Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A32952
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The inheritance of the saints in light set forth in a sermon preach'd at Whitehall, August 11, 1700 / by Ab. Campion ...
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Campion, Abraham, d. 1701.
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1700
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Wing C405; ESTC R1424
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15,676
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29
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THE Inheritance of the Saints in Light Set forth in a SERMON Preach'd at Whitehall August 11. 1700. By AB CAMPION D. D. Dean of Lincoln and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Publish'd by Order of the Lords Iustices LONDON Printed by J. Leake for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. COLOSSIANS I. 12. Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light THESE Words stand here as a great inforcement of Duty to walk worthy of the Lord in all well pleasing And as a Sovereign Cordial to support the Spirits of Christians under their sharpest Trials to bear them not only with Patience but with Joy and Thanksgiving as the Context informs us It is the Christian Faith only that can with good Reason Administer such comfort under the Crosses of this World because how afflictive soever they may sometimes appear to sense or vulgar apprehension yet if compared to the Gospel-Treasures the Joys above they are light very light Amongst all the Afflictions of this Life nothing I think pierces more to the quick than the loss of a Person dear to us especially when it surprizes And yet if God think fit to tear from our bosoms the Delight of our Eyes the Darling of our Souls our Church has directed us in her Funeral-Service so full of Faith is her Holy Office to give God thanks for the Cloudy passage of his Providence It is a strong Combate between Flesh and Spirit when we are ingaged thus to thank him with Tears in our Eyes but Faith will justifie it The Great Disposer of all things has at this time call'd us of this Nation to a Signal Exercise of this Faith by an amazing Providence on a sudden snatching from our Embraces our young Josiah the Delight of the present the great Hope of the future Age. We had not time to think not time to Pray to hold if possible the Almighty's Hand Immoderate Vertue is seldom long-liv'd it is often dangerous to be loved too much The Divine Jealousie will not permit us to be confident in Man for this Reason perhaps not long since we met with a very fatal disappointment of our Hopes This Stroak succeeding the other is so much the more severe we can scarce discern the Fathers hand it looks so very angry And yet we are sure God is always Good whether we are ready with our Reasons or no. Can we then heartily thank God for this We have done it already at his much lamented Funerals and if Heaven exceeds the Earth we had reason so to do We Inhabitants of Earth are apt to be too partial to our present state of Things Such is our fond admiration for Earthly Treasures tho' we are Christians as perhaps to pity the hard Fate of this young Prince for being deprived of so near a prospect to a Crown Foolish pity Such short thinking betrays the sleepiness of Reason as well as Faith not considering the Scene is now so chang'd that whatever Delight He might once take in his Temporal Birth-right Earthly Crowns now appear despicable in his Eye who is admitted into that Heavenly Inheritance of Light my Text holds forth to us The Advance is His the Loss is only ours Many may be the Great Consequences of this Fatal Stroak as to us but it is not my business here to instruct in Politicks or to provoke your Passions by a Panegyrick rather as my Text directs to excite your Faith and descry what Comfort is thence to be derived under this and all our greatest Calamities When our Affairs here afford us no good prospect look up our Faith will never fail us The more tottering our Condition seems here to be the greater reason we have to give God thanks for the hopes of an Eternal Inheritance which in the Gospel is brought to light What Rewards God has treasured up for good Men in the other World was the grand Discovery the Son of God came from Heaven to make He scatter'd the Clouds with which the face of Heaven was covered and assured the World of that Eternal Life of which they had before but faint and wavering expectations Some Philosophers have observ'd that of all the habitable Globes of the World the Earth only is wrap'd in Clouds made thereby a proper Seat for Sinners A fit Emblem of Man's moral State and Condition Those Clouds hanging in the Air as a Curtain drawn to shut them out from the sight of Heaven being also Treasures of God's Vengeance hovering over their guilty heads from whence do sometimes issue Storms and Tempests and many of the most dreadful Calamities which Sin has brought upon the Earth and its Inhabitants But what e'er becomes of this Philosophical Notion the Clouds which do more fatally veil the face of Heaven from the Sinner are those which lie upon his own Heart his Lusts and Passions These do so blind the Eye of Humane Reason as that it can neither discern the Light nor relish the Joys of the Heavenly Mansions nor the beauty of that Holiness which leads thither The Spiritual Happiness of Heaven does no more affect a vitiated Palat than painted Glories And the Conditions upon which the Gospel has proposed its Immortal Crowns are to the Sinner perfect foolishness The pure in heart only see God our Saviour has told us and they only care to see him That this Veil then might be taken off from the Sinner's Heart the chief part of Christ's Salvation was to save his People from their Sins not only by making Atonement and Reconciliation for them but by taking away the Pollution Purging the Soul by Grace and so qualifying it for the State of Light from which he descended to acquaint the World plainly with the happy News of it He that came from the bosom of God 1 Joh. 5.11 and therefore best knew his Mind has assured us upon Record that there is a Life after this an Eternal Life of Happiness beyond expression and present Conception provided for all Saints for all that will live answerable to the holy Profession of Christianity So much of that State and Condition at present is reveal'd as is requisite to excite attention and obedience in all that have Ears to hear It comes with sufficient Evidence to satisfie sober Inquirers that are contented to be wise unto Salvation The Gospel of God has been adorn'd by the Example of many such Children of Wisdom who have gone before us in the Faith many that have suffer'd the loss of all things the worst that this World could inflict the Madness the Wit of Cruelty in hopes of a great recompence of Reward many I say whole Clouds of such Witnesses as the Apostle stiles them by reason of their numbers That by the grace of God we may be enabled at this time to make some advance towards that state of Light and Happiness by becoming in some degree more qualified for the partaking
should be Redeem'd he freely offer'd himself to the Work tho' they were bitter things that the incensed Father required of Man's Surety But so that God might be glorified it pleas'd him to become an Object of the greatest Misery and Contempt To give us an Example of an intire dependance upon the Providence of God and trust in him he made himself poor destitute of Worldly Comfort and Accommodation the Foxes have holes but he had not where to lay his head He could indeed turn stones into Bread but we do not read that ever he work'd a Miracle to sustain his own hunger but trusted himself intirely to his Father's keeping 'T is true he complain'd with loud passion upon the Cross but not from despair or the least mistrust of God's failing him for with considence he commended his Spirit into his hands but a quick sense he had of that unusual change in his Father's Countenance It touch'd him to the quick that the beloved Father should look so full of Anger upon his most beloved Son It was the sting of his Sufferings to see a Cloud and severe Frown upon that Beauteous Face which always used to shine upon him with a pleasing Aspect now especially whilst he knew himself to be performing an Act highly acceptable to his Father Observe yet farther and imitate his Conversation was in Heaven whilst here on Earth his heart always there his Discourses tended thither Heavenly things being ever predominant in his Thoughts he was always ready to take fit Occasions to improve all Occurrences to Spiritual Purposes and raise up the Minds of his Company to the things above He sought opportunities of Retirement that he might have frequent and immediate Converse with God his Father Those hours wherein Nature call'd for Ease and Sleep he very often imploy'd in his Devotions spending whole Nights in Prayer He sat loose from the World perfectly dead to it The great and most difficult Lesson of Religion He had no affection for the things of it they appear'd not worth his thoughts But yet his contempt of them was decent and generous he did not with proud disdain spurn at them as a rude Stoick would have done he did not affront Men of Quality and Title but paid all becoming respect to those Honours of the World which he had not such regard for as to assume them to himself In his common Conversation he was very obliging affable courteous always in good humour conversing freely even with the worst of Men with Publicans and Sinners to make them if possible wiser and better He was always disposed to put the most fair and candid interpretation upon the Behaviour of Men ready to make the best excuses for them that their Case would admit of with any tolerable shew or colour of Reason willing to impute their faults and neglects to infirmity the weakness of their Flesh or Mind rather than to Malice or ill design When the Case would admit of no excuse but he was treated with the vilest usage and ill language yet he reviled not again but by cool and good argument indeavour'd to convince them of their Blasphemy and Outrage How calmly did he receive even Judas himself in an Act of the basest Treachery with the Title of Friend wherefore art thou come When his mind was loaded with grief to that extremity that he sweat drops of Blood no murmuring fretful or discontented word dropt from him he retain'd his Temper as well as his Integrity When he hung upon the Cross in most excessive pain no uneasiness of Spirit appear'd but he was quietly submissive to his Father's Will His whole Life was a constant course of Charity always doing good to the Bodies or Souls of Men healing their Diseases raising their Dead to Life and at last dying himself an accursed Death that his Enemies his Enemies that used him despitefully that hated him to the death might be saved This is our Calling Christians this is our Pattern Let us go and do likewise If we can thus live if we can thus love then are we meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light But if the Case be thus with us we may begin with amazement to cry out who then can or shall be saved We seem to have reason to fear that our Saviour has undone us by his Example has carried the Mark so high and propos'd such Conditions of Salvation as Flesh and Blood can never reach to can never hope upon these terms to be made meet partakers of the Heavenly Inheritance 4thly It highly concerns us therefore to inquire if they be possible How these Qualifications are to be obtain'd In a word it is true that Flesh and Blood Corrupt Flesh and Blood especially can never advance to that pitch of Holiness as to live as our Saviour lived and cannot by its own strength we may be sure fit it self for an admittance into that high and Holy Place But the Comfort is we do not go forth in our own strength we have the same Spirit of God promis'd and given to every baptiz'd Christian which sanctified our Lord Christ himself and inabled him to walk as he walk'd 'T is true he had the Spirit of God given him in much greater measure Heb. 1.9 and was anointed above all his fellows as the Apostle has taught us to speak whether Angels or Men for the advancing and perfecting of all kind of Vertue and Holiness and tho' it may not consist with the method of God's Grace and our present State and Condition that the Spirit of God should act so powerfully in us yet if it be not our own fault he will certainly act as effectually and afford us sufficient strength for the doing of what is requisite in order to Salvation and by degrees will lead us on towards that perfection as will fit us to dwell with the Saints above The difficulty of the Work can give us no just reason to despair when we have a God working in us and will not fail to do his part But yet tho' nothing is impossible with God and he will not fail us there is something for us to do in this great Work there lies our Danger therefore there ought to be our Care The Advice which I shall briefly offer shall be this and so Conclude 1. To be very Constant and Diligent in the use of those Means which the Gospel has prescribed For a Qualification for Heaven is not a Fitt but a lasting Temper of the Mind which is only to be obtain'd by a Constancy in Religious Practice Let every Morning and Evening at least have its fix'd times for Private Devotion with serious application of Mind Let us every day look over and examine well our Account between God and our own Souls This is an excellent Expedient to make short Reckonings at last He that makes even with God every day by Repentance is every night qualified for Heaven and has but one day to account for when ever he dies Read some part of the Word of God digest it well by Meditation this supplies the Soul with its daily Food for Spirits must be nourish'd as well as Bodies be continually fed with good Thoughts or they will languish or which is worse grow Brutish and Devilish In their proper Seasons Publick Ordinances are to be duly attended and more Solemn times of Self-examination fix'd but I lay the greatest stress of Religion upon those private daily Performances In the neglect of these it is impossible to be Religious in earnest and keep up a true Spirit of Devotion It is difficult to perswade to these but they being once secured the rest will easily follow The Gospel-Means are not empty dead Ceremonies like those of the Law they are Living Ordinances they are Bodies with a Soul for the Holy Ghost accompanies the due performance of them which as at first convey'd with the waters of Baptism to the Soul so by every Sermon Prayer or Sacrament rightly perform'd takes fresh possession and comes in with new degrees of strength A diligent use of these means of Religion are therefore necessary as being the only way to obtain and secure this Spirit of God 2. Keep your Eye always fix'd upon your Inheritance having his Eye upon the recompence of the Reward animated our Saviour himself to go through with his difficult Undertaking This is one of the peculiar Advantages of the Gospel that the Gates of Heaven are in a manner set open to us and such a view given into those Regions of Happiness as is sufficient to excite to Duty and keep us in our way thither More knowledge of Heaven might do hurt at present might exalt us into rapture and extasie and make us impatient of tarrying here God has therefore wisely proportion'd these Discoveries to our present Circumstances and Necessities It concerns us to make a right use of this peculiar benefit of the Gospel never to lose the sight of Heaven which it affords All the Kingdoms of the Earth and Glory of them are not sufficient to make an impression upon that Mind that is full of Heaven He walks therefore with the World under his feet having his Heart always with his Treasure above and he that lives above the World at present where should he live but in Heaven hereafter Being by the Grace of God thus made meet to be a Partaker of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light let him give thanks to the Father and with joyful Lips bless his Holy Name and begin his Eternal Praises To God the Father Son and Holy-Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for Evermore FINIS