Selected quad for the lemma: world_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A41090
|
The eternal joys of God's presence a sermon / preach'd at the Temple Church upon All Saints Day by Henry Felton.
|
Felton, Henry, 1656-1701.
|
1699
(1699)
|
Wing F664; ESTC R28626
|
12,054
|
31
|
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