Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	earth_n	jacob_n	ladder_n	1,902	5	11.5153	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15459	Perseuerantia sanctorum A sermon of perseuering in patience, repentance, and humiliation, in time of afflictions, preached before the lords of the Parliament, at the last generall fast, vpon Ash-wednesday, the 18. day of February 1628. at the Collegiat Church of S. Peter in Westminster. By the Right Honourable, and Right Reuerend Father in God, Iohn, Lord Bishop of Lincolne, deane of the sayd church. And now published, by their lordships order, and direction.	Williams, John, 1582-1650.	1628 (1628)	STC 25727; ESTC S120151	30,806	69

well the Crowne must fall the Crowne of all Blessings temporall and aeternall as here The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob. ANd indeed if that conceit of the Fryars may passe for Gold and will endure the Touch no vertue whatsoeuer can expect those aeternall blessings saue onely a perseuerance in Repentance and pietie vnto the latter end For nothing but Aeternitie can expect to be rewarded with Aeternitie And if we looke for a blessing aeternall which shall continue as long as Gods beeing wee ought to endure not one daies Fast and sorrow for sinne but a sorrow and a suffering aeternall which is to continue as long as our being I meane our worldly and mortall being So that no vertue can lay claime to this Aeternitie of God but Perseuerance vnto the End which is the Aeternitie of man As the Lord here blessed the latter end of Iob. You therefore that would climbe vp to blessings by Jacobs Ladder beginning at the foote therof the blessings here on earth get vp to the top the blessings in heauen remember what you saw vpon that ladder There were Angels descending and Angels ascending but not any sitting or standing still And therefore if you looke to haue your Fasting your praying your sorrow for sinne and your other vertues rewarded by God you must neuer rest then but breath them in continuall motion vntill the time of their Blessing come which is onely the latter end as here The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob. And so much of the third part of my Text the proper subiect of this reward of Christian Patience Repentance and Sorrow for sinne which is the latter end thereof The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob. I Hasten now to the last part of my Text which is the Quantitie of this Reward and is drawne from a Comparison with those blessings which this great man had in common with other Princes of the East before his Affliction and from the beginning and these blessings of his latter end being duely weighed beare down the scales proue more then those of his beginning The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob more then his beginning And this in many respects which to auoid taediousnesse in this honourable Assembly I will run ouer very briefly First all the Blessings in the beginning made Iob but vnum ex multis one of Gods Children at large amongst whom the euill and vniust are also reckoned Mat. 5 45. But this Chastisement and correction toward the latter end made him Gods speciall Minion and darling as it were for he chastiseth euery sonne whom he receiueth Heb. 12. 6. whom he receiueth that is Quem approbat whom hee makes his white Boy as Theophylact interprets that place For indeed the word Prou. 3. 11. from whence the Apostle takes it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quem vnicè diligit whom he cockers aboue the rest of his Children and may bee interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Sonne in whom hee is well pleased as Mercerus that great Linguist makes the Obseruation You see then what height of fauour and priuacie Job by this Correction and due humiliation vnder the same is got vnto and all this sithence his beginning and therefore The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob more then his beginning SEcondly in the beginning I doe beleeue he was a great man but I doe not reade he was a Knight your Lordships will pardon the lightnesse of the Notion which I chose of purpose that the Thing may be the better remembred But in the latter end he had this honour added to be made a Knight a Knight of the Order I meane Christs own Order a Knight of the Crosse that when he should rise againe out of the Earth in the last day and bee couered with his skinne and see God in his flesh he might accompanie his Redeemer vnto Iudgement in a fitting aequipage adorned with his Passions like a Collar of Pearle and couered with his Afflictions the Robes of the Martyrs Now to this Addition of Honour hee was aduanced in his latter end and not in his beginning and therefore The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob more then his beginning THirdly His Fame and Renowne which in honourable Persons no man without impudency can deny for one of Gods blessings is now much enlarged in his latter end For as Philostratus saith very well that one Iupiter set o●t by Homer the Poet was worth tenne Iupiters set out by Phidias the Caruer because the former flew abroad through all the world whereas the latter neuer budg'd from his pedistall at Athens So the Fame of Iob in his latter end which is cum sole luna as hee speakes as farre spread as the beames of the Sunne and the influence of the Moone extinguisheth the Fame of his beginning confined to Husse and a little corner of Arabia The Deuill in the beginning was faine perambulare Iob 1. 7. to compasse the world before hee could finde him but euer sithence hee cannot tempt the least of Gods children but instantly hee heares of him saith Saint Chrysostome I confesse he was from the beginning notus Deo knowne vnto God but now hee is become notus nobis knowne also vnto vs and a praesident for all men that expect deliuerance from great afflictions saith S. Gregory In the beginning the Holy Ghost could say no more but Erat vir there was such a man In the latter end he might haue said Erat Philosophus there was such a Philosopher and notable Christian saith Origen So that the Lord blessed the latter end of Iob more then his beginning LAstly his learning and knowledge in the way of Godlinesse was nothing so praegnant in his beginning as in his latter end Doctrina viri per patientiam noscitur Pro 19. 11. Patience is the best teacher of true Intelligence The Schoole-men Hales Aquinas Biel and others when they suite the Beatitudes The Gospell appointed for this solemne Fast to the fruits as they call them of the holy Ghost doe ioyne that of Sorrow and weeping for sinne to Science and knowledge Because say they this Sorrow for sinne can issue from no other Fountaine then the true faith knowledge of God nor is it euer found in any man sundred or diuided from the same Qui addit scientiam addit dolorem He that encreaseth his knowledge of the faith of Christ shall euer encrease the sorrow for his sin as S. Augustine applies that of Ecclesiastes the 1. and the 18. verse and so say I è conuerso Hee that encreaseth his sorrow for sinne shall prooue a great Clerke in the Schoole of Christ. It was the Gall of the Fish that restored Tobias to his seeing Tob. 11. 14. verse and it is onely the Gall and bitternesse of the Crosse which restores a Christian to his perfect vnderstanding Vbi multum Crucis multum lucis as Luther was wont

with sorrow and Repentance he makes vp againe into most heauenly and Angelicall formes and images to bee look't on by vs in the Church Militant and to looke vpon him in the Church triumphant So Abraham a great rich noble and mighty Patriarcke was first tempted in his sonne and then set vp for an example of obedience Moses another Prince and Potentate was first afflicted in Aegypt and then erected in the Church for an image of meekenesse Dauid a King first persecuted by Saul and then accounted a Statue of vprightnesse Lastly this greatest man in all the East was first pull'd in pieces with a thousand miseries and in the latter end blessed vp for an aeternall praesident of the reward of Patience and true courage in Princes great ones For so the Lord blessed his latter end more then his beginning And so much of the second part of my Text the common and generall subiect of this reward in this word Iob The Lord blessed Iob. NOw I come more closely to my Text againe and fall vpon the proper and praecise subiect of this reward of Patience and Christian humiliation which is to speake truely and according to Logicque not all Iob but his latter end onely The Lord blessed the latter end of Job The latter end It is obserued by S. Ambrose that when God had created the heauen the earth the night the day the fowles of the Ayre the fish of the Sea and the beasts of the Land hee gaue his approbation that they were good and commended them euery one in the beginning But when he came to Man he paws'd vpon the matter and neuer grac't him with the least Commendations in the beginning And why thinke yee Because saith S. Ambrose prius probandus quam laudandus hee was first to bee tempted and then respectiuely to bee commended And this method wee finde obseru'd in this holy man Iob For although God spoke kindely of him vnto others Iob 1. 8. and suffered him to tast largely of his common blessings in the very beginning yet had he neuer as much as one word with Iob himselfe or afforded him any extraordinary Blessing that the Scripture takes notice of before his temptations were all past before his latter end of his Booke and the latter end of his Patience humiliation and repentance The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob. THe latter end onely For as S. Bernard wittily makes the Allusion Patientia perseuerantia Patience in Affliction Repentance and perseuerance vnto the end are fellow-partners indeed in the Lords haruest and yet though the former endure the burthen the latter onely receiues the blessing Because as S. Augustin obserues in his seauenteenth Booke De Ciuitate Dei and fifth Chapter Non in quo medio sed in quibus extremis euery man and euery Societie and state of men is cursed or blessed not as they suffer in the middle but as they speed in the end The Lord blessed the end of Job The Schoolmen make of this Perseuerance vnto the end which some late Diuines had rather fasten with a rope of sands to the libertie of our will then with a chaine of Adamant to Gods steddie immoueable Grace and goodnesse not any one particular vertue but conditionem annexam cuilibet virtuti saith Bonauenture vpon the third of the sentences a condition implied in euery vertue this being Dei Donum quo caetera seruantur dona saith S. Augustine Gods rare and speciall gift which praeserues and maintaines his other gifts For although as the Apostle tels vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vertues that adorne a Christian soule doe euery one of them claime kindred of Almighty God et Deus est in vtroque parente and descend from him both in the one and the other line yet this perseuerance vnto the latter end is Vnica filia saith S. Bernard his onely daughter and heire which carries all away Cum enim omnes virtutes currant in stadio sola perseuerantia accipit brauium saith S. Augustine when all the vertues Patience Repentance and Humiliation haue run the race none but this Perseuerance to the latter end can get the Cuppe I meane the Cuppe of the Lords blessings The Lord blessed the latter end of Iob. Our Sauiour promised a table in heauen not to those that heard him or to those that followed him saith S. Chrysost. but to those onely Qui permanserunt who continued with him Luc. 22. 28. And he once prouided a Table on earth to those onely Qui perseuerarunt who perseuered with him Mat. 5. 32. to teach vs that both these Tables that is the blessings of the Heauen and the blessings of the Earth are prouided for them and them onely which continue and perseuere in their Repentance Deuotions to the latter end If a sacrifice be offered vnto God hee likes it not vnlesse it come entire cum cauda with his latter end saith Gregorie If his Priests be annointed with holy oyle it must be in extremis in their outmost parts and latter ends saith S. Cyrill If the Sonne of man appeare vnto Iohn he doth it vestitus podêre in a long garment downe to his latter end as Aquinas obserues And all to teach vs that if we looke for a blessing vpon any of these Graces which the holy Ghost hath stirred in vs to wit Faith Repentance sorrow for our sinnes and the like we must cherish and praeserue them to the latter end for of those the Lord blesseth onely the latter end Our great Assemblies of late haue begun very well with the Generall Deuotions of Fasting and Prayer Who so prophane as to deny it But out alas Lachrymâ nihil citiùs arescit as the famous Orator was wont to say Nothing dries vp faster then a publique teare It seldome continues moist a whole day Faction Ambition and priuate ends by separating a Good King from a Good people a good People from a good King and so both King and People for the time from the wonted benedictions of a good and gracious God haue hitherto praeuented that world of blessings which is readie to fall vpon a deuout perseuerance to the latter end For say what you will of all our humbling and Repenting the Lord blesseth but the latter end And because these Blessings euer fall vpon the latter end Sathan is euer fighting against the latter end For as the K. of Syria commanded those 32. Captaines to fight against neither small nor great saue onely against the K. of Israel 1 King 22. 31 So the Deuill commands his leading and master-Temptations not to fight against any small or great vertue not to fight against any of Gods Graces whatsoeuer saue onely against this perseuerance in true Repentance vnto the latter end quam solam virtutum nouit coronari saith S. Bernard vpon the which vertue onely hee knoweth very