Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	enter_v	heaven_n	scribe_n	2,167	5	10.3287	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59582	De finibus virtutis Christianæ The ends of Christian religion : which are to avoid eternall wrath from God, [to] enjoy [eternall] happinesse [from God] / justified in several discourses by R.S.	Sharrock, Robert, 1630-1684.	1673 (1673)	Wing S3009; ESTC R30561	155,104	232

variety in the Aims of these singularly learned Men Whom then shall we follow or shall we follow none shall we joyn issue with Maximus Tyrius in the Discourse above commended and say what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God hath blown the expectation and desire of Good as a living spark into the heart of Man but hath hidden from him the Way to find it out No by no means This were no better then blasphemously to cast mans fault upon his maker God indeed for Reasons hidden from us and wrapt up in the abysse of his own secret knowledge formerly as St Paul speaks winked at the Errors and vanity of mankind imparting true wisedome and the knowledge and desire of the cheifest Good to very few But since Christ the light of the world appeared among us he hath publikly preach't these Truths First that the Enjoyment of the kingdome of Heaven is the cheifest and indeed the only considerable good Secondly that there is no way to attain this Kingdome of God without first attaining his Righteousnesse and submitting our selves according to our Sacramentall Obligations to the Rules of the Gospell Now these being laid down first as principles of eternall and unalterable Truth Our saviour giveth us in the next place the only safe advice Namely that abandoning all other foolish and idle Counsels we should give our selves to be his Disciples we should addict our selves to Christianity as to a Discipline of true Wisdome we should design no lesse then Heavenly Glory which is no doubt the cheifest Good Omnis sapientia hominis in hoc uno est ut Deum cognoscat colat Hoc nostrum Dogma haec sententia est Quanta igitur voce possum testificor proclamo denuntio Hoc est illud quod Philosophi omnes in tota sua vita quaesierunt nec unquam tamen investigare ● comprehendere tenere valuerunt quia Religionem aut pravam tenuerunt aut totam penitus sustulerunt Facessant igitur illi omnes qui humanam vitam non instruunt sed turbant Quid enim docent aut quem instruunt qui seipsos nondum instruxerunt Quem sanare aegroti quem regere caeci possunt huc ergo nos omnes quibus est curae sapientia conferamus an expectabimus donec Socrates aliquid sciat aut Anaxagoras in tenebris lumen inveniat aut Democritus veritatem de puteo extrahat aut Empedocles dilatet animi sui semitas aut Arcesilas Carneades videant sentiant percipiant Ecce vox de caelo veritatem docens nobis sole ipso clarius lumen ostendens Quid nobis iniqui sumus sapientiam suscipere cunctamur quam clari homines contritis in quaerendo aetatibus suis nunquam reperire potuerunt Qui vult sapiens ac beatus esse audiat dei vocem discat justitiam sacramentum Nativitatis suae norit humana contemnat divina suscipiat ut summum illud bonum ad quod natus est possit adipisci Lactantius lib. 3. de falsa Sap. cap. 30. We should sell all that we have rather then to mille the buying of this pearl And when we have fixed our Eye aright we should then pursue wisely that Happinesse that we have in our Design we should endeavor after it in that way by which it is only attainable which is declared to be the way of Righteousnesse Nor is it any Righteousnesse that will lead us to this Kingdome The Righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees will not do it Our Savior hath told us in the beginning of his Sermon in the Mount that Except our Righteousnesse exceed their Righteousnesse we shall never enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Originall Righteousnesse we have none at all Wee lost it God knowes assoon as we were entrusted with it Actuall Righteousnesse we have none of out own We must speak of all our Righteousnesse as the Man to the Prophet concerning his Axe when the head of it fell into the Water 2 Kings 6.5 Alas Master for it was borrowed Wee must have a Righteousnesse without us called by our Savior Matt. 6.33 Gods Righteousnesse that is a Righteousnesse given and imputed And we must have a Righteousnesse within us and that is Gods Righteousnesse also a Righteousnesse given though inherent A spirit of Righteousnesse a new Spirit and a new heart This inherent Righteousnesse giveth us an assurance that we have a title to the other The other the Righteousnesse without us that of our Savior is indeed only meritorious In the argument of merit O Christ we will make mention of thy Righteousnesse even of thy Righteousnesse only And yet we know that without holinesse without inherent holinesse no man shall see thy face No man shall have the benefit of thy Passion or any part of thy Righteousnesse that hath not thy Spirit For whatsoever hath not the Spirit of Christ they are none of his It is not the calling of our Savior Lord Lord that will give us any title to his merits without our sincere endeavor to do the will of our father which is in Heaven This I take to be a sufficiently orthodox and sense of those words seek yee first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse Now if these are the principall of our Masters precepts surely we have no reason to think his Yoke uneasy or his Commandments greivous this is the summe of the burthen that he layeth on us He hath provided an Estate of unconceivable Glory and Happinesse for us And hath commanded us to seek it And further least we should erre and mistake the way that leadeth to this Estate He hath declared unto us that it must be sought in the Way of Righteousnesse for the Robe of Glory can no more become an unrighteous man then Honor can bee seemly for a fool He hath commanded us for our own sakes to seek this Kingdome of Glory but to seek it in that just proper and humble way and method that Himself hath prescribed And when you recollect and consider the Nature and Excellence of that Estate you will confesse it an Estate beyond all others infinitely worth your seeking Reflect then but with one glance of your Mind upon it as it is described in the certain Oracles of eternall Truth David first in the 16th Psalm and the last verse assureth us that in the Kingdome of Heaven or which is all one in the presence of God there is fullnesse of Joy and that at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore Now in these words there is a description of the greatest happinesse that can be or can be imagined There is nothing for its nature more desireable then Joy or delight there is no measure or proportion better then fullnesse There is no Duration better then Eternity And therefore he that hath Joy for the kind and fullnesse of that Joy for the Measure and joyes or pleasures which for the duration of them shall last not for a day or a year nor only for ten years or

preference because as St Paul doth more than once assert so great is the glory that shall be revealed that to it nothing in this present world is worthy to be compared It was the Hope of this Happinesse that made the primitive Christians leap into the Flames and suffer Martyrdome with joy Now though we through the Mercy of God have no flames of Martyrdome to seap into yet we may take this note from the Psalmist Psal 125. that those who are said to return with joy had a Time of going on their Way weeping and bearing good seed or this from St John That the Bride must have her wedding Garments prepared before hand She must not be like the foolish Virgins she must not be to provide her Ornaments when her wedding Hour is come She must be arrayed in Fine linnen and this Fine linnen is the Righteousnesse of the Saints Revel 19. We must know that Christians are to bee arrayed not only with the Righteousnesse of Saints inherent We may learn from St Paul 1 Cor. 9. That those who obtain this Crown of Glory in Heaven are temperate in all things and prepare themselves before hand and then also run and strive that they may obtain For it is so ordained that no man shall come to that great glory either with the assistance and Grace of God or without his own faithfull Endeavor Complement alone will never do it Our Savior hath protested Matth. 7.25 That not every One who professeth this Religion Not every one who saith unto Him Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven but he only who doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven Now to the king of Heaven and to the Lord our Righteousnesse by whose merits only we can have Entrance into that kingdome and to the Spirit of Holinesse who can only give us title to those merits c. SERM. IV. Of Happiness in Heaven shewing In Opposition to the Atheist The Reasons why we believe Rewards and punishments in another life The Immortality of the Soul The Resurrection of the Body I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaak and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Math. 22.23 ACTS 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible that GOD should raise the Dead AS the Fear of that Punishment The Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and life everlasting the greatest Encouragement to Vertue that God hath prepared for Wicked men is apt to deter them from the continuall practices of Vice So the Christians Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and everlasting life in Heaven is the greatest encouragement to the Excercise of Religion and vertue I have allready shewed you the excellence and Glory of that Estate which we Hope for and in the next place I think it may bee seasonable in Opposition to the Atheists of our Time to clear unto you the foundation of this Hope namely the Credibility of the Resurrection it self which I propose to do in this method First to shew you that from Naturall Reason much hath been granted towards our faith in this particular Secondly that the world had reason to receive and we have reason still to continue the belief of the doctrine of our Savior delivered us in this Article All this I mean to do as it were historically by giving you the ancient state of the doctrine delivered in it and some of the old arguments that continued this belief against the Atheisticall Reasonings of former Ages And these old arguments of proof that have withstood the Batteries of Atheisme hitherto I am not only contented with but indeed I prefer them before those fine but untried ones of New Invention The existence of the law of Nature argues rewards and punishments in another life because they are not equally distributed in this First this was part of the Naturall Mans creed that there shall be hereafter in another life time and place for Blisse and Punishment This all considering persons have argued from the Notions of the Law of Nature that men generally find implanted in them If a law say they then there must be a Reward and Punishment else that Law will be to no purpose But we find a Law written in our Hearts and yet vertue hath not its Reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. apud Platodem in Phaed. nor vice its Punishment allwaies in this life and therefore it must bee lookt for in another How many vicious livers are there who have escaped correction from all Mortall Men and how many poor vertuous persons have there been who for their generall practice of vertue and patience in Honesty and upright dealing have received nothing but Envy Reprocah Despite and Oppression in this life V. Plutarchum de serâ numinis vindicta Platonem in Gratillo Gorgia and therefore we argue now as they did anciently that there is wanting that Order and providence in the Government of the Rationall world that is visible in all things of lesser moment unlesse as we believe there shall bee indeed another life wherein according to our merits we may receive Rewards and punishments And upon this Expectation Solid and Wise Men still held that the Practice of Honesty and the Observance of the Laws of Nature were to be defended and preferred even before the preservation of their present lives Which had been irrationall and foolish for them to have done had they been without a Reasonable Hope of a just Recompence in another life Secondly another thing that we have received from Arguments of naturall and Human Reason is the doctrine of the Immortality of our Souls And since the Soul according to the Platonique and Peripateticall and all other Philosophy Detrchere aliquid alteri hominis incommodo suum augere commodum magis est contra Naturam quam Mors quam paupertas quam dolor c. apud Ciceronem de Off. 3. Ad Carthaginem rediit Regulus cum neque ignorabat se ad crudelissimum hostem atque exquisita supplicia prosicisci quod Fidem servandam putabat Cicero eod Justum tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prova jubentium Non vultus instantis Tyranni Mente qualit solidâ Si fractus illabatur Orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Hac arte Pollux vagus Hercules Innixus arces attigit igneas c. apud Horatium carm lib. 3. Ode 3. is the great constituent Principle of our Being and Individuation if that bee granted to bee immortall it must bee granted that the greatest and most considerable part of every Individuall Man is immortall And this will well conduce to expedite our other doctrine concerning the credibility of the Resurrection of the same Body It is most true Mr Hobbes's opinion considered that the Author of the Leviathan affirmeth that Men before the time of our Savior were generally possess 't of an Opinion Leviathan p. 4. p. 340.