Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	enter_v	righteousness_n	scribe_n	2,630	5	11.0710	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45744	A treatise of moral and intellectual virtues wherein their nature is fully explained and their usefulness proved, as being the best rules of life ... : with a preface shewing the vanity and deceitfulness of vice / by John Hartcliffe ...	Hartcliffe, John, 1651-1712.	1691 (1691)	Wing H971; ESTC R475	208,685	468

the Government of his Mind and is never disturbed by Passion to be tender Hearted and Pityful because cruelty and oppression are an offence to God and a provocation to Men to resign our selves up to the direction of God's Providence that Governs the World leaving all issues and future Successes to the Wise Determination of the Divine Will To hold to the Practice of Truth because a Man's Heart will never misgive him in her ways not to dissemble but to deal openly with Mankind because this behaviour will make our passage easie through the World we shall have none to oppose none to do us harm to be humble and sober in the judgment we make of our selves because Self-confidence and Self-Conceit render Men Fools to be Peace makers and compose Differences to endure Wrongs patiently to forbear Revenge and to love our Enemies because God does so in Nature while he causes the Sun to rise upon Good and Bad to pass charitable Judgments upon others because this is the way to make an Enemy a Friend to give real demonstrations of our Integrity and Goodness by the fruits of it because Men disparage Religion who profess it and do not guide their Actions according to its Doctrines to submit our Senses and inferiour Affections to the Dictates of sober Reason and true Understanding because Mind and Understanding is appointed by God to be his subordinate Governor in human Life to be modest and chast in our Conversation because Modesty secures the Mind from Pride and Chastity preserves the Body from the worst Indispositions THUS Christ Jesus hath shewn us an Example of all Moral Vertues and an Example in some respect hath an Advantage above a Rule for it shews in what way the Ro●e is practicable and it is a Reproach to any Man not to be able to do or suffer what others have done before him Seeing then God hath taken such care that we should know our Duty and hath made those things Instances of our Obedience which are the natural means and causes of our Happiness we are altogether without excuse if we do it not and we incur the heavy Sentence pronounced by our Savior this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love darkness rather than Light for whover does any thing that is evil acts against the Convictions of his own Mind and the Light that shines in his own Soul besides What Advantage is it that Wickedness brings to Men Name me that Vice which improves our Reason or makes us e'er a whit the wiser that tends to the Peace and Satisfaction of our Minds or to our Health and Credit amongst considerate Persons IF then it be Vertue that points out to us the most compendious and ready way to Happiness we may see where our true Interest lies let us not suffer our selves to be cheated of it by the little Arts of Vice or the Insinuations of a Temptation than which there can be nothing more to our prejudice even as to our temporal Concerns for every known and deliberate Sin that a Man commits is a flaw in his Title to his Estate not in respect of Men but of God who is the great Governor of the World the wise Disposer of the Fortunes of Mankind Moral Vertue is the foundation of all revealed Religion AND the Scripture doth every where speak of Moral Vertue as the Foundation of all revealed and instituted Religion therefore our Savior when he was asked which was the first and great Commandment of the Law answers Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy self A Jew would have thought that he would have pitch'd upon some of those things which were in so great esteem among them Sacrifices Circumcision or the Sabbath But he overlooks all these and instances in the two principal Duties of Morality the Love of God and of our Neighbour and these Moral Duties are those which he calls the Law and the Prophets and which he came not to destroy but to fulfil for the Judicial and Ceremonial Law of the Jews was to pass away and did so not long after but this Law of Moral Duty was to be perpetual and immutable And the keeping of this Law consisted in the Observation of such things which the Scribes and Pharisees did most of all neglect therefore he tells us that unless our Righteousness did exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now these Men were the most punctual People in the World for observing the Jewish and Ceremonial Law and whereas they were obliged to pay Tithes of their more considerable things they would do it even of Mint Anise and Cummin But then they were defective in Moral Duty they were unnatural to their Parents in denying them Relief because their Estates as they pretended were dedicated to an holy Use they were unjust and under a shew of long Prayers devoured Widows Houses in a Word as our Saviour tells 'em they neglected both Mercy and Judgment which are the weightier things of the Law which whosoever neglects he can never please God with any instituted or positive part of Religion and throughout the Old Testament nothing is declared more abominable to him than Sacrifices as long as Men allowed themselves in wicked Practices And in the New Testament the Christian Religion chiefly designs to teach Mankind Righteousness Godliness and Sobriety and for this end was the glorious Appearance of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works and to deal honestly with every Man to speak Truth to our Neighbour and to have our Conversation void of Offence is called the Image of God and the new Creature and the Apostle advanceth Charity above the greatest Excellencies of Knowledge and of Faith and in the description of the Day of Judgment Men are represented by our Saviour as call'd to an account both as to the Practice and Neglect of Moral Duties and no others are instanced in to shew what Place he intended they should have in his Religion Therefore from all that hath been said upon this Subject we may infer Positive Institutions must give way to Moral Virtue First THAT all Positive Institutions must give way to Moral Duties because God hath declared that He would rather have Mercy than Sacrifice and whosoever violates any Natural Law he undermines the very Foundation of Religion which hath very little in it that is positive besides the two Sacraments and going to God in the Name of Jesus Christ for this the greatest and most perfect Revelation that ever God made to Mankind doth afford us the best helps and advantages for the performing of Moral Duty and produces the strongest Arguments to engage us thereunto Secondly GOD hath discovered our Duty to us in such ways as may

wont to be lavish and profuse in their Sacrifices that they might be excused or wink'd at for the Duties of Virtue and Morality they would offer the richest Oblations a Thousand Rams and Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl all the First-born of their Flocks and Families the Fruit of the Fields and their Bodies too to purchase a dispensation for their Vices they would not grudge to pacifie God with any Sacrifice rather than offer up their Lusts they would honor Him praise Him flatter Him give Him all his dues and more spare neither for costs nor charges in his Worship and all this only to bribe him that He might indulge them their Self-wills and their Passions and not be angry for their injustice cruelty and unmercifulness they were nice and punctual in their Fasts would spare for no trouble to appear Devout yet were there never any People in the World so vicious as they the Prophets every where upbraiding them with the most notorious Peevishness and Pride Covetousness and Ambition for they were persuaded that such zealous Men as they were might be excused for the sake of their expensive Devotions all those petty duties of Justice and Sobriety towards their Neighbors and themselves On the contrary a good Man Worships God because he loves Him and loves him because he hates Vice he loves the eternal Rules of Equity and right Reason because God loves 'em too Secondly THE Formalist is very busie about the Means and Instruments of Religion but neglects the Ends thereof he is very zealous in religious Performances but utterly careless of all inward Virtue and Goodness hence it is that the Minds of some Men are so little possessed with true and real Virtue because the Name of Religion hath been so much appropriated to its Forms which Men are apt to be taken with when they may be easily reconciled with their Vices and Passions The Pharisees did just so they only made great shews of Piety to cover their Frauds and Rapines Too great a regard to Forms disappoints the effects of real virtue they were curious to wash their Hands but took no care to purifie their Hearts they would Fast and starve their Bodies but at the same time feed and pamper their Lusts they would not Rob but they did oppress their Neighbors whilst they relieved their Brethren they did at the same time hate and despise them Thus the Instruments of Piety were made use of as a means to subvert that which they were ordained to advance And thus it is in the relative and subordinate Duties of the Christian Religion if Men do as constantly commit as they do confess their Sins they frustrate plainly the purpose of their Duty and whilst they are very Officious to run on God's Errand they are very negligent of his Business It is not every Confession of our Sins that He requires but when it proceeds from an effectual Resolution against them and therefore where it ends not in Reformation it ends in Hypocrisie and to acknowledg but not to Mortifie our Lusts is only to tell God we are great sinners and by his leave intend to continue so IT is an easie matter for Men to present Heaven with large and perpetual addresses but unless they be meek merciful humble charitable righteous candid and ingenuous as well as Godly and Devout they can in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven For the Christian Religion dwells not amongst its outside Rites and Solemnities but its proper Temple is the Heart and Spirit of Man it resides in the inmost recesses of the Soul NOW the Formalist is only for the external Acts not for the internal Habits of Virtue and Goodness his Actions how good soever issue only from fear or custom or outward compliances not from any good Temper or Modification of Mind there appear no spots nor blemishes in his Face his uncleannesses lodge within and retire themselves to the Centre of his Soul thus his behaviour may be free from the common Pride and Vanity of the World whilst his mind is infected with the worst Vices the posture of his Soul is as haughty and supercilious as his demeanour is humble his Thoughts as arrogant In what virtues our Saviour placed his Religion as his looks are lowly But our Saviour ever told his Followers that his Religion was to be placed in a a sober and silent Piety in Candour Mildness and Humility in doing good to all Men that all the mystery of it lay in a good and virtuous Life so that all the nice Notions and Hypotheseses concerning Faith Justification Election and such like Articles are but foolish Traditions of some speculative Heads and those that are most earnest in these Controversies are commonly most negligent of moral Duty whereas true Religion is an active Principle within that serves the Mind with all good and virtuous Qualities it is in a word an inward sense and love of Goodness that is the Fountain of all good Actions A Mind temper'd with this Principle suppresses all manner of untoward Passions is governed by such meekness as absolutely inclines it to pardon injuries to delight in making good triumph over evil and to satisfie it self as much by forgiveness as others are pleased with revenge For where the inward temper of the Mind is truly humble there a Man 's inward esteem of himself will be sober and modest his opinion of others candid and ingenuous Wherefore if Men took as much care to fill their Souls with goodness as well as their fancies with the notions of it they would be as free from Passion Self-will and all other mental Vices as from Drunkenness Sensuality and the other exorbitances of their bodily Appetites Having thus set forth the Character of Formality I now descend to the Second thing to discover by what Way and Method it defeats the practice of moral Virtue that perceiving its disguises we may not be imposed upon Now the Artifices by which men are apt to delude themselves are mainly these First THEY think they may be dispensed with in the Duties of practical Virtue for their extraordinary strictness in some Duties of Godliness they weigh their acts of Devotion against all their miscarriages in Morality if they do but Fast twice a week they presently believe that they may be allowed to be froward and peevish Hence it is that the grossest Vices are sometimes called sins of Infirmity For when they imagine themselves in God's Favour for frequenting the places of Worship for hearing Sermons and Prayers they are ready to conclude their most heinous sins to be rather the weaknesses of their Natures than obliquities of their Wills taking the measures of Virtue and Vice not from the nature of the actions themselves but from the conditions of the Persons that commit them believing that if a Man be once regenerated all his sins are instantly changed into Infirmities Thus the Stoicks of old made this one of their prime Paradoxes that a wise Man