Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	earth_n	heaven_n	triumphant_a	4,101	5	10.5762	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26807	A short description of the blessed place and state of the saints above in a discourse upon the words of Our Blessed Saviour, John XIV, 2, in my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you / by William Bates.	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1687 (1687)	Wing B1125; ESTC R25866	33,196	119

his special Love and eternal Duration 'T is an Observation of Tertullian That God who made other Things by command by the omnipotent Umpire of his Will appli'd himself with Counsel to form the Body of Adam which was the original Model of all Perfections that a humane Body is capable of for the beauty of Aspect without and the artificial order of the Parts within and the reason was Love drew the Lineaments Thus Love the Queen of the Divine Attributes employ'd infinite Wisdom and almighty Power to build this Celestial City for the reception of his chosen Favourites The King of Glory dwells there in a special manner The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lord's but the Earth hath he given to the Children of Men. By Right and Dominion the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof and the possession of it is from his Bounty to Men but Heaven is reserv'd for himself the Place of his glorious Residence As a Prince that hath many Houses gives some for to be inhabited by his Servants but the Imperial Palace is kept for his own Dwelling God manifests himself there in the most refulgent manner All the Perfections of the Glorious Deity are reveal'd to the Saints in their purity and radiancy The Divine Presence is the Supreme Glory of Heaven The Lord Jesus Christ is there crown'd with the Majesty of the Divine Empire This Glory is the Reward of his meritorious Obedience and Sufferings He was made a Subject and a Servant and endur'd the most ignominious cruel Death to satisfy God's injur'd Justice What hath not the Son done for the Glory of his Father He lost his Life rather than his Obedience And what will not the Father do for the Honour of his Son What Recompence is correspondent to such astonishing Humiliation Our Saviour in his last solemn Prayer with his Disciples addresses himself to God I have glorified thee on Earth I have finish'd the Work thou gavest me to do And now O Father glorify me with thy Self with the Glory I had with thee before the World was The Father was so highly honour'd by Christ that to satisfy his infinite Love towards him he hath dignified him with a Name and State that transcends all created Glory He is the Lord of Angels the Head of the Church and sits at the right Hand of Majesty on high In Heaven he appears in his triumphant Glory of which in the Transfiguration there was a transient glimpse when his Face did shine as the Sun but allayed and moderated that his Disciples might sustain his Presence There the Angels the Princes of the Celestical Court in all their bright Orders encompass the Throne of God and pay their humblest Homage to him The Saints appear there in their Robes of Glory for they are transform'd into the glorious likeness of the Son of God Their Souls radiant with pure unspotted Holiness shine through their Bodies as Sun-beams transmitted through Chrystal They all reign in Soveraign State for ever It becomes the Divine Majesty that all God's Subjects should be Kings and the highest Principality on Earth is but servitude compar'd with the Royalty enjoy'd by the Saints above For how often are the mightiest Monarchs on Earth in perfect bondage to their lawless Passions and the Soul in dull captivity to the sensual Appetites How often are the strongest Empires dissolv'd and ruin'd But the Saints in Heaven by obeying God reign triumphantly no Passions no Fears no Desires resist their Will nothing is able to trouble the sincere Delight the perfect Tranquillity of their State They in their several degrees of Glory shine like the Stars for ever and ever To sum up all What is promised to the Church is fulfill'd in Heaven The Sun shall be no more thy Light by Day nor the Moon by Night but the Lord shall be thy everlasting Light and thy God thy Glory Thus I have endeavour'd to represent that luminous Palace and the bright Inhabitants but how short is the description of the glorious Realities all humane Words are too weak and narrow to express it as it is The Glory and Joy of that blessed State are unspeakable as the Apostle a Spectator thereof certifies And 't is observable that our Saviour himself expresses the greatest Things by low familiar Terms and Resemblances as he tells his Faithful Disciples they shall eat and drink at his Table in his Kingdom In his Promises of Rewards it was not his intention meerly to make a show of his Power but to declare his Love Like a God he doth not magnify the Favours he will bestow but leaves it to their Spirits to conceive what becomes Almighty Goodness to bestow on his Servants In the plainest manner of promising the Reward there is a clear Character of the excellent Greatness of the Giver and his Gifts I will now consider the infallible Assurance we have of this blessed Place and State This is built on our Saviour's Love to them and his Truth and his going to prepare that Blessedness for them He saith to his Disciples Otherwise I would have told you implying that his Affection and Sincerity make it impossible that he should deceive them with an empty Promise of future Happiness 1. His Love secures them He would never have chosen them to be the Companions of his Cross never have expos'd them as Sheep among Wolves to suffer for his sake and to leave them for ever and reign alone in Heaven Love is a benevolent affection rising in the Breast and expressing it self in real Benefits according to the Power of the Lover and the Wants or the Capacity of the Person beloved and the more intense the Affection is the more evident and noble effects of Kindness will proceed from it All the most liberal Expressions without real performance are but a vain pageant of Friendship Now the Love of our Saviour to his Disciples was not only sincere but in such a degree of eminence that they might safely rely upon his Promises His pure Love was the motive of selecting them from the World and dignifying them with the endearing title of his Friends His Conversation with them was infinitely sweet a Miracle of Benignity and that glorious performance of his Love for them and all Believers in leaving Heaven for their sakes is the strongest assurance that he will bring them to his Father's House above 'T is represented as the peculiar Glory of Theodosius that he seated Majesty and Love in the same Throne for Love unites and conforms Persons and makes them as it were Peers and it seems too low a submission for a Soveraign to descend from his Throne to a kind of equality with a Subject or too high an exaltation to assume a private Person into such a degree of affection as to make him as himself yet such was the condescension of that great and amiable Emperor But how distant is the greatest Monarch in the World from the Eternal Son of

God than that a guilty Sinner should be reconciled to him As supposing the revival of a Phoenix from its Ashes 't is more easily conceivable that it should take its flight upwards which is the natural Motion of a living Bird than that it should be restor'd to Life in such a miraculous manner In short Heaven is a free Gift to us but dearly bought by our Saviour 't is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He had a double Title to Heaven as the Son of God he was Heir of his Kingdom this Title is incommunicably his own and he acquir'd it by his meritorious Sufferings This he imparts to Believers who enter into Heaven by the new and living Way which he consecrated for them through his Flesh. 2. He ascended into Heaven to prepare a Place for us The Actions of our Saviour may be considered two ways either as terminated in himself or with a relative respect to Believers as the Head of the Church His Resurrection was not meerly Personal but hath an operative Force in raising all the Members of his Mystical Body As David's subduing Goliah was not his own personal Victory simply but was extended in its happy Consequences to all his Nation for in him as their Champion the Army of Israel overcame the Philistims Jesus Christ as Head of the Church hath broken the Dominion of Death and by virtue of his Conquest the Grave shall restore the Saints at the general Resurrection And his Ascension was not a personal Act purely to obtain his own Right but as our Forerunner he is enter'd for us into Heaven As the High Priest in his majestick mysterious Habit with the Names of the Children of Israel upon his Breast enter'd into the Holy of Holies so Jesus Christ enter'd into the Eternal Sanctuary as our Representer to take possession of it for us The Language of Despair is silenc'd for ever Who shall ascend up to Heaven to raise us thither Christ is lifted up to the highest Glory and will draw all his People after him The first Adam was from the Earth Earthly but Christ is the Lord from Heaven and is return'd to Heaven and shall Earth destroy what Heaven cannot restore The Apostle tells us That Believers sit with Christ in Heavenly Places that is as he is the Head of that Sacred Society his Church and his Promise is exprest To him that overcomes will I grant personally to sit with me in my Throne even as I also am set down with my Father in his Throne After victorious Obedience the Saints shall be taken into Soveraign Alliance with Christ and reign for ever In short his excellent Merit is the Foundation of our glorious Hope and his prevailing Intercession introduces us into actual Possession He that purchas'd Heaven disposes of it by his last Will thus he addrest to his Father immediately before his Death Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may see my Glory And he has Power to accomplish his own Testament What he hath done already for Believers is an uncontroulable Evidence and invincible Assurance of what he hath promised There is a vaster distance between the Deity and Misery than between Man and the Heavenly Glory For the Sun to go backwards ten Degrees was miraculous and astonishing but to ascend the Horizon is according to natural Order The abasement of the Son of God was stupendious but his advancement to the highest Glory is most becoming his Divine Relation and infinitely due to his exuberant Merits and a firm Foundation of Hope that all his redeemed Saints shall be where he is and be conform'd to him in all supernatural Divine Excellencies of Soul and Body for ever The Application 1. LET us adore the unconceivable Love of God who hath prepar'd such a Place of Joy and Glory for his Children when they leave the World The Father prepar'd it in his Decree from Eternity and by his creating Power from the Foundation of the World and we are assur'd 't is such a Place and State as fully answers the Design of God's Love that is to make a reasonable Creature as happy as 't is capable to be When Man was turn'd Rebel against his Creator when so chang'd from the Divine Resemblance imprest at first upon him into the disgraceful likeness of the Beasts that perish as the Psalmist justly reproaches him then to pardon us and prefer us to restore us to his Favour and Image and the nearest communion with himself in his Palace above is such an astonishing Mercy as is only proper to God who is Love And the Love of our Redeemer is equally admirable when we were expell'd Paradise he makes a reentry for us and intercepts the stroke of the flaming Sword that had destroy'd us We neither know the depth of our Misery from whence we are freed nor the heighth of Glory to which we are rais'd by our Redeemer In what Heart but that of the Son of God could ever such compassion and charity be conceiv'd He took our Flesh to Heaven to prepare it for us and interchangeably left his Spirit on Earth to prepare us for Heaven How just is the solemn and terrible denunciation of the Apostle He that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha And how are we obliged to God for the blessed and glorious Gospel that infinitely excels all humane Books in the matter it contains the everlasting Happiness of Man and the certain way to obtain it and in the manner of conveying those great and Sacred Truths by Divine Revelation And what an Argument of thankfulness is it to consider the distinguishing Grace of God that when the most are so blind in the clear Light of the Gospel as not to discover the lustre of the Pearl of Price and so immers'd in Vanities as to disrelish Heavenly Joys that he is pleased to inlighten the Eyes of our Mind that we may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints The number of Fools that understand not the Price that is put into their Hands in comparison of the truly Wise is greater than of common Stones that lie in the Mire of the Streets to precious Stones of the highest value Diamonds and Rubies How affectionately should we give thanks to the Father who has made us meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light But we have such Allays by the Relicks of Carnality that without the Heavenly Spirit 's inspiring our cold Earth we shall never be ardent and lively in the Praises of our Blessed Benefactor Even David himself was fain to call upon his Soul with repeated fervency and excite every Faculty within him to bless the Lord who had forgiven his Iniquities and redeem'd his Life from destraction and crown'd him with loving Kindness and tender Mercies 2. From hence we may infer the great Guilt of