Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	knowledge_n	light_n	shine_v	2,465	5	9.1921	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55553	A sermon at the funeral of the reverend Mr. Thomas Grey, late Vicar of Dedham in Essex preach'd in the parish-church of Dedham, Febr. the 2d. 1691/2, with a short account of his life / by Joseph Powell ...	Powell, Joseph, d. 1698.	1692 (1692)	Wing P3064; ESTC R3154	24,894	36

and present state of Things which becomes wife Men and good Christians We cannot dispose of Events What belongs to us is to be content with that Portion whatever it is that Providence allots us and to manage every thing to the best advantage and to take care that what befals us without our leave may not disturb us It is not worth the while for gaining the World to do any thing not only which is plainly Unjust but any thing that is Uncharitable Mean Pitiful or Base And what we possess fairly and honestly it is Wisdom so to use as not to abuse it 1 Cor. 7.11 remembring as the Apostle speaks That the Fashion of this World passeth away Neither to be over anxious and sollicitous about it nor to suffer our whole Life to be eat up with the Cares and Concerns of it nor so to set our Hearts and Affections upon it as that it should ever prove horribly troublesome and uneasie to us to part with it To avoid that Error our Saviour corrected in Martha To be always Carking about things little and needless and with her wiser Sister to be careful to secure to our selves that better part Luke 10.40 41 42. those vertuous Dispositions and Habits of the Mind which shall never be taken away from us To consider this World as only of present Use and when the time comes that this Use is to cease to take our leaves of it as a thing we are no further concerned in If we enjoy the Good of Life to receive it Thankfully and manage it with Discretion and so as it may turn to our Advantage hereafter If we have our share in the Evils of Life to bear these with Moderation and Patience as expecting better things to come And as to Life it self neither to be Prodigal nor Niggardly of it to esteem it neither above nor below its just Value to take care to preserve it as far as becomes a wise Man and yet to be ready to part with it upon a good account to prefer the keeping the Integrity of our Minds and a good Conscience before it but yet to chuse to die though a violent and immature Death rather than do an ill thing to prolong Life the doing of which is a far greater Evil than Death can be to a good Man 2. In order to this it ought to be our great and main endeavour to live up to the height of the Principles of that Religion we profess Plutarch tells us of one who leading a very loose life consulted the Oracle Whether ever he should live any better to which the Answer was That it should be better with him after he was dead Not long after this he dies but while they were carrying him forth to be buryed of a sudden he Revives and comes to himself But it was almost incredible what a Change there was in the course of his Life he became one of the most Pious and Verthous Men of his Age and being asked by his Friends the Reason of this great Change he gave them this account of it That no sooner was his Soul parted from his Body but he found a mighty confusion in himself which he could not compare to any thing better than the Pilot of a Ship being flung from the Helm by the force of a Storm into the vast Ocean after this rising up as it were above Water and recovering himself from this Confusion he thought he felt himself alive and looking round him he saw all things clearly but very different sights they were from what he had ever beheld in this World Amongst other things he saw a numerous Company of Souls in very different states some in mighty Transports of Joys others in Miseries inexpressible Some of these latter whom he thought he knew he endeavoured to have approached and discoursed them but they seemed to be like Persons frighted and bereav'd of their Senses in a deep Consternation flying from him and wholly avoiding him At last he meets with a certain Kinsman of his who had been for some time dead who calls him by his Name and gives him a large Account of that State and carries him about and makes him an Eye Witness of the several Conditions of separate Souls but withal tells him That he was not in the Number of the Dead but by permission only was come hither and must return again to his Body Whilst he stood trembling at what he had seen a certain Woman admirable for her Form took him by the Hand and bad him keep in Remembrance these things The Moral of this Story instructs us what influence a direct view of another World is fitted to have upon us and what then may not be expected from us who have so full and clear a Revelation of it and of the several States of Men when arrived there Let us then walk by this Faith and have our Eyes fixed upon the Recompence of a future Reward Let us remember that the great design of our Religion is to Train us up for Heaven and that all the great things it has promised are to be accomplished and perfected in a future World Let us look upon our selves as only passing through this and travelling home to our Fathers House whither our Forerunner is already gone and where Mansions of Glory are prepared for us such Weights of Glory as the Apostle did not know how to express exceeding Eternal weights of Glory Let us often converse with that World the World of Angels and Blessed Spirits a World of perfect Knowledge and Vertue of Goodness and Charity a Region of Pure and Spotless Light where God himself has his peculiar Throne where there is no need of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in it Rev. 21.21 for the Glory of God does lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof Let our Hearts be much there where our chief Treasure is where our consummated Happiness lies so shall we be able to preserve a Wise and Pious Indifferency to this World and Life so shall we take care to live as usefully and do as much good as we can in the World so shall we always keep our selves in an actual Preparation for Death and whenever it comes being born up by the strength of our Faith and Hope in God and in his Promises we shall cheatfully take up this Pious Hymn of good Old Simeon and say Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace I am sensible I have been too long upon this Subject in regard there is another I know you will expect I should speak something to But if I beg a little of your Patience I know not when I shall do this again and I am pretty well assured never upon so sad an Occasion I am well aware how liable Discourses of this Nature are to Censure and Exception But in this Auditory upon the present Occasion I am above these fears It is allowed by all that there is a just Praise due to