Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	line_n	page_n	read_v	4,280	5	9.9304	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30450	A sermon preach'd before the King in the chappel at Whitehall on the third Sunday in Lent, being the 7th day of March, 1696/7 by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1697 (1697)	Wing B5906; ESTC R21494	14,772	38

them to determine us to a sincere Obedience The Blessings that go to all Mankind in common or at least to a great part of it will not perhaps make such Impression on some as those that are more special or that having more immediately and particularly to themselves In such every Man who examines the whole conduct of Providence towards himself from his first setting out to the present time will be able to collect such a train of kind and tender happy and indulgent Instances of the Goodness of God towards him preserving him from Evil rescuing him out of Dangers and Inconveniences conducting him thro' Difficulties and following him with many Blessings that he will soon find Matter enough if he but believes and observes Providence to raise within himself a grateful Sense of it and humble Acknowledgments for it In this no Man's Life is so barren but that it will afford him great occasions of Praise and Thanksgiving for all Men share more or less in the Watchfulness of Providence SOME have indeed had a larger measure of it happy and great Accidents have as it were by a Combination led them thro' Difficulties that seem'd insuperable they have rescu'd them out of Dangers that have been of so extraordinary a Nature as if They had been directed on Design to shew the wonderful Interpositions of Providence for their Preservation Friends and Enemies Seasons and Winds and Heaven and Earth have seem'd as it were to conspire to their Elevation and cross Accidents have seem'd to be interspersed thro' their Lives only to make the unlookt-for happy Crisis come with the greater surprize upon themselves and upon all others as if they were the special Favourites of Providence and markt out to be among the most amazing Instances that can occur in History If such things have hapned to any and have set them as much above the rest of Mortals by the Distinctions of Providence as they are by the Elevation of their Fortunes then what Returns do they owe to that Goodness and Love that has been so very bountiful to them in such a copious Distribution of its Favours What returns of Praise and Gratitude ought they to make How ought they to distinguish themselves from the rest of Mankind by their Zeal and Activity and by their Influence and Authority to promote the Glory of that God who has laid so much Honour on them and to imploy their thoughts and time chiefly in contriving and executing the best Designs they can think of or that can be suggested for the greatest Good of Mankind which if they sincerely pursue this will be after all the greatest of all the Blessings of Heaven to them it will make them Blessings indeed to this World and advance them to the highest degrees of Happiness in the next Here is then the design of Religion the chief Aim to which all the rest is directed to raise and perfect our Natures to make them as great and as pure as wise and as good as is possible to raise them above the Depressions of Interest and Sense above the Intanglements of Appetite and Passion above little low and narrow things to an enlargement of their Capacities to an exaltation of their Thoughts and Tempers and in a word to make them become like God that is the perfectest kind of Beings possible Can a greater Thought enter into the Mind of Man or can he pursue a nobler Design which carries Greatness and Majesty in very Sound of it It is plain this must be the greatest Design of Religion it is the primary End of the Creation and the chief Business of the whole Christian Religion Every Man must feel there is somewhat in the bare Proposition of it that strikes his Faculties which presently yield to it and dispose him to close with it Oh happy they who do really set about and do sincerely prosecute it It shews a nobleness of Mind to be capable of so great a Thought which could not move an abject Soul This is none of those vain Speculations that set Men on to a fantastical Pursuit of unattainable things The Design is solid and practicable as well as it is generous and great It does not swell the Mind with Air and Vanity on the contrary it seasons it with Modesty and Humility How difficult soever the Performance may be there are Aids proportioned to the Labours of it which will both encrease our Force and render all those Difficulties the more easie to us Our sincere Endeavours will be both accepted and assisted and how small a Progress soever we may make here how often soever we may be taken down from so high a Flight and how much soever we may feel our Bodies and our Senses and the necessary Commerce that we are engaged in with sensible Objects depress and distract us yet as there is a secret Pleasure in great Undertakings even tho' our Success does not answer our Hopes so we are sure we shall master all at last and in Conclusion arrive at that State of a more perfect Conformity whereas our Bodies shall be made like unto the glorified Body of the Son of God and shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of our Father so in our Minds we shall become like unto God for we shall see him as he is and the sight of these infinite Perfections shall transform our Minds into as near a Resemblance of them as is possible and as in this we shall ever feel a true Joy and real Happiness following us in proportion to those Advances we make in our Conformity to God so when that Conformity shall be carry'd as far as our created and limited Capacities can go then we shall with it partake of a proportion'd fulness of Joy as great a fulness as our Faculties can receive and we shall be ever with the Lord in those Pleasures that are for evermore In this our being now the followers of God will certainly end we who study to follow him here shall follow him into those Mansions of Glory where with Angels and Saints we shall be unspeakably happy to all Eternity Thither God of his infinite Mercy lead us thro' all the Changes and Chances of this mortal Life for the sake of Iesus Christ our Saviour to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory both now and for ever Amen FINIS ERRATA Page 12. Line 15. for amusing read amazing p. 26. l. 1. for us r. our selves p. 27 l. ult for 〈…〉 Gen. 1. 26. 1 Tim. 6. 18. 2 Cor. 4. 6. 2 Cor. 3. 18. 9 Dan. 4. 51 Psal. 6. 8 John 45. 1 Pet. 2. 9. 1 Pet. 2. 22. 1 Tim. 6. 23. Jul. Ep. 49. 2 Cor. 4. 7. 1 Cor. 11. 1.