Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
glory_n	jesus_n	light_n	shine_v	6,139	5	9.4807	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62629	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions By John Tillotson, D.D. Dean of Canterbury, preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn, and one of His Majesties chaplains in ordinary. The second volume.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1678 (1678)	Wing T1260BA; ESTC R222222	128,450	338

and without delay And because they are many I shall insist upon those which are most weighty and considerable without being very curious and solicitous about the method and order of them For provided they be but effectual to the end of perswasion it matters not how inartificially they are rang'd and disposed 1. Consider that in matters of great and necessary concernment and which must be done there is no greater argument of a weak and impotent mind then irresolution to be undermined where the case is so plain and the necessity so urgent to be always about doing that which we are convinced must be done Victuros agimus semper nec vivimus unquam We are always intending to live a new life but can never find a time to set about it This is as if a man should put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day and night to another till he have starved and destroyed himself It seldom falls under any mans deliberation whether he should live or not if he can chuse and if he cannot chuse 't is in vain to deliberate about it It is much more absurd to deliberate whether we should live virtuously and religiously soberly and righteously in the world for that upon the matter is to consult whether a man should be happy or not Nature hath determined this for us and we need not reason about it and consequently we ought not to delay that which we are convinced is so necessary in order to it 2. Consider that Religion is a great and a long work and asks so much time that there is none left for the delaying of it To begin with Repentance which is commonly our first entrance into Religion This alone is a great work and is not only the business of a sudden thought and resolution but of execution and action 'T is the abandoning of a sinful course which we cannot leave till we have in some degree mastered our lusts for so long as they are our masters like Pharaoh they will keep us in bondage and not let us go to serve the Lord. The habits of sin and vice are not to be plucked up and cast off at once as they have been long in contracting so without a miracle it will require a competent time to subdue them and get the victory over them for they are conquered just by the same degrees that the habits of grace and virtue grow up and get strength in us So that there are several duties to be done in Religion and often to be repeated many graces and virtues are to be long practised and exercised before the contrary vices will be subdued and before we arrive to a confirmed and setled state of goodness such a state as can only give us a clear and comfortable evidence of the sincerity of our resolution and repentance and of our good condion towards God We have many lusts to mortifie many passions to govern and bring into order much good to do to make what amends and reparation we can for the much evil we have done We have many things to learn and many to unlearn to which we shall be strongly prompted by the corrupt inclinations of our nature and the remaining power of ill habits and customs and perhaps we have satisfaction and restitution to make for the many injuries we have done to others in their persons or estates or reputations In a word we have a body of sin to put off which clings close to us and is hard to part with we have to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God to encrease and improve our graces and virtues to add to our faith knowledg and temperance and patience and brotherly kindness and charity and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God We have to be useful to the world and exemplary to others in a holy and virtuous conversation our light is so to shine before men that others may see our good works and glorifie our father which is in heaven And do we think all this is to be done in an instant and requires no time That we may delay and put off to the last and yet do all this work well enough Do we think we can do all this in time of sickness and old age when we are not fit to do any thing when the spirit of a man can hardly bear the infirmities of nature much less a guilty conscience and a wounded spirit Do we think that when the day hath been idlely spent and squandered away by us that we shall be fit to work when the night and darkness comes When our understanding is weak and our memory frail and our will crooked and by a long custom of sinning obstinately bent the wrong way what can we then do in Religion what reasonable or acceptable service can we then perform to God when our candle is just sinking into the socket how shall our light so shine before men that others may see our good works Alas the longest life is no more than sufficient for a man to reform himself in to repent of the errors of his life and to amend what is amiss to put our souls into a good posture and preparation for another world to train up our selves for eternity and to make our selves meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light 3. Consider what a desperate hazard we run by these delays Every delay of repentance is a venturing the main chance It is uncertain whether hereafter we shall have time for it and if we have time whether we shall have a heart to it and the assistance of Gods grace to go thorough with it God indeed hath been graciously pleased to promise pardon to repentance but he hath no-where promised life and leisure the aids of his grace and holy Spirit to those who put off their repentance He hath no-where promised acceptance to meer sorrow and trouble for sin without fruits meet for repentance and amendment of life He hath no-where promised to receive them to mercy and favour who only give him good words and are at last contented to condescend so far to him as to promise to leave their sins when they can keep them no longer Many have gone thus far in times of affliction and sickness as to be awakened to a great sense of their sins and to be mightily troubled for their wicked lives and to make solemn promises and professions of becoming better and yet upon their deliverance and recovery all hath vanished and come to nothing and their righteousness hath been as the morning cloud and as the early dew which passeth away And why should any man meerly upon account of a death-bed repentance reckon himself in a better condition than those persons who have done as much and gone as far as he and there is no other difference between them but this that the

weakness of this argument which is so transparent that no wise man can honestly use it and he must have a very odd understanding that can be cheated by it The truth is it is a casual and contingent argument and sometimes it concludes right and oftner wrong and therefore no prudent man can be moved by it except only in one case when all things are so equal on both sides that there is nothing else in the whole world to determine him which surely can never happen in matters of Religion necessary to be believed No man is so weak as not to consider in the change of his Religion the merits of the cause it self as not to examine the Doctrines and Practices of the Churches on both sides as not to take notice of the confidence and Charity of both Parties together with all other things which ought to move a conscientious and a prudent man And if upon enquiry there appear to be a clear advantage on either side then this argument is needless and comes too late because the work is already done without it Besides that the great hazard of salvation in the Roman Church which we declare upon account of the Doctrines and Practices which I have mentioned ought to deter any man much more from that Religion than the acknowledged possibility of salvation in it ought to encourage any man to the embracing of it Never did any Christian Church build so much hay and stubble upon the foundation of Christianity and therefore those that are saved in it must be saved as it were out of the fire And though Purgatory be not meant in the Text yet it is a Doctrine very well suted to their manner of building for there is need of an ignis purgatorius of a fire to try their work what it is and to burn up their hay and stubble And I have so much Charity and I desire always to have it as to hope that a great many among them who live piously and have been almost inevitably detain'd in that Church by the prejudice of education and an invincible ignorance will upon a general repentance find mercy with God and though their work suffer loss and be burnt yet they themselves may escape as out of the fire But as for those who have had the opportunities of coming to the knowledg of the truth if they continue in the errors of that Church or apostatize from the truth I think their condition so far from being safe that there must be extraordinary favourable circumstances in their case to give a man hopes of their salvation I have now done with the two things I propounded to speak to And I am sorry that the necessary defence of our Religion against the restless importunities and attempts of our adversaries upon all sorts of persons hath engaged me to spend so much time in matters of dispute which I had much rather have employed in another way Many of you can be my witnesses that I have constantly made it my business in this great Presence and Assembly to plead against the impieties and wickedness of men and have endeavour'd by the best arguments I could think of to gain men over to a firm belief and serious practice of the main things of Religion And I do assure you I had much rather perswade any one to be a good man than to be of any party or denomination of Christians whatsoever For I doubt not but the belief of the ancient Creed provided we entertain nothing that is destructive of it together with a good life will certainly save a man and without this no man can have reasonable hopes of salvation no not in an infallible Church if there were any such to be found in the world I have been according to my opportunities not a negligent observer of the genius and humour of the several Sects and Professions in Religion And upon the whole matter I do in my conscience believe the Church of England to be the best constituted Church this day in the world and that as to the main the Doctrine and Government and Worship of it are excellently framed to make men soberly Religious Securing men on the one hand from the wild freaks of Enthusiasm and on the other from the gross follies of Superstition And our Church hath this peculiar advantage above several Professions that we know in the world that it acknowledgeth a due and just subordination to the civil Authority and hath always been untainted in its loyalty And now shall every trifling consideration be sufficient to move a man to relinquish such a Church There is no greater disparagement to a mans understanding no greater argument of a light and ungenerous mind than rashly to change ones Religion Religion is our greatest concernment of all other and it is not every little argument no nor a great noise about infallibility nothing but very plain and convincing evidence that should sway a man in this case But they are utterly inexcusable who make a change of such concernment upon the insinuations of one side only without ever hearing what can be said for the Church they were baptized and brought up in before they leave it They that can yield thus easily to the impressions of every one that hath a design and interest to make Proselytes may at this rate of discretion change their Religion twice a day and instead of morning and evening Prayer they may have a morning and an evening Religion Therefore for Gods sake and for our own Souls sake and for the sake of our Reputation let us consider and shew our selves men Let us not suffer our selves to be shaken and carried away with every wind Let us not run our selves into danger when we may be safe Let us stick to the foundation of Religion the Articles of our common belief and build upon them gold and silver and precious stones I mean the virtues and actions of a good life and if we would do this we should not be apt to set such a value upon hay and stubble If we would sincerely endeavour to live holy and virtuous lives we should not need to cast about for a Religion which may furnish us with easie and indirect ways to get to Heaven I will conclude all with the Apostles Exhortation Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord. Now the God of peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom he Glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL IN LENT March 20 th 1673· Psal CXIX 156 Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them IN these words there are two things contained The Description of a good man and

iniquities testifie against thee to thy very face How can there be peace when thy lusts and debaucheries thy impieties to God and thy injuries to men have been so many How can there be peace when thy whole life hath been a continued contempt and provocation of Almighty God and a perpetual violence and affront to the light and reason of thy own mind Therefore whatever temptation there may be in sin at a distance whatever pleasure in the act and commission of it yet remember that it always goes off with trouble and will be bitterness in the end Those words of Solomon have a terrible sting in the conclusion of them Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment This one thought which will very often unavoidably break into our minds that God will bring us into judgment is enough to dash all our contentment and to spoil all the pleasure of a sinful life Never expect to be quiet in thine own mind and to have the true enjoyment of thy self till thou livest a virtuous and religious life And if this discourse be true as I am confident I have every mans conscience on my side I say if this be true let us venture to be wise and happy that is to be Religious Let us resolve to break off our sins by repentance to fear God and keep his Commandments as ever we desire to avoid the unspeakable torments of a guilty mind and would not be perpetually uneasie to our selves Grant we beseech thee Almighty God that we may every one of us know and do in this our day the things that belong to our peace before they be hid from our eyes And the God of peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us always that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING Febr. 26 th 1674 5. A SERMON Preached before the KING Febr. 26 th 1674 5. PSAL. CXIX 59 I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies THE two great causes of the ruin of men are Infidelity and want of consideration Some do not believe the principles of Religion or at least have by arguing against them rendered them so doubtful to themselves as to take away the force and efficacy of them But these are but a ve-very small part of mankind in comparison of those who perish for want of considering these things For most men take the principles of Religion for granted That there is a God and a Providence and a State of Rewards and Punishments after this life and never entertained any considerable doubt in their minds to the contrary But for all this they never attended to the proper and natural consequences of these principles nor applyed them to their own case They never seriously considered the notorious inconsistency of their lives with this belief and what manner of persons they ought to be who are verily perswaded of the truth of these things For no man that is convinced that there is a God and considers the necessary and immediate consequences of such a perswasion can think it safe to affront Him by a wicked life No man that believes the infinite happiness and misery of another world and considers withall that one of these shall certainly be his portion according as he demeans himself in this present life can think it indifferent what course he takes Men may thrust away these thoughts and keep them out of their minds for a long time but no man that enters into the serious consideration of these matters can possibly think it a thing indifferent to him whether he be happy or miserable for ever So that a great part of the evils of mens lives would be cured if they would but once lay them to heart would they but seriously consider the consequences of a wicked life they would see so plain reason and so urgent a necessity for the reforming of it that they would not venture to continue any longer in it This course David took here in the Text and he found the happy success of it I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies In which Words there are these two things considerable I. The course which David here took for the reforming of his life I thought on my ways II. The success of this course It produced actual and speedy reformation I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments These are the two heads of my following discourse which when I have spoken to I shall endeavour to perswade my self and you to take the same course which David here did and God grant that it may have the same effect I. We will consider the course which David here took for the reforming of his life I thought on my ways or as the words are rendered in our old Translation I called mine own ways to remembrance And this may either signifie a general survey and examination of his life respecting indifferently the good or bad actions of it Or else which is more probable it may specially refer to the sins and miscarriages of his life I thought on my ways that is I called my sins to remembrance Neither of these senses can be much amiss in order to the effect mentioned in the Text viz. the reformation and amendment of our lives and therefore neither of them can reasonably be excluded though I shall principally insist upon the later 1. This thinking of our ways may signifie a general survey and examination of our lives respecting indifferently our good and bad actions For Way is a Metaphorical word denoting the course of a mans life and actions I thought on my ways that is I examined my life and called my self to a strict account for the actions of it I compared them with the Law of God the rule and measure of my duty and considered how far I had obeyed that Law or offended against it how much evil I had been guilty of and how little good I had done in comparison of what I might and ought to have done That by this means I might come to understand the true state and condition of my soul and discerning how many and great my faults and defects were I might amend whatever was amiss and be more careful of my duty for the future And it must needs be a thing of excellent use for men to set apart some particular times for the examination of themselves that they may know how accounts stand between God and them Pythagoras or