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	present_a	ungodliness_n	1,811	5	10.9823	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45357	The excellency of moral vertue, from the serious exhortation of St. Paul to the practice of it in several discourses upon Phil. 4. 8. : to which is added, A discourse of sincerity, from John i. 47 / by Henry Hallywell ...	Hallywell, Henry, d. 1703?	1692 (1692)	Wing H463; ESTC R18059	47,683	182

and Transgressions of the Eternal Laws of Nature Therefore it follows Verse 16. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do well relieve the Oppressed judg the Fatherless and plead for the Widow From hence you see that it is clear as the Sun that God puts a higher estimate and value upon the faithful discharge of these Moral Duties of Religion than he does upon the immediate Acts of his own Worship And that whatsoever Service is performed to him it is no further acceptable than as it stands in Conjunction with Acts of Kindness Beneficence Justice and Equity towards our Fellow-Creatures Nay our Saviour himself and his Apostles when they would give us a brief Summary or Compendium of Religion they always make the practice of Moral-Virtue to be the main part and foundation of it For thus our blessed Lord himself says that to love God and our Neighbour are the substance of the Law and the Prophets And St. James tells us Chap. 1.27 that true Religion before God and the Father is this To visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World Moreover the value that God puts upon Moral-Virtue is so great that when the Scripture gives a Character of any person that is dear and acceptable to God the description is for the most part drawn from instances of Morality In the 31st Chapter of Job we find that Holy Man making a profession of his Innocency and Integrity and all the instances he gives of it are but so many Acts of Moral-Virtue yet has he this Commendation given him That he was a perfect and upright man one that feared God and eschewed Evil Job 1.1 And that which indeared Cornelius to God and made him be thought worthy of the Visit of an Angel first and then of an Apostle was as we read Acts 10.2 That he was a just and devout Man one that feared God with all his House and gave much Alms to the people and prayed to God always Insomuch that St. Peter makes this general Deduction and Conclusion from it Verse 34 35. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that fears him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him As if the Apostle had said In all times and ages whoever he be and in whatsoever part of the World that acknowledges the being of a God and sincerely honours him and lives up as near as he can to the Prescriptions of right Reason that Almighty Being looks down with a favourable Eye upon him Certain it is that Christianity it self whose ultimate end is the Salvation and Blessedness of Mankind hath therefore appeared saith St. Paul Tit. 2.12 teaching us That denying all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Which is nothing but the perfection of Morality And that we may conclude this Argument when the Apostle would give us the Character of a compleat and full grown Christian he says Heb. 5.14 that he is such a one who by reason of use hath his Senses exercised to discern both good and evil So that the Perfection of all Religion is made to consist in having a vital rellish and discrimination of good and evil 2. By these Moral Actions we partake of the Nature of God The Apostle in 2 Pet. 1.4 makes the ultimate End and grand Design of Christian Religion to be our partaking of a Divine Nature Now the Nature of God as it is communicated to us does not consist in Wisdom or Power but in Goodness and Truth in Holyness Justice and Equity in Love Commiseration and Pity All which are Moral Excellencies and Perfections and as we partake more or less of them so do we more or less resemble and draw down God into our Souls The Eternity Omniscience and Omnipotency of God are no where set as our Copies to follow for these are Incommunicable Properties of his Nature but in all his Moral-Perfections we are to imitate and become like unto him It is by his Holiness and Purity by his Love and Goodness that God falls down into our Souls and impregnates them with his Sacred Life and forms there his own Image and Likeness And we cannot doubt but that which so nearly resembles God and is nothing but his own Life and Nature copyed out and implanted in his Creatures must needs be most of all valued and respected by him and we are in his Favour as we increase in Holyness and Purity in Truth Goodness and Righteousness Now that God accounts these Things most dear to him is evident from that Example he proposes to us for our Imitation that is The Example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who was God dwelling in our Nature and in whom that Divine Life which is the highest Perfection of Men and Angels was most clearly and conspicuously discovered And the great Things which have made the Life of Christ Examplary and set as a Godlike Pattern for us to follow were 1. His Superlative Love and Charity designing not so much his own Interest as the universal and common Good of all the World His Kindness and Compassions were not circumscribed to this or that particular sort of Men but extended and communicated to all that were capable of them He made no distinction of Age or Sex or Parties but scattered his Bounty to all and filled all Places and all Persons with Joy and Gladness by his Presence And whenever he made use of that Almighty Power which resided in him it was not to the Harm and Damage but to the Support and Relief of those he conversed withal 2. Again he made his Life an Examplary Pattern to us in his Humility and the Resignation of his Mind to the Divine Will and Pleasure For we never find our Saviour ever arrogating any Praise or Glory to himself but refers all the Glory of his Actions to God Insomuch as though he knew himself to be Innocent and without Sin yet he refuses to be called Good saying That none was good save one that is God And whatever his Condition was he never murmured or repined at it but entirely committed himself to the wise Providence and Disposal of God Nor did he ever desire the fulfilling his own Will and Desires any further than they might consist with the good Pleasure of his Heavenly Father 3. And then lastly Our Lord has given us a clear Example of an unspotted Purity both of Body and Soul He conversed with a Wicked and Censorious World with Men that lay at the catch to ensnare him and yet we do not read they could ever fasten any Sin upon him And as his Soul was ever kept undefiled and unspotted from the World so his Body was never polluted by any inordinate Pleasure or Excess but both Body and Soul remained always pure as the Temple of the Living God