Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A57158
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A sermon preached before the king at White-Hall on March 22, 1667, being Easter-day / by Edward Lord Bishop of Norwich.
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Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing R1283; ESTC R32286
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13,905
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38
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proposeth as its ultimate end to please God and to bring glory to his Name is not guided by Carnal hopes or fears to please men but chiefly regards God's eye and his approbation So Abraham walked before God so David set the Lord alwayes before his face so our Blessed Saviour did always those things that pleased his Father And great Reason it is that the first of Beings should be the last of Ends that we should study to please and bring glory to him who in so doing hath promised to assist and reward us and by not so doing is provoked both to disappoint and to destroy us Lastly Our good works cannot please God but in and through Jesus Christ. For 1. his Spirit and Grace are necessary to enable all our performances 2. His Merits and mercy are necessary to pardon all our failings Thus farr the Matter of the Prayer Perfection in Every good work to do God's will We are next to Consider the Principles of these good works which are 1. God's peaceable affection towards us The God of Peace Enmity began at us but Reconciliation begins at God our destruction is of our selves But from him is our help Hos. 13. 9. He came not onely to save but to seek and to finde that which was lost Luke 19. 10. When we were Sinners obnoxious to Justice Enemies Exposed to wrath without Strength Unable to decline God's Justice to withstand his Power to prevent or escape his Displeasure for him in this Case to send after his Creatures his Enemies that fled from him that Rebelled against him to be seech them to be reconciled unto God to be content to be saved to accept of pardon and peace of glory and Blessedness this is a love which passeth knowledge which exceedeth the expression or Comprehension of Men or Angells And we must thus apprehend God as a God of Peace before we can be fitted for any good work It is the Nature of Man as the Historian tells us odisse quem Laeserit We having by Sin wronged God do after hate and fly from him till he proclaim Pardon and Peace Peter repented not of his Denial till Christ looked back upon him the Tears which fell from his Eyes were put into them by the Eyes of Christ. While Heaven in Winter is cold and tempestuous the Earth is Barren till the Sun return with warmoh and healing So the Soul is fruitless till the Light and favour of God shine forth upon it We love him because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4. 19. We Remember our wayes when he is pacified towards us Ezek. 16. 63. His pardon and goodness is the ground of our fear There is forgiveness with Thee saieth the Psalmist that thou mayest be feared Psal. 130. 4. They shall fear the Lord and his Goodness Hos. 3. 5. Godly men sayeth Macarius have Joy and Fear mingled together the Joy which they have in God Makes them Fear to offend him They dare not grieve him that comforts them nor use his Favours to his own dishonour The best way therefore to Abound in good works to be kept in an Uniform and constant Love of God's holy wayes is to get our Hearts possessed with a Sense and assurance of Divine Love that God is unto us in Christ a God of Peace for where God speaks Peace he brings Healing Isai. 57. 19. The Peace of God wherever it is will Rule as the Apostle teacheth us Col. 3. 15. Assurance of Faith is an excellent means to have the Heart sprinkled from an Evil Conscience Heb. 10. 22. And here since our God is a God of Peace Our Saviour a Prince of Peace His Gospel a Covenant of Peace His Church a City of Peace compacted within it self wherein in the purest Age thereof the Members were all of one Heart and one Soul since we have all but one Spirit one Faith one Hope one Baptisme one Common Salvation as Saint Jude calls it How should we all bewaile the never enough-lamented Divisions which still Continue and wofully increase in the midst of the most considerable Protestant Nation in the Christian World How should all of us besiege Heaven with United Prayers with Uncessant Importunities for the peace of Jerusalem How should All whom the God of Peace hath entrusted with the care of his House looking strait forward with a single Eye and Unbiassed aime to the Glory of God the Interest of Religion and Salvation of Souls put forth their utmost and most Zealous Endeavours to close up these dolefull Breaches which are amongst us Rulers by the Prophet are called Healers Isa. 3. 7. and it is recorded for the honour of Jehoash King of Judah that he took care for the repairing of the breaches of the House of God 2 Reg. 12. 5. The Church of Christ in Heaven shall have no Divisions in it and he hath taught us to Pray that his will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Why should we not with all Seriousness and Sincerity endeavour as farr as possibly may be to Effect that which we hope for in Heaven which we Pray for on Earth We read of Wise-hearted Men that they made several Curtaines with Loops and Taches and so Coupled them to one another that they became one Tabernacle Exod. 36. The Lord thereby teaching us that it is a work of special wisedom from Above so to procure Order and Unity in his Church that the Interest and Beauty thereof may be strengthened and preserved that it may become Beautifull as Tirrah comely as Jerusalem Terrible as an Army with Banners For certainly next to Truth of Doctrine Purity of Worship and Holiness of Life there is nothing more necessary for promoting God's Honour and Mens Salvation for preventing all Atheistical prejudices against Religion and departures to a common Adversarie for strengthening the Interests of all both Governors and Governed in the Church than the Peace and Unity thereof is And so long as Ephraim is against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah we may Justly fear that God's Anger is not yet turned away but that his Hand is stretched out still as the Prophet speaks Isai. 9. 21. The next Principle of Perfection is God's Gracious Working in us fitting preventing assisting us unto the Good Works here prayed for This Aide of Divine Grace is Necessary 1. to our Habitual Aptness 2. to our Actual working 3. to our Progress and Perseverance in any good All our good Works are begun continued and ended onely by God's Grace Creatures which seek no higher Perfections than are to befound within the Sphere of their own Nature may by the Guidance and force of Nature attain thereunto But Man seeking a Supernatural Happiness must be thereunto carried by the force of Supernatural Grace 1. Then our Habitual Fitness is onely from Grace Our Sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. of our Selves we are utterly Indisposed unto Good This Indisposition