Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A37048
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The assurance of the faithfull, or, The glorious estate of the saints in heaven described and the certainty of their future happiness manifested by reason and Scripture / by M.D.
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D'Assigny, Marius, 1643-1717.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing D282; ESTC R24872
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26,857
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44
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and pleasures that are onely there to be found Other Reasons and passages of Scripture may be alledged for this Truth which makes St. Paul fly out into an Admiration and St. John breathe forth nothing but wishes all the holy Martyrs embrace and hug the Flames that did convey them into this estate Was it not sufficient O blessed God that thou shouldest deliver man from his deserved punishment was it not sufficient that thou shouldest render him capable of thy favours But must such a favour be granted must thou admit him to a participation of the divine Nature by this unspeakable Union St. Peter O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of our God! You know not mortal men what God hath reserved for them that fear him What may we not expect from his love when we shall come to this estate If there be any good at Gods disposal any sweetness any pleasure and benefit in heaven or in earth it shall be theirs and in their possession Rom. 8.32 unto whom he hath at present given his Son and Spirit and will also give himself as St. Paul tells us Besides this Union shall cause an interrupted Communion between God and our souls God shall pour his blessings upon us in abundance and we shall render unto him unfeigned testimonies of thankfulness We shall spend Eternity in his praises and he shall spend his Treasuries upon us we shall think of nothing but how to glorifie him and he shall strive to satisfie us we shall contend in mutual offices of Love and Friendship O happy contention O blessed communion unto which our present Piety and Religion intends to bring us We have now a communion with God in holy duties and by his divine Spirit for no other end but that we might thereby be prepared for his eternal communion in Heaven In this Union and Communion with God consists the chief happiness of the creature for besides that they shall remove from us whatsoever looks like an evil they shall procure unto us advantages suitable unto that supernatural honour and estate Isa 64.4 Which eye hath not seen c. Our present knowledge shall be changed into sight our hope into fruition our love to God into endless transports our desires shall be satisfied our Prayers granted and turned into eternal Allelujahs our understandings shall be no more darkened with ignorance our wills no more corrupted with vice a blessed perfection shall reign within us And this shall proceed from an immediate infusion of divine Knowledge and a communication of spiritual qualities that shall fit us for the vision of God for we shall see his Face and his Name shall be in our foreheads Revel 22. We know saith St. John when God shall appear we shall be like him For we shall see him as he is not only with our corporal eyes we may see that inacessible light which always accompanies the visible declaration of his Glory and Power but also with the eyes of our souls we shall behold as much of the essence of God as the creature can perceive he will expose himself to our view And therefore we shall be transformed into his resemblance we shall be as so many Images of the Godhead so many living Pictures of his Infinite Being representing his glorious perfections as a clear fountain doth the body of the Sun or rather as Moses face did the brightness of the beams with which the Divine Majesty was cloathed upon the Mount Sina God will imprint in us the noble Characters and lineaments of his Essence therefore well might David promise to himself As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness So that this blessed life shall not so much consist in the union of the soul and body as in the union of both soul and body with God our Creator In the next place in this life there shall be an excellent order and subordination in our souls all the passions and affections shall be ruled by the command of our Reason These inward motions shall not cease but they shall be bound to their good behaviour they shall no more offer to raise a rebellion within us to disturb our tranquility they shall not be capable of evil impressions Isa 32.18 nor bear the marks of corrupted nature There shall be a beautiful symmetry between the parts of our soul and body insomuch that perfection and integrity shall appear within and without How happy shall that life be when we shall perfectly enjoy our selves when all our affections shall endeavour to accomplish our felicity These are our present enemies they procure all the inconveniences that happen unto us whether in our bodies or estates by perswading us to embrace that seeming good which proves our deadly poyson But then they shall be no more corrupted by the sight of apparant advantages nor tempted to betray our interest for a vain enjoyment they shall always carry us to the performance of Duty and to that real good which shall fully satisfie us with content Unless they be thus reformed it is not possible for man to taste happiness in the most blessed Estate For what are Honours Riches and the greatest Blessings to one tormented with the desire of an increase or to a peevish discontented soul that apprehends a change or sees a happiness afar off which it prefers to the present or to one whose passions gaul him The least pain is sufficient to qualifie the greatest pleasures therefore in this happy life unruly passions shall cease with outward inconveniences they shall suffer us to relish the sweetness of our possessions they shall rather awaken our senses and give them a fuller and a quicker apprehension of the excellency of the heavenly delights and although our happiness shall not be confined to those pleasures that are furnished by our senses for they are not sufficient inlets to receive as much as the soul requires to accomplish her felicity besides it is not proper that the Bliss of so excellent a part should depend upon its correspondency with the baser or that it should borrow its satisfaction from its union with the body Caro spiritualis effectae per omnes sensus suos multimodis exuberabit delitiis Laur. yet it is most certain that they shall not want a share of those pleasures in which the soul shall so freely swim they shall not be brutish or such as Mahomet promiseth to his Mufulmans but they shall be sutable unto the spiritual body of the Righteous and far excelling the base and rotten pleasures of this miserable life in quality for they shall be without the least mixture of bitterness in the quantity for they shall be proportion'd to our capacities and in the durance for they shall be continual without interruption and eternal as David informs us Psal 16.11 speaking unto God In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand