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	see_v	son_n	7,428	5	5.2667	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64835	Things worth thinking on, or, Helps to piety being remains of some meditations, experiences, and sentences &c. never published till now : and now are as an addition to them which were formerly made publick: together with a sermon entituled The beauty of holines / by Ralph Venning ...	Venning, Ralph, 1621?-1674.	1664 (1664)	Wing V227; ESTC R38004	77,776	241

flesh And though it were manifest that he was God yet without controversie 't is one of the great Misteries of Godliness that he was God manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Being thus clad in his travelling cloths he was not known nor taken to be for what he was Yet in truth this Self-denial and condescention of his is that we are hugely beholden to him for if he had not put on this Vail we poor weak-eyed mortals could not have seen his face and live This humbling of himself should indear him to us as it did unto his Father who declared from Heaven that he was his Son in whom he was well pleas'd even now in this humane dresse and while about the dispatch of this Worlds concerning affairs yea the Father did not only love him because he laid down his life but did put the Cup into his hand yea and which is wondrous strange it pleased the Lord to bruise him This then methinks should not be nor indeed is it either the only or greatest cause that the holy Jesus hath no more respect or esteem but alas 't is from hence that such men love their sins more than their Saviour This this is the condemnation that light glorious and beautiful light is come into the world but men too too many men love darkness and deformity more than Light and Beauty but why because their deeds are evil A goodly reason indeed what sin because they have sin'd Will they love and hug their evil deeds and with them damnation Will they refuse Salvation because they have sinned and that not out of modesty but desperate willfulness because sinned they have sin they will Alas poor men But I pray what is this sin that men are so much lovers of it Is there any beauty or comliness why it should be desired Ah no! As I would not I need not call it out of its Name for a worse cannot be given it 'T is such a deformed ugly hag as is more odious than Death or Devil 'T is impossible to rail at it or to speak bad enough of it the worst of words are too good to call it by 't is so vile and abominable a thing that no Name but its own is expressive of it and yet as if that were not significant enough the Apostle Rom. 7.13 adds an exceeding to it to denote its hyperbolical and inexpressible vileness 'T is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unlawfulness Illegality Disorder Confusion Filthiness Corruption and every thing that admits of the name of bad and evil of odious and abominable 'T is good for nothing but to be hated scorned and put to death 'T is worse than death for 't is the cause and sting of it too 'T is worse than the Devil for 't was only sin that made Angels Devils so that the Devil may call it Father more than it can call the Devil so 'T is not only the cause but the Hell of Hell and if there were no other 't were damnation to be a sinner for as such he is separated from God and under a Curse and indeed sin and damnation have one Name they are both a separation and departure from God This alas would you think it is the thing shall I say that wicked and devilish men and such as the Jews of old prefer before the holiness of blessed Jesus I cannot yet give over but I must tell you that this sin which the World is so inamour'd of is so rotten a thing and hath so stinking a breath that one cannot come near it without danger of being infected Who can touch this pitch and not be defiled 'T is infinitely worse and more contagious than the plague and we should abhor the garment spotted with this flesh The face of it hath not one good feature the aire of it is gastly its complexion is so like Hell that 't would fright any one that hath not lost the eyes of his understanding Mean or measure it hath none 't is altogether indecent and unsatiable and is never quiet till it have sent men to Hell no nor there doth it leave them but in its upbraids and torments is a continual fury and gnawing worme yea a fire that burns everlastingly 'T is the ugliest thing that ever was and most mis-shapen all the auxiliary Artifices that can be used cannot straiten it nor make it handsome It 's so ashamed of it self that it dares not appear in its own colours nor own its Name it disguiseth it self so that its lovers little know with whom they have to do If good were not called evil it could not be hated if evil were not called good it could never be beloved If Pride were not new-named Decency Wantonness Affability and Complasance Covetousness Frugality Prodigality Generosity c. And if Godliness were not nick-named Hypocrisie and a Fear to sin Cowardize and Pusilanimity Holiness Preciseness and Faithfulness Folly I say were it not that the Names are thus altered it were impossible but holiness would be greatly desired for her beauty and sin would be houted away and stoned to death men would take revenge on it and themselves too repenting even in dust and ashes that ever they were so mad to prefer sin before holiness 2. A second pretender to Beauty and which is indeed a very taking thing is a Civil and Courteous Carriage and Behaviour I mean not such as is over nice and ceremoniously formal that 's luscious but a gentile graceful demeanor joyn'd with an ingenious affability and becoming condescendingness ah how winning is this We use to give such an one the the name of an accomplish't lovely obliging and therefore an obtaining person This way Absalom stole more hearts than his face ravisht eyes as you may see 2 Sam. 15.5 6. but this is not so much to his praise as his Treason is to his disgrace Civility without Sanctity Ingenuity without Holiness is more pretty than precious some call it splendidum peccatum a glittering sin but I shall only call it a well-acted vanity an insignificant ceremony an handsom nothing To be accomplisht to serve a Prince and not be accomplish'd to serve a God is no great commend to any man To be lovely in the sight of all men and not to be lovely in the sight of God is a praise may sit a Pharisee or an Hypocrite but will not content a godly man 3. Holiness excells if compared with the charming and captivating beauty of faces Alas what is it to be fair as Absolom and celebrated as he beyond all others and be branded for Murther and Treason T is far from a glory to have beauty enough to inflame a Prince as Dinah had and to be defiled as she was 'T is said of Tyre that she was perfect in beauty but being lifted up because of her beauty God cast her down because of her being lifted up Ezek. 28.17 for God had purposed to stain the pride of her glory as was foretold Isa

Saviour acknowledgeth that to weak and dim-sighted eyes they did appear beautiful but to him who had an all-seeing eye they were the most errant Hypocrites in the world a Generation of Vipers that could not without a miracle escape the damnation of Hell And therefore he tells his Disciples and all others most assuredly Matth. 5.20 That except their Righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees they can in no case enter into the Kingdome of Heaven no in no wise 't is impossible It will be worth our while to take a more particular view of their overmuch or excessive and yet defective righteousness 1. They were great Professors of Religion but were more so in words than works for though they did in words confess yet in works they did deny God and Godliness as Matth. 23.3 4. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Seat All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that ye observe and do but do not after their works for they say and do not They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on other mens shoulders but they themselves will not touch them with one of their Fingers And what they do 't is in hypocrisie For all their works they do to be seen of men 2. Of all the Sects for there were many they were the most precise strict and exquisite As the Apostle who was once of the number doth confess Acts 26.45 And 't was for this that they were so much admired not for their Learning their Wit or Eloquence but for their righteousness yet this is the thing our Saviour censures and condemns in them and on great and just causes For First 'T was but external and in appearance They were like whited or painted Sepulchres which appear beautiful outward but were like them within too for they were rotten and filthy full of hypocrisie and iniquity Matth. 23.27 28. And therefore our Saviour saith unto them Luke 15. Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knows your hearts and that your appearing righteousness which is but in shew though it be highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God Secondly 'T was but their own Righteousness which is of the Law not that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith Thus the same Apostle tells us Phil. 3. Touching the Law saith he I was a Pharisee vers 5. and as to the righteousness which is in the Law blameless vers 6. and yet counted this but loss and dung v. 8. that he might win Christ and be found in him not having his own Legal righteousness which was all he had as a Pharisee and was all that the Pharisees had but that he might have the righteousness which is through Faith for without that which infinitely exceeds the other of the Scribes and Pharisees he believ'd what our Saviour said That he could not enter into heaven or be saved Yet Thirdly The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was but according to the outside and Letter of the Law as Matth. 5. our Saviour gives us to understand If they did not actually murther or commit adultery causless anger and lusting after a woman in their heart were to them no transgressious of the Law They had the Law in their hands and mouth but not in their heart but they are the people that know righteousness the people in whose heart my Law is saith the Lord Isa 51.7 And therefore our Saviour reflects this upon them with a woe in Matth. 23.25 Te make clean the outside of the Cup and the Platter but within they are full of extortion and excess Mens Legis est Lex the meaning of the Law is the Law but this they had no mind to Fourthly Their righteousness as to the Law was but an observance of some of the Commandments of God for many of them they did transgress as our Saviour taxeth them Matth. 15.3 but then 't is that we shall not be ashamed when we have respect to all the Commandments of God Psal 119.6 and are like that renowned pair Zachary and Elizabeth Luke 1.6 who were both righteous in the sight of God walking in all the Commandements and Ordinances of God without blame Yea Fifthly The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees as to the Law was placed in Rituals and Positives the lesser things of the Law and that with neglect of the real and most weighty things as 't is clear from what our Saviour reprehends and almost curses them for Matth. 23.23 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye pay tythe of Mint Annis and Cummin but have omitted the weightter matters of the Law Judgement Mercy Faith and Luke 11.42 the Love of God these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone They were most unconscionably unjust and oppressive while they pretended conscience and thought that these little ceremonial observances would make amends for all their greater wickedness and villanies Sixthly and lastly as to this head Their conformity was not so much to the Law as to their and their Elders Glosses upon and Interpretation of the Law I confess at such easie and cheap rates men may pass for blameless as blasphemous and injurious Saul did and be pretenders to yea professors of perfection They owned the Scriptures but prefer'd the Traditions of the Elders as the Papists do unwritten ones before them And as the Romanists advance the Dictates of Pope and Councils before the written Word of God so these used to say that the words of the wise had more in them than the words of the Law For this our Saviour takes them up roundly and rebukes them cuttingly as they deserved Matth. 15. and lets them know that thereby they did worse than transgress for they made void the Commands of God and render'd them of little use and none effect Ye Hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you and your ill doing saying This people draweth nigh me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me and in vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men Thus we see that the whole frame of these mens Religion was more of their own devising and fashioning than in conforming to the Institutions and Commandments of God and was indeed but an Apishmockery of the true and sound Religion Except therefore your righteousness exceed c. But to proceed 3. They were very Orthodox and sound in many of their Tenets beyond the Sadduces c. They held the Immortality of the Soul and Resurrection of the Body but lived so sensually as if neither were true and as if they prefer'd the uppermost rooms at a feast before the Kingdom and Glory of Heaven They held That there was One and but One God and were right as to pure Deisme but God in Christ they could not bear 't was beyond their patience to hear of Christ to be

the Son of God and though 't were for life yet they would not come to him Now 't is not eternal life to know the only true God unless we know the Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 And the excellency of knowing Christ is to know him so as to be found in him to have communion with him and be made conformable to him If we will believe St. Paul Phil. 3. He that thus hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5.12 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 3.36 He was a child of wrath by Nature and if he believe not in the Son of God he is still a child of wrath and liable to condemnation But to make haste with the rest of their Characters They were much and long in prayer but though they called often on his Name they departed not from iniquity but went from their prayers to their sins yea made their prayers but for their sins sake and for a pretence that they might the more glibly swallow down and devour the hard to be digested Widows-houses Matth. 23. Their prayers were but a shew they sinned in the Name of the Lord and at the cost and charges of Divinity wretches that they were They did not only pray but fast too they had learnt the Art of making sad and sowre faces and of hanging down the head like a bulrush yea they pretended to be so expert at and aboundant in it as if this more than any thing else were their Master-piece and super-errogating I might say super-arrogant excellency they do not only plead it with God as an argument Luke 18.12 but as a merit Isa 58.3 as if they deserved a Feast in Heaven for their fasting on Earth To their Fasting and Prayer they added Almes also and that it might not be an unknown charity though God and the poor be the best witnesses and enough they sounded a trumpet and were not content that their left hand knew what their right hand did unless it were also seen of men which they minded much more than doing good Matth. 6.1 2. for they were extreamly covetous which no pious man is charged with or sound guilty of in all the Scripture yet as covetous as they were they were more ambitious and parted with money that they might have a reward of praise and glory from men Zealous they were too beyond all reason and religion for the Sabbath but concern'd themselves more for an Oxe or an Asse than for the health of mens bodies or the saving-health of mens souls which is an undeniable evidence of their hypocrisie Luke 13.15 16 c. yet to do them right and to give these Devils their due they took great pains to make Proselites for they compass Sea and Land Satans-walk as the late learned Bishop Hall calls it on this very place and occasion not to convert men to God but to make a party of them to themselves and a prey to the Devil and did nothing but undo themselves and to make their Proselites two-fold more the children of Hell than themselves Matth. 23.15 Thus I have endeavoured to clear up the Beauty of Holiness and do avow it against all gain-sayers to be incomparable You cannot but from all this learn to believe that all pleasures without holiness are but griefs and the pleasures of sin will be found so either in repenting of or being damned for them That all profit without holiness is but loss for what will it profit a man to gain the World and He that pays but a sin for it buys it too dear for he wrongs and is in danger to lose his soul Honour without holiness will end and that in disgrace Civility Gentility Morality Pharisaical Righteousess the greatest and all the beauty that is in the World will never admit any person to a sight of God without holiness and they that miss that sight miss Happiness There are some captious and trifling objections which this blind and therefore peevish and quarrelsome World make against holiness but I shall not trouble you with them they being clear and invincible arguments that though they may have seen her in transitu in her humane dresse here below among men which is disadvantageous to her being nothing so glorious as that she is cloth'd with and wears above with God and Angels yet that they never view'd her with intellectual or believing eyes nor ever had the happiness of her ennobling heavenly and happyfying conversation for then they would undoubtedly be transported and rapt with her admirable and transcending Beauty which would not only oblige and warrant but inspire and enable them to cry out with the Queen of Sheba concerning the wisdom and glory of Solomon 1 Kings 10.6 c. It was a true report that I heard of thine Acts and of thy Wisdome howbeit I believ'd not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen and behold the half was not told me thy Wisdom and Prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard Happy are thy men happy be thy servants Blessed be the Lord thy God who hath set thee on the Throne c. I see it is now high time to take into our thoughts the third thing which I promised to treat of and entertain you a little with which is that this lovely thing The beauty of holiness becometh the House of God and that for ever Here I have two things to do 1. To inform you what is meant by the House of God 2. That Holiness becomes the House of God 1. For the House of God This Psalme having no title in the Hebrew though the Septuagint and thence the vulgar Latine give it one we can speak nothing but conjecturally as to the occasion date or Author of it and 't is better to say nothing than what is doubtful Some would raise this House of God as high as Heaven which is indeed called the House of God John 14.2 and the beauty of this House is holiness Isa 57.15 I dwell in the High and Holy Place and yet this high and holy God is graciously pleas'd to prefer the little low cottage this country house of an humble and broken heart before that Throne of his indeed in this Text 't is but with him also but Isa 66.1 't is prefer'd before it Others as to the Letter refer it to the Tabernacle the little Ambulatory and moving Temple in the Wilderness and after or to the Temple the great and fixed Tabernacle at Jerusalem which was famed for beauty yea the beauty of holiness by which Name 't is often called But as I remember the Jews of Old and Latter Time do grant that this is one of the Psalms which relates and belongs to the Messiah-Time which our Divines do generally call the Gospel-Time or Dispensation And by this House of God is by most