Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A58814
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A sermon preached at the funeral of Dr. William Croun on the 23d of October, 1684, at St. Mildred Church in the Poultrey by John Scott ...
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Scott, John, 1639-1695.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing S2068; ESTC R10207
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19,399
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34
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we are most strangely besotted who when we are born to live for ever above in the most ravishing glory and happiness can suffer our selves to doat upon this world and to be so strangely bewitched by its deluding vanities O could we but stand awhile in the mid-way between Heaven and Earth and at one prospect see the glories of both how faint and dim would all the splendours of this world appear to us in comparison with those above how would they sneak and disappear in the presence of that eternal brightness and be forced to shroud their vanquish'd glories as Stars do when the Sun appears And whilst we interchangeably turned our eyes from one to t'other with what shame and confusion should we reflect upon the wretched groveling temper of our own minds what poor mean-spirited creatures we are to satisfie our selves with the impertinent trifles of this world while we have all the joys of an everlasting Heaven before us and may if we please after a few moments obedience be admitted into them and enjoy them for evermore O foolish creatures that we are thus to prefer a far Countrey where we live on nothing but husks before the everlasting festivities of our Father's house where the meanest guest hath bread enough and to spare to chuse Nebuchadnezzar's fate and leave Crowns and Sceptres to live among the salvage herds of the Wilderness could but the blessed Saints above divert so much from their more happy employments as to look down a little from their Thrones of Glory and see how busie poor mortals are a scrambling for this wretched pelf which within a few moments they must leave for ever how they justle and rancounter defeat defraud and undermine one another what a most ridiculous spectacle would it appear to them with what scorn would they look on it or rather with what pity to see a company of heaven-born Souls capable of and designed for the same degree of glory and happiness with themselves groveling like Swine in dirt and mire one priding it self in a gay suit another hugging a bag of glistering earth a third stewing and dissolving it self in luxury and voluptuousness and all employed at that poor and mean and miserable rate as might justly make those blessed Spirits ashamed to own their kindred and alliance with us To tell you truly and seriously my thoughts I cannot imagine but if when we are thus extravagantly concerned about the pitifull trifles of this world those blessed Spirits do indeed see and converse with us it is a much more ludicrous and ridiculous spectacle in their eyes to see us thus foolishly concerned and employed than 't would be in ours to see a company of boys with mighty zeal and concern wrangling and scrambling for a bag of Cherry-stones Wherefore in the Name of God Sirs let us not expose our selves any longer to the just derision of all the world by our excessive dotage upon the vanities of this life but let us seriously consider that we are all concerned in matters of much higher importance even in the unspeakable felicity of an everlasting life 3. Hence I infer how unreasonable a thing it is for good men to be afraid of dying since just on t'other side the Grave ye see there is a state of endless bliss prepared to receive and entertain them so that to them Death is but a dark entry out of a Wilderness of sorrow into a Paradise of eternal pleasure And therefore if it be an unreasonable thing for sick men to dread their recovery for Slaves to tremble at their Jubilee or for Prisoners to quake at the news of their Gaol-delivery how much more unreasonable is it for good men to be afraid of Death which is but a momentary passage from sickness to eternal health from labour to eternal rest and from close confinement to eternal liberty For God's sake consider Sirs What is there in this world that ye are so fond of it what in the other that ye are so afraid of it Suppose that now your Souls were on the wing mounting towards the celestial Abodes and that at some convenient stand between Heaven and Earth from whence ye might take a prospect of both ye were now making a pause to survey and compare them with one another that having viewed over all the glories above you tasted the beatifical joys and heard the ravishing melodies of Angels ye were now looking down again with your minds filled with those glorious Idea's upon this miserable world and that all in a view ye beheld the vast numbers of men and women that at this time are fainting for want of bread of young men that are hewen down by the sword of Orphans that are weeping over the Graves of their Fathers of Mariners that are shrieking out in a storm because their Keel dashes against a Rock or Bulges under them of people that are groaning upon sick beds or wracked with agonies of conscience that are weeping with want mad with oppression or desperate with too quick a sense of a constant infelicity would ye not do ye think upon such a review of both states be infinitely glad that ye were gone from hence that ye are out of the noise and participation of so many evils and calamities would not the sight of the glories above and of the miseries beneath make you a thousand times more fearfull of returning hither than ever ye were of going hence Yes doubtless it would why then should not our sense of the miseries here and our belief of the happiness there produce the same effect in us make us willing to remove our quarters and exchange this Wilderness for that Canaan 'T is true indeed the passage from one to t'other is commonly very painfull and grievous but what of that in other cases we are willing enough to endure a present pain in order to a future ease and if a few mortal pangs will work a perfect cure on me and recover me to everlasting health and life methinks the hope of this blessed effect should be sufficient to indear that agony and render it easie and desirable But alas to die is to leave all our acquaintance to bid adieu to our dearest friends and relatives to pass into an unknown state to converse with strangers whose laws and customs we are not acquainted with Why now all that looks sad in this is a very great mistake for I verily hope that I have more friends and relatives in Heaven than I shall leave behind me here on Earth and if so I do but go from worse friends to better for one friend there is worth a thousand here in respect of all those indearing accomplishments that render a friend a Jewel But if I die a good man I shall carry into eternity with me the genius and temper of a glorified spirit and that will recommend me to all the society of Heaven and render the spirits of those just men whose name I never heard of as dear friends to me
John 6.50 that they who believe his Doctrine shall not die but that whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never die Iohn 11.26 yea and not only so but that they shall never see death Iohn 8.51 i. e. shall never come within the prospect or danger of dying in Luke 20.36 he tells them not only that they shall not but that they cannot die any more for they are equal unto the Angels now what a mighty addition must this make to the joys of the blessed that they are such as shall never expire but indure as long as God and run parallel with Eternity that â—hey are not measured by moments or hours by years or centuries or myriads or Indictions but shall run on in an everlasting flux of duration every part whereof is equally because infinitely distant from a period for when time like fire hath devoured all it can prey on it shall at last die it self and go out into Eternity the nature of which is such as that after we have lived most blessedly Millions of Millions of Ages our Happiness shall be as far from an end as when it first began for our lives and our happiness shall be Coeternal our God shall live for ever and we shall live for ever to enjoy him and in the enjoyment of such an infinite good we need not doubt to find variety enough still to renew our pleasures and keep them fresh and flourishing for ever for as we shall always know God so we shall always know him more and more and every new beauty that Infinite Object discovers to us like the diversified Refractions of the same sparkling Diamond shall yield our minds fresh pleasures for ever and kindle a new flame of love in us and that a new rapture of joy and that a new desire of knowing and discovering more and so continually round again there will be knowing loving and rejoicing more and more for ever so that our happiness will be so immense as that we shall need as well as have an Eternity to enjoy it fully Now what an unspeakable pleasure must it be for the happy Soul thus to reflect upon her own condition O blessed for ever be the good God I am as happy now as ever my heart can hold every part of me is so thronged with joys that I have no room for any more and that which completes and crowns 'em all is that they shall never never end but still flow on to everlasting ages and the farther they flow the more they shall swell and increase And now having finished this short and imperfect description of this happy state of eternal life I shall conclude with some Inferences from the whole 1. Hence I infer how much reason we have to be contented and satisfied under all the present afflictions of this life For shall we receive so much good at the hands of God as everlasting life implies and not be contented to receive some evil When our good Father hath provided for us a Crown of endless bliss and glory hereafter with that conscience or modesty can we complain of these little paternal castigations he inflicts on us here especially considering that the great design of all his present severities is to prepare and discipline us for that heavenly state that by all these dismal Providences he is onely training us up for a Crown fitting instructing and disposing us to reign with himself in glory for ever Can any thing be unwelcome to us that is in order to so blessed an end Can any Physick be nauseous or distastfull that is prescribed to recover us into such an happy immortality No doubtless every thing that leads heavenwards though never so grievous is a blessing and all these kind severities that tend to our eternal welfare are favours for which we are bound to praise and adore the goodness of Heaven for ever When therefore we find our selves inclined to complain under our present afflictions let us lift up our eyes to yonder blessed regions and consider the joys and triumphs the crowns and pleasures that do there await us and how necessary these bitter trials are to prepare us for and waft us to them and if this doth not stop our mouths and silence our complaints for ever nay if it doth not cause us to rejoice in our tribulations and thank God for them on our bended knees if it doth not make us cheerfully submit and say Vre seca vulnera Lord cut or wound or burn me if thou seest fit strip me of all my dearest comforts handle me as severely as thou pleasest so I may have but my fruit unto holiness and my end everlasting life If I say we do not thus acquiesce in our present sufferings upon the consideration of that bliss they tend to we are infinitely foolish and ungratefull for 't is but a little while e'er all these storms will be composed into an everlasting calm e'er all these dismal clouds will vanish and an eternal day break forth upon us whose brightness shall never be obscured with the least spot or relique of darkness and when that blessed time comes Lord how trifling and inconsiderable will all our present griefs appear With that contempt shall we reflect upon our present cowardise and meanness of spirit that could not bear without murmuring a few incoveniencies on the road to such an immortal heaven of pleasures Wherefore if our voyage be not so pleasant as we would have it let us remember 't is not long we have but a short days sail to an eternity of happiness and when once we are landed on that blessed shore with what ravishing content and satisfaction shall we look back on the rough and boisterous Seas we have past and for ever bless the storms and winds that drave us to that happy port then will the remembrance of these light afflictions serve onely as a Foil and Anti-mask to our happiness to set off its joys and render them more sweet and ravishing Let us therefore comfort our selves with these things and when at any time our spirits are sinking under any worldly trouble consider that while we have a Heaven to hope for we can never be miserable for so long as we are fortified with this mighty hope our minds will be impregnable against all foreign events and its peace and comfort maugre all afflictions from without will shine as undisturbedly as the lights of Pharos in the midst of storms and tempests 2. Hence I infer what a vast deal of reason we have to slight and contemn this world For it 's plain that we are born to infinitely greater hopes than any this world can afford us even to the hopes of everlasting life and being so methinks our ambition should soar as high as our hopes and disdain such low and ignoble quarries as the pleasures and profits and honours of this life Certainly Sirs we mistake the scene of our eternity or imagine it to be removed from Heaven to Earth or else