Selected quad for the lemma: father_n
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A28587
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Man's great duty, or, A discourse of the care every man should take to make sure the salvation of his own Soul by Samuel Bold, rector of Styple in Dorsetshire.
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Bold, S. (Samuel), 1649-1737.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing B3481; ESTC R34369
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57,671
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141
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are passed away Rev. 21.4 How happy are they who are safe from and out of the reach of all those Torment and Curses to which Sin doth expose People and under which others must eternally roar who whilst others fry in unquenchable Flames and must be always tost on the Waves and Surges of the ever burning Lake endure none of their Anguish but are filled with a Joy which no Tongue can relate O the Honor to which they are advanced the Glory with which they are Crowned the Treasures they enjoy the Kingdoms they have received the Delights with which they are and will be everlastingly entertained Our Understandings and Minds are not capacious and wide enough to comprehend or conceive the great and excellent things that are conferred on them Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 In thy presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for ever more Psal 16.11 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness Psal 17.15 Because thy loving Kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I praise thee while I Live I will lift up my Hands in thy Name My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips Psal 63.3 4 5. Can any thing be so desirable to me as when I die to have my precious Soul guarded and conveyed by holy and blessed Angels through the airy Regions unto Abraham's Bosom into the kindest Embraces of the holy amiable and loving Jesus And at the general Resurrection to have my Body raised Incorruptible and Glorious and every way disposed for and united to its happy Soul that they may be joint and eternal sharers in all those blessed Fruitions infinite Grace and Love will vouchsafe How happy shall I be if through Grace I arrive to be for ever with Christ What a glorious Change will then be wrought on me How wonderfully will all the Powers and Faculties of my Soul be advanced improved and enlarged How much more beautiful and capacious will they be made than now they are O the alteration that shall be made on me to my unconceivable Advantage when I shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament as the Stars for Ever and Ever Dan. 12.3 Yea as the Sun in the Kingdom of my Father Mat. 13.43 When this vile Body shall be Changed and fashioned like unto the Glorious Body of My Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.21 What account should I make of such a Privilege Honor and Felicity How should I prepare wait and long for this Great Holy and Glorious Change The word of that God who is faithful and true and cannot Lie affords us evident and full assurance that such a glorious and everlastingly happy State is prepared and may be obtained and it likewise certifies what manner of People they must be who shall be admitted to it The Lord Jesus the supream Judge of and great King over all will at the last Day say unto them on his right Hand Come ye blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Matt. 25.34 He will render to every Man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in Well-doing seek for Glory and Honor and Immortality Eternal Life Rom. 2.6 7. Henceforth saith St. Paul there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also who love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead to an Inheritance Incorruptible and Undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be Revealed in the last Time 1 Pet. 1.3 4 5. This Salvation comprehends all that is Great all that is Honorable all that is truly Delighting Good and Desirable O that we may all duly strive labour desire and long to be prepared for and brought to the actual possession of it What should we wish for on our own behalves if we have any love for our selves but that God himself the only satisfying good would be our Portion That we may have free Intimate full and everlasting Communion in the highest Heavens with the Father Son and Holy Spirit with glorious Angels and all the Saints above That we may come to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first Born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel Heb. 12.22 c. Can we desire and pant after any thing comparable to our beholding our Saviour's Glory and being for ever with him in his Kingdom where he Reigns in Glory Were we throughly perswaded of and did we in any measure esteem this Salvation as we ought for indeed we cannot prize it as it deserves what an happy Change should we presently perceive in our selves What a mighty power and efficacy should we feel it have on our Souls What a sweet and constraining influence should we find it shed abroad in our Hearts and Lives How strangely would it abate and take off our love and affection to this World It s Pomps its Pleasures its Vanities How much would it raise us above the Flatteries which have hitherto Deluded us How would it make us despise and contemn the painted Glories and empty Enjoyments which we have so unweariedly pursued and so passionately courted How indifferent should we be to Earthly things and how little impression would any Worldly Allurements make on us if we did steadily look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 And did we affectionately consider that the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal How would this engage us to animate us in and with what success and vigor would it carry us through all our Duties Would not our Conversation be in Heaven did we seriously look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from thence to call and take
us along with him thither I press toward the the Mark for the Price of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead What support would this yield us With what patience would this possess our Souls Yea with what joy would this fill us in the greatest Tribulations Distresses and Persecutions we can possibly have occasion to encounter in our passage toward it We glory in the Tribulations also Rom. 5.3 For which cause we faint not but tho our outward Man perish the inward Man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.16 17. I reckon that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 We read of those Heb. 10.24 who took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring Substance Yea how would this reconcile us to leave the World quite make us earnestly desire to Die and that the time may hasten apace when we may actually give up the Ghost and resign up our Spirits to Christ Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.23 Who can conceive the thousandth yea the least part of the Happiness of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect With what knowledge admiration and love shall we be filled when we are setled yonder in those bright and shining Thrones when we are joined to the Heavenly Choir and bear our part in the eternal Halelujahs and shall be ascribing Honor Glory and Praise to him that sitteth on Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever With what raptures of Love Praise and Joy shall we be everlastingly entertained when we become Denizens of that glorious City of which the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is the Temple where we shall see his Face and have his Name in our Fore-heads where there shall be no Night where we shall need no Candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord God will give us Light and we shall reign for ever and ever How incomprehensibly great and good are the things which God hath in store for them who heartily love and sincerely serve him seeing God will be pleased to admit such frail imperfect Mortals as we are to the full fruition of himself and his Christ surely there is nothing can deserve to be esteemed and called Blessedness but only this How can I prize and value how can I affect strive and long for any thing but this Salvation alone How am I transported with admiration and wonder yet these do fail me they flag they cannot mount high enough by thousands of Degrees Salvation is so transcendent O let my Love increase grow ripe ascend still higher and higher How would the Damned value this Salvation might they have but the least hopes of ever being admitted to it What esteem have the Saints above for it Yea how do sincere Believers here prize it especially when they have a lively vigorous sense of it St. Paul was positive that to Die would be his Gain Phil 1.21 Others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection Heb. 11.35 O my stupid senseless Soul what ails thee that thou still liest grovelling here that thy motion is so slow O! for the strongest and most seraphick flights of Love for the Extasies of Passion now What art thou bereaved of all thy Powers Hast thou lost thy Nature Art thou Metamorphos'd and chang'd into a lifeless lump of Matter Rouze and awake exert and put forth all thy Strength Tho hitherto thou hast been deceived by Objects much too little and unsatisfying here 's that which calls for all thy Love thy Zeal thy Life Here is Salvation which much exceeds thy most extended thoughts and reach Here 's that which none could ever esteem according to the fulness of its worth the most glittering splendid worldly Triumphs are at best but poor deceitful treacherous and insipid Vanities all the Grandeur Pomp and Glories here do soon decay and wither do quickly dwindle into nothing but this Salvation is truly great and Glorious it is substantial durable and satisfying Most holy true and blessed Jesus thou hast expresly told us that in thy Father's House there are many Mansions Joh. 14.2.3 That thou art gone to prepare a place for thy faithful People And that thou wilt come again and receive them unto thy Self that where thou art there they may be also Thou Prayedst for them with most tender and earnest Affection when thou wast here And it is thy will and pleasure that thy Saints and Servants those whom the Father hath given thee shall be with thee where thou art that they may behold thy Glory Matt. 17.24 Thou dost not enjoin them any thing in order to their being Saved but what thou wilt enable them by thy Spirit to perform Nor any thing but what thou can'st make pleasing and delightful to them by the abundance of thy Grace O Lord I here absolutely resign my self to be guided by thy Counsel afterterwards receive me to Glory Whom have I in Heaven but thee There is none upon Earth I can desire besides thee Be thou the strength and the joy of my Heart and my portion for ever There is not any thing comparable to thy Salvation Lord take from me what thou wilt make me Poor and needy let me be Scorned and Despised let my Body be Sick and every part and Joynt of it Sore and in Pain let me be afflicted and Persecuted yea do with me what thou wilt so that thou wilt grant that Grace and Peace may be multiplied to me at present through the knowledge of thy self so that thou wilt be pleased that I may at last obtain the end of my Faith and Hope the Salvation of my Soul Thirdly No Person can with reason expect or hope his Soul shall be Saved who is not resolvedly diligent in that course God hath ordained and prescribed him for this purpose That customary slight and formal course with which too many content themselves will not suffice to secure their Salvation The best have too much reason to complain of themselves because they are so supine remiss and careless about a business of so great importance in it self and unto which the Holy and most Righteous God requires all should give a diligent Attendance This is the one Thing necessary which must be minded with the greatest seriousness whatever is Neglected All other Affairs and Businesses must give place to this if at any time they happen to interfere with it A few accidental thoughts of some flitting unconstant desires after Salvation a customary observation of some of the outward parts of Devotion an over-vehement heat for particular Modes of Worship speculative Opinions and doubtful Practices will