Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A41090
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The eternal joys of God's presence a sermon / preach'd at the Temple Church upon All Saints Day by Henry Felton.
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Felton, Henry, 1656-1701.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing F664; ESTC R28626
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12,054
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31
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Stomachs of all Men all Beasts Fowls Fishes Things creeping c. require an infinite quantity of Nourishables for their Food yet God hath provided wherewith they all may be filled The Desire and Appetite if I may so call it of the Angels must needs aim at high and transcendent Matters such poor Trifles as make up our Delights here fashionable Dresses Recreations bodily Pleasures c. are nothing unto them yet God hath provided somewhat to satisfy and fill them for otherwise those heavenly Spirits cou'd not be Blessed In like manner though the Desire of Man towards a compleat and eternal Happiness seems to be very high and vast yet he that filleth the vast Sea he that filleth the endless Gulphs of Hunger both in Man and Beast he that filleth the capacious Comprehensions of the Angels it is easy for him to satisfy and fill this Appetite of Man And it is somewhat absurd according to the Dictates of Right Reason to think that of all his Creatures God hath created only the Reasonable Soul of Man for a perpetual Emptiness and hath ordained no Object to fill and satisfy it as 't is plain he hath not in this World And therefore we have good Reason to believe that he hath prepared for it full satisfying Joys and eternal Pleasures in another the transporting Expectation of which is the only true satisfying Pleasure it can enjoy in this Life That the Pleasure of Riches Honour or bodily Pleasures bear no proportion to it every Man 's own Experience may convince him No! they are so flitting and uncertain so empty and unsatisfactory so mixed and alloyed that the most improv'd Enjoyments of them are rather Vanity and vexation of spirit as the Wiseman speaks than any true solid or satisfying Delights But 2. The Second Reason which we shall use to prove the propounded Truth is this If there be no Fulness of Joys and Eternal Pleasures in the Presence of God which Man should seek as his End and may attain as his perfect Happiness then the Reasonable Soul of Man seems to be no better than a Servant or Slave to his Sensual Part and those Advantages and Excellencies which we have above the Beasts are but as Drudges for that part which we have in common with them For if the Soul of Man hath not the Eternal Delight and Contentment of a Supernatural Life with God for her utmost End then of necessity she must stoop down to this as her main End and seek the best Delights this World afford without Thought or Regard of any other And what then serveth our Reason for but that we may with a little more neatness curiousness and stateliness do the very same things which the Beasts do i. e. Eat drink sleep play beget our like please our Senses and the like Yea which is worse what doth our Reason serve us for but to furnish us with such means and devices whereby we may become more brutish than the Beasts themselves And this we see plainly by Experience in such Persons who have cast off the Belief and Care of Heavenly Happiness What doth their height and strength of Wit and Parts serve them for but as a help to wade farther and deeper into the Mud of Sensuality than the Beasts can do And indeed if there be no Supernatural Life for Man who can blame them for so doing or seeking the best Delight and Contentment of this Natural But is it possible that the Reason of Man should digest such a Baseness as this that she is for nothing else but for a Slave and Vassal for the Sensitive Part Nothing methinks is more incongruous to Reason than to think that the Divinae aurae particula the Soul shou'd be given us only to serve such mean Purposes as these Are the Rich and Noble Endowments of it capable of no better employ than to cater exquisitely for the Body They who can entertain such unbecoming Thoughts of the Excellencies of their own Nature show that their own Follies have brought a greater degeneracy upon them than the Curse inflicted upon Adam's Fall We may reasonably conclude then That those Excellencies which Man hath above other Creatures were not given him to be the Vassals of Sensuality but as Advantages as Aids to raise him to the Blessedness of a Supernatural Life with God But it may be said That the Reasonable Soul of a Man hath in this Life an high Flight and an excellent Delight in the Raptures and Sweetness of Contemplation and besides in many Men doth manage Great and Noble Works about Governing and Ruling and therefore though it should have no Supernatural Happiness Eternal in another Life yet it cannot be said to be wholly a Servant and Drudge for the Sensual Part. But to this it may be answer'd First That the Speculations and Contemplations of the Reasonable Soul are all Essays and as it were Flutterings towards her last Perfection which end in the Contemplation of God And if we set aside or deny her such an End then all her Acts which are meerly Speculative and not profitable for this Life are no better than unprofitable Ramblings and wild Vagaries doing more hurt to the Life of Man by wasting it in the pursuit of Shadows and Fancies than they can any ways do good and are more foolish and vain than any other Works wherein she is employ'd for the Service of this Life and may in truth be counted as part of her Weakness and Vanity rather than her Felicity Though indeed if we think of them as we ought that they are as steps of Progress to a higher Contemplation of God then they are otherwise 2dly As to the Works which the Reason of Man doth in well-governing and setling such great Bodies of Society as Empires and Kingdoms they are indeed great admirable and noble If they be consider'd as referring to a Twofold End the One that Men may lead a godly and an honest Life the Other a quiet and peaceable One Both which Ends are briefly express'd by St. Paul 1 Tim. 2. 2. and are such as all Governments take upon them Now so far as the Work of Governing tendeth to uphold Religion as a way for Men to raise themselves to an Eternal Happiness so far the Reason of Man therein is a Servant to a divine and heavenly End But if we set aside this noble and glorious End and propound no other but that Societies of Men may live quietly and peaceably orderly and safely together in this World then all the Contrivances of Government and the Acts of the Rational Soul about it are but Services to the Sensitive Part of Man For what then are they else but agreed and setled Provisions that every Man may Eat and Drink in quiet Sleep Walk Ride Play Enjoy his Pleasures without any unjust disturbance of the Idle and Malicious In conclusion therefore this seems necessary to be granted That either the Reasonable Soul of Man serves to raise him to some happier
able to understand what the Joys of Heaven are and not before unless thou comest to feel them as now I do No there is but one way of understanding them perfectly and that is by attaining them This the Blessed Saints and Martyrs whom we this Day commemorate have long since experienced And this way I humbly beseech God to bring both you and me with them one day to a full and perfect understanding of them And that he may the better do this give me leave to Apply what has been said in few words and so conclude If then God has provided for us Full Joys and Eternal Pleasures in another Life which exceeds both our Power to express and our Hearts to conceive is it not our bounden Duty to render Him all the Honour and Praise due unto his Name For they that know his Name will put their trust in him Let this first of all excite our Hearts to praise and magnify God for his infinite Goodness and Love to Mankind that he hath ordained so happy an End and such transporting Joys for us poor Mortals as the Eternal Fruition of Himself Lord what is Man that thou shou'd exalt him above the other Works of thy hands and so far too as to make Thy self the Inheritance of his Rest and the Substance of his Triumphant Joy Is there any greater Happiness that thou couldst have given him than that thou shouldest give him thy self for his Happiness Is there any surer than that which is founded upon thy Immutability and Eternity What couldest thou have done more for thy Creatures How then can we do less than exalt and magnify thy infinite Goodness Mercy and Bounty to us for ever As thy Love is inexpressibly Glorious in giving thy Son for our Saviour so is it also in making thy self our Salvation and Felicity 2. Let us settle our Thoughts and Endeavours upon this as our main End to seek seriously these Full Joys and Eternal Pleasures of Heaven We would all willingly I make no question have such Contentment and Full Joys as may last for ever But are we in good earnest Let us seek them where they may be found You have heard already and your own Experience sufficiently witness the Truth of it The Joys and Pleasures of this World do all come far short of this Contentment Where then must we seek them but in the Bosom of the Father where only true Transporting and Everlasting Joys are to be found 'T is true indeed God has been pleased to put a Touch of Delight and Pleasure into these inferior Things the better to quicken the Spirits of Men for the necessary Actions of this Life And Christian Piety allows us the use of them if we would but keep her Rules and Measures in the Enjoyment of them And thus if God sees it so fit I cou'd wish you your Parts in both But yet I humbly and earnestly intreat you Do not lose the one for the other the Eternal for the Momentary the Satisfactory for the Unsatisfactory As a Merchant who Loads himself here and sets out for the East-Indies sets down before-hand what Ports and Havens God blessing him he will make for yet by the way he may perhaps touch in upon this or that Coast for fresh Water or other Refreshments and barter away there some small Trifles So I would persuade you to do Let this be your best-resolved Conclusion That Heaven and the Full Joys thereof shall be the Port and Haven which you will make for As for Earthly Delights and Pleasures you may touch in upon them by the way as for fresh Water or other Refreshment but barter away only some small Trifles for them Let not your best Loading your precious Souls go in Exchange for them Thus may you taste the Delights of this World here and be fill'd with the Full Joys of Heaven hereafter 3. And Lastly Let us be careful to walk in the Way which may bring us to these Full Joys and Eternal Pleasures of Heaven and what that Way is St. Paul tells us It is to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2. This is what I principally aimed at this day by setting before you the Joys of Heaven as powerful Motives to stir you up unto a Holy Religious Life on Earth as the necessary Condition of enjoying them in Heaven Others may have set before you the Terrors of the Lord Death and Hell to persuade you to the same thing but I have set before you Life and Heaven chuse whether you will But I know your Choice you had rather have Life than Death rather enjoy a Fellowship with God and his Holy Angels in the Pleasures of Heaven than a Partnership with the Devil and his Angels in the Torments of Hell But chuse this I beseech you not like Fools who chuse the End neglecting the necessary Means but like Rational Creatures chuse the Means together with the End and for the End-sake As you desire the Eternal Joys of Heaven so enter into the Right way which may bring you surely to it and that is to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied with it Prov. 14. 23. He that tells us In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Tells us likewise The upright shall dwell in thy presence Psal 140. 13. 'T is the Upright and Godly shall dwell in the Presence of God's Favour here and in the Presence of his Glory hereafter Let us therefore walk Uprightly both with God and Man that we may in some measure feel the Presence of God here in Divine Comforts and Consolations as Tasts and Assurances of the Full Joys of Heaven that await us When our Blessed Lord shall come with this Euge Well done thou true and faithful servant receive the Kingdom prepared for you That this may be the happy Condition of all here Let us humbly beseech God to give us Grace so to follow thy Blessed Saints in all Virtuous and Godly Living that we may come to those Unspeakable Joys which thou hast prepared for them that love Thee through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Power Praise and Thanksgiving now and for evermore Amen FINIS