Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A41090
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The eternal joys of God's presence a sermon / preach'd at the Temple Church upon All Saints Day by Henry Felton.
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Felton, Henry, 1656-1701.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing F664; ESTC R28626
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12,054
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31
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able to understand what the Joys of Heaven are and not before unless thou comest to feel them as now I do No there is but one way of understanding them perfectly and that is by attaining them This the Blessed Saints and Martyrs whom we this Day commemorate have long since experienced And this way I humbly beseech God to bring both you and me with them one day to a full and perfect understanding of them And that he may the better do this give me leave to Apply what has been said in few words and so conclude If then God has provided for us Full Joys and Eternal Pleasures in another Life which exceeds both our Power to express and our Hearts to conceive is it not our bounden Duty to render Him all the Honour and Praise due unto his Name For they that know his Name will put their trust in him Let this first of all excite our Hearts to praise and magnify God for his infinite Goodness and Love to Mankind that he hath ordained so happy an End and such transporting Joys for us poor Mortals as the Eternal Fruition of Himself Lord what is Man that thou shou'd exalt him above the other Works of thy hands and so far too as to make Thy self the Inheritance of his Rest and the Substance of his Triumphant Joy Is there any greater Happiness that thou couldst have given him than that thou shouldest give him thy self for his Happiness Is there any surer than that which is founded upon thy Immutability and Eternity What couldest thou have done more for thy Creatures How then can we do less than exalt and magnify thy infinite Goodness Mercy and Bounty to us for ever As thy Love is inexpressibly Glorious in giving thy Son for our Saviour so is it also in making thy self our Salvation and Felicity 2. Let us settle our Thoughts and Endeavours upon this as our main End to seek seriously these Full Joys and Eternal Pleasures of Heaven We would all willingly I make no question have such Contentment and Full Joys as may last for ever But are we in good earnest Let us seek them where they may be found You have heard already and your own Experience sufficiently witness the Truth of it The Joys and Pleasures of this World do all come far short of this Contentment Where then must we seek them but in the Bosom of the Father where only true Transporting and Everlasting Joys are to be found 'T is true indeed God has been pleased to put a Touch of Delight and Pleasure into these inferior Things the better to quicken the Spirits of Men for the necessary Actions of this Life And Christian Piety allows us the use of them if we would but keep her Rules and Measures in the Enjoyment of them And thus if God sees it so fit I cou'd wish you your Parts in both But yet I humbly and earnestly intreat you Do not lose the one for the other the Eternal for the Momentary the Satisfactory for the Unsatisfactory As a Merchant who Loads himself here and sets out for the East-Indies sets down before-hand what Ports and Havens God blessing him he will make for yet by the way he may perhaps touch in upon this or that Coast for fresh Water or other Refreshments and barter away there some small Trifles So I would persuade you to do Let this be your best-resolved Conclusion That Heaven and the Full Joys thereof shall be the Port and Haven which you will make for As for Earthly Delights and Pleasures you may touch in upon them by the way as for fresh Water or other Refreshment but barter away only some small Trifles for them Let not your best Loading your precious Souls go in Exchange for them Thus may you taste the Delights of this World here and be fill'd with the Full Joys of Heaven hereafter 3. And Lastly Let us be careful to walk in the Way which may bring us to these Full Joys and Eternal Pleasures of Heaven and what that Way is St. Paul tells us It is to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2. This is what I principally aimed at this day by setting before you the Joys of Heaven as powerful Motives to stir you up unto a Holy Religious Life on Earth as the necessary Condition of enjoying them in Heaven Others may have set before you the Terrors of the Lord Death and Hell to persuade you to the same thing but I have set before you Life and Heaven chuse whether you will But I know your Choice you had rather have Life than Death rather enjoy a Fellowship with God and his Holy Angels in the Pleasures of Heaven than a Partnership with the Devil and his Angels in the Torments of Hell But chuse this I beseech you not like Fools who chuse the End neglecting the necessary Means but like Rational Creatures chuse the Means together with the End and for the End-sake As you desire the Eternal Joys of Heaven so enter into the Right way which may bring you surely to it and that is to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied with it Prov. 14. 23. He that tells us In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Tells us likewise The upright shall dwell in thy presence Psal 140. 13. 'T is the Upright and Godly shall dwell in the Presence of God's Favour here and in the Presence of his Glory hereafter Let us therefore walk Uprightly both with God and Man that we may in some measure feel the Presence of God here in Divine Comforts and Consolations as Tasts and Assurances of the Full Joys of Heaven that await us When our Blessed Lord shall come with this Euge Well done thou true and faithful servant receive the Kingdom prepared for you That this may be the happy Condition of all here Let us humbly beseech God to give us Grace so to follow thy Blessed Saints in all Virtuous and Godly Living that we may come to those Unspeakable Joys which thou hast prepared for them that love Thee through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Power Praise and Thanksgiving now and for evermore Amen FINIS
of Honour in Honour a want of Strength in Strength a want of Beauty in Beauty a want of Virtue in Virtue a want of Perfection But suppose all these or more than all these were united in one Person yet there is one thing wanting that makes them imperfect and unsatisfying and that is the want of Perpetuity and Eternity Now all Good things meet in God And so firm and immutable is all Good in him that it cannot be server'd from him so Eternal that even Eternity it self can never waste or wear out When Man's Heart therefore shall be enlarg'd to comprehend God and enjoy him then shall he have all Good whatsoever and a perfect Happiness made sure to him for all Eternity Our Reason then must conclude thus much That either Man hath no Fulness of Pleasure or of necessity this must be it To enjoy the Beatifical Vision or Presence of God Besides we may observe in Nature that the Rest of all things is no where else but in their proper place when they have attained to the Center of their Motion they rest and move no farther as if they were fully satisfied Now as gross and massy Bodies whose proper Motion is to descend have their Center below i. e. the Earth So pure and immaterial Spirits such as the Soul of Man is whose proper Motion is to ascend have their Center above which is God Beyond this Center they cannot move in this they rest When therefore the Souls and Spirits of Men shall have attained unto God and shall adhere and cleave unto him then and not elsewhere shall they have perfect Rest and full Contentment To this purpose is the Common but Excellent Saying of St. Austin Fecisti nos ad Te Domine inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in Te Thou hast made us O Lord for thy self and therefore our heart is never lodged at rest until it come to Thee and rest in Thee Since therefore Reason and Revelation Philosophy and Scripture do so well agree in establishing this great Fundamental Article of our Faith I need not trouble you or my self with any farther Proofs of it but shall briefly enquire what these Full Joys are and wherein they do consist In doing this I shall not pretend to give you an exact Idea or Description of them that 's a Task and Province fit only for an Angel or a glorified Spirit All I aim at is to give you such an account of them as God hath thought fit to impart to us Mortals in the Scripture which though it falls short of the Things themselves yet is doubtless the best and the utmost that our narrow Capacities can bear but such as may enflame our highest Endeavours after the Enjoyment of them and such as will satisfy our most extravagant Desires The Scripture leadeth us Two ways to some kind of Comprehension of our Future State of Happiness Per fiam Negationis per viam Eminentiae as the Schoolmen speak By the way of Negation and by the way of Eminence By the way of Negation i. e. by denying all such things to be in our Future State of Happiness which we find any ways troublesome or burthensome to us Thus they speak plainly That there shall be no Hunger or Thirst Rev. 7. 16. That there shall be no more Sorrow nor Tears God shall wipe away all tears v. 17. That there shall be no more Corruption no Mortality For this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. That there shall be no Power of a second Death Rev. 20. 6. No Death no Crying no Sorrowing no Pain shall accompany us in our Future State of Happiness Here like little Ants we crawl and creep up and down this Mole-hill of Earth each of us with our Burthen on our Shoulders but there all our Burthens shall be taken off Here Hunger and Thirst and Provision for these is one man's Burthen Here Sickness and Craziness Gout or Stone is another man's Burthen but there all these things shall be done away Here unruly Lust is another man's Burthen but there the Fuel and Life of it shall fail Here Sin and Death are the common Burthens of all Mankind but at God's Right hand there shall neither be Sin nor Death nor Fear of either In a word whatsoever here doth pain perplex hinder or any way discontent or vex us shall in the State of Full Joys be removed far from us This is one way by which the Scripture teacheth us to know something of our Future Happiness The other is by way of Eminence i. e. by comparing our Blessed State to the most eminent and glorious Things which by Sight or Experience we have ever known Thus to excite our Desires and Longings after it the Scripture sets it out to us by such glorious Metaphors as these Sometimes the Metaphor of shining like the Sun is made use of Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Matt. 13. Sometimes the Metaphor of a Kingdom Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you Matt. 25. Sometimes that of a Crown You shall receive a crown of glory 1 Pet. 5. Of sitting upon a Throne Ye also shall shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Matt. 19. Of a Marriage-Feast Blessed are they that are call'd to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb Rev. 19. These are glorious Similitudes indeed and as expressive of the thing as our weak Natures are capable of For the greatest visible Brightness in Heaven is the shine of the Sun the greatest Lustre on Earth is the Honour of a Kingdom the Royalest Ornament of a King is his Crown the most Majestical Seat of a Crowned Head is his Throne the most exquisite Rejoycings are commonly at King's Marriage-Feasts Thus Heaven and our Future Joys are represented to us by such things as are in greatest Esteem and thought most desirable by us That our weak Understandings might raise themselves from thence to some high Thoughts of our future Perfection But after all we must own they are but poor and faint Resemblances of those Full Joys and Eternal Pleasures which are at God's Right hand Whereas then the greatest Brightness of Heaven and the highest Lustre of Glory Honour Majesty Mirth and Joy that is on Earth stand but as Shadows in Scripture to set forth the Eternal Pleasures of Heaven how shou'd we poor Mortals be able to conceive them rightly or express them fully St. Austin in one of his Epistles tells us That on the very day St. Jerom died he being in his Study with Pen Ink and Paper about to write to him concerning the Joys of Heaven suddenly he saw a Light breaking into his Study and this Voice he thought he heard O Austin what dost thou dost thou think to put the vast Sea into a small Vessel When the Heavens shall cease from their continued Motion then shalt thou be