Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A76282
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Metamorphosis Christiana: or, The old man changed into the new. An occasional discourse.
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Beare, Nicholas.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing B1563A; ESTC R172674
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33,570
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43
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let us not rent it but cast Lots for it whose it shall be Whereupon one of the Ancients hath an elegant Observation The Merciless and Cruel Hang-men of Pilate did not dare to attempt the rending of Christs seamless Coat and wilt thou dis-member the Church which is One divide Charity which is God himself He that blows the Coals of Contention promotes or makes a disturbance in Christian Society does not only lacerate Christs seamless Garment but tear in pieces his Body rend his Spouse argues himself guilty of Barbarity beyond Comparison greater than the former Abraham Gen. 13.8 urges an Argument for the reconciling all Differences between him and Lot and their respective Attendants from that near Relation in which they stood Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee and between thy Herdsmen and my Herds-men for we are Brethren If there be any weight in this as we have great reason to believe I am sure it comes home to us with Improvement We proceeded out of one common Stock and so are Brethren At the Font we engaged in the same Baptismal Vow and Promise and so are Brethren We met in this Holy place professing the same Faith and practising the same Duties and so are Brethren our Houses and Estates join to each other we make up one Society and so are Brethren Therefore though our Herds-men for want of Breeding and Education quarrel let there be no strife between Us. O let us provoke one another to Love and if there be any Contention let it be who shall exceed in Acts of Kindness the only Emulation justifiable Let us imitate the Ancients who as St. Luke tells us were of one accord of one Heart and one Soul Acts 2.44 and 4.32 Let us put off the Old Man and put on the New as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved Bowels of Mercies Kindness Humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering Forbearing one another and Forgiving one another and above all put on Charity For Christs sake For the Gospels sake For our Souls sake For our Brethren and Companions sake For the sake of our own present temporal Welfare and Quiet Let us become New Creatures So shall we find the two excellent Properties of the Psalmist Psal 133. meeting and conspiring in our Felicity The Goodness and Pleasantness of our Vnity to the general benefit of all Like the Dew of Hermon which fell upon the Hill of Sion and that sacred Oyntment which was poured out on the Head of Aaron to the Advantage of his Beard and the Skirts of his Cloathing So shall we be able to give Laws and Presidents to the lesser Villages round about us So shall our Sons grow up as the young Plants and our Daughters as the polished Corners of the Temple our Garners shall be full and plenteous of all manner of Store our Sheep shall bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our Streets our Oxen shall be strong to labour there shall be no decay no leading into Captivity and no complaining in our Streets So shall we grow sweetly old in Love live an Heaven upon Earth here and be quietly translated to that Kingdom where the other Graces cease Charity still continues It remaineth that with bended Knees and contrite Hearts we all joyne in Prayer Beseeching that God Who maketh men to be of one mind in an House yea who maketh Wars to cease in all the World who breaketh the Bow snappeth the Spear and burneth the Chariot in the Fire That he would be graciously pleased to put an end to all our unhappy Divisions to beat our Swords into Plow-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks That he would be pleased to give us one Heart to put a new Spirit within us to take away the Stony Heart out of our Flesh and to give us an Heart of Flesh that we may walk in his Statutes and keep his Ordinances That we may be of one Mind live in Peace so shall the God of Love and Peace be with us FINIS Books newly Printed for James Collins in Essex-Street without Temple-Bar THE Reward of Diligence By Lewis Sharp 8o The Confinement an Ingenious Poem 8o A Letter from a Protestant Gentleman to a Lady revolted to the Church of Rome 12o A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Dorothy St. Johns By Antony Hornick Minister of the Savoy Popery or the Principles and Positions approved by the Church of Rome when really believed and practis'd are very dangerous to All. And to Protestant Kings and Supreme Powers more especially pernicious and inconsistent with that Loyalty which by the Law of Nature and Scripture are due to Supreme Powers In a Letter to a Person of Quality By Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln Quarto A Discourse of Truth By the late Reverend Dr. Rust Lord Bishop of Downe and Connor To which is added The Way to Eternal Happiness By Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty 12o
set the Wheels a going If Jezebel be disposed to take away at once the Life and Vineyard of Naboth 't is an easie matter to find a Staff to beat a Dog the Devil will quickly put her into the Road-way direct her to proclaim a Fast and procure Sons of Belial for her purpose When Men will be quarrelsome they shall not want Pretences Under this Head those great Men are highly to be charged who depending on their Power will not do that which is just but wearie the mean Man out by Law Such also who design not so much Satisfaction to themselves in Law-suits as Trouble Charge and Ruine to their Adversaries And such likewise who use extream Rigour to Poor and unhappy Debtors who have not wherewithal to pay whereas would men have recourse to the present Rule of Forbearing and Forgiving one another all these would be abhorred Did we but consider those many Talents which we owe and cannot possibly satisfie how could we deal hardly with those poor Debtors of ours that owe us a few Farthings Did we weigh the Quality and Quantity of those Transgressions which put us deep in Score which if not blotted out nothing but an Eternity of Misery will attend us How little Reason then have we to pursue with Vehemency and Passion those that have offended us We are here commanded to Forbear and Forgive as we hope to be Forgiven 7. The last Vertue to be put on is Charitie But above all put on Charitie A Vertue this more especially required in the New-Man Which makes the Apostle with a strict Charge to renew his Exhortation above all praeter super propter omnia as 't is diversly rendred This to follow the Metaphor of all Garments is the most principal 't is as a Girdle which knits all the rest together As in Christianity the New Creature is the All in All so that which gives Life Being and Splendor to that is Charity the first the middle and the last Here it perfects and compleats elsewhere it leads the way to other Graces As without it The Tongues of Men and Angels are insignificant so they are unable sufficiently to express the Praise of it In the Determination of the Schools 't is the very Life of Faith in St. James his Divinity an undeniable Argument of a living Faith and by our Saviour noted as the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Badge of Discipleship John 13.35 A Cardinal Grace from whence as from a Fountain most if not all the fore-mentioned flow For where there is a right Christian-Charity there cannot but be Bowels of Mercies Kindness Humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering the truly Charitable will be ready to Forbear and Forgive In brief this is the Golden-rule and the Gospel-law a sure Friend that will follow us to another World and render us acceptable in the Day of Judgment that will remain when other Graces shall be done away I shall speak no more of this but refer you to 1 Corinth 13. Hitherto have I set before you the Old Man together with its Spoils the principal parts of the New Creature in reference to our duty each to other I come now to propose some Arguments which may prevail to the putting of it on my Third Part Nothing is so significant as this For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a New Creature Arg. 1. And here in the first place I think it not unfitting to urge you with an Argument from Nature See how every Being puts off its Old and calls for New Attire The Fields by their Fresh Verdure tell us plainly that they are exchanging their Sackcloth and put on new Apparrel and though Flora by the Stroak of Winter as by Age sullyed had contracted Baldness and Deformity within a few days shee 'l shake off the Hagg and grow young again Behold the Trees they have cast off their old Fruit and Leaves are stripp'd naked and all in order to new Apparrel Consider the Lilies they are committed to their Interment which makes way to a splendid Resurrection they are withdrawn to their Attiring Rooms and will shortly come forth with a glory by far furpassing that of Kings Nor is this less visible in the Sensitive Beings The Birds of the Air part with their old Plumes and appear clad with a new Garb each betraying by his chirping Note Youth and Vigour reassumed with the Season The Beasts of the Field in like sort by their Briskness and Activity proclaim to the World no small Alteration Those who have a long time layen within their Cells buried as in a deep Slumber will now Begin to move and come to life again Nay even the Serpent changes his Skin As then the Pismire teacheth the Sluggard Diligence so should the Creatures in the present Contemplation powerfully inculcated by the Doctrine of the Text. All the Beings of the lower World by the Benefit of the Heavenly Influences and the unalterable Law of Nature with the Year are renewed What then can we do less but abandon the Old Man and make after the New Creature Arg. 2. But if this Argument do not prevail being fiter for an Orator than a Divine be pleased in the next place to consider how that the Church in her Service at this * New-years Day time more especially does direct us hitherto The Saviour of the World was now in Conformity to the Law Circumcised which being a judicial Right and by the people abolished as no ways advantageous does notwithstanding in its particular instance point hitherto The Epistle Rom. 4.8 directs us in the pursuit of such a Faith as Abraham had before he received the Seal of the Covenant Now this Faith of the great Patriarch worked by Love which runs parallel with the expression of the Text. And then though we are Gentiles we have unquestionable Right to Filiation We are Lawful and True Sons of the Circumcised Jew and shall without this Rite have an undeniable Title to the Blessing And the Collect teacheth us to pray For the true Circumcision of the Spirit the Mortification of our Hearts and Members from all Worldly Lusts in order to Obedience and Conformity to Christs will in every thing and what 's that but the New Creature Religion does not oblige us to the cutting off the Flesh of our Foreskin but it necessarily requires that which by this Ceremony was shaddowed out and typified We are not with the Pharisees to wash and furbish the Outside of the Dish and Platter but to have due regard to the cleaning of the Heart the Fountain which makes our Thoughts Words and Actions either good or bad The great Design of Christ in his Gospel was To redeem us from all Iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works Tit. 2.14 The most demonstrative Argument of our Christianity is an Holy Change and we may conclude That we are Risen with Christ if with ardent Affection we seek