Selected quad for the lemma: master_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A65568
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The state of blessedness by W.W.
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W. W., M.A. and chaplain to a person of honour.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing W153; ESTC R26302
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19,505
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32
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superseded by the fatisfactory provisions that God hath prepared and the reposed contentment of their own minds They have no hungry importunate appetites to care and purvey for they have no shameful nakedness to cloath and cover they are many degrees above the scorchings of the Sun by day and the pale and chilly influences of the Moon by Night and therefore they need not be at the trouble to raise Fortifications against extremity of Weather to erect Booths and plant gourds to shelter from the heat nor to Build Repair and Alter to guard the tender sences from the injurious Elements quibus sollicitis fervet Respublica curis for at this rate the world purchase and ensure their Health and Ease and Pleasure But the Blessed are advanced to those calm and pleasant Regions where none of those Storms and Troubles none of those straights and extremities none of those changes and uncertainties which discompose this lower world and so busie the hands and thoughts of men to prevent or remove them can make their approaches but they inhabit those mansions of eternal rest that are exempted from all disturbance and uneasiness and even the very fears of any where Fortune and inconstancy have nought to do And what need can there be of their labour or thoughtfulness when there is nothing wanting which they have not neither any wast or decay of what they have but all things they enjoy are like the house in which they dwell made to their hands nay made without hands eternal in the Heavens And then for those spiritual joys which the Righteous in this Life Tast and yet they do but tast them how hardly do they come by them What an host of difficulties must they break through e're they can attain them They must abjure the pleasures of the World sacrifice their most endeared interests stem the current of nature deny the cravings of sence and inclination repent and mourn Watch and Pray conquer Sin and Devils and and strictly tie themselves up to the rigorous observance of all the Laws of God that are so irksome to flesh and blood before they can tell what Peace of Conscience or Joy in the Holy Ghost mean For those Raptures and Transports those sudden flashes of Light and Joy which sometimes possess the minds of bad men who never paid so dear for them are but counterfeit and Enthusiastick But the joyes of Heaven tide themselves into the souls of the Blessed without their trouble and pains to dig a current for them There 's nothing lies in the way betwixt them and their happiness that may either hinder their enjoyment or be troublesome to remove They have no sins to repent of no headstrong Wills to break and subdue no wild unruly Passions to tame no evils no Temptations to Watch and Pray against ne voto opus erit all the difficulties of Religion are there made void and abrogated God abates them all the duties they owe to him but the chearful services of Thanksgiving and Praise and takes them off from all they owe to Men making void Relations and setting Kings and Subjects Fathers and Children Masters and Servants the Rich and Poor the Aged and the Infant upon the same level except the endearing and grateful duties of Love and Union Thus the Saints enjoy their Pleasures in perfect ease and rest and have nothing at all to do either for Souls or Bodies but to be happy But there 's one Thought more in the notion of rest which should not be omitted because it so raises and enlivens the pleasure of Saints and gives them an advantage of happiness above Angels themselves Rest presupposes labour labour that 's past and over and how will the sence and memory of what they did and endur'd add to the blisse they now enjoy What a new Heaven will it be to consider the World they went through and the Hell they escap't How will it enhance their Joy to recount their troubles How will it set off the state of Glory to compare it with the miseries of this sinful World Oh! How will they bless themselves to reflect by what narrow escapes through what hardships and dangers with what struglings and conflicts in what Agonies of despair and hope in what a deluge of sweat and tears with what bitter cries and strong desires their poor souls at last arrived safe into the Bosom of their rest and refuge never to return to know the like again 2. Light and Dominion are sometimes in Scripture promiscuously used for one another thus said Holy David in his last speech when the Spirit of the Lord was upon him He that Ruleth over men Shall be as the Light of the Morning 2 Sam. 23.3 4. So when Jeroboam wrested the ten Tribes out of the hands of Solomon God thus promised for Davids sake Vnto his Son will I give one Tribe that David my Servant may have a Light i. e. one to heir his Throne always before me in Jerusalem 1 Kings 11.36 And on the other hand the Psalmist says That God made great Lights the Sun to Rule by Day and the Moon to Rule by Night And I am sure the state of the Blessed is a State of Dominion and Sovereignty as well as Light whether the expression intend so much or no And therefore it is called a Kingdom and a Crown of Glory and the Saints are entitled Kings and are said to Reign with Christ Kings they are in the Rule and Government of that mighty Empire of their own Minds a Power greater then that of all the Kings of the Earth who are not able to give Laws to any one soul Now the Glory of a Kingdom is Peace to be secure from all invasions and encroachments from abroad and from Rebellions and Mutinies at home and this is the happy condition of Crowned Spirits Devils may roar and envy to see their greatness and glory which they cannot hinder nor deface bad men may spight them but they cannot hurt them Those damned Spirits that plagued and persecuted them in the World may vex and torment themselves and broyl in the heat of their own disappointed malice but though they curse and rage the gates of Hell cannot prevail There 's no access to any thing that 's Evil Lazarus is safe from Dives's revenge There 's a great Gulf the irreversible decree of God between them and that which confirms the Misery of the one secures the peace and happiness of the other And then in Heaven There 's an universal peace throughout the Roval Neighbourhood God is perfectly reconciled to every one of them and they to one another They are all united in an infringible League of eternal Friendship and Alliance and are so nearly concerned for each others VVelfare and Honour and their interests so mingled and combin'd that no one of them could be happy if any one of them should not be so That there 's no fear of a breach among themselves whose mutual dependencies make them infallibly