Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A25359
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A sermon preached in the Cathedral Church at Winchester the xxix of May MDCLXXXI, being Trinity Sunday, and the day of His Majesties happy birth and restauration by Henry Anderson ...
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Anderson, Henry, b. 1651 or 2.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing A3093; ESTC R16092
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19,305
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35
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the Promotion of true Religion and Vertue that our future State may be as happy as it is sure to be lasting There are but few that consider that their Time here on Earth is but a Prologue to an everlasting State In this vast Eternity you must Live Why do you not let your Thoughts be more upon it Your Minds that love to count the days of this narrow Life extend themselves unto Eternity where there are no Limits at all Tell the Torments of everlasting Fire the aking Thoughts if you can of a burning Soul that fryes in the Wrath of God to eternal Ages Then number the Joys of Heaven tell the Notes of that Celestial Quire the Hymns of Praises that they sing and though thou hadst a Head as big as Archimedes that could tell how many Atoms of Dust were in the Globe of the whole Earth yet all these were but as a single Atom in comparison of those endless Joys or Sorrows And it is an Oracle of infallible Truth and a Promise that remains for ever to the Righteous Your Joy shall remain none shall take it from you Therefore Heaven is the most lovely amiable and most desireable Object The Enjoyments of Riches Honours Kingdoms Feastings with us in this World are but short and transitory but in Heaven there shall be an eternal Feast The Jubilation of the Lamb shall be for ever and shall be extended to the vast duration of Eternity O my Soul Why dost thou not aspire and mount up to the Center and Light of Glory to the Fountain of Beams and Brightness from whence thou wast derived How happy shalt thou be when thou shalt lay down corruptible Rags of Earth and being delivered out of the Prison of this wretched Body may'st be thought worthy to hear the sacred Songs of that Celestial Harmony and the Praises of the King Eternal of that Glorious Empire How accomplished shall thy Honour and Glory be when it shall come to thy turn to sing a gracious Hallelujah Join unto all this the Pleasure there is to live in the Company of Angels to enjoy the grateful Conversation of all those excellent and sublime Spirits where Angelical Troops make ravishing Musick and to behold Armies of Saints more bright than the Stars of Heaven to contemplate the Sanctity of the Patriarchs the Hope of the Prophets the Crown of Martyrs the white and flowery Garland of Virgins And as for the Soveraign King who keeps his Residence in the midst of that glorious People What Tongue is able to speak His Praise O Israel Now how goodly are thy Tabernacles how delightful thy Pavilions Gardens water'd with Floods and Fountains are not so flourishing nor are the fruitful Vallies so abundant Let us not then suffer our selves to be abused any longer with the delusive Appearances of this World but fix our Eye on Heaven because it is a fairer Object than Earth for our Contemplation joining with the Royal Prophet as it is in the Verge of the Text Whom have I in Heaven but Thee All the Blessings that we do enjoy are the sweet Influences of Heaven upon us Spiritual or Temporal First Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places arise from no other Spring and are Irradiations of the Trinity and the great Kindness of Heaven to Mankind in relation to these Souls of ours The Father Son and Holy Ghost have all done their parts for them The Father gave His only Son the Son gave Himself left his Glory and endured the bitter Death of the Cross meerly to keep our Souls from perishing The Holy Ghost is become as it were our Attendant waits upon us with continual Offers of his Grace to enable us to do that which may preserve them These things all the Persons work equally and inseparably in respect of the Cause and Effect for what One doth All do yet in congruity we attribute a distinct Act in regard of the Order and Object In Order the original of Action is ascribed to the Father Joh. 5. 17 19. The Nature and Manner of Working to the Son Joh. 1. 3. Heb. 12. The Efficacy and Power to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 11. 12. 1. The Father Creates Gen. 1. 1. 2. The Son Redeems Gal. 3. 1◠3. The Holy Ghost Illuminates 2 Pet. 1 21. The Father is to be adored as altogether of Himself The Son to be glorified as that Consubstantial Word The Holy Ghost to be magnified as that Co-essential Spirit eternally proceeding from Both. The Three Persons in the Trinity is the Object of our Faith and we daily own it in our Creed 1. We believe in God the Father who made the World 2. In God the Son who redeem'd all Mankind 3. In God the Holy Ghost who sanctifies all the Elect People of God A Unity of Essence and a Trinity of Order Ordo originis though not Regiminis Co-ordinativus though not Subordinativus of Priority though not Superiority a First a Second and a Third though not a higher lower and lowest for the Lord our God is one Lord the Godhead or Essence of God is one undivided Parmenides who followed Pythagoras is brought in by Plato Philosophizing on that old Axiom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and Many and determined thus That God was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one Divine Essence He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Immutable Being He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Eternal Being This Plato discourseth in his Philebus at large shewing how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One was Many and Many One. And it is not only good Philosophy but sound Divinity the Godhead considered diversly for the manner of Being is Three Persons in One Essence the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 1 John 5. 7. The Father is the First Person of the Trinity having Foundation in none of Personal Substance 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not begotten to the Father The Son is the Second Person in the Trinity having Foundation of Personal Substance of whom He is eternally begotten Joh. 5. 26. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Begotten to the Son The Holy Ghost is the Third Person in the Trinity having Foundation from the Father and the Son from both which He especially proceedeth Joh. 14. 26. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proceeding to the Holy Ghost Here is a threefold Unity of Persons in One Nature of Natures in One Person of Natures and Persons in One Quality In the First is one God In the Second one Christ In the Third one Spirit All this Unity is but to usher in a single Deity St Paul concludes all with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is One God Ephes 4. 6. And the Soul carrieth an Image of the Unity of the Godhead and Trinity of Persons in that there is one Soul with three Faculties of Understanding Will and Memory Let us all now lift up our Heart and Voice and praise God chanting forth the Anthem of the
the foolish Egyptians or those Persians that gave veneration only to the lustre of their Jewels The Christian account as to Divine Arithmetick is cast up for another world to be a Denizen of the New Jerusalem an Heir of Eden a Peer of Paradise a Pearl of Vertue a Star of Glory Although we are Sojourners here however we are Municipes Coeli Freemen of Heaven and have the priviledge to be called and own'd by God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Fellow-Citizens of the Saints A Christian is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that lives in the confines of Heaven so that whilst he is here on Earth he wants but the courteous hand of Death to put him into possession of that above Heaven then is my home the Creator my Father the Judge my Advocate the Spirit my Consolation therefore there is nothing on Earth that I desire besides thee The opposition of Notes on both being the Second General now appears First In primacy of order King David is the glass in which we may behold Christian practice In his thoughts Heaven takes the precedency of Earth Whom have I in Heaven but thee O Lord This is his first care to seek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of God here is the primum mobile that moves his heart his will and his affections Heaven then the desire on Earth follows after and it is honour enough for this vile Earth to wait upon Heaven Let us not now chaffer Heaven for Earth as sottish Indians truck away Ore for glass and for the gaudy nothing of this life hazard our immortal souls to everlasting flames and for the toyes and vanities of this world lose an Eternal Kingdom and for a glorious mortality bid adieu to Heaven which ought to have the precedency in our heart and affection Open our eyes O Lord that we may see those glorious rayes that stream from the Divinity and so beautiful an object will be enough to draw and attract our hearts unto thee echoing forth the Anthem of the Text Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Secondly Take it in the sense of the verbs habeo desideravi habeo in Coelis I have in Heaven desideravi in terris I desire on Earth Here we tire our selves with a restless fancy still wandering through the Creation but never finding any satisfaction but in Heaven there are all things that may delight us and solace the faculties of our Soul For God is a plenitude of light to the understanding a multitude of peace to the will Eternal joy and consolation to the memory And in Heaven all our desires shall be satisfied with fruition and those exellencies will always supply new and fresh desires to the soul which in the beatifical vision shall enlarge into that vast and infinite satisfaction that it shall be lost in the enjoyment and most happily plunged in that fruition which we shall never fully understand but be still more and more happy in having pleasures so great as to transcend our knowledge How glorious is that Sun that sets not and how clear is that day that is not chased by the darkness of the night Heaven is that resplendent residence and of this bliss there is such a fullness that our heads are too thick to understand it or if we were able to understand it yet our hearts are too narrow to give it entrance or if our hearts could hold it yet our tongues are too stammering to express and utter it For the glory of the invisible heavens out-strips humane capacity and out-goes our invention it is such as eye hath not seen ear heard nor yet enter'd into the heart of man to conceive what the Almighty the great Being of Beings hath prepar'd in Heaven for those that fear him And though some vessels contain more than others yet all shall be full there shall be no vacuity or want in any Lastly Take it in the diversity of the prepositions cùm praeter nothing with nothing besides thee O Lord Heap up all the riches of the world into one pile till they reach the Stars and charm all the delights of the world into one Circle and enjoy them freely yet there is a desire in man which looks above them for whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is nothing on Earth that I desire besides thee The organ of a Christian Ear is not for Earth its musick is mixt with too many discords 't is Heaven it aims at the Angels with whom it would consort and the melody of the superiour powers that yields the most absolute concord This is the Psaltery that King David sings to and is the true Ela of a Christian Whom have I in Heaven but Thee and there is nothing on Earth I desire besides Thee How miserable are they then whose Pleasures only divert them from God their Maker and have no other Apology for their Neglect of Heaven than what Sin can make that court the World and for a fading Embrace exchange a Diadem of Bliss a Crown of Glory And here let us raise our Thoughts from Earth to Heaven because the Glorious Trinity is a fairer Object for Contemplation For in the Glass of the Trinity we may behold all Felicity it will be Joy to Man's Soul Health to his Body Beauty to his Eyes Musick to his Ears Honey to his Mouth Perfume to his Nostrils whole Happiness to every Part. Therefore let us no longer doat upon this Mole-hill of Earth or prize its artificial complexioned Pleasures Structures of Cedar and Vermilion Garments and Embroideries of Aholiab Tables of Delicacies Couches of Ease and Ivory all Things here below are but Bracteata Foelicitas Copper leav'd with Gold If we do but behold the Pavement of Heaven stuck with Stars as so many sparkling Diamonds How despicable and mean is the Stateliest Palace of the greatest Monarch If the Hangings be so precious What must we think of the Room If the Frontispiece be so Glorious What are those better Parts yet unseen Magnum Mirabile sub tanta Majestate O think then what Treasures what Riches what Excellences are in those Courts above where the Gates of the New-Jerusalem is beyond the Orient Majesty of Pearl and Streets more splendid than pure Gold where there is no need of the clear Light of the Moon nor the bright Beams of the Sun What Ineffable Glory is in God the Light of those Heavenly Tabernacles Consider but the Eternal Joyes of that Place and how heartless and dying is the best of worldly Pleasures Nay were the whole World turned into a Seraglio of Delight and every Region into an Arabia could every Field become a Paradise and every Object that we meet with bring with it a Magazine of Pleasure had we all the Enjoyments this Life could triumph in yet without God we should find them dismal Fruitions Heaven doth as far surmount all these things as