Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	body_n	earth_n	soul_n	16,341	5	5.1635	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39268	The right foundation of quietness, obedience, and concord discovered in two seasonable discourses ... / by Clem. Elis ...	Ellis, Clement, 1630-1700.	1684 (1684)	Wing E572; ESTC R19683	73,732	122

seasonable Lesson for all men to learn in this Projecting Plotting and Designing Age and part of the world wherein we live Now that men seem grown up to that prodigious insolence and pride as to quarrel with even God himself about his Government to find faults in his works every one would fain seem wise enough to be the modeller of a better form of Government both in Church and State then the wisdom of former Ages hath been acquainted with and nothing will satisfie men but a world of their own making and the reputation of some new invention tho it be a Babel of confusion Indeed men that would seem wise above their neighbours go alwayes big with some new nothing and are very ambitiously bent upon undoing what hath been done their chief faculty lyeth in destroying and demolishing all the Monuments of ancient wisdom that nothing may remain in the eye of Posterity but mere rubbish And who then will not be proud of any thing when they know of nothing better It hath been for many years too visible that our new devisers seem agreed in nothing more than in contriving mischief and ruine and like Samson's Foxes tho their faces look to contrary quarters of the World yet they joyn together by the tails and therein carry Firebrands to burn down the standing Corn and Vineyard of God And such will be the mischievous devices of mans heart whilst it is not wholly subjected to the Counsel of the Lord. Before we come to the particular doctrines of the Text we must inquire a little into the extent of this word Man as it is here used And we need not restrain it to any particular sort sect or party of men it may very well be allow'd to signifie the whole race of Mankind tho more especially the wicked or unregenerate part who are not yet either so throughly illuminated by the light of the Gospel as to see or so throughly sanctified by the grace of Christ as to choose the Lord for their God that is who account him not the only Good which they ought to propound unto themselves in all their designs and who make not his Will the only rule of all their desires and practices the only foundation of all their hope and comfort It is too true indeed that there is no man living but hath too many devices of his own corrupt heart in this state of imperfection For tho God made man upright Eccl. 7 29. And the very fabrick of his body so contrary to that of other Animals which either crawl upon the earth or go always looking down towards it should be his constant remembrancer that he was made to contemplate something higher than what they are concerned to know that his soul should be always aspiring towards Heaven and his eye should be ever fixed upon his God and all his motions should be govern'd by his Will and Counsel that sitteth in the Heavens and shall laugh Psal. 2 4. and have all the Heathen in derision Psal. 59. 8. Yet alas sin hath strangely bowed man downward and made him too like in many things to the Beasts that perish And although it be the work of grace to raise him up again and restore his Primitive posture of soul yet will not this great work be done completely so long as he is but growing here on earth he will be always sucking into himself too much of what is earthy and death must first transplant him into a better soil before he can be altogether heavenly But now the unregenerate man abiding in the same posture whereunto by his fall from God he was brought and in a state of separation from his Maker not being yet born again of the holy spirit of life and the incorruptible seed nor ingrassed into the true Vine the second man from heaven heavenly and thereby reunited unto God the true principle of Unity is evermore at variance with himself divided in his thoughts within him distracted into a confused Multitude of designs by the great variety of contrary Objects pulling and hailing him contrary wayes unto themselves so that he can never stand fixed in one point or any long time together go the same way His heart and mind within him is become the very seat of tumult and confusion there is nothing but mere Ataxy and Anarchy right reason being dethroned and spoiled of all authority and his thoughts within him like a Seditious Rabble without any Head or Commander to order and overaw them in a continual noise and hurry and as was said of that Riotous Multitude Act. 19. 32. The more part know not wherefore they are come together Something they would have of those many things whereof they find a want but what it is they cannot tell and yet by any means they must and will have it or else they will not be quieted but they know neither where nor how nor of whom to seek it Now how is it possible for peace and due subjection to Government to be preserved in Kingdoms and States so long as men are not able to make peace at home in their own hearts nor know how to command or quiet their own thoughts and disorderly affections but are continually by their own devices raising and fomenting an endless Civil War in their own Breasts downright Rebels to themselves and Enemies to the Monarchy that God himself hath founded in man Having thus seen what we are to understand by man these four things we may now learn from the Text. 1. The heart of man till it be rightly fixed on God is a very unconstant thing unsettled in its thoughts full of various devices and Counsels 2. The Devices and Counsels of mans heart till they concentre in the Will and Counsel of God are very vain and cannot stand 3. The Will and Counsel of God is alwayes one and the same and never changeth 4. Whatever the devices and projects of man may be they can never alter or frustrate the Will and Counsel of the Lord. Let us but have our faith well confirmed in these four things and we shall soon see and feel the excellent usefulness of them not only for the quieting of our souls in a contented and joyful acquiescence in God's wise Government of the world but also for the establishing of a blessed and lasting Peace in Church and State in a due subjection unto and well pleasedness with the present Government under which by the good providence of God it is our lot to live I. The heart of man unfixed on God the only complete and satisfactory good is a very unconstant thing altogether unsettled in its own thoughts full of various devices and changeable Counsels Man is a thinking creature and his thoughts are alwayes busie within him whether he will or no. And till he can come to the knowledge and be taken with the beauty of that one most perfect and delightsome Object the innumerable Excellencies whereof may wholly engage all his more noble faculties