Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	church_n	militant_a	triumphant_a	2,228	5	11.7299	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67184	A sermon at the funeral of the right honourable Henry, Earl of Warrington, Baron Delamer of Dunham-Massy, Lord Lieutenant of the County-Palatine of Chester, and one of the Lords of their Majesties most honourable Privy Council preached at Bowden in Cheshire / by Richard Wroe ...	Wroe, Richard, 1641-1717.	1694 (1694)	Wing W3728; ESTC R12138	16,713	33

state of the dead we are informed that there is no wisdom nor work nor device nor knowledge Chap. 9. 10. in the grave and if there be no work nor knowledge how to act there can be no change or alteration and the Text adds to this the assurance of two opposite states allotted to the Souls of men suitable to their different temper and disposition here wherein they shall remain without fear of losing the one or hopes to escape out of the other Besides since the Church of Christ has never been represented under other Titles than these two of Militant and Triumphant they do necessarily exclude this third subterraneous Church which is neither Militant because ascertain'd of Salvation and freed from the conflicts and oppositions of this world nor Triumphant because scorched and afflicted with the most exquisite Pains and Torments Leave we then that imaginary Church to its Vtopian Mansions the sooty region of Purgatory a place no where described in Scripture never mentioned in the discoveries of Divine Revelation but created by the heat of Fancy and abused Imagination and its flames when once kindled kept up out of design and by deluding Arts the Dreams of waking men and feign'd Relations of Spectres and Apparitions But let us to the Law and to the Testimony firmly believe what he has there discovered of a future state not seek to be wise beyond what he has revealed for we can know no more than he will let us of what is future and we cannot be more certain of any thing than what he hath told us Certain it is that there is a place of rest provided for holy Souls and that there are winged Messengers appointed to attend their dissolution and transport them as they did that of Lazarus into Abraham's bosom And were we but allowed to behold the Transactions of that invisible Polity the intercourse between Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect could we but discern the glorious entrance and admission of a departed Soul into the Church Triumphant it would exhibit to us a Scene of the most Ravishing Glory far outvying the greatness of Solomon or that united prospect of Worldly Glory wherewith the Devil tempted the Son of God But what we are not permitted to behold with our bodily Organs we may discern with the eye of faith and therewith follow them as high as the great Apostle was wrapt and with St. Stephen see Heaven opened and its blessed Inhabitants rejoycing at the arrival of the Faithful and welcoming them into those glorious Mansions But I leave these delightful Raptures to the enlargement of your private Meditations and having rais'd them where Faith carries them call back your present thoughts to more pensive reflections since Providence has administred an Occasion of sorrowful remembrance For alas the Tree is fall'n as indeed what can withstand Death's inevitable stroak a Tree which had God so pleased might have stood and flourished much longer but now like that in Nebuchadnezzar's Dream has received the Sentence of the Watcher and of the Holy One from Heaven who cried Hew down the tree and cut off his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit Trees however durable in themselves are yet liable to the stroak of the Axe and oft-times the tallest Cedar or strong-built Oak is cut down sooner than the useless Shrub We have it frequently exemplified and see them tumble down who whilst they stood not only graced the Forest but gave shade and shelter to others Would to God we had not had the Occasion of meeting here to day to bewail the fall of the most flourishing Plant that enriched our Soyl. It were easy to pursue the Metaphor did I design to detain you with a Narrative of what might be said and is justly due to the Memory of this Noble and Right Honourable Person who though now the Spoils of Mortality yet is not to be laid in the dust like common Mold nor deposited in the shades with silence For the part he acted on the Stage was so eminent as would not allow him to be unknown and unobserved or pass off unregarded and the Scene of his Life was attended with such variety as made his Name well known and his Person remarkable But for his publick Actions and Behaviour under the various turns and successions of Government I shall chuse rather to leave them to be recorded by Fame or read in our Annals and Chronicles than attempt an imperfect account of them or make my self liable to the Censures of Detraction and Envy True worth is or ought to be most valued where it is best known and they that were most intimately acquainted with him had the truest estimate of his worth and doubtless have the greatest share as well as most passionate sense of his loss give me leave to say without suspicion of flattery that he adorn'd that high Station which he had merited and graced that Honour which he had advanced his Family to For his Honour was the Jewel he most highly prized and could not be tempted to forfeit or prostitute it and I doubt not to affirm that his Conscience was the rule and measure of it which two when join'd together render a man truly great honourable and noble For men to pretend Honour without Conscience is to sacrifice to an Idol of their own setting up but when Honour is guided by Conscience it becomes sacred and venerable Such I am confident was this Noble Lord's sense and estimate of his Honour which spirited him with that freedom of endeavouring Equity and Justice as well in matters of Lesser concern among Equals and Inferiors as in that Higher Station where Persons of Noble Rank give Counsel and Sentence in matters of moment and cases of grand importance It is well known how he acted in such Capacities not as a careless Spectator not as one indifferent which way the Scales of Justice were turn'd but as one actuated with a sense of Honour and Justice not afraid to declare his Opinion not willing to conceal his Sentiments which he seldom found reason to alter after he had given his judgment having founded it upon the best reason and most certain information And in this he was so sedulous and curious that if it was not his it was our unhappiness that his over-earnest diligence this way is reckoned the Occasion of his last fatal Distemper which is judged to be brought upon him by a Cold contracted in the Middle-Temple Hall where he thought it necessary to be present at a Case between two Honourable Lords there argued by Learned Counsel before the Lord Keeper that he might be better able to judge of the Merits of the Cause when brought before the Great Judicature of the most Honourable Peers Nor did this first Item of his Ilness discourage his Endeavours to serve the Publick or prevent his attendance on the House some days after being the hearing of another business of moment wherein as he said