Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A48513
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A sermon preached before the King and Queen at White-hall, on Sunday, Jan. 15, 1692 by J. Lambe ...
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Lambe, John, 1648 or 9-1708.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing L224; ESTC R3370
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11,701
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31
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so Rever'd Wherefore then so long as we preserve the Distinction of our Kind our Likeness to God so long as we Judge and Chuse and Love according to his Example and Command so long we are happy we Exert our proper Powers we are under no Controul we gratifie our true Desires we pursue the Design and are Delighted with the Pleasures of God Himself But if we decline our proper Rule if we suffer our Passions to prevail over our Judgment if laying aside our reason and the Law of God we Chuse and Love and Act by the Inclinations of the Body we sink of course into a state that is evil to us in it self that is necessarily miserable into a Condition that is directly Opposite to the Intent of our Creation Our Frame is Disordered our Nature is Degenerate we separate our selves from our Principle and wander in untrodden rugged Paths Racked and Tormented with the Tumult the Violence of our Passions with Variety of Contradictions with an eager desire of Happiness and a continual Disappointment Maxima peccantium poena est peccasse says Seneca The greatest Punishment of Sin is to have finned Sceleris is scelere supplicium est And this is that War which the Apostle speaks of between the Law of his Body and the Law of his Mind Rom. 7.23 We may suppress our Notions of Good and Evil in a great degree but we cannot destroy them utterly The Soul will strive to recover it self it will be reaching after its proper Happiness The things which we would there is still a desire after our Original Good that we have lost tho' we do them not and the things which we would not there is a Check a Controul upon us in the practice of Vice our Pleasures are not free we are under the Rebuke of our own Spirit tho' we do them That 's the first 2. Secondly The Disquietude of the Wicked arises from the Malignity the Mischievous Quality of Vice it self What is Vice but Excess or a Motion Praeternatural And therefore it is a Force upon us and must of Necessity be painful and uneasie to us As the Muscles Nerves and Sinews of the Body so long as they move according to their Intention so long we enjoy Delight and Pleasure in their Motions But if they are stretched beyond their proper use we are immediately upon a Rack tormented with a sense of the sharpest pains And thus in respect of the Faculties of our Souls so long as we keep them within their Bounds so long as we Believe Desire and Act according to the Rules of Reason and the Law of God so long there is a perfect Symmetry a pleasant Harmony in all our Motions notwithstanding the great variety of Desire Design and Action that we manage in the World But if we forsake our Rule if we indulge to our Passions and become Extravagant we are presently Discomposed and out of order we have brought a Sickness a Convulsion a Dyscrasie upon our selves a state a Habit of Disease and Pain And if any Wicked Man will cast up a fair account with himself he shall find how his Vices have Deceived him what Pain and Anguish they have brought upon him instead of those Delights and Pleasures which they promised him What Uneasiness what Restlesness of Mind what Debility of Body what Prejudice in Interest what a General Inconvenience Does not Impatience of Desire disquiet him Malice and Revenge distract him Repining Envy gnaw him Does not Ambition prey upon his Vital Spirits and Intemperance Expose Besot and wast him That is the Second 3. Thirdly and Lastly the Disquietude of the Wicked arises from a sense of their Guild from their Dread of God and of the Terrible Sanctions of His Law He hath appointed a Day in the which He will Judge the World in Righteousness Acts 17.31 He will bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing Eccles 12.14 We must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to give an account of our Actions done in the Body whether they be good or evil 2 Cor. 5.10 And they that have done Good shall go into Life Everlasting and they that have done Evil into Everlasting Punishment Jo. 5.28 This is the Immutable Law of God this is the Natural the Universal Expectation of all Mankind How is it possible then that a Man should endure himself or enjoy his being who is obnoxious to these grievous Pains What a dreadful Consideration it is to him that he can neither escape his Tryal Demulce the Anger or avoid the Power of God And therefore all the Terrors in the World even Death it self are trifles to the Wicked in comparison of their fearful Expectation of a future Judgment when the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven in flames of fire to take vengeance of them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Thes 1.8 This is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Genius within our selves which Socrates speaks of that Upbraids our Vices and Torments our Consciences These Fears of a future Account that are fixed and rooted in the Minds of Men are a Constant Principle of Trouble and Confusion to the Wicked His Guilt dismays him his Fears Dispirit him and Incurable Remorse Distracts him These are the Arrows of the Almighty the Poyson whereof says Holy Job will drink up our very Spirits Job 6.4 These again are the gall of Asps within a Man Job 20.14 and the Terrors of the Lord that set themselves in array against us Job 6.4 These are the Rolling-pin upon which the Pythagoreans place the Wicked that gives them a continual Uneasiness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And thus much for the second General the Reasons of the Proposition or whence it comes to pass that There is no Peace to the wicked And we find it arises 1. From the Degeneracy of their own Nature 2. From the Malignity of Vice if self 3. And Lastly from a sense of their Guilt and the fear of Punishment Thirdly I now proceed to the Third and Last Particular and shall endeavour to make it manifest That the Force or Effect of these Reasons upon the Minds of the Wicked is utterly unavoidable that as there is sufficient cause why they should be Uneasie so in fact they are affected at least habitually with a sharp and pungent sense of Pain and Misery That the Cause or Wickedness being put Disquietude and Trouble will follow of necessity not in Reason only but in Fact This one thing I premise that we speak of Men of understanding that are capable of common sense of such as have the use of their Reason who fear what is terrible and expect such Events as are probable And as for those stupid senseless Wretches if there are any such whom nothing can affect I think they are sad Examples of this present truth in that they Decline the Judgment of their Consciences and are run away from themselves that they may Avoid the