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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	according_a	eternal_a	work_n	4,290	5	5.6981	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66486	The excellency of wisdom, disclosing it self in the virtues of a good life recommended to the natives of Warwick-shire, in a sermon preached to them on their anniversary feast-day, in London, Nov. 30th, 1675 / by Thomas Willis ...	Willis, Thomas, 1619 or 20-1692.	1676 (1676)	Wing W2817; ESTC R18944	22,000	50

THE EXCELLENCY OF WISDOM Disclosing it self in The Virtues of a good Life RECOMMENDED To the Natives of Warwick-shire IN A SERMON PREACHED To them on their Anniversary Feast-Day in London Nov. 30. 1675. By THOMAS WILLIS D. D. Vicar of Kingston upon Thames and one of His MAJESTIES Chaplains in Ordinary Who is a wise man and endued with Knowledge amongst you Let him shew out of a good Conversation his Works with Meekness of Wisdom Jam. 3.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pelus l. 4. Ep. 174. LONDON Printed by J. M. for Abel Roper at the Sun over against St Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street 1676. Imprimatur Concio haec cui titulus The Excellency of Wisdom Reverendmo D no Archiepiscopo Cant. à Sacris Domesticis Geo. Hooper Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Decemb. 7. 1675. ERRATA PAge 4. line 3. for the read your Endeavours p. 8. l. 10. for men r. man p. 11. l. 24. r. Usefulness p. 19. Marg. for Famb r. Jamb and for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 24. l. 8. for of the r. of Wisdom p. 31. l. ult for deserve r. discern TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ROBERT Lord BROOK Baron of Beauchampscourt in Warwickshire and Lord Lievtenant of the County of Stafford My Lord WISDOM and VIRTUE which oft wait at the Gate of HONOUR and hardly find admittance do here present themselves before Your Lordship in Hopes of that Noble Entertainment which is wont to be given by Persons of Honour to their Nearest Allies They are never repulst by any without Wrong and Disgrace to themselves nor by any entertain'd with a due Regard without an Addition to their Honour and Happiness The Person by whose Hand they are brought in this humble Dress into Your Presence beggs the Pardon of his Rudeness in this Approach and leaving these Excellencies to Your Lordships Entertainment instantly withdraws himself to his due distance and waits with Mordecai at the Gate in Hope that having presented these Virgin-Beauties before Your judicious Eye they will appear so agreeable to Your Noble Mind that they will presently obtain that entire Affection and Esteem which will facilitate their Admission into so indissoluble an Vnion as shall for ever exclude the Fear or Suspicion of a Divorce And by this innocent and honourable Polygamy may Your Lordship be Blessed with a Beautiful-Offspring of such excellent and amiable Virtues as may support the Honour of Your Name and be the growing Glory of Your House These Excellencies Wisdom and Virtue which I have here presented before Your Lordship are of more than Noble Descent of Divine Original the Offspring of the uncreated Goodness But I fear that as sometimes the incarnate Wisdom of God they find but little Regard amongst the greater Part of the Sons of Men. And therefore that their Reception particularly in our own Country for its singular Honour and Advantage may be answerable to their Dignity I have endeavour'd to unvail their excellent Beauty and manifest their singular Vsefulness in the following Discourse which though its Meanness makes it even afraid of Appearance yet imboldned by the Assurance of the Goodness of the Design and Seasonableness of the Endeavour I do here humbly offer to Your Lordships Hand To accept so small a Present from so mean a Person will be an Act of Humility to become a Great Example of that Excellency which is here commended to all men will be a singular Glory If the Doctrine delivered in this Discourse be commended to our Countreymen by so Illustrious an Example 't will certainly be more powerfully operative and influential So shall Your Lordship shine as a Great Light among many lesser Stars neither shall your brighter Glory suffer an Eclipse in Death it self but shine in a higher Orb amongst those fair Lights which adorn those glorious Mansions wherein the Soveraign Goodness reigns in eternal Glory May Wisdom so conduct Your Lordship in all Your Affairs and Virtue so adorn and beautify all Your Actions that You may be the Honour of Your House and Ornament of Your Countrey that having planted Virtues to a happy thriving on Earth and gathered their pleasant Fruits in Praises and Prosperities you may at length be carried up in Triumph by glorious Angels into Heaven there to be crown'd with immortal Glories in the Kingdom of God May the Splendour of Your Lordships Virtue and Goodness be so great that the Spreading Raies thereof may cover your whole Countrey and extend their exhilarating Light even to the remote Obscurities of My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and most Obsequious Servant THO. WILLIS TO THE READER Reader THough the following Discourse be directed to the Natives of one Country the subject of it is the Great Concern of all men All men do certainly Desire to be Happy but no man can possibly be so unless he become truly Wise Now the certain Way and Means to acquire Wisdom and then to improve it in the Exercise of Religion and Virtue for the Attainment of true Happiness is prescrib'd in the following Discourse Man is a noble piece of active Earth being animated with that immortal Fire which at first came down from Heaven and inspirits him to those Motions which conduce to the Preservation and Perfection of his Being The Soul of man is a Spark of Heavenly Fire which at first was kindled by the ‖ Gen. 2.7 Breath of God and is a Principle of those Actions whereby he discovers the Excellency of his Nature and Nobleness of his Original In this little Spark inclosed by the * Psal 119.73 Hand of God in a ‖ Psal 139.14 curious Frame a Body fitly organiz'd for Action there is both Light and Heat Light for apprehension and Heat for Action God hath given to man as well an apprehensive Minde as an active Spirit Hereupon if he act according to his Nature and Being upon his Apprehension of the Excellency of things he is earnest in the Pursuit of the most excellent Attainments Such are those Virtues which are apt to adorn his Mind and Life and tend to exalt him to a State of Honour and Happiness This is the great Work of every man in the World And therefore O man whosoever thou art open thine Eyes and behold the things which are excellent and then earnestly endeavour the Acquisition of them Amongst these Excellent Attainments wouldest thou be inform'd what is most excellent and so most worthy of thy greatest Diligence in the Pursuit To this thou art directed in the following Discourse by an infallible Oracle delivered in these words * Prov. 4.7 Wisdom is the Principal thing therefore get Wisdom and with all thy getting get Understanding Wisdom is indeed the principal Excellency as being the most pleasant the most profitable and the most satisfactory of all Attainments Wisdom saith the Divine Philosopher will make a man prosperous and happy in all things ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Euthyd And saith the Kingly Preacher

that which makes another thing excellent must needs be more excellent it self If Power and Authority then do owe their Excellency and Use fulness to Wisdom Wisdom that applyes them to their proper ends must needs be much more excellent A wise man is better than a King ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Hebrew Doctors For say they if a wise man die there is not presently found a wise man to succeed him but if a King die there 's not a man of Israel but may be made a King Yea they have a bolder Proverb in the praise of Wisdom Kings are the Judges of the Earth but wise men are the Judges of Kings * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Wisdom excells Honour Honour without Virtue is but an empty Title but Wisdom is a real Excellency a rare endowment of the Mind of Man Where there is Virtue to support Honour there Honour is the lustre of Virtue But now Wisdom is it self a most excellent Virtue of the mind of Man and therefore as much as the substance of Gold excells the shine so much does Wisdom excell Honour Honour is but the estimation of Excellency or rather some extrinsick Testimony of that Estimation But Wisdom is a real Excellency which gives an intrinsick Worth and Value to the Mind of Man and therefore is much to be preferr'd before that Honour which stands in some outward acknowledgement What 's a Gilded Title to a Noble Mind or a little popular Air to that Excellency of spirit which renders a man usefull for the Publick But if any are delighted with the shine of Gold let them possess themselves of that bright-fac'd Mettal and then they may please themselves as much as they will with its shining lustre Do ye delight in Honour seek for Wisdom and Honour will not fail to attend you Exalt Her and she shall promote thee She shall bring thee to Honour when thou dost embrace her c. Thus ye see the Excellency of Wisdom to be such as that it may justly challenge the precedency of Riches and Power and Honour which are the most courted advantages that I may not say Vanities of the world And so you have seen wherein that Excellency of Wisdom lies which justly denominates her the Principal thing I come now to prove III. That this Excellency is attainable and to show you by what means you may attain it The Throne of Wisdom is on High and this World may seem to be left as the Stage on which Folly is come to act her part Wisdom is so great an Excellency that it may well be question'd whether it can be found on Earth Yet certainly this Excellency is attainable If we be but serious and constant in our Endeavours we may come to have our Souls adorn'd with the Lights and crown'd with the Glories of Wisdom For 1. 'T is not sure in vain that the Wise Man doth here commend Wisdom to us and exhort us to the most earnest Endeavours to acquire it Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get Wisdom and with all thy getting get Vnderstanding God is not wont to delude men in commanding them to seek that which he is resolv'd he will deny or knows they cannot attain This Excellency Wisdom is then certainly attainable 2. God has assign'd unto Men that Work in the World which cannot possibly be done without Wisdom and yet if it be not done he has subjected them to an inevitable Necessity of bearing his Wrath and being eternally miserable Wisdom is the * Psalm 111.10 Pro. 1.7 and 9.10 first Principle of Religion and Piety whereby Man gives unto God the Glory due unto his Name ‖ Psalm 29.2 This is his great Work in this world And he that does not thus honour God on Earth must expect no Glory nor Happiness in Heaven What then remains but that he must bear his own Guilt and God's Wrath in Hell Now if Wisdom was not attainable that this work might be done this would be nothing else but a cruel design of the Eternal destruction of all Mankind which is utterly inconsistent with the Divine Philanthropy the essential Goodness of God and his unspeakable Love to Man And therefore true Wisdom is certainly attainable 3. God hath given to Man a Rational Soul furnish'd with excellent Powers 〈◊〉 Faculties whereby it 's capable of the most Noble Endowments and agreeable Actions as a Power of discerning betwixt Good and Evil the Vnderstanding and a Power of choosing the Good and refusing the Evil the Will How far these Faculties are impeded by the depravation of Nature and again relieved by the aids of Grace I shall not now discourse Certain it is To know and discern is essential to the Understanding to choose or refuse is essential to the Will Hereby God hath given to Man an immediate capacity of Wisdom which stands in the knowledge of excellent things the proposal of excellent ends and the Choice and Use of the most proper means for the attainment of those ends He that lives in the Use of his Reason in the exercise of these Noble Powers of his Soul is in some degree Wise He that applyes his Understanding to the Knowledge of that which God reveals to be good for Man and imployes all his Powers in the diligent and constant prosecution of it hath attain'd to true Wisdom This Method is so Natural this Motion is so agreeable that it cannot but plainly appear that this Excellency this rare Endowment of the Mind of Man Wisdom and Understanding is attainable Neither need I insist on the Means by which it may be attain'd seeing that has already been declar'd in some measure in the foremention'd Proofs and Instances of its attainableness I shall only add True Wisdom may be attain'd by these Means 1. A due Government of a Man's self He that would attain Wisdom must not permit an Ataxy in his own Soul He must not suffer the Inferiour Powers thereof to Usurp an Empire and Regency over the Superiour He must carefully maintain the Right and Power of Reason in the Government of the Appetite and Passions The sensitive Powers must be strictly held in subjection to the Rational Keep Reason in her Throne and She will soon be inur'd to the Government of all the motions of the Soul the actions of the Life according to the Rules of Wisdom 2. A serious ‖ Deut. 32.29 consideration of a Mans State There 's an Eternal State of Happiness or Misery remains for every Man after death according to his demeanour in this Life The Wicked shall be tormented in * Mat. 25. ult Eternal Fire the Righteous shall ‖ Mat. 13.43 shine as the Sun in the splendours of a superexcellent Glory which shall never suffer the least Eclipse Now a Holy and Virtuous Life is the Way and Means to this State of Excellent Glory The lively consideration hereof must needs be of mighty Power and Influence to incline a man to the