Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	father_n	love_v	lust_n	7,244	5	9.2024	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37077	A motion tending to the publick good of this age and of posteritie, or, The coppies of certain letters written by Mr. John Dury to a worthy Knight at his earnest desire shewing briefly vvhat a publik good is and how by the best means of reformation in learning and religion it may be advanced to some perfection / published by Samuel Hartlib ...	Dury, John, 1596-1680.; Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662.	1642 (1642)	Wing D2874; ESTC R18081	34,674	40

A MOTION TENDING TO THE PVBLICK GOOD OF This Age and of Posteritie OR The Coppies of certain Letters written by Mr. John Dury to a worthy Knight at his earnest desire Shewing briefly VVhat a Publik good is and how by the best means of Reformation in Learning and Religion it may be advanced to some perfection Published by Samuel Hartlib For the better Information of all those who are willing of themselves or intrusted by others to set forward Pious and Learned Works Life is Deaths seed's time Death lifes Harvest as here we sow so there we reape as here we sett so there we gather of a blessed life a death as blisfull Sir THe following discourse is not so fully and accurately expressed as I could wish for want of time and by reason of manifold interruptions but such as it is you will be pleased to make use of it Perhaps to a pious soule that looketh to God and his life it may relish and worke some effect The grace of God be with you I rest Sir Your truly respective and most affectionate servant in Christ Iohn Dury London the 30 of Decem. 1641. A MOTION TENDING TO the publicke good of this Age and of Posteritie NO man can do good to Posterity but he that doth know how to serve his own generation rightly Nor can any man serve his owne generation as he ought that knoweth not what his own felicity and that of his generation is and how it may be attained unto For he that is destitute of this knowledge can neither labour for himselfe to become truly happy nor can he reach forth the means of happinesse unto others For how can any impart unto another that whereof he is not himselfe participant A man then that would set forward the Publique Good must first know what it is to be truly good By what means goodnesse is attained unto and how it may be propagated unto his generation Of these there I purpose to discourse a little before I make the motion which I intend to propose unto you Of the first To be truly good is to partake of the life of God for none is good truly save God alone and of the fulnesse of his goodnesse we all partake grace for grace because we live and move and have our being in him and so much life and motion and being as we have in him so much goodnesse we have and no more for either goodnesse is denominated from God or God from goodnesse so that either way to be good is to have a being in God or to be in God is to have a being in goodnes for what hath no being in God is altogether evill and what hath no being in Goodnesse is altogether separate from God Hence it is that the Apostle speaking of the corruption of 〈…〉 which is radically in us saith that we are alienated from the life of God And David describing the wicked saith Psal. 58. 3. That they are estranged from the wombe and go astray as soone as they be born speaking lyes Whence are they estranged is it not from God and his life and whence go they astray Is not from his Truth and is not this the cause they speak lyes even because they give not way to the motions of his Truth to do that which it suggesteth unto them and whereof they are convicted in their Conscience that it is their duty For God and his Truth is made manifest unto the Conscience of all men Rom. 1. 18 19. and 2. 14 15. and the wicked not taking notice of that which they know of him but detaining Gods Truth in unrighteousnesse that is to say suppressing the motions of Gods life and giving way unto the motions of their own lust and sensuall imagination by this they are estranged from God and draw his wrath upon their soules For the object of Gods wrath is nothing else but the life of lust in nature Ephes. 2. 3. For there we are said to be by nature the children of wrath in respect that we have our conversation in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde Now we know that our flesh and fleshly minde doth embrace only this present world of which we are taught that all that is in the world is but the object of lust and of pride in lust For Iohn saith that all that is in the world is the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh and the pride of life which things the Apostle saith are not of the Father but of the world For which cause also he disswadeth us from the love thereof and consequently from the life which may be had therein for two Reasons First because if we love these things and live in them the love and the life of the Father is not in us Secondly because the world doth passe away and the lust thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever Now he doth and none but he doth the will of God which abideth in his love and life according to Christs exhortation Iohn 15. 4 5 6. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot beare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me and againe Iohn 6. 39. 40. This is the will of the Father that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing and that every one who seeth the Sonne and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life therefore all things which are and every one who is not in the love and life of the Father shall perish because it is not according to the will of God whichis onely good remaineth for ever For nothing can be esteemed truly good but that which doth remaine for ever For all goodnesse being the life of God in us and he being in himselfe everlasting and immutable his life in us must also be like unto him and what is not like to him and permanent with him in us is none of his but whatsoever is truly like him and according to his will shall also be permanent with him for ever For he cannot destroy any thing wherein he taketh a liking and he taketh alikeing in nothing but in that which is truly good like unto himselfe And verily the perfect estate of our felicity in the life to come is nothing else but to be like him For Iohn faith It doth not yet appeare what we shall be but we know when he doth appeare we shall be like him Then to be like him is to be truly happy and to have a being in him and to partake of his life is to be good and nothing is truly good but only this Therefore when the worldlings say Psal. 4. 6 7 Who will shew us any good then the man of God answereth not unto them but unto God to himselfe and to us saying Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us for thereby thou hast put

and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. Therefore the Spirit by which our faces are uncovered doth lead us unto him for to know the things of God he must be known and that he may be known he must be seen and lookt upon for in him all the treasures of life are to be seen and no where but in him Therefore the Prophet when he proposeth the greatest of blessings saith that our eyes shall see the King in his beauty intimating that in the sight of him and his beauty was our happinesse And verily those that once have had a true sight of him cannot but continually seeke to behold him We may see it in David how he stood affected towards him One thing saith he I desired and will feeks after to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple and Psal. 42 1. 2. As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soule after thee O God Oh when shall I come and appeare before God but chiefly Psal. 63. 1 2 8. early will I seeke thee my soule thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seene thee in the Sanctnary Because thy loving kindnesse is better than life If he had never seene him in the Sanctuary of the Spirit he could not have ●●●● carnestly desired him But having once seene him and tasted of his goodnesse he could not but long for the continuance and renewing of this sight and and taste This also may be gathered from the Apostle Peter who exhorteth us to desire the ●in●●re milke of the Word if so be we have tasted that the Lord is gracious The tasting of Gods graciousnesse will not be soone lost out of the sanctified minde but will leave a desire after it to looke after him Now this glory of the Lord is beheld as in a looking-glasse his outward actions which are regished in the Gospel are the looking-glasse wherein all the divine properties of his goodnesse and loving kindnesse do appeare to the full when they are spiritually considered Fourthly Those that behold this glory are changed into the same image This glory is so excellent in goodnesse and lovely to all that behold it that it subdues the soule and drawes it by a sympathy to become comfortable unto it selfe as it is said 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us to what to be conformable unto his death For when the soule seeth his great love to us it cannot possibly but it must needs love him again and where love is there is a Symbolizing of affections which is the change here mentioned for through love the thing beloved doth receive a being in him that loveth it and thus our Souls are transformed into the same image which we perceive to be in Christ See concerning this these places Phil. 3. 21. Ephes. 5. 1 2. and 1 Iohn 3. 2 3. and 4. 10 11. Fiftly This change is from glory to glory that is from one step or degree of glory to another For Christ is the ladder which Iacob saw Gen. 28. 12 13. wherein were steps reaching from earth unto heaven that is to say from the lowest estate of a temporall to the highest of an eternall being And upon these steps the Angels ascended and descended these Angels are our spirituall messengers sent up to God and his gracious answers sent down upon us The steps and degrees are in the life which we live in Christ Jesus the motions of spirituall growth wherby in the dayes of his flesh he was daily mortified in respect of the outward man and quickned by the Spirit in the inward to which mortification and quickning we become conformable by proceeding from one state of glory to another because he also in the dayes of his flesh went by the same progresse alwayes from earth to heaven till he came againe to his Father from whence he came forth Sixthly This change is wrought by the Spirit of the Lord in the soule that beholdeth Christ The Spirit of Christ is the Author of the change which is wrought in us for when we see and behold Christs glory the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given to us Rom. 5. 5. So the holy Ghost proceeding from Christ by the knowledge and faith which we have of him and of his life Ephes. ● 5. worketh love in us to him by which we Sympathi●e with him and are changed into the same state of life wherein he did live after the inward man for the spirit which commeth from him taking hold of our spirits draweth the same with it selfe up unto Christ to whom it goeth back again by the manifestation of the life of Christ in us For when it prevaileth over the powers of our soule to bring the same unto the obedience of Gods will then it bringeth us backe to Christ for this was the life of Christ not to do his own will but the will of his Father who who sent him into the world Iohn 6. 38. Thus then when our will is brought to yeeld it selfe by the spirit wholly unto the will of God in all things as Christ did then we are changed and by the Spirit led from one step of glorious conformity to another Then the soule being betrothed unto Christ through love doth desire to be drawn that she may run after him and then the mistery of the song of Solomon is begun in us that it may also in due time be fulfilled through all the degrees of love therein expressed which mistery is not to be understood by any but by such as proceed in the degrees of this change from glory to glory Thus then we see how the life of God is both made known and conveyed to us by the means of Christ from all which by way of Recapitulation we will gather these conclusions First that as the life of God is the only good to be sought for and procured unto all so Christ as he is a Spirituall man is the only meanes to purchase that life Secondly That that life is purchased in Christ by none other way but by the free gift of God through the illumination of our soules with knowledge Thirdly That this knowledge doth reflect immediately upon the glory of God as upon his proper object which is to be manifested in the heart of man Fourthly That to make this glory manifest in our heart the face of Jesuc Christ must be seen by us Fiftly That to behold the face of Christ we must have an open face free from the vaile and then we must looke upon the glorious excellencies of his spirituall life in the glasse of his outward conversation amongst men Sixthly That by this contemplation and apprehension of the life of Christ a new life is begotten in us conformable unto that which is in him by which we are changed into the same image of glory and are led from one degree thereof unto another

Seventhly That this change is brought to passe by the Spirit of the Lord which worketh upon our spirits the manifestation of the life of God which is the only good thing and happinesse to be sought after and propagated unto posterity Thus having discovered the true aime of a publique good and the means by which we must attain thereunto let us proceed to the endeavours which may be used towards the propagating of this unto the men of this generation that by them it may be advanced unto posterity Of the third If we have tasted how gracious the Lord is and are truly come unto him as lively stones to be built up a spirituall house and a holy Priesthood to offer up spirituall Sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ then we shall be fit to propagate this life unto others and not else for the means by which it is propagated unto others is none other but to labour that the light which is made manifest unto our soules whereby we are become partakers of the life of God may shine also unto others that they by the grace of God may partake in like manner of the same This endeavour hath three chiefe parts The first is the care of avoyding offences The second of giving good example by going before others in godlinesse The third of making the Rule and doctrine by which we walke to avoyd the evill and do the good known to every one These three parts of this endeavour are expressed Phil. 2. 15 16. thus Be blamelesse and harmles as the Sons os God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation amongst whom shine ye as lights in the world holding forth the Word of life Except we study to be in all things without scandall and offence as it becometh the Sons of God amongst the Sons of men the good which we do shall be evill spoken of and become unprofitable See Rom. 14. 13 14 15 16. And if we give no good example by our life in the profession of the Gospell all our Doctrine shall be blasted and we justly suspected and not worthy to be heard or taken notice of for teachers of Truth See Math. 7. 16. 21. Iohn 10. 3 4 5. Thus then the endeavour to be without offence is a preparative to make way for the good which is to be intended towards others in our practise and the good which is to bee intended towards others by our practise is a preparative towards the proposall of the Doctrine of Truth by which the knowledge of Christ is advanced unto the World that so many as God shall be pleased to enlighten and call out of the world by that knowledge may be joyned to him and made participant of his life These three endeavours comprehend all the objects which in the profession and preaching of the Gospel are to be studied by our selves and insisted upon towards others For in a word it is by the means of the Gospel that Christ is to be made known unto the world For the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1. 16. And seeing that in the wisedome of God the world by wisedome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that beleeve 1 Cor. 1. 21. Now in the Gospel there be two things First there is the doing of the Truth for ourselves and then the publishing of the same for others The doing of the Truth is the profession of the Gospel and the publishing of it unto others is the preaching of the Doctrine by which the profession is regulated As for the profession we see it hath two parts The first is a care to be blamelesse and harmlesse without offence and rebuke towards all men The second is the practise of Piety to do good to all and goe before others to lead them on towards the life of God Whence we must gather that all manner of endeavours and undertakings which tend directly to advance and perfect any of these three objects should be counted truly good endeavours and fit to be supported in this Age and transmitted to Posterity And the more neere any endeavour or undertaking doth come to reach any of these ends the more compleat and perfect it is to be esteemed in goodnesse as comming neerest unto the life of God Here then the endeavours tending to the advancement of the Gospel should be sought out and ranked according to the subordination and relation which these matters have one towards another and all towards the manifestation of the life of God in us by the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the Gospell Unto the matter of harmlesnesse and blamelesse conversation belongeth the endeavour of peaceablenesse and of becoming all things unto all men in that which is lawfull as the Apostle telleth us he did 1 Cor. 9. 19. 24. The endeavour of Peaceablenesse is a study whereby we are directed how to avoyd the occasions of strife in respect of our selves and to bring others who are at variance unto a peaceable and harmlesse disposition These endeavours are proper Characters of the Sons of God for in the place forementioned the Apostle maketh the in-offensivenesse of our conversation to be the property of the Sons of God And Christ saith that the Peacemakers are blessed because they shall be called the Sons of God Math. 5. 9. Thus then we must conclude that the endeavours tending to take away offences and scandalls from amongst Christians and tending to cause them avoyd strife and debates and tending to make peace amongst them and to bring them to the unity of the Spirit by a reconcilement of differences in the Truth are undertakings and endeavours immediately conducing to the furtherance of the Gospel and consequently to the setling forward of the life of God amongst men For God is the God of peace and hath no fellowship with evill but is harmlesse and good unto all for even unto those that are unworthy of his goodnesse he causeth his Sun to shine Therefore Christ exhorteth all his Disciples to be like his and their heavenly Father in this That they should be peaceable innocent and do good unto all even unto their enemies and persecutors Math 5. 38. till the end Unto the second part of the profession which is the practise of Piety belongeth the zeal of advancing the Kingdom of God and setting forth the image of Christ unto the world in Righteousnesse and holinesse This is somewhat more then to be unblameable by avoyding scandalls and strife for it doth imply moreover a care tending to the edification of many by way of example to lead others to perfection in the duties belonging to our christian calling for we are bound to shew others the life of the Spirit by our walking so that they may be able to discerne in us the powers of another life then that is whereby this world is upheld for this world being led by lust and selfe-conceited greatnesse and