Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
conscience_n die_v fire_n worm_n 1,088 5 9.7140 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A27558 Of the happiness of the saints in heaven a sermon preached before the Queen at Whitehall, October 12, 1690 / by William Beveridge.; Of the happiness of the saints in heaven Beveridge, William, 1637-1708. 1695 (1695) Wing B2097; ESTC R14203 15,307 36

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

OF The Happiness of the Saints in Heaven A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL October 12 1690. By WILLIAM BEV●●IDGE D. D. Rector of St. Peters ●ornhil The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1695. A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL October 12. 1690. COLOS. I. 12. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light ALthough the greatest part of the numerous Off-spring which hath hitherto proceeded from Adam's loins be departed out of this life and are seen no more among us yet we must not therefore think that they are ceased to be or to live for still their Souls are all as really alive in the other World as we are now in this And as it is with us here that some live ill and others well So it is with them too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an higher degree For some and as we have just cause to fear the greatest part of them live with the Fiends of Hell in the insernal pit where they have no light nothing but darkness and horrour to the utmost extremity round about them where they are always weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth sretting and tormenting themselves at the remembrance of their former sins and sollies where as Christ himself hath told us The worm dyeth not and the sire is not quenched that is their Consciences like greedy and insatiable worms are always gnawing and the fire of Gods wrath is continually burning in their Breasts never to be quenched or abated They cannot forbear thinking of what they have done though every thought cuts them to their very hearts and seems ready to split them in sunder They cannot forbear looking upon God although they can see nothing in him but the wrath and anger which they themselves have kindled which so incenses and enrageth their minds that they are all in a flame with fury and indignation at themselves for it By which means they are continually as it were upon a wrack distorted afflicted distracted confounded hurried about from place to place but can sind no rest no quiet every thing is uneasie and troublesome to them yea they are a burden to themselves they cannot endure themselves but wish ten thousand times they had been better or had never been at all or could cease to be or could be any thing but what they are But all in vain And which is worst of all they do not only suffer the extremity of pain and anguish at present but they can see no end of it yea they see there will be no end at all being fully assured that this must be their portion sor ever Whereas on the other side there are others who are not only free from all the miseries and torments which those poor creatures undergo but always live in Heaven in light and love and joy and peace and glory the highest that they are able to imagine or desire being brisk and lively chearfull and pleasant holy and happy all over And that too as we shall see more presently not only now and then but continually nor for some time only but to all eternity Now we who are still upon Earth are as yet in neither of these states neither so extremely miserable as the first are nor so perfectly happy as those are we spake of last but as it were in the middle between both But so soon as ever we depart out of this life we shall be immediately in one of them as certainly as we are now here And I do not question but that you all hope for and desire the latter even to live with those blessed Souls which enjoy perpetual rest and felicity in the other world And that one great end of your coming hither at this time is to learn what you must do in order to it And verily ye do well to take all opportunities you can get of being assisted and directed in it For it is a great thing that you propose to your selves which can never be attained without much care and pains about it And you are not certain how long time you have to doe it in but most certain it is not very long But blessed be God you are all as yet in a capacity of obtaining it and it is your own fault if any of you shall happen to miss of it For Almighty God plainly shews how desirous he is to have you live with him and so be happy in the other world in that he is still pleased to afford you all the means that he hath appointed for that purpose Witness your meeting together here at this time to joyn together in Prayer to his Divine Goodness for his assistance in the pursuit of it and to be put in mind of the course and method which you are to take for the accomplishment of so great and good an end Concerning which therefore I shall give you the best and plainest directions I can from the words which I have now read In which we may observe I. What kind of persons they are who are or shall be happy in the other world they are Saints II. The happiness they enjoy there here call'd the inheritance of the Saints in light III They who desire to enjoy that happiness must be duly qualified for it or as it is here expressed made meet to be partakers of it IV. All who are so qualified must ascribe it wholly unto God and give him thanks for it as we see here S. Paul doth Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light First therefore as to the persons who live so happily in the other world they are here called Saints It is the inheritance of the Saints of all the Saints and of them only It is proper and peculiar to them so that none else have any right or title to it nor can ever have any part or portion in it And that there is such a company and society of men in the world which are truly called Saints cannot be denied by any Christian it being one of the Articles of our Creed wherein we profess to believe there is a Communion of Saints And unless we be of that Communion we can never partake of the inheritance of the Saints But the great question is what it is to be a Saint or who may be truly and properly called Saints men of holiness or holy men as the word signifies But this we can never fully understand unless we first state the true notion of Sanctity or Holiness from whence they are so called Now Holiness or Sanctity in its highest perfection is one of the perfections of God himself who osten calls himsels The holy one of Israel and sometimes absolutely the holy one And as he sometimes swears by himself at other times he swears by his holiness whereby he gives us to understand that he