Condition calamitous 1 Sam. 16.7 that his Mind may grow