Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	beauty_n	see_v	zion_n	31	3	8.8203	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30928	Jesus Christ the great wonder discovered for the amazement of saints in a sermon preached before the right honorable the Lord Major of London and the honorable Court of Aldermen at Pauls / by Matthew Barker.	Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1651 (1651)	Wing B776; ESTC R23640	31,549	55

being all but dark beams of that divine glory whereof he is the Sun from which they proceed and upon which they do depend and are infinitely as in the first cause comprehended in himself As Xeuxis when he drew the Picture of Helena had all the beautiful Virgins of Greece before him and whatever stamp of beauty or comliness he saw in any put all into that one Picture so all the several stamps and lineaments of beauty which are scattered up and down through the whole Creation are all gathered up in a transcendent manner in the person of Jesus Christ And to look lower down upon his Humanity and there wonder at those rare perfections and eminent graces that dwell in it look upon it as the Representative of all the Saints the Epitome of the whole Creation behold it in that intimate and immediate conjunction it hath with the Godhead and here wonder to see how heaven and earth embrace the Humanity raised infinitely high the Divinity stooping infinitley low God coming down in this humanity unto us and through it raising us up unto himself and his own life blessedness and fulness as we spake before And then pass on to his Works and admire him there First the works of Creation for this name of his in the Text is visibly written there here are as well mysteries for admiration as causes for reason even such as have non-plust the deepest Philosophers and the ablest Humanists so that the creatures are not as the Papists say of their Images Idiotarum libri books for Idiots only but Cabinets of wonders for the highest Schollers and Christians to admire David speaking of these works of God in the 104. Psal His heart was so full that he is faint in the midst of his discourse to stand still and wonder saying as in the 24. vers O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And Elihu calls upon Job Chap. 37. 14. Hearken O Job stand still and consider the wonderful works of God And God presenting these before him drove him into a speechless silence as we read Job 40. 4. I will lay my hand upon my mouth And Agur Prov. 30. 4. looking upon the Creation wonders at the Creator Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended who hath gathered the wind with his fists who hath bound the waters in a garment who hath established all the ends of the earth What is his name or his Sons name if thou canst tell And give me leave by way of imitation of this holy man to propound some questions to you What is it that props up the heavens that they fall not and what hidden vertue or quality wherles them about in such a rapid and regular motion Whence is it That the Sun Moon and Stars send their light heat and influence downward when it is more natural for light and heat to ascend upward What is it that gives the Rain-bow its various colours and bends it through the sky like a bowe What is that which thunders in the clouds and ratleth like a Chariot in the heavens Whence hath the wind its force and out of what treasury is it brought forth And to come yet lower Whereupon are the foundations of the earth fastened and what Axel tree bears up the burthen of it Whence is the ebbing and flowing of the sea and why do not the proud waves thereof overflow the bancks when as they rise many degrees above them Whose power and wisdom hath done all these things what is his name or his sons name if thou canst tell Make this heavenly advantage of your Country houses as to admire the wonders of God that shine forth there round about you Every Flower in the Garden Tree in the Orchard those several beauties wherewith thou seest the Earth bedecked may represent this wonderful one Jesus Christ in a delightfull appearance to thee who is the sweetness of all things sweet the beauty of all things beautiful the glory of all things glorious Yea who is the form of every form the life of all lives that One Eternal root and seed out of which all other seeds and roots do originally spring And all that multiplicity diversity contrariety which is seen in things here below do meet in the greatest simplicity and unity in him for it is unity that brought forth plurality and all plurality is eminently comprehended in unity And therefore seeing Jesus Christ hath as it were multiplyed himself into such various beauties forms and images let us by these rise up above these unto himself who is all and infinitely more then all these And endeavour in the most simple and abstracted acts of the mind to close with him who is the most simple and abstracted being ascending from the finite to the infinite from the visible to the invisible from the corruptible to that which is eternal And then pass on to the works of Providence and wonder again here Providence it is Ordinatio rerum ad finem as Aquinas speaks And it is wonderful to see how providence doth sweetly dispose of all things to their proper ends As we see in a Watch the wheels are many their motions various and contrary that an unskilful man sees no reason or method in them but the wise Artificer sees method and reason in all So divine providence in a secret and invisible way guides the several cross and interfering motions of the creature with much Order and harmony to their due and proper end And here I might lead you back into the Story of former times and shew you the wonders of providence in the several Ages of the world and in what a strange method it hath carryed on the affairs of the Nations especially those that have more immediatly referred to his Church how wonderfully it hath been preserved as a Lamb in the midst of Wolves as a little spark of fire in the midst of those impetuous waves of persecution that have every moment threatned to overwhelm her Yea and how in all Ages God hath made the malice and policy of her enemies to conduce to her further spreading and rising in the world But we need go no further then our own Nation and these latter years wherein God hath carryed on the affairs of his people by a continued series of wonders To extirpate that Prelatical power that had so deeply riveted it self into the bowels of the Nation and yet the Nation stand is wonderful To raise up the heads of a few contemptible men the People of God in this Nation called Puritans in the dialect of late times and since put under other disguizes to represent the 〈◊〉 to ●●ise up these and make them to become a terrour to their enemies though far more and mightier in outward strength then they is again wonderful And further to consider what eminent acts of Justice have been done upon men of the highest rank of the greatest power and interest What changes have been made in Government

we prayed for and therefore when God hath been giving in these things to us though not according to our apprehensions of them the same zeal hath been improved against them as was before for them And so we now pray for the conversion of the Jews but happy is that man that shall be able to stand to his own prayers when God shall come to effect this for it will be such a time of trouble as hath never been since there was a Nation as Daniel speaks Dan. 12. 1. And the work may be done in such a way as that those men that have prayed for it may then oppose it I know many men who now pray for the conversion of the Jews and yet would be ready to oppose their coming to live amongst us which may yet seem to be the most probable way of effecting it Vse 3. If Jesus Christ be wonderful let us learn to have high expectations of him let this give life to our hopes and wings to our faith thou hast great works to be done within thee great corruptions to be subdued great temptations conquered great wants to be supplied and so there are yet great works to be done in the world the peace of Sion to be established the throne of the Beast to be demolished the Nations to be called and gathered the Gospel to be propagated Gog and Magog to be destroyed judgement and righteousness to be setled in the Earth that nothing but wonderful power and wisdom is able to accomplish these things yet let our expectations be kept up to the heighth for here is One whose name is Wonderful is ingaged in them And we shall see this name of his written upon the instruments whereby he works and upon the method wherein he walks and upon the glory and perfection of the works themselves when they are brought to pass His works all along shall savor of this name of his Our expectation of a person is usually according to his abilities as the man is so is his strength and as his strength is so are his actings what manner of salvation may Saints then expect from such a wonderful person as Jesus Christ and who will ingrave this Name of his in visible Characters all along upon it Vse 4. If Jesus Christ be thus wonderful then sure it is both his expectation and our duty to wonder at him Let us learn then silently to sit down and wonder at what we cannot comprehend Sure this is the great end of God in all those wonderful appearances of his in the Lord Jesus to put the hearts of his poor people for ever into a sweet astonishment It is said of Christ at his glorious appearance that he shal come to be admired in all that believe 2 Thes 1 10. He shall appear every way wonderful and the proper and genuine entertainment of wonderful things is to wonder at them We never better find Christ then when we do most lose our selves in him This divine admiration is that sacred mount which the soul ascending there enjoys the clearest vision of God and sweetest communion with him Therefore let us set apart some time every day to go up into this mount of vision retiring our selves from our selves and all things visible and secular and divinely gaze upon these wonderful things of Jesus Christ till we find a sweet amazement seizing upon all the powers of the soul and carrying them forth into a divine extasie And First Look upon his person and wonder there look upon him first in the glory of his Divinity and lose thy self in it as in a sea of sweetness and pleasures pursue thy thoughts till thou arrivest at infinity and there delight to lose thy self for the more thou knowest of God the more shalt thou be better able to see that he is above all knowledge The mind of man hath three degrees of the knowledge of God as a Learned man hath observed In the first degree it useth many words of God in the second fewer in the third none at all but is stricken dumb with silence as seeing all words falling infinitely short of him As Job he was at his first discourse with God full of words whiles he knew him only by the hearing of the Ear but after a more clear sight and knowledge words fail him and he lies down dumb at the feet of God saying Once have I spoken but I will no more yea twise but I will proceed no further Job 40. 5. That you may be upon some advantage for this heavenly Work we shall briefly set some of the divine perfections of Christ before you and then forbear wondring if you can First Look upon his Knowledge and wonder his knowing all things past present and to come open and secret certain and contingent that which shall be that which shall never be and all this not by species or information from others but immediately by himself not by succession but all at once not by discourse or reason but in one simple intuitive act what wonderful knowledge is this Then look upon his Immensity and wonder being one who containeth all things and yet is contained of nothing comprehendeth all things and yet is himself incomprehensible whom the heavens yea the heaven of heavens cannot contain whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere as an Heathen speaks of God so that his presence is as much with one creature as with all and with all as with one is as much in one place as all in all places as one what a wonderful person is this And so look upon his Eternity and wonder Eternity as the Schools define it is Interminabilis tota simul vitae possessio The possession of an endless life all at once Time it is Nunc fluens but Eternity is Nunc stans an everlasting moment whereby Christ considered as God possesseth his own endless life in one moment so that there is nothing past to him nothing future but both parts of Eternity as Divines speak and all things that have been are or shall be betwixt these two parts are actually present and that continually before his face Then turn your eyes and look upon him in his Simplicity and wonder In the Divinity which we are now speaking to there is no manner of division composition or alterity at all though we are ready both to divide it and compound it through the weakness of our understanding here Wisdom is the same thing with Power and Power with Justice and Justice with Mercy nay there is not matter and form actus potentia essence and operation in him the power by which he acts and the act it self are all one in God As God loving himself the loving the loved and the love that is the band of both is all but one and the same thing And lastly to go no further here look upon him in his Eminency and wonder as having all the perfections of every creature from the highest to the lowest Eminently in himself they