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A51814 Praise and adoration, or, A sermon on Trinity-Sunday before the University at Oxford, 1681 by Thomas Mannyngham ... Manningham, Thomas, 1651?-1722. 1681 (1681) Wing M496; ESTC R1851 10,969 30

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man seem'd more acquainted with God than Moses and no man seem'd more importunate to know him better I beseech thee shew me thy Glory Exod. 33.18 Similitudes and Metaphors in Religion are those Clouds of Incense wherewith at the same time we both enter and obscure the Sanctum Sanctorum We receive those sensible Representations and gracious Condescentions which God hath been pleas'd to make us of his own Nature and the other World in the same manner as the Disciples did the Discourses of our Saviour going to Emmaus we have not a full comprehension of what is thus Figur'd to us but yet we are religiously affected we have a spiritual Sensation of its unutterable import and our hearts burn within us The Strength and Vehemency of the Imagination will sometimes carry forth the Reason and Judgment to make new Discoveries 't will excite them to take such Circuits and Travels in the contemplation of Eternal Beings till the Soul is ready to swim and grow giddy and the speculation turns almost Apoplexy it will sometimes actuate the mind to a stretch and emanation beyond its present Order to a taste and immature anticipation of unproportion'd Knowledge And this does not proceed from the heat and elevation of contemplative and splenetick Heads but it is the sober attestation and examin'd experience of more fix'd and solid Brains It is reported of a Metaphysical Divine of our own Church that by a long assiduity of thinking and a constant ardour of Meditation he could sometimes refine and sublimate a Theorem to that degree till it became too nice even for his own examination when he had abated of that Temper in which he first fram'd it that when the intellectual fire was out and his Brain was sunk into its ordinary dimensions he could not justifie that speculation to his cooler review which he was certain had an exact conformity to his more rais'd Capacity However we need not fear any Illusion any Phanaticism from the innocent Excesses of the Fancy whilst they are only made the private Nourishment of an Holy Life whilst they only promote our Adorations not determine our Opinions whilst they only enter our Closet-Devotions not our Publick Services or Creeds It being also easie to distinguish by the concomitance or absence of Humility and Love when our minds are gently fill'd with Divine Images or when they are Enthusiastically possess'd with presumptuous Enquiries And thus the Imagination the meanest and most trivial faculty of the Humane Soul under a good management may be an admirable Instrument and incentive of Divine Praise and Adoration even as God Almighty thought fit to chuse the Rainbow that Circle of phantastic colours for the Symbole and Sacrament of his Beloved Attribute his Mercy 3ly We may be said to Praise the Lord with our Affections when our Adoration is perform'd with strong vehemency of Soul and intenseness of Spirit with the Unions of Love and Wonder and such-like Bright Affections as perfect and exalt our most spiritual Duties The Will is also comprehended in the Affections For as the Common Passions in their worst acceptation are the Deformities and Turbulencies of the Animal Nature so the Affections are only the fresher gales of Virtue the more enliven'd Acts of the Rational and Superiour Will and as the former raise commotions and irregularities in the Blood and Humours of the Body so these latter invigorate the Faculties of the Soul making them Heroical and Divine in their Emanations Now as the capacity of the Intellect is much larger than that of the Senses so the amplitude of the Will and Affections far surpasses that of the Understanding and therefore God has requir'd that our Desire and Love of him should be more perfect and complete than our Knowledge of him for we are bound to entertain his Perfections with the closest adhesion of Heart and Soul though we can apprehend them onely with a Partial and enigmatical Knowledge Let men therefore boast of their Mighty Reasonings their close Deductions their strong link'd Consequences and their elaborate Demonstrations in Religion when they have done all to justifie themselves in a cautious advance towards Heaven they will find that the Best Divinity consists in Love and Wonder and that there are such enlargements of the Soul arising from these Affections as none can signifie none can conceive but those who have lain under the Blessed Experience III. I will endeavour to point out some of those Benefits which will arise from a worthy performance of the Duty Now this Holy Exercise being worthily perform'd will exalt our Faith beyond the reach of Sophistry or Prophaneness 't will establish in us a permanent love to Goodness and a temper of antipathy to the contradictions and contumelies of Vice 't will convey our fervent Meditations to such safe and peaceful Heights till the false Beauties of the World make no Impression on us and its keenest Temptations are out-distanc't It will secure all the stages of an holy Life and reduce that Barbarous Warlike Stubborn and Malicious Religion which is now in Vogue to the truly Ancient Primitive Christianity to a cheerful and serene Principle of Meekness Humility constant Obedience and Universal Love When the Soul is made tender with this Heavenly Converse made apt to kindle at every representation of Divine Goodness to meet and embrace with every attribute how vile and loath some must the deformity of Sin needs appear The very Transports of Adoration whilst they continue upon us are a natural preservative against the Encroachments of Vice and when the Holy Agitation is ceas'd it commonly settles into a lively calm of lasting Gratitude and Love But to speak more particularly Praise and Adoration are actions perfective of those very Faculties which perform them For they give a Divine Brightness to our Reason free it from the illusions of Sence and Passion fix it on useful enquiries and in all its Discoveries make it serviceable to the Sanctuary for not onely Religious but even Natural objects may be contemplated and examin'd by the humble Adorer into Mysterious subjects of Devotion and Wonder The True Christian Philosopher even from his common observations in secular Learning will by a due Analysis of Meditation open to himself a delicious prospect of Heavenly Glories pursue every Motion and Effect to its first Cause and Author till he finds his Scale of Contemplation to look like Jacobs Ladder with Angels ascending and descending whilst the proud Enquiring Naturalist who sacrifices more to his Hypothesis than his God will reap nothing but Presumption and Contempt of Heaven from his Conversation even with the Divinest Objects He will call a True Miracle the Luxuriancy of Nature an Extraordinary Act of Providence onely the sudden eruption of a Natural though hidden Cause or at least he will debase these immediate Operations of the Almighty to some cheap piece of Motion and Mechanism that may serve to ease and pacifie his Wonder thus loosing the improvement of his