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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	work_n	world_n	worship_n	183	4	6.4042	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42831	Some discourses, sermons, and remains of the Reverend Mr. Jos. Glanvil ... collected into one volume, and published by Ant. Horneck ... ; together with a sermon preached at his funeral, by Joseph Pleydell ...	Glanvill, Joseph, 1636-1680.; Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.; Pleydell, Josiah, d. 1707.	1681 (1681)	Wing G831; ESTC R23396	193,219	458

and spoken to them they had not had sin Their sin had not been so great or so inexcusable nor would it have been charged upon them with such severity of condemnation But now that the Light hath shined in darkness the true Light that enlightens every one that cometh into the world Now since the Son of God is made manifest to destroy the works of the Devil and to turn men from those superstitious and idolatrous vanities to the right worship of God in Spirit and in Truth The plea of ignorance will no longer excuse or extenuate but God commands all men every where to Repent which is inforc'd with the most powerful consideration of the Text He hath appointed a day In which words we have these things 1. The Declaration of a future Judgement Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge 2. The universality of the subject to be Judg'd the World 3. The Person that is to be the judge The man whom He hath ordained 4. The rule and manner of Judgement He will Judge the World in Righteousness I Begin in order with the Decree of a future Judgement Of this the Heathens had some obscure notions as appears among other things by the stories of their fam'd Judges that were to call men to account in the other world But these were but glimmering apprehensions 'T is the Gospel hath brought to light the great Doctrine of a coming Judgement in the solemnity and circumstances of it This hath declared That there is to be a Judgement Day Matth. 10. 15. Jude 6. That Christ Jesus is to be the Judge of the quick and the dead Acts 10. 42. That he shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire 2 Thes 1. 8. That he shall come with ten thousand of his Saints Jude 14. That he shall judge the secrets of men according to the Gospel Rom. 2. 16. That the Dead shall be all raised by a General summons 1 Cor. 15. 52. and all shall be judg'd according to their works Rev. 20. 13. The just to eternal life and the wicked to everlasting punishment Matth. 25. 46. So that the belief of a Judgement Day is no panick fear or melancholy dream 'T is no trick of Politicians or Mormo of Priests to fright fools and keep the world in awe but a Truth as certain and undoubted as the Oracles of Truth can make it 'T is plainly declar'd in the most infallible Records yea 't is engraven on the minds of universal mankind who all expect a call to a future Judgement There is therefore no need of further proof of so clear and so acknowledg'd an Article But it may be worth our while to consider what may be the Reasons of this appointment of a Judgement Day And the same will serve as Arguments to confirm and enforce our Faith in it 1. Then 'T is reasonable and fit there should be a General Judgement that Religion may be vindicated and cleared The Gospel was of old to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 23. and we know by sad experience how in latter days Religion is expos'd and scorn'd It is made ridiculous by some and laugh'd at by others and which do it the greater mischief Those that put it into contemptible cloathing or those that pour direct contempt upon it is not our present business to conjecture This is certain that there is nothing hath been pretended in so many vile actions and designs Nothing in which mankind have been in any comparison so out of their wits as in what they have abusively call'd by this Sacred Name Religion we have seen it dy'd with humane blood and swoln with spoil and rapine written on the foreheads of tyrannies and usurpations and pleaded as the CAUSE the CAUSE of prosperous Villanies Divided into Atoms of Sects and disputed into Air of opinions Entitled to all the vanities of sick imagination and claim'd by all the follies of zealous ignorance And is it not reasonable there should be a time wherein this over-cast this clouded light should brighten like the Sun at noon and dispel those spots and that scumm which superstition ignorance and hypocrisie have fastned upon its glorious Face Is it not fit that the Gospel should at length appear to have been the power of God and no creature of melancholy or design Ought it not to be at last confest and known that Religion was a great Reality and no cunningly devised Fable No dream of imagination or interest of any lust but as simple as Innocence and as clear as the virgin light And it will be so in the coming day when the light of the other World hath shone in upon the darkness of this In summ 'T is just to expect that Religion will be gloriously celebrated and cleared and reasonable to believe it will be done by the solemnity of a Judgement day 2. A Future Judgement is ordain'd That Providence may be unridled and absolv'd The Judgements of God are a great Deep Psal 36. 6. and His ways past finding out Rom. 11. 33. The affairs of Providence are full of Mystery and Meanders as dark as the midnights of December and as crooked as the paths of the Desart All the Lines of our spinning all our observations and reasonings are too short to lead us to and fro the Labyrinth The world is govern'd by secret methods that are beyond our most improved knowledge How are we puzzl'd when we undertake to gloss on Providence and presume to give the reasons of its most ordinary managements The wicked lift up their heads against Heaven and prosper and the just bow the knee lifting up their hands unto it and are undone Folly succeeds and is applauded and Wisdom is disappointed and contemn'd Clouds and thick darkness encompass the devout and a warm Sun shines upon him that sacrificeth not Eccl. 7. 15. And when vice thrives and folly triumphs Providence is pleaded to credit ignorance and impiety and the success of the actions vouches for the goodness of the Cause God is thought to have own'd what for unknown reasons he hath permitted and to have acted that which in judgement he hath suffer'd On the other hand the best Designs are thought wicked when they prove unprosperous and the whitest Innocence marked with black characters when the cloud is upon it Thus Shimei accused David for a man of blood because of the evils of his House 2 Sam. 16. 7. And Job was concluded as great an instance of sin as he was of misery Job 4. The Barbarians inferr'd from the Viper that St. Paul was a Murderer Acts 28. 3 4. And the unbelieving world from the Cross that the Holy Jesus was a Malefactor Thus do men shoot one another out of this crooked bow and judge the goodness and badness of things by successes not by Rules and thereby traduce and abuse Providence by making it speak the language of their affections and their Interests and serve

to consider whether its pretended friends have not been and are not still great occasions of it The greatest part of Christians are incapable of judging concerning the truth or goodness of any Church or Constitution of Religion but are inclin'd in their opinion and affection by the general temper and practice of its professors and adherents Now 't is an almost universal principle among men that Religion and the Worship of God require the greatest seriousness and zeal where these are observ'd in peoples carriage to their particular Church the most are usually inclin'd to have respect for that on the other side when the members of any Church are cold and unconcern'd or wanton and irreverent in their Religion such a temper when it comes to be general draws popular contempt upon that Church and way This at present is the sad case of ours and I doubt it may be too truly said that there are no retainers to any Church in the world who are so little concern'd for it and the worship of God in it as the pretenders to the Church of England If we survey our several Congregations and consider our people we shall find but very few that carry themselves as if they had any conscientious affection to the Religion they profess If the Estimate be taken from those that are constant or frequent at the publick Prayers in Cathedrals or other Churches certainly the number must be acknowledg'd to be very small and if we reckon only such that carry but the appearance of serious Devotion it will be yet less so that the Church may almost be tempted to say with him There is not one godly man left the righteous are minished from among the children of men There are indeed multitudes who will tell us they are of this Church when they give us no ground but their bare word to believe they are of any While they talk of owning and adhering to the Church they will not afford the solemn worship of it as much as their bodily presence as long as the Devil and their Lusts have employment for them elsewhere They carry themselves to it as to a matter of the greatest indifference will go to Church now and then when time lies upon their hands and they are in the humour for it and then again never think of Religion or Worship till another accident excites them And when they come to such Sacred places as this with what rude boldness do they enter Gods house and how much carelesness and irreverence do they express in their very looks and garb Confident negligence seems at present to be a fashion and the whole carriage after is sutable to this ill beginning What toying talking gazing laughing and other rude follies may we observe in the midst of the most solemn parts of worship and how much slightness and playsomness in speaking of serving God being devout saying prayers and such like serious things after it Now when these carriages are observ'd not to mention worse in those that say they are of the Church of England how readily doth it dispose the generality of men who judge by bare appearance to think amiss of the Church that is ordinarily thus treated by its members and to suppose most others that profess it to be of the same sort or not very different and so to despise the Church and all that adhere unto it This certainly is a very great occasion of her present contempt and if you would not be accessary to its increase and growth if it be capable of any more beware of this carelesness and irreverence to the Religion you profess If Religion be a real thing and not a meer imagination as nothing is more certain it then requires our greatest zeal and venerations and the most serious exercise of our faculties and endeavours no prostrations can be too low in the adoration of the God of Heaven no ingagement of soul too intense in praying for his blessing and praising him for his bounty no attention too serious in hearing of His Word no deportment too awful in His eye and special presence Let us all consider this and demean our selves in our worship as those that are in earnest Let the light of our zeal and devotion so shine before men that they seeing our works may glorifie God reverence the Church and vindicate it and us from the scorning of those that are at ease and the contempt of the proud Let us endeavour so to worship that the fervour of our piety may equal the truth of our profession and our actions in Religion may have some sutableness to our expectations from it And then though the Church and we are filled with contempt yet we shall be clear from any imputation of the guilt and our souls may be at ease though we are scorn'd by the Proud Preach'd at a Visitation SERMON VI. MORAL EVIDENCE OF A Life to Come The Second Edition SERMON VI. MATTH XXII 32. God is not the God of the dead but of the living NOtwithstanding the manifold and immediate Transactions of God with the people of the Jews yet were they a dull and stupid generation addicted very much to the matters of sense and indisposed to things of spiritual and invisible nature Yea there was a great and famous Sect among them that denied a Life to come and the Existence of immaterial beings For the Sadducees say there is no Resurrection neither Angels nor Spirit Acts 23. 8. These put the Question here to our Saviour in a case of a woman who successively had seven Husbands whose Wife she should be at the Resurrection from ver 22. to the 28. which captious Query they intended for an Argument against the Doctrine of another Life Christ answers directly to the objection by telling them their mistake of the state and condition of that Life since they neither marry nor are given in marriage that have attain'd unto it but are like the Angels of God ver 30. and then takes occasion to prove the Resurrection or Living again of the dead out of the writings of Moses the only Scripture the Sadducees allow'd ver 31 32. But as touching the Resurrection of the dead have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living The former clause of the verse cites the Scripture which is the ground of the Argument the latter is a principle of Reason and both together infer That there is a Resurrection Now the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Resurrection of the dead undertaken to be shewn was not the Resurrection of the body though that be a great truth also since the argument doth not reach this For one who believes that the soul lives after death may say That God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob though the body doth not rise for they are living in their souls which

SOME DISCOURSES SERMONS AND REMAINS Of the Reverend M r. Jos Glanvil Late Rector of BATHE and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Collected into one Volume and published BY ANT. HORNECK Preacher at the SAVOY Together with a SERMON Preached at his FUNERAL by Joseph Pleydell Arch-Deacon of CHICHESTER LONDON Printed for Henry Mortlock at the Sign of the Phoenix in St. Pauls Church-yard and James Collins at his Shop under the Temple Church 1681. THE PREFACE TO THE READER TO recommend these Sermons to the World were to write a Panegyrick upon Light and to attempt to make that amiable to the Spectator which challenges acceptance by its own brightness The Oriental Pearl needs not the flattering praises of the greedy Jeweller nor the Stone that is digg'd out of the Mines of Golconda the faint Encomium's of the crafty Merchant The Author of these Discourses as his Wit lay out of the common road so this genuine off-spring of his fertile brain soars above the common level of Ecclesiastical Orations Death seemed to envy the vast parts of so great a man and in the ascent of his Age snatch't him away when the learned world expected some of his greatest attempts and enterprizes As he valued no notions that were mean and trivial so those he hath sent abroad savour of a more than ordinary genius His Soul seemed to be spun of a finer thread than those of other mortals and things look'd with another face when they passed through the quicker fire of his Laboratory Some curious Artists though their work is materially the same with that of meaner Artificers yet the shape they give it and the neatness of the Fabrick makes it seem a thing composed of different ingredients Even the most obvious truths when coming from our Author received a greater Lustre and that meat which familiarity made in a manner nauseous to some nicer Pallats when dress'd with his Sauce became more pungent and consequently more acceptable And though I am not able to bring in a list of the persons who have been effectually wrought upon by his Sermons and become eminent Saints under his Ministry Yet Charity bids us believe that not a few by his means turned Proselytes of Righteousness though if his pains had proved unsuccessful it could have been no disparagement to his glory Providence is sometimes pleased for reasons best known to it self to cast mens lots in places where they cannot boast of many converts made by their Preaching and I have been acquainted with some who have spoke it with Sorrow that in ten years time they could not say that any of their constant hearers had come to them to beg directions how to perfect holiness in the fear of God One would admire that men of that life and power as I have known some to be should work no greater wonders and yet we have not a few parallel examples in the Gospel and when the Son of God himself could make no impression upon the men of Capernaum we need not marvel if his servants meet sometimes with the like repulses but this doth not lessen their reward no more than the ineffectual attempts of Ezechiel made him shine with less brightness in the Firmament of Heaven And where such labours are lost they do indeed aggravate the hearers guilt but do not frustrate the Labourer of his recompence To continue barren under such Thunders is to prepare for the scourge of Scorpions and where men remain unmoved under sound and affectionate teaching they make way for their greater Agonies His Sermons as they were very solid so they were which is the grace and life of them pathetick and by his zeal and fervour one might guess how big his desire unto God for Israel was that they might be saved Though he met sometimes with disappointments yet he remembred he was a Christian And as he was not without his crosses so he carried himself under them like a true Philosopher His mind seemed to be serene when things went most contrary to his wishes and whatever storm the inconstancy and sickleness of sublunary objects threw upon him within still he felt a calm beyond that of Socrates when the ungrateful Athenians sent him the fatal draught to drink his death and ruine He had a mind fitted for Contemplation and his thoughts could dwell on a Divine Object till he had suck't out the Cream and Marrow His Divinity like his Philosophy was free from Dogmatizing and while he tyed himself to no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he arrived to a clearer apprehension of truth and errour The Divine Plato was somewhat dearer to him than the subtiler Aristotle and it cannot be otherwise where souls long to be transformed into the Image of the Deity Nothing seemed to ingross his desire so much as the reformation of an unbelieving world and indeed there were few men fitter for that enterprize God having blessed him with a considerable stock both of Reason and Eloquence To a clarified mind the gross Atheistical surmises of Modern Wits must needs be exceeding fulsome and no marvel if Souls so fine break forth sometimes into very severe Satyrs to lash this petulant humour If any thing could raise his passion it was the non-sensical discourses of DEISTS and Christian Infidels and he thought he might be justly angry with such wretches that like the Giants of old durst make War with Tremendous Omnipotence He loved not to invelop Theological Doctrines in mysterious phrases and ever thought that Divinity best agreed with the mind of the Holy Ghost that was expressed in rational and intelligible propositions He was never any great Admirer of our Modern Illuminati and he counted that discourse but little better than Nonsense which affected to recommend it self to the admiration of the hearer by its not being understood Where his Reason tyred and could give him no direction he was willing to take Faith for his Guide and though he confessed that not a few things in Scripture were altogether unaccountable to his understanding yet he doubted not but they would all be made clear in that State where we shall know even as we are known This puts me in mind of the Motto which a Friend of the Ingenious Mr. Culverwell hath added to his Sermons and which may serve as an Epilogue to this Preface What this we shall know as we are known may be The Author could not tell He is gone to see Anthony Horneck SERMON I. THE Way of Happiness The Fourth Edition SERMON I. LUKE 13. 24. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate For many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able WHEN I consider the goodness of God and the merits of his Son our Saviour and the Influences of the Holy Spirit and all the advantages of the Gospel The certainty of its Principles the reasonableness of its duties the greatness of its ends the suitableness of its means the glory of its Rewards and the Terrour of its punishments I