Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	humane_a	person_n	property_n	3,952	5	9.4155	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B20831	A vvilderness of trouble leading to a Canaan of comfort, or, The method and manner of God's dealing with the heirs of heaven in the ministry of the Word wherein is shewed how the Lord brings them into this trouble, supporteth them under it, and delivereth them out of it, so that none finally miscarry / by W. Crompton ...	Crompton, William, 1599?-1642.	1679 (1679)	Wing C7034; ESTC R228944	108,751	231

A VVILDERNES OF TROUBLE Leading to a Canaan of Comfort OR The Method and Manner of God's dealing with the Heirs of Heaven in the Ministry of the Word Wherein is shewed How the Lord brings them into this Trouble supporteth them under it and delivereth them out of it So that none finally miscarry By W. CROMPTON Minister of the Gospel Hos 6.1 He hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up LONDON Printed by J. D. for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard to be sold by Mich. Hide Bookseller in Exon. 1679. To his Honoured Friend Mr. JOHN MAYN Of the City of EXON MERCHANT THat there is a Summum Bonum or chief Good to be enjoyed by Man all sorts acknowledg Philosophers and Divines Ancient and Modern Desired by all as naturally as the greatest flames and the little sparks of Fire ascend to their Sphere either confusedly or distinctly attained only by some and in the fruition whereof true Happiness consisteth But what that is all agree not Varro out of Philosophers and St. Augustin out of Varro maketh mention of two hundred eighty and eight Opinions about it Some placing it here others there and have accordingly pursued their own conceits Error in this Point is not more common than dangerous being attended with variety of Vncertainties every one striving to maintain what he doth most affect whether an independing real-Good apprehended and presented by an Vnderstanding rightly informed or an apparent Good only offered by an Erring faculty Sense and understanding in Act is by union between the Faculty and the Object the Soul is said to be what it understandeth if the Object be a real Good the Soul by virtue of that union hath an answerable denomination In this Philosophy is an insufficient Guide looking only on this Life and the felicity of the more ignoble part of Man du●ing his abode here in the Visible World A supernatural Revelation is needful Reason cannot fathom nor the light of Nature reach unto the end for which Man was made Divinity discovers this and Faith comprehends it That Man was created for God to be like and enjoy him Christ is the Means to bring this to pass Man is made perfect but mutable He falleth Christ steppeth in to raise him again A new Covenant is established whereof Christ as Head undertakes to perform Conditions The Humane Nature must be united to the Divine in his Person that Christ might suffer what Man had deserved and Man might receive what Christ merited The Hypostatical Vnion is the ground or medium of another Mystical Vnion whereby every Penitent Believer is made a partaker of the Divine Nature and of all the priviledges of Christ's Obedience as if they had done it in their own Persons as of Adoption Justification Sanctification Glory The End was first the Reasonable Creature thought on next and the Means last All which were foreseen and ordered by an eternal Act of the first Cause not that for this or this after that not the Means first for the End nor the End so first as a motive to the Means but the End Object and Means together according to the freedom and counsel of his Will foreseeing still to preserve an order in the means both of Precedency and instrumental Efficiency He willed the Law and Gospel should be Preached that Knowledg and Faith might be wrought in his he willed Faith that they might be justified he willed Justification that they might be sanctified and glorified He willed all these joyntly that the End might be attained after all viz. The Communication of his own Excellency for the compleating of Man's Felicity It is not these Titles therefore can make Man happy The line of his Life being drawn forth with so many uncertainties and the height of his Power laid on so weak a foundation At one time or other of the best it may be said and the greatest on Earth may say of himself I was all things and yet nothing part of the Emperor Severus his Speech to his Council and Captains at York where shortly after he died leaving behind him this Testimony as many others have have done That Man's chiefest Good is not here below The Earth in her most glittering furniture is but Earth Fabulous and Enthusiastick and can afford but brittle Happiness Honour Riches Pleasure are but deceitful Toys So far from being Man's happiness that they often prove greater letts than helps towards Happiness Our chiefest good is Bonum immobile immutabile but Riches make themselves Wings and are uncertain like the Swallow in Winter season suddenly bidding farewel never perhaps returning again as a word once spoken nescit vox missa reverti Our chief Good is Bonum aeternum perfectum while Carnal Pleasures even the deepest here are most empty frothy and momentany like Comets made fat with smoaks and vapours of the Earth and in stead of giving Light and Brightness they bring forth Murders and Contagions Our chief Good is Bonum Immortale firm and ever flourishing always the same but Honour is fading and often buried in the Dust or quickly swallowed up in Oblivion Man was happy by Creation while the prime faculties of the Soul had that blissful Object to reflect upon the true God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom only is found a satisfying sufficiency to fill unto contentment the infinite appetite of the Soul When man turned from the Creator to the Creature he lost a real for a seeming Happiness onl● in this happy that the footsteps to true Happ●●●s● are left imprinted in the Fall Let him but once think whence he is fallen and return and he cannot miss of Happiness No regaining it without returning Return return O Shulamite return How often and earnest doth the Lord call for it as that one Thing necessary which should be most intended by us How vain and empty is the Creature How full and solid the Creator Deformity in the one Beauty in the other Bitterness in this Sweetness in that To fear God and keep his Commandments is the whole of Man The Duty and Dignity Honour and Felicity of Man to know Thee and whom thou hast sent is Eternal Life In his Presence is fulness of Joy and at his Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore In him are all the Perfections of all Creatures by way of Eminency Quicquid convenit enti quatenus ens illud maximè competere in primum ens quod est Deus Who may be enjoyed either by Faith properly termed Felicity here in the Way or by Sense in our Country more fitly called Beatitude Here is a short and sure Way return to God by Christ and be happy for ever Eph. 1.10 Col. 2.10 How this is brought about and how it may be discerned is the subject of the following Discourses unto which I have taken leave to prefix your Name and by this poor way endeavoured to serve you since more ample Demonstrations are wanting to

denial his Satisfaction and Intercession to prevail for you that his Obedience may be accepted for your Disobedience his Meritorious Sufferings for your Sins and that with his stripes you may be healed Object But alas I see my Sins so much and so often that I cannot I dare not apply any Promise I know not with what face to look upon Christ so abused and even crucified by me Answ True it is and I believe a Christian may look upon his Sins in some Sence too much and pore upon them too long and so stand in his own light become an hindrance to himself especially then when he shall dwell upon Duties as if they were his Saviour and hope for acceptance by equalizing his Sorrow to his Sins when he looks on them so as that they deter and keep him from Christ This is a fruit of Self-pride and followed with continual doubts and much unchearfulness Whoever studieth to be rich in Sorrow and Self-denial before he will take Christ doth not understand God's Way and Method nor rightly apprehend and prize the Treasure offer'd in and by Christ If you had no Sin or if you had Victory over all if you could only wash away all your filth with Tears then you would believe but then I tell you you had no need of Christ The whole need not a Physician but they that are sick When you are most mean and vile in your own Eyes when you are filthy and wounded sick unto Death then you have most need of Christ and most right unto him Most need I say because of danger As it is with a weary Swimmer who upon a Ship-wrack being cast into the Sea to shift for himself is there tost with Billows up and down and almost drowned till at length he espieth a Bough reached out to him from the Shore which he readily and thankfully without any scruples or doubts of his own unworthiness to have such a favour laieth hold on and is safe Thus it is and should be with sinful Man For in truth this Swimmer is Man cast into the Ocean of Legal Fear and Trouble Christ is the Tree of Life offer'd by the Father to every one that needeth and will receive him He came not to call the Righteous but Sinners of all sorts to Repentance and Life And as they have most need of him so they have most right unto him because of the Covenant wherein all the Promises are made over to such Come let us reason together and though your Sins were as Crimson or Scarlet I will make them as white as Snow or Wool Isa 1.18 Yea All ye that are weary and heavy-laden come unto me and I will give you rest Mat. 11.28 To him that is athirst I will give of the Water of Life freely Rev. 21.6 For this sight of Sin which is here discoursed of argueth Union by Faith and the Spirit to be begun and a reparation of Christ's Image in you which by reflection causeth it and then not to believe not to receive him not to give your selves to him that you might rest wholly upon him is the greatest Sin that ever you committed Think not to lessen by increasing your Sins O add not this to all and above all the rest Refuse not so rich a Marriage because you are poor mean and deformed If your Husband like to take you with all your Faults as in earnest he offereth why will you stand against your own Preferment If you be mean and low he will raise and advance you if you be poor he will enrich you if you be deformed and loathsome to behold he can and will bestow Beau●● upon you Who will refuse such an Husband that bringeth all things with him and requires nothing but Poverty and Self-denial a willingness to part with our own Rags and to put on his new Robes If you be filthy he will wash you in his own Blood from the stain and guilt of Sin If you be Naked he will cloath you with his own Righteousness and seat you above Angels Briefly be willing to take Christ and you shall want nothing Give your selves to him freely fully deliberately and he will prove a Jesus to you to save you from your Sins which else will be ever before and upon you in their full weight Did Men know and weigh the Treasure hid in him called unsearchable Riches there would be no need to persuade any They would take him more greedily than ever the hunted Hart did the running Water And now to all who have travelled through this Wilderness of fear and sorrow for Sin and are come even to the Borders of Canaan in the Name of God the Father I the most unworthy of all his Ministers do offer unto you Christ Jesus with all his Merits take and apply them for all are yours you are Christ's and Christ is God's And thus I have brought you to the Fountain and Dispenser of true Happiness where I leave you with the rest of God's travelling Saints to rejoyce in their Way with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven and whose Sin is covered FINIS Some Books lately Printed for and Sold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard FOLIO JOsephus's History of the Jews with Cuts Bishop Vsher's Body of Divinity with his Life and an Alphabetical Table the seventh Edition Parthenissa a Romance Heylin's History of the World In QUARTO Dr. Dillingham's Sermon at the Lady Alston's Funeral Dr. Bates's Harmony of the Divine Attributes Dr. Jacomb on the 8th of the Romans Dr. Tuckney's 40 Sermons on several occasions Ejus Praelectiones Determinationes Lat. Mr. Haworth's several Pieces against the Quakers The Jesuits Cabinet or a Discourse of the Jesuits designs In OCTAVO Mr. Theoph. Gale his Philosophy Anatomy of Infidelity Mr. Baxter's more Proofs for Infant-Baptism His Treatise of Justification Mr. Whiston's 4 Books in Defence of Infant-Baptism Mr. Wills's 3 Books in Defence of Infant-Baptism against Mr. Danvers A Contest for Christianity Or an Account of two great Disputes between the Anabaptists and the Quakers Mr. Barret's Christian Temper or a Discourse on the Nature and Properties of the Graces of Sanctification Mr. Shelton's Discourse of Superstition with respect to the present Times A Catechism according to the Doctrine of the Church of England with Scripture-Proofs at large together with Directions for plain Christians to pray on most occasions and to receive the Lord's Supper by the use and knowledg of the said Catechism A Catechism or the Church-Catechism inlarged and the Doctrine proved by Scripture for the use of such as were not Baptized in their Infancy or had no God-Fathers and God-Mothers Mr. Ranew of Divine Meditation In TWELVES Mr. Pearse's Great Concern or Directions for a timely preparation for Death recommended as proper to be given at Funerals The best Match or the Souls espousal to Christ Mr. Case's Treatise of Afflictions useful for these Times Mr. Hooker's Doubting Christian drawn to Christ The Barren Fig-Tree or the Fruitless Professor's Doom By John Bunyon The Epitome of the Bible briefly explaining the Contents of the Old and New Testament penned in Metre for better remembrance useful for Children The Sacred Diary or Select Meditations for every part of the Day There is now in the Press a second Volume of Dr. Manton's Sermons which will be Published shortly