Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	rejoice_v	use_v	weep_v	1,848	5	9.5776	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59840	A practical discourse concerning death by William Sherlock ...	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1689 (1689)	Wing S3312; ESTC R226804	147,548	359

and this I should think were Reason enough to convince every Man who considers that he is not to live here always how much it concerns him not to grow over-fond of present things for to contract an eternal Passion for what we cannot always enjoy must needs make us miserable 2. If then we must not entertain a fondness for those things which we cannot keep let us in the next place consider how we must use those things which we have but a present and momentary possession of for use is apt to beget a fondness Suppose then again that in your Travels abroad you pass through such a delightful Country what is it that prevents your fondness but only considering that you are not at home that you must not always see and enjoy what you now do and therefore all the fine things you meet with you rather look upon as curiosities to be remarked in story or to be tried by way of experiment or to be used for present necessity than as such things which are to be enjoyed which you know they are not And did we use the World thus we should never grow over fond of it Those who Marry would be as though they Married not and those who weep as though they wept not and those who rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and those who use this World as not abusing it because the fashion of this World passeth away The World it self will not last long though it will outlast us but we are to continue here so little a while that we have no reason to call it our home or to place our enjoyment in it It is an old and a good distinction that some things are only for use and somethings for enjoyment The first we value only for their use the second we account our happiness Now it is certain that what is transient and momentary can be only for use for Man is a miserable Creature if what is his happiness be not lasting and a very foolish Creature if he places his happiness in what is not lasting Now this should make a vast difference in our affections to things We cannot blame any Man who lets loose his affections upon that which is his happiness for there neither can nor ought to be any bounds set to our desires or enjoyment of our true happiness but what we account only for use we have no farther concernment for but only as it is of use to us and this confines our desires and affections to its use and were this the measure of our love to present things as it ought to be we could not err nor entertain any troublesom or vicious passion for them As for instance What is the natural use of eating and drinking but to repair the decays of nature and preserve our Bodies in health and vigour Now as great delicacies and curiosities as there are in nature both of Food and Liquors if Men valued them only for their use they would never be guilty of excess nor grow so fond of them as if they were made only to eat and drink and to judge of the differences of Tasts To value things for their use is to value them no farther than they are useful and this is the only value which is due to things which we must leave for they can be only for present use But when we come to place our happiness as all sensual Men do in things which were designed only for our use it both makes us extravagant in the use of them which often proves a great mischief to us in this World and creates such an unnatural passion for them as they cannot answer which makes them vain and empty and unsatisfactory while we have them and fills us with vexation and all the restlesness of a furious passion and appetite when we want them as we must do at one time or other either before or to be sure when we leave this World. 3. Let us suppose again that in our passage through Forreign Countries where we are not to stay long we should not meet with all those necessaries and conveniencies of Life which we have at home that the Country is barren the way rough and mountainous the Road infested with Thieves and Robbers but without any convenient reception for Travellers the People rude and Barbarous and Insolent to Strangers will a Wise Man be over-solicitous about such hardships as these in Travelling Does he not comfort himself that he is not to stay there that this will not last long that these difficulties will only recommend his own Country to him and make him hasten home again where he shall remember with pleasure what is now uneasy and troublesom And is there not as much reason for Christians to bear all the Evils and Casualties and Sufferings of this Life with an equal mind remembring that they are not to stay always here That this Life is but their Pilgrimage they are from home and therefore must expect the usage which Strangers and Travellers ordinarily meet with That they are not to live here always is a sufficient proof that their happiness does not consist in present things and then if they can make a shift though it may be it is a hard shift to pass through this World the scene will be altered and they shall find a kinder reception in the next This is the Foundation of Contentment in all Conditions and of Patience under Sufferings that Death which is not far off when it removes us out of this World will remove us from all the Sufferings of it And why should we not bear up with the courage and resolution of Travellers in the mean time when we have home a Peaceful and Eternal home in our prospect 4. Once more to conclude this Argument Suppose a Man in his Travels through a Forreign Country should be commanded immediately to leave the Country unless he would forswear ever returning to his own Country again Would not a wise Man consider that if he had not been commanded to leave that Country he did not intend to have staid long in it and therefore it would be an unaccountable folly and madness in him to abjure his own Country where his Father and Kindred and Inheritance is only to gratifie his curiosity in staying a little longer there And can we then think it a hard command when we know we must shortly die and leave this World that whether we will or no we cannot stay long in it to sacrifice our very Lives rather than renounce our hopes of Heaven and a better Life When we know that we must leave this World what does it signifie to die a little sooner than it may be in the course of nature we should to obtain an immortal Life To go to that Blessed Jesus who lived in this World for us and died for us and is ready to receive us into that Blessed Place where he is that we may behold his Glory I am sure it is a very foolish thing