Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A40094
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A sermon preached before the Queen at White-hall, on Sunday, March 22, 1690/1 by Edward Fowler ...
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Fowler, Edward, 1632-1714.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing F1721; ESTC R10617
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12,747
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36
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expecting so great a Judgment while we refuse to be Intirely God's Servants Thirdly Let the partially Obedient Consider what unaccountable Folly and Madness it is to Disobey God in any thing What can you say for your selves why you should obey Him but just so far Is there not the same Reason why you should be in every thing Obedient that there is why you should be in any thing so Is it most Reasonable to Obey Him in some things and is it not so to Obey Him in all things Can we say that God goes beyond His Power in imposing some Laws or that those we dislike are less Reasonable than His other Laws Surely we dare not admit such a Thought Is it possible then that we can think it Fit or Tolerable that the great Creator and Governour of the World should be in any thing Disobeyed Such a Worm as thy self art highly offended with thy Servant when he willingly disobeys thee and too often when he does so against his Will But is thy Authority over thy Servant equal to God Almighty's over thee Are the Obligations in which he stands to thee like those in which thou standest to God Or is there any Comparison between those Encouragements thou art able to give thy Servant to please thee and those which God gives thee to please Him Who would not think himself greatly Affronted to have such Questions seriously put to him And this minds me to Entreat you Fourthly To Consider what a Glorious Reward is assured to us to Encourage us to Obey It is called a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Life and a Crown of Glory There are given to us for this End exceeding great and precious Promises as St. Peter calls them A Promise of seeing God even as He is Of being forever with our Lord Iesus Christ Of Beholding the Glory which the Father hath given Him and of Partaking too of His own Glory and that to all Eternity A Promise that the Righteous shall shine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father Of their being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Equal with the Glorious Angels And of having their Vile Bodies made like unto Christ's most Glorious Body Which and many other such like Promises our Lord Confirmed by Innumerable Miracles Wonders and Signs and then Sealed them With His Blood and next by His Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension into Heaven Whither He declared He went as the Fore-runner of His Obedient Disciples there to prepare a Place for them that where He is there they may be also And lastly He Confirmed these exceeding great and precious Promises by sending the Holy Ghost according to His Promise before He left the World Now who can have any worthy Sense of the Reward of Obedience and think much of Obeying in any one Instance tho' much more were required of him than there is If the Apostle said of the Sufferings of that Present Time which were Extraordinary and Prodigious Ones and especially those which himself underwent that they are not Worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us much more may this be said of the Services of this Life of all the Duties to which our Creator and Redeemer have oblig'd us And therefore Fifthly Let it be likewise considered that as vastly great as the Reward of Obedience shall be there is no more required of us under the Gospel Dispensation than all things considered needs must It may with the greatest Assurance be affirmed that nothing is now commanded but what is necessary to make us capable of the Glorious Inheritance purchased for us or doth tend to the better Inabling us for those Duties which are of indispensable Necessity to this End And that nothing is Forbidden us which doth not either directly or consequentially tend to make us unmeet for that Inheritance So that to complain of any one of our Lord's Precepts is the same thing with finding fault with Him for designing to make us such Happy Creatures Sixthly Consider also that the LAWS which are given us as they are most necessary so they are not so many as that we need to be scared at them Many are apt to think that because the Bible is a Great Book the Divine LAWS are almost Numberless But the far greater Part of the Bible consists of History and Relations of Matters of Fact and of Pious Mens devout Prayers and Praises c. And in the Preceptive Part there are very many Laws which are Abrogated and never concerned Christians And those which are of Force are many of them abundance of times Repeated and Inculcated In short our whole Duty may be brought into a very Narrow Compass St. Paul reduceth it to Three Heads Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness And our Blessed Saviour to Two The Love of God and our Neighbour and the particular Instances of each of these are easily and quickly learn't Nay they are generally written in our Hearts as St. Paul tells us i.e. are the plain Dictates of Natural Reason Seventhly Let us farther Consider that there is so close a Connexion between them all that Obedience to one Law will inable us to obey another and so on And the Performance of one Duty will prepare us for another and make it easie to us And on the other hand the Breach of one Law will cause Carelessness in keeping other Laws and no Sin goes alone So that 't is but a bare Supposition in the Text that a Man may keep the Whole Law and offend but in one Point or slight one Law and observe all the rest for there can really be no such thing as is evident from what hath been now discoursed Eighthly I may also add that there is no necessity of being very solicitous about any more than one thing in order to our keeping God's Laws and that is the Vigorously possessing our Souls with the Love of God This saith St. Iohn is the Love of God that we keep His Commandments or this is a necessary expression thereof and His Commandments are not grievous Namely to those that Love God And what can we imagine so Natural to Creatures Capable of understanding God as Loving Him with all their hearts Considering the infinite Loveliness of His Nature and the Inexpressible Obligations He hath laid upon them What so Agreeable to our Nature as to love Him who is the Author of our Being after whose Image we were made who is the Centre of our Souls and in whom alone consisteth our True Happiness And 't is very easy to shew that the Love of God will naturally draw after it all those duties which relate either immediately to Him or to our Neighbour or to our own Souls and Bodies Now Considering these things well may God Almighty Expostulate with Partially Obedient Christians as once He did with such Iews and that with greater reason O my people what have I done unto thee And wherein have I wearied thee Testify against me He hath been indeed so far from wearying us with His Impositions that every good Christian's Experience is able to Testify that the greatest satisfaction the truest self-Enjoyment ariseth from the Observance of His Laws Nor can it be otherwise since Love and the Love of God is the fulfilling of them For what so Pleasant as Love and much more as love placed on such an Object as God is We ought therefore to be so far from thinking much of yielding Obedience to all His Laws that we are highly disingenuous if we be not heartily thankful to Him for giving us so few and those such as in Obedience to which consists such Pleasure In the last place and with these words I will Conclude What a sad thing and miserable disappointment must it needs be to come near to the Kingdom of Heaven and yet at last fall short of it for want of going a little farther May all Partially Obedient Professors of Christianity Consider this also and lay it well to heart FINIS 1 Tim. 5.24 Iob 27.8 Psal. 130.3 4. Rom. 10.8 Mica 6.3