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
A67361	Divine meditations upon several occasions with a dayly directory / by the excellent pen of Sir William Waller ...	Waller, William, Sir, 1597?-1668.	1680 (1680)	Wing W544; ESTC R39417	76,156	224

special note I would by the by allow my self a traffick with sundry authors as I happned to light upon them for my recreation and I would make the best advantage that I could of them but I would fix my study upon those only that are of most importance to fit me for action which is the true end of all learning and for the service of God which is the true end of all action Lord teach me so to study other mens works as not to neglect mine own and so to study thy word which is thy work that it may be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path my candle to work by Take me off from the curiosity of knowing only to know from the vanity of knowing only to be known and from the folly of pretending to know more then I do know and let it be my wisdome to study to know thee who art life eternal Write thy law in my heart and I shall be the best book here MEDITATION VI. Vpon an entertainment of Godly Friends WHat a deal of Heaven is there in in this company methinkes like Abraham I entertain Angels the comfort and illumination that I receive from them hath so much of that society in it Certainly there is no pleasure in this world comparable to the enjoyment of the Communion of Saints where good people are compacted and united together in affection and judgment and interest as fellow members of one body which though many have but one heart and one head and are so one another that they are members one of another that they are all one in Christ But in the name of wonder what is it that should be so taking in this company where is the wine and the strong drink where are the costly ointments and the Crownes of rosebuds the Musick dancing laughing the world understands the language of these jollities without the help of an interpreter But for people to meet only to talk one another into gravity and to spend time in speculative discourses of another world when they might give themselves the pleasure of this if this be mirth what doth it It may seem a strange and an impertinent advice of this great Moralist to his friend Lucilius that above all things he should be careful to learn● how to be merry one would think there should go no great matter of Philosophy to that But there is a mistake in it True mirth is Metaphysical and supernatural It is not the crackling of thornes under a pot a blaze and a noise and a nothing the laughter of a mad man is not mirth but it is a severe and I may say a Divine thing It is an anticipation of the joyes of Heaven in the delightful society of a good conscience when we are alone and together with that of conscientious friends when we are in company They are the merry hearts that keep the continual Feast It is one of the Devils lyes and that of which he hath made as great advantage as of any that Religion is a dull flat melancholy thing whereas in truth there is no such cleere defecate mirth as that which cometh from the Springs above The Prophet Isaiah speaking of the coming of our Saviour in the flesh gave this Character of him That he should not be sad so it is rendered in the vulgar translation that he should not be of a sullen retired disposition but amicable and free and it was verified in his conversation He was anointed with the oyle of gladness and we have that Spiritual unction from him Let the men of the world deride this heavenly mirth as the Covetous Pharisees derided the true riches which Christ spake of as a fantastical thing they do but like those that make themselves merry at the sight of a company dancing a farr off when they cannot hear the musick whereby their gestures and motions are directed and therefore judge them to be antick and ridiculous They take this mirth to be no other then a folly and laugh at they know not what because being at such a distance from the godly they cannot take notice of the heavenly harmony and accord that is between their orderly conversation and the aires of Gods spirit quickening and inlivening them with joyes unspeakable and full of glory Nothing but ignorance is the mother of this misopinion But what are these friends that are so wellcom are they persons of honour or interest is there any thing to be gotten by them the fashion of the world is to serve the Ball only to those that can return it and to bid those only that can bid againe It is a sad word Not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish weak base inconsiderable things of the world things that are nothings to route and confound all humane wisdome and might and to annul things that are The Lord seeth not as man seeth vainglorious fooles may pride themselves in that which is none of their own the vertue and generosity of their ancestors or in that which hath no being at all but in fancy riches and estate It is not flaggs and pedegree but a noble heart that makes a noble person true goodness is true greatness and Gods blessing the true riches he that hath that hath all ●s slight account as there is made of these good people and of such as these they are the Children of the King of heaven and though possibly their names may not be extant in the Heralds bookes they will be found written in the book of life Our little great ones of the world may think them only fit to stand at the lower end of the roome or to sit under the footstoole but with their good leave they that shall one day sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven are good enough now to be guests at the best table upon earth How happy are the hours that are spent in such company as this to speak more properly they are not spent but gaind So much time thus redeemed is so much life clearly gotten there is a prolongation of life in a holy Conversation it is one thing to be in the world and another to live in it They only live that live well Vitious persons that give themselves up to their pleasures are dead whilst they live and are but a kind of walking Ghosts but the living the living they praise God and they onely live that do praise him There is nothing that hath a greater influence upon our lives than the company we keep generally Men are like that Mercurial Planet good or bad according to their conjunction with others There is in all societies an attracting and assimilating quality and altho thorough the corruption that is predominant in our natures this is more apparent in the operation of evil rather than of Good Company yet there is true grace this Magnetick Vertue will shew it self

their own lusts and passions and interests It is not evil to suffer but to do evil But I am hear immured in an obscure base condition What then true vertue is a jewel that can give a lustre in the dark If the worth of a meer moral man as was Socrates could be thought sufficient to take off the ignominy and reproach of a prison upon the account of his lying there how much more should the honour of a Christian illustrate and dignify the basest Dungeon But I am separated and cut off from the society of the world The further off the better except the world were better What is there in the world but the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and what can there be more proper for remedy of these evils then this confinement wherein as to the first my body is sufficiently kept under and brought into subjection for although I cannot say that I am lodged as our King Edward the Second was in a vault among dead carcasses yet in a civil way I am buried here and am but a kind of a living Corps a mortification to my self As for mine eyes they are secured from the temptation of any vain objects having little else to behold but bare old ruinous walls the emblems of mine own decayed condition and in this desolate forlorn habitation what exercise can there be for pride except it be in a holy way to despise the world company and not solitude is the Scene of pride O my Soul is it not an happiness to be freed from these snares wilt thou be disquieted for being shut out of a pest-house What though thou beest as a Sparrow alone and that no eye take notice of thee It is for players to be out of countenance when no body sees them act a good Conscience is a thousand spectators Nay be not deceived thou art not alone when thou art most alone God is here and he that is higher then the highest regardeth thee Christ so with thee that he is in thee persecuted in thee and afflicted in thine affliction the Holy Ghost is thy comforter the Angels are thy Guardians they keep thee they Minister unto thee and is not this good company But there is a dishonour that sticks to this condition which is usually followed with contempt and scorn True if the cause of committment were dishonorable if I suffered as a malefactor But when the cause is Gods and that I suffer for doing well I am so far from being ashamed of my chain that I glory in it as in a favour from Gods own hand What have I that I have not received my very sufferings as well as the grace of believing are to be reckoned among my receipts to me it is given not only to believe but to suffer As to the contempt of the world there is nothing more contemptible no man is subject to that but he that lyes under a contempt within himself Retain thine own dignity O my Soul and thou art above it But possibly thou maist shrink at the apprehension of poverty and want which are usual concomitants of a captive estate be not cast down nor disquieted with this He that hath himself and is in possession of his own Soul hath lost nothing I am yet richer then I was when I came into the world Blessed be God I have yet all that Jacob could wish bread to eat and rayment to put on whilst many better then I have not so much Whatsoever is more then that is more then needs Job gave God thanks when he had nothing before him Paul when he had nothing had all I can claim nothing from God as due unto me but the wages of my sins and that is something worse then nothing Be thankful O my Soul for what thou hast be humbled for what thou hast not in all conditions labour to be content and in that contentment with Gods blessing thou wilt find all But it is the continuance of an imprisonment that may seem tedious and be grievous Certainly that cannot be long for the life of man is but of short continuance It can be but like an ill lodging in an Inn and we should bear it accordingly what tho the night be long it is but a night and we shall be gone in the morning Remember O my Soul that a long imprisonment is not so bad as an everlasting one Bless God that thou art not laid in chaines of darkness with the Devil and his Angells reserved unto the judgment of the last dreadful day Be not weary of well suffering no more then of well doing think of the glorious Army of Martyrs How did many of them languish with a desire to be in thy condition and reckoned themselves in prison till they were in prison thou hast not yet resisted unto blood as they did thou art in the hands of thine heavenly Physitian who best knowes thine infirmity and thy constitution and complexion and what is fittest for thee beyond all that thou canst think what if he seeing that sharp and quick remedies be not so proper for thee and that thou canst not bear them do put thee in this slow course of Physick to spend thy disease by a strict restrained diet wilt thou presume to dispute his prescription do not but obey and follow it But what if this imprisonment should be but praecursory to a further a greater and it may be a capital punishment I may consider in what hands I am that I am under the power of a frantick People that have cast off their obedience to all lawful authority and know not how to weigh out Justice unto any without putting their sword into the scales O my Soul thou mayest do wisely to look beforehand thorough thy danger to the uttermost end thereof and to arm thy self against the worst that may be but in taking this perspective make use of thy reason not of thy passion a provident care and a solicitous despondency are two things Do not punish thy self with may be 's Do not antidate afflictions and make thy self miserable at present by an apprehension that thou mayest come to be miserable hereafter He that in a timerous solicitous way takes thought for to morrow labours under that suffering to day which he apprehendeth for to morrow and cannot but fear more then he should because he fears sooner then he should He doth in a sort put the lye upon our blessed Saviour as if the evil of the day were not sufficient unto it These querulous fancies argue an unfixedness of heart as the creaking of a board sheweth it to be loose and not well fastened The Moralists can tell us in this case that there is nothing more easily deceived then humane foresight That in such future contingencies as it is observed in acute diseases our predictions are very uncertain that there is a levity in evil as well as in good fortune both alike subject to vicissitudes and