Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	base_a	choose_v	confound_v	2,480	5	10.0841	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61197	The royal and happy poverty or, a meditation on the felicities of an innocent and happy poverty: grounded on the fifth of Matthew, the third verse. And addressed to the late and present sufferers of the times.	Sprigg, William, fl. 1657.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5081; ESTC R221805	40,412	115

pollution and corruption of their Natures the Leprosie of sin that cleaves to them they 'l never desire the Angel may move the waters or go unto the pool of Bethesda to the fountaine of Christs blood to wash and bathe their souls in Iordan till they finde and feel their souls stung by the fiery Serpents of sin till they feel the sting of the guilt of sin stick in their souls and consciences they 'l never by the eye of Faith look up to the brazen Serpent Christ Jesus that was lifted up upon the Crosse that they may receive health and healing to their souls Till they are sencible of those breaches and ruines the fall of Adam hath made in their natures till they are sencible of those wounds and bruises those mortall wounds sin hath given them they will never go to the Physitian of souls for cure to have the balm of Gilead applyed to their wounds to have oyl and wine poured into them Till they are sencible of that issue of blood that is upon them and have in vain spent all their substance on other Physitians and fruitless remedies they will not presse after Christ to touch the hem of his Garment to receive vertue and healing from Him Till they are sencible of the misery into which they are fallen and the irrecoverablenesse of their estate they will never beg the putting forth of the hand of Gods mercy and the arm of his Almighty Power for their rescue and deliverance Till men are sensible of their blood-guiltiness they 'l never fly to the City of Refuge to avoid the pursuit of Gods Vengeance the pursuit of the Avenger of Blood Till they are sensible of their own vileness they 'l not fly to the Ark of the New Covenant to be preserv'd from that deluge of wrath that is to come upon the workers of iniquity Till men are sensible of their own barrenness and unfruitfulness in all the works of holiness and righteousness and that the Axe of Gods Judgements is laid to the root of every tree that bringeth not forth fruits worthy of repentance and newness of life and that it shall be hewn down and cast into the flames of Gods Vengeance and become the fuel of eternal fire the fuel of his Eternal Wrath and displeasure I say till by the Eye of Faith they discern and believe this they 'l never desire to be grafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus that they may receive sap and influence from him and so become fruitful and abound in the works of righteousness till we are sensible that we are dead in trespasses and sins we shall never desire the quicknings and enlivenings of Gods Spirit till we are sensible of and groan under the burden and weight of the guilt of sin we shall never desire ease of Christ till we are sensible of that body of death we carry about with us of that Law in our members rebelling against the Law of our minds of that power dominion rule and tyranny that sin hath obtained over us captivating us into the obedience of the Law of sin and death we shall never groan to be deliver'd into the liberty of the Sons of God that we may serve him without fear and be able to lead captivity captive For so long as men are of opinion with the Church of Laodicea that they think they abound are rich and full they will never acknowledge that they are poor blind and naked and by consequence become Suitors at the Throne of Grace that they may receive Crowns and Thrones of Glory To conclude this particular so long as men have any reeds of their own righteousness to lean unto though but broken reeds and such as will rather wound and pierce their sides than yeeld any strength or support unto them they 'l never build their Faith on the Rock of Ages Christ Jesus So long as they can fit and please themselves under the gourds of their own righteousness under the shadows of their own performances so long as they have any thing to skreen them from the heat and scorchings of an inkindled conscience I say till the Sun of Righteousness be arisen and hath scorched their Gourds and burnt up all their pleasant Bowers they will very hardly be perswaded to take shelter under the Cross of Jesus And therefore upon this account poverty of spirit is a blessed and happy condition for that it is an awakened state and gives men a true prospect and discovery of their estate and condition for that it brings them acquainted with their wants with what they stand in need of 2 Poverty of spirit is a fruitful state your low and humble valleys are crowned with the greatest plenty are most rich and fruitful the lowest trees and meanest shrubs have their boughs laded with the greatest encrease as appears in the Vine and other trees whereas high mountains tall trees and stately Cedars are commonly steril and barren and their great bulk but a burden to the earth No man plants a Vineyard on the top of an hill they are the low and humble souls in which God delights in whose hearts he plants his fear and ingrafts the Graces of his Holy Spirit on whom he causes the influences and Dews of Heaven to descend and bestows the Watrings and Sanctifications of his Spirit These are those blessed Souls that the Psalmist resembles to Trees planted in the Garden of God by the rivers of water which bring forth their fruits in season and whose leaves shall never wither never fade shall know no Autumn no Winter but alwayes thrive and prosper God hath chosen the mean the weak and base things of this world to confound the wise and mighty that so no flesh might glory in his presence that the wise man may not glory in his wisdome least it be turned into folly nor the strong man in his strength least it be turned into weaknesse nor the rich man in his riches least they be turned into poverty and penury but that who so glories may Glory in the Lord And this is that makes the Gospel such a Riddle such a Mysterie to the World that God raises a Worm the Worm Iacob to thresh the Mountains a little David a small young Stripling to discomfit a great Goliah Goliah the Champion of the Philistims a small Rod to cleave in sunder a mighty Rock as sometimes Moses did in the Wildernesse to smite an Host of Philistims with the jaw bone of an Ass to cause the proud and stately Walls of Iericho to tremble and shake for fear and at length drop down to Rubbish at the blast of a few Rams-horns Now if you ask the reason of this why God hath chosen such weak contemptible means such despicable and despised instruments to accomplish and bring about the great designs and purposes of his will the grand Councils of his Mind It is his jealousie of his honour that none may rob him of his Glory that all may acknowledge as sometimes the

condition of the Gospel this is not a Law that hath any force or obligation in foro conscientiae in the court of conscience for our right as I said to the things of this world is rather commenc'd than extinguish'd by our adoption and new-birth for whose is the earth and the fulness thereof but the Lords and who then have better right unto it then the Sons of God Or who may more truly be call'd the Lords and Princes of the Creation then they for whom the world was made and yet is not worthy of them though I must confess it is most commonly seen here that servants ride on horseback and the Princes go on foot c. Thirdly This poverty is not any low and base abjectness of spirit no sordidness or despondency of mind to be poor in spirit is not to have little poor narrow and contracted souls to have creeping and degenerate spirits that are alwayes grovelling in the dust that according to the curse of the Serpent creep on their bellies and lick the dust of the earth that are meer muck or dung-hill worms that have their heads and hearts bow'd down to the earth Os homini sublime dedit saith the Poet This therefore is unworthy and below the generosity of a man much more a Christian Religion doth not make men fools sheepish but admirably blends the innocency of the Dove together with the wisdom and prudence of the Serpent Religion is not that that clouds the mind with black melancholick and sad apprehensions if any think thus they seem guilty of the same absurdity with those Heathen that Deified their diseases and erected Altars unto Feavours or admit the like abuse that Mahomets Disciples did when they believ'd their Prophets Convulsions to be Extasies and Divine Raptures this is to intitle our melancholy to Religion and guild ore the distempers and infirmities of Nature with the title of Grace which is something like the humour of the Negroes who paint their gods black and the Devil white whereas Religion is so far from being any morose sower or tettrick thing that what the Philosopher said of virtue may with advantage be affirm'd of Religion viz. that could it assume Corporeity or render it self visible it would appear so lovely so amiable that it would at once both enamour and ravish the Whole world into the admiration of her Features and by the sole attractives of her transcendent Beauty and the powerful Charms of its comely Graces attract and captivate the hearts of all men and command both homage and affection from all that should behold her she would then need no other Eloquence than the silent Oratory of her own beauty to recommend her and invite the whole world unto her imbraces For is good nature a lovely thing there 's nothing more improves and meliorates mens natures than the ingrafting Religion therein there 's nothing more inlarges the spirit and gives it a more just and Noble Elevation then that there 's nothing fills the mind with a more Noble with a more generous scorn and contempt of low base and abject things than that that 's it that raises a mans thoughts from the earth on which they are naturally so apt to grovel and be bowed down unto that 's it that spirits and enobles a Soul that emancipates it from base slavish and pusillanimous fears and fills it with a high and Princely ambition and ambition more Noble and generous then that of Alexanders that so inlarges the heart that not only one earth but the whole world is too little for it is not able to fill or satisfie it this is that refines the affections and causes them to fly a higher pitch than to be decoy'd by any thing here below than to stoop to any thing on this side immortality and life that causes the Soul to soare aloft and mount up as with Eagles wings till it makes its nest in the very bosom of God They therefore disparage Religion and cast a blot and scandal on the Profession of the Gospel who go all the day drooping and holding down their Heads like a bulrush there being none who have so much reason to be cheerful to have a merry heart and a cheerful countenance as Christians There is no reason why any ones face should shine so much as theirs who like Moses have seen God in the Mount 4 We are therefore by this poverty of spirit to understand something beyond anything that hath been yet mentioned And without doubt it s to be taken in a like sense as that place where Christ saith its harder for a Camel or Cable rope as some interpret it for the same word in the Original signifies both to passe thorow the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now we shall be best able to understand what is meant by these Riches that bar our entrance into blessednesse and this Poverty on which it is intail'd by comparing these with other places one Scripture being the best Key to unlock the sence of another Our Saviour saith Matt. 9. 13. That he came not to call the Righteous but sinners to Repentance and in another place the whole need not the Physitian but those that are sick So likewise where he saith He came to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel So likewise that Parable of the Pharisee that made so nigh and familiar approach to the Altar and blessed God he was not as the Publicane that stood aloof afar off and cried Lord be merciful to me a sinner and yet according to the virdict of Truth it self went away more justified than the Pharisee that was so pure and righteous in his own eyes I say this Parable may lend some light to the understanding of it Also when our Saviour took a little Child and setting him in the midst of his Disciples said unlesse ye be as little children ye cannot enter into the Kingdom Heaven he seems to have given a clear Comment on this Text Also when he said Suffer little children to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven he seems to Paraphrase on the same Doctrine From all which put together I think we may safely collect and spell out this or the like sence from the words viz. That poverty of spirit is a being little mean vile and contemptible in our own eyes to become as little children without strength and without courage helplesse and shiftlesse without counsel and without advice having neither wisdom prudence discretion nor understanding in our selves they therefore are the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the poor in spirit that are arrived at this resigned state or condition that have parted with their own strength their own wisdom their own Councils and their own Righteousnesse too and are become sensible of their own baseness their own unworthinesse their own nothingness that see and acknowledge the sinfulnesse of their natures the miserablenesse of their