Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A65568
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The state of blessedness by W.W.
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W. W., M.A. and chaplain to a person of honour.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing W153; ESTC R26302
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19,505
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32
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theirs But we shall be as Glorious as Happy as knowing in our Kind as they and as 't is possible for Men to be And to be somewhat more then Men would as much unman us and make us as monstrous and deform'd as to be somewhat less Again 3. As the Saints shall be ignorant of nothing that is fit to be discover'd to them so they shall erre in nothing that they seem to know God is the Light by which they see and he is Truth and can neither deceive them nor will suffer them to be mistaken No he will not mock our fancies with scene and Pageantry but feed our understandings with blessed Truths He will not tempt our approaches with apparent Glory and when we come to lay hold on it thrust a shadow into our embraces We shall be where he is and our eyes shall be opened that we may see him and he will not shrink up his Beams and Brightness from us to elude our knowledg the Glass the grossness of our Nature that misrepresented things to our understandings shall be taken away and we shall know our God and in him all the objects of our felicity as infallibly as we are known of him 4. We shall know him certainly without haesitancy or dubitation we shall not scruple and quaere as John's Disciples did Art thou he or look we for another But we shall be as bold and positive as the convicted Apostle and say My Lord and my God Thus Lord shall we behold thy face in righteousness and when we awake after thy likeness we shall be satisfied with it And now let me prevail with you by the power of this worthy consideration to observe these following instructions 1. That you let this glory we have been now thinking of be always seated uppermost in your Thoughts and let all other interests give place and administer unto it If you secure this blessed are you though you should be unhappy in all things else This is the great end for which we came into the world and if we fail in the accomplishment it had been better for us never to have been born Methinks this should be a motive of that importance that it should engage all our Desires all our Studies all our Endeavours in the pursuit of it That we should be so concern'd so busi'd and taken up about it that we should have no leasure to consider the addresses of importunate Temptations much less any stomach to be prevail'd with by them Methinks he that hath such a Heaven in his eye should not look upon the World but with contempt and scorn and think it a great debasement to his reason to give it any place in his thoughts and affections that dross and Dung should ever defile that mind that was made for the contemplation of Heaven now and for the enjoyment of it at the next remove How would it daunt and shame the wanton dalliances of the flesh and make it blush at all fond unclean proposals to object against it the Ravishing but chast delights of the Saints in Bliss One serious thought thereof would confront and baffle the Pleasures and Allurements of sence and cause the most confident Temptation disgracefully to slink away and vanish If we were but always arm'd with such Meditations with what courage should we face and outbrave our present calamities and Triumph in Affliction and Death it self With what forward resolution and manly vigor should we press and fight and make our way through all difficulties with what eagerness and speed should we run the race if we did but see the Reward the Crown the Joy that is set before us 2. Let us not endeavour to anticipate Heaven and to be all-wise before our time let us not exercise our thoughts in things that are too high for us But be contented with such proportions of knowledge as God hath revealed and enabled us to understand To what purpose should we puzzle and distract our selves and others with vain disputes about things above us 'T is a dangerous thing to meddle with sacred matters we do not understand we sin in the very presumption we may for ought we know commit a second sin in being mistaken and beleiving a lie and 't is seldom seen but we are betrayed into a third for such disputes seldom are debated but with heat and passion and end in hatred and dissention Let God alone with his Decrees c. And let us mind our own duty see what part we have in the Covenant let that be our Study to know and our business to perform As for Gods part we have no reason to be solicitous about it further then he hath bin pleased to discover himself VVe may be assured what lies upon him shall be saithfully discharg'd he cannot but do all things well and righteously and when we come to Heaven we shall know as much In the mean time let us content our selves with these hopes and have no ill thoughts of God his Judgements are unsearchable but yet they are Just and Righteous VVherefore let us entertain no opinions of him that may impeach his Goodness or Equity and render them suspected here but pray that we may be of the number of those Saints who shall see them brought to Light and clear'd hereafter Lastly Let us chearfully submit to the Providences of God though we cannot solve them Let us conclude that God is just in his dispensations though we be weak and cannot understand them though we see not his Reasons in the Government of the VVorld yet we may know the defects of our own and thereto ascribe the cause why several events seem to happen so preposterous and cross All things work together for good where God has to do this should establish our confidence and silence our complaints and we shall see it though not now this should put bounds to our unreasonable curiosity let us but wait with Patience until our change come and then the crooked paths shall be made straight and the rough places plain Then all accounts between God and us shall be audited and made even and these Providences that appear so perplext and disproportionate shall be evidently made out both to our wonder and fatisfaction So that a man shall say what a happy experience shall infallibly teach him Verily There is a Reward for the Righteous Verily he is a God that Judgeth in the Earth To whom be Glory c. FINIS ERRATA P. 2. l. 29. r. and that those Pleasures l. ult r. rational p. 3. l. 15. r. these blessed Souls these dearest p. 5. l. 28. r. pleasures p. 8. l. 16. r. extent l. 18. r. consists p. 14. l. 24. for to r. so p. 15. l. 9. r. wanting in Our Bodies l. 13. r. our Souls p. 16. l. 34. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 17. l. 29. r. makes them happy p. 19. l. 12. for but perpetual r. by perpetual