Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	chapter_n	soul_n	verse_n	2,620	5	9.2383	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49384	The Christian race a sermon preach'd before the Queen at Kensington on Sunday the 31th of July, 1692 / by Richard Lucas ...	Lucas, Richard, 1648-1715.	1692 (1692)	Wing L3394; ESTC R13000	14,824	32

and comprehensive Design of advancing all the good Mankind is capable of As it has its Vertues which adorn the Man so has it those too which adorn the Prince the General the Judge and so downwards As it hath its Vertues which perfect and accomplish Human Nature so has it those too which cement and support Civil Society It is is so far from consisting in Modes and Forms in Heats and Enthusiasm that it consists not in Mortification it self alone laying aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us is in my Text but a Qualification or Preparation to the running the Race set before us Whoever then confines Religion to Private and Solitary Piety I mean to such a one as is useless to the World dissolves the Vigour and impoverishes the Generosity of the Christian Spirit Godliness and Sobriety without Righteousness would make but a maimed and imperfect Religion for it is not the Design of Religion to resolve Societies and Kingdoms into Hermits and Monks but to purifie and raise them and make the Kingdoms of the World the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ This is a Design so glorious so benign and gracious that one would think whoeser ingages in it should find every thing easie and yielding propitious and safavourable to him But alas if he consider the Corruption of Nature the Malice of Hell and Degeneracy of the World he has reason to expect a very formidable Opposition In the Conquest of which consists The Third and most considerable Part of the Christian Race My Son said Jesus the Son of Sirach Ecclesiasticus the 2d Chapter and verses 1 2. if thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy Soul for Temptation set thy heart aright and constantly endure and make not haste in time of trouble Which if we should suppose him to speak Prophetically will amount to thus much Whoever thou art who resolvest to enter the Lists of Christianity and run the Race that is set before thee dream not of a cheap and easie Victory thou shalt be encountred with violent Opposition from within and from without Sloth or Self-preservation will solicite thee to ease and rest why shouldst thou be righteous over much and destroy thy self why shouldst thou exchange thy calm and security of a quiet private Piety for the storms and troubles in which thy Zeal and Rashness will imbroil thee Diffidence or Distrust in God Impatience under thy own Fortune or Envy of anothers will suggest to thee many more effectual and compendious ways to Honour and Interest than a conscientious i. e. a tame and toilsome discharge of Duty Sensuality or at least Lukewarmness will endeavour to perswade that it is a Supream point of Wisdom to reconcile the Hopes of another World with the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this to which if thou listen thou art undone For this is a Perswasion which shoots a dead Palsie through the very Sinews of Zeal clips the Wings and takes down the Sails of Charity Nor shalt thou be less distrest from without then from within the Squadrons of Hell will beset thee round and Enemies will fall on from every Quarter there will be Sadducees and Atheists that will Attaque thy Faith and tear up if they can thy Righteousness by the Roots There will be Scribes and Pharisees who will blaste thy good Actions and aggravate thy Infirmities either out of hatred to the Communion thou art off or which is worse a close and secret Aversion to all Religion There will not be wanting Hobbists and Herodians Machivilians Craftsmen and innumerable others who will Assault thy Religion consisting in Zeal and Charity some as Folly others as a Scandal and Offence some as Enemy to Caesar and others as Enemy to Trade For an humble modest and a frugal Religion will not fail of being Traduced as menacing the Trade as much as the Sin of a Nation and as impairing the Revenues while it prunes the Luxury of a State Reformation though it disturbed a vicious World as the Angel did Bethesda's Water only to work Cures yet shall it never escape the Rallery and Reflections the small and great Shot of the Loose and Immoral and whatever Measures it take whether it revive old Constitutions or recommend new shall ever be branded as Design and Hypocrisie by all such as thrive and grow fat by Transgressing the Laws of God and Man Nay more yet there will not be wanting Advocates of Vice or Enemies to Vertue in thine own Train and Family who will dehort thee from all expensive and hazardous Sacrifices and indeavour to divert thee as St. Peter would have done our Saviour from the Paths which lead to Trials or Sufferings to Gethsemane or Golgotha Finally to compleat the Politicks of Hell thou shalt find the World divided into Factions Religious and Civil who will stamp Vice on the most glorious Actions and Honour and Vertue on Extravagancies and Debaucheries who will persecute the Truth of God as Heresie and Novelty and stickle for the Tenets i. e. the Interest of their Parties as for the Fundamentals of Faith or Precepts of the Decalogue And after all God himself sometimes will withdraw and seem to abandon and give thee up to the Will of wicked Men so that thou shalt be ready to cry out with his beloved Son My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Here is the Trial here is the Patience of the Saints These and many more are the Difficulties thou art to conquer if thou wilt so run as to obtain and therefore prepare thy self by Mortification and Discipline and fortifie thy Soul by the wisest Advice and the most powerful Incouragements for thou shalt have need of all This minds me of my Second General Direction for the Discharge of this Duty consisting of Three Rules I begin with the first that is to lay aside every weight every corrupt Affection which like a weight would clog and retard us in our Race This Advice contains several important Truths as First That whatever the Disorder or Depravation of Nature be which we derive from our first Parents our Destruction is from our selves and those Reluctancies and Aversions for Righteousness to which we owe our Ruin are rather contracted then Original 'T is true there is a Law in the Body which wars against the Law of the Mind but then it is as true that there is a Law in the Mind which wars against the Law of the Body The Language of the Body is indeed more soft and insinuating but that of the Mind more authoratative and awful The Body like Esau is the First-born for as Job observes Man is born like a wild Asses Colt but the Mind like Jacob comes into the World with a better Title by Divine designation and a Capacity which soon defeats it of its usurped Possession of the Birthright The Objects finally of the Body are present and sensible yet to the Soul the Glory and Eternity of its Objects make amends