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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	father_n	person_n	union_n	3,953	5	9.3015	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65466	A sermon concerning reformation of manners preach'd at St. Jame's Church, Westminster, Feb. 13, and afterwards at St. Brides, to one of the religious societies / by Samuel Wesley ...	Wesley, Samuel, 1662-1735.	1698 (1698)	Wing W1377; ESTC R14620	17,055	50

hates and which hates him and would if possible Dethrone him Lest otherwise they be dealt with as Saul was for sparing the Amelekites when he ought to have obey'd the Commandment of the Lord and to have utterly destroy'd them But we have yet a further Relation to the Almighty which obliges us to be valiant in his Cause and to fight his Battels We are his Servants as well as his Children and his Subjects he sav'd us from our Enemies he sav'd us when Rebels he rescu'd us from the Devil he ransom'd us by the Blood of his Son he has therefore by all imaginable Titles the Right of Dominion over us we are not our own but are bought with a Price and are therefore to glorifie God with our Bodies and Souls which are his and can by no means be accounted either grateful or faithful Servants if we desert the Interest of our Master if we refuse to engage in his Cause or are patient while he is Dishonoured Now if these Obligations and to which many others might be added did really cross our true Interest there might be some Pretence for our not pursuing them but if instead of that it shall appear that the Publick opposing of Vice does highly conduce to our Private our Civil our Temporal and Spiritual and Eternal Happiness what excuse can we make for our Negligence in this matter As for our Civil Happiness we are all born Members of a Community and consequently must desire the Good of the Whole unless we can hate our selves who are Parts of it Now 't is hard to say whether has done greater Mischief to the Publick either Ill Principles which have taken Men off from that Passionate Regard to their Country which was so remarkable and so glorious among the antient Heathens or else a Bad Life and a Dissolution of Manners which from a complication of many unhappy Circumstances has of late so visibly broken in upon us both of which have so plain an Influence upon each other Thus much is however certain that whoever truely loves his Country will heartily endeavour to make it better which cannot be expected considering the Disingenuity of the Bulk of Mankind without the due exercise of Discipline and the Punishment of those that do Evil. But this is an Article which has been so often toucht and so much exhausted that I shall insist no longer on it only leaving it to the Consideration of every prudent Person whether there would be so much Baseness so much Falshood Treason Bribery and Injustice so much Unrighteousness and Strife every where were Persons generally influenc'd with the Principles of Probity and Virtue nay had they not on the contrary abandoned themselves to the Stream of Vice and Lewdness which therefore 't is the concern of every Good Man to oppose with all his Might to prevent if possible that threatning Deluge which is likely to break in upon us and cover the Face of our Land Nor is the Opposition of Vice in order to the suppressing or at least the restraining of it less conducive to domestick Happiness than 't is to that of the Publick it being evident that the want of Discipline is the Ruine of Families and that the restoration thereof would make better Servants better Children better Masters and render all Relations much more useful and comfortable and happy But Vice is further injurious to every Mans personal Happiness to his Profit as well as Reputation to his Body as well as his Mind by innumerable Inconveniences it brings upon him Of how base a Spirit therefore he must be who yields to that Sin which as it first brought Death into the World so it continues daily to slay its Thousands brings the Judgments of God upon us emaculates Mankind taints and poisons the very first Threads of Life projects its Mischief beyond the present Age and loads Posterity with a feeble and a miserable Offspring Let us next reflect on what passes in our own Minds and the necessity there is if we consult their Happiness to oppose Vice in others as well as in our selves because its Contagion is so very spreading and dangerous Mistaken Men may call the Proud happy and so of other Sinners but 't is impossible they should be so and they know the contrary themselves for what more severe Tormentor can a Man have in his own Breast than any uncontroul'd Vice or sinful Habit. There are few Men who are altogether lost to the sense of Virtue and to that natural Tast of Goodness at first imprinted on the Mind and consequently Vice must needs be a Torment to the Mind as well as to the Body since 't is so contrary to our true Nature and a Man must be as uneasie under it as a wounded Person with an Arrow sticking fast in his Body It s true an Ill Man makes as good a Show as he can and thinks he bears it well out but 't is all Paint and Vernish he has something within that denies him Ease all his Triumphs are but like the miserable Ravings of one in a Fever who perhaps looks as fresh as ever and tells you he feels no pain when 't is but an unnatural flushing he 's still sick at Heart all within is disorder'd and he 's not far from his End Nor is the eternal Interest of every Man less concern'd in these matters than the present quiet of his Mind For unless we oppose Wickedness 't will as certainly gain ground upon us and hurry us away in the stream as the Sea will break in upon a Level if there be no Beach or Banks to resist it We know that the Wages of Sin is Death both temporal and eternal we know 't is an acceptable Service to God to oppose and resist it that he himself has told us Those who Honour him he will Honour and that our blessed Saviour has assured us That those who confess him before Men he will also confess them before his Father which is in Heaven II. I proceed to the second thing That as good Men are oblig'd to oppose Vice and Wickedness so they are to do this with united Councils and Endeavours What is a single Persons Duty in this matter cannot alter its nature when it falls into the Hands of Communities or Bodies of Men but may be much more hopefully and successfully attempted by them for the Offenders may sometimes be such Sons of Zerviah that they 'll prove too hard for any single Person Their Numbers may be so great that there will need one somewhat proportionable to oppose them since Miracles are generally ceas'd and tho Sampson and others of old could slay their Heaps upon Heaps yet 't is not now for single Persons to attack whole Armies nor will a greater Number of undisciplined Men who fight loose and stragling gain equal Advantages on the Enemy with a much smaller Body who engage with Discipline and Order It s true that the Kingdom of Darkness is likewise the Kingdom of

Confusion but still Satan will not fight against Satan and all his Subjects unite themselves against the Lord and against his Christ to break their bonds in sunder and cast away their cords from them Now in opposition to those infernal Legions did our blessed Lord institute his Church being a regulated Society of Men by their very Nature and Constitution most firmly united together and obliged to love one another by virtue of which mystical and indissolvable Union a● well with Christ their Head as with al● their Fellow-Members sealed and confirmed in the Holy Sacraments they obtain that Strength and Stability that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against them And indeed were all the outward Members of the visible Church but real Members likewise of that which is internal spiritual and invisible in short did all who bear the name of Christ walk worthy of their Holy Profession there would be no need of Discipline nor of any such subordinate Union as I am now recommending in any Christian Common-wealth any more than there would be need of Laws and Sanctions annexed unto them in the Civil Government did all Men regulate themselves by the true Law of Nature and Principles of right Reason but since none can be so sanguine as to expect such a happy state of things it lies upon Good Men to do what they can and to use all those prudent Methods which are in their power to make the World a little better to unite their Hands and their Hearts in some measure at least to repress notorious Vice and punish Gods Dishonour It 's almost incredible to say what happy Effects we shoud soon see from such a close and firm Conjunction of all good Men in the prosecution of these desirable Ends. Very considerable things have by Gods Blessing been already done by some few who have devoted themselves to the Service of God and their Country on this occasion who have born the Burden and Heat of the day and entred themselves into Societies for the Reformation of Manners both in this and our neighbouring Nation of Ireland And may God increase their Number as he will certainly reward their Labour There 's a great Door opend and no other can be expected but that they shou'd still meet with many Adversaries There 's yet but too much Employment for more Hands and 't wou'd be the Honour as well as the Interest of all good Men to joyn with them in this Undertaking nay of the greatest Prince on Earth to own his Cause from whom he receives his Crown that by mature and united Councils mutual assistance more earnest application and greater numbers they might successfully prosecute what is so well began and what can scarcely be accomplished by any other methods III. I come now in the third place to the manner how we are to set about this great Duty It ought certainly to be managed with the greatest Zeal and the greatest Prudence 1. With Zeal For since 't is good to be Zealously affected in every Good matter much more is it so in this which has so immediate an Influence on so many great and momentous Ends. Zeal in moral Affairs seems to have much the same surprising Effects which Motion has in Physical and Mechanical it produces what seem'd at first impossible it gives a new Mould and Turn to every Action it sets on work all the secret Springs and Powers of the Mind and makes them act with such a Force and Vigour as is almost irresistible God and Man hate a lukewarm Temper which has often created greater Obstructions to good Designs than the most open Opposition against them Who will rise up with me who will stand up for me against the workers of Iniquity Who has Courage and Constancy and Bravery equal to so glorious an Underatking As that Zeal is Madness which pushes a Man on to illegal and indefensible Actions whatever be the motive of his engaging in them so that Wisdom is Folly which hinders a Man from doing his Duty and vindicating Gods Honour But still we must take care that our Zeal be temper'd with Prudence and if ever we are to be wise as Serpents we are certainly to be so in these Matters wherein we are sure to have the old Serpent himself our sworn and inveterate Enemy He may bruise the Heel of the Seed of the Woman of the Members as well as of Christ their Head by Backbiting and Reproaches and by all the Calumnies that Hell can invent or its Emissaries utter What need then have all those good Men who engage in this honourable and weighty Affair of stemming the Tide of Vice amongst us what need have they to be always upon their Guard and to take care of their Steps since there are so many who watch for their Halting To act by the most prudent and advisable Methods to be zealous without being passionate which perhaps is one of the most difficult things in the World To give no just Offence to any to prepare themselves against the doubtful Combat to expect to be hated and slander'd by bad Men as was their Master before them and for the same Reason too because they testifie against them that their deeds are evil to be sober and vigilant to avoid what is scandalous as well as what is sinful and so on the contrary By no means to forget themselves their own Persons or their own Families while they are so busie in reforming others and to suffer no Beam or so much as a Mote in their own Eye while they are endeavouring to clear their Brothers Eye which could not fail of having an happy influence on their own Minds as their instructive Examples would on those of others and be one of those natural and inseparable Rewards which even in this Life attend Virtue and Goodness and which in some sort may seem to antedate an happy Eternity I proceed to draw some practical Inferences from what has been said Use 1. And the first may be to Reprove those who are so far from opposing Vice and Wickedness that they rather encourage it and support as it well as discourage others who are engag'd against it so far from rising up against Evil-doers that they rise up together with them and 't is to be fear'd that too many will come under this Reproof who think themselves wholly innocent such are those who any ways countenance wicked Men in their lewd Practices and infamous Behaviours who chuse the Company of ill Men and therefore seem to stand in the way of Sinners and are in great danger of sitting in the seat of the scorner tho they cannot be ignorant who has said That he who walks with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroy'd not that all Correspondence with Ill Men is forbidden as to the necessary Offices of Civil or Private Life for then as the Apostle says must we go out of the World but I speak of a voluntary Intimacy a