Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A48519
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A sermon preached before the Queen at Whitehall, on Wednesday, March 22, 1692 being the fourth Wednesday in Lent / by J. Lambe ...
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Lambe, John, 1648 or 9-1708.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing L225; ESTC R17586
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10,291
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29
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the Nature of God is our First and Perfect Temper This we Corrupted by the Pleasures of the World But if we Escape the Corruptions of the World we recover our selves again and are ipso facto re-invested in the Nature of God We return of Course to all the Pleasures and Advantages of our former State And thus it appears That the only way to become Partakers of the Nature of God is to Escape the Corruption that is in the World through Lust And this is the Second Proposition I proceed but very briefly to the Third and Last viz. III. That those exceeding great and precious Promises which are Assured to all who comply with the Design of the Gospel and become Partakers of the Nature of God are a sufficient Motive to us to use the Means which are prescribed or to Escape the Corruptions of the World Or That the Rewards Proposed are a Reasonable Inducement as well to pursue the End it self as to use the Means in order to it That Escaping the Corruptions of the World we may partake of the Nature of God The Possessions the Glories and the Pleasures of the World are so Exceeding grateful to Corrupted Appetites and so Conducive to our Mistaken Interests that they prejudice our Minds and stop our Ears against the Just Advice of those who would perswade us That our Sense is Vitiated and our Pleasures are Deceitful that they are Mischievous to us at the present and will be Fatal in the Issue And therefore nothing less than a positive Command back'd with the Sanction of the severest Punishment and the Promise of a great Reward of Pleasures far superiour to those we now enjoy supposing they were indeed what they seem to us will ever reduce us to a sober Sense or perswade us to deny our selves and Escape the Corruptions of the World But such are the Promises annexed to the Religion of our Saviour they are so Great so Exceeding precious that they ought to carry all before them There is nothing can compare with them and therefore if we have any Sense we shall forbear or do or suffer any thing that we may attain them Let us but consider what they are and how they support their Character and we shall be forced to grant That the Motive is Irresistible From the very moment then that we Escape the Corruptions of the World we enter upon another and a better Life upon a State of the most perfect Happiness which shall Improve upon us and Continue to Eternity It is perfected indeed in Heaven but it begins on Earth and we shall feel the mighty Advantages of the Change even in this Imperfect State For now our Nature is restored our Infirmities are healed and our Sins are pardoned our Souls are now refreshed our Conscience is at Ease our Minds are raised and we may come with Boldness to the Throne of Grace Matth. 11. ult Ephes 3.12 An humble Confidence and a perfect Love shall banish all our Fears 1 John 4.18 We now shall pass from one degree of Grace unto another till we come to the fulness of the Stature of Christ till we are settled in a Blessed Hope till our Assurance shall be full Heb. 6.11 Ephes 4.13 Now we shall be under the Protection of the Holy Spirit He shall direct and guide us through all the Dangers of This present Life prevent Temptations assist us in them and find out a way for our Escape John 16. 1 Cor. 10.13 Whatsoever we need shall be supplied whatsoever we ask we shall receive Mat. 7. Luk. 11.9 whatsoever we are capable of receiving we shall Enjoy For we are united now to God Himself John 10.35 We are his Temples His peculiar place of Residence 1 Cor. 3.17 But oh what sensible Touches of Unspeakable Pleasures what Resolution what Alacrity of Spirit what Ecstasies of Joy what Irradiations of Love must needs arise from such a Presence of God upon the Mind What a perfect Contentation in Life what Hope what Chearfulness in Death For indeed to Die is Gain Phil. 1.21 it is an Improvement still of the Life of God It brings us to the Euge bone Serve Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord St. Mat. 25.21 Into those Inexpressible Joys which Eye hath never seen nor ear has heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 For now we shall be cloathed upon with Immortality 2 Cor. 5.2 and possessed of an exceeding weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Now shall all our Faculties be inlarged and filled for we shall see him as he is and know even as we are known 1 John 3.2 Have we shall converse for ever with the Holy Angels with the Pure and Immaculate Spirits of the Just Heb. 12.23 Nay with God Himself and our Blessed Saviour St. John 17. Thier Glories shall be now revealed Their Brightness shall encompass us and the Returns of our Love and Adoration of them shall transport us in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 These then are exceeding great and precious Promises they are the Summum Genus they are Absolute and Perfect they are capable of no Improvement nothing can be added to them that can set a greater Value upon them For are not all things precious according as they approach to the Nature of God from whom all Beauty and Goodness is derived But are not all these Promises Divine Do they not assure us of an Everlasting Union and Communion with Himself John 10.30.17.22 But surely there is a great deal more implied in this than we are able so much as to conceive For why should the Unity of our Souls with God be expressed in Scripture by the Unity of the Head and Members Col. 1.18 of the Vine and Branches St. John 15.1 of the Soul and Body of the Husband and Wife Eph. 5.23 and finally of God and our Blessed Saviour John 17. Or why should it be called a Mystery by St. Paul Eph. 5.32 if there was not something in it that is above our humane Understanding And hence it is that in the Meditation upon those Effects which may proceed from such a perfect Sympathy and an entire Consent of Will with God we run our selves indeed into the most Delightful but Indistinct Imaginations Shall we not then Escape the Corruptions of the World Shall we not forbear or do or suffer any thing that we may Entitle our selves to these exceeding great and precious Promises Are our Vices of Inestimable Value Are our Corruptions so Amiable so Necessary to us that nothing will perswade us to let them go Shall these Unequal Allayed Deceitful Transient Mixt Unsatisfactory Pleasures be put in the Balance with a Crown of Glory 1 Pet. 5.4 an Incorruptible Inheritance an Everlasting Kingdom 1 Pet. 1.4 Shall a Man be Content to lose his Interest in an Eternal Good and the Greatest too that he is capable of Receiving that he may only enjoy the Delusions of a Frenzy or the Pleasures of a Dream for the present Are not such Proceedings against our Common Sense Are they not foolish even to Derision VSE Let us be perswaded then to submit to the Evidence of Reason and sacrifice our Vices to the Conviction of our Consciences How can we enough Adore the Goodness of God who has allured us by exceeding great and precious Promises to the Obedience of those Commands which are themselves our greatest Good Who has made those things our Duty which also fit us for the true Enjoyment of those Rewards which are annexed to our Obedience Finally Since our Religion is our Interest and the Rewards proposed are so transcendent so much greater than we our selves could have desired I hope we are all Resolved to escape the Corruptions of the World that we may partake of the Nature of God We cannot be happy so long as our Dispositions are Contrary to His so long as we are disjoined and separate from our Principle There is nothing here below that is large enough to fill the Capacity of a Man Nothing but God the Inexhaustible Fountain of Good can yield us a steady and a constant Satisfaction But in him there are Infinite Varieties of Indefectible Treasures His Favour will afford us fresh Delights and preserve us in a perfect State Everlasting Happiness To which may God of his Infinite Mercy bring us all for Jesus Christ his Sake the Righteous To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory and Praise now and for evermore Amen FINIS