Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	pomp_n	renounce_v	vanity_n	3,174	5	10.1762	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49178	The ascents of the soul, or, David's mount towards God's house being paraphrases on the fifteen Psalms of Degrees / written in Italian, by ... Gio. Francesco Loredano ..., 1656 ; render'd into English, Anno Dom. 1665.; Gradi dell'anima. English	Loredano, Giovanni Francesco, 1607-1661.; Coleraine, Hugh Hare, Baron, 1606?-1667.	1681 (1681)	Wing L3065; ESTC R6897	69,621	80

Christ's sufferings we should still be found such wicked and unprofitable Servants as to have no more hope than worth in our best performances On therefore O my Soul and for all thy former demerits indeavour by the devoutest applications of God's Grace to be raised unto Mount Sion and to be made thy self a Temple an Habitation for the God of Jacob where thy Lord himself may delight to dwell thou canst not aspire to more Happiness than to be a Mansion for his Son and Spirit Therefore know the way of truth and walk in it make right paths for thy Feet since they that wander through Ignorance are lost or confounded by their own darkness Let thy Knowledg and thy Zeal prevent thy self and other Sinners too from rejoicing in their own Errors by due Austerities detourn them from their Perverseness By good Counsel assist others in their affairs and succor them in their affliction With the Shield of Patience break through the thickest Ranks of thine Adversaries and overcome them by thy Charity Receiving Injuries without being galled by them without retorting such venomed Artillery but rather pray for Enemies do good to such as hate and persecute and then thou shalt find as the Hospitable King of Israel did that God shall be on thy side 2 King 6.16 23. and more for thee than against thee But woe to that Soul that by its dis-belief of God's Word hath trespassed so hainously as to drive away God's Love that was unwilling to leave it Woe to that Soul which becomes blind by its profane Obstinacy in such a manner as to make it self an Object of God's Scorn and derision then when it might be the Object of his Love and Delight No Words no Thought can exemplify the direful miseries of that State which becomes so infinitely wretched as not onely to be left Sentenced by God but justly Punished and Condemned Nay Scorned and derided and instead of being pitied by the unspeakable Bowels of an Heavenly Father for its perpetual loss and torment have the Furnace of Hell made seven times hotter by the derision of God and holy Angels as if they rejoyced and took pleasure in the Pains of the Damned while they adore and praise the Justice and Holiness of God in giving to each one his due And Thus it comes to pass as there is Joy in Heaven for the conversion of a Penitent so there may be Joy too there for the eternal Punishment and deserved Ruine of an un-repenting and obstinate Offender As we may infer from the words of Divine Wisdom spoken in the First Chapter of Proverbs from the 24th Vers to the end of that Chapter Prov. 1.24 So that of all those many Showers of Grace that God so plentifully and continually sends down in these days of our Visitation there will not be one drop left to cool the tongue of a Dives when he may be sweltring in perpetual Flames All that which might have nourished and feasted the Soul turns to its Poyson and infects it more with the Disease and Nature of the Devils But on the other side How blessed is the choice Spirit which laying hold on the Promise and obeying the Precepts of its God thrives so wonderfully under his gracious Blessing Dan. 4.12 13. as to be fruitful notwithstanding its height and out of danger of falling No evil Spirit shall have power to cast it down since it is watched by an Angel and an Holy one receiving the Birds of Paradice within its Arms. O Lord What Solace and what Happiness may I not secure to my self if I have the favour of thy good Will and Protection for thou dost not baffle the hopes of such as anchor themselves upon the Rock Christ Jesus thou dost not break the Knees that are bowed down or bruised in their frequent Devotion before thee Thou dost not weary our Expectations neither dost thou hate our Prayers or our Persons but thou lovest thy Creature yet not his Sin Thou hearest his requests by Christ's Intercessions Thy Promises not blended with self-interest are never subject to alteration as men's are too much Thine immense bounty is the Parent of thy good Will to Mankind and is unchangeable because exempt both from Jealousy and Fear Thy wisest Providence leades all our operations through several amazing Labyrinths to most excellent ends and many times far otherwise than we designed them Thy Mercy that is so tender as to be wrought on by a Mortal's Sigh or Tear calls every Sinner watches and waits his leisure as it were accepts and welcoms him almost at any time after it hath provided the Festival too for his Cheer without any Contribution or Charges of the Guest Thy Wisdom is a depth past fathoming too and therein like though transcending our Demerits it knows though we do not always who are thine and can work good and Glory out of the worst of man's Misery and the Devils Malice O that this fore-praised Wisdom and Love of thine may work these following Effects First Let the one subdue those Adversaries of thy Glory and my Good who oppose themselves to my thorough Conversion Tyrannizing over my Will and perverting the devout Affections that now and then warm my Heart Secondly Let the other enrich my Soul with Grace As David was blessed in thy Love and became an Illustrious Instrument for the advancing thy Glory So I may be installed for ever with the tokens of thy Favour and with the ornaments of thy meek and holy Spirit I see the World arrayed with Vanity and dawbed over with excesses its sweets like too hot perfumes strongly assault the weakness of our senses and the softness of my Constitution discover the Rebellions of the Flesh against the Spirit I fear my Levity and inconsideration will lay me open to the inveiglements of my subtilest Foes And shall I not pray then against their wickedness that thou wouldest frustrate their attempts against me and confound their Devices Least I be confounded who repair to thy holiest Sanctuary for Protection Save me then O Lord who Renouncing the Devil and his Works and forsaking the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinfull Lusts of the Flesh would be faithful unto death and receive from thee alone a Crown of Life of Grace here and Glory hereafter Amen The fourteenth Step on the fourteenth PSALM of Degrees being the 133 PSALM Ecce quam bonum c. LIft up thy self O my Soul and be thou raised up from the burthen of my Sins unto the Throne of the Most High for though God be the absolute dispenser of his own Grace yet he loves to have it coveted and looked after by Mankind since his delights are placed amongst us Be sure not to leave his presence wander no more like a Cain from his sight for although nothing be covered from his inspection yet as he that travels far Northward banishes himself from the Sun's power and will not be advantaged by his heat so

mind nor so grossly transgess his Precepts Rejoice then O my Soul that God hath undertook thy defence by all his Divine care and industry and hath made his Son a Hostage for our security while he continually holds thee up by the out-stretched Arm of his Favour O most Glorious God! it is thou alone that rulest all the Motions the Ragings the Madness of the World and its Elements Thou sittest above the Heavens saith the Psalmist thou presidest over all thy Works by thy Power and Mercy so that thou canst allay the force of every Influence in such an Almighty sort as that the Sun shall have no feavourish Darts nor the Moon any malignant Aspects to cast on those who are shielded by thy Protection The Fire in its own quality is so violent and greedy as never to say it hath enough but after it hath devoured all in its way is ready to feed like Envy on it self how is it by the Heavenly Providence tempered in its unbridled Nature and restrained from doing Mischief as held in from destroying both it self and others What shall I then say of those Flames of sensuality those Fits of Intemperance those Epilepsies of Lasciviousness those Rapes and Violences committed upon and much against our own Constitutions which without a singular effect of Divine Clemency would soon torment and consume our Nature And who is there but some time or other plays the Curtius and desperately throws himself into the Gulph of Danger rather than he will offer to turn the Stream of Pravity which carries away our Affections so much the more precipitously and mischievously as we allow it Natural and Born ● us What force then O Lord without thy Sovereign help can bear the Shock of Ambition or bridle the fury of Passions or resist the Assaults of Lust Thou alone most Gracious God! mayest enlighten the blindness of my Mind enable the weakness of my Heart and invigorate the desperate estate of my Soul He that thinks to go out by himself in his own strength alone against the Uncircumcised Enemies of our Peace he knows not what he hath about him how unprovided he is of Armour and of Force to encounter such Giants as may defeat him even by the falseness of his own Nature Man of himself being now so entangled in his own Land as it were so hampered by his depraved and carnal Sense as that his very presuming to fight his Adversary with his own sorry Weapons is the shewing but of his Pride and Weakness the faults charged on David and the Sins of Goliah the defying of the Most High and the disgracing the Armies of the Living God My safety therefore shall depend onely upon Gods defence whose continual Guard and seasonable Reliefs free me from the injurious Accidents happening in the Day or in the Night So that all my time and life finds it self exempt or secured from such continual Perils as are encountered in an Age so full of Sin and Violence and therefore so full of Miseries as this Present is O how doest thou disarm the furiousness of my Enemies and of the whole Creation Dearest Lord How dost thou stop the Mouths of the fiercest Monsters which are opened against Mankind since the Fall It is thou who dost blunt the Cruelties of Thieves and Tyrants and calmest the most violent Stormes and humblest the most Lofty Pride All Misfortunes all Disasters all Calamities are overcome by thy Power and made beneficial to us by thy Providence Continue therefore thy Favours towards my poor Soul which oppressed by the weight of its Earthly-mindedness sinks down into the Pit without the support of thy Love O●●rcover it as thou didst Hezekiah's and see how the Devil that is ever imploying his usual Malice is allways in Ambush or in open War against her With the Complacencies of the Appetite he Charmes her with the Heats of Ambition he Chafes her with the Pleasures of Sense he Diverts with the Snares of Beauty he Entraps and with the Glories of the World he quite dazles me frail Mortal so that being near lost and carried away by his cunning Devises of which I would not be longer ignorant O Lord I struggle with the utmost effort to break away from the specious promises and puissance of my Adversary that my Mind may not be debauched by the fair shews of the Flesh nor my Soul enslaved to the unreasonable passions of the Body But that she may fly to thy Aid imploring thy Succor and sheltering me under the Wings of thy Protection Surely dear Lord I have not tired out thy Pity for all the Maladies of my Heart do want a continual Medicine and un-interrupted applications of a Divine Hand grant therefore O my God! through thine immediate Care and infinite Commiseration the whole course of my Life may be so directed as that I may observe thy Commands and the end of my Designes may be wholly thy Glory the Scope of my Desires thy Service and thy Love the Center of my Affections May the bright Emanations of thy Grace so shine upon my doings as they having their beginning and end under thy Favour nothing may draw me from thy Laws or from my hopes of Happiness In a special manner do I begg thy Help O dear Redeemer in that hour when the Man being attacqued with the Horrours of Death grows faint and weary like Thirsting Sampson and is in danger of quitting the Field to his greatest Foes and most dangerous Assailants In that blackest hour which is the Power of Darkness oh let me have thy clearest Guidance O let me have that supernatural Assistance which the most dreadful Conflicts do require And now chear up my Soul with the assurance that thou hast recommended thy self unto a faithful Creator who will keep thee to the uttermost and defend thy proceedings He will not suffer thee to loose the excellency of thy first being nor to be always blurred with the Sordidness of Earth He can Seal up all thy Faculties in the Contemplation of his Greatness and having blessed the Periods of thy Life here will promote thee to Glory in the Ages of Eternity AMEN The third Step upon the Third PSALM of Degrees being the 122 PSALM Laetatus sum in his c. O My God! what greater Consolation can a Soul receive here than to be fed with the Hopes of enjoying thy Divine presence hereafter The Mirth of this World is so mixed so dashed with Vanity or Repentance that 't is no wayes comparable to what Eternal Beatitude can promise Honours and Earthly Grandeurs are overloaded with the burthen of observances dissimulations and business Worldly Riches are accompanyed with Labour Snares and Vexatious Contests The delights of sence are vanished almost before injoyed and of them nothing remains afterward but dissatisfaction All the goods of Nature or of Fortune are very fraile and momentary proving their felicities but vain and phantastick But the injoyment of the Light of Gods Countenance the introduction into

my Being I have dared to contend with Omnipotence Death and Hell have been imagined Dreams and Phantasms only to scare the simple and not to be Instruments of thine anger to scourge the guilty But yet my Soul doth humbly now suppose it self an Object not less proper for thy incomprehensible Mercy because of its infinite Unworthiness and will rely only upon that Mercy of thine since it is worse than Folly to trust in any thing else He that doth place his hopes under the protection of great men doth but pass away his Liberty into the Hands of Tyrants He that founds his security on the Commonweal's builds up his Comforts on great Improbabilities He that counts Wealth the Mine of all Happiness is not acquainted with the Wheel of Fortune he that sooths himself with pleasures in worldly Knowledge knows not enough the weakness and incertainty of our Understandings as well as of all intelligible Subjects and whosoever presumes upon his own Merits let him call to mind from whence he came and whither he must return being liable to Myriads of Infirmities and to more than a single Death Friends themselves and Health the best of humane enjoyments are in this point like Honours Riches and other mortal entertainments very short and transient under the influences of a changing state subject to alterations from our own age as much as from the malice of our Enemies Therefore O Mortals cast your Anchor on no other security but on my God there is no Rock like him as I have experienced He can Love us freely and Defend us fully he doth heal our Infirmities and makes up our Losses he protects our Weakness and succors our want Where he associates there it is that Felicity both Roots and Flowers To him let us have recourse every Watch of the Night and every Minute of the Day To him let us offer up both our Lives and Deaths the Beginning and Accomplishment of all our Undertakings For he that is all Goodness hath no other Scope but our Happiness Deut. 32.4 By how much the more our humane Ignorance tempts us out of the Road to Heaven by so much the more his Pity strives to lead us the right way and to keep us in it For all 〈◊〉 universal Impiety weaves a Spider's Webb in every ones Mansion Prov. 30.28 and Pride heaps up Mountains of Guilt to defy Heaven while Avarice scrapes up Dirt to make an Idol of it and Lasciviousness dissolves its own pleasure by excess though Gluttony returns often with the Dog and Idleness looks after no good nor Anger meets with any thing but Precipices Yet for all these the goodness of God abides continually and is not discouraged by our Unworthiness when even this is aggravated by his Love but strives the rather to appear still as far above our Vileness and beyond our Merits as the Heavens are distanced from the lowest Earth And shall I not fly to this City of Refuge when pursued by a many ful-mouth'd Sins that cry aloud for Vengeance the Diseases and Corruptions of my Nature and Condition are not so inveterate but there is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there who can ease them My Wounds though festered by long and evil Habits are not gangrened by Despair nor is thy Hand shrunk up into thy Bosom but thou wilt put it forth to reach me a Cure Thy Remedies O Lord are always ready as thy mind to recover us and thou art never weary of well doing Thou alone canst reduce me into a state of doing better than I have done Thou alone canst pour the Oyle and Wine into my Hurts and bear the Charges of my Recovery Lord lay down the price of this and give Bail for me thy Insoluble Debtor As thou didst upon the cursed Tree Redeem thy Israel from trouble so let the Merits of thy bitter Passion be the powerful means of my deliverance from the slaveries of Sin that I may serve thee without base Fear without any great Disease or Disgust or Luke-warm indifference It must be the heat of thy Love which can dissipate such bad Distempers of my Soul as have brought an Ague upon my Devotion and a Plague upon my Heart Lord see me set right again by the health of thy Countenance when I am made whole see that I Sin not again lest worse things fall upon me But assure the whole residue of my time by such a just and severe Repentance for my past Infirmities as that I may never relapse into them nor thou strive with me who have contended too long with thee But crowning the greatness of thy Glories by the Pardon of my greatest Sins thou mayest give me leave to rely wholly on thy sweet Compassion till I may take Harbour in a Course of Sanctity in the state of Justification and at last in a full and perfect Redemption Amen The twelfth Step on the twelfth PSALM of Degrees being the 131 PSALM Domine non est exaltatum Cor c. O Lord I perceive the greatest Enemy of Mankind leaves no means un-attempted whereby he may draw us out of thy blessed way Sometimes with prosperous Success and sometimes with earthly Grandeurs he well-nigh masters such to their Eternal Ruine as he durst not assail by Crosses or by Want At other times when neither fair means nor foul will do his Work he takes a stranger course and represents to those too good Opinions which we ordinarily have of our selves a long Bead-roll of Religious Performances that wee Priding our selves in our own doings might infect them and arrogate that to our own merit which is wholly due to thy goodness * Aristot in Eth. 1.4 4.3 inquit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita fecrunt Optimi Gentium Stotcorum scilicet Epicuraeorum qui dixerunt Nos exaequat Victoria Caelo immo ipse Philosophorum Romanorum Imperator Marcus Aurelius erat famae suae curiosissimus c. The Best men of all are too much addicted to this Sacrilege and few there are alass who are so well bred in Humility as not to like their own Reputation or not to covet Glory here no less than above Who doth not think too well or too much of his Service if it appear faithful to God and Charitable to others while he is patient in Adversity and temperate in all his Desires Is he not apt to be exalted above measure Therefore while I purpose with my self to avoid the Pride and Pomps of the World and to give my self up wholly to the execution of thy Commands let not my Heart applaud it self in private but so turn mine Eyes to thy Testimonies that they may not cause nor discover any Vain-glory about me Give me such a likeness to my Jesus such a lowliness of Spirit as to referr all things duely to thy bounty and nothing to my Power or Merit And as by the excesses of undeserved loving-kindness thou hast advantaged my Birth with the Characters of Illustrious