Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
glory_n let_v lord_n riches_n 4,751 5 9.0528 5 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A46661 Invisibles, realities, demonstrated in the holy life and triumphant death of Mr. John Janeway, Fellow of King's Collegde in Cambridge. By James Janeway, Minister of the Gospel Janeway, James, 1636?-1674.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Borset, Samuel. 1674 (1674) Wing J471; ESTC R217020 74,067 160

There are 3 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

Hell it self in as much as the cause doth eminently contain all and more evil than the effect This is the spiritual death whereby we are dead in sin the fruit of the first curse Thou shalt die the death The souls life in this world is its being in God and living to God and injoyment of God and the souls eternal life will be so to know God as to be formed into his likeness and to be received into a full participation of and communion with God The souls death here is its being fallen off from God and its being carried into its self and its eternal death will be an utter separation from him Now mankind being thus fallen from God Christ is sent for this very end to bring man back again to God and then man is brought unto God when he is brought out of that state of self-love into that state whereby he gives up himself wholly to God Thus the soul being quickened by the spirit of God leaveth off living to its self which was its death and lives to God which is its life Here comes in the great duty of denying of our selves for Christs sake which indeed were no duty if there were nothing in us contrary to God This then is our duty not to seek our own things before the things of God to lay Gods glory as the foundation of all our actions and if there be any thing in us contrary to that to give it no leave to stand in competition with God Now were this deeply rooted in our hearts how would contention anger wrath and heart-burning and all things of this nature cease Such influence would the taking Gods part against self have into the quiet and peace of men that it cannot be without it We see how wisely God hath ordered things that the very act of mans being off from God should be the cause of confusion war and misery and what can be more just and equal than this that God who is the author of our being should be the end of our being O then that once our minds were again reduced to this frame To live wholly to God! O that we were wrought into a through prejudice against self which stands between us and true peace I beg of you to spare some time from the world and retire into privacie where you may apply this to your own soul My prayer to God for you out of the strong yearnings of my soul towards you is that he would make this effectual to its intended end for the inward peace of your soul for your comfortable walking with God in this life and that condition wherein the wisdom of God hath placed you I writ these lines with the strength of affection I feel fear grief compassion working strongly O pity me in the midst of all these whilest I cannot call to remembrance the cause of these without a flood of tears Fulfill therefore my joy in being of one mind yea if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort in love if any-fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of mercy fulfill ye my joy and be like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Phil. 2. 1 2. I leave you to the love and mercy of God and to the working of his spirit which alone is able to put life and power into these words Which that he would do is the earnest request and servent prayer of yours John Janeway Now upon a faithful perusal of this Letter it pleased the Lord to give a meek and more complying spirit and in a great measure it wrought its intended effect The noble design of this sweet peace-maker took so far as to produce an ingenious acknowledgement and sorrowful bewailing of the want of that self-denial humility meekness and love which doth so much become our sacred profession Upon the hearing of this good news how strangely was this good man transported Upon the receipt of a letter from the former friend which gave no small satisfaction hopes that his former indeavours were not in vain And that he might drive the nail to the head he speedily backs his for former Letter with a second which speaks these words Dear Friend MY soul is inlarged towards you and my affections work within me and yet give me leave now to lay aside those weak flames of natural affection and to kindle my soul with divine love Here there is no fear of running out too far while all is in Christ and for Christ O that now I could let out the strength of my soul not as to your self but as to God! O that my heart were more inlarged that it may be comprehensive of a more full true Christian love God is altogether lovely and to be loved for himself and we are so far dark ignorant and blind as we do not see and account him most amiable O let me have such discoveries of his excellency that my heart may pant thirst and break for its earnest longings after the richest participations of him that I may for ever be swallowed up of his love O that I may love him a thousand times more than I do That I may rejoyce in him and take the sweetest complacencie delight in him alone that I could let out my affections most where I see any thing of himself any beams of the image of his holiness and that beareth the impression of his spirit Had you visited me from the dead could my affections have moved more strongly or my rejoycings have been greater than they were at the receipt of those lines which I had from you wherein so much of Christ in you and the goodness of Christ to me did appear Fulfil my joy in the Lord refresh my bowels and let not my rejoycing be in vain If it hath pleased the Lord to make the imperfect weak indeavours of his unworthy servant any way subservient to his own glory in you it is that which I account my self unworthy of desire to receive it from him as a manifestation of the riches of his free goodness to my self knowing my self to be unworthy to be his instrument in the meanest service much more in so great a one as this is Hoping and perswading my self of the effectual vvork of my former letter I am incouraged to write again both because of my promise and your expectation and the vveighty nature of the subject that I vvas then upon vvhich vvas Love True Christian love which is a thing so comly so beautiful and sweet and of such vveighty power in all actions to make them divine excellent that there is no labour lost in indeavouring to get more of it even in those in vvhom it most aboundeth The Apostle 1 Thes 4. 9 10. Though he knew that they vvere taught of God to love one another and that they did it towards all the Brethren yet even them he beseeched to abound more and more in that grace of love The former principal
another because they were of different judgments and perswasions There where he saw most holiness humility and love there he let out most of his affections And he was of that holy mans mind that it were pity that the very name of division were not buried and that the time would come that we might all dearly pay for our unbrotherly nay unchristian Animosities CHAP. XVI An account of the latter part of his Life FOR the latter part of his Life he lived liked a man that was quite weary of the world and that looked upon himself as a stranger here and that lived in the constant sight of a better world He plainly declared himself but a Pilgrim that looked for a better Country a City that had foundations whose builder and maker was God His habit his language his deportment all spoke him one of another world His meditations were so intense long and frequent that they ripened him apace for Heaven but somewhat weakned his body Few Christians attain to such a holy contempt of the world and to such clear believing joyful constant apprehensions of the transcendent glories of the unseen world He made it his whole business to keep up sensible communion with God and to grow into a humble familiarity with God and to maintain it And if by reason of company or any necessary diversions this was in any measure interrupted he would complain like one out of his element till his spirit was recovered into a delightful more unmixed free intercourse with God He was never so well satisfied as when he was more immediately ingaged in what brought him nearer to God and by this he injoyed those comforts frequently which other Christians rarely meet with His graces and experiences toward his end grew to astonishment His faith got up to a full assurance his desires into a kind of injoyment and delight He was oft brought into the banqueting house and there Christs Banner over him was love and he sate down under his shadow with great delight and his Fruit was pleasant unto his tast His Eyes beheld the King in his Beauty and while he sate at his Table his spicknard did spend forth its pleasant smell he had frequent visions of Glory and this John lay in the bosom of his Master and was sure a very beloved Disciple and highly favored His Lord oft called him up to the Mount to him and let him see his excellent Glory O the sweet foretasts that he had of those pleasures that are at the right Hand of God How oft was he feasted with the feast of fat things those wines on the lees well refined and sometimes he was like a Giant refresht with new wine rejoycing to run the race that was set before him whether of doing or of suffering He was even sick of love and he could say to the poor unexperienced World O tast and see and to Christians come and I well tell you what God hath done for my Soul O what do Christians mean that they do no more labour to get their sences spiritually exercised O why do they not make Religion the very business of their lives O why is the Soul Christ and Glory thus dispised Is there nothing in communion with God Are all those comforts of Christians that follow hard after him worth nothing Is it not worth the while to make ones calling and Election sure O why do men and women jest and dally in the great matters of Eternity Little do people think what they slight when they are seldom and formal in secret duties and when they neglect that great duty of Meditation which I have through rich mercy found so sweet and refreshing O what do Christians mean that they keep at such a distance from Christ Did they but know the thousandth part of that sweetness that is in him they could not choose but follow him hard they would run and not be weary and walk and not be faint He could sensibly and experimentally commend the ways of God to the poor unexperienced world and say His ways are pleasantness and justifie wisdom and say her paths were peace He could take off those aspersions which the Devil and the atheistical frantick sots do cast upon Godliness in the power of it Here is one that could challenge all the Atheists in the world to dispute here is one could bring sensible demonstrations to prove a deity the reality and excellency of invisibles which these ignorant fools and mad men make the subject of their scorn Here is one that would not change delights with the greatest epicures living and vie pleasure with all the sensual rich gallants of the world Which of them all could in the midst of their jollity say This is the pleasure that shall last for ever Which of them can say among their Cups and Whores I can now look Death in the Face and this very Moment I can be content yea glad to leave these delights as knowing I shall injoy better And this he could do when he fared deliciously in spiritual banquets every day He could upon better reason than he did say Soul thou hast goods laid up for many years He knew full well that what he did here injoy was but a little to what he should have shortly In his presence there is fulness of joy at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore Where is the Belshazzar that would not quake in the midst of his Cups whilst he is quaffing and carouzing in bowls of the richest Wine if he should see a hand upon the Wall writing bitter things against him telling him that his joys are at an end and that this night his soul must be required of him that now he must come away and give an account of all his ungodly pleasures before the mighty God Where is the sinner that could be contented to hear the Lord roaring out of Zion whilest he is roaring in the Tavern Which of them would be glad to hear the trumpet sound and to hear that voice Arise you dead and come to judgment Which of them would rejoyce to see the Mountains quaking the Elements melting with fervent heat and the Earth consumed with flames the Lord Christ whom they despised coming in the clouds with Millions of his Saints and Angels to be avenged upon those that knew not God and obeyed not his Gospel Is not that a blessed state when a man can lift up his head with joy when others tremble with fear and sink with sorrow And this was the condition of this holy young man In the midst of all worldly comforts he longed for death the thought of the day of Judgment made all his injoyments sweeter O how did he long for the coming of Christ Whilst some have been discoursing by him of that great and terrible day of the Lord he would smile and humbly express his delight in the forethought of that approaching hour I remember once there was a great talk that one had
enough in God and the Holy Scriptures to bear up our spirits under any afflictions let them be never so great What do you say to that word Who is there among you that feareth the Lord and that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and seeth no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God Though all earthly comforts were fled away and though you could see no light from any of these things below yet if you look upward to God in Christ there there is comfort to be found there is light to be espied yea a great and glorious light which if we can rightly discern it would put out the light of all lower comforts and cause them to be vilely accounted of But alas alas those heavenly comforts though they are in themselves so precious and if really and sensibly felt able to raise a mans Soul from Earth yea from Hell to the foretaste of Heaven it self yet for want of a spiritual sense they are by most of the world undervalued slighted and thought to be but fancies Nay let me speak freely Christians themselves and those that we have cause to hope are men of another world and truly born again yet for want of a spiritual quickness in this spiritual sight and sense these comforts are too lowly and meanly esteemed of It is a spiritual sense that inableth a Christian to behold a glorious lustre and beauty in Invisibles and raiseth the Soul up to the Gate of Heaven it self and when he is there how can he chuse but look down with a holy slighting and contempt upon the sweetest of all Earthly enjoyments How can he chuse but think all Creature-comforts but small compared with one look of love from Christ This heavenly comfort was that which David did so much desire Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon me was the language of his soul and when this was come how was his heart inlarged Thou hast put joy and gladness in my heart more than in the time when their Corn and Wine increased He then that in afflictions would find comfort must strive to see spiritual comforts to be the greatest even that comfort which is from God in the face of Jesus Christ this this will be a cordial this will be as marrow and fatness to the soul They that have interest in Christ what need they be moved and discomfited with any worldly trouble Is not Christ better than ten children is not his loving-kindness better than life Is not all the world a shadow compared with one quarter of an hours injoyment of him even on this side of Glory in some of his own Ordinances O therefore strive to get your interest in this comfort secured and then all 's well He that hath Christ hath all things If God be reconciled to you through him then he will withhold no good thing from you We poor foolish creatures do scarce know what is good for our selves but it 's no small incouragement to the people of God that Wisdom it self takes care of them and one that loves them better than they love themselves looks after them And he hath given his promise for it that all shall work together for their good And what better foundation of comfort can there be in the whole world than this Why may you not then say with the Psasmist Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God Let not your soul sink under afflictions for what reason have you to be discomfited under them Can you gather from thence that the Lord doth not love you No surely but rather the contrary for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth What Son is he whom the Father chasteneth not Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees Let this serve as a remedy against excessive grief Get your love to God increased which if you do the love of all other things will wax cold And if you have given God your heart you will give him leave to take what he will that is yours and what he hath you will judge rather well kept than lost Remember that Scripture and let it have its due impression upon your spirit He that loves Father or Mother Brother or Sister yea or Children more than me is not worthy of me O labour to have your affections therefore more raised up to him who is most worthy of them let him have the uppermost greatest room in your heart and let your love to all other things be placed in subjection to your love of God be ruled by it and directed to it Be our earthly afflictions never so great yet let this love to God poise our Souls so that they may not be overweighed with grief on the one side or stupidness on the other side Again let our souls be awed by that glorious power and omnipotency of God who is able to do any thing and who will do whatsoever pleaseth him both in Heaven and in Earth at whose word and for whose Glory all things that are were made And what are we poor creatures that we should dare to entertain any hard thought of this God! 'T is dangerous contending with God! Let us learn that great lesson of resigning up our selves and all we have to God let us put our selves as instruments into the hands of the Lord to do what he pleaseth with us and let us remember that it was our promise and covenant with God to yield our selves up to him and to be wholly at his disposal The Soul is then in a sweet frame when it can cordially say It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his eyes Not my will but thine be done Again let us know that though we cannot alwaies see into the reasonableness of the ways of God for his ways are often in the thick Cloud and our weak Eyes cannot look into those depths in which he walketh yet all the ways of God are just holy and good Let us therefore have a care of so much as moving much more of entertaining any unworthy thoughts against God But let us submit willingly to the yoak which he is pleased to lay upon us lest he break us with his terrible judgments And now it hath seemed good to God to lay this stroak upon you I pray labour rightly to improve it and let this trial prepare you for greater And seeing the uncertainty of all worldy things indeavour with all your might to get your heart above them and I beseech the Lord who is the great Physitian of Souls and knows how to apply a Salve to every Sore of his to comfort you with his spiritual comforts that he would favourably shine upon you and receive you into a nearer union and communion with himself Into his hands I commit you with him I leave you praying that he would make up all in