Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
glory_n	eternal_a	exceed_a	weight_n	6,870	5	9.1543	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97190	An essay on grief: with the causes and remedies of it	R. W.	1695 (1695)	Wing W91A; ESTC R232331	41,961	234

Satisfaction of Mind depends not upon any of the external Enjoyments of Life for its Happiness nor is it liable to be depriv'd of it by any Accidents or Misfortunes It s Happiness is within its self and whatsoever happens from without can neither really add to it nor detract from it it s neither sollicitous nor careless about the things of Sense 't is moderate in its Desires neither tormented with Fears nor impatient in its Hopes neither anxious about Life nor afraid of Death Its Actions are always one and the same and the Great measure of them is Conscience as it is rightly inform'd by the Precepts of true Religion In a word Peace of Mind is that which prudently and chearfully performs whatever God commands and patiently bears whatever Punishments he inflicts And has also this great Perfection to perswade our Search after it that when we can once Attain it 't is our Own for Ever And this leads me to consider in the next place what are the most proper Methods we can make use of to obtain this Peace and Calmness of Mind which may support and comfort us under all Afflictions And this is what I observed in the Second place the fixing in our Minds a true Sence of Religion joined with a sincere Endeavour of living up to all the Precepts of it The main Design of Religion is to enlarge our Understandings to rectify our Wills to subdue our Lusts and irregular Passions and to wean our Thoughts from this World by proposing the Eternal Happiness of the Next that is It teaches us to walk by Faith and not by Sense To forego all these short and imperfect Pleasures for those perfect and endless Joys which all they shall have a full Possession of who by patient Continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality It endeavours to work upon our Understanding by convincing us of the Unreasonableness of being too much concern'd at any thing that may befall us here since these Afflictions which are but for a Moment if we make a good use of them will work out for us a far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory It shows us that what we here call Felicity is not able to satisfy us and therefore perswades and invites us to set our Affections upon that immense and everlasting Good where we shall have nothing more to desire than what we enjoy or nothing to add to our Happiness because it will be perfect For true Happiness is that which when we are once possest of there can be nothing left us to Desire because that alone is able to satisfy us For He that desires any thing above all Others will make all other things subordinate to this His chief Happiness and if he can be secure in his Enjoyment of that whatever may befal him 't is impossible he should be miserable If we could therefore make God our chief Happiness and resolve our Actions into a Conformity to His Will we may be said to be properly as Happy as this State can be capable of And though hereafter we shall receive large Additions to it yet it will be the same Happiness continued to us in a more full Enjoyment of the chief Good which could not so clearly manifest it self to us under this Veil of Flesh which in a great measure intercepts that glorious Appearance But besides Religion is not only our greatest Comfort and Support under Afflictions by laying before us the Rewards of the next Life but also the Happiness of this it hath the Promise of this Life as well as that which is to come Whatever State we are in it gives us Peace and Ease under it it makes every Condition happy because it brings Patience and Contentment along with it It makes us Enjoy that we have and keeps us from Craving what we have not in a word Godliness with Contentment is great gain How much better is it for us had we no Prospect of another Life to live at Ease and free from Troubles in this than to be continually vexing and tormenting our selves at every cross Accident that may befall us and make our Condition miserable enough in it self still more miserable by an Addition of new and unnecessary Sorrows and Troubles The Best of the Heathens though they had very uncertain and obscure Notions of another Life and were ignorant of the Rewards proposed to the Observance of God's Commandments yet in their Writings forbid the indulging our Sorrows upon a Principle of Peace and Quiet in this Life and from the Incongruity they found in them to the Actions of right Reason and to that Order Grace and Constancy that Greatness and Majesty which ought to be observed in the exact Practice of Vertue How much more ought we who have larger Degrees of Knowledge and more sublime Rules to guide our Lives by to be constant and watchful in the Duties of that Religion in the keeping of which there is great Reward In this World true Peace and Tranquillity of Mind and in the World to come Eternal Life But of all the great Branches of Religion there is none more necessary for the governing of our Lives and the supporting our weak Nature under all Afflictions than these Two First The belief and acknowledgment of a Providence And Secondly The Immortality of the Soul As to the First The Belief of a Providence is the main Foundation of all Religion And is not only the greatest Encouragement to a Holy Life but is also the true Source and Principle of all our Happiness and Comfort in this World That this Universe is governed by Almighty Wisdom and Power that all things here are under the especial Care of infinite Goodness and Mercy that they are at the immediate Disposal and Order of an Omnipotent Being and that Chance and Fortune have no management of any of our Affairs is the greatest Blessing and Happiness of Mankind What an unspeakable Satisfaction must it be to the Minds of Good Men to think that Providence is alway watching over them and that the Malice of the most Wicked Men can never do them the least Injury without God's order or permission It is a noble Saying of the Great Heathen Emperor M. Aurelius That if there were no GOD to take Care of Humane Affairs He would not desire to Live any longer in the World All the Enjoyments of this World would be very unpleasant as well as uncertain if that Harmony which is now observ'd in all the Divine Acts of Providence were chang'd into Confusion and Man now the most exalted of all sublunary Beings would become the most helpless and unhappy of all the Creatures Troubles and Calamities are unavoidable and therefore we must expect them For Man is born to Trouble as the Sparks fly upward and therefore it is necessary that we should seek out for some Support under them and depend upon something that may be at all times a Comfort to us Now Comfort is nothing else but the

of Compassion to our Ignorance and Infirmity will find out means whereby to make us Happy which we perhaps thought could only make us Miserable and be our Comfort and Support under all Afflictions here and advance us to Immortality and the Perfection of Happiness hereafter For how great soever our Sorrows are here they will be then sufficiently and abundantly made up with fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore What Reason have we then to repine at any Afflictions or Sufferings of this Life which are so very advantagious to us For they not only give us a sence of our own Imperfections and of the Vanity and Uncertainty of all things under the Sun as well as their insufficiency for our Happiness but lead us thither for our Comfort where all Perfection dwells and teach us to rely wholly upon Him for our Happiness who has alone the Power to bestow it upon us So that at length to our unspeakable Satisfaction we shall be obliged to confess that all his Judgments are as well the Effects of His Goodness Mercy and Compassion as of His Justice and that out of very Faithfulness he hath caused us to be troubled What great Satisfaction should this one Consideration raise in our Mind that God will be a present Help to us in time of Trouble and though all our Friends and Relations should either forsake us or be parted from us yet The Lord upholdeth us with his Right Hand Their Kindness may be great to us and they may be willing to serve us to the utmost of their Power yet they are Defective in a great many things and come infinitely short of Him who can command all things in Heaven and Earth and is the sole All-sufficient Good They have innumerable Imperfections but He is Perfect Goodness They mutable and uncertain He always the same firm and unchangeable They may be taken from us but Him who is Eternal we can never be deprived of How Happy then will our State be when we can say Whom have we in Heaven but Thee and there is none upon Earth that we desire in Comparison of Thee When our Heart and our Strength fails us God will be the Strength of our Hearts and our Portion for ever Though we may be troubled on every side yet shall we not be distressed though perplexed yet not in Despair though persecuted yet not forsaken though cast down yet not Destroyed The Hopes and Expectations of being thus Happy might certainly so far engage our Thoughts and Affections as to wean us from this World where we can meet with nothing but Trouble and Vexation if we fix our Minds upon it Especially if we seriously consider the dangerous Consequences that always attend those who make this Life and the Enjoyments of it their Happiness For whatever these Enjoyments are they are accompanied with Trouble and end in Misery For either they must leave us or we them and which soever it be we must certainly be Miserable because we are depriv'd of that which alone we made our Happiness and therefore are neither prepared nor capacitated for any other But besides we ought to consider that Time is precious and given us for greater Ends than to be spent upon any Worldly Concern either in over-valuing our outward Things by taking too great a Pleasure in the Enjoyment or by an unjust Complaint at the Loss of them All is little enough to be spent upon the Thoughts of another Life and not to be misemployed in shewing our over-fondness of this If we were to stay here always we ought to take care to fix our Affections here too and place them upon Objects most agreeable to us But since Providence has allotted us but a short Continuance here and has suited the Fabrick of our Bodies to the shortness of our Stay and provided us another Life after this unchangable and immortal we ought in Prudence to bestow our first Care and Affections upon that And if any thing which we Dearly Esteem'd has been translated from us to that other State of Immortality before we were willing to part with it we ought also to follow it thither with our Thoughts and Affections and not with our Tears and Complaints and conform our present Condition as much as possible to that which our Friends who are gone before us do already enjoy Death is only a putting off these Bodies the leaving This and changing it for another Place of Habitation and not a ceasing to be or a falling into Nothing And though it is an Admission into that invisible State which no mortal Eye can enter yet our Minds may keep a Spiritual Conversation with those more Perfect Beings and may still enjoy them by the Eye of Faith though not by that of Sence Perfect Happiness was never designed for this Life nor can we expect it for if it was there would be nothing left for us to enjoy in the Next But yet it may be in our Power to make large Additions to it and to advance by Degrees more and more to that Perfection which will be Consummate hereafter And to this End we may make use of our Afflictions which the Loss of Friends brings upon us to the putting us in mind of our own Mortality which by our continual Remembrance of it will admonish us to grow better and more fit for Happiness Nor will it suffer us to apply our Minds to those things which will stop us in our Advances thither And perhaps it was for this Reason that we have lost what we now Grieve for because we fixt our Minds so much upon it that we had not leisure to think of another Life which should have no Obstacles to withdraw our thoughts from it To conclude We ought not to be concern'd too much at any thing that may befal us here because we can't enter into the State of the Blessed till we have taken off our Minds from all Sensual and Earthly Desires We must shake off these Clogs before we can be admitted into Happiness We can't enter into Life halt and maimed we must carry nothing thither but spiritual Minds heavenly Thoughts and exalted Desires without any mixture or allay of Sense We must temper our Affections to those Mansions of Pleasures if ever we expect a Fruition of them We can never see God nor enjoy the Beatisick Vision with the Eye of Sense We must be purified and refin'd before we can behold those Glorious Objects and exchange our vitiated Palates for some more exquisitely perfect if we design to tast of the Supper of the Lamb. We must wipe all Tears from our Eyes if we expect to gain admittance there where there is neither Grief nor Sorrow any more where there are only Hallelujahs Praises and Thanksgivings to Him that sitteth on the Throne for ever and ever What Joy and Transport do the frequent Meditations upon another Life raise in the Minds of Good Men With what Comfort and Satisfaction do they perform all the Duties of Religion How Fervent in their Prayers how Constant and Joyful in their Thanksglvings How Ravishing are their Hopes how few their Fears In a word their Thoughts are so wholly taken up with the Meditations of the next Life that they are little concern'd for any thing of this If they suffer Scorn or Reproach from Men or feel the immediate Hand of God upon them in Afflictions they turn all to a good Use and endeavour to grow better by them They know though they sow in Tears they shall reap in Joy That is their Joys shall be abundantly greater than ever their Sorrows were They shall drink Rivers of Pleasure for every Tear that fell from their Eyes And for One Moment of Sorrow They shall receive Eternal Blessedness and be for Ever entertain'd with Joy unspeakaable and full of Glory Wherefore let us Comfort one another with these Words The End