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heaven_n body_n glorious_a vile_a 2,633 5 9.7400 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A44699 The vanity of this mortal life, or, Of man, considered only in his present mortal state by J. Howe ... Howe, John, 1630-1705. 1672 (1672) Wing H3045; ESTC R9662 57,187 180

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suitable aliment from our bodies affect to dwell there and is loath to leave us It were a ludicrous pity to be there-therefore content to endure its troublesome v●llications because we fear the poor Animal should be put to its shifts and not to be otherwise able to find a subsistence 'T is true that the great Creator and Lord of the Universe hath not permitted us the liberty of so throwing off our bodies when we will which otherwise are in dignity far more beneath our spirits than so despicable a Creature is beneath them And to his dispose that hath order'd this conjunction for a time whether we look upon it as an effect of his simple pleasure or of his displeasure we must yeild an awful and a patient submission till this part of his Providence towards us have run its course and attain'd its ends And then how welcome should the hour of our discharge and freedom be from so troublesome an Associate which upon no other account than that of duty towards the Author of our beings one would more endure than to have the most noysome offensive Vermine always preying upon his flesh At least though the consideration of our own advantage had no place with us in this matter the same sense of duty towards our great Creator which should make us patient of an abode in the body while he will have it so should also form our spirits to a willing departure when it shall be his pleasure to release us thence But that neither a regard to his ple●sure nor our own blessedn●ss should prevail against our love to the body is the unaccountable thing I speak of And to plead only in the case the corruption of our natures that sets us at odds with God and our selves is to justifie the thing by what is it self most unjustifiable or rather as some that have affected to be styl'd Philosophers have been wont to expedite difficulties by resolving the matter into the usual course of Nature which is to resolve the thing into it self and say It is so because it is so or is wont to be and indeed plainly to confess there is no account to be given of it This being the very thing about which we expostulate that reasonable nature should so prevaricate The commonness whereof doth not take away the wonder but rather render it more dreadful and astonishing The truth is the incongruity in the present case is only to be solved by redress by earnest strivings with God and our own souls till we find our selves recovered into a right mind into the constitution and composure whereof a generous fortitude hath a necessary ingrediency that usually upon lower motives refuses no change of Climate and will carry a man into unknown Countreys and through greatest hazards in the pursuit of honourable enterprizes of a much inferior kind It is reckon'd a brave and manly thing to be in the temper of one's mind a Citizen of the World meaning it of this lower one But why not rather of the Universe And 't is accounted mean and base that one should be so confin'd by his fear or sloath to that spot of ground where he was born as not upon just inducement to look abroad and go for warrantable and worthy purposes yea if it were only honest self-advantage as far as the utmost ends of the earth But dare we not venture a little farther These are too narrow bounds for a truly great spirit Any thing that is tinctur'd with earth or favours of mortality we should reckon too mean for us and not regret it that Heaven and Immortality are not to be attained but by dying so should the love of our own souls and the desire of a perpetual state of life triumph over the fear of death But it may be alledged by some That 't is only a solicitous love to their souls that makes them dread this change They know it wi●l not sare with all alike hereafter and know not what their own lot shall be And is this indeed our case then what have we been doing all this while and how are we concerned to lose no more time But too often a terrene spirit lurks under this pretence and men alledg their want of assurance of Heaven when the love of this earth which they cannot endure to think of leaving holds their hearts And a little to discuss this matter what would we have to assure us Do we expect a vision or a voice or are we not to try our selves and search for such characters in our own souls as may distinguish and note us out for Heaven Among these what can be more clear and certain than this that we have our hearts much set upon it They that have their conversations in Heaven may from thence expect the Saviour who shall change their vile bodies the bodies of their ●●mil●●tion or low abject state and make them like his own glorious body God who will render to every man according to his works will give them that by patient continuance in well doing seek honour and glory and immortality eternal life They that set their affections or mind on the things above not those on the earth when Christ shall appear who is their life shall appear with him in glory Mistake not the notion of Heaven or the blessedness of the other world render it not to your selves a composition of sensual enjoyments Understand it principally to consist in perfect holiness and communion with God as his own word represents it and as reason hath taught even some Pagans to reckon of it and you cannot judg of your own Right by a surer and plainer Rule than that eternal blessedness shall be theirs whose hearts are truly bent and directed towards it Admit we then this Principle and now let us reason with our selves from it We have a discovery made to us of a future state of blessedness in God not as desirable only in it self but as attainable and possible to be enjoyed the Redeemer having opened the way to it by his blood and given us at once both the prospect and the offer of it so that it is before us as the object of a reasonable desire Now either our hearts are so taken with this discovery that we above all things desire this state or not If they be we desire it more than our earthly stations and enjoyments and are willing to leave the world and the body to enjoy it and so did falsly accuse our selves of a prevailing aversion to this change If they be not the thing is true that we are upon no terms willing to dye but the cause is falsly or partially assigned It is not so much because we are unassured of Heaven but as was above suspected because we love this world better and our hearts center in it as our most desirable good Therefore we see how unreasonably this is often said We are unwilling to change states because we are unassured the truth is they are unassured because they are unwilling and what then ensues They are unwilling because they are unwilling And so they may endlesly dispute themselves round from unwillingness to unwillingness But is there no way to get out of this unhappy Circle In order to it let the case be more fully understood Either this double unwillingness must be refer'd to the same thing or to divers If to the same thing it is not sense they say what signifies nothing For being to assign a cause of their unwillingness to quit the body to say because they are unwilling viz. of that is to assign no cause for nothing can be the cause of it self But if they refer to divers things and say They are unwilling to go out of the body because they are unwilling to forsake Earth for Heaven The case is then plain but sad and not alterable but with the alteration of the temper of their spirits Wherefore let us all apply our selves since with none this is so fully done that no more is needful to the serious endeavour of getting our souls purged from the dross of this world and enamoured of the purity and blessedness of Heaven so the cause and effect will vanish together we shall find that suitableness and inclination in our spirits to that blessedness as may yeild us the ground of a comfortable perswasion that it belongs to us us and then not be unwilling though many deaths stood in our way to break through to attain it FINIS * Mr. Anthony Vpton the Son of John Vpton of Lupton Esq V. 49. V 27. V. 29. V. 36 37. Act. 2. 30 V. 28. 34. ●●9 V. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35 Isa. 55. V. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Mat. 22. Psal. 110. Act. 2. V. 25 c. V. 25. 26. V. 31. Acts 13. V. 32 33 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 9. Plotin En. 2. 1 6 Isa. 40. Job 27. 19 Heracl 1 Cor. 7. Job 20. 7 8 9. Psal. 73. 20. Psal. 39. 5 6. Jer. 9. 24 Rom. 11. 36. Psal. 119. 68. Psal. 33. 5 2 Cor. 5. 4. 1 Cor. 15. 19. Heb. 11. Rom. 2. 7. Non qua eundum est sed qua itur Sen. 1 Cor. 8. Phil. 3. 20 21. Gr. Rom. 2. 6 7. Col. 3. 2 3 4.