Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	body_n	glorious_a	vile_a	2,633	5	9.7400	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91899	Safe conduct, or The saints guidance to glory. Opened in a sermon preached at Dunstans in the East London. November the second, MDCLIV. At the funerall of the vertuous and religious gentlewoman, Mris. Thomasin Barnardiston, late wife of Mr. Samuel Barnardiston, merchant. / By Ralph Robinson, pastor of Mary Wolnoth, Lumbardstreet, London.	Robinson, Ralph, 1614-1655.	1655 (1655)	Wing R1711; Thomason E823_7; ESTC R203376	61,656	101

of the Saints above is an abiding glory Nescit vicissitudinem nescit finem manet tota simul manet in aeternum The Apostle wil tell you the B●●n Serm. de fallacia presentis vitae English of it It is an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1. 4. The Saints shall never put off their glorious robes after they have once put them on It is as possible to thrust God out of Heaven as to thrust a Saint from thence The glory of Heaven would not be perfect if it were not eternal The Saints would be in continual fear of loosing it and the fear of future loss would eat up all the joy of present possession Fifthly It is the same glory which Christ himself possesseth The Saints are not only glorified with 5 It is the same glory which Christ hath Christ which is a great exaltation but they do enjoy the very same glory which Christ doth the same for kinde though not for degree God hath not one Heaven for his Son and another for his Saints but one and the same Heaven for both The glory which thou gavest me I have given them The Head and Members are glorified together with the same kind of glory Hence it is that the Apostle saith Our vile bodies Joh. 17. 22 shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body The bodies of Beleevers shall be truly glorious as Christs is they Phil. 3. 21 shall be eternally glorious as his is and they shall possess the same kinde of glory that he doth The Humane Nature of Christ shall shine farre brighter than the brightest Saint but yet the same glory which beams upon his body shall descend on theirs The lowest Saint in Heaven shall bee invested with the same immortality incorruptibility impassibility and Clarity wherewith the glorious Body of Christ is invested When he appeareth saith the Apostle we shall be 2 Joh. 3. 2. like him for we shall see him as he is There is a likeness between Christ and Beleevers here As he is so are wee 1 Joh. 4. 17. in this world but in Heaven there shall be a more perfect likeness than now there is then there shall bee similitude and no dissimilitude The Saints are said to sit down with Christ in his Throne Rev. 3. 21. they are said to follow the Lamb unto living fountains of waters Rev. 7. 17. they are said to be joynt-heirs with Christ and to be glorified together with him Rom. 8. 17. They are said to appear with him in glory Col. 3. 4. All these expressions do fully declare this truth that they shall possess the same kinde of glory hee doth The same face of God which Jesus Christ beholds they shall behold As Christ hath full uninterrupted eternal Communion with God so shall they they shall eate of the same Tree of Life which Christ himself eats of they shall drink of the same Fountain of which he doth and they shall lodge in the same bosome of God in which Christ himself lodgeth Thus I have finished the First thing namely the nature of that glory which the Saints shall possesse If communion and fellowship with an infinite good in a place made for glory can make the Saints happy they shall bee perfectly and perpetually happy 2 That all the-Saints shall enjoy this glory Secondly That the Saints who are guided by this Counsel of God shall be received into this glory For the confirming of which truth it will be enough only to hint the following considerations First This glory is frequently promised to them 1 It is promised Joh. 10. 27 28 in the Scripture My sheep saith our Saviour hear my voyce and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them eternal life Everlasting life is the reward which is by free Deed of Gift setled upon the followers of Christ The Israelites that followed the guidance of the Pillar of Cloud through the Wilderness came at last to Canaan The Spiritual Israel that follow the guidance of the Pillar of Gods Word have the security of the Divine promise that they shall sit down in the heavenly Canaan The Saints are said to be glorified even while they live on earth Rom. 8. 30. they shall as certainly ascend to Heaven as if they were already there The Divine promise is the best security God can give or Man desire Heaven is called the Saints inheritance Col. 1. 12. though they lose other inheritances they shall never lose this Secondly The way and the end cannot be separated 2 The way and end are inseparable He that keeps the way that leads to a City cannot but come to that City The following of Gods Counsel is the direct way to Heaven and hee that walks in the way to Heaven cannot miss of Heaven Being Rom. 6. 22 made free from sin and become Servants to God yee have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life Grace and Glory are made inseparable companions The Lord will give grace and glory Grace and glory do Psal 84. 11 not differ specifically but only gradually Grace is unripened glory Glory is ripened grace Grace is the Infant of Glory Glory is the perfect man of grace Grace is the bud Glory is the fruit Grace is the Spring Glory is the Harvest Grace is the first degree of glory Glory is the highest degree of Grace The Apostle puts Glory and Vertue together 2 Pet. 1. 3. When God calls a Soul to Vertue he really calls it to glory Vertue is the threshold of that house where Glory keeps court He that is once over this threshold shall not turn back till he come to glory The first moment the Soul is brought into a state of saving grace it is matriculated into a state of glory Whom God justifyeth them he glorifieth Thirdly Those that are guided by the Counsel of 3 They are the Sons of God God are the Sons and Daughters of God Divine guidance is a fruit of Divine Adoption As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Rom. 8. 14 When God doth actually make us his Children he undertakes to lead us by his Spirit Earthly Parents are not able to guide their Children but God can guide all his The Children of God know their heavenly Father hath more wisdom than they they know Gods eyes are better than theirs they know that God loves them better than they can love themselves All Gods Sons are willing to be guided and all that are willing to be guided are Sons And if sons then heirs that is the Apostles Argument Rom. 8. 27. Adoption tends to glorification God may chasten his Sons but he will not damn any of his Sons God hath prepared Heaven for his Children and he is preparing his Children for Heaven Grace is the Nursery of Glory As the Plants of Righteousness grow fit for Heaven they are removed to Heaven God will

them new recruits against new assaults and new supports against new temptations He puts new Mony into their Sacks mouth every morning and lays in fresh provision of grace every evening When he sees their Spiritual apparrel begin to wear he repairs it when he sees their Bottles low he doth out of his Fountain fill them up again God hath promised Beleevers to confirm them unto the end and hee 1 Cor. 1. 8. will make this promise good Whatsoever difficulties are in the way he will remove whatsoever temptations oppose he will either beat them back or carry the Beleever some other way Whatsoever grace is weak he will strengthen it whatsoever peice of the Spiritual armour is wanting he will give it in He that hath been the Author will be the Finisher of their faith He will carry them on his wings as the Eagle doth her young over all mountainous and miry places till he hath performed all that which he hath engaged to do for them Thus you see what this privilege refers to and how God will guide his people both in matters of faith and in matters of practise Secondly Why will God guide them That they 2 Why God will guide them are not able to guide themselves hath been abundantly proved in the opening of the former point That God is every way fit for this work hath been already shewed That no other can guide them will easily be granted if it be beleeved that all others want some to guide themselves The Prophet speaking of Jerusalem saith That there is none to guide her among all the Sons whom she hath brought forth neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the Sons that she hath brought up Isa 51. 18. so that there is ratio necessitatis the reason of necessity why God should guide them if he conduct them not they are like to be without any sufficient leader But besides this we may consider divers things which are as so many reasons of this work As First They are his own flock God who is indeed Reas 1 the riches and portion of his people is said to have They are his Flock an inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1. 18. hee accounts them his own possession as if he could not be happy without the enjoyment of them Often doth God call himself a Shepherd and the Saints his Sheep and because they are his Sheep he will guide them Hear O Shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a Psal 80. 1 flock A good Shepherd will both feed and guide his sheep God is a good Shepherd though beleevers are unprofitable sheep yet because they are the sheep of his pasture he will guide them God promiseth this guidance to his people upon this account and that with much seriousness As a Shepherd seeketh out his Ezek. 34. 12 13 c. flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered so will I seek out my sheep saith the Lord and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day c. I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will binde up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick Though the foolish sheep set light by the Shepherd yet the Shepherd highly values the sheep They are his own election they have something of his Image upon them and therefore he will not be wanting to guide them Secondly If God did not guide them hee should Reas 2 lose them Beleevers have gaddy heads and corrupt Else God should lose them hearts and stumbling seet they are ready upon every temptation to depart from the faith and to go astray from the paths of holiness yea though they have no tempter yet the prevalency of that corruption which dwels in them will cause them to swerve aside I have gone astray saith David like a lost sheep Without Psal 119. 176 this guidance wandring beleevers by their sinful gaddings about would lose themselves and eternally perish God will not be bereaved of one of his Saints he will not dismember the Mystical Body of his Son every Saint helps to compleat his fulness as a head Eph. 1. 23. he will not impoverish Heaven to enrich Hell Should one Saint dye Heaven would be the poorer by one God will not have one of those Mansions which Christ hath purchased for the Saints stand empty God will not beget Children for the Devil Satans eye is continually watching Beleevers not for good but for destruction He compasseth the earth without ceasing and if God did not guide his Saints he should in a small time have no Saints on earth to guide he will therefore guide them that he may not lose them It is the promise of Christ they shall Joh. 10. 28 29 never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand They are therefore preserved from perishing because they are under Gods powerful guiding Thirdly Their wandrings and miscarryings cast Reas 3 Their wandering dishonoureth God some dishonour upon the Name of God swerving Beleevers do not only provoke God to anger but expose his Glory to contempt in the world The Lord tells David that his sins had occasioned the enemies of God to blaspheme his name Davids sin blasphemed 2 Sam. 12. 14. God and by his sin he did set others on Blaspheming Perhaps some might say thus This this is the man after Gods own heart how can he be a holy God that hath such unholy Servants Thus is the holy Name of God wounded by professors sins The afflictions which the people of God bring upon themselves by their sins open the mouthes of the wicked to reproach God God tells the Jews what the enemies said when they saw Israel in Captivity These are the people of the Lord and are gone forth out of his Land Ezek. 36. 20. The Heathen contemned both them and their God as if he had not been able to have preserved them from bondage Much more do the sinful practises and sinful opinions of Beleevers occasion Gods contempt These are the people of the Lord and yet thus proud and thus covetous and thus false these are your godly men these are they that have their Tongues tipt with discourses of Religion The strayings of such as look toward Religion stab religion under the fifth Rib and make both it and God himself the very Song of the Drunkards The holy God doth not love to have his great Name thus polluted and therefore is pleased to guide his people that they may not by sin occasion such pollutions You see why God doth guide them Thirdly Seeing God guides Beleevers by his Counsel Thirdly How it comes to pass that the Saints wander how doth it come to pass that they do at any time miscarry that they have their wandrings was hinted before and experience very sadly shews how it happens to be

prays O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes That is true obedience which is not only agreeable to the holy Commandement but is founded upon the Authority of God who gave the Commandement Thirdly Others there are that make their Lusts 3 Those that make the flesh their guide Gal 1. 16. their guide As they make provision for the flesh so they ask direction from the flesh The Apostle when he was called to preach the Gospel tels us That he consulted not with flesh and bloud he did not conferre with flesh and bloud and yet there are many that have no other Counsellor They ask direction of their Corruption instead of asking at Gods mouth When they are exhorted to be humble they ask counsel at the Lust of Pride when they hear a Sermon of Charity they go to the Lust of Covetousness and know whether that will consent when they are perswaded to be patient they enquire at the Lust of Frowardness whether they shovld obey whither Lust leads thither they follow and they will not be beaten off To follow the guidance of Lust is very sad and will at last be very uncomfortable Lust is an enemy and who would be guided by an enemy To follow the guidance of Lust is to follow the guidance of the Devil All sinful Lusts are the works of the Devil for 1 Joh. 3. 8. this cause was the Son of God manifested saith the Apostle that he might destroy the works of the Devil the sinful Lusts of the Soul are the Devils Garrisons He that goes to Lust for counsel goes to Hell for counsel and he that takes direction from Hell will never finde the way to Heaven The Apostle tells us That he that Gal. 6. 8. soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption If the flesh be the seed Corruption will be the fruit The flesh is to be crucified They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts He that makes Gal. 5. 24. the flesh his Counsellor will be crucified by the flesh instead of crucifying the flesh That one text of the Apostle Rom. 8. 13. is enough to cause men to withdraw their feet from following the flesh If yee live after the flesh yee shall dye but if yee through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body yee shall live The flesh knows the way to Hell but it never trod one step in that way that leads to Heaven Sampson by harkening to the allurements of Delilah lost both his eyes afterwards his liberty and then his life Hee that makes the flesh his guide shall finde that Hell will be his eternal lodging Thus much shall serve for the rebuke of those who neglect the guidance of Gods 2 Reason of Reprehension to those that would have God guided by their Counsel Counsel and set up other guides instead thereof Before I leave this Use I must a little dispute with another sort and they are those who instead of desiring to be guided by Gods Counsel would have God guided by their Counsel There are many who take upon them the boldness to dispute with God about his ordering the affairs of the world they are offended because the wheels of Providence do not move according to their minde they think if they had the reins of Government in their hands they could mannage things in a better way than God doth All that wrangle with their Maker about his Dispensations are guilty of this sin Jeremiah cryes out Why do the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously Jer. 12. 1 2. Mens hearts even good men are ready to swell because of such Providences as they do not understand such men should do well to consider That by censuring the motions of Providence they meddle with things that are too high for them Shall any teach God knowledge saith Job seeing Job 21. 22. he judgeth those that are high Wise Artists will not be controld by bunglers The raw Mariner must not teach the skilful Pilot. It is mans duty to submit to all the Dispensations of God and to admire them but not to quarrel with them God guided the world in Wisdom and Righteousness before we had breath and so will he do when we are in the dust Clouds and Psal 97. 2. darkness are round about him righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his Throne The most cloudy paths of Providence are paths of Righteousness those motions which we are apt to judge irregular are very orderly Those actings which our foolish hearts sinfully call the deformities of Providence are the beauties of Providence The foolishness of God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 25. is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men That which men count foolish hath infinite wisdom in it and that which men judge weak hath Almighty strength When we are at a loss God is not at a loss We see but the present movings of Providence but God sees his work from the beginning to the end God hath from Eternity laid the frame of all his Works and whether we see it or no he fits all his Providences to that Pattern Hee can break enemies by exalting them Hamans highest advancement was the Prologue to his fall He can raise his people by their castings down Josephs Iron Chains were a way to the Golden chain he had never been a Ruler in Aegypt if he had not been a slave in Aegypt God can reconcile Providences and Promises when they seem to fight one against another The Promise of God shall be made good though the Son of Promise be laid on the Altar The Passengers with Paul shall be saved though the Ship be broken with the violence of the waves Providence can carry a man to shore on a broken piece of a Plank as well as in the long Boat Some Providences are cross to us but they are all direct to God The Saints of God when they come to Heaven shall admire those actings of Providence most which they have here most condemned You that are the Servants of God take heed of questioning with God in such cases you are not to prescribe God but to follow God When hee is in the Sanctuary when his way is in the Sea when his foot-steps are not known follow him in a way of holy Prayer in a way of faithful dependance in a way of humble submission and you shall see that his hidden wayes were wayes of wisdom Let the Providences of God be never so amazing wee may conclude of this That he can do nothing against his own Glory that he will do nothing against the best good of them that fear his name Thus much for the Second Use which was for Reprehension Thirdly for Exhortation These two Doctrins do Use 3. Of Exhortation recommend three Duties unto all of us that are here present First Bless God O yee Saints for this great Privilege 1

Apostle expresseth 2 Cor. 5. 4. the Saints investiture with glory by the Metaphor of putting on a garment not that wee would bee unclothed but clothed upon when God shall fully glorify his saints there shall be no part of the body no power of the Soul unglorified If I should fall upon a discourse of the particular happinesses which the glorified Souls and bodies of Saints shall enjoy in heaven I should tire out your patience Let it ●uffice to say this that whatsoever makes for the perfection of both shall be fully possessed by both The Schoolmen speak much of the Stole of the Soul and the Stole of the body the Saints shall have those robes put upon them and shall not want any one Pearl or Spangle that belongs to the perfection of either The state of glory is described by our comming unto a perfect man Eph. 4. 13. The Saints here are in their Nonage the highest Beleever is but a stripling at best but when we come to heaven then wee are perfect men The first moment the Soul peeps into glory it shall have all graces in perfection Could wee speak with those blessed souls that are now in heaven they would tell us they desire nothing but the company of those earthly Tabernacles in which they dwelled while they were in this World and to these they shall be re-united at the Resurrection Secondly The glory which the Saints shall possess 2 It is a pure glory is a pure glory There is not the least mixture of any thing that is unglorious or dishonourable if it were not pure it would not be perfect There are but two things that can stain the glory of the Saints Sin and Sorrow and both these shall be for ever abolished The Saints in glory shall bee as free from Sin as the Sun is from darkness No defilement shall enter into Heaven The Soul when it leaves the Body is perfectly healed of all kinde of sinful distempers and the Body when it comes out of the Fining-pot of the grave shall not have so much as the smell of sin upon it Sin brought Death into the VVorld and Death carries out Sin The Dominion of sin is removed from the Saints in this Life but then shall the very Being of sin be removed Unbelief pride of heart the Body of Death which Beleevers complain against with so much sadness in this world shall never trouble them more for ever Here the Spirit lusteth against the flesh Gal. 5. 17. and the flesh lusteth against the Spirit but in Heaven there shall be no such sinful Lusts to warre against the Soul There shall be no concupiscence in the Members Non erit concupiscentia in membris non exurget rebellio carnis c. Cyprian no rebellion of the Flesh no crookedness in the VVill no disorder in the Affections Nature shall then be every way intire and perfect The Church shall at the Day of Judgement be presented without spot or wrinckle or any such thing Here the Saints are black and comly here they are ring-straked spotted and speckled as Jacobs Cattel were here they are partly Spiritual and partly Carnal but in Heaven they shall be wholly Spiritual Nothing like sin shall appear on the glorified Bodies and Souls of Saints to all eternity All Natural weaknesses shall be done away much more all sinful weaknesses As Sin shall be abolished so shall Sorrow All sorrow is the fruit of sin and when the Mother is dead no more Off-spring can be expected It was told St. John That those Saints which he saw arrayed in white Robes were come out of great tribulation When Rev. 7. 14 man is born he comes into tribulation but a Saint when he dyes goes out of tribulation The Dead which dye in the Lord are said to rest from their labours Rev. 14. 13 In Heaven the Children of God shall enjoy perfect freedom from whatsoever is troublesom Grief Fear Temptation pain of Body anguish of Minde shall be heard of no more for ever There is no groaning no crying no death no vexation no sickness to be heard of in the streets of that City where the Saints inhabit The body shall be raised a powerful body an immortal an incorruptible body The very roots of all distempers shall be pluckt up out of the body and therefore the distempers themselves shall cease And for outward violence that hath no place neither there are no oppressors in Heaven no injurious persons no bloudy Task-masters to impose burdens or inflict stripes When a Saint is past Death he is past the fear of all misery When the body is wrapt up in the Winding-sheet it is past all tribulation Thirdly It is a satisfactory glory It is such a glory 3 It is a satisfying glory as doth give full contentment to the heart that possesseth it If it did not satisfie it would not be perfect The Prophet David speaking of the happy state of Heaven saith I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Psal 17. 15 likeness Though there are several degrees of Glory in Omnibus una salus Sanctis sed gloria dispar Heaven as is more than probably gathered by Divines from Scripture yet all grant That he that enjoys the lowest degree is fully satisfied with what hee enjoys he is not capable of desiring any one degree of glory above what he possesseth God himself is the Objective happiness of the Saints and he that enjoys God must of necessity be satisfied with the enjoyment of him The glory of this World doth not content the heart Ambitious Haman thought all he had nothing Hest 5. 13 because he wanted something hee would have had The want of Mordecays knee at the Kings gate made him forget the sweetness of the Queens Banquet The Royal feast did not satisfie because Mordecai the Jew was not Servitor at the Table The Queens Wine was not sweet to his taste because Mordecai was not Cup-bearer The heart of man is too bigge to be filled either with worldly riches or worldly honour But the blessed Saints in glory are every way satisfied The Soul is so filled with the glory of God that there is no room to contain another ray Fourthly It is an everlasting glory it is a glory without abatement and without end The Apostle 4 It is an eternal glory calls it an eternal weight of glory All the glory of this World is of a fading nature it is a withering flower 2 Cor. 4. 17 and no better Hamans fall was as sudden as his rise The same person is cried up and decried in one day by the breath of the people The Thrones of glory which are on earth are often leveld with the ground Kings lose their Crowns and Scepters many times by violence if they keep them till death yet then do they and their pomp descend together into the Grave The Sun of earthly glory hath its setting as well as rising But the glory

have all his Sons with him in his own Kingdom The glorious bosome of Abraham is ordained for the Sons of God and the Sons of God are ordained for it Heaven is entayled upon the Sons and Daughters of God and this Entayl can never be cut off This is sufficient to prove that which was asserted namely That those that are guided by the Counsel of God shall be received into glory Thirdly When shall the Saints enter into the actuall 3 When this glory is to be possessed possession of this glory For the resolving of this question I shall briefly lay down two Propositions which contain the whole state of the matter First The Souls of Gods Elect do immediatly upon 1 The Soul enters upon it at death their departure out of the body posses this happiness There were some of old in the Church who thought that the Souls of men did sleep with their Bodies and that they did not either enjoy happiness or suffer torment till the Resurrection Reverend Calv. Tractat. Theol. par 2. Calvin hath a learned Treatise which he calls Psychopannychia wherein he doth confute this absurd Opinion which it seems had infected many in those times the very mentioning of it is a sufficient Confutation Those that know any thing of Scripture or of the Spiritual Nature of the reasonable Soul of Man cannot but understand the vanity of this opinion If I could swallow down such a gross Opinion as that of Soul-sleeping is I should imagine those mens Souls were in a dead sleep who did first broach this Doctrin The Soul of Man is a Spirit and Spirits do neither eate nor sleep as Bodies do The reasonable Soul is a substance distinct from the Body and therefore doth not dye or sleep with the Body Our Saviour speaks of men that can kill the Body but hee tells his Disciples they could not kill the Soul If Mat. 10. 28 the Soul did sleep with the Body those that did kill the one would kill the other also The Apostle Paul Phil. 1. 23 desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ His Body was not presently to be with Christ He did beleeve that that should lodge in the dust for a time but his Soul he knew should ascend to Heaven when the Body did descend to the Grave Jesus Christ tells that Luk. 23. 43 penitent Thief that he should be with him that very day in Paradice The Body of our blessed Saviour went to the Grave and so also did the body of the Thief but both their Souls ascended immediatly to Heaven The Preacher speaking of the dissolution of Man by death tells us That the dust shall return to the Eccles 12. 7 earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it The Soul of Lazarus was taken into Heaven as soon as it was breathed out of the sheath of the body When the bodies of the Saints retire to the House of Sleepers as the Grave is called their Souls are immediately transported to Heaven the Land of the Living Secondly Both Soul and Body shall enjoy all this 2 The whole man shall enjoy it at the Day of Judgement glory at the Day of Judgement The Scripture speaks of a general Resurrection both of the just and unjust As there is an Autumn or Leaf-fall of Death so there will be a Spring-time of Resurrection Those two old Friends the Soul and Body which have been separated by death shall then meet again and then they shall partake together of the same condition The Saints compleat glory is adjourned to that day but then it shall be fully enjoyed When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall yee also appear with Col. 3. 4 him in glory In that day shall all Saints bee glorified together and every Saint wholly glorified The Apostle Paul tels us that Christs appearing to Judge the World is the day of the Elects general Coronation 2 Tim. 4. 8. The Crown is laid up amongst the other Regalia but at that day the Diadem shall be actually set upon the head of the Beleever and after that shall he wear it without weariness or fear of losing it to all eternity Having thus opened the Doctrin I come to the The Application Application which I shall dispatch in a few particulars First It strengthens our faith in that Article of 1 That there is an eternal life eternal life Though Atheists and Epicures scoff and deride the Doctrin of everlasting Life yet let the Saints of God beleeve it If in this life only we had 1 Cor. 15. 19. hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable but blessed be God there is another and a better being than can be expected in this World Every stripe inflicted upon the backs of Gods Saints every mournful tear that distilleth from their eyes every pensive thought arising in their hearts every temptation assaulting them every hours defection every moments hiding of Gods face in this life are to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks manifest tokens of a 2 Thes 1. 5. righteous Judgement to come and of a state of happiness to be possessed The present condition of the Saints should not be so afflicting if there were not an Afterward of everlasting blessedness to be enjoyed God would not suffer his holy ones to eate so many sowre Breakfasts on Earth if he had not prepared for them such a sweet Supper in Heaven Secondly It shews us that a holy life is of absolute 2 That holiness is necessary for the attaining of happiness necessity unto salvation There is no admittance unto glory but to those who are guided by the Counsel of Gods VVord and Spirit Mans holiness is not the Meritorious cause of salvation but it is the way which leads to salvation The way of holiness is that which brings the Soul to communion with the God of holiness No person shall have one foots breadth in Gods Tabernacle but he that is of cleanhands and a pure heart Psal 15. 1 2. There is no coming to the Non est via ad regnam sine primitiis regni c. Bern. Kingdom without the first fruits of the Kingdom No man shall reign with Christ in Heaven but hee that first reigns as a King over his own corruptions Sinners would be as weary of Heaven should they bee taken thither unrenewed as Saints would be of Hell Men do but deceive themselves who think to pass immediately from a state of Corruption into a state of Glory There is neither work nor company in Heaven fit for wicked men Without holiness no man Heb. 12. 14. shall see the Lord. He shall never sit down with Christ at Gods right hand of glory who hath not been guided by the right hand of his grace Thirdly Let the Saints meditate much on this 3 Medt●te on this glory Coelestial glory God hath revealed to the Elect this