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	new_a	old_a	10,166	5	6.7627	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56456	A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Tho. Whitchurch October the 15th. 1691. at Chalfont St. Peter's. By Henry Parsley, A.M. rector of Hodgerley, in the county of Bucks.	Parsley, Henry.	1692 (1692)	Wing P559C; ESTC R221948	13,121	33

A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF M R. Tho. Whitchurch October the 15 th 1691. AT CHALFONT St. PETER ' S. By HENRY PARSLEY A. M. Rector of Hedgerley in the County of Bucks LONDON Printed by W and J. Wilde for G. Conyers in Little-Britain 1692. Imprimatur Ex Aedibus Lambh Augusti 11 mo 1692. Ra. Barker TO Mr. Richard Whitchurch SIR I Here present you with a Discourse which was preached at the Desire of your Father and is now published for the Satisfaction of some of your Relations and as a lasting Testimony of that Esteem and Respects I have for your self The Subject is of the greatest Concernment how meanly soever it may be handled and if well thought upon and considered would have a mighty Influence upon us in the due Conduct and Government of our Lives Which that it may have is the hearty Prayer of SIR Your Obliged Friend and Humble Servant HENRY PARSLEY A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF Mr. THOMAS WHITCHURCH REV. XIV 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them IT is the common and universal Judgment of Mankind a Truth generally received and which cannot be contradicted by any that to be in such a State or Condition as is not obnoxious to Pain and Trouble and where true and real Happiness is to be found is the true Interest and ought to be nay is the constant Aim and Desire of all men as they are reasonable Creatures for the Soul of Man can never be so far corrupted as not to design in all its deliberate and advised Actions it s own Happiness and Felicity as its End insomuch that those who have made it their Business to understand Humane Nature have thought it enough barely to intimate and needless to prove this Point because it is already by every one confess'd no Notion more common or more generally owned than this viz. That every Man desires to be free from Pain Grief and Trouble from any thing that is uneasie and vexatious to him and to live in an Estate of Delight and Happiness There is another universal Judgment of all Mankind not denied by any man that will give himself leave to consider and weigh the worth of things and that is this that the greater and more durable Delight is to be chosen before the shorter and the less for Delight and Happiness being in the Opinion of all Men esteemed a thing innoffensively good of which there can be no noxious or harmful Excess it followeth that the more of this excellent Condition any man enjoyeth it is so much the better for him or he is so much the happier Now if we look into all those outward things that 't is possible for us to enjoy here in this World we cannot find Happiness inscrib'd upon them much less the greatest Happiness Riches Honours and Pleasures here as they are unsatisfactory to the Soul of Man when enjoyed so they are uncertain and easily interrupted and oftentimes intermixt with Troubles or Evils of one sort or other either by some Casualty 〈◊〉 Accident they may be taken from us or else we by Diseases and Sicknesses made unfit to enjoy them or at least we are by Death utterly deprived of them Now therefore if we will be wise we must chuse something for our Happiness that is more pleasurable and satisfactory more lasting and durable and that is a virtuous Life and Actions a Life lead according to God's Will and Command to Right Reason and true Religion and this will even here amidst the Troubles and Afflictions of this Life delight our Souls with solid Joys and go along with us into the World to come to our unspeakable Comfort for saith the Text Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord they rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them From these Words I shall endeavour to describe unto you the Happiness of those that die in the Lord after they are delivered from the Burden of the Flesh and to prove that in Heaven God hath provided for virtuous men an Estate of Happiness that is in all respects the greatest that possibly can be imagined or enjoyed And this you cannot but grant if you consider those Parts and Properties of it which in the Text are either explicitely or implicitely affirmed concerning it As I. The First Property thereof is the Absence of Grief and Security from it Th●●●est from 〈…〉 Labours II. ●he Second ●●s the actual Possession of Joy and Happiness for Blessed or happy are they saith the Text which Blessedness without doubt shall be in the highest 〈◊〉 and greatest Measure suitable to the Goodness of God who gives it and to the Capacities of those who are to receive it III. Thirdly and Lastly This Blessedness shall be of the greatest Duration and this is also implied in the Text for otherwise there cannot be a Freedom from all Sorrow if it were possible for their Happiness to be interrupted 1. The first Property of this Happiness is that they have the Absence of Grief and Security from it They rest from their Labours This is necessarily supposed to a State of Happiness for that cannot be where Pains or Sorrows are mixt or fill any part of the Soul there being 〈◊〉 Foundation for true and real Happiness where the Place is already possest with Grief For as the School-men use to argue that the Privation ●r Absence of Cold is necessarily required for the introducing of Heat so they affirm also that the Absence of Grief or Sorrow is as necessary for the Production of Delight and Pleasure Freedom from Evil is the Ground or Basis of Delight and is in many places of Scripture expresly asserted to be part of the Happiness of the Blessed ●n Heaven especially by St. John who we know in the Gospel was a Person so very dear to our Saviour that he chose him out of all his Disciples more particularly to shew unto him those things that were to come to pass at the end of the World He saw the Heavens and the Earth fly away from before the Face of God and there was no place found for them Rev. 20.11 He saw also a new Heaven and a new Earth and a new Jerusalem coming down from God richly adorned as a Bride in expectation of her Bridegroom Rev. 21. Ver. 1 2 3. And I heard saith he a great Voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his People and God himself shall be with them and be their God And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more Pain Behold here you have a particular Revelation of the first part of the Happiness of good men

in Heaven which is a Security from Grief and that so clearly and plainly delivered that there can be no doubt of it For this came not like the Oracles of old in a soft Murmur or Whisper but he heard a great Voice and that declaring the Mind of God not in dark Speech or Words capable of various Construction but in plain down-right Terms There shall be no more Death nor Sorrow nor Crying nor Pain The Words you see are general and full and can be meant of nothing else than a perfect Freedom from all Evil. But to discourse a little more particularly of this Point The Evils to which we are here subject and which in Heaven we shall be delivered or freed from are these two 1. From the Evil of Sin and from all Temptations to it 2. From the Evil of Affliction or Punishment for Sin 1. From the Evil of Sin and from all Temptation to it We shall be there out of a possibility of ever sinning any more free even from all Temptation to it Now Sin is the great E●●● good Men complain of and are afraid of and notwithstanding all their Vigilance and Care they may sometimes fall into Sin of an Offence against God I say sometimes though very ●●●ely for if it be often and generally so they cease to be good Men but whenever it is it creates Grief and Trouble to them The Life of a Christian is a continual Warfare the Enemies he is to encounter are insinuating and powerful He is to fight against his own Lusts and Passiions and evil Concupiscences to mortifie Pride to subdue Anger to banish the least Thoughts and Motions of Malice and Revenge out of his Mind He is to arm himself against ill Examples and to overcome the Suggestions of Satan who is most busie and most subtle in making all the other Temptations we may meet withal operative and effectual upon us by his Seductions and Delusions and but too often successful So that whereas our Souls ought to be consecrated as a Holy Temple unto the Lord free from all Pollution of ●●n from all sorts of Intemperance Injustice and Uncharitableness and full of Purity Love and Charity we do here obtain these but in an imperfect degree and they are often interrupted which makes the good Man cry out with the Apostle Who shall deliver me from this Body of Death and the though his Faith and Courage and Constancy he daily gets ground of his spiritual Enemies yet it is but by little and little and he is in perpetual Danger still being surpriz'd into some little Compliances at least contrary to the Will of God and by degrees perhaps without his extraordinary Watchfulness and God's Grace into greater This is our Portion here and out Lot is this but when we arrive unto those Regions of Bliss and Glory that are above have once weathered these short Storms prov'd our selves good and loyal Subjects to God Almighty in fighting against his and our Enemies I mean our irregular Passions and Appetites and overcoming them too in great measure if the general Bent and Inclination of our Souls have been to serve and to please God He will graciously forgive the little Follies and Imperfections of Humane Nature and receive us into his Favour never to be forfeited any more where we shall neither sin nor have any Temptation to sin but be under an happy Impossibility of offending God Thus shall we be freed from the Evil of Sin 2. In Heaven we shall also be free from the Evil of Affliction or Punishment for Sin For I reckon all the Miseries of this Life all the Imperfections of it both of Mind and Body viz. the imperfection of our Knowledge the Diseases and Infirmities of our Bodies to be the Effects of Sin and a Punishment of God for it Whatsoever is ●●inful and burthensome to Nature is a Fruit of Sin and Mark of our Rebellion against God Now as in Heaven there is an absolute Freedom ●●●n all Sin so there will be also from all Imperfection Pain and Misery which are the proper Attendants and Consequents of Sin There shall be no Blindness in the Mind no Perverseness in the Will no Error in the Judgment no Disorder 〈◊〉 the Affections no Wearn●●ss in se●●ing God There we may hope to be so happy as to know without Mistake to judge without Partiality and to be Wise without Folly Love is there without Hatred Jealousie or Envy Joy without any Sighing or Sorrow Praises without Complaints Obedience without Reluctance in one ●ord perfect Purity and Holiness without Spot or Blemish to sully the Glory of it As this low●● Region of the Air we see is the Place of Clouds and Darkness Thunder and Lightning Storm and Tempest but to the Dwelling of the S●n and fived Stars none of these pitchy Va●ours ascend to obscure their brightness or trouble their Peace just so i● th●s World the Scene of Misery and Vexation Confusion and Disorder our Bodies are tossed with several Storms and our Souls many times hurried with more violent Tempests the fierce Gusts of their own Passions but when we ascend to Heaven that Region of Light we shall be out of the reach of these Troubles and find our selves in a State of perfect Rest and Joy without the least Disgust to abate our Contentment Now this Freedom from the Sins and Follies the Troubles and Inconveniencies the Sicknesses and Diseases imperfections that we are here liable to must needs be very delightful Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora nautis E Terra alterius magnum spectare laborem It is a pleasant thing saith Lucretius for one that has been in a troublesome and tempestuous Sea and is himself arriv'd safe on the Land to look back and behold the Troubles and Dangers those are exposed to who are yet toss'd upon the Waves ●ot th●● it can be pleasant for one Man to s●●●●●ther in Distress but a Joy to be in Security and to view those dismal Danger which he himself hath so narrowly escaped S● likewise it is pleas●●t to the Blessed in Heaven after they are themselves in Safety and Security to remember all the Inconveniencies Hazards and Afflictions which they were here exposed to in this Life and those eternal Torments they ●…re obnoxious to and which is the miserable Lot and Portion of others and they themselves 〈◊〉 the Mercy and Goodness of God have so … rly escaped This very Consideration must needs afford them fit Matter of Praise and Thanksgivings to God who hath placed them in a blessed Estate not obnoxious to any of their … mer Griefs Sicknesses or Pains and hath also redeemed them from the dreadful Region of Darkness and brought them to his own mar●●llous Light This then is the first Property of the Happiness of those that die in the Lord 〈◊〉 the Absence of Grief and Security from Evil. They rest from their Labours The Second Property of those that die in 〈◊〉 Lord is the