Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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B09837
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The glory and happiness of the saints in heaven:, or, A discourse concerning the blessed state of the righteous after death by Nathanael Ranew.
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Ranew, Nathanael, 1602?-1678.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing R246B; ESTC R187570
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140,390
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229
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of that holy Plaee no thing or person that is defiled or polluted shall ever enter there and certainly this must needs be sweet and delightful Were it a thing that we might suppose possible as indeed it is not that here we could have Communion with the People of God and with them only yet the best of them have now so many Weaknesses and Imperfections as would render the purest Society of them sometimes uncomfortable for here being in their imperfect state they must be born withal in many things for they are still Men subject to like Passions and Infirmtiies with others Moses a Man eminent for Meekness so that there was none like him on Earth yet sometimes spake unadvisedly with his lips Job a patient Man even to a Proverb yet had sometimes his Fits of Impatience and Discontent Jonah a Prophet of the Lord yet very froward and peevish and justifies his Passion and Anger not only before Men but even unto the Face of God himself saying I do well to be angry even unto the death Yea most if not all the Saints and People of God mentioned in Scripture though eminent for Grace and Holiness yet have they had some Sins some Infirmities or other recorded of them that it might be known they were Men yea sinful Men also as well as Saints and if we expect Communion with any while we are here that are not Sinners as well as Saints we must then go out of the world as the Apostle speaks for all the People of God here have Flesh in them as well as Spirit Sin and Corruption in them as well as Grace and Holiness And yet notwithstanding all their Frailties and Infirmities they are still the best Company and Fellowship and Society with them most desirable And if while they have their Spots their Stains upon them their Company is so excellent and desirable what shall they be when they shall be free from all their Imperfections when they shall have no Ignorance no Blindness no Pride no Impatience no Spots no Blemishes nor any thing whereby they may be polluted or defiled but shall be adorned and beautified with all Grace and Holiness in the Fulness and Perfection of it Surely then their Company must needs be far more desirable yea even a kind of a little Heaven it self Secondly The Happiness of Believers in Heaven consists in their Communion with Angels the highest the noblest and most excellent of God's Creatures The Welfare of Man is that in which the Angels delight When Man was at first created those Morning-Stars sang together and those Sons of God as holy Job speaks shouted for joy Job 38.7 When Jesus Christ the Saviour of Mankind came into the World for this very end and purpose that he might be a Redeemer unto Man it is said that a multitude of the Heavenly Host joyned together in praising of God saying Glory to God on high on Earth Peace and Good Will towards Man Luke 2.13 And when any Sinners are turned unto God there is joy says our Lord among those Blessed Spirits Luke 15.10 This Heavenly Host of God now as the Apostle speaks rejoyce to be ministring Spirits unto the Saints Heb. 1.14 They are therefore called Ministring Spirits sent forth by God to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Many Offices of Love and Kindness they do for the People of God now when they are in danger which they cannot observe nor take notice of for though their Help and Assistance be always real as to the effect and operation thereof yet is it always invisible as to their knowledge and observation it being impossible for them to understand how often and after what manner they are employed by God for their Benefit The Angels are the continual Guardians and Attendants of the People of God while they are in this world hence therefore our Lord bids those he spake to in Matt. 18.10 Take heed that they offended not any of those little ones that believed in him for says he in heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in heaven And that the Angels do protect and defend the People of God here is very clear in Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them And that 's a great Scripture and adds much to the confirmation of the Happiness of the People of God both in respect of their Fellowship with the Saints and their Communion with the Angels in Heaven in Heb. 12.22 23. Ye are come unto Mount Sion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just men made perfect While we carry about with us these earthly Tabernacles of our Bodies we are scarce capable of Communications with such spiritual heavenly Creatures but at Death the Saints shall know their old Friends and Fellow-Servants and then those Heavenly and Triumphant Chariots shall carry up their departed Souls with Shoutings and Acclamations of Joy into the Presence of God where they shall make Relations of the strange and wonderful Providences of God towards them while they were here and joyn together in the high Praises of God for evermore In this world the sight of one Angel though a Messenger of Peace and one that brings good Tidings along with him yet doth cause Fear and Amazement But in Heaven the Saints shall behold all the Angels of God and that not only without Dread and Horrour but with Joy and Delight as being their Fellow-Creatures with whom they shall eternally maintain a blessed Communion and Correspondency And oh what happy and delightful Company will those Glorious Creatures be in whom there is nothing but what is Amiable and Lovely yea nothing but what is Admirable and Wonderful And though this Communion with Angels be a part of that Happiness which the Saints shall enjoy in Heaven and a Truth of great Certainty yet the Way and Manner of the Saints converse with them there is very dark and obscure and that to which we are now altogether strangers Let therefore the Certainty thereof suppress our Curiosity and satisfie our Minds until we come thither when we shall have a full Revelation and Enjoyment thereof together being made not only like unto but equal with the Angels Thirdly The Happiness of the Saints in Heaven lies in this that there they shall have a Sight and Enjoyment of Jesus Christ as their Blessed and Glorious Redeemet Now this is a Happiness so great that a Saint cannot but account himself recompensed with infinite Gain and Advantage though he lost his Life in the attaining of it Christ says the Apostle Col. 3.11 is all in all It was doubtless a blessed and glorious sight to behold the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here upon Earth when in the days of his Flesh he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant for certainly he was the comiiest Person
that he was free and might do what he would with his own These now are some of those Scriptures that are made use of for and against this assertion of the Saints having different Degrees of Glory in Heaven Which is the Truth I shall not affirm I am inclinable to believe that there shall be different Degrees of Glory in Heaven But withal let me add tho' it is possible that some may have greater Degrees of Glory than others yet all shall partake of the same Happiness nay all shall have as much of Glory and Happiness as they can contain though one Vessel may hold more than another yet all shall be as full as they can hold nay further which is yet more all the Saints in Glory shall enjoy the Happiness of Heaven in the same perpetuity one as well as another for Eternity shall be the measure of all their Happiness But whether there shall be different Degrees of Glory in Heaven hereafter or not yet may the People of God at present make this double improvement of it First If there shall be different Degrees of Glory in Heaven then the consideration hereof should exite Christians to labour after the highest Degree of Grace that is attainable in this life because this is the way to increase their Glory in Heaven And surely to be ambitiously covetous after the highest place in Heaven is very commendable in any Who would not be desirous to have his Seat in that Heavenly Jerusalem next to Cherubims and Seraphims shall Isay nay if it were possible to possess that very place in Heaven that the Beloved Disciple St. John held here upon Earth when he lay in the Bosom Embraces of our Lord Jesus Christ If our growth and increase in Grace shall certainly be the increase of our Glory and Happiness hereafter who is there then that would be so ill a Husband to himself as not to stir up and put forth the Grace of God that is in him which will prove so greatly advantageous to him in the life to come If to be found in the daily exercise of Grace a Christian is thereby doing that which will adorn and enrich that Crown of Glory that shall hereafter be set upon his own head who then would be so sloathful and negligent as not to promote and heighten what in him lay his own Happiness and Glory Secondly If there shall be no different Degrees of Glory in Heaven but all the Saints shall there be of the same Pitch and Stature Oh then what matter of Joy and Consolation may it be unto thee O weak Believer to consider that though now thy Grace be poor and weak thy Fears and Doubts be many thy Corruptions restless and importunate thy Temptations strong and potent and almost irresistible though thou seest thy self out-done by many in the ways of Holiness whom thou greatly admirest and wouldst with all thy Soul imitate and follow yea overtake and equal in their pace to Heaven but thou canst not yet know for thy Comfort that at the last Day the same Sentence of Absolution that is pronounced upon others shall acquit and Absolve thee also The same Heaven that shall be opened unto others for their Eternal Blessedness shall be opened to receive thee into that Blessed State with them Yea the same Crown of Glory that is set upon their heads shall for ever Crown thy head also So that there shall be no difference between thee and all the Holy Patriarchs Prophets and Saints of God in all Ages of the World but thou shalt shine in Glory as a Star of the same Magnitude and with the same Brightness for ever Thirdly Some upon the reading of those words of our Saviour Luke 20.36 Where he tells us that at the Resurrection of the Saints which he there calls the Children of God and the Children of the Resurrection shall be equal unto the Angels may be desirous to know how or in what respects shall the Godly then be like unto or equal with the Angels To this I Answer they shall be like the Angels in these following particulars First Saints in Heaven shall enjoy the same Glory and Happiness which Angels do The Great and Blessed God who is the Delight and Happiness of Angels shall be the Delight and Happiness of the Saints also in one and the same place shall they both partake of one and the same Blessedness and that is in Heaven and in the same Work and Employment shall they both spend an Eternity together namely in Blessing and Praising in Magnitying and Adoring the infinitely Great and Blessed God See for this Revel 7.9 11 12. where the Saints are said to stand before the Throne of God crying with a loud voice Salvation unto God and to the Lamb. And the Angels also standing round about the Throne of God crying Amen Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto God for ever and ever Amen Secondly The Saints in Heaven shall be like unto the Angels in their Fitness to serve God and in their Readiness Chearfulness and Vnweariedness in so doing This is one of the great requests our Lord hath taught us to offer up unto Heaven in our Prayers That the Will of God may be done by us on Earth as it is done in Heaven that is as the Angels do it in Heaven who do it Readily Chearfully Universally and Constantly And thus shall the Saints serve God and do his Will when they come to Heaven Here the People of God often complain that their Spirits are held down by the Flesh so that though they have a willing mind yet how to perform that which is good as they would they find not the Spirit indeed in them is willing but the Flesh is weak Oh how do they therefore mourn under the impediments of Nature with which they are loaded and oppressed And if at any time they do attain to a more than ordinary height and frame of Spirit that their Souls are a little lifted up in the ways of God yet is it with great difficulty that they arrive thereunto and with much more difficulty that they preserve and keep themselves in it But in Heaven the Saints shall be freed from all Infirmities of the Flesh and shall Glorifie God as the Angels do with Readiness and Activity with Constancy and Unweariedness and with all perfections of Soul and Body that may render their Services acceptable to God and delightful to themselves Thirdly The Saints in Heaven shall be like unto the Argels in their way of living What that is our Lord himself tells us Luke 20.36 Where speaking of the State of the People of God after the Resurrection he says They neither Marry nor are given in Marriage neither can they die any more By which expressions our Saviour gives us to understand what kind of Life the Saints shall live in Heaven a life like unto that of the Angels who have no manner of Converse with live not on the use of or in dependance