Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	pure_a	religion_n	undefiled_a	1,985	5	11.7434	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60354	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable Sir John Shorter, Knight, Lord Mayor of the city of London at Grocers-Hall by Samuel Slater ...	Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.	1688 (1688)	Wing S3975; ESTC R10144	44,686	50

or gaudy Attire of a loathsome Harlot And besides there is a most gracious Promise made to the Church which shall have its certain and full accomplishment in due season Isa. 2.2 It shall come to pass in the latter days and hath he said it and will he not do it Yes without all doubt he will that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains and exalted above the hills that is there is a time coming and I would hope it is not far off the nearer it is the better when the true Church of Christ shall be the Head and not the Tail when she shall not be as a Scullion among the Pots but as a Bride made ready for her Husband and when that Religion which came down from Heaven and will carry them to Heaven who sincerely profess and practice it that Religion which is pure and undefiled before God and the Father shall prevail against all the false and counterfeit Religions in the World as it doth now excel them all in Truth Purity and Glory so it then shall in Virtue Power and Efficacy Dagon shall fall before the Ark of God and the Idols be utterly abolished Yea tho they be made of Silver or Gold which men have made each one for himself to worship yet shall they be cast to the moles and to the bats Isa. 2.20 The Inventions of Men shall be made to give place to the Appointments and Institutions of Christ and the Doctrines of Devils shall disappear and vanish before the Doctrine of the Gospel Babylon shall be made a Hissing and Confusion but Ierusalem a Rejoycing and her People a Joy this we do now rejoyce in the Faith of and patiently wait for the glorious and happy performance Amen Come Lord Jesus Fourthly Sion was a Type or Figure of the Gospel-Church because of its Firmness and Stability It is said in Psal. 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever So shall the Church yea tho the Hills do depart and the Hills be removed even Sion it self at the end of the World yet the Church shall abide and when it ceaseth to be in any part Militant it shall be throughout Triumphant Let Men and Devils combine and unite their Strength and do their worst the Church shall stand the shock and outlive their Fury They may Rage Persecute and Kill they may Imprison Inslave and by their Cruelties force multitudes from their own Countries and native Soils but when they have done Christ will shew himself to be above them They may weary themselves in the greatness of their way and sweat and fret in their Gears but they shall never reach their designed and desired End. They may say Raze her raze her even to the Foundation but Ierusalem is a burthensome Stone upon whomsoever it falls it will grind them to Powder This spiritual Vine which Gods own right hand hath planted may be cut and wounded and bleed sorely but it shall not be to Death the old and excellent saying is at this day as true as ever Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae The Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church The more Martyrs there are the more Believers there shall be Pauls bonds did turn to the furtherance of the Gospel and so have done and shall do the patient sufferings and joyful comfortable Deaths of others in the Cause and for the sake of Christ and his Truths and Worship Let all the Enemies do their best and their worst too God will have a People in the World to praise his Name to load his Altars and to serve him in the beauty of Holiness In the worst of times when Ahab had the Throne and Idolatry was grown rank and rampant there were seven thousand in Israel that had not bowed the Knee to Baal so tho at some times the number of faithful Professors may be much diminished by miserable Persecution and far more miserable Apostacy yet there shall be so many preserved as shall be a seed to serve him and accounted to him for a Generation and that seed being water'd with the Divine blessing shall happily spring up in its season and yield a mighty increase There is a sweet and precious Promise of eternal Truth gone out of the mouth of him who is the faithful Witness upon which it is our duty and richly worth our while to live and in the assurance thereof greatly to rejoyce Mat. 16.18 Upon this Rock will I build my Church Upon what Rock not Peter himself for tho he was a good Man and an excellent Apostle yet he was a frail fallible and dying man But either upon the Truth which was then confessed by him or rather upon my self who am the eternal Rock i.e. upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself and what he hath so built none shall be able to pull down The gates the Policy and Power of Hell shall not prevail against it So much may suffice to be spoken to the first thing viz. what is here meant by Sion and why the Gospel-Church is called so 2. Q. Our second Question is this Why is Sion called Gods holy Hill Or the Hill of Gods holiness A. To which I thus briefly Answer Sion is so called because of the Ark which was there when the sweet Singer of Israel composed this Psalm which was a visible Symbol of Gods special spiritual and gracious Presence and also because of the Temple which was built there afterward and was an eminent Type of Iesus Christ. In that the great God was pleased to place his Name that house he was pleased to fill with his Glory there he did meet his People hearing their Prayers and returning his Answers from thence it was that he commanded the blessing even life for evermore Psal. 133.3 There is no argument to be drawn from hence that can evince to us the holiness of Places now As in every Nation Persons that fear God and work righteousness are accepted of him So is that Worship in all places which is performed to him according to his Will in Spirit and in Truth Ierusalem is not now an holy City nor Canaan the holy Land. Christ our Altar doth sanctify indeed those Gifts which are by a gracious heart in Faith offered up to God upon and by him but the meer place doth not do it it contributes nothing toward it it puts no beauty upon it no savour nor rellish that will take with God. Fervent prayers cordial praises all holy duties have as free an access to God as speedy admission with him as full a welcome as sweet gracious reception and entertainment which are offered and performed in this place in a Kitchin a Closet a Chamber or a Field as those that are performed in any place which man is said to consecrate If men would look more after heart-holiness they would not talk so much of nor insist so much upon the holiness