Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	affection_n	love_n	thought_n	2,136	5	6.6030	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26807	A short description of the blessed place and state of the saints above in a discourse upon the words of Our Blessed Saviour, John XIV, 2, in my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you / by William Bates.	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1687 (1687)	Wing B1125; ESTC R25866	33,196	119

Refreshing Are we pain'd with Diseases he can more easily change the Tone of Nature in a sickly Body and make it healthy than one can change the stop in an Organ that presently alters the sound but his Love dispenses bitter Things to us that are necessary for our Spiritual and Everlasting Good His End is to prepare us for Heaven that is prepared for us The Apostle declares He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God that is made us fit for the Heavenly Glory The Divine disposal of Things here to the Saints has a certain Order to their Eternal State He purgeth out our vicious guilty Affections to the World by sharp Physick that our Hopes of Heaven may be more pure and vigorous more actuated by serious Thoughts and intense Desires that we may feel the sense of the Psalmist's Expression O when shall we come and appear before God! In short Art thou in the Vale of Tears languishing in Sorrow and dying every Day by Faith ascend to the Mountains of Spices the Blessed Place Above and thou wilt find the Comforts of God to revive and delight thy Soul 7. Let this reconcile Death to us The Pale Horse is sent to bring us to our Father's House The Apostle expresses the true Christian Temper In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our House that is from Heaven And we are willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. Every Saint in the present World is both a Prison and a Captive his Soul is detain'd from the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God by confinement to his Body Therefore methinks he should not merely be content to die out of the Necessity of Nature when he can live no longer but desire the happy removal and say with the Psalmist I rejoic'd when they said to me Let us go into the House of the Lord. 'T is true Nature will recoile and the extinguishing the present Life with all its sensible pleasant Operations is uneasy to us but as when the Candles are put out the Sun rises in its brightness so when the Natural Life ceases the Spiritual Life springs forth in its Oriency and Glory When the Earthly Tabernacle is dissolv'd the naked separate Soul shall be received into a Building not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens Our joyful Affections in leaving the World and ascending to Heaven should be in some manner suitable to our reception there What a joyful Welcome will entertain us from God himself Our Saviour comforted his Disciples with a Heavenly Valediction I go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God The Gracious Relation sweetens the Glorious He that joyfully receives the rebellious but penitent Son to Grace will joyfully receive his obedient Sons to Glory He that now receives their Prayers with the Affection of a Father will receive their Persons with the dearest Expressions of Love His Fatherly Providence watch'd over them in the Way and will triumphantly bring them Home Here many Blessed Testimonies of God's Love are given to the Saints that produce such a spiritual sweetness in their Hearts that they esteem his loving Kindness as better than Life more worth than all the World but the full revealing of his Love is only in Heaven And as a Child knows by Experience the Love of his Father but the Degrees and Strength of his Affection he does not understand till arrived at mature Age and sees the Inheritance his Father enstates upon him Thus in Heaven only the Saints shall know the excellent and perfect Love of God to them when they are possess'd of that Glorious Kingdom his most free and rich Gift which transcends all their present Thoughts And our blessed Redeemer that by so many Titles has an Interest in us that is not contented in his own Personal Glory without our partaking of it that by his Resurrection open'd the Grave and by his Ascension open'd Heaven for us how dearly will he receive us He esteems Believers to be his Joy and Crown and with an extasy of Affection will present them to his Father Behold I and the Children that God has given me The Angels and Saints Above overflow with Joy when the Soul as a pure Spark freed from its Ashes ascends to the Element of Spirits how joyfully is it entertain'd by that Glorious Assembly The Angels that rejoice at the Conversion of a Sinner will much more at the Glorification of a Saint and the Saints have a new accession to their Joy upon the reception of any of their Brethren to that State of Felicity The Saints of all Ages may be resembled to a Fleet of Merchant-men that are bound for the same Port some arrive sooner others later according to the time of their setting out but those who arrive first how do they welcome their Friends that come safely afterwards An imperfect resemblance how dearly and joyfully the Saints that are gone before us welcome those who arrive in Heaven every day knowing the dangerous Seas they have past through where so many have been cast away and lost for ever All Heaven is in Musick celebrating the Praises of God and expressing their joyful sense when a Victorious Saint is come to receive his Reward How does this Consideration upbraid us that we are so unwilling to be dissolv'd and to be with our best Friends in the best Place that our Tears and Sorrows for leaving the Earthly Tabernacle and the low Comforts of this Life should continue till we come to the Gate of Heaven How can we be content with the Imperfections of the present State Here we are as distant from compleat Happiness as the highest Heaven is from the Earth Where is our Faith in the Promises of God Where is our Love to our Redeemer and our Souls The lothness of a Sincere Christian to die and be with Christ is a deflection from his Christianity Lastly This should refresh our Sorrows for the loss of our dearest Friends that die in the Lord. Here is a mournful parting when they are laid in the cold dark and silent Mansions of the Earth when those whom we lov'd as our own Souls are finally separated from us and we shall see their Faces no more And as one that is directed by the Light of a Torch in the Night when 't is taken away is more sensible of the Darkness than if he had not been inlightned by it So when those dear Friends are taken away whose Conversation was the Light and Joy of our Lives we are more darkned with Sorrow than if we had never injoy'd them But if we duly consider Things there is more reason of Joy than Sorrow at the departure of the Saints Our Saviour tells his Disciples that were mourning for his signifying that he must go away If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I say I must go to my Father to reign with him in Soveraign Glory Sincere Love will make us more to

Unbelievers in the Christian Church and such are all those who implicitly despise and reject Heaven for the present World This will aggravate the Sin and Sentence of the Carnal and Worldly that they despise such glorious Realities for empty Vanities Desperate Gamesters that venture a Kingdom at every Throw What blindness of Mind or rather perversness of Heart is it that Men pursue with their best strength and desires the fading and false World and slight Heaven an inestimable and everlasting Treasure Certainly when Death shall open their Eyes they will have chang'd thoughts of Things 'T is related by a wise Historian That a Citizen pleaded his own Cause of great moment before Philip King of Macedon who slept during the Plea and a little after pass'd an unrighteous Judgment against him the injur'd Person reply'd I appeal from your Sentence A word that seem'd so presumptuous to an Independent Soveraign that with indignation the King asked him To whom he appeal'd He answered From the King sleeping to the King waking Thus Men who are led by Sense are asleep whilst the Cause of infinite Concernment eternal Salvation is faithfully pleaded by the Advocates of their Souls and they determine for the Interest of the Flesh against the Spirit but their waking Thoughts will discover the unrighteousness of their carnal Judgment In the next State how will they with restless Anguish remember their foolish Bargain to exchange an everlasting Treasure for fading Toys We may a little conjecture the Torments of the Damn'd by the Terrors of the Dying then the enlightned guilty Conscience makes them cry out O that we had been wise so to use the World that we might enjoy God! O that we had been so careful to have obtain'd an Interest in Heaven as we have been to gain the Earth Then the stinging Remorse begins that shall never end 3. Let us make it our fixed Aim our zealous constant Endeavour to secure our Title to this heavenly Inheritance Let Eternity be our Counseller and guide our Choice Let us not build our Felicity on the Sand but on the Rock that cannot be shaken Such is the excellent Goodness of God reveal'd in the Gospel that every Person that sincerely and regularly seeks Heaven shall obtain it and no Person shall be depriv'd of it but for his wilful neglect Now our Blessed Saviour who open'd the Eternal Kingdom has declar'd to us upon what terms it may be obtain'd in his conference with Nicodemus Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Natural Birth and Accomplishments tho never so high and noble are of no advantage there The degeneracy of Man from his Primitive Holiness makes him both unworthy and uncapable of having a right or possession of Heaven without a Divine Change a Spiritual Regeneration The supernatural Inheritance is annext to the being born of God that is the receiving a Principle of Life and Actions suitable to the Life of God in universal Holiness and Righteousness 'T is not a ground of Title to Heaven that we have a natural alliance to God as the Father of Spirits in the first Creation but we must be his Off-spring by a new and more excellent Creation according to our Saviour's words That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit We must be renewed in the Spirit of our Minds spiritualiz'd in our Affections before we can obtain an interest in his Love which was forfeited by our Rebellion and consequently in his Kingdom Adoption into God's Family and the Line of Heaven is always in conjunction with the renovation of the Divine Nature and Image in us The Holy Spirit witnesses with our Spirits that we are the Children of God but his witnessing is always consequent to his working in us those Graces that constitute us to be the Children of God an humble Fear to offend him a Care to please him a Zeal for his Glory delight in Communion with him resignation to his Will and Wisdom trust on his Fatherly Love and a desire to be in his Blessed Presence By the discovery of these filial Affections our Divine Relation is made sure The Apostle infers If Sons then Heirs Holiness is the infallible Evidence of Election for the Vessels of Mercy are prepar'd by Holiness for Glory the Seal of Adoption whereby God's Children are distinguish'd from the World and the Earnest of their Inheritance for Heaven is a blissful State of Purity and the Graces with the Comforts of the Spirit are the beginnings of it here 'T is further to be observ'd that our right in the Heavenly Inheritance depends upon our union with Christ. He instates his Members in the same Relation with himself to God Thus he declares to his Disciples I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Christ's Relation hath precedency in Point of Dignity and Causality and he derives a Right to us in his Father's House We are Coheirs with Christ. Now 't is universally and necessarily true what the Apostle saith Whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For our vital Union with him is by the Sanctifying Spirit on Christ's part and by Faith and Love on our part Briefly Without Holiness no Man shall see God The Exclusion is absolute and universal of all unsanctified Persons 'T is impossible God should admit them into Heaven for the Rights of Justice are inviolable we must come to Christ's Tribunal before we come to his Throne We must come to God the Judg of all before we are admitted into the number of Just Men made perfect According to our Works the Reward will be and Men are uncapable of enjoying Heaven without Holiness The Wisdom of God appears in that the various sorts of Creatures live in the Elements from which they were produc'd and have Natures suitable to the Places of their Residence The Beasts that were form'd from the Earth walk and rest there the Birds and Fishes that were produc'd out of the Waters the one sort flies in the Air that is rarefied Water the other swim in Water that is the thickest Air and that Wisdom more evidently appears in suiting the everlasting States of Men to their moral Dispositions Thus we must be born from above if we would joyfully live above The Apostle tells us That Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven The natural Body must be spiritualiz'd and invested with Celestial Qualities before it can enter into that Glorious Place and the Reason is more strong that earthly sensual Souls can never enter into Heaven there being an absolute Contrariety and Opposition between the habitual constitution of such and that place and state they must be Holy and Heavenly to be prepar'd for the Divine Presence and to converse with the purified Assembly Above 'till they are wrought for that blessed End cleansed and purified and endued with Holy Qualities till they are made meet they cannot possess the

Inheritance of the Saints in Light How vain and impossible are the hopes of unrenewed Sinners The Presence and Conversation of the Saints is now an offence to them damps their carnal Jollity and wild Mirth for it upbraids their neglect of Serious Religion How fearful will the sight of God be to them If the unpurg'd Eye cannot bear the Light of a Candle how will it sustain the glorious Light of the Sun The Lord's Day in its Sacred employment is their burden how can they expect to enjoy an everlasting Sabbath Above How can there be a lively Hope of Heaven that implies perfection of Holiness when they neither seriously desire nor endeavour to be Holy They may have a Cobweb Hope that will be swept away but Hope that is as an Anchor to secure the Soul hath always a purifying influence on the Heart and Life Whoever hath this Hope of being like to Christ in Glory purifies himself even as he is pure In short as the Jews had a carnal conceit of the Messias and transform'd him into a temporal Prince coming with Pomp and Splendor to free their Nation from Bondage and exalt it to the highest Dominion in the World and this Conceit so strongly possest them that when the Son of God who was Holy Harmless and Undefiled and separate from Sinners appear'd in an humble state to reform and save Mankind they rejected him Thus the unregenerate have a carnal conceit of Heaven They can only fancy it as a place of visible Glory and a Sanctuary and Refuge from the Torments of Hell and in that Notion desire it but as the Place wherein that Holy God is enjoyed and glorified by the Saints they cannot desire nor delight in it 4. From hence we should be induc'd to regulate our Minds Affections and Conversation becoming our present State and future Hopes Our Father's House our Everlasting Home is Above and here we are Strangers in Condition and should be so in Disposition to present Things This should lessen our Esteem our Desires and Delights and moderate our Endeavours with respect to the present World 'T is the wise and earnest counsel of St. Peter Dearly beloved Brethren I beseech you as Pilgrims and Strangers abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul Sensual Lusts darken the Mind that it doth not rightly value Things nor make judicious Comparisons between superficial fleeting Things of Time and the sure and solid good Things of Eternity The lower Appetites are not capable nor careful to obtain a Spiritual and Future Happiness but intensely applied to what is present and sensible But the serious Thoughts of our present Tenure how frail how uncertain and of the next State how unchangeable and fixt would be effectual to frame our Hearts that we may manage the World with indifferent Affections To rejoice in it as if we rejoiced not to buy as if we possessed not to use it so as not to abuse it How doth the Faith of the Saints under the Law upbraid our Infidelity They had not so clear a revelation of the Heavenly State yet they confest they were Pilgrims and Strangers on Earth and desir'd a better Country And David not only when he was as a Patridg chas'd upon the Mountains but when seated on the Royal Throne acknowledges We are Strangers as all our Fathers were and his Affections were accordingly weaned from the World Was ever Passenger so foolish that being to pass over a narrow Strait of the Sea of a days sayling makes Provisions for a Voyage of a Year or that will be at great cost to paint an Inn and adorn it with rich Furniture where he is to lodge but a Night 'T is incomparably more reproachful folly to spend the best of our Time and Strength and Spirits for the gaining the present World as if we were to continue here for ever How many are sensual and secure in their earthly Enjoyments 'till as the rich Voluptuary that was cloth'd in Purple and far'd deliciously every day they unexpectedly die and irrecoverably drop into Hell Just like a Traveller that lays himself under the shadow of some Trees in his way Home and sleeps till the Night with its Darkness and Dangers surprizes him and he is destroyed by Robbers or wild Beasts How plain and necessary a Lesson is the vanity and shortness of the present Life but how few effectually learn it The Psalmist addresses himself to God for Instruction So teach us to number our Days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Let Men fancy what they please of their Tenure here they are but Strangers and have no continuing City here and the consequent Duty is most clearly and strongly urged by the Apostle Let them seek one to come 5. Let our Conversation be in Heaven whilst we are upon the Earth Every Thing in Nature hath a tendency to its Original and Perfection Rivers that come from the Sea are in a living Motion returning thither If you stop their Course and confine them though in Receptacles of Marble they corrupt and die The Divine Nature in the Saints hath a strong tendency to Heaven from whence it came and raiseth the Soul by solemn Thoughts and ardent Desires to that Blessed Place A Philosopher that was ask'd of what Country he was replied He was a Citizen of the World The Scripture corrects the Language and teaches us that we are Citizens of Heaven we are passing to the Jerusalem Above the Land of Promise the true Land of the Living and all our Aims and Endeavours should have a final respect thither Our Hearts should be where our Treasure is How joyful how advantagious is a Heavenly Conversation The serious and believing Contemplation of Heaven is a temperate Extasy and brings the Soul into the Divine Presence anticipates the Joy of it by a sweet foretast by a supernatural elevation of Mind by frequent lively Thoughts of our Glorious Inheritance we gradually enter into it the prospect of that causes in the Saints a Holy Contempt of the World as not worthy our Ambition and Diligence it causes such a self-denial from the inviting temptatations of Sense that Men whose Portion is in this Life are forc'd to admire their restraint from those Objects that ravish Carnal Hearts A Heavenly Christian will improve sensible Things for spiritual Ends as Feathers that have a natural Weight inclining to the Center yet planted in the Wings of a Bird by a living Motion carry it aloft in the free Air. Our rising in the Morning is an Emblem of the Resurrection from the Grave to behold the bright Day of Eternity All the Refreshments and Comforts of the present Life should be an advantage to raise our Minds to God who is the Supreme Good whose Fulness eminently contains all Good and infinitely exceeds all our Expectations Heavenly Love will dry up the Vanity of our Thoughts and Affections and rescue the Mind from the prostitution to sensible Things and most pleasantly exercise