Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	dwell_v	earth_n	new_a	13,357	5	7.0181	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44003	Contemplations moral and divine by a person of great learning and judgment.	Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676.	1676 (1676)	Wing H225; ESTC R4366	178,882	429

their own weapon to be as proud and consequently as violent as the rest of mankind for it is part of the Game of the world and Humility makes his case worse Veterem ferendo inju●●m invit is novam Where the Countrey is full of Wolves and Tigers it is better be a Wolf or a Tiger as well as they than be a Sheep and expoted to their Violence I Answer to this Objection 1. As to the former part that though it be true that it can never be expected that all the world should be perswaded to be Humble no more than it can be expected that all should be perswaded to be Virtuous Just or Honest but yet if there were some though the lesser part of mankind truly Humble and Lowly it would make very much to the abating of those Evils that arise by the Pride and Haughtiness of men 1. Because the more Humble men there are in the world it necessarily follows there are the fewer Proud men and consequently fewer common Disturbers of the peace and welfare of mankind and humane society 2. When the contest comes by the proud man against the proud man indeed there is the same tumult between them as if there were none humble but when the contest is by the proud man against the humble man the strife is quickly at an end it is a true Proverb It is the second blow makes the sray the humble man gives way to the wrath and insolence of the proud man and thereby ends the quarrel for Yielding pacifieth wrath saith the Wise man and I have very often observed that the Quietness of spirit and Humility of a man attaqued by a Proud man hath subdued and conquered his Pride and Animosity to a wonder and made him tame that by opposition would have been furious and implacable Soft words breaks the bones and a Sword is sooner broken by a blow upon a Cushion or Pillow that yieldeth than upon a bar of Iron that resists But if it should fall out that the Proud man's Violence is not broken by the Gentleness and Facility of the Humble man whereby he suffers in his own particular yet there be two advantages that hereby happen to the publick viz. 1. That the contention is soon at an end the proud man hath got the day and the parties are quiet 2. It gains a secret compassion from the beholders to the injured humble man and a general resentment and detestation of the injury committed to the humble man that receives the injury with so much Humility and bears it with so much Patience and thereby Pride and Oppression become the common objects of the general detestation of insolence pride and oppression and the generality of mankind thereupon look on them as beasts of prey with hatred and abhorrence and endeavour means to secure themselves against it 3. A third advantage is this That though oftentimes humble and good men are exposed to the injuries of the proud violent and insolent yet they are a kind of ferment or leaven in the places where they live and by the secret influences of their virtues the commendableness of their conversation and the secret interest that virtue hath in the Soul not only of good but even of the worst men it doth work upon mankind assimulates in some measure to it self and makes others good and humble by a kind of secret Magnetism that that virtue hath upon the minds of men and the more such are in number in the world the more effectual and operative their example and influence will be upon those with whom they converse 2. As to the second namely the Damage and Detriment that the humble man receives in the world upon the very account of his humility I answer First that Detriment is abundantly recompensed with the quiet and tranquility and evenness and composedness of his own mind As a man possesseth his own Soul by patience so he doth by humility namely the composedness right temper and due estate of his own mind which no proud or violent or impatient man doth or can But secondly it is most certain that though an humble man may upon the very score of his humility and meekness receive a brush in the world yet at the long run he gains advantage thereby even in this present life When I first read the saying of our Saviour Matth. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth I looked upon it as a meer Paradox if applied to the comforts of this life and therefore thought it must be meerly and only intended of that new Heaven and new Earth wherein dwelleth the righteous but upon deeper consideration I found it in a great measure true also of the former for 1. It is most certain that no proud man is truly loved by any but himself but so far as relates to his pride every man hates him One proud man perfectly hates another and looks upon him as his enemy and those very actions of pride that his own self love makes him approve or at least allow in himself he scorns derides abhorrs in another and though an humble man hath a common love to every man though proud or otherwise vicious as being one of mankind yet in relation to his pride he loves him not nor approves That very Consideration therefore that renders a proud man hated or not loved renders an humble man loved and approved yea and by the very proud man himself for he looks upon him as no obstacle or impediment to the attaining of his ends as one that is injurious to none benificent to all gentle and one that stands not in his way giving all due respect honour and difference suitable to his place and dignity he wisheth all the world were such as he except himself and therefore he respects and tenders him yea and we shall by daily experience see in the world that if a proud man injure or oppress an humble man 't is a thousand to one he undertakes his patronage defence and vindication and very oftentimes is a means of his protection and deliverance 3. But farther it is a certain and experienced truth that Virtue and Goodness especially that of Humility hath a secret party and interest love or at least approve it in another though they practise it not themselves for Virtue and Goodness and Humility hath a secret congruity to the true and genuine frame of the humane nature and though mens lusts and passions in a great measure obscure the consonancy to it they can never extinguish it but the mind and conscience will give a secret suffrage wherever it finds it 4. It is a thing observable that though the generality of mankind abound with pride intemperance injustice and almost all kind of vicious dispositions yea though the best of men are not without the irruptions of some of those distempers and though it must needs be that where there is the greatest number there is the greatest external force either to make

moment I were bereft of all either by Fire or Depredation how were my mind fitted with humility and patience to submit to a poor strait wanting condition I have now a good Husband Wife Children many Friends that esteem me and are faithful to to me what if God should in a moment deprive me of all these what if my dearest Friends should become my bitterest Enemies how should I bear my self under these changes I have a great Name and Esteem in the World what if in a moment a black cloud of Infamy and Scorn and Reproach were drawn of it and that I should become a scorn and reproach with Job 30.8 among children of fools yea children of base men viler than the earth how were I fitted with humility and evenness of mind to comport with such a condition till it pleaseth God by his Providence and the manifestation of my Innocence if he think sit to scatter this black cloud of Calumny and Reproach or if not yet quietly under it to enjoy the testimony of a good conscience and my own integrity These and the like anticipations of troubled and afflicted conditions would habituate and fit our minds to bear them furnish us with suitable tempers for them render them casie to us when they come and keep our Souls in a due state of moderation and watchfulness before they come As the good Martyr Bilney before his martyrdom by often putting his Finger into the Candle made the Flames which he was after to endure more familiar and tollerable 3. The third Preparative against Affliction and calamitous seasons is to reason our selves off from over-much love and valuation of the World and the best things it affords Philosophy hath made some short essay in this business but the Doctrine of the Gospel hath given us far more noble and effectual topicks and arguments than any Philosophy ever did or can 1. By giving us a plain and clear estimate and valuation of this World and all that seems most valuable in it but this is not all but 2. by shewing us plainly and clearly a more valuable certain and durable estate after death and a way of attaining it with much more ease and contentation than we can attain the most splendid temporals of this World Certain it is that the weight and and stress of afflictions and crosses lyes not so much in the things themselves which we suffer in them or by them as in that overvaluation that we put upon those conveniences which afflictions or crosses deprive us of When news was brought to that noble Roman of the death of his Son it was a great pitch of patience that even that Moral consideration wrought in him Novi me genuisse mortalem though perchance it was not without a mixture of Stoical vain-glory We set too great a value upon our health our wealth our reputation and that makes 〈◊〉 unable to bear with that evenness and contentedness of mind the loss of them by sickness poverty reproach We set too great a rate upon our temporal life here because we set too great a rate upon this World to the enjoyment whereof this life here is accommodated and proportioned and that makes us fear death not only as the ruine of our nature but as that which puts a period to all our comforts Whereas had we but Faith enough to believe the Evangelical truths touching our future happiness it would make us not desire death because we might in the time of this life secure unto our selves that great and one thing necessary and it would make us not to fear death because we see a greater fruition to be enjoyed after it than all the glory of this present World can yield 4. The next Preparative against Afflictions is to keep Piety Innocence and a Good Conscience before it comes As Sin is the sting of death so it is the sting of affliction and that which indeed gives the greatest bitterness and strength unto affliction and the reason is this because it weakens and disables that part in man which must bear and support it This is that which the Wise man observes Proc. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear which is no more than this It is the mind and spirit of man rightly principled that doth bear and carry a man through those difficulties and afflictions and infirmities under which he is but if that spirit or mind which should carry and bear those evils be hurt or wounded or faint or infirm what is there left in a man to bear that which indeed should be our support Innocence and a Good Conscience keeps the mind and spirit of a man in courage and considence and indeed it hath an influence and suffrage and attestation and support from the God of Heaven to whom a good conscience can with an humble confidence appeal as Hezekiah did under a great affliction Isa 38. and this access to Almighty God doth give new supplies succours and strength to the Soul to bear it up under very great and pressing afflictions But on the other side Sin doth disable the Soul to bear affliction till it be throughly repented of 1. Because it doth in a great measure emasculate and weaken the spirit of a man makes it poor cowardly and unable to bear it self up under the pressure of afflictions 2. It doth in a great measure obstruct the intercourse between God and the Soul and that influence that might and would otherwise be derived to the spirit or mind of a man by the God of the spirits of all flesh Therefore the best preparative against affliction is to have the Soul as clear as may be from the guilt of Sin 1. By an innocent and watchful life in the time of our prosperity before affliction attach us 2. Or at least By a speedy sincere and hearty Repentance for Sin committed and this repentance to be speedy before affliction come For although it is true that many times affliction is the messenger of God to awaken a sinner to repentance and that repentance is accepted by the merciful God yet that repentance is most kindly and easie and renders afflictions less difficult and troublesom which prevents affliction and performs one great end and use of afflictions before it comes He that hath a Soul cleansed by Faith and Repentance from the guilt of Sin before the severity of affliction comes upon him hath but one work to do namely to fit himself with patience to undergo the shock of affliction But he that defers his repentance till driven to it by affliction his work is more difficult because it is double namely to begin his repentance and to bear his affliction And because in many things we offend all and the best have their failings and sins of daily incursion a daily revising and examining of our own failings and renewing of our repentance for our daily faults is of singular use to render afflictions easie because repentance