Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	church_n	power_n	society_n	1,162	5	9.1993	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81105	A sermon preached in the parish-church of St Nicholas, in the city of Bristol, August the 27th, 1691 Being the anniversary festival of the natives of that city. By Thomas Cary, M.A. and vicar of the parish of St Philip and Jacob, in the city of Bristol.	Cary, Thomas, 1648 or 9-1711.	1691 (1691)	Wing C743BA; ESTC R222493	16,665	34

his God the ambitious Man's God is Honour the Epicure's Pleasure the Gluttons the Belly and the Covetous Man's Riches the World is the Idol he adores because the gain of it is his ultimate end therefore the Apostle calls Covetousness Idolatry Col. 3. 5. The Covetous Man's Heart is wholly departed from the Lord with the Children of Israel he forsakes the true God to worship a Golden Calf with those in the Parable of the Gospel-Banquet he prefers his Farm or his Merchandize before his God and Saviour he knows no God but Gain no Paradise but an earthly Patrimony Bonds and Mortgages from Men are with him of greater Value and a better Security than the precious Promises of God give him Earth here he cares not for Heaven hereafter neither will he part with an Estate in hand for the Kingdom of Glory in reversion The Rich Man in the Gospel could boast much of his Morality yet he had not learnt so much Self-denial Go thy way saith Christ sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven but he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions Mark 10. 21. Our blessed Lord took occasion from hence to declare the difficulty of Salvation to those that are covetous by proportioning it to the passage of a Camel thro' a Needle 's eye How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God vers 24 25. The Covetous Man's Practices demonstrate the infidelity of his Heart he is always laying up on Earth because he believes not that there is an Heaven his restless pursuit after Temporal Riches is an argument he expects no other Satisfaction than what this World can afford his continual Labour for the Body is an evidence he thinks his Soul shall die with it he that believes in earnest that he hath an immortal Spirit to be happy or miserable for-ever will not wholly neglect his better part and lay out all his care on that which must perish the Covetous Man would not forsake God for the World did he not apprehend to be a greater Good Mammon is the only Master he serves Worldly Gain the only Good he desires and Worldly Loss the only Evil he fears Covetousness incapacitates the Heart to perform any Religious Duty after a Spiritual Manner How can he pray devoutly whose Heart is devoted to the World How can he profitably hear the Word of God whose Ears are never attentive but to the Sound of Gain whose Thoughts are on his Worldly Affairs No! the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful Mat. 13. 22. The most Divine Discourses can no more affect his Heart than the most Melodious Musick doth the Ear of a Beast When our Saviour exhorted to Charity the Pharisees who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him Luke 16. 14. How can he value the love and favour of God the Language of whose Heart is Let my Corn and Wine increase and let God lift up the Light of his Countenance upon whom he please How can he bless God for his Mercies whose unthankful Heart is not satisfied with too much but always ravenous after more God and the World are so contrary in their Natures that both cannot have our Hearts the love of the one doth imply a contempt of the other it remains therefore that a Covetous Man is a profane and graceless Person without God in the World 2. Covetousness is an Argument of a base and sordid Nature It lodgeth only in narrow Souls and earthly Spirits a generous Mind disdains to entertain this filthy Lust the Covetous Man acts from and for Self he is unprofitable both to Church and State and useless in every relation he hath not a Heart to prefer the Publick Good before his Private Interest Of all Persons in Humane Societies the Covetous are most unfit for Publick Offices How unqualified are they for the Power of Judicature who never want Hearts when they have Opportunities of taking Bribes Covetousness perverts Justice either from fear of displeasing some great Personage or from hope to oblige him To what base Flatteries to what servile Compliances to what slavish Drudgeries doth this Vice expose Men That Mind cannot be free and ingenious which is inslaved with the Love of Money Magistracy is never more disgraced than when misplaced on Covetous Men this sin is inconsistent with that State and Grandeur that should keep up the Honour of it exact Justice and a generous Charity tend more to secure it from Contempt than all the Ensigns of Authority Liberality and Hospitality render it more honourable than Swords and Maces or a tedious Train of Attendants and therefore Jethro advised Moses to provide for Magistrates Able men such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness Exod. 18. 21. The Covetous Man is at the best but a Slave in a Mine of Ore a Captive in Fetters of Gold the Jaylor rather than the Injoyer of his Estate This Vice bows down the Soul towards the Earth hinders its flight to Things above and eclipseth it by interposing the World between it and Heaven The first sin was Pride this cast Angels out of Heaven the next to that was an Affectation to be as Gods to know Good and Evil this cast our first Parents out of Paradise these sins are very great and cannot be sufficiently aggravated but they were sins of a more generous nature than this of Covetousness they aspired to be greater than they were but the Covetous Man debaseth and lesseneth himself they would have raised themselves higher towards Heaven but the Covetous Man stoops lower towards the Earth as if he lay under the Curse of the Serpent Vpon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life Gen. 3. 15. 3. Covetousness is a most cruel and unnatural Vice It fills the Head with Cares the Heart with Sorrows and the Mind with Fears What discontents at Providence what melancholy damps what excruciating thoughts do torture the Minds of Covetous Men Covetousness is a sin and a punishment together a Vulture in the Heart a Wolf in the Breast a Serpent in the Bosome it oppresseth the Spirits drieth up the Radical moisture depauperates the Blood degradeth the Soul and consumes the Body a Covetous Man starves at a Plentiful Table thirsts in Rivers of Water and is poor in the midst of abundance he lives in want of what he hath and in this is most miserable that he only knows the Cares and Sorrows not the Comforts of being Rich For what hath a man of all his labour and of the vexation of his heart wherein he hath laboured under the sun For all his days are sorrows and his travel grief yea his