Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_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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The Eternal Joys of God's Presence A SERMON Preach'd at the TEMPLE-CHURCH UPON All-Saint's Day Printed at the Request of the Treasurers and Benchers of those Two Honourable Societies By HENRY FELTON L. L. D. Rector of Melford in Suffolk and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Tim. Goodwin at the Queen's-Head against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1699. PSALM XVI 11. In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore THE Desire of Joy and Pleasure is that which exciteth and inspiriteth all the Actions and Endeavours of Men All our Contrivings all our Undertakings spring out of and center in this one Desire of attaining that wherein we may find Joy and Contentment Not only all Vices but all Virtues too are fed and supported by Pleasure though the Pleasures of the one and the other are infinitely different 'T is not Riches but a certain Pleasure which a low earthly Mind taketh in an Object so conformable to it that feedeth Covetousness 'T is not Honour that properly feedeth Ambition but a bewitching Pleasure an Airy Mind taketh in soaring aloft As for Sensuality and all the several Ways of it what are they else but a profess'd Service or rather Vassalage of Pleasure Briefly Every particular Vice hath some particular sinful Pleasure that begetteth it And as Vice deriveth its Being and Maintenance from Pleasure so doth Virtue too In the way of Piety and Religion what is it else that strengthneth and cheereth up Devotion to work through the Difficulties of it but an internal Pleasure tasted here in the sweetness of a good Conscience and in the transporting Hope of the full Joys and eternal Pleasures hereafter Since then the whole World saileth by the Compass of Delight shaping their Courses for Joy and Pleasure and the greatest part for want of a clear believing Apprehension of those full Joys unto which Man was made fasten and rest themselves upon the poor empty momentary and unsatisfactory Delights which are here to be enjoyed Is it not a matter worthy of our best Labour to call my own and your Thoughts as it were into the Mount to contemplate and consider unto what exquisite Joys and high Delights Man is created That we may the better know how to set our Affections upon Things above and not upon Things on the Earth These are momentary those eternal These are unsatisfactory those are Fulness of Joy In thy presence says the Royal Prophet is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore From which Words these Two Propositions may naturally and easily be deduced I. That there are full satisfying Joys and everlasting Pleasures attainable by Men. II. That these Joys and Pleasures are in the Presence or at the Right hand of God Which Two Points I shall first endeavour to explain and prove and then in the Third place I will describe to you the Nature and Excellency of those full Joys so far as God hath been pleased in his Holy Scriptures to reveal them to us I. That there are full satisfying Joys and eternal Pleasures attainable by Men. This is one of the main Principles of all Religion We see that the first Article of our Christian Faith is to believe that there is a God who made all things and the last to believe that there is an everlasting or compleat eternal Happiness to be attain'd of Man Which Two Points are the Alpha and Omega of all Religious Faith and true Religion and without a firm setling of these Two in the Heart it is impossible that any Spark of Devotion or the least Mite of Godliness should be kept alive If either of these fail all is lost The Holy Scriptures therefore are so plain and full in the declaration of this Truth That God hath prepared full and eternal Joys in his Presence for the Righteous that we need not cite any particular passage for the proof of it for the whole Body both of the Law and Gospel stand upon this bottom The Sum of the Law lies in this Covenant Do this and thou shalt live i. e. Thou shalt live Eternally And the Sum of the Gospel in this Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved The Eternal Life and Salvation of Man is therefore not only a Principle taught in the Law and the Gospel but also a Precognitum or thing necessarily pre-supposed by them both Though the Arguments from the Sacred Scriptures be very plain and full in this matter yet seeing there are many who break the Bonds of God asunder and cast away the Cords of Christ from them I mean slip themselves out of the Ties of Holy Scripture by an unaccountable sort of Deism or Atheism It will be necessary for their better satisfaction to evince and illustrate the Truth of it in their own way which I shall endeavour to do by Two Arguments drawn from the Dictates of Reason which if they be not demonstrative yet carry with them such a strength of Probability as may make the most Rational Man doubt or fear that he doth not only offend against Christian Faith but even against Right Reason in seeking wholly the vain and empty Pleasures of this World without having any regard to those full and perfect Joys which are at God's Right hand The first Argument from Reason to prove that there is a Condition of full Joys and eternal Pleasures attainable by us Men may be taken from the natural Desire and Appetite which is in all Men. All Men that have the actual Use of their Reason have an earnest Desire of such an Estate of Happiness as may fully satisfy them and endure eternally This Desire is natural to Man for else how should it be in all Men It is a Desire likewise agreeable to Right Reason for it tends to the Perfection of the Creature and the Glory of the Maker to make it so Now is it probable that God should frame the Hearts of all Men so desirous of a thing that no Man can or shall ever attain unto We see that if Man begets a Child if possible he be able he will provide to fill the Belly of it If we that are Evil are so careful to provide for that which we beget were it not then a strange thing in God be it spoken with all humble Reverence of the Divine Majesty that he should create and infuse such a desire of eternal Happiness as certainly this Appetite in all Men is of God's begetting and not provide wherewith to satisfy this Desire Besides we may observe that the Great and Wise Creator of all things hath utterly abhorred Vacuity and Emptiness in all his Works The vast Channel the Abyss of the Sea is a fathomless Gulph for Depth and an immeasurable Extent for Circumference yet God hath provided Waters enough to fill it The Space between Heaven and Earth is infinitely large and wide yet God hath provided wherewithal to fill it The craving Appetites and
Stomachs of all Men all Beasts Fowls Fishes Things creeping c. require an infinite quantity of Nourishables for their Food yet God hath provided wherewith they all may be filled The Desire and Appetite if I may so call it of the Angels must needs aim at high and transcendent Matters such poor Trifles as make up our Delights here fashionable Dresses Recreations bodily Pleasures c. are nothing unto them yet God hath provided somewhat to satisfy and fill them for otherwise those heavenly Spirits cou'd not be Blessed In like manner though the Desire of Man towards a compleat and eternal Happiness seems to be very high and vast yet he that filleth the vast Sea he that filleth the endless Gulphs of Hunger both in Man and Beast he that filleth the capacious Comprehensions of the Angels it is easy for him to satisfy and fill this Appetite of Man And it is somewhat absurd according to the Dictates of Right Reason to think that of all his Creatures God hath created only the Reasonable Soul of Man for a perpetual Emptiness and hath ordained no Object to fill and satisfy it as 't is plain he hath not in this World And therefore we have good Reason to believe that he hath prepared for it full satisfying Joys and eternal Pleasures in another the transporting Expectation of which is the only true satisfying Pleasure it can enjoy in this Life That the Pleasure of Riches Honour or bodily Pleasures bear no proportion to it every Man 's own Experience may convince him No! they are so flitting and uncertain so empty and unsatisfactory so mixed and alloyed that the most improv'd Enjoyments of them are rather Vanity and vexation of spirit as the Wiseman speaks than any true solid or satisfying Delights But 2. The Second Reason which we shall use to prove the propounded Truth is this If there be no Fulness of Joys and Eternal Pleasures in the Presence of God which Man should seek as his End and may attain as his perfect Happiness then the Reasonable Soul of Man seems to be no better than a Servant or Slave to his Sensual Part and those Advantages and Excellencies which we have above the Beasts are but as Drudges for that part which we have in common with them For if the Soul of Man hath not the Eternal Delight and Contentment of a Supernatural Life with God for her utmost End then of necessity she must stoop down to this as her main End and seek the best Delights this World afford without Thought or Regard of any other And what then serveth our Reason for but that we may with a little more neatness curiousness and stateliness do the very same things which the Beasts do i. e. Eat drink sleep play beget our like please our Senses and the like Yea which is worse what doth our Reason serve us for but to furnish us with such means and devices whereby we may become more brutish than the Beasts themselves And this we see plainly by Experience in such Persons who have cast off the Belief and Care of Heavenly Happiness What doth their height and strength of Wit and Parts serve them for but as a help to wade farther and deeper into the Mud of Sensuality than the Beasts can do And indeed if there be no Supernatural Life for Man who can blame them for so doing or seeking the best Delight and Contentment of this Natural But is it possible that the Reason of Man should digest such a Baseness as this that she is for nothing else but for a Slave and Vassal for the Sensitive Part Nothing methinks is more incongruous to Reason than to think that the Divinae aurae particula the Soul shou'd be given us only to serve such mean Purposes as these Are the Rich and Noble Endowments of it capable of no better employ than to cater exquisitely for the Body They who can entertain such unbecoming Thoughts of the Excellencies of their own Nature show that their own Follies have brought a greater degeneracy upon them than the Curse inflicted upon Adam's Fall We may reasonably conclude then That those Excellencies which Man hath above other Creatures were not given him to be the Vassals of Sensuality but as Advantages as Aids to raise him to the Blessedness of a Supernatural Life with God But it may be said That the Reasonable Soul of a Man hath in this Life an high Flight and an excellent Delight in the Raptures and Sweetness of Contemplation and besides in many Men doth manage Great and Noble Works about Governing and Ruling and therefore though it should have no Supernatural Happiness Eternal in another Life yet it cannot be said to be wholly a Servant and Drudge for the Sensual Part. But to this it may be answer'd First That the Speculations and Contemplations of the Reasonable Soul are all Essays and as it were Flutterings towards her last Perfection which end in the Contemplation of God And if we set aside or deny her such an End then all her Acts which are meerly Speculative and not profitable for this Life are no better than unprofitable Ramblings and wild Vagaries doing more hurt to the Life of Man by wasting it in the pursuit of Shadows and Fancies than they can any ways do good and are more foolish and vain than any other Works wherein she is employ'd for the Service of this Life and may in truth be counted as part of her Weakness and Vanity rather than her Felicity Though indeed if we think of them as we ought that they are as steps of Progress to a higher Contemplation of God then they are otherwise 2dly As to the Works which the Reason of Man doth in well-governing and setling such great Bodies of Society as Empires and Kingdoms they are indeed great admirable and noble If they be consider'd as referring to a Twofold End the One that Men may lead a godly and an honest Life the Other a quiet and peaceable One Both which Ends are briefly express'd by St. Paul 1 Tim. 2. 2. and are such as all Governments take upon them Now so far as the Work of Governing tendeth to uphold Religion as a way for Men to raise themselves to an Eternal Happiness so far the Reason of Man therein is a Servant to a divine and heavenly End But if we set aside this noble and glorious End and propound no other but that Societies of Men may live quietly and peaceably orderly and safely together in this World then all the Contrivances of Government and the Acts of the Rational Soul about it are but Services to the Sensitive Part of Man For what then are they else but agreed and setled Provisions that every Man may Eat and Drink in quiet Sleep Walk Ride Play Enjoy his Pleasures without any unjust disturbance of the Idle and Malicious In conclusion therefore this seems necessary to be granted That either the Reasonable Soul of Man serves to raise him to some happier