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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	power_n	spiritual_a	temporal_a	2,514	5	9.1751	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52415	Christian blessedness, or, Discourses upon the beatitudes of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ written by John Norris ... ; to which is added, reflections upon a late essay concerning human understanding, by the same author.	Norris, John, 1657-1711.	1690 (1690)	Wing N1246; ESTC R16064	112,867	310

upon Life You know who did so Tho I should dy with thee yet I will not deny thee that is to reduce the words to a more Logical Order I would rather dy than deny thee This is easily said but not so easily done as the Event too sadly shew'd But he that says he values the loving Kindness of God more than Life and dies rather than forfeit it may be believ'd For what greater Love can there be than this or what higher Instance or Tryal of it The greatest Love of God was to dy for Man God could not signalize his Love to Man by any higher instance than by dying for him and the greatest Love of Man is to dy for God Thirdly The greatest Courage For there is also no Courage like the Courage of a Martyr He fears no Evil but only Sin and Damnation which are just and reasonable Objects of Fear and will undergo any other Evils to avoid these which is the truest and the greatest Courage For where is there any like it I would not have the Man of Honour or Duelist of all the Pretenders to Courage in the World offer at a Competition here For t is most certain that he abuses the notion of Courage as well as that of Honour His Courage is to dare to sin and be damn'd that he may avoid the Reproach of Cowardize that is not to fear and avoid what with all possible concern he should and to fear and avoid what he should not And if this be Courage I must then confess that I do not know what is Cowardise But neither may the Military Man be a Competitor here 'T is I confess great and brave for a Man in a just and laudable Cause for the Defence of his Prince and Country to fall a Sacrifice at the Head of an Army And the Herald's Office supposes as much But there are also some Allays that qualifie the Glory even of this Action For the Man is supposed to be engaged with multitudes and numbers which incourage as well as defend and to fight in a Heat when his Spirits are raised and his Blood runs high so as scarce to be able to feel a Shot or a Stab that shall be given him and to want Opportunity of Retreat and to be kept from reflecting upon his Danger by Noise Tumult and Confusion and to have the Spur of Emulation and the incentive of Anger sometimes of Hatred and Revenge and which is more than all the rest the Hopes of a safe come off at last Believe me this goes a great way and I question whether among those that venture themselves in War one of ten thousand would do so if he knew before-hand that he should certainly die in the Field But now to have a Man go alone and in cold Blood to the Stake or to the Scaffold When in every Period of his Advance 't is still in his Power by compliance to recede from his dreadful undertaking and there calmly and deliberately submit himself to certain Execution and feel himself die with all his Thoughts Reflections and Passions about him this is Courage indeed and such a Noble Spectacle as might well deseve to be a Theatre to Angels and Men yea even to God himself These are some of those great things that illustrate the excellency of Martyrdom and shew it to be one of the highest Degrees of Vertue and consequently that it is intitled to an higher Degree of Glory Which the Scripture also expresly makes to be the Portion of Martyrs who are said to indure tortures and not to accept of deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection A Better Resurrection that is a Resurrection to a Better State of Happiness that being the only Measure whereby one Resurrection may be said to be Better than another And says the Angel to St. John concerning those who are clothed with white Robes and had Palms in their Hands These are they which came out of great Tribulation and have wash'd their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple And he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them And now since there is a brighter Crown of Glory prepared for Martyrs and those that suffer Persecution for the sake of Righteousness all that further remains is to commend from the Premises these two Practical Inferences First That we entertain no hard Thoughts of the Justice or Goodness of God for suffering so many severe Persecutions in the Christian Church some whereof were violent as under the Roman Emperors some Fraudulent by Hereticks as Arius Nestorius c. And some of a mixt nature consisting both of Fraud and Violence when both Temporal and Spiritual Power did combine together as as now in the Papal See against the Lord and his Christ. I say we should learn from hence not to censure the ways of God for this nor to charge him foolishly since there is so plentiful a Reward laid up for those that suffer in the Cause of Righteousness Secondly That we so fortifie our selves with the Consideration of this Beatitude That if God should ever honour us so far as to call us to the Trial of the Cross we may be so true to God to Religion and to our own Souls as to suffer couragiously and thankfully ever looking up to that glorious Crown that white Robe and those Triumphant Palms which distinguish the Noble Army of Martyrs who eternally sing Hymns of Praise to God for the Blessing of those Crosses which now spring up into Crowns and in bearing of which they find so great Reward Glory be to God on High The Conclusion of the Whole in a Discourse concerning the Beatitudes in general HAving hitherto Discoursed upon every Beatitude particularly by it self I think it may not be improper for the further Accomplishment of this Work to conclude all with a Discourse concerning the Beatitudes in General Where there are three Material Enquiries that seem to demand Satisfaction The First is Concerning the Manner and Way of this Divine Sermon Why our Lord chose to deliver his Laws and Precepts by the way of Blessing The Second is Concerning the Number of the Beatitudes The Third is Concerning their Order and Method For Satisfaction to the first Enquiry I consider first That Christ who came into the World upon an Errand of Love the greatest Love that an infinitely good God could express to a Creature and who no doubt had also a Soul well tuned and a Body well temper'd and both set to the softest Key of Harmony and Sweetness was willing to deliver his Laws in the most indearing and charming manner that could possibly be that he might the better recommend both Himself and his Doctrin to the good Will of his Auditors and reconcile them thro the Love of the Former to the Obedience of the Latter Which is a very laudable affectation of Popularity

stand for is this that we ought not so to give our selves over to secular Mirth and Jollity but that we are still to remember that we are in the Vale of Tears that there is a time for Mourning as well as for Rejoycing and that this is that time now we are in our Exile and in the midst of Dangers and Fears and that therefore Sorrow must sometimes have its turn as well as Joy and that there is such a thing as Christian Mourning Nor need we be troubled that we have discover'd such an ungrateful Duty since there is a Beatitude annexed to it But because as was before remark'd all manner of mourning will not come within its Compass it will concern us in the second place to consider who these Christian Mourners are This I think cannot be resolv'd by any better measure than by considering what are the true and proper Causes why a Christian ought to mourn Now to this I shall answer I. In General II. In Particular In General I say that then a Christian mourns for a due and proper Cause when the Principle of his Sorrow is either Zeal for the Honour and Glory of God or a Concern for the Good of Mankind Nothing less than this can either deserve his Sorrow or derive any Vertue or Excellency upon it So that in short Piety and Charity will be the two Principles into which all true Christian Mourning must be at last resolv'd But because this may be exemplify'd in variety of Instances 't will not be amiss to consider some of the more remarkable of them I answer therefore more particularly That one very proper and reasonable Cause why a Christian should mourn is the Consideration of sin For a Man to consider seriously what a great and strange kind of Evil Sin is how contrary to God to his Nature to his Will to his Commands to his Goodness to his Justice to the wise Order of his Grace and Providence and especially to the great mystery of Godliness Then to consider how contrary 't is to Man to his Nature to his Reason to his rational Instincts and Inclinations to his inward Peace and Satisfaction and lastly to his Interest both Temporal and Spiritual Private and Publick Present and Future Then again to consider how prone we are to commit it and that we our selves are the Authors of this proneness And lastly how much of this great strange Evil there is in the World how Iniquity abounds and the Love of many waxes cold that the whole World as St. John says lies in wickedness that there are but few that pretend to any Strictness or Regularity of Living and yet fewer that discharge their Pretensions truly and sincerely I say for a Man to consider all this to consider it seriously and thoroughly must needs be a sad Scene of Contemplation and such as will justly call for his Sorrow and Mourning It was so to God himself who is brought in by Moses as griev'd at his very heart for the abundance of wickedness which he beheld in the Old World And I question not but that among the bitter Ingredients of our Lords Passion this was none of the least to foresee that there would be so many who by their final Impenitence and persevering in Wickedness would receive no Benefit from it And if we may judge by proportion the Angels in Heaven who rejoyce at the Conversion of one Sinner do also mourn and lament for the irreclaimable Wickedness of so many Millions as are in the World 'T is a thing worth our Considering and worth our Lamenting And therefore says the Psalmist Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law And again It grieveth me when I see the transgressours This is a vertuous and laudable Sorrow as proceeding from a good and noble Principle from Piety and Charity and he that mourns upon this consideration is a true Christian Mourner Again Seconly Another very proper and reasonable Cause why a Christian should mourn is the consideration of the Miseries of Human Life 'T is a most deplorable thing to consider what a deal and what variety of Misery there is in the World at once Many things must concur to make us tolerably Happy but One thing alone is oftentimes enough to make us very Miserable And how unhappy then must Humane Life be among such a multitude of Evils as are incident to it I shall not go about to recount or describe them They are too many to be numbred and too various to be reduced to any method This only I say That should a Man by some compendious Device have an united Prospect of the Miseries of the World as our Saviour by the Devils Artifice had of the Glories of it 't would be the most dismal Landfcape that ever was drawn or can be imagin'd 'T was for this that some of the Ancients reckon'd an early Death among the greatest Blessings of Heaven Quem Dii diligunt Adolescens moritur The Favourite of the Gods dies young says the Comedian But Solomon goes further and prefers an untimely Birth before a Man that has spent many years in this World To be short such is our Condition here that we see God has not thought fit to trust us with the least fore-knowledge of what is coming upon us lest like Men upon a deep Precipice we should be amazed confounded and fall down at the dreadful Prospect And if the private Circumstances of each single Man's Life be so black and disconsolate that 't is thought fit he should see no further than he goes what shall we think of the miseries of all Mankind put together If any thing be worth our Sorrow certainly this is Our compassionate Saviour wept over the approaching Ruin of perishing Jerusalem and shall not a Christian mourn for the miseries of the whole World We suspect the good Nature of him that can endure to sit out a deep Tragedy with dry Eyes and can we stand and look upon a miserable World without mourning There are some Men of Rocky Hearts and impassible Tempers that could stand by and see the whole World in Flames without any concern were but their own little selves secure from the Ruin And this some are pleas'd to call Philosophy But certainly Christian Charity that obliges us to sympathize with the miseries of each particular Man to weep with those that weep as the Apostle speaks does much more require us to lament the common Miseries of Human Life This therefore is a very proper Cause of Christian Mourning As is also in the Third place the Consideration of the Vanity and Emptiness of all Worldly and Created Good The general Cause of most of the Discontent and Melancholy that is in the World is because Men can't get so much of Worldly Good as they desire not at all questioning its Vanity but on the contrary supposing that if they could compass such and such things they should be Happy and their only