Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	according_a	day_n	work_n	2,783	5	5.6249	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66371	A sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall, May the Xth. M.DC.XC.I by William Wake ...	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1691 (1691)	Wing W268; ESTC R4902	17,024	40

of that Rest which God has prepared for Us it will I think very much behove us all III dly To take the Advice of the Text and Fear lest we should chance so to do This is the Apostle's own Inference in the Words before us and such as I think naturally arises from the foregoing Considerations For since it has pleased God to call us to such a Great and Precious Promise as I have before shew'd the Rest here spoken of to imply to a Perfection of Glory and Happiness which neither any Tongue can utter nor any Thought conceive What can be more reasonable than that we should make it our utmost Endeavour the Great Business and Concern of our Lives Earnestly to aspire after it and by all means to Qualifie our selves for the obtaining of it The truth is were we to discourse of this Matter only upon the Principles of right Reason and according to the Common Bent and Inclination of our Natures without any regard to the Practice of Mankind One might justly think that instead of arguing with Men upon this Subject we ought rather to Apologize for the Absurdity of making that an Exhortation which every Man must do whether He will or no. Happiness is that which all Men Desire and therefore must needs Endeavour to attain unto And to exhort Men to be Happy to pursue that which is to raise them to the highest pitch of Felicity that their Condition is capable of What is this but as if one should go about to argue with a Covetous Wretch not to neglect a fair Opportunity of growing Rich or with a loose Voluptuary to Eat and Drink and fill his Soul with sensual Satisfactions that is to endeavour by Reason to incline them to that which their own Appetites beyond all the Reason in the World hurry them on to And yet tho' all this be most certainly True that we do all of us Naturally desire that which will make us Happy and it cannot be doubted but that 't is this Rest this Eternal Reward in which above any thing the Felicity of Man does consist I know not how there is scarce any thing which Men Generally so much neglect or so little seem to trouble themselves about as This. As if the whole Business of Religion were indeed no more than what some profane Men have call'd it a piece of State-Contrivance a Device to keep Fearful and Superstitious People in Awe And the Gospel-Promise of a Future-State a Refinement only upon the Old Poetick Hypotheses of Elysian Fields and I know not what other Dreams of Happiness no where to be found but in their Numbers Tell a Man how to establish his Present Fortunes shew him the way how he may accomplish his Ends in what he aims at in this World and tho' perhaps the utmost of His Ambition be but to gain some little Estate or Honour or Advancement which can neither reward his Pains nor satisfie his Desires yet you shall not fail to meet with a very ready Attention from Him He will receive your Instructions with Greediness and if they carry but never so little a Probability with them you shall need no Perswasives to put him upon the practice of them But now speak to the same person of the Vast Concerns of Heaven and Eternity Exhort him to consider how short and uncertain his Life here is how fast it runs away and in how little a Time the whole Stock of it will be exhausted and that then He must appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to receive the things done in the Body according to what He shall have done whether Good or Evil And tho' by an Affectionate Application you may chance to warm Him for the present or even force him with Felix to tremble at the thoughts of a Judgment to come tho' your Arguments be strong and his own Conscience concurs vvith you to satisfie Him that these things are so as you represent them to Him yet all the Effect shall be but this that He vvill grow vveary of the Admonition and be uneasie till he can get away from you and no sooner is he at liberty but he begins presently to think how he may shake off those dull and melancholy Apprehensions your Discourse has raised in his Mind and then He becomes the very same Man that He was before goes on again in his Sins and Debauches and never considers that the End will be that He shall perish for ever Now this being the General Neglect and Security in which Men live it cannot certainly but be very proper not only to Exhort them sometimes to a greater Care but if it be possible to convince them too of the Grounds they have to fear whither such an Incogitancy as this will carry them And I st If their Indifference in this Matter proceeds from a real Belief that there is no such thing as Another Life after this nor any Account to be given to God of all our Actions that there is neither any such Eternal Portion of Happiness to be enjoy'd or of Punishment to be undergone as we have been told there is This I confess will make their Neglect the more Rational and we ought not to wonder if they are not afraid of coming short of a Reward which they do not believe was ever to be attain'd by them But then at least they ought to be very sure that their Belief or rather Infidelity as to this Point is well-grounded before they venture the Everlasting welfare of their Souls upon it For not to say any thing of those Assurances which the Gospel has given us of our Future State and the Authority whereof is founded upon such strong and convincing Arguments that we see the greatest part of the Wisest Men in all Ages have thought there was no reasonable Exception to be made against it Do they believe that there is a God That this World was not made without some Cause to produce it nor is now Govern'd and Preserved without some Superiour Power to overlook and order the Affairs of it This I am sure the Gentiles themselves have generally acknowledged and I much question whether there was ever any Man so void of all Reason as to be able seriously to make a Doubt of it But if there be a God and if His Providence does overlook the Affairs of Men there must needs be a Future Judgment some Day of account in vvhich He will render to every Man according to his Works and those Vertues shall be rewarded and those Vices punish'd in some other Life which we see oftentimes but little regarded in this Do they believe that they are themselves endued with Rational Souls that they are not meer Machines a little Mass of Clay stamp'd with the figure of a Man but by some purer Principle raised above the Condition of the other Creatures that are below them But then let them consider what these Souls are and whether they may not possibly be of