Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	earth_n	lord_n	praise_n	7,070	5	7.8145	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62392	The faithful souldier's reward, or, A glimpse of the saints happiness discovered in two sermons, occasioned by the death of that truly vertuous and religious gentle woman, Mrs. Katherine Disney : the former preached at Kirkstead, the place of her last abode here upon the earth, on the 18th day of May, 1690, being the Lord's Day, and the latter at Swinderly, near Lincoln, where she was interr'd the Tuesday following / by William Scoffin.	Scoffin, William, 1655?-1732.	1692 (1692)	Wing S933; ESTC R11432	41,514	126

thou art Known and Love as thou art Beloved of Him O Blessed Condition indeed With what raised Affections will the Faithful serve God when once they arrive to this State of Perfection How will they contemplate his incomparable Excellencies And how joyfully then will they sing forth his Praises They 'l never cease to love and admire and therefore never cease to praise their God Their Hearts will be there eternally enflamed and their Mouths eternally opened to glorify him But with the highest Veneration they 'l adore his Goodness and sing aloud of his Mercy Psal 59.16 I will sing of thy Power O Lord saith David yea I will sing aloud of thy Mercy And again saith he in another Place I will sing of the Mercies of the Lord for ever Psal 89.1 'T is certain that the glorify'd Saints in Heaven will have such a Sense of God's Mercy and Love as shall fill their Mouths with Eternal Praises Ezek. 16.6 8. Joh. 3.16 chap. 6.44 Jer. 31.3 O how will they admire and adore that Love that pitied them in their lost Estate when no Eye pitied them That Love that provided a Redeemer for them and in time brought them to close with him That Love that in such an admirable manner conducted them through the World and ordered all things here below to their Spiritual and Eternal Advantage Yea and they 'l always be under the Beams of his Love which will be vigorously reflected in their joyful Praises It will there be the highest Felicity to contemplate his most excellent Perfections their greatest Pleasure to love and please him and their highest Honour to glorify him They 'l there be employed in the noblest Work and excited by the highest Motives I will speak of the glorious Honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous Works saith David Psal 145.5 And again They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great Goodness and shall sing of thy Righteousness Ver. 7. Now if the Saints while here on Earth do thus love and praise and adore the Lord how much more when they come into Heaven Their affectionate Praises will there be renewed without any let or intermission because the Divine Favours are there renewed every Moment O Blessed and Glorious Employment indeed Who would not strive to be thus employed All thy Works shall praise thee Psal 145.10 11. O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee They shall speak of the Glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy Power Ver. 13. Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy Dominion endureth throughout all Generations O help us to love and praise thee now that we may be more fitted for Eternal Praises 2. The glorify'd Saints and Angels will be a Believer's everlasting Companions And what a blessed Society will this be and how much will it add to our Happiness 'T is comfortable to meet with the Saints of God now though it be but in a Mourning-Duty but most sure it is their Communion there will be quite another thing For then they 'l be perfectly and eternally freed from all their Infirmities and Weaknesses Heb. 12.23 Now alas their many Infirmities do much hinder the pleasure of their Society but most delightful then will their Company be Here their Affections are flat and low and they are often dull and out of frame but in Heaven it will be otherwise There we shall have the most raised Affections and shall always be in a serious Frame And this will indear us to one another and will make our Communion most pleasing and delightful David esteemed the Saints of God the most excellent Persons upon Earth Psal 16.3 119.63 Psal 15.4 1 Joh. 3.14 and declared that in the Society of them he took the greatest Delight And this indeed is the true Character of a Heaven-born Citizen of Zion He is one that greatly loves and delights in the Company and Society of the Saints The Wicked desire not their Society and shall therefore be eternally separated from it but the Faithful do greatly love and value it and therefore shall eternally enjoy it 3. The Faithful shall then see the Face and enjoy the Presence of their Glorious Redeemer Joh. 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the Foundation of the World Phil. 1.23 The Souls of the Faithful shall be with Christ immediately after Death and both Body and Soul shall be with him at the General Resurrection Joh. 14.2 3. 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 And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also At Death Luk. 16.22 Christ sends his Angels to conduct the Soul to Heaven But at the general Resurrection he will come himself in Person and will fetch us thither in State which will make our Access to Heaven the more glorious He will then come to lead his Flock to their everlasting Fold to present his Bride unto God Eph. 5.27 decked and apparelled with Glory And O what a glorious Sight will it be to see Christ and his Followers with Crowns on their Heads To see their triumphant Entrance into those everlasting Mansions and the Angels welcoming them with Shouts of Joy And then to see Christ on his Throne of Glory and they themselves placed round about him beholding him there with open Face in his greatest Splendour and Dignity What a Soul-enravishing Sight will this be Happy are thy Men 2 Chron. 9.7 and happy are these thy Servants which stand continually before thee and hear thy Wisdom said the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon But O how much more happy will they be who shall stand before Christ and see his Glory Why thus shall his Faithful Servants do Joh. 12.26 If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be if any Man serve me him will my Father honour It will be an Honour and Happiness indeed to be ever in the Presence of their glorious Redeemer and there to be glorified with him What Comfort and Encouragement doth this afford to the Faithful Souldiers of Christ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3.21 O how should this animate and encourage us against the Spiritual Enemies of our Souls If we now fight couragiously under Christ's Banner we shall one Day be crowned with Glory and Honour And this assuredly will make amends for all that we can do or suffer for him Moses was well assured of it and therefore esteemed Reproaches for Christ Heb. 11.26 above all the Treasures in Egypt for he had respect

see whatever Favours are shewed to Christ's poor Members Mat. 10.40 41 42. whatever Acts of Mercy and Charity are exercis'd towards them Christ takes all as done to himself And on the other hand whatsoever is done against the Members of Christ whatsoever Unmercifulness or Acts of Cruelty are exercis'd towards them Christ takes it all as done against himself When ever they are slighted and neglected he looks upon himself as concerned therein I was an hungred Mat. 25 42 will he say and ye gave me no Meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no Drink Ver. 43. I was a Stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in Prison and ye visited me not For in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these my poor Members Ver. 45. ye did it not to me So Act. 9.4 5. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me saith Christ And Saul said Who art thou Lord And the Lord answered him and said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest Why the Lord Jesus was in Heaven quite above Saul's reach How the could Saul persecute him It was in his Members For Saul had been persecuting the poor Members of Christ and was now going to Damascus on the same Design and Christ took all those Acts of Cruelty which were exercised towards his Members as if they had been done to his own Person Thus also saith the Prophet to the People of the Lord Zech. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of my Eye This speaks Comfort to the Members of Christ who are hated and persecuted for Righteousness sake but sure it speaks Terrour to their Enemies Isa 34.8 For the Day is coming when the Lord will vindicate his own Cause and will call all such to a Reckoning And then they will assuredly find it hard to have kick'd against the Pricks Act. 9.5 3. We may further observe how very acceptable unto the Lord the Works of Mercy and Charity are These are the only Works which are mentioned in the Description of the Last Judgment The Lord takes delight in nothing more than he doth in shewing of Mercy no wonder then Luk. 6.36 that Acts of Mercy are so very acceptable unto him Jam. 1.27 Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from the World And on the other hand as God is well pleased with Acts of Mercy so he 's greatly provok'd with Vnmercifulness and Acts of Cruelty As he will say to the Righteous and Merciful Come ye Blessed So he will say to the Wicked and Unmerciful Depart ye Cursed He shall have Judgment without Mercy that hath shewed no Mercy Jam. 2.13 4. Observe the different Tempers of the Righteous and Wicked in Judgment The Righteous who have done many good Works will be asham'd to hear any of them mentioned by Christ so sensible are they of their great Imperfections Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee c. will they say But the Wicked who have done little or no good at all will be ready to excuse and justify themselves saying When saw we thee an hungred Matth. 25.44 or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in Prison and did not minister unto thee But their vain Excuses will do them no good For these shall go into everlasting Punishment Ver. 46. but the Righteous unto Life Eternal And now I come to the Second Thing propounded which is to shew you as the Lord shall enable me wherein the Happiness of Believers in the other World will chiefly consist And I humbly conceive it will chiefly consist in these two Particulars following 1. In a perfect freedom from all that is really Evil. 2. In the full enjoyment of all that is truly Good There is no Tongue indeed can possibly express the greatness of the Saints Happiness Yet so much may we conceive thereof by seriously considering these two Particulars as might fill our Souls with breathing Desires after the Enjoyment of it and with admiration of God's wonderful Love in providing such an Happiness for us Quest What then are those Evils that Believers shall be freed from at Death Why Heb. 12.23 1 Cor. 13.10 Eph. 5.27 1. They 'l be freed from all their Sins Infirmities Weaknesses and Imperfections And O what an Happiness will this be to be perfectly freed from Sin You that groan under the burden of Sin can set your Seal to this Truth that a perfect Freedom from all our Corruptions will make us happy indeed Chear up then believing Soul whose Infirmities and Weaknesses are thy greatest Burden for a time of Refreshment will shortly come Yet a little while and thou shalt sin no more nor sorrow any more Thou art now troubled for thy Unbelief thy hardness of Heart and deadness of Spirit and that thy Affections are so flat and low thy Corruptions so strong and thy Failings so many and that thou walk'st on so heavily in the Ways of God and canst not do the good thou wouldst but Death will knock off all these Fetters and set thee free within a while O that I might never sin more against my good and gracious God! Rom. 7.24 says a poor gracious Soul Why I tell thee poor Soul and take it for thy comfort that it is but a little while and thou shalt sin no more nor sorrow any more nor dishonour thy gracious God any more which is now the chief cause of thy greatest Sorrow There is no Comfort ariseth from hence to such as are in Love and in League with Sin but to those whose Sin is their great Grief and Burden it affordeth matter of very great Comfort 2. Believers shall likewise be freed from all their Temptations and Enemies 2 Cor 7.5 Now they are troubled on every side and molested with many Temptations but Death within a while will set them free For if the time will come when God's People here on Earth shall obtain Freedom from their Enemies in a very great measure how much more when they come to Heaven See Isa 11.9 and chap. 65.17 25. Rev. 20.1 2 3. Chear up then Believing Soul who art here surrounded with many Temptations for there is no Tempter in Heaven either to entice thee to Sin or to trouble and molest thee there are no Snares there to entangle thee no Enemy there that shall in any-wise hurt thee No no thou 'lt have none but Friends in Heaven and the best of Friends There Triumph over Sin is won The Devil and Death defac'd The Kingdom of the Just begun And there in Glory plac'd There Tyrants nothing have to do Nor Rack nor Rope is known Tormentors all and Satan too Are fully overthrown As one thus expresseth it in Metre 3. Believers shall be perfectly freed from all their Sicknesses Pains and Sorrows Rev. 7.16 17. They shall hunger no

it shall be well with him for they shall eat the Fruit of their doing But wo unto the Wicked it shall be ill with him for the Reward of his Hands shall be given him 'T is not said of the Righteous that they shall have what they have earned but they shall eat the Fruit of their doings i. e. They have done well and they shall fare well But now as to the Wicked they shall have their due desert the Reward of his Hands shall be given him Death is the just Wages of Sin Rom. 6.23 but Eternal Life is God's Free Gift through Jesus Christ our Lord. And now I come to apply the Doctrine and what hath been spoken from it Vse I. And the First Vse may be for our Information in these two or three Particulars As 1. We may see how vastly different the State of Believers and Unbelievers will be when they come to die God deals with them now in a different manner but then the Difference will be most apparent See Isa 65.13 14. Behold saith the Lord my Servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my Servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my Servants shall rejoice but ye shall be ashamed Behold my Servants shall sing for Joy of Heart but ye shall cry for Sorrow of Heart and shall howl for Vexation of Spirit Now if God deals thus differently with the Righteous and the Wicked even here in this World as he oftentimes doth how much more in the World to come 'T is true the Wicked are often exempted from those Sufferings which the Righteous do meet with in the World and hereupon for want of a right Sense of Things do conclude that themselves are the happier Persons But Death will make them of another Mind and shew them the Folly of their Self-flattering Conceits For then shall Believers immediately go to God and Unbelievers shall go to the Devil the one pass into Eternal Glory and the other into Misery and everlasting Punishment They have now while they are here very different Natures and hereafter they shall have as different Rewards The Righteous Man hath his worst things here Luk. 16.25 and his best he shall have hereafter Isa 3.10 11. And the Wicked on the contrary hath his best Things here and his worst he shall have hereafter The Conclusion will assuredly be dreadful to these but exceeding comfortable to the Righteous for everlasting Misery will be the Portion of the one and everlasting Happiness the Portion of the other Eternity is affixed to both Mat. 25.46 These shall go away into everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal The Happiness of the Saints will endure for ever and so will the Miseries of the Damned yea when thousands and thousands of Years are at an end they will both be as fresh as at the very first Moment O how great is that Happiness which the Damned will lose and how great are those Miseries which the Saints will escape How great are the Torments which the Damned shall endure and how great are the Joys of which the Saints shall partake Perhaps now Sirs you see little difference between the State to Believers and of Unbelievers but the Time will certainly yea and shortly come when you shall see Things in another manner Now it may be ye account the proud happy and think there 's little profit in serving the Lord but then shall ye discern between the Righteous and the Wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Mal. 3.14 18. 2. From what hath been said we may see God's wonderful Love to Believers in preparing for them such a glorious Inheritance and so freely conferring it on them What a Miracle of Mercy and Loving-Kindness is this 1 Joh. 3.1 2. and even that which might fill us with Admiration that the infinitely Blessed and Glorious God should take notice of such Wretches as we O wonderful Love indeed that such Rebels and Traitors as we have been should have admittance into his glorious Presence and be made Companions of the Holy Angels That such Clods of Earth such despicable Worms should be lifted up to the highest Heaven Mat. 13.43 that we might shine as Stars there yea as the Sun in the Kingdom of our Father And that this blessed State should be so freely provided and we taken into it on such gracious Terms Admirable Love indeed The Terms are Faith and not Merit which the Gracious God doth stand upon That 's the Tenor of the New Covenant Believe and live not do and live Good Works are an Evidence of the Truth of our Faith and of our Interest in that Blessedness but they do not any way merit or deserve it either in whole or in part No but it 's freely given to those that believe John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting Life He hath it as sure as if he was in actual Possession of it The Gracious God will exclude none but such as exclude themselves by their Unbelief Yea so merciful is he unto poor lost Sinners that he sends his Ambassadors up and down the World to offer Salvation unto them 2 Cor. 5.20 and to pray and beseech them in the Name of Christ to accept thereof on the most equitable Terms Nothing doth the Lord require but this that Sinners lay down their Rebellious Arms and be reconciled unto him that they accept of Christ for their Lord and Soveraign and be true to his Cause and Interest for the future O wonderful condescending Love How should we admire it That the infinite Majesty of Heaven and Earth should beseech vile Rebels to be reconciled to him Job 4.9 Ps 18.13 15. Mat. 10.28 when as he is able to dash them in pieces and even throw them into Hell with one Blast of his Mouth Should we cry Day and Night unto God to be reconcil'd unto us there would be nothing of wonder in it but that the offended God should beseech Offenders to lay by their Enmity and be at Peace with him sure this is matter of Wonder and Astonishment And yet how alas is his great Love abused and his rich Offers slighted and disregarded by the most As if the offered Salvation was meerly fictitious or the Heavenly Happiness were not worth the accepting O base Ingratitude and astonishing Madness to slight and neglect so great Salvation 3. From what hath been said we may see the great Folly of Men in refusing such an Happiness Prov. 1.22 33. What is it but Happiness that all Men seek after And for this they run they labour and toil and yet the most alas like the Dog in the Fable while they catch at the Shadow do lose the Substance How eager are Men in pursuit of that which they imagine will make them happy And what Cost and Pains will the most be at for the obtaining a little of the World's Felicity Whenas all worldly

to care for us here 1 Pet. 5.7 and provides so well for us hereafter Psal 17.14 15.1 Pet. 1.3 5. We have not yet received our Portion but it is laid up and in safe keeping for us and within a while we shall come to enjoy it Fear not little Flock saith Christ it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luke 12.32 Sure you that are adopted the Children of God Joh. 1.12 13. Rom. 8.17 Gal. 4.4 -7 and have thereby a Right to the Heavenly Inheritance may well be content with your Condition in this World you being so much better provided for in the World to come What if your Earthly Estate be sequestred or any ways taken from you Joh. 14.2 so long as you have a better Estate in Heaven that none can deprive you of even Eternal Mansions of Bliss and Glory Let the Foresight by Faith of this Glorious Estate wean you from all inordinate Affections to Humane and Earthly Things 1 Joh. 2.15 16 17. What are all the Pleasures and Riches and Honours in the World in comparison of those that are Spiritual and Heavenly These will not satisfy but increase our Desires but those will afford us the fullest Satisfaction These are Temporal and but for a Moment but those are Eternal and shall last us for ever The greatest Things that are here upon the Earth will appear to be what they are indeed but very small and trivial Things to those that can look beyond them with an Eye of Faith and take a view of the Heavenly Blessedness What is Earthly Majesty and all Earthly Glories if put together to the beholding the Lord Jesus Christ in all his Majesty and Glory Joh. 17.24 What are costly Garments and the most rich Attire to those Robes of Righteousness and Garments of Salvation Isa 61.10 Rev. 19.7 8. wherewith the Saints shall be clothed in the great Day of the Marriage of the Lamb What are the most stately Palaces here on Earth compared with Heaven the Palace of God Joh. 14.2 and the Mansions of Blessed Spirits And what are all the Pleasures in the World Psal 36.8 16.11 to those Rivers of Pleasures which are at God's Right Hand Or all the Riches and Inheritances in the World Col. 1.12 to that Glorious Inheritance of the Saints in Light Whatsoever we want as to outward Enjoyments we may comfort our selves in the Hopes of Heaven where all our Wants will be abundantly supplied with Spiritual Celestial and much better Enjoyments 2. It administers Comfort to Believers against all their Afflictions and Troubles It may be now you lie groaning under Bodily Weaknesses as pining Sickness or racking Pains rouling your self to and fro on your Bed as a Door rouleth upon its Hinges getting but very little Rest or Refreshment through the anguish of your Pains and the weariness of your Flesh But in Heaven there will assuredly be perfect Ease and perfect Health and Rest and Refreshment and that for evermore We are very apprehensive of present Pain and present Grievances but not of the Ease Refreshment and Glory that shall succeed But remember and consider well with your selves that though the Pains be sharp the Sickness lingring and hangeth long upon you yet present Time is quickly past but Eternity will have no end For which cause we faint not 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. saith the Apostle but though our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed Day by Day For our light Afflictions which are but for a Moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory While we look not at the Things which are seen but at Things which are not seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the Things which are not seen are Eternal We pitch too much alas upon a carnal Hope but do not enough look after the Glory of the everlasting State and this makes our Afflictions seem heavy and grievous Whereas a well-grounded and lively Hope of the Heavenly Happiness and Glory would make our greatest Afflictions to become light and turn our Pains into Pleasure yea and Death it self into Life But now let me apply it to those especially that suffer for Righteousness Sake Shall any of us shrink at Sufferings for Christ Rom. 8.17 who shall be in Glory with him for ever How short is the Suffering how long the Reward How light the Affliction how weighty the Glory If we had but Wisdom to reckon aright and would weigh these Things in the Ballance of the Sanctuary we should quickly see whether present Sufferings or the future Glory would turn the Scales Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the Sufferings of this present Time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us There are few that have met with greater Sufferings than this great Apostle was exercised with 2 Cor. 11.23 33. and yet he looks upon them as next to nothing when compared with the future Glory I reckon saith he And most surely he had learned to reckon aright and this much refresh'd him under all his Trials So 't is said of the believing Hebrews also Heb. 10.32 36. that they took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods as knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring Substance And Moses esteemed Reproaches for Christ Heb. 11.25 26 27. greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt for he had respect 't is said to the recompence of the Reward He did not only bear his Sufferings with Patience but did also esteem very highly of them as knowing that Heaven would make amends for all This is it that chears the Hearts of God's Faithful People in all their Troubles I had fainted Psal 27.13 saith David unless I had believed to see the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living Having Hopes of enjoying so great a Good beyond all Time 2 Cor. 4.17 to Eternity we may well endure a far lesser Evil when so short even but for a Moment If we be reproached for the Name of Christ we have reason to rejoice 1 Pet. 4.12 19. Chap. 3.14 17. 2.20 25. and not to be ashamed For on our Enemies part God is evil spoken of but on our part he is glorified And if we glorify God here by our patient continuance in well-doing Joh. 12.26 Rev. 3.21 he will also glorify us hereafter with Christ in Eternal Glory If we suffer we shall also reign with him but if we deny him he will also deny us 2 Tim. 2.12 Have any of us lost the love of Men Isa 66.5 for our Sincerity and Faithfulness Why what is this to the Love of God Rom. 8.33 39. which we shall enjoy for ever Are we by our Enemies cast into Prison We shall shortly be in our Father's House Joh. 14.2 where there are Mansions of Bliss and Glory The worst that our

Enemies can do us here Mat. 10.28 is only to kill the Body and this they cannot do neither without the permission of God and when God permits them to injure our Bodies Rom. 8.28 he thereby designs us good to our Souls So that our Enemies are very unskilful whatsoever Evil they design unto us for when they impair the outward Man they thereby better the inward Man 2 Cor. 4.16 And if they root us out of the Earth they do but send us the sooner to Heaven Yea Mat. 5.10 11 12. and the greater our Sufferings are here in the World the greater will be our Happiness hereafter 'T was a Saying of one of the Antient Fathers when vilified by his Enemies He that willingly takes from my good Name unwillingly adds to my Reward Surely then the Hopes of Heaven should chear our Hearts under all our Trials 3. It administers Comfort to Believers even against Death it self These Earthly Tabernacles must be dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 but what then We have a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens We shall but leave a poor tottering Cottage to live in a Princely Palace and forsake an unquiet and troublesome World for a place of everlasting Repose Isa 57.2 Rev. 14.13.1 Thess 4.13 14 15. Death to Believers is but a sweet Sleep and the Grave but a Chamber of Rest where the Body doth quietly repose it self till the general Resurrection And then it shall certainly awake from its Sleep and be raised again a most Glorious Body Phil. 3.21 And while the Body doth thus quietly rest in the Grave the Soul is in actual Joy and Felicity It doth not sleep in the Grave with the Body 2 Cor. 5.8 Phil. 1.23 as some do foolishly imagine but is present with the Lord and in a State of Activity Death is to the Soul of every Believer an immediate Passage into Glory Believers may therefore look Death in the Face with a great deal of Joy and Comfort 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. for its Sting is taken away by Christ and it is unto them a Translation Their Life is not taken away but changed 't is changed from a miserable and corruptible Life to that which is Blessed and Eternal There 's a Glorious State provided for Believers in the World to come and Death is the ready Passage into it Wherefore comfort one another with these Words 1 Thess 4.18 saith the Apostle With what Words Why that Jesus Christ shall come in the Clouds Ver. 16 17. and take Believers unto himself and so shall we for ever be with the Lord. Lastly The Doctrine affords matter of Comfort to the Dear Relations of our Deceased Friend who hath fought a good Fight and hath finished her Course and is now gone to receive the Crown which the Lord hath prepared for her She was one that was assaulted with many Temptations but through the Captain of her Salvation she did conquer and overcome Jam. 1.12 Rev. 2.10 and is now enjoying as we have ground to hope the Reward of a Faithful Souldier of Christ even an immortal Crown of Life and Glory yea the highest Felicity she is capable of receiving till her Body and Soul be again reunited and then will her Happiness be full and compleat Ever since I knew her I look'd upon her to be one that desired to make Religion her Business or the chief concern of her Life She had very low and mean Thoughts of her self and was greatly afraid of being mistaken and of thinking her Condition to be better than it was She has oft in my hearing lamented and bewail'd her Distractions of Mind in Duty and would tell me she found it a very difficult thing to keep her Heart close unto God And where is there a Christian indeed that doth not experience this It was her practice every Day to read a considerable Portion of the Holy Scriptures and to meditate and pray in secret besides her constant joyning in Family-Duties She would say that she found those two Soul-enriching Duties of Meditation and Self-examination very hard and difficult to perform them aright She had a very hearty Love I believe to all God's Faithful People 1 Joh. 3.14 not only those that were of the same Judgment with her but also to those that differed from her in some Circumstantials of Religion She was far from that factious and narrow Spirit which too many have discovered in these our Days that has no hearty Love for any but those that are of their own Perswasion No wheresoever she saw any thing of the Image of God Psal 15.4 Psal 16.2 3. in Rich or Poor or any Person that differed from her in Judgment such Persons were always welcome to her and she ever expressed an high esteem of them Psal 119.63 She delighted most in the Society of those who truly feared the Lord. She would speak her Mind freely and with very great Zeal in vindicating God's Faithful Servants when she heard any of them spoken against or reflected on by others Her Humility was very conspicuous and apparent to all that conversed much with her And you of her Neighbours who knew her well can give your Attestation to what I say How free was she always in her Converse with you And how familiar would she be with the poorest of you The Poor was as welcome to her as the Rich and more especially such as feared the Lord. She would visit the poorest of her Neighbours with delight when she could have any hopes of doing them good or of administring any Relief to them She went very modestly in her Apparel ever since I knew her chusing rather to go below her Quality than in the least to exceed She could not endure those ridiculous Fashions which are now so much followed by many those foolish and fantastical Dresses which abundance do please themselves with And for my part I verily believe that a great many Persons amongst us do please but a very few with their Dress besides the Devil and themselves And I wish the Lord may not bring upon these what he brought upon the haughty Daughters of Zion Isa 3.16 26. Jer. 15.9 chap. 14.1 18. and 52.1 27. Many there are which seem not to approve of these foolish fantastical Fashions and yet forsooth they must follow the same lest they make themselves ridiculous But our honoured Friend the deceased Gentlewoman was not of their Mind for she rather chose to be accounted ridiculous by proud and foolish Sinners than to make her self so indeed in the Sight of the All-seeing God She spent little time in dressing her self and as little she spent in Idleness She would constantly be employed in one honest Business or other as knowing it sinful either in Poor or in Rich to trifle and idle away precious Time She had indeed her Infirmities and Weaknesses which none are free from while here in the World but