Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A65309
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Religion our true interest, or, Practical notes upon the third chapter of Malachy the sixteen, seventeen and eighteen verses : seasonable for the times / by Thomas Watson ...
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Watson, Thomas, d. 1686.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing W1139; ESTC R34736
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91,573
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245
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God saith to us ye are mine then we have great immunites 1. We are freed from the revenging wrath of God We are not free from Gods anger as a Father but as a Iudge God will not pour his vindictive Justice upon us Christ hath drunk the Red wine of Gods wrath upon the Cross that Believers may not tast a drop of it 2. We are freed from the Predominancy of sin Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion or as the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall not Lord it over you Though Believers are not freed from the In-being of sin nor from the Combate with it yet they are freed from its Imperious command As it is said of those beasts in Daniel they had their Dominion taken away yet their Lives were prolonged for a season Dan. 7.12 So sin Lives in the Regenerate but its Dominion is taken away And to be thus freed from the jurisdictive power and tyranny of sin is no small blessing A Wicked man is at the command of sin as the Asse is at the command of the driver the curse of Cham is upon him Gen. 9.25 A Servant of Servants shall he be He is a slave to his Lusts and a slave to Satan O what a priviledge is it to have ones neck out of the Devils Yoak 3. We are freed from the accusations of Conscience The worm of Conscience is part of the Torment of Hell But God being our God we are freed from the Clamors of this hellish Fury Conscience sprinkled with Christs blood speaks Peace a good Conscience like the Bee gives Hony it is like the Golden pot which had Manna in it 2 Cor. 1.12 6. If God saith to us ye are mine we shall be his for ever Psalm 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever You cannot say you have health and you shall have it for ever you have a Child and you shall have it for ever but if God be your God you shall have him for ever The Covenant of Grace is Sacrum diploma a Royal Charter and this is the Happiness of it it is eternized The interest between God and his people shall never be broken off How false therefore is the Opinion of falling from Grace Shall any that God makes his own by Federal union Fall finally Indeed if Salvation hath no better Pillar to rest upon than mans will as the Arminians hold no wonder if there be falling away but a Christians stability in Grace is built upon a surer basis namely Gods inviolable Covenant Isa. 55.3 Once in Christ and ever in Christ. A Star may sooner fall out of its orb than a true Believer be pluck'd away from God 7. If God saith to us ye are mine he will take us up to himself at death Death breaks the union between the Body and the Soul but perfects the union between God and the Soul This is the Emphasis of Heavens Glory to be with God What is the Joy of the blessed but to have a clear transparent sight of God and to be in the sweet and soft embraces of his love for ever This hath made the Saints desire death as the Bride the wedding day Phil. 1.23 Lead me Lord to that glory said an Holy man a glimpse whereof I have seen as in a glass darkly Let this be a Consolatory to the Saints there is a covenant-Covenant-union between God and them God is theirs and they are his they shall be mine saith the Lord. Here is a standing cordial for the Godly God looks upon them as having a propriety in them they shall be mine This is Comfort 1. In respect of Satans accusations he accuseth the Saints first to God then to themselves but if God saith ye are mine this answers all Satans Bills of Indictment Christ will shew the debt-book crossed in his blood It was a saying of Bucer I am Christs and the Devil hath nothing to do with me 2. It is Comfort in respect of Poverty Believers are match'd into the Crown of Heaven and all that is in God is theirs The Philosopher comforted himself with this that though he had no Musick or Vine-trees yet he had the houshold Gods with him So though we have not the Vine or Fig-tree yet if God be ours and we are his this Creates joy in the most indigent condition And that which may raise the comfort of the godly higher and cause a jubilation of Spirit is that shortly God will own his people before all the world and say these are mine At present the elect are not known 1 Iohn 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be The Saints are like Kings in disguise but how will their hearts leap for joy when God shall pronounce that word these are mine These the lot of Free-grace is fallen upon these shall lye for ever in the Bosom of my love To all who are yet strangers to God Labour to get into Covenant with him that he may say ye are mine Why doth God woo and beseech you by his Ambassadours if he were not willing to be in Covenant What shall a poor forlorn Creature do to get into Covenant with God 1. If you would be in Covenant with God break off the Covenant with sin 1 Sam. 7.3 What King will be in league with him that holds correspondence with his Enemy 2. Labour for Faith 1. Faith in the Mercy of God Jer. 3.12 I am merciful saith the Lord and will not keep anger for ever As the Sea covers great Rocks as well as little Sands so Gods Mercy covers great sins Manasseh a bloody sinner was held forth as a pattern of Mercy Some of the Jews who had an hand in Crucifying of Christ yet their sins were forgiven 2. Faith in the merit of Christ. Christs blood is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only a Sacrifice to appease God but a Propitiation to ingratiate us into Gods favour and make him look upon us with a smiling aspect CHAP. XVIII The Second part of the Saints Reward Gods Honouring them 2. THE Second part of the Saints reward is Gods Honouring them in that day when I make up my Iewels Here are three Propositions 1. That God hath a great honour for his People 2. That Gods People are his Jewels 3. That there is a day when God will make up his Jewels 1 st That God hath a great honour for his People He speaks of them here with Honour in that day when I make up my Jewels Isai. 43.4 Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable Honour attends Holiness That the Lord doth highly honour the fearers of him is evident by four demonstrations 1. In that he prefers them before others He chooseth them and passeth by the rest Mal. 1.2 Was not Jacob Esaus brother saith the Lord yet I hated Esau and loved Jacob. 2. In that God gives them frequent Visits 'T is counted an
and down in the World and which is worst these Jewels lye among rubbish they dwell among the Wicked Psalm 120.5 Wo is me that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Kedar was Ishmaels Son Woe is me saith David that I live with an Ishmael-brood The Wicked are still molesting the Righteous Gods Jewels lye scattered among the unclean but here is the Comfort that shortly God will gather his People from among the Wicked he will make up his Jewels and all the Pearls and precious stones shall be by themselves in Bliss 2. It is Comfort in case of Dividing Gods People here are divided their love is so little it may almost lye upon a knives point they oft look strange one upon another these divisions are unseemly and are flaws in Gods Diamonds Discords among Christians brings a reproach upon Religion advanceth Satans Kingdom hinders the growth of Grace Divisions are fatal and do presage Gods Judgments coming upon us Impius haec tam cult a novalia miles habebit Barbarus has segetes Enquò discordiacives Perduxit miseros But this is Comfort God will shortly make up his Jewels he will so gather his Saints together that he will unite them together they shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of one Heart Act 2.46 What an happy time will it be when the Saints shall be as so many Pearls upon one string and shall accord together in a blessed Unity 2. Gods making up his Jewels implies his perfecting his Saints Then a thing is said to be made up when it is perfected you make up a Garment when you perfect it you make up a Watch when you put all the Wheels and Pins in perfect order so Gods making up his Jewels signifies his perfecting them The Godly in this Life are imperfect they cast but a faint lustre of Holiness they receive but the first-fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.23 that is a small measure of Grace the first-fruits under the Law were but an handful to the whole Vintage This may humble us to consider if we are Jewels yet imperfect our knowledge is checker'd with Ignorance 1 Cor. 13.5 Our love to God is feeble Behold here Clouds in the Diamond This may take down our Top-sail of Pride to consider how incompleat we are but when God shall make up his Jewels and perfect his Saints it will be a glorious time and this brings me to the second Question What is that day when God will make up his Jewels 1. God makes up his Jewels at the day of Death then he makes the Saints Graces perfect 2. He makes up His Jewels at the day of the Resurrection then he makes the Saints Bodyes perfect 1. God makes up His Jewels at the day of death then he makes the Saints Graces perfect Hence it is the Saints departed are called the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 Sin doth mix and incorporate with a Christian he cannot write a Copy of Holiness without blotting Grace though it doth abate yet not abolish Corruption but at Death God makes up His Jewels he perfects the Graces of his People Will not that be a blessed Time never to have a Vain thought more never to be within the sight of a temptation or the fear of a Relapse This me thinks may make death desirable to the Godly then the Lord will make up his Jewels he will compleat the Graces of his Children they shall be as holy as they desire to be and as God would have them to be How will Gods Diamonds sparkle when they shall be without flawes In that day of death when God makes up His Jewels the Saints 1. Light will be clear 2. Love will be perfect 1. Their Light will be clear They shall be so divinely irradiated that they shall know the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the deep things of God They shall in this sence be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels Mat. 22.30 Their Intellectuals shall be raised higher and made more capacious than in Innocency Through the Chrystal Glass of Christs Humane Nature the Saints shall have Glorious transparent sights of God they shall know as they are known 1 Cor. 13.12 A riddle too mysterious for us Mortals if not for Angels to expound 2. In that day the Saints Love will be perfect Love is the Queen of the Graces it out-lives all the other Graces In this life our love to God is luke-warm and sometimes Frozen a Believer weeps that he can love God no more but at the day of death when God makes up his Jewels then the Saints love shall be Seraphical the spark of Love shall be blown up into into a pure flame the Saints shall love God secundum actum as the Schoolmen speak as much as they are able they shall love him superlatively and indeficiently they shall be made up of love O blessed day of death when God shall make up his Jewels the Saints Graces shall shine forth in their Meridian Splendour 2. God makes up his Jewels at the day of the Resurrection then he makes the Saints bodyes perfect these like sparkling Diamonds shall shine in Glory At the Resurrection God is said to change the bodies of the Saints Phil. 3.21 How will he change them not that they shall be other bodies than they were before the substance of their bodies shall not be changed but the qualities as wooll when it is died into a Purple colour is not altered in the substance but quality and is made more illustrious so God in making up his Jewels will cause a greater resplendency in the Saints bodies than before When God makes up the Jewels of the Saints Bodies at the Resurrection they shall be perfect four wayes 1. In Amability or sweetness of Beauty Here the Bodies of the Righteous are oft deformed Leah hath her blear Eyes and Barzillai his lameness but at the Resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall be of unspotted fairness and no wonder for they shall be made like Christs Glorious body Phil. 3.21 2. When God at the Resurrection makes up the Jewels of the Saints bodies they shall have Perfection of parts Their bodies in this World may be maimed and dismembred but in the day of the Resurrection they shall have all the parts of their bodies restored Acts 3.21 Such as have lost an Eye shall have their Eye again such as want a Leg or an Arm shall have their Arm again 3. When God makes up the Jewels of the Saints bodies at the Resurrection they shall be Velocious and quick in their Motion Here the Bodies of the Saints move heavily but then they shall be sprightly and move swiftly from one place to another Here the body is a Weight in Heaven it shall be a Wing 4. When God makes up the Jewels of the Saints bodies they shall be Immortal the Body once Glorified shall never be Subject to death 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruptible shall put on Incorruption Heaven is an healthful Climate no Passing-Bell