Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	according_a	earth_n	nature_n	2,088	5	5.3262	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58147	Work & reward, or, The testimonial of a believer for his entrance into glory, examined and approved in a sermon at the interment of the vertuous lady, Margaret St. John, wife to ... Sir Alexander St. John, Septem. the 3. 1656 / by Francis Raworth ...	Raworth, Francis, d. 1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing R374; ESTC R21375	26,633	69

not suffer him to go in with him So in a sense Faith guards us to Heaven Gates and when it hath done its office there it leaves us Faith follows a Christian as the shadow doth the Sun from one point of the Compass or Dyal to another until it comes to the Miridian and there it leaves it but love is a Royal Grace an Heavenly Peer with State and Majesty it enters into Glory and dwells with the King of Glory himself to all Eternity As Dr. Preston said when a dying I shall change my place but not my company his Graces followed him Thirdly Their Works follow them in respect of the comfort of them as the wicked onely leave their duties behinde them and carry their sins with them so the godly leave their sins behinde them and carry their graces with them they put off their garments when they go to bed And here 1. After death a childe of God is comforted with the success of his works How comfortable at the last day will it be for a Master of a Family to present his servants at the Tribunal Bar before the Lord and to say Lord Here am I and my servants with me that not onely wear my Livery but also obeyed thy commands For the Ministers of the Gospel that have been faithful to present their flocks before the great Bishop and Shepheard of souls and to say Here are the purchase of thy blood the travail of our souls the fruit of our labors and tears As the Ancient sweetly brings in the Apostles like so many File-leaders severally bringing up their Converts to the Judgement-Seat Peter attended with the converted Jews John leading up the Asiatiques Thomas the Indians and Paul the Gentiles Et nos hic Pastores vocati sumus ibi greges non ducemus And it is the perswasion of many great Divines That the spiritual Fathers in Christ shall know their children in Christ at that day Their success will advantage their comfort and therefore it is part of our duty to labor for success though it must be acknowledged that God rewards us not according to the success of our labors properly but according to our labors for success Let none be discouraged that their faithful works have not their success with men for as the good Physician always heals not so the good Preacher always converts not The success of our labors is his work not ours and God rewards us not according to his own work simply and abstractly taken by the leave of that yet true and famous affirmation God crowns his own works in us but according to our works He shall give to every man according to his works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we had better have one work writ in Heaven then a thousand on Earth and though men may forget labors of love on earth yet the comfort is they shal be reminded rewarded by Christ in heaven those that convert souls and run like stars on Earth shall at last be Crowned and shine like stars in Heaven Dan. 12.3 4. 2. After death a childe of God shall be comforted with the Testimony of his Conscience And thus 1. His Integrity shall follow or accompany him Miserable is he whose conscience condemns him though all the world acquit him but thrice happy is he whose conscience acquits him though all the world accuse him A man may have hypocrisie in him and yet be no Hypocrite he may slumber and sleep with the foolish Virgins yet be no foolish Virgin while we are on this side our Fathers house we cannot but trip and stumble though we keep the way while we are on this side Paradice we cannot behold a Pomgranate that hath no rotten grain in it This may support that if we bring our Graces to the Touch-stone the Lord himself will never bring them to the Balance the charge of Hypocrisie is familiar and easie the proof is laborious and hard We are not made Lord Judges of mens Consciences and therefore notwithstanding private suspitions we must forbear and refer the censure of the full and final estate of man to God It s the work of God to discover Hypocrites not of man while a man goes about to discover an Hypocrite let him beware lest in seeking to finde out one he discover two the searched and the searcher Quam immensa est laetitia de recordatione transacti operis Possibly it may be said concerning many Christians who never studied to be conformable to the Critical Religion of the World as it was said of Father Paul the Venetian because men knew not how to convince him either in his Profession or Life they had onely this common plea against him That he was an Hypocrite But what a testimony will Samuel bring with him at that day to say in the audience of Men and Angels Whose Ox have I stoln For blessed Paul to manifest at that day This is the testimony of my conscience that in godly simplicity I have behaved my self in the world My Beloved get a good conscience for that is a thousand witnesses and a thousand witnesses will not at that day be so good as a good conscience How amiable will the face of true Grace be then How abominable will the vizor and counterfeit be 2. His Charity and Love shall witness for him Many have no greater sensible evidence of their loving Christ then by the love they bear to his servants that wear his Livery to his Children that bear his Image But then the scruples of the upright shall be dissolved resolved and they shall not need so to puzle their brains to finde the love of the Brethren in their hearts How refreshing will it be then for a Believer to have occasion to say by way of Praise and Testimony the Lord gave me the loaf and I grudged not to give others the crums God made my cup full and I made it to run over for the relief of others It will I am sure it will be more comfortable for a man to say I have been good and I have done good in the World then to say I had all the goods of the World Good works are a Treasure and will follow you good and cordial Prayers are a Treasure and they will go before you and Faith and Hope are a Treasure and they will go with you It is strange to consider how many bad words men have for good works as if to be charitable were to be Popishly affected but if charity be Antichristianism Christ is the Pope and Rome is at Jerusalem Rev. 14.13 Acts 7.59 Luke 23.43 Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luke 16.9 Not by way of merit but by way of concomitancy every acting of every Grace will stand us in stead a charitable act as well as a repenting act Quicquid pauperibus spargimus nobis colligimus I shall not impose on your belief But it is reported that

their Estates their Gold behinde them but they shall carry their oppression their guilt with them they shall lie down in their sins and their sins shall rise with them their sins shall go into Hell with them and there stare them in the face here a Regiment of Oathes on the one hand there a Regiment of Lies on the other hand Happy would the wicked be that they could go naked out of this World as free from their sins as of their riches If men shall be condemned for idle words much more for ill works How many will then wish their Blasphemies against the Mediator unprinted and their slanderous Libels against men unpublished to the World when God himself shall read a black Bill or Indictment against them out of every line they wrote and make every Volumn a Fagot to burn and torment them withal and the more Proselites men have gained to their damnable Errors the more additions of Wrath they shall have to all Eternity As Christ said Can men gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles So comparing Works to Trees Rewards to Fruits Consider Will thy gall and wormwood ever make pleasant Drink These wilde and sowre Grapes ever yield sweet Wine This ignorance this impenitency these vulgar Oathes and wanton dalliances are these the seed-plot of Heaven the foundation upon which I build my salvation No no my soul as thou brewest so thou must drink as thou sowest so thou must reap Alass how unfruitful have I been in good works how fruitful in evil whilest others have been a praying wretched I have been a cursing while others have spent their time in gathering of Manna to feed their souls I have been gathering of sticks to burn my soul withal I had a season to go into Gods Vineyard the Spirit called Conscience called Providence called but I was idle but I was evil How can I that have so long stood idle and O that I had onely been idle and done nothing look for the peny or that have refused to mortifie a last look for a Crown or for the Harvest of Glory that have neglected my seed time Can I think to finde the living among the dead the Tree of Life out of Paradice Heaven in Hell O that either my works had been according to my profession or my profession according to my works Aut professio secundum opera aut opera secundum professionem When the Saints die they rest from their labors and their works follow them through Free-grace in glorious rewards When the wicked dye they rest from their labours too but their works follow them through Divine Justice into everlasting punishment Thus many may everlastingly rest from their troubles in this world and when they have done so go into a world of everlasting troubles Opera sequuntur bonos persequuntur malos Omnia mala mali secum portant Secondly As it reproves evil so also Idle workers Ah Christians How ready are we to neglect our Watch to give over our Worke to make the affaires of this world our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our main work and the affaires of Heaven our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things by the by Volumus assequi Christum sed non sequi how do we set our affections on things Temporal while wee neglect the things that are Eternal Are we by nature Children of wrath have we seasons offered us for reconciliation and shall we neglect our Souls Pretend the world against God and desperately venture our Salvation upon an Arbritary God upon an it may be we may be saved Do we know already that they that dye in sinnes shall forever live in everlasting burnings and shall we dare live in sinne and goe out of the world in that same state of enmity against God with which we came into this world Is heaven a Kingdome and have we no violence to offer for it Will this be a sufficient Apology for any man to say at last day Lord I never opposed thy wayes when I did not professe them I did not despise the offers of grace though I did neglect them Have you any greater work to do in the world then to looke after the glorifying of God and the salvation of your souls I must acknowledge that in the first work of Grace we are rather Passive than Active for ut Deus operatur in nobis ut accedamus ita operatur ne decedamus and that without the influence of Omnipotency wee can doe nothing but undoe our selves and that when wee have done all wee can wee must say not in a Jesuitical Complement but really we are unprofitable servants yet our impotency contracted and nourished by our selves excuseth not but aggravates our weakness though we can't create the breath of the Spirit yet cannot we hang out our sails to entertain it though we cannot make the Pool of Bethesdah the ordinances of God effectual for our cure yet cannot we come and lay our selves at the Pool to wait the motion of the Angel Is it not our duty to pray for as well as to pray in the Spirit Because God worketh in us both to will and to do shall we therefore sit still and not work out our salvation with fear and trembling might not we have done more for our souls then we have done Doth God compel us to run to a Tavern when we should go to Church Is it no burthen to be a Pack-horse and Drudge to the Divel and yet it is a burthen to be a servant a free-man a Son of God Will it not be a greater trouble to suffer hereafter the will of God Go ye cursed then now it is to do his will Believe and repent Non posse pretendiditur cum nolle est in causa My Beloved No work no reward no holiness no Heaven roundly and plainly as 't was said in another case either turn or burn Do and live is Evangelical Language as well as Legal Do on Earth or suffer in Hell Finde out a new Heaven if you can for you shall never finde out a new way to the old if ever you go before to Heaven your works must follow you Si non vertamus verba in opera Deus vertet verba in verbera If we turn not our words into works God will turn our words into blows It was the trouble of a Martyr when he was led to the stake that he was now going to that place where he should receive wages but do no work Vse 4. Is for comfort to the godly and holy Your works of goodness shall follow you not your sins Pharaoh followed Israel to the Red-sea and there he left them the Pilot follows the Merchant-man to the Harbors mouth and there leaves him That busie Divil that now prosecutes you from one Ordinance to another with his temptations that envious World that now persecutes you from one place to another with reproaches and revilings shall then prosecute and persecute you no more farewell troubles and tryals farewell hardness of heart

and unprofitableness under the means of Grace and that for ever Remember Christians that Death that is a Trap door to let some down into hell shall be a Portal or Gate to let you into heaven That that stroke of the King of terrors that shall separate your souls from your bodies shall separate sin likewise from you souls Your sorrowes now are mixt with your joyes your darknesse with your light you have indeed some rest while you labour how full then will your rest be when you shall rest from your labours and work no more this is your day of working hereafter is your day of rewarding this is your seed-time hereafter is your harvest Si Deus tam bonus sequentibus quam bonus fuerit consequentibus though here you sigh and mourn yet hereafter you shall sing and rejoyce though here you are as Pearles hid in and besmeared with durt yet hereafter you shall shine as the Sun Then you shall see the fruit of the travels of your souls then you shall not repent of your mortification and repentance Then finally will it appear that that man is happier that hath had Saint Pauls Coat with his heavenly graces then the Purple Robes of Princes with all their Kingdomes Fifthly By way of Advice to all That they may so carry themselves while they live that their works may gloriously follow them when they die To which purpose First Bee importunate at the Throne of Grace that ye may be made the workmanship of God which you must be before you can do the work of God Fiamus opus Dei ut facimus opus Dei your natures must be renewed before you can doe new actions A bad man can never Theologically do good works morally he may but he that doth a moral work only shall have a moral reward only as the wheele turns round not to the end it may be made round But on the contrary as the stemms must first be grafted on the stock before they can bring forth fruit so we must be Branches in Christ united to and made one with him before we can be fruitful in good works The Church in the Canticles is described no where by the beauty of her hands or fingers though oft by the beauty of other parts of her body because a Christian should abound in good works and yet in silence without boasting Or Secondly because it is Christ alone that works all our works in us and Grace is not our Creature but the manufacture of Christ Bona opera non praecedunt Justificandum sed sequntur Justificatum Secondly If you would have your good works to follow you send them before you Now Repent now Believe and hereafter you shall have the reward of your Repentance and of your Faith and as for Charity part with that you cannot keep that you may obtain that you cannot lose When the world shall leave you your good works shall follow you your gracious actions your good works are an inexhaustible fountain that shall never be dryed up a durable spring that shall never fail they are acts of time short in performance yet eternal in their recompence Non transeunt opera nostra sicut transire videntur sed velut aeternitatis semina jaciuntur Though they are sown in this world they shall spring in the next that which you lay out for Christ on earth you lay up for your selves in Heaven the hand of the poor is the Treasury the Gazophylacium of Christ and by charity in a Gospel sense you make your Maker your Debter and surely if thou be the Creditor of the Almighty it will not be long ere he come out of thy Books How foolish are they that fear to lose their wealth by giving it and fear not to lose themselves by keeping it He that lays up his Gold may be a good Jailor but he that lays it out is a good steward Merchants traffick thither with a commodity where 't is precious in regard of scarcity We do not buy Wines in England to carry them to France Spices in France to carry them to the Indies so for labor and work repentance and mortification there is none of them in Heaven there is Peace and Glory and the favor of God indeed Their works in my Text go with them they dare not go without their fraught A Merchant without his Commodity hath but a sorry wellcome God will ask men that arrive at Heaven Gates ubi opera Rev. 22.12 His reward shall be according to our works Thou hast riches here and here be objects that need thy riches the poor in Heaven there are riches enough but no poor therefore by faith in Christ make over to them thy monies in this world that by Bill of Exchange thou mayest receive it in the world to come that onely you carry with you which you send before you Do good while it is in your power relieve the oppressed succor the fatherless while your Estates are your own when you are dead your riches belong to others one light carryed before a man is more serviceable then twenty carryed after him In your compassion to the distressed or for pious uses let your hands be your Executors and your eyes your Overseers and that I may not be mistaken let your Charity have these two Qualifications 1. Let your works be done in Faith as without works we cannot profit men so without Faith we cannot please God we must be marryed to Christ or our children are not Legitimate our works are not right All our surviving out of the Ark will not save us from the deluge of Gods wrath As Isaac said to Abraham Father here is the Altar and the wood but where is the sacrifice so at last day when you shall knock at Gods door and seek to enter and hold up your Lamps and cry Lord we are Virgins we are Christians we were hospitable and charitable according to thy command let our neighbors be witnesses of our good works but will the Lord reply True here are your duties and your works but where is my grace of Faith Are these a satisfaction to my Justice where is my Benjamin the righteousness of my Son to plead for you My Beloved There seems to be less glory in Faith then in any other Grace it seemed but a sorry Grace a Grace of no great vertue Holiness is acceptable because it honors God Charity is noble because it profits men Thankfulness is melodious because its the tune of Angels Other works seem to make God a Debter to give as it were something to God but ad quid fides What is Faith good for Yes it is good for every good purpose it s the root of all the Graces it s the richest Grace because its the inriching Grace if Faith go before Works will follow Vbi Christus non est boni operis fundamentum ibi nullum est bonum aedificium 2. As works of Charity must be qualified with Faith or else our haec ego