Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	action_n	good_a	life_n	2,683	5	4.5961	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54122	A commentary upon the present condition of the kingdom and its melioration	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1677 (1677)	Wing P1268; ESTC R32305	33,126	47

God they are Spiritually discerned where we may observe that Contrariety which Logicians call Contradictoriè opposita Our Saviour also very diligently seperats them ye cannot serve God and Mammon bidding us take no care What we shall Eat or What we shall Drink or What we shall Put on But bids us in opposition to these things seek First the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness and all these things shall be added I might be large in Collecting to this purpose but let it suffice to observe That we cannot imagine the Scripture to be more express then it is supposing it had been in the Mind of the Law-giver to make us fully sensible of the Contrariety and Inconsistency of outward enjoyments with the Purity of a Christian life and had he not designed to Caution us diligently in this respect it were impossible there should be found such expressions in his Will revealed But here it must be noted that the opposition is not of that nature as that he that hath the Blessings of Wealth or Honour must presently throw them away but he Must throw them out of his mind th●t his heart and affections be not set upon them which may be obtained by earnest Prayer and doing some good to others with the Enjoyments we possess We must note farther that if there be a Divine Command for forsaking of them as in Abraham and the Apostles or what is Equivalent thereto as suffering the Will of God in times of Persecution they must be actually forsaken and thrown away Farther we must note as to our present designe that this opposition so far prevails as that it will be hardly or not at all possible for us to partake of this Heavenly Life and be true Disciples of Christ if we make it our designe and business to seek after and fill our selves with earthly enjoyments if we use them to the oppression of others to an unjust Dominion over our Brethren if they are made the chiefe thing in our aime sought with Care Deceit Flattery Lying Freeing c. If we prostitute all our Actions and Conscience it self for an empty Tittle and transient Revenue And Generally in the words of Solomon he that maketh haste to be Rich cannot be innocent So that then this Contrariety between Flesh and Spirit between Religion and the World is such as they exclude each other The man whose mind is taken up with Religion values not the World nor any thing therein he wants them not he desires them not he seeks them not The man whose mind is taken up with the Affairs of the World values not the things of Christ they are foolishness unto him Which thing also may be evinced by natural Light or Reason For we see men that are given to Vices run on without Deliberation or regard of any other thing to that immense degree after satisfaction in their Vices as not only to consume their Patrimony though a Princely Revenue but the Health of their Bodyes and even the World it self to be satisfied in their desires thus the desires of Drunkenness and Lust being infinite and never to be satisfied but rather irritated by the fulness of Enjoyment the desires tending vehemently to the fruition the fruition giving birth to new desires That if men were permitted to act in their full carier and prosecute these Vices without restraint of Divine and Humane Laws how soon would it run the World in Confusion and Ruine and yet not a stop put to these desires for they are Infinite Thus the Covetous man desires to gain more and more from others and inclose to himself all things till at length all things else if his desires be fulfilled must perish for want of subsistance So the Ambitious man will have all things subjected to himself and if the whole world be his Vassallage yet his desires carry him still to grasp more Power and Dominion as is reported of Alexander Thus we see Vice in its true nature tends to the destruction of all things and consists in an inordinateness of the mind whereby its desires are infinite and not to be satisfied The mind having forsaken God and set up it self in its place will thus have all things subservient to it and is carried forth infinitely to obtain this end And this inordinate mind and unlimited desiring and Lusting after that which it takes to is that Corruption which was brought in by Adam's Transgression which we call O●iginal Sin which is no other then this inordinate mind forsaking God and lusting infinitely after its own fancies and devices Now to help lost man and free him from this Slavery of an inordinate mind was the business of the second Adam who came down from Heaven took our Nature upon him in the form of a Servant suffering upon the Cross that he might destroy the works of the Devil and establish an ordinate regular mind in those that believe in him That is the Divine Nature whereof he was partaker by his taking our Nature is communicated to all Men that believe which rescues them from this slavery of their inordinate mind and by virtue of which they subdue all those desires which were introduced by Adams transgression where we must take notice that we said Christ in the Divine Nature was united with our Nature and that by virtue of this Union it is communicated to all Men that believe in opposition to Adam whose transgression redounded to all by not believing or disobedience in which it must be farther noted That it being a Divine Nature united to Christians by Faith 1. It is no other than the third Person in the Trinity the holy Ghost which proceedeth from the Father and the Son because he operates this work in us Observe 2dly That we cannot do any good work of our selves for our Regeneration and new Life is this Union of the Divine Nature the holy Spirit in our hearts our good actions coming from the Principle of Life must also be from him who is that life Now we may see clearly what our Saviour says they that worship the Father shal worship him in Spirit and in Truth even in the Spirit which is communicated to all Flesh by the union of the Divine and humane Nature To speak all in a word Adams transgression lusting after the forbidden Fruit opened the dore to a lusting and inordinate mind in all his Posterity tending to subvert all things This was taken away by the word becoming Flesh uniting the Divine and humane Nature and thereby communicated to all men that believe that the Sons of Adam in the power thereof might become the Sons of God In the strength of this Divine Nature to them that ask it they are able to subdue those inordinate insatiable desires of the mind which are propagated from Adam to all Posterity Now we see what Religion is even an imploring the Gracious Spirit to subdue these Corruptions we were addicted to and a living in the exercise of this strength and power

But their wings are cut and their nails pair'd Men do generally do see into the cheat and every day brings fresh discoveries thereof and it were strange that now mens minds are so busily imploy'd in the search of Knowledge and Improvement of Sciense to that degree as to have arrived at such attainments in one Century as we do not find that former ages were at any time Masters of It were strange I say in such increase of knowledge if we should be still blind in matters that concern Religion That we should not apprehend that all that Pomp and stateliness is vanished for the support and mantaining whereof the Clergy were Invested with such great Possessions and ample Priviledges I have two things more especially which with some reason I may impute the occasion of them to the present Church-Government 1. The present Atheism and Debauchery that the Age and Nation labour with which though it may have its rise from some other Cause yet it receives at least strength Confirmation partly from the empty Formality of the Clergy who have apparently no other Designs but their own gains partly from the open contradiction they see between their Life and Manners and the● Doctrine who are all the week after refuting and pulling down that in their Practice which a few empty words of speculation like the Calf that Aaron made to guide the People and to as much purpose set forth on the first day of it They see that whilst these Men Preach against worldliness they themselves are the most desirous greedy and ambitious of all the world can afford Whilst they preach against Drunkenness and Debauchery yet Themselves are never satisfyed with those advantages of Riches enlarged Revenues which serve but to keep these Vices in heart and life They may add with some shew of Reason Perhaps we should not hear one word from them of these things did they not find the Trade gainful and the means to be great in this world was to profess to deny it They will go on sure these Men do but tell us Stories and Fancies and maze in a wilderness of Tattle and empty sounding words For if there were any reality in the thing they propose it would sure have some effect upon themselves to moderate their Projects and Desires Such kind of Conclusions as these they may draw from a Religious-Government stamped for true and Orthodox by Publick Authority Yet thus betraying it self to its own Condemnation As for the Dissenters they will appear to these Men silly deluded Creatures that know nothing The 2. Thing is the various Opinions and Phrensies that have of late infested our Nation may be thought to have their original from hence next to the Craft and Subtilty of our grand Enemy For English men to speak without flattery are generally lovers of Truth and Integrity and somwhat stiff and rigid in those Principles they adhere to especially if they imagine them agreeable to Truth and Honesty When therefore they had embraced the Gospel and the Reformation and conceiving withal it manifested an opposition to the Ecclesiastical Government To keep to the one they grew into dislike of th' other which took deeper root when this Government began Vex and Beat their Fellow-servants and so instead of lessening the difference make the gap wider Now what must ●hey do in this Case the Government had thrown them off and pursued them as Enemies to it They were too rigid to quit those Principles they had taken up with such appearance of Truth And the Government would not yield to such whom they thought must receive and not give Laws according to the pride of Usurpation So that they were forced to wander as Sheep without a Shepherd or rather whose Shepherd was unfaithful Some took one way some another as their Fancy led them to Munster or Geneva or worse till at last all things came into Confusion Thus hath Ecclesiastical Authority given birth to disscentions and Fuel to continual Animosities administred strength and growth to Atheism Irreligion By it Men have been staved off from Unity and peaceable enjoyment of their Lives Thereby they have been plunged in the depth of errour and distraction have been driven to sheath their Swords in the Bowels of their Brethren And that no wickedness might be left un-atchieved the sad effects of all this hath been yet depending upon and a Consequent to the former the spilling the Blood of the Sacred person of their King These evils hang together as a Chain of many Links whose first Link is the denying not hearkning to rejecting and disobeying the word of God and the light of the Gospel Bring in this and the rest follow as part of the Chain But establish the Truth of Christian Religion and you have therewith security and peace and a strong defence against all these Evils Now our Enquiry shall be concerning Religion How it may be settled with Truth as to it self with Comfort to all people and with security to the Nation We shall therefore endeavour to give a brief account of Religion according to the Talent we have received It must be known First then that it is of another Nature than those outward things we converse with That is It is not of the World nor according to the fashion of the World Neither doth it agree or associate with any thing that is external but it is opposite and contrary thereto even to all Forms of Worship of what kind soever All Ceremonies Constitutions of Men be they of what kind they will But much more to the enjoyments of the present Life Riches and Honours and the like To all designs of getting a Name Dominion Power Estates c. This manifestly appears throughout the Scripture especially the New Testament Hence this pure Doctrine is called a New Creation Regeneration New Birth c. To shew that there is somthing old that must be shaken off even the things of this world which this is to succeed For we cannot be said to be born again or Created again unless that first Creation be made null and void and brought to nothing and this substituted in the room thereof A man cannot Re-build his House that has not first pulled down the old one Hence our Lord makes it the first step to come to him to deny our selves and take up our Cross That is to cast away all concern for the things of this Life any desire after them or satisfaction in them and to be esteemed nothing of no account yea Fools and Mad for his sake Hence also we may observe a perfect opposition in Scripture between the Kingdom of Christ and of this World those things are called Spiritual Heavenly not Fading Whereas in Contradiction to them are Put Earthly Carnal Corrupt c. Love not the World nor the Things of the World if any man Love the world the Love of the Father is not in him Saith St. John the Carnal man Savoureth not the things of