Selected quad for the lemma: end_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	peace_n	perfect_a	upright_a	1,494	5	10.7491	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66558	The vanity of mans present state proved and applyed in a sermon on Psalm 39.5. With divers sermons of the saints communion with God, and safety under his protection, in order to their future glory, on Psalm 73. 23, 24, 25, 26. By the late able and faithful minister of the Word John Wilson	Wilson, John, minister of the Word.; Golborne, J.	1676 (1676)	Wing W2905; ESTC R218560	137,734	239

8. Isa. 58. 11. To the goodness of his nature he adds his promise This he doth not to secure himself either from unmercifulness or inconstancy but to quicken and encourage them to faith and prayer Such is the veracity and faithfulness of God that when he hath engaged his word of promise he will be sure to perform Though men break their words and covenants are perfidious yet let God be true Let the difficultie as to the performance be what it will his word shall not fail nor his servants that trust in him be disappointed in their hopes Notwithstanding all the appearing unlikeliness that Gods promise to Abraham should be fulfilled to Israel his Seed that they should possess the Land of Canaan when they were in Egypt and sighing under their burdens and Taskmasters yet he will make himself known by his name Jehovah Josh 23. 14. Joshua amongst some of his last words tells the Elders and Judges of Israel and appeals to their own knowledge that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord spake concerning them All things saith he are come to pass unto you and not one thing hath failed hereof This is farther attested 1 Kings 8. Blessed be the Lord saith Solomon that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised there hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant God will shake even heaven and earth and overturn them rather than one promise of his shall fail 5. He guides them that he may at last take them up to his glory All that care and pains God exercises towards them here is that he may do them good in their latter end Deut. 8. 16. All the Afflictions upon Israel were that he might humble them and prove them and do them good at their latter end See the difference there is betwixt Gods proceeding with the wicked and the righteous All the mercies and judgments of God on them do but ripen them for vengeance and ruin them in the latter end Psal. 92. 7. When the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever He puts them in the fat pastures and thereby they are fatted for slaughter Job is a notable instance of Gods dealing and design with the righteous Job 42. 12. The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more then his begining And the Apostle mentions that ye have heard of the patience of Job and what was the end of the Lord. Psal 37. 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace So in the Text Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel here and after receive me to glory This is not only a part of his kindness but it is in order to farther kindness He leads them saith Gejerus per Aspera ad Astra even by Hell to Heaven Object The next thing is to answer an Objection Doth God guide his people with his Counsel here How then comes it to pass they fall into such mistakes and miscarriages and those of an hainous nature As David guilty of gross miscarriages that complicated sin in the matter of Uriah Peter denying his Master with Oaths and execrations Did they look like those that were guided by Gods Counsel or Satans temptation an enemy to mankind and especially to the Church and people of God To this it is answered Answ. 1. This was not because he did not afford them Counsel but because they did not take his Counsel There was Counsel enough in the book of nature reason Conscience and the word of God that if they had taken heed to it they had not fallen so foully as they did 2. When I said he is an effectual guide I did not mean as to the preserving them from all sin but for the working of them to a state and life of saving holiness here and the lifting of them up to glory at the last Christ prayed for Peter that his faith should not fail the root of it dye though it was much weakned as to the act of confession which is the fruit of faith with the heart man believe thunto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made as a fruit and sign of the inward perswasion the current of Peters faith was stopt but the spring remained God hath entered into a Covenant of grace with his people by which he hath engaged himself to lead them through the valley of Achor unto the Land of rest though they may have many wandrings yet they shall not perish in the wilderness 3. Whereas he doth not guide them so as to preserve them from all sin but lets them fall into mistakes and miscarriages it is that he may make them more humble and exalt his own grace in the pardoning and saving of them As to instance in Paul that after he had faln into such mistakes and miscarriages God should receive him into favour He was a great sinner yet adhered to the letter of the Jewish Law as touching the Law blameless he was injurious a Persecutor he breathed out threatnings he was mad against the Church a zealot to do mischief Christ lets him go on after he had consented to the death of Stephen not only go so far when he might have laid him at his feet before but he lets him run on that in him he might manifest the riches of his grace and make him base and vile in his own eyes God who is rich raiseth to life those that were dead in sins Now was that eminent vessel of mercy ravished with the sense of Gods great goodness that had mercy on him and made him a Minister of reconciliation Ephes. 3. 8. Whereof I was made a Minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given Oh that I should preach the Gospel how astonishing love and grace is this that the glorious Gospel of the blessed God should be committed to my trust that I should be enabled and counted faithful putting me into the Ministry who was before a Blasphemer and a Persecutor and injurious He thinks he can never think speak enough of this grace never acknowledge and give praise enough to God Amongst all the Apostles none so great an admirer of free grace as Paul How low thoughts hath he of himself not worthy to be called an Apostle because he persecuted the Church of God Thus notwithstanding the enormous outrages of those that are Gods chosen his grace shall fetch them in and notwithstanding great failures his called shall have grace enough to bring them unto glory 2. Use of Informat 1. Of the goodness of God as he expresses it in admitting them into Communion with him and holding them by the right hand So in receiving them up into glory Ephes. 2. 6. He hath raised us up

together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus By virtue of our union with Christ our head that is ascended into glory and the unchangeable decree of God that will perfect for us what he hath begun in us we are glorifyed That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Jesus Christ. For a man that sees his neighbour in distress to be so neighbourly as to go and give him such Counsel as may make him happy argues great kindness What is this to the goodness of God that condescends to bow the Heavens and come down to visit and Counsel poor miserable wandring and distressed sinners in the way wherein they should walk leads them by the hand through all the difficulties of this life into the Kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the world Psal. 73. 1 Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart 2. This may inform us of the happiness of the servants of God that have such a friend and Counsellor as none other people in the world If a man have a friend that is a great Counsellor and ready upon all occasions to advise him in his affairs how great a priviledge is it and how happy is he accounted How happy then are the people of God that have the great God for their guider and counsellour from whom they may have direction and instructions what to do in all their straits They may go to him when and upon what business they please for their good and find him at hand a very present help without any money or fee. If it were happiness to Solomons servants to stand about him and hear his wisdom 1 Kings 10. 8. What happiness then is it for the people of God to be in the presence of God to hear his counsel What would the servants of God do if they had not God to look after them Prov. 11. 14. Where no counsel is the people fall Were it not for this counsel when Satan and the world rage when temptations and corruptions are many and the soul full of fears and perplexity it would go very ill with the people of God 3. It informs us whence it comes to pass that the people of God break through such straits and conquer such difficulties it is the conduct of God that leads them into the land of rest that makes way for them through dangers and exposition Thus the Israelites passed through the great and terrible wildernss wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought Whence had they ability to do it Why the Lord did lead them 4. It informs us of the reason wherefore the Salvation of good men is so infallible and certain A good man is as sure of heaven as if he were already possessed of it and though it may be doubtful to his sense and distrustful fears yet his title is good and there is a certainty of the thing The Kingdom is assured to him He may have his temptations sins doubts fears yet is he sure of heaven Psal. 37. 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace this man is remarkable and it is remarkable how sweetly this man ends what a blessed end hath he Consider not only his great afflictions how the hand of the Lord is upon him as Job but what all ends in the end is peace and prosperity for ever Though he usually doth meet with a wilderness betwixt him and his Canaan yet his end shall be happiness 5. If God guide his faithful servants with his counsell then it is good in matters of Religion to advise with the people of God consult those that lie in the bosome of Christ to them he discovers his secrets he makes known his counsel John 13. 23 24. There was leaning on Jesus bosome one of his Disciples whom Jesus loved Simon Peter beckned to him that he should ask of whom he spake when he told them one of them should betray him Use 2. By way of reproof to such as profess themselves Gods servants and yet in their straits do not advise with him Though he offers his counsel and is ready to afford it yet they will not have recourse to him Oh how many businesses are undertaken without any advising with God! They advise with others instead of him Hos. 4. 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks and their staff declareth unto them By stocks we are to understand their Idols or images made of wood which they were so blockish as to consult Like unto them are they that make them Therefore the Prophet spake of their Idols that they asked counsel of under the name of stocks by way of indignation and scorn And then for their staff we are to note that in former times Magicians had staves or rods whereby they divined Exod. 7. 12. To this purpose is thatin Virgil. Hac animas ille evocat Orco T' was sad that any should be so sottish and such images of men as to worship what they had made and to ask counsel of wood part whereof makes a fire and part an Idol but that a people in Covenant with God so graciously dealt with so delivered conducted encreased was sad indeed And it s laid to the charge of Asa 2 Chron. 16. 12. That in his disease he sought not unto the Lord but to the Physitians Though God allow and require the use of means that are proper yet he forbids confidence and trusting in these he would have us in the use of them to look beyond them but stocks and stones were not proper means for counsel yet his people went to these and neglected him How God resents this we may see by the punishment he inflicts for it Psal. 107. 11 12. Because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the most High Therefore he brought down their heart with labours they fell down and there was none to help Prov. 1. 24 26. Ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh so far will God be from helping those that make small reckoning of his counsell that he laughs at them Use 3. Exhort 1. Let us bless God for his gracious condescention and goodness that he favours us so far as to guide and counsel us Psal. 16. 7. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Though he were a King of great personal worth yet he looked upon it as a piece of great condescention in God to favour him with his counsel and blesses him for it what then should we do who are every way so far below him How desirous of and thankful for his counsel should we be How should we acknowledge his condescention that looks through troops of Angels multitudes of Saints upon us sinners 2. When we are in straits let us make

Jesus the Saviour Wilt thou boldly violently and dangerously go on to affront the dearest love and clearest light that ever was manifested to the World that unquestionable and irresistable authority andpower by wich if thou be not ruled thou wilt be ruined It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Consider what thou art about to do that which will shew thy madness and beget thy sorrow Thus poor Saul that confesseth after that he was exceeding mad is overwhelmed falls on the earth and cries to him whom he had blasphemed and unmercifully persecuted in his members Lord what wilt thou have me to do I know thou wilt have me to do something as well as desist from what I was wickedly about to do I will do what lies in me I have ingaged in what I could against thee but now I will do what I should for thee 4. He causes them thus returned to behold an amiableness in him and to delight and take pleasure in him He discovers to them such glory and excellency in him and affords them such refreshment and comfort in the enjoyment of him that they account it their happiness that they may be with him Oh says a good man that I were with God! I cannot live without I may be with him Cant 2. 3. As the apple tree among the trees so is my beloved saith the Church among the sons I sate under his shaddow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my tast c. Even as your spreading trees yeild a pleasant shadow and the apple tree a a pleasant fruit so Gods presence yields much refreshment and repast unto his people 2 When or in what degree pious and holy men are with God And they are with him very much so that according to the liberty used in the common manner of speaking they are said to be ever with him Psal. 139. 18. When I awake I am still with thee A good man as he concludes the day with God saying Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit So he doth likewise begin the day with him no sooner do's he open his eyes but he looks up towards heaven acknowledgeth the goodness of God the night past and craves it for the day approaching so Luk. 15. 31. Son thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine Oh happy Son that might have such familiarity with his good father And oh wise Son that when he might have it would make use of it 3. What pious and holy men do while they are with God! How they do imploy and exercise themselves 1. They contemplate and view his perfections They view him in all his Attributes and properties in his wisdom power goodness glory Mat. 18. 10. Their Angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven where observe 1 What relation the Angels stand in to the faithful according to Luk. 15. 31. They are ever with God Let not any of the pious be disconsolate The Angels are Ministring spirits sent forth Oh the wonderful goodness of God! How highly hath he advanced poor men 2 What the Angels do They behold the face of God that is enough to make a continual banquet unto them This is partly to view his perfections and partly to receive in structions from him This is it which pious men do They behold the face of God they view God in those rare and infinite excellencies that are in him in his mercifulness goodness and holiness I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help Psal. 123. 1. This is the posture of an holy man he is looking up to God from whom cometh his help 2. They admire him and adore him as the supreme Being the highest Lord the chiefest good and the only object of religious worship Exod. 34. 8. They bow before him as Moses You read before how the Lord descended in the cloud becomes his own Herald proclaims his own greatness The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious Moses hereupon doth reverence and adore this merciful and glorious God bows his head as if he should say What glory is here What incomprehensibleness and incomparableness of glory and Majesty is here So Rev. 5. 14. The four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever 3. They rejoyce and glory in him as their portion and treasure Herein they esteem themselves happy that they have such a God and that they may be with him Oh saith the godly man what a God is here Not such an one as the Calves at Dan and Bethel This is a priviledge indeed to have such a God an interest in him that I may be intitled to him that I may be one with him and be still with him In this a man may boast My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit rejoyces in him Luk. 1. 46. 4. They treat with him in the behalf of their souls and their eternal welfare and happiness They consider their own condition weigh the terms he hath proposed of reconciliation and peace and with all cheerfulness submit to them Matth. 19. 16. When all controversies come to an end this will be the great Question which the young man propounds VVhat must I do to inherit eternal life VVhat wilt thou have me to do saith Paul and a gracious person inquires which way he might get nearer to God nearer to Christ. 5. They exercise dependance on him for a seasonable and happy deliverance of them out of the several temptations straits and troubles wherein they are A good man when he is with God saith Thou Lord rulest the world thou hast brought me into these troubles thou only canst bring me out of them and on thee do I depend for the doing of it Psal. 123. 2. As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of the maiden unto the hand of her Mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us The good man hath his eyes up to God in way of dependance to attend how long it will please him they shall be under exercise and service and waiting for the issue and end thereof This I conceive the Psalmist hath respect unto in the Text. I am continually with thee not only that I may have thy care and protection but that thou wouldst determine those troubles that I am waiting and groaning under and that thou wouldst quiet and still my soul and work it to an happy calmness Now I shall give Reasons why the godly are so much with God 1. Because he hath appointed them to come unto him and make their abode with him It belongs to him to give laws touching the disposal of their lives and manners and amongst other precepts he hath delivered to them to that end this is one that we should be continually with him He requires not only that we should live to him but likewise that we should live with

our applications and have our recourse to him advise with him When we are exercised with any doubts fears or troubles let us open our case to him and desire his help Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people Psal. 73. 17. Gods providences and the wisdom and Justice of his counsell therein were too painful for him till he went unto the sanctuary of God then understood he their end 3. Let us close with what counsell he is pleased to give us We must take diligent care that we be not mistaken that we take not that for the counsell of G●d which is not when he hath imparted his mind unto us we must be sure to close with it Let it appear with what aspect it will it is that which tends to our good It is that which being followed will lead us up to glory Now having dispatched the first part of this verse thou shalt guide me by thy counsel we proceed to the latter part and afterward receive me to glory wherein we draw this doctrinal position according to the words of the Text. Doct. That after God hath guided his faithful servants by his counsel he will receive them to glory He hath ever exercised the thoughts of wise and considerate men what must become of them after the expiration of this life This is the language of every serious man oh what will become of me Where must I be and what must I do for ever Nay the more regardless and desolate sort of men when they come to die are not altogether without such thoughts witness Adrian a great wit but a bad man being upon his deathb●d saith he O my soul quae nunc abibis in loca into what place art thou a going Now as it is God only who can resolve this doubt so he hath done it by degrees in the old Testament more obscurely in the new more clearly and distinctly 2 Tim. 1. 10. Now it is made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel Though in the old Testament this be exhibited more darkly yet hath he set down many passages therein especially as to what shall become of the righteous from which an observant person may receive much light amongst which this is one thou wilt guide me by thy counsel here and afterward receive me unto glory He is the King of glory Psal. 24. 10. Who is the King of glory The Lord of Hosts he is the King of glory He hath glory to dispose of 1 Chron. 16. 27. Glory and honour in his presence And he will in such a way and at such a time as he thinks fit convey his servants to it Psal. 49. 15. But God will redeem my Soul foom the power of the grave for he will receive me whilst the wicked shall be thrown into the graves and into hell he will receive me into a state of glory and rest So Isa. 58. 8. Thy righteousness shall go before thee and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rere-ward in the original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Pagnine renders gloria dei colliget te A very remarkable passage importing as much as the glory of the Lord is ready to gather us up into it so prepared is it and fitted for us If we will but fear aright obey aright and live aright we shall see the day wherein the glory of the Lord will stretch its arms round about us and gather us up into it self hence the words of Christ entring into his Fathers Joy and Rest Psal. 15. who shall abide in Gods Tabernacle and dwell in his holy hill that is not meant of Zion or Moriah those not being able to contain all such as there are mentioned but who shall dwell in heaven who shall be admitted into thy kingdom of glory to behold thy face for ever For the farther illustration and proof of this position we shall consider four things 1. What is meant by glory 2. What kind of glory this is that God will receive his servants into 3. In what manner God will manage his business 4. When he will do it 1. What is meant by glory The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in its primary notation imports gravity or weight According to the more frequent use of it it imports glory To both those notations the Apostle seems to have respect 2 Cor. 4 17. When he opposes the weight of glory to the light affliction This glory is ponderous it weighs much with his people more than all their sufferings Thus Christ for the Joy set before him endures the cross Now for the word glory The meaning of it is so well known that I can scarcely offer you a word for the describing of it which is not as obscure as it self It do's in this place import a splendid magnificent state such as is attended with a confluence of all good things even what ever is requisite to the rendring of a man happy This the Holy Ghost proposes to us under several notions as a Crown Rev. 2. 10. I will give thee a Crown of life a throne Rev. 3. 4. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne A kingdom Mat. 6. 33. seek first the kinglom of God and the righteousness thereof Rest. Heb. 4. 9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God Joy Matth. 25. 21. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Pleasure Psal. 16. 11. At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and here glory These and such like terms do's the Holy Ghost use to hint unto us the meaning of that state which God after he hath guided them with his counsel will take his servants into it 2. What kind of glory is this and here I would give you a particular account of it But alas who am I that I should do it that I should attempt it This is a work fitter for some glorious Angel than for such a worm as I am In these mystical and sublime matters we can go no farther than God is pleased to help us with special revelation And what he hath revealed concerning the present business he hath set down in his word But the account we have therein concerning it consists rather of some few general hints than any particular distinct discoveries Even the Sacred Penmen themselves found themselves at a great loss in this matter 1 John 3. 2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be John the beloved John that lay in the bosome of Christ was the beloved Disciple he that was in the mount with Christ did not fully understand what the Saints shall be And when we have gone over the Bible perused all that the holy men of God have left behind them concerning it and set it together it will be but like the Prophets pourtraying of Jerusalem upon a tile Ezek. 4. 1.