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	subsistence_n	3,438	5	12.7058	5	false

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

a sweet smell there shall be a stink instead of a Girdle a Rent and Baldness instead of well-set Hair c. Crux salutare remediun est ad tollendam cordis duritiem non naturâ suâ c. i. e. The Cross is a wholsom Medicine to humble and soften the hard Heart not in it self as the Pool of Bethsaida did not at any time give healing but when the Angel descended into it but by a Spiritual Power using that Instrument to bow us Now stand and lay all these together then you may say This is the Wilderness or thus is a Soul prepared for Christ The whole may be comprised in one Thesis or Theological Conclusion Viz. Doct. That it is Christ alone who in the use of means brings his chosen Ones into such Trouble for their good In which Proposition are to be observed the Author Subject Means and End First The Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ego I even I the first and the last with whom the new Covenant was established having power to offer Grace in Promises I that have satisfied Justice and overcome all the Enemies of Mankind I that do prevail and am accepted in a real tender of my own Merits to the Father in behalf of my Church It is I even Jesus Christ that will do it He it was that spoke to the Patriarchs and by the Prophets he it was that made known the secret Will and good pleasure of God to Man he it is who made the Body and prepares the Soul to erect a Spiritual Frame and Government in the Heart supporting the bruised Reed and blowing the smoaking Flax till he turn the one into a brazen Pillar and the other into a triumphant Flame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I considerable either as God simply or Man really and truly or as Mediator God and Man jointly As God so he is a principle Efficient in this Work His Names whereby he is described in both Testaments do say so much viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All which do signify Being independent Authority Strength and All-sufficiency for his undertaken Charge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two Greek Names much magnified by Damascen and Aquinas the one being a Name of Nature and signifieth absolute and perfect Being even the chiefest Good the other being a Name of Authority and Power imports the extent of Divine Providence compassing disposing and working all in all See for this purpose especially two places of Scripture Exod. 34.6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord the Lord merciful Rev. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord c. As Man so he is the principal Instrument by and through his Humanity to convey Life into all his Members once called effectually and united Joh. 1.14 16. The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us c. Full of Grace and Truth And Of his Fulness we receive Grace for Grace Joh. 5.21 26. As the Father raiseth up the Dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom he will c. As God-Man the Mediator so he is the Meritorious Cause procuring and preserving Life for and in all his How and why this should be appropriated to the Son when as there is but one Nature and so one Principle of Action common to all the Persons in that sacred and ever blessed Trinity is somewhat difficult to believe but more hard to conceive and express possibly the following Reasons may give some light unto it Thus it is 1. Because such was the Will of God according to his infinite Wisdom so to order it that the second Person only should undertake the Office of Mediation fulfil the Law satisfy Justice and dispense Grace 2. Because it is a mixt Work neither simply Opus ad extra wholly outward for so it is common the Father and the Holy Ghost do cooperate with the Son in this Dispensation nor altogether Opus ad intra an inward Work for then there were no doubt nor scruple but it might be personal limited to any of the three as it was in the Incarnation all the three Persons were Joint-workers in a preparative Inchoation yet in the end and complement of it we see it was terminated in and upon the Person of the Son The Divine Nature was incarnate as relatively contracted with due reverence and submission be it spoken to a certain manner of subsistence in the Person of the Son Quomodo tota Filii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sit incarnata non tamen Pater cùm sint una 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credo licet ad exprimendum non intelligo Zanch. So it is in the Dispensation of Grace the thing is willed and the Subject prepared by a Joint Work of all the Persons in Trinity but the execution of that purpose and the actual fruition of Grace is in and by the Son first elected to that Hypostatical Union between the two Natures to the Office of Mediation then given as Head unto the Church whence Life and Motion is derived to his Mystical Body elect in and after him 2dly Here is the Subject to be observed whereon this Work passeth Her No one particular Person is here meant but a select Company to be gathered from divers Families Countries Kingdoms tho here more restrictly as limited to the People of the Jews and so to be knit into one Body The Church malignant the Whore of Babylon Rev. 17.1 3. called Antichrist is called and compared to a Woman a Whorish Woman for seeming Beauty Bravery Su●tilty and Impudency not any one but a Company that exceed in Wickedness and increase in it So the Church Militant the Spouse of Christ is likened to a Woman for flexibility and fertility not any one single Person but a chosen Company gathered together in one Vna Ecclesia quia ex una Fide per unum Spiritum nascitur Epiphan some of all sorts Men Women Jews Gentiles Greeks Barbarians not all of any sort Choice admits not of Universality The singular Number here and elsewhere used imports a Paucity or at least a Singularity of Persons Quare hunc trahit non illum noli judicare si non vis errare S. Aug. in Joh. Causa occulta esse potest injusta esse non potest Ibid. Epist 59. ad Paulin. Choice was made of Her not for the Multitude much less for any Merit See her Condition Ezek. 16. and her Behaviour before in the former part of the Chapter The Promise was of his own free Grace and good Will without any merit of preceding Will or Work in her Works of Nature might be foreseen either as future or possible but could not of congruity merit his Favour being so evil Works of Grace could not be foreseen because they were not nor could be indeed till Grace were first bestowed Good Works are an Effect no moving Cause much less meritorious for the procuring of Grace About