Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	hate_v	light_n	reprove_v	2,039	5	9.9714	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62634	Several discourses viz. Proving Jesus to be the Messias. The prejudices against Jesus and his religion consider'd. Jesus the Son of God, proved by his Resurrection. The danger of apostacy from Christianity. Christ the author: obedience the condition of salvation. The possibility and necessity of gospel obedience, and its consistence with free grace. The authority of Jesus Christ, with the commission and promise which he gave to his apostles. The difficulties of a Christian life consider'd. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Children of this world wiser than the children of light. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the fifth volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708,	1698 (1698)	Wing T1262A; ESTC R222204	187,258	485

probability hinder Men from being convinced by an Apparition from the Dead It is not generally for want of Evidence that Men do not yield a full and effectual Assent to the Truth of God's Word I mean that they do not Believe it so as to Obey it but from the Interest of some Lust The true cause is not in Mens Understandings and because there is not Reason enough to satisfie them that the Scriptures are the Word of God but in the obstinacy of their Wills which are enslaved to their Lusts And the Disease being there it is not to be Cured by more Evidence but by more Consideration and by the Grace of God and better Resolutions The Man is addicted to some Vice or other and that makes him unwilling to entertain those Truths which would check and control him in his Course The light of God's word is offensive to him and therefore he would shut it out This Account our blessed Saviour gives of the Enmity of the Jews against him and his Doctrine John 3. 19. Light is come into the World and Men love darkness rather than light because their Deeds are evil for every one that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Upon the same account it is that Men resist the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures not because they have sufficient Reason to doubt of their Divine Authority but because they are unwilling to be govern'd by them and to conform their Lives to the Laws and Precepts of that Holy Book For the Wills of Men have a great Influence upon their Undestandings to make assent easie or difficult and as Men are apt to assent to what they have a mind to so they are slow to believe any thing which crosseth their Humours and Inclinations so that tho' greater Evidence were offer'd it is likely it would not prevail with them because the mater does not stick there Their Wills are distemper'd Men hate to be reform'd and this makes them cast the Laws of God behind their Backs and if God himself should speak to them from Heaven as he did to the People of Israel yet for all that they might continue a stiff-necked and rebellious People Tho' the Evidence were such as their Understandings could not resist yet their Wills might still hold out and the present condition of their Minds might have no lasting influence upon their Hearts and Lives ●uch a violent Conviction might affect them for the present but the Sense of it might perhaps wear off by degrees and then they would return to their former hardness Men by a long and obstinate continuance in sin may bring themselves to the Temper and Disposition of Devils who tho' they believe and tremble at the thoughts of God and his Threatnings yet they are wicked still for so long as Men retain a strong affection for their Lusts they will break through all Conviction and what Evidence soever be offer'd to them they will find some way or other to avoid it and to delude themselves The plain truth of the case is this if Men will honestly speak their Consciences they cannot deny it they do not call for more Evidence either because they want it or are willing to be convinced by it but that they may seem to have some Excuse for themselves for not being convinced by that Evidence which is afforded to them 4thly Experience does abundantly testifie how ineffectual extraordinary ways are to convince and reclaim men of depraved Minds and such as are obstinately addicted to their Lusts We find many remarkable Experiments of this in the History of the Bible What Wonders were wrought in the sight of Pharaoh and the Egyptians yet they were harden'd under all these Plagues Balaam who greedily follow'd the wages of unrighteousness was not to be stopt by the admonition of an Angel The Jews after so many Miracles which their Eyes had seen continued to be a stiff neck'd and gain-saying People so that it is hard to say which was more prodigious the Wonders which God wrought for them or their Rebellions against him and when in the fulness of time the Son of God came and did among them the works which never man did such as one would have thought might have brought the worst People in the World to Repentance those of Tyre and Sydon of Sodom and Gomorrah yet they Repented not Yea the very thing which the rich man here in my Text requested of Abraham for his Brethren was done among them Lazarus did rise from the dead and testified unto them and they were not perswaded And which is yet more our Saviour himself according to his own Prediction while he was alive rose again from the dead the third day and was visibly taken up into Heaven and yet how few among them did believe and give glory to God! So that we see the very thing here spoken of in the Text made good in a famous instance they who believed not Moses and the Prophets which testified of the Messias were not perswaded when he rose from the dead And does not our own Experience tell us how little effect the extraordinary Providences of God have had upon those who were not reclaimed by his Word It is not long since God shewed himself among us by terrible things in Righteousness and visited us with three of his sorest Judgments War and Pestilence and Fire and yet how does all manner of Wickedness and Impiety still reign and rage among us It is a very sad Consideration to see how little those who have outlived these Plagues have been reformed by them we have not return'd to the Lord nor sought him for all this I may appeal to the experience of particular Persons How frequently do we see Men after great Afflictions and tedious Sufferings and dangerous sicknesses return to their former Evil Courses and tho' they have been upon the brink of Eternity and the ternors of Death have compass'd them about and the pains of Hell have almost taken hold of them tho' they have had as lively and sensible Convictions of another World as if they had spoken with those that had come from thence or even been there themselves yet they have taken no warning but upon their Deliverance and Recovery have been as mad as furious Sinners as they were before so that it ought to be no such wonder to us which the Text tells us that if Men hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead Especially if we consider in the 5th and last place That an effectual perswasion that is such a Belief as produceth Repentance and a good Life is the gift of God and depends upon the operation and concurrence of his Grace which is not to be expected in an extraordinary way where Men have obstinately rejected the ordinary means appointed by God for that end To be effectually perswaded to change our Lives and become new

our selves bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh labouring under Want and Necessity and yet not to be moved to commiserate him this is a sign that we have put off our own Nature otherwise we should pity the Sufferings of it in others For when-ever we behold a Man like our own selves groaning under Want and prest with Necessity and do not relent toward him and are not ready to relieve him we are hard-hearted to our own Nature and do in some sense what the Apostle says no Man ever did that is none retaining the Temper and Affections of a Man hate his own Flesh This the Scripture speaks of as a most barbarous sort of Inhumanity and calls it Murder 1 John 3. 15. Whoso hateth his Brother is a Murderer and not to relieve our Brother in want is to hate him for this is the Instance which the Apostle gives at the 17th verse Whoso hath this Worlds Goods and seeth his Brother in want and shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from him whoso doth not consider the Poor is a Man-slayer and a Murderer he is cruel to his own Nature nay were he sufficiently sensible of the Condition of Humane Nature he is cruel to himself Seest thou a Poor Man in great Misery and Want there is nothing hath befallen him but what is common to Man what might have been thy Lot and Portion as well as his and what may happen to thee or thine another time Make it therefore thine own Case for so the Providence of God may make it one time or other and thou provokest him to make it so speedily by thy unmerciful Disposition toward the Poor I say make it thine own case if thou wert in the Poor Man's Condition and he in thine consult thine own Bowels and tell me how thou wouldst wish him to be affected toward thee Wouldst thou be willing that he should slight and repulse thee and shut up his Bowels of Compassion from thee If not then do not thou deal so with him consider that it may be thine own case therefore do not thou give the World any bad Example in this kind do not teach Men to be unmerciful lest they learn of thee and thou find the ill Effects of it when it comes to be thine own Condition This is the first Aggravation of this Sin the Inhumanity of it But 2. Besides the Inhumanity of this Sin it is likewise a great Impiety toward God Unmercifulness to the Poor hath this fourfold Impiety in it it is a Contempt of God an Usurpation upon his Right a slighting of his Providence and a plain Demonstration that we do not love God and that all our Pretences to Religion are hypocritical and insincere 1. It is a Contempt of God and a reproaching of him so Solomon tells us Pro. 14. 31. He that oppresseth the Poor not only he that dealeth unjustly with a Poor Man but he that is uncharitable towards him as appears by the Opposition but he that honoureth him hath Mercy on the Poor here Oppression of the Poor is opposed to want of Charity towards him He that oppresseth the Poor reproacheth his Maker how is that He despiseth God who made him after his own Image and Likeness For the Poor Man bears the Image of God as well as the Rich so that thou canst not oppress or neglect him without some reflection upon God whose Image he bears 2. The uncharitable Man is an Usurper upon God's Right The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and he hath given it to the Children of Men not absolutely to dispose of as they please but in trust and with certain reservations so as to be accountable to him for the disposal of it In respect of other Men we are indeed true Proprietors of our Estates but in respect of God we are but Stewards and he will call us to an Account how we have laid them out So much as we need is ours but beyond what will support us and be a convenient Provision for our Family in the Rank wherein God hath placed us all that is given to us that we may give it to others And if God hath been liberal to us in the Blessings of this Life it is on purpose to give us an Oportunity and to engage us to be so to others that stand in need of our Charity and we are false to our Trust if we keep those things to our selves which we receive from God for this very end that we might distribute them to others according to the proportion of our Ability and their Necessity This is to hide our Lord's Talent in a Napkin and that which thou storest up in this Case is unjustly detained by thee for God intended it should have been for Bread for the hungry and for Cloaths for the naked for the Relief and Support of those who were ready to perish 3. The uncharitable Man is impious in slighting of God's Providence He does not consider that Riches and Poverty are of the Lord that he can soon change our Condition and that it is an easie thing with him to make a Rich Man poor We do not sufficiently reverence the Providence which rules the World if when God hath blest us with Plenty and Abundance we have no pity and regard for those that are in need God can soon turn the Wheel and lay thee as low as the poor Man whom thou dost neglect He can cast down the mighty from their Seat and exalt the humble and Meek fill the hungry with good things and send the rich empty away God's Providence could easily have disposed of things otherwise to have secured every Man from want but he hath on purpose order'd this variety of Conditions high and low rich and poor not that some Men might have an Advantage to insult over and despise others but that there might be an Oportunity for the exercise of several Virtues that the poor might have an Oportunity to exercise their Dependance upon God and their Patience and Submission to his Will and that the rich might show their Temperance and Moderation and Charity 4. Unmercifulness to the Poor is a plain Demonstration that we do not love God and that all our other pretences to Religion are hypocritical and insincere St. James tells us that pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the Widow Ja. 1. 27. That the Wisdom which is from above is full of Mercy and good fruits ch 3. 17. St. John represents this uncharitable Disposition as utterly inconsistent with the true Love of God 1 John 3. 17. But whoso hath this Worlds Goods and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him In vain does such a Man pretend to love God nay ch 4. v. 20. he tells us that it is impossible such a Man should love God If a Man say I love God and hateth his Brother

tho' the World hate us 'T is but exercising a little Patience and these Storms will blow over and we shall be removed into a calmer Region where all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and death and sorrow shall be no more This was the Portion of the Son of God here but it is a faithful saying that if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Therefore those who suffer in this world ought not to be moved as tho' some strange thing hapned unto them but should rather rejoice in as much as they are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed they also may be glad with exceeding joy 1 Pet 4. 12 13. I proceed to a Third Observation which is the different Estate of good and bad men after this life Lazarus dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom the rich man dyed and went to hell This the Justice of the Divine Providence seems to require so that if there had been no Revelation of God to this purpose it is a thing very credible to Natural Reason whether we consider God or our selves If we consider God our Reason tells us that he is the holy and righteous Governor of the World and consequently that he loves Goodness and hates Sin and therefore is concern'd to countenance the one and discountenance the other in such a solemn and publick manner as may vindicate his Holiness and Justice to the whole World Now the Dispensations of his Providence are promiscuous in this world and therefore it seems very reasonable that there should be a general Assizes a fair and open Tryal when God will render to every Man according to his works And if we consider our selves this will appear very credible for this hath been the constant Opinion not only of the common People but of the wisest Persons who had only the light of Nature to guide them Nay if we do but search our own Consciences we shall find an inward and secret acknowledgment of this in that inward peace and satisfaction we find in any good Action and in that shame and fear and horrour that haunts a Man after the commission of any tho' never so secret a Sin And as Reason and Scripture together do assure us of a future Judgment so likewise that Men when they pass out of this World shall meet with the proper Consequences and Rewards of their Actions in the other And tho' the Happiness or Misery of Men be not so compleat as it shall be after the publick Judgment yet it is unspeakably great Lazarus is represented as very happy immediately after his passing out of this World he is said to be carried into Abraham's bosom by which the Jews express the Happiness of the future State And the Rich Man is represented as in great Anguish and Torment But what the Happiness of good Men and the Misery of wicked Men shall be in the other State we can but now imperfectly and unskilfully describe Each of these I have in another Discourse spoken Serm. on Rom. 6. 21 22. something to I proceed to a Fourth Observation the vast difference between Men's Conditions in this World and the other The Rich Man prospered here and was afterward tormented Lazarus was poor and miserable in this World and happy in the other v. 25. Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And it is very agreeable to the Wisdom of God to make such a difference between Mens Conditions in this World and the other and that for these two Reasons 1st For the trying of Men's Virtue 2dly In order to the Recompencing of it 1. For the Tryal of Men's Virtue For this End principally God ordains the Sufferings of good Men and permits the best of his Servants many times to be involved in the greatest Calamities to try their Faith in him and Love to him to improve their Virtue and to prevent those Sins into which the mighty Temptations of a perpetual Prosperity are apt to draw even the best of Men to take off their Affections from the love of this vain World and to engage and fix them there where they shall never repent that they have placed them to prove their Sincerity towards God and to exercise their Patience and Submission to his Will to prepare them for the Glory of the next Life and to make the Happiness of Heaven more welcome to them when they shall come to it 2dly In order to the Recompencing of Men that they who will take up with the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this present World and take no care for their future State that they who will gratifie their Senses and neglect their immortal Souls may inherit the proper Consequences of their wretched Choice And on the other hand that they who love God above all things and had rather endure the greatest Evils than do the least that they who look beyond the present Scene of things and believe the reality and Eternity of the other State and live accordingly may not be disappointed in their Hopes and serve God and suffer for him for nothing From this consideration of the Difference between the Condition of Men in this World and the other we may infer 1. That no Man should measure his Felicity or Unhappiness by his Lot in this World If thou receivest thy good things art rich and honourable and hast as much of the things of this World as thine Heart can wish art splendidly attired and farest sumptuously every day art in no trouble like other Men neither art plagued like other folk do not upon this bless thy self as the happy Man On the other Hand art thou poor and miserable destitute of all the Conveniences and Accommodations of this Life Do not repine at thy Lot and murmur at God for having dealt hardly with thee No Man can be pronounced happy or miserable for what befals him in this Life no Man knows Love or Hatred by these things this Life is but a short and inconsiderable duration and it matters not much what Entertainment we meet withal as we are passing through this World The state of Eternity is that wherein the Happiness or Misery of Men shall be determined He is the happy Man who is so in that Life which shall never have an end and he is miserable that shall be so for ever 2. We should not set too great a value upon the blessings of this Life We may receive our good things here and be tormented hereafter nay this very thing will be no inconsiderable part of our Torment none of the least Aggravations of our Misery that we did receive our good Things Nothing afflicts a Man more and toucheth him more sensibly when he is in Misery than the remembrance of his former Prosperity had he never been happy his Misery would