Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	deny_v	live_v	ungodliness_n	2,303	5	11.2667	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62629	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions By John Tillotson, D.D. Dean of Canterbury, preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn, and one of His Majesties chaplains in ordinary. The second volume.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1678 (1678)	Wing T1260BA; ESTC R222222	128,450	338

bodies indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil So that if these pleasures were greater than they are a man had better be without them than purchase them at such dear rates To the second That Religion imposeth many harsh and grievous things which seem to be inconsistent with that pleasure and satisfaction I have spoken of As the bearing of persecution repentance and mortification fasting and abstinence and many other rigours and severities As to persecution This Discourse doth not pretend that Religion exempts men from outward troubles but that when they happen it supports men under them better than any thing else As for Repentance and mortification this chiefly concerns our first entrance into Religion after a wicked life which I acknowledged in the beginning of this discourse to be very grievous But this doth not hinder but that though Religion may be troublesome at first to some persons whose former sins and crimes have made it so it may be pleasant afterwards when we are accustomed to it And whatever the trouble of repentance be it is unavoidable unless we resolve to be miserable for except we repent we must perish Now there is always a rational satisfaction in submitting to a less inconvenience to remedy and prevent a greater As for Fasting and abstinence which is many times very helpful and subservient to the ends of Religion there is no such extraordinary trouble in it if it be discreetly managed as is worth the speaking of And as for other rigours and severities which some pretend Religion does impose I have only this to say that if men will play the fool and make Religion more troublesome than God hath made it I cannot help that And that this is a false representation of Religion which some in the world have made as if it did chiefly consist not in pleasing God but in displeasing and tormenting our selves This is not to paint Religion like her self but rather like one of the Furies with nothing but whips and snakes about her To the third That those who are religious are many times very disconsolate and full of trouble This I confess is a great Objection indeed if Religion were the cause of this trouble but there are other plain causes of it to which Religion rightly understood is not accessary As false and mistaken principles in Religion The imperfection of our Religion and obedience to God And a melancholly temper and disposition False and mistaken principles in Religion As this for one That God does not sincerely desire the salvation of men but hath from all eternity effectually barr'd the greatest part of mankind from all possibility of attaining that happiness which he offers to them and every one hath cause to fear that he may be in that number This were a melancholly consideration indeed if it were true but there is no ground either from Reason or Scripture to entertain any such thought of God Our destruction is of our selves and no man shall be ruined by any decree of God who does not ruin himself by his own fault Or else the imperfection of our Religion and obedience to God Some perhaps are very devout in serving God but not so kind and charitable so just and honest in their dealings with men No wonder if such persons be disquieted the natural consciences of men being not more apt to disquiet them for any thing than for the neglect of those moral duties which natural light teacheth them Peace of conscience is the effect of an impartial and universal obedience to the laws of God and I hope no man will blame Religion for that which plainly proceeds from the want of Religion Or lastly A melancholly temper and disposition which is not from Religion but from our nature and constituion and therefore Religion ought not to be charged with it And thus I have endeavoured as briefly and plainly as I could to represent to you what peace and pleasure what comfort and satisfaction Religion rightly understood and sincerely practised is apt to bring to the minds of men And I do not know by what sort of Argument Religion can be more effectually recommended to wise and considerate men For in perswading men to be religious I do not go about to rob them of any true pleasure and contentment but to direct them to the very best nay indeed the onely way of attaining and securing it I speak this in great pity and compassion to those who make it their great design to please themselves but do grievously mistake the way to it The direct way is that which I have set before you a holy and virtuous life to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world A good man saith Solomon is satisfied from himself He hath the pleasure of being wise and acting reasonably the pleasure of being justified to himself in what he doth and of being acquitted by the sentence of his own mind There is a great pleasure in being innocent because that prevents guilt and trouble It is pleasant to be virtuous and good because that is to excel many others and it is pleasant to grow better because that is to excel our selves Nay it is pleasant even to mortifie and subdue our lusts because that is Victory It is pleasant to command our appetites and passions and to keep them in due order within the bounds of Reason and Religion because this is a kind of Empire this is to govern It is naturally pleasant to rule and have power over others but he is the great and the absolute Prince who commands himself This is the Kingdom of God within us a dominion infinitely to be preferred before all the Kingdoms of this world and the glory of them It is the Kingdom of God described by the Apostle which consists in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost In a word The pleasure of being good and of doing good is the chief happiness of God himself But now the wicked man deprives himself of all this pleasure and creates perpetual discontent to his own mind O the torments of a guilty conscience which the sinner feels more or less all his life long But alas thou dost not yet know the worst of it no not in this World What wilt thou do when thou comest to die What comfort wilt thou then be able to give thy self or what comfort can any one else give thee when thy conscience is miserably rent and torn by those waking furies which will then rage in thy breast and thou knowest not which way to turn thy self for ease then perhaps at last the Priest is unwillingly sent for to patch up thy conscience as well as he can and to appease the cryes of it and to force himself out of very pity and good nature to say peace peace when there is no peace But alas man what can we do what comfort can we give thee when thine

to go on and fortifie their good resolutions to be more vigilant and watchful over themselves to strive against sin and to resist it with all their might And according to the success of their endeavours in this conflict the evidence of their good condition will every day clear up and become more manifest The more we grow in grace and the seldomer we fall into sin and the more even and constant our obedience to God is so much the greater and fuller satisfaction we shall have of our good estate towards God For the path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever I shall only make two or three Inferences from what hath been discoursed upon this Argument and so conclude 1. From hence we learn the great danger of sins of Omission as well as Commission Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God The mere neglect of any of the great duties of Religion of piety towards God and of kindness and charity to men though we be free from the commission of great sins is enough to cast us out of the favour of God and to shut us for ever out of his kingdom I was hungry and ye gave me no meat thirsty and ye gave me no drink sick and in prison and ye visited me not therefore depart ye cursed 2. It is evident from what hath been said That nothing can be vainer than for men to live in any course of sin and impiety and yet to pretend to be the Children of God and to hope for eternal life The Children of God will do the works of God and whoever hopes to enjoy him hereafter will endeavour to be like him here Every man that hath this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure 3. You see what is the great mark and character of a mans good or bad condition whosoever doth righteousness is of God and whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Here is a plain and sensible evidence by which every man that will deal honestly with h●mself may certainly know his own condition and then according as he finds it to be may take comfort in it or make haste out of it And we need not ascend into heaven nor go down into the deep to search out the secret counsels and decrees of God there needs no anxious enquiry whether we be of the number of Gods elect If we daily mortifie our lusts and grow in goodness and take care to add to our faith and knowledg temperance and patience and charity and all other Christian graces and vertues we certainly take the best course in the world to make our calling and election sure And without this it is impossible that we should have any comfortable and well grounded assurance of our good condition This one mark of doing righteousness is that into which all other signs and characters which are in Scripture given of a good man are finally resolved And this answers all those various phrases which some men would make to be so many several and distinct marks of a child of God As whether we have the true knowledg of God and divine illumination for hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Whether we sincerely love God for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments And whether God loves us for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance will behold the upright Whether we be regenerate and born of God for whosoever is born of God sinneth not Whether we have the Spirit of God witnessing with our Spirits that we are the children of God for as many as have the Spirit of God are led by the Spirit and by the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh Whether we belong to Christ and have an interest in him or not for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof In a word Whether the promise of heaven and eternal life belong to us for without holiness no man shall see the Lord but if we have our fruit unto holiness the end will be everlasting life So that you see at last the Scripture brings all to this one mark viz. holiness and obedience to the Laws of God or a vicious and wicked life In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Let us then deal impartially with our selves and bring our lives and actions to this tryal and never be at rest till the matter be brought to some issue and we have made a deliberate judgment of our condition whether we be the children of God or not And if upon a full and fair examination our consciences give us this testimony that by the grace of God we have denyed ungodliness and worldly lusts and have lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world we may take joy and comfort in it for if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But if upon the search and tryal of our ways our case appear clearly to be otherwise or if we have just cause to doubt of it let us not venture to continue one moment longer in so uncertain and dangerous a condition And if we desire to know the way of Peace the Scripture hath set it plainly before us Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Though our case be very bad yet it is not desperate This is a faithful saying and worthy of all men to be embraced that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And he is still willing to save us if we be but willing to leave our sins and to serve him in holiness and righteousness the remaining part of our lives We may yet be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God We who have ventured so long upon the brink of ruin may yet by the infinite mercies of God and by the power of his grace be rescu'd from the base and miserable slavery of the Devil and our lusts into the glorious liberty of the sons of God And thus I have endeavoured with all the plainness I could to represent every man to himself and to let him clearly see what his condition is towards God and how the case of his soul and of his eternal happiness stands And I do verily believe that what I have said in this matter is the truth of God

converse to form them into the same disposition and manners It is a living Rule that teacheth men without trouble and lets them see their faults without open reproof and upbraiding Besides that it adds great weight to a man's counsel and perswasion when we see that he adviseth nothing but what he does nor exacts any thing from others from which he himself desires to be excused As on the contrary nothing is more cold and insignificant than good counsel from a bad man one that does not obey his own precepts nor follow the advice which he is so forward to give to others These are the several ways of doing good to the Souls of men wherein we who are the Disciples of the Blessed Jesus ought in imitation of his Example to exercise our selves according to our several capacities and opportunities And this is the noblest Charity and the greatest kindness that can be shewn to humane nature it is in the most excellent sense to give eyes to the blind to set the prisoners at liberty to rescue men out of the saddest slavery and captivity and to save Souls from death And it is the most lasting and durable benefit because it is to do men good to all eternity 2. The other way of being beneficial to others is by procuring their Temporal good and contributing to their happiness in this present life And this in subordination to our Saviour's great design of bringing men to eternal Happiness was a great part of his business and employment in this world He went about healing all manner of sicknesses and diseases and rescuing the Bodies of men from the power and possession of the Devil And though we cannot be beneficial to men in that miraculous manner that he was yet we may be so in the use of ordinary means We may comfort the afflicted and vindicate the oppressed and do a great many acts of Charity which our Saviour by reason of his poverty could not do without a miracle We may supply the necessities of those that are in want feed the hungry and cloath the naked and visit the sick and minister to them such comforts and remedies as they are not able to provide for themselves We may take a Child that is poor and destitute of all advantages of education and bring him up in the knowledg and fear of God and without any great expence put him into a way wherein by his diligence and industry he may arrive to a considerable fortune in the world and be able afterwards to relieve hundreds of others Men glory in raising great and magnificent Structures and find a secret pleasure to see Sets of their own planting to grow up and flourish But surely it is a greater and more glorious work to build up a Man and to see a Youth of our own planting from the small beginnings and advantages we have given him to grow up into a considerable fortune to take root in the world and to shoot up to such a height and spread his branches so wide that we who first planted him may our selves find comfort and shelter under his shadow We may many times with a small liberality shore up a Family that is ready to fall and struggles under such necessities that it is not able to support it self And if our minds were as great as sometimes our estates are we might do great and publick works of a general and lasting advantage and for which many generations to come might call us blessed And those who are in the lowest condition may do great good to others by their Prayers if they themselves be as good as they ought For the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much The intercession of those who are in favour with God as all good men are are not vain wishes but many times effectual to procure that good for others which their own endeavours could never have effected and brought about I have done with the First thing The great Work and Business which our Blessed Saviour had to do in the world and that was to do good I proceed to the II. Second thing contained in the Text Our Saviour's Diligence and industry in this work He went about doing good He made it the great business and constant employment of his life he travelled from one place to another to seek out opportunities of being useful and beneficial to mankind And this will fully appear if we briefly consider these following particulars First How unwearied our blessed Saviour was in doing good He made it his only business and spent his whole life in it He was not only ready to do good to those that came to him and gave him opportunity for it and besought him to do it but went himself from one place to another to seek out objects to exercise his Charity upon He went to those who could not and to those who would not come to him for so it is written of him He came to seek and to save that which was lost He was contented to spend whole days in this work to live in a crowd and to be almost perpetually opprest with company and when his Disciples were moved at the rudeness of the people in pressing upon him he rebuked their impatience and for the pleasure he took in doing good made nothing of the trouble and inconvenience that attended it Secondly If we consider how much he denied himself in the chief comforts and conveniences of humane life that he might do good to others He neglected the ordinary refreshments of nature his meat and drink and sleep that he might attend this work He was at every bodie 's beck and disposal to do them good When he was doing cures in one place he was sent for to another and he either went or sent healing to them and did by his word at a distance what he could not come in person to do Nay he was willing to deny himself in one of the dearest things in the world his reputation and good name He was contented to do good though he was ill thought of and ill spoken of for it He would not refuse to do good on the Sabbath-day though he was accounted profane for so doing He knew how scandalous it was among the Jews to keep company with Publicans and Sinners and yet he would not decline so good a work for all the ill words they gave him for it Thirdly If we consider the malicious opposition and sinister construction that his good deeds met withal Never did so much goodness meet with so much enmity endure so many affronts and so much contradiction of Sinners This great Benefactour of mankind was hated and persecuted as if he had been a publick Enemy While he was instructing them in the meekest manner they were ready to stone him for telling them the truth and when the fame of his Miracles went abroad though they were never so useful and beneficial to mankind yet upon this very account they conspire against him and seek to