Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	divine_a	faith_n	revelation_n	2,617	5	10.5414	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66097	The child's portion, or, The unseen glory of the children of God asserted and proved together with several other sermons / occasionally preached and now published by Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston, New-England.	Willard, Samuel, 1640-1707.	1684 (1684)	Wing W2271; ESTC R33658	112,015	240

which Christ as God possesseth who is God blessed for evermore He is one in essence with his Father He is full possessor of all the Divine Atributes and Perfections He is the Object of of Divine adoration and all the Angels of God do worship him In this Glory we ought not to expect to be like him it would be vain presumption and highest Arrogancy in any of the Children of Men to feed themselves with any such expectation 2. There is a Relative incommunicable Glory which the humane Nature of Christ by vertue of personal union with the Son of God is advanced unto in consideration of which Union the Man Christ is truly God or a Divine Person and in this we shall not be like him there is indeed a Mystical and Spiritual Union between Christ and Believers whereby they are one he being the Political Head of the Body the Church and ruling of it not by Authority only but by influence too his Spirit being sent forth into their hearts But this is of a far divers nature from that Union which is between the two natures in Christ The People of God are not to expect to be as nearly related unto the Son of God as his own particular humanity is 3. There is a communicable Glory which Christ in his humane nature as he is the head of the Church and their representative or surety is advanced unto wherein though he personally hath the preheminence as Col. 1. 18. That in all things he might have the preheminence Yet all his Children do share in a Glorious Consimilitude and though not in like measure yet in like manner they are sharers with him 〈◊〉 is not to be expected that I should give a full account of this what it is for if so then it woul● appear what we shall be which our Apostle d●nyes but through the Glass of the Scripture we may make a dark discovery of it and the● are two things in which this likness to Chri● doth consist 1. That state of perfection which the whole man shall be advanced unto 2. Th● additional Glory which shall be conferred o● them in that state 1. That state of perfection which the whol● Man shall be advanced unto We labour unde● manifold imperfections in this life such as make our present happiness full of infeliaity there can be no perfect glory without a perfect state such Christ enjoyeth in our nature in Heaven such also shall all the Children of God be made to possess in the Kingdom in summe they shal● be like him both in the state of Body and Soul 1. Their bodily estate shall be like his This Paul plainly asserts Phil. 3. 21. Who shall 〈◊〉 our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious Body The Disciples had a glimpse of his bodily glory in the Transfiguration Mat. 17● begin And though this be the least yet it is no● contemptible part of our likness to Christ that when the Body being raised or changed shal● leave behind it all those imperfections which it lay down under or was visited withal here When it shall be cloathed with Beauty in the room of deformity when it shall shake off all sickness and pain and enjoy perfect health and strength when this Mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible incorruptibility when it shall be sick no more and dye no more when it shall need Food and Raiment no more when the Body shall be made perfectly holy and filled with Angelical Vigour and Activity for God When that shall come to pass 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. 2. Their Souls shall be made like his and receive all those ●●dornings of every grace in a degree of perfection suitable to the state of Glory Paul gives us an intimation of such a thing 1 Cor. 13 10 12. When the understanding shall be enlarged to see the glorious truth in its Ra●iancy and take in the light of it without dazling and be freed from all mistakes or darkness for ever when the Will shall be unfettered and a● f●ll liberty to act with the highest content and fullest freedom upon the chiefest good when the affections shall be carried forth with the greatest ardour after God and enjoying the object of their delight cannot but be satisfied in it so it is with Jesus Christ thus is his soul perfected in all its faculties 2. The additional glory which shal be conferred upon them in this state Herein also they shal be like him for they shal be fellow-commoners with him in this complemental Glory they shal not be divided from him but conjoyned in this felicity They shal enjoy one and the same Heaven that Kingdom which is prepared for him is also prepared for them as he hath a massie Crown of honour given him so also shal they have each of them Growns set upon their heads even an eternal weight of glory Rev. 4. 4. They had on their heads Crowns of Gold As his Father hath seated him upon a Royal Throne so also are their Thrones made ready for them and they shal sit upon them there Rev. 3. 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me upon my Throne As he possesseth fulness of joyes in his Fathers presence Psal 16. ult so shal they in his Psal 36. 8. But I do but lade the Ocean with a spoon The one half of that Glory which Christ now enjoyeth is not told nor can be understood by us in the dark and cloudy Vale. 2. How it appears that we shal be like him Ans This truth is of Divine revelation and must fetch its evidence from Scripture-Testimony which as it asserts the truth of it which is reason enough for our Faith so it gives divers grounds for it viz. 1. His taking part with them in their infirmities that so they might be sharers with him in his Glory Heb. 2. 14 15. He humbled himself that he might exalt them he made his Soul an offering for sin that he might see his seed he gave himself for them to that very end that he might make them thus glorious Eph. 5. 26 27. And hence this glory is called a purchased possession Eph. 1. 14. 2. The good will of God the Father to prepare this Glory for them and appoint them to be the heirs of it Hence it is called the Kingdom prepared Mat. 25. 34. And with this our Saviour encourageth his Disciples Luk. 12. 32. Fear not little Flock it is my Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Now they are chosen in Christ and hence they are to be partakers with him in his Glory Eph. 1. 4. i. e. Christ was to be the procurer of that good they were chosen to 3. The near relation which they have to Jesus Christ As he is a Son so are they Sons and he is not ashamed to call them his Brethren And from their sonship Paul argues their Coheirship Rom. 8. 17. If Sons then Heirs Coheirs with Christ They are the

14. Now Holiness consists in a conform●y to Christ And hence If we shal have such a sight of him it inferrs that we are made like to him If we were not rendred holy and spiritual and that perfectly we then should never thus see him But bearing the argument only with this admonition to warn us that we deceive not our selves thinking to see Christ hereafter with joy and yet abhoring conformity to him in holiness which will be found a piece of undoing presumption at the last I come to the Words as they are an assertion or point of Doctrine and here also they have their difficulty Who this Him is we have already heard viz Jesus Christ though some interpret it of God but it intends Jesus Christ God-man it is he who is to appear and he whom we shal be made like unto whe● he shal appear Hence Doct. It will be a great part of the happiness of the Children of 〈◊〉 in the other life● 〈◊〉 they shall see Jesus Christ as he is Our Doctrine treats of the Beatifical Vision 〈◊〉 as whiles we are in this body we are incapable of enjoying so are we no less incapable of knowing what it is Many curious wits have beat their brains and tentered their inventio● about it to no purpose but to darken counsel with words without knowledge The School-Men have taken a great deal of pains in it and all but to shew their ignorance Interpreters generally agree that the expression of John's is synonymous to that of Paul's of seeing him face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Where there is also an Elypsis of the Object as well as in our Text It is sometime called a seeing of God and is promised Mat. 5. 8. Sometimes a seeing of Christ who is God Rev. 21. 4. Joh. 19. 26. There is a seeing of God here in this life and there is a sight which shal be had of him in Glory For happiness is here inchoated it shal there be perfected Now the great matter of inquiry is about the difference which is between these two Sights The Apostle in 1 Cor. 13. 12. makes a very great difference and so indeed there is beyond our present imagination but in what things it lyes is hard to tell the words are like our present knowledge Aenigmatical a Riddle not easily ●ead and Augustines counsel is here good That we beware lest whiles we quarrel about the way of seeing God we forget and miss of Sanctification by which only he is to be seen Briefly then It is the concurrent Judgement of the Orthodox that the object seen then and now is the same and that the difference consists in two things First The Manner Secondly The Degrees both of which are intimated in the forecited Text. 1. The Manner That now is through a Glass darkly that then is face to face i. e. We now see him mediately whereas we shal then see him immediately now we have a reflex then we shal have a direct sight of him Now there are some who think he is here seen by the reflexion of the of his Attributes and then in his naked Essence and so make the Attributes a part of the Glass but this is a flight too high for me to soar unto It is certain the Attributes are no part of the Glass but they are the Object that is now reflected in the Glass I know that seeing Christ as he is intends more than a seeing the Man Christ in his visible Glory but it doth not therefore necessarily enforce the seeing the Divine Essence Seeing him face to face is some transcenden● manner of seeing him and what if it be 〈◊〉 good pleasure that we shall not 〈◊〉 it till we come actually to see it We 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understand how th●● should be nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there is any proportion between an 〈◊〉 object and a finite created understanding Should God make a Being able to know him in his naked Essence he must make one equal to himself Angels are Comprehensors yet they are represented as covering their faces with two of thei● wings and that not only by reason of modesty but of weakness too lest they should lose their sight in the contemplation The highest flight of our understanding is to see things in their causes but the Divine Essence is without cause● That distinction of seeing comprehensively an● seeing apprehensively hath here no place i● things that have parts and are divisible and 〈◊〉 may partially come into our view it will hold but the Divine Essence is simple and indivisible and therefore to apprehend and comprehend it are all one Nor is the ground of Opposition between Faith and Sight with respect to the object seen for we heard that is one and the same but to the manner of seeing him and it may rather argue the contrary namely if it be God in his Attributes that is believed in now it must be God in his Attributes that must be seen then Christ saith be it to thee according to thy Faith 〈◊〉 W● now believe that God is Infinite Eternal 〈◊〉 we shall see and apprehend him to be 〈◊〉 and as for that notion of the desire of 〈◊〉 ●rally reaching to see the Godhead 〈◊〉 and hence that it cannot be happy without such a sight it will easily be found a mistake for besides that the desires of fallen man grasp after that which if obtained would certainly prove their misery we may argue here diametrically opposite viz. That which can make a man fully happy can answer all his desires He that knows God to be his God in Christ and knows him to be infinitely wise powerful good glorious c. knows enough to satisfie him in his object but besides this he ca● know no more and live Exod. 33. 20. There shall no man see me and live I know many Interpreters limit this to our present state in this life but God doth not so do nor is there any ne●d to do it See also 1 Tim. 6. 16. Who dwelleth in the light which none can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see Joh. 1. 18. No man hath séen God at any time There are several Glasses which here represent God unto us as the Glass of Creation and the Glass of Providence in which his Being and his Wisdom Power and Goodness do shine forth there is the Glass of the Scriptures the Law and Gospel the Glass of Ordinances Preaching and the Sacrament● in which God and Christ are exhibited to our Faith but our ma●●er of seeing him through all these is darkly and is rather compared to a report 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ear than an ocular demonstration these things bring us the happy news of 〈◊〉 an one and are the means whereby we that have not seen yet do believe as 1 Pet. 1. 8. This Glass is not a Prospective Glass which represents things near and plain and the things themselves but it is a Looking Glass which reflects only the rayes and representations