Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	father_n	great_a	lord_n	5,746	5	3.6147	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26295	Vox clamantis, or, An essay for the honour, happiness and prosperity of the English gentry, and the whole nation in the promoting religion and vertue, and the peace both of church and state. / by P.A. ...	Ayres, Philip, 1638-1712.	1684 (1684)	Wing A4314; ESTC R32826	52,049	117

Si tibi sponsa decens si sit Generosa quid inde Annos si regnes felix per mille quid inde Iam cito praetereunt vanitas nihil inde To which we may add Mr. Quarles his conclusion of the Life of man His Breath's a Bubble and his days a Span 'T is Glorious misery to be born a man As also that of a Noble Peer of this Kingdom viz. the Earl of Manchester in his Almondo to express Quid Sum Quis fando Explicare queat Pulvis Aer this I know Et in pulverem reverteris this is sure That Homo est morbidum putre Cassum Et in non hominem vertitur omnis homo Here is our great Kindred Our Dwelling is Inter Pulices Culices amongst Flies and Fleas our Quality vile our Weight lighter than Vanity our Worth nothing What then is our being Somnium Dolor And now proceed on and say to your self shall I be so sottish and unwise not to understand and take things as they truly are Can all my Honours and Abundance secure me one moment from most of the Hazards and Casualties Sicknesses and Diseases incident to the meanest Can all that I have bribe and keep off Death a moment but when he appears and strikes I must submit to him and be parted from all my sweet enjoyments Will there then be any difference between me and the poorest Begger in the Grave Will not the most skilful Artist be unable after a little time to find out a distinction between our Bones or our Dust Am I not in this respect rather in a worse condition than the poorest Mortal by being intrusted with a greater talent and so have a greater account to make to God and am I not under greater Temptations in this world together with vast cares that attend me so that well might the Father say Periculosior est mundus blandiens quam fulminans Am I not subject to the envy of many and many times in great solicitude to defend what I have from deceit and wrong if not from injustice but more especially am I not under the continual temptations to despise or forget God and to violate his Laws to lean upon my wealth while I fall from God What temptations do I lye under to Pride Vain-glory Gluttony Drunkenness Lust Envy and Revenge and a many other vices and enormities No wonder then that it was wise Agurs Request to God Give me neither Poverty nor Riches Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord c. Prov. 30.8 9. As also that our blessed Saviour the Wisdom of his Father out of compassion to our souls should set before us this great danger we are in and told us How hard a thing it is for a rich man to enter into Heaven And also Solomon Prov. 23.4 Labour not to be Rich. Besides how uncertain are these outward enjoyments in respect of their continuance Is it not truly said in the 5 th Verse of the 23 Prov. aforesaid that Riches have Wings and fly away like an Eagle c. Have not I examples before my face daily of many that were in as flourishing a condition as my self and have suddenly come to Poverty and Ruin and been brought down to a mean and low condition And can I be secure that it shall not be my lot and portion before I leave the world But however if this be not my condition if what I have be not taken from me yet I know not how soon I may be taken from them and must lye down in the dust as well as those who have gon before me Now if things are thus why should I delude my self but consider them as they thus truly are and not as they seem to the injudicial less considering and less knowing part of mankind who will not be at the pains to understand beyond the surface of things Is it not therefore the highest wisdom to be Sober Serious Wise and Considerative and to take the advice of God the Supream Wisdom and in all things to be regulated by him in my passage and pilgrimage through the Wilderness of this world And if I believe that I have an immortal Soul I must needs desire that it should be for ever happy and if that be truth that the worthy Dean of Canterbury hath affirmed from the Sacred Scriptures That if we allow our selves in the practice of any known sin we intercept our hopes of Heaven and render our selves unfit for eternal life and that this life is the time of our preparation for a future estate that our Souls will continue for ever what we make them in this world Such a temper and disposition of mind as a Man carries with him out of this life he shall retain in the next and that 't is true indeed that Heaven perfects those holy and vertuous dispositions which are begun here but the other world alters no Man as to his main state And that if we do not in a good degree mortify our Lusts and Passions here Death will not kill them for us but we shall carry them with us into the other world And that if God should admit us so qualified into the place of happiness yet we should bring that along with us which would infallibly hinder us from being happy our censual inclinations and desires would meet with nothing to gratify them withal Now if this be true Divinity as I have no reason to question what dreadful dangers should I involve my self in if I should accustom my self to a sinful course of life and protract my repentance to the expiration of my days to my time of sickness or my death bed Do not these things deserve to be seriously deliberated upon in my health and strength And ought I not wisely to make the conclusion of the said Noble Peer before mentioned Si natus sum plorans si moriar plangens nolo ego vivere ridens Hoc Tantum volo Animan meam ornare qua Deo Angelis mox praesentanda est in Coelis I see plainly now it is my greatest interest to be Religious to be Virtuous and Good to Know Love Honour and Serve my Creator to furnish and adorn my soul with all Christian Graces that I may be fitted for the Heavenly Mansions And while I live here may enjoy that sweet satisfaction and tranquillity of mind the only portion of virtuous Souls which will render every condition comfortable to me make me smile in a Storm and under the darkest and gloomiest providences to see light and comfort yea make every thing amiable unto me To conclude in short that I may live happily and dye comfortably which is all that can be wished for in this life And now may I here set before you this pasage of a late worthy Author Thus our great Master Aristotle saith he hath told us That if our pleasures did look upon us when they come to us as they do when they turn their backs and leave

ancient times that there was in the Air certain surly and malevolent Spirits and Demons who were endeavouring to do all the mischief possible to Mankind on Earth How much therefore doth it concern us that we do not by our sins and wicked lives forfeit our interest in the protection of the Almighty and his blessed Angels his Ministring Spirits who as the Learned Sir Thomas Brown observes have a friendly respect and good will to man and do many courteous Offices for us his words are these That having therefore no certain knowledge of their nature 't is no bad method of the Schools whatsoever perfection we find obscurely in our selves in a more compleat and absolute way to ascribe unto them He further goes on I could easily believe that not only whole Countries but particular persons have their Tutelary and Guardian Angels which is not a new opinion of the Church of Rome but an old one of Pythagoras and Plato that those Noble essences in Heaven bear a friendly regard unto their fellow nature on Earth and therefore he believes that those many prodigies and ominous prognosticks which forerun the ruins of State Princes and Persons are the charitable promonitions of good Angels which more careless enquiries term but the effects of chance Now God hath made a gracious promise That he will give his Angels charge over them that fear him it therefore doth not a little concern us to keep our selves from all pollution of sin that is so contrary to God and to their pure and holy natures and which will estrange them from us and as it were force them from our protection and will consequently invite to us the society of those Surly Wicked and Malevolent Spirits and Demons who design nothing but mischief and ruin to mankind both to tempt and further us in sin and then to afflict and hurt us so far as they are permitted to do by God for this is very much to be feared that where the Carcase of Debauchery and Wickedness is thither these Eagles will be gathered together What great cause have we to pray as our Church well directs us in the Collect upon Michaelmas day O everlasting God who hast Ordained and Constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order mercifully grant that as thy holy Angels alway do thee service in Heaven so by thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Vertue and true Goodness would not only render you truly Rich Honourable and Happy in the injoyment of that full satisfaction in the serenity calmness and quiet of Mind that tranquility of Soul that Proemium ante Proemium in which mans happiness and welfare in this life principally consists as the Son of Syrach witnesseth Ecclus. 2.26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight Wisdom and Knowledge and Ioy but would certainly place you under the protection of God and his holy Angels and at last will Crown you with Honour Glory and Immortality for ever in the highest Heavens CHAP. V. A word by the by to the Reverend Clergy of the Church of England as now by Law Establish'd MAy I add a word or two without offence as a digression to our Reverend and Worthy Clergy whom I hope I may place with Gentlemen being Scholars he that is a Scholar having one principal part if not the best part of a Gentleman their calling and imployment also high excellent and sacred if the service of the highest Lord be the highest and best service in the world having been sometimes as I intimated before the imployment of Kings and Princes who were both Kings and Priests which sacredness and dignity of Office will ever be acknowledged in the world while there is a God acknowledged and worshipped therein which will be without question to the end thereof in despight of all the Atheists and Debauchers with their great Patrons Pope Leo 10 th Ochinus with our English Leviathan I hope the Excellency Dignity Sacredness of their Office yea their very Vestures betokenning Purity and Innocency will put them in mind what they should be in their Conversations I hope therefore I need not mind any of them to have a special care of being carried away by the impetuous current of intemperance and excess so abounding in our days I hope I need not caution them to be resolute in vertue and goodness for as one said very well in honest Principles it is good to be Vir rigidae innocentiae which I have read Livy should say of Cato Debere inesse quandam moribus contumaciam to be pertinacious in goodness is commendable in them I need not wish them to endeavour to stop the tide or that they of all others would however add no fuel to these Flames but have a great care and watchfulness that they do not transgress the Divine Laws and offend God in any kind and thereby open the mouths of theirs and the Churches Enemies Oh that they if it were possible might be all great examples of Justice Righteousness Tempeperance and Moderation and all other Christian Graces that their Conversations might be ever Holy and Heavenly and their affections above earthly things that they would Ventri bellum indicere For they of all others should not forget that Rule of the Father Quantò facilùs illicita timebit qui etiam licita verebitur It is wisdom some times even to shun things that are lawful that we may not run into the unlawful And let that excellent and worthy saying of the famous Dr. Reynolds be ever in your hearts and minds who being too much intent upon his Studies to the prejudice of his Health as was thought and being advised by a friend Non perdere substantiam propter accidentia he presently replyed Nec propter vivendi vitam perdere Causam I hope you will be all as resolute for God and his Laws at least as wicked men are for the Devil and his works of darkness and that at all times with Wisdom and Courage you will own your Lord and Master the ever blessed Jesus and do your duties in Exhortation Admonition Reproof in Christian Advice and Counsel but more especially by your Conversations your constant deportment according to the holy Christian Religion discountenancing of all sin but more especially this Epidemical this growing sin of Swinish Drunkenness so much abounding among us in this Nation that so it may be truly said of every one of you Planxit ruinas animarum God requires this of you as you well know that you should be the Salt of the earth seasoning all places and all companies where you come with Religion and Goodness And although it will be your lot to converse sometimes with Publicans and Sinners as your Lord and Master did yet let it be always to reclaim them to do them good and more especially to give them good Example as he did but by no means to incourage them in their Sins by ill