Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	lay_v	thief_n	treasure_n	2,291	5	9.6844	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60331	Christian practice described by way of essay upon the life of our Saviour by Stephen Skynner ...	Skynner, Stephen.	1693 (1693)	Wing S3946; ESTC R1647	46,475	162

or Daughters defiled or to be called the Off-spring of so base an Act. Wherefore to prevent so dangerous and odious a Vice Christ endeavours to destroy it at the root if possible by condemning all unchaste Thoughts and Desires And to this purpose he tells us That but to look upon a woman Mat. 5.28 so as to lust after her is to commit Adultery with her It is not to be thought here that every first Motion of our Hearts towards Lasciviousness if timely suppressed is what our Saviour means by looking upon a woman such imperfect acts as these being declared by the best Casuists to be so far from sins destructive to Salvation that they become rather the Parents of Virtue to us by exercising our Faith and Obedience And indeed were such an act enough to constitute the Adultery of the Eye the Pharisees Practice as odd as it was might seem no less than necessary some of whom we are told were wont to walk continually with their eyes shut blundering against every one they met only to avoid the sight of Women But in short it is only the fixing our Eyes and Imaginations upon one another with wanton Desires that our Saviour condemns in this place And this is so far from being a slavish Imposition upon us that it serves only to free our minds from one of the most Tyrannous Masters we can possibly be subject to such is the Passion of Lust when once it gets a Head a passion no less vain than insolent for the most part as it busies it self and torments men with longing after those Objects which it has no hopes or possibility many times of ever enjoying 18. The moderating our Affections towards Earthly things is another Duty owing to our selves that our Saviour very much insists upon and the more because the Pharisees made so light of it Luke 16.14 for the Pharisees were Covetous we are told and so little sensible were they of any Hurt being in this that they could Laugh at Christ when he talked to them of the impossibility of serving God and Mammon at the same time But our Saviour saw enough of this sin in the Pharisees to convince him of the pernicious effects of it to Religion and the Good of Mankind And had he not seen it there he could as easily have foreseen it in his Disciple Judas to whose Covetous Disposition he knew the Loss of his Precious Blood should be owing Certainly the greatest Brand of Infamy that can possibly lye upon any one sin And well therefore might our Saviour caution his Disciples against this sin Luke 12.15 with a Beware of covetousness for the life of man consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth The Heathen Moralists spent much time in exposing this Vice and the very shame of setting their hearts upon things which had so little of solid Enjoymen in them and which were so soon to have an end was reckoned argument sufficient among these for moderating the Affections of every wise man towards them But our Saviour does certainly much improve the Argument when to the Frailty and Vnsatisfactoriness of Earthly things he adds the consideration of a Glorious Immortality Above as a Subject much more fit to employ a Christian's thoughts and care And since our Treasure is in Heaven well therefore may he require that our hearts should chiefly there be fixed that we should not lay up for our selves treasures upon earth Mat. 6.20 but lay up treasures for our selves in heaven where neither moth nor rust do corrupt nor thieves break through and steal Our Saviour does not hinder us by this from providing decent and comfortable Maintenance for our selves and Relations for even he himself is observed to have carried a Bag in his Company John 13.29 though his Power of working Miracles which of it self was sufficient to feed Multitudes seemed to give little occasion for such a trouble Nor yet does he require us hereby so to withdraw our Affections from the things of this life as not to rejoice or take pleasure in them for this is natural for men to delight in those things which tend to their Ease or Benefit and God would never certainly have implanted in us such strong Desires as he has toward Worldly Happiness did he not allow us to gratifie them in some considerable measures But indeed all that our Saviour requires of us about earthly things is only that we love them not nor pursue them with that Greediness and Anxiety as if we reckoned them our great End and Hope And certainly he that has any sense of a Future State must confess this no otherwise than highly reasonable if he consider what numerous Temptations and Snares those that will be Rich do fall into and consequently of what mighty prejudice an over-eager Thirst after Honour or Wealth is to means Salvation 19. It may seem a very hard Saying of our Saviour's about Rich men Mat. 19.24 That it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for such to enter into the kingdom of God But I see no necessity why any Wealthy person now-a-days should think the worse of his condition upon that account For besides that our Saviour does very much soften this expression in another place by saying only That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven Mark 10.23 I suppose the Kingdom there spoken of is not the Kingdom of Glory but of Grace as the Kingdom of God is often taken in Scripture and that the place is to be understood in reference chiefly to our Saviour's Times Mat. 19.21 as the occasion of the words does plainly intimate And then considering the necessity there was in the first Ages of the Church of mens forsaking All many times to follow Christ together with the scorn that rich men exposed themselves to by taking so outwardly-mean a Profession upon themselves it is little to be wondred at if such were very hardly brought to subject themselves to the Gospel upon these terms But these reasons being ceased now in a great measure the consequences of them must be supposed to be ceased too and as to Riches in themselves they are certainly of great advantage to Religion and our Saviour therefore has left several marks of his Honourable Esteem of them Mat. 2.11 Three of the earliest Worshippers therefore that he had are reckoned Persons of a Princely Rank from whom our Saviour received Royal Presents as the First-Fruits of that Service which Kings and Great Persons were to pay him afterwards when by their Wealth and Authority they were to become Nursing Fathers to his Church And as this was one of the first pieces of Respect he accepted upon earth so the last office that was paid to him was performed by a Rich man When his Body was to be buried who so fit to be intrusted with those Sacred Remains of his as that Honourable Counsellor