Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A58125
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The Christian monitor containing an earnest exhortation to an holy life, with some directions in order thereto : written in a plain and easie style, for all sorts of people.
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Rawlet, John, 1642-1686.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing R347A; ESTC R32275
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44,028
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60
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to see how you would perform the same Take heed then of abusing his mercy and breaking your promise Moreover I might shew how your professing to believe the Creed engages you to live well according to the holy faith you profess which is a doctrine according to godliness But lastly the very prayers you put up to God lay the same engagement on you even to serve and please this God whom you Worship To instance briefly in the Lords prayer whilst we call God Our Father c. ought we not to love and honour him to obey him and submit to him as our heavenly Father Whilst we pray that his name may be hallowed his Kingdom come and his will done in Earth as it is in Heaven ought we not our selves to honour his name and advance his Kingdom by obeying his Laws and by doing his will constantly and chearfully as the Angels do in Heaven to the utmost of our power Praying for daily Bread teaches our dependance upon God and engages us to serve him by whom we are maintained When we pray God to forgive our Trespasses as we forgive others this strictly binds us to forgive those that offend us as ever we hope for mercy from God And when we pray not to be led into temptation but delivered from Evil this should restrain us from running into temptation and make us careful to avoid all sin and the occasions of it To the same purpose I might also mention the Prayers of the Church to which I hope you come frequently Therein you begin with the Confession of your sins and ought you not to forsake as well as confess them And in the end of the confession you pray God for Christs sake to grant that you may lead godly righteous and sober lives And almost in every prayer you will find somewhat to this effect Now I hope you are in good earnest in these your prayers else you do mock God and affront him instead of worshipping and pleasing him But if you do heartily desire these things which you pray for then you will do your part for the attainment of them and will diligently endeavour to live in so holy and good a manner as you pray that you may do And if you thus add diligence to your prayers Gods grace will never be wanting for your assistance 5. Consider also how just and equal all Gods commandments are such that our own Reason cannot but approve of them as being most agreeable to us as we are Reasonable Creatures To instance in the chief of them is it not most just and fit that we should love God above all who is the best and most perfect of all Beings and from whom we receive all our good things Ought we not to pray to him who alone can hear and help us and to give thanks and praise to him who is the Father of mercies Is it not most reasonable that Children should obey their Parents and Subjects their Rulers and that all men should live in peace and love with one another and speak truly and deal honestly as they would be dealt with Is it not most fit and decent for a Man to eat and drink moderately so as makes most for his health To be modest and chast in all his conversation Will not every Man 's own Reason acknowledge the equity and fitness of these and the like precepts And for some that do seem more severe there may be given very good reason for them also So that plainly all Gods commands are the wise and wholesome counsels of a most tender Father who forbids his Children nothing but what 's hurtful and requires nothing of them but what makes for their own good even to deal iustly to love mercy and to walk humbly with their God Mic. 6. 8. Christs Yoke is easie and his burden light Matt. 11. 30. Gods service is perfect freedom as we daily stile it in our prayers And his commandments are not grievous 1 Joh. 5. 3. Shall we not then be so dutiful to our heavenly Father yea so wise for our own good as to obey these most reasonable and gracious laws which he has given us So just and equal they are that we cannot break them without offering a kind of violence to our selves and going contrary to the reason of our own mind They are light to the eyes and joy to the heart sweeter to a good Man than honey and the honey-comb as the Psalmist oft speaks As suitable are Gods commands to our natures and as useful and healthful to our Souls as the most wholesome food to our Bodies And for a Man to direct his whole carriage and behaviour according to the laws of God is as much his wisdom as it is to go cloathed in decent Apparel and to eat and drink what is good for his nourishment But on the other hand for one to run naked about the Streets to fill his mouth with mire and Dirt to cut and mangle his own Flesh is not a greater sign of folly and madness than for a Man to live according to his own lusts rather than after the laws of God which are so agreeable to our Reason and do so plainly conduce to our own truest interest and advantage both in this Life and that to come as will appear by what follows 6. Consider therefore in the next place that it is a most certain truth That the leading of an holy and good Life is in all respects very greatly for a Man 's own benefit and comfort even in this present World Godliness is profitable for all things It makes for the quiet of our Minds the health of our Bodies the encrease of our Estates and procures us much credit and esteem much love and good will among our Neighbours Yea it commonly brings along with it all manner of Blessings and makes the enâ—oyment of them more sweet and pleasant and keeps off a great deal of trouble which wicked men bring upon themselves and affords much support and ease under those afflictions which the providence of God may lay upon us Insomuch that no Man of what rank and condiâ—ion soever can lead a truly comfortable Life except he lead an holy and good life All this is frequently taught in Scripture and may easily be manifested by clear Reason Or if that be not sufficient it is also most plainly to be 〈◊〉 by daily experience that they who truly fear God have much more peace and comfort in this World than wicked and loose livers that make no Conscience of their Ways If I should make the comparison only betwixt a sober Man and a Drunkard which do you think has the better of it in this Life How often do the great drinkers not only waste their Estates but destroy their Health weaken their Brains and shorten their Lives How often do they fall into quarrels get wounds and bruises and sometimes death it self either by fighting or by one sad accident or other Sometimes the very Children in
was not in vain And to this day will all God's faithful servants find the good effects of thus devoutly applying themselves to God by Prayer For his eyes are ever upon the Righteous and his ear open to their cry He takes pity on them comforts and supports them He 'l lay no more upon them than he enables them to bear and in his good time he supplies their wants and delivers them from their afflictions yea he turns them into blessings and makes all work together for their good as he has promised to them that love him Rom. 8. 28. O what an happiness is it to be acquainted with God to have a due sense of his Providence so as to live upon it and improve it Job 22 21. But how sad is the condition of a wicked Man who has no such knowledge of God no love to him nor any expectations of help and relief from him Even in his greatest prosperity he 's a very miserable Man whilst he lives without God in the World but he feels himself to be so indeed when he falls into any great calamity and knows not which way to turn himself for help and comfort For as wickedness still brings Men into misery as I have before shewn so there it leaves them in the most wretched forlorn condition And the ill temper of their minds adds weight and load to their calamities and grievously encreases the smart of them The sense of their own guilt sometimes torments their Consciences and fills them with fear and horrour Sometimes they rage and fret against those that help'd on their sufferings and sometimes they even blaspheme God himself and murmur against his Providence Whilst the good Man with Job blesses God in all his afflictions these are ready to follow the counsel of his Wife even to curse God and die For being full of anguish and despair they are at their wits end and weary of their very lives as we read of Cain and Judas and such like both in Scripture and other History For my part I do verily think that next to the Devils and those in Hell there are no Creatures in the World more miserable than wicked ungodly People and whilst we see what the common fruit of Sin is here on Earth we may easily be convinced that it leads to Hell and damnation hereafter And all this do men madly and wilfully run into by their own evil doings even as a Man that thrusts his hands into the fire is like to feel pain and smart By forsaking of God they forsake their own mercies and by sinning against him they wrong their own Souls yea their Bodies too and all their Concerns Thus you see that an holy Life is most profitable for us even in this present World preventing much evil and bringing all manner of good along with it Or if a Man should fall into such hard times as to suffer meerly for Religion and a good Conscience he shall then commonly find such wonderful comfort and satisfaction of mind that he will even triumph and rejoyce in the midst of his sufferings as we know the Apostles and primitive Christians did and that especially in hope of the glorious Rewards laid up for good Men in the Heavens But that brings me to the last Consideration I shall mention Lastly Namely That an Holy Life through the rich mercy of God will render us perfectly and eternally blessed in the World to come whereas a wicked course of Life leads to eternal misery and torment According as we live in this World so must we fare in the next for this Life is a state of trial in order to Eternity Even at Death a good Man has ground of much comfort having the testimony of a good Conscience and the sense of God's love so that with Saint Stephen he may commit his Soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus who is ready to receive him But how sad is it with a wicked Man when beside all the pains of his body his mind is tormented with the remembrance of his sins and with the fears of God's wrath But the great difference will be made at the day of Judgment when the sheep shall be set at Christ's right hand and the goats on the left as you have it described Matth. 25. 31 c. To those on the right hand that is the pious and good will be pronounced that joyful Sentence Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World And then shall they enter into that most glorious Kingdom where neither sin nor sorrow shall ever disturb them more where they shall never feel nor fear any manner of evil or pain either of Soul or Body but shall be admitted into the immediate presence of God where there is all fulness of joy for evermore They shall have such a clear knowledge of the ever-blessed God and such a lively sense of his infinite Perfections as will fill them with Admiration Love and Praise and they shall feel the love of God and their Saviour so fully shed abroad upon them as shall raise their Hearts to the very utmost heights of joy and thankfulness and their mouths shall be filled with Hallelujahs and Songs of Praise and in this most delightful Employment shall they joyn with all the blessed company of Heaven for ever and ever That 's the perfection of all that the joys of Heaven shall never have an end It 's both a most exceeding and an eternal weight of glory that 's promised 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. For ever shall we remain with the Lord 1 Thes. 4. 17. The eternal God will be the portion of his people and their joy in him shall never be lessened or abated through all eternity They shall be always blessing and praising him always satisfied and ravished with the beholding of his Glories and the enjoyment of his love always delighted with the most pleasant and agreeable society of Angels and Saints And never more shall dear friends and companions be separated from each other when once they are met in Heaven Death has now no power over them They are become in some measure even like to Christ himself and there shall see him as he is in all his glory Phil. 3. 21. 1 Joh. 3. 2. But what it is thus to be made like to Christ to see God and enioy him we are not able fully to express or conceive whilst we are here in the body to compare the glories of Heaven to all the riches and honour of Courts and Pallaces here below were greatly to lessen and disparage them So great are those heavenly glories and joys that they can never be clearly known till they are enjoy'd As a blind Man can never well tell what light is till his Eyes are open to discern it It 's enough for us that we have full assurance from the promises of the Gospel that such a state of unspeakable happiness there is provided for good