Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	jesus_n	lord_n	saviour_n	5,163	5	6.4700	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26078	A theological discourse of last vvills and testaments by William Assheton.	Assheton, William, 1641-1711.	1696 (1696)	Wing A4046; ESTC R17297	32,407	122

you have vigour of thought and composedness of mind II. Make a Christian Will. Which I explain thus Let your Will be so composed so framed and worded in the commendatory Part as to declare your self a Christian The Preface or Introduction to that Form and Instrument of Writing which we call a Last Will or Testament you know is this In the name of God Amen And having thus solemnly called upon God the Testator then proceeds to dispose of his Concerns in these Three Instances His Soul his Body and his Estate The first thing which the Testator disposeth is his Soul For so run the words First and principally I commend my Soul into the hands of God my Creator But here too many of our Last Wills and Testaments do stop and abruptly break off And then go on in a hurry to the Body and Estate But how great an indecorum this is nay even scandal to the Christian Religion will plainly appear when duly consider'd I commend my Soul into the hands of God my Creator saith the dying Person But thus a Jew a Turk or a Heathen may commend his Soul For all these do acknowledge God their Creator And therefore that something further must be added I thus easily convince you When a man makes his Will he is either really dying or he dies by anticipation i. e. he puts himself into a posture of dying And then useth these words I commend my Soul into the hands of God But why doth he thus commend his Soul Is it not in hopes that God will accept it But what now is the ground of this hope Why doth he expect that God should receive his Soul That he should not leave it to the malice and fury of Hellish Fiends who immediately upon its separation from the Body stand ready to seize and devour it but that he sends his Holy Angels to shelter and protect it to guide and conduct it to a Place of Bliss Doubtless no other reason can be assigned of this his hope but only the Merits of his Blessed Saviour for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore for a dying Christian to commend his Soul to God without the least mention of a Saviour 't is a contradiction to the Christian Religion 'T is not only a careless Omission but the highest Presumption When therefore you make your Will Commend your Soul to God in such a manner as may declare your Christianity give then a reason of the hope that is in you especially if your Religion is suspected either as having none at all or as being Heretical and Corrupt then Vindicate your self by making a short but pathetical Profession of your Faith and Hope in the beginning of your Will And that you may the better apprehend what I design you may Commend your Soul in this or the like form First and Principally I Commend my Soul into the Hands of Almighty God as of a Faithful Creator Which I humbly beseech him mercifully to accept Looking upon it not as it is in it self infinitely polluted with Sin but as it is Redeemed and purged with the Precious Blood of his Only Beloved Son and my most sweet Saviour Jesus Christ in confidence of whose Merits and Mediation alone it is that I cast my self upon the Mercy of God for the Pardon of my Sins and the Hopes of Eternal Life This is what I design when I admonish you to make a Christian Will. III. Make a Prudent Will The which Prudence ought to express it self in Two things 1. In the form of Words and Phrases in which the Will is Drawn and Composed 2. In the Subject-matter of the Will in the Distribution of an Estate whether Real or Personal As to the First Were it pertinent to repeat the odd fanciful and affected Expressions of some Wills and Testaments you would then be convinced how very proper it is to give some caution about this matter Now to avoid the mistakes of such foppish affected People let the Expressions of your Will be grave and sober and do not expose your self to the just Censures of Posterity by any undecent or extravagant Passage Remember your Will stands upon Record for Publick perusal and therefore to be idle and extravagant in this last Act of your Life is to be hiss'd off the Stage and to proclaim your folly to all succeeding Ages But I hope there are not many Impertinents in so Solemn an Instance And so I pass on to the Second which is of more general concernment viz. The Prudence of a Testator in the Distribution of his Estate And here the utmost I can pretend is only to suggest some general Directions The Capacities of men are so different and their Circumstances so various that much must be left to Prudence However though particular Persons must determine as their case shall require yet it may be useful to Direct as followeth In the Distribution of an Estate do not only consider the Necessity of your Relatives for then the Poorest ought to have the greatest share but proportion your Legacies as Christian Prudence will direct you according to other measures Observe the different Dispositions and Behaviour of your Children your Friends and Dependants Some are brisk and active in the management of Business who as we phrase it will look to themselves and secure their own Others are of a quiet sedate and easy Temper or it may be of weak and slender Intellectuals who either do not love trouble or do not understand it Some are thrifty and frugal who will not only keep but improve what you give them Others are wild and extravagant who scorn to be confined and think it below their Character to live by rule and measure Some have been sober and regular dutiful and obedient in their Behaviour towards you Others have been rude and disobliging insolent and affronting in their Carriage towards you Now when you design to make your Will and distribute your Legacies 't is a just instance of Christian Prudence duly to examine the several Capacities and Circumstances of your Dependants and distribute accordingly If your Children and Relations are notoriously Vicious and debauched which is the Affliction of many good Parents do not abdicate or cast them off for that would harden and confirm them in their Wickedness but make Provision for them in Trust in such manner and with such Circumstances as may relieve their Necessities but not their Lusts Those who love their ease and quiet or perhaps are of easy Tempers should not be encumbred with any thing that is litigious or which being perplexing requires sagacious diligence to manage or secure Those who have been dutiful and obliging should have a mark of kindness set upon them yet so as not to Disinherit your First-born or to deprive him of his Birth-right These things I say ought to be considered deliberately and in the fear of God And

the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all thou puttest thine hand unto For the Poor shall never cease out of the Land therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy Brother to thy poor and to thy needy in thy land Deut. 15. 7 10 11. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness Psal 41. 1 2 3. A good man sheweth favour and lendeth he will guide his affairs with discretion He hath dispersed he hath given to the poor his righteousness endureth for ever his horn shall be exalted with honour Psal 112. 5 9. He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth but he that hath mercy on the poor happy is he He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor Prov. 14. 21 31. He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse Prov. 28. 27. He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again Prov. 19. 17. And when God himself did declare what those Acts are which render Penitential Devotitions most agreeable to him and most effectual he thus expresseth his mind Is not this the fast which I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burthens to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thine house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Isa 58. 6 7. And when Daniel would prescribe to King Nebuchadnezzar the best way of Amendment and the surest means of averting God's Judgments impendent on him he thus speaks Wherefore O King let my counsel be acceptable unto thee break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Dan. 4. 27. From these Premises it appears That this great Duty of Alms-giving and Charity to the Poor is most expresly commanded not only by our B. Saviour and his Apostles but also by Moses and the Prophets And though such undeniable Authority when duly consider'd is sufficient to convince even the most obstinate Worldling yet the more effectually to persuade him I shall briefly suggest some of those Reasons and Motives which are contained in the forementioned Scriptures 1. Charity to the poor makes us like unto God For hereby we imitate and resemble the Divine Nature Be ye therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect Matth. 5. 48. That is as our B. Saviour explains himself Be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful Luke 6. 36. This is that Perfection in which we are commanded to imitate our Heavenly Father Who is merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness Exod. 34. 6. Who delighteth in mercy Mic. 7. 18. Who will wait that he may be gracious Isa 30. 18. Who is the father of mercies and the God of all comfort 1 Cor. 1. 3. Who is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil Luke 6. 35. He is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Psal 145. 9. To do good therefore and to shew mercy To be kind to those that are afflicted To comfort those that are in distress To relieve those that are in Want is not only Noble and Generous but 't is Divine and God-like Thus to act is to be followers of God as dear children and to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us Eph. 5. 1 2. 2. Charity to the Poor is an Act of Justice 'T is the noted Pretence of the most Covetous Misers whilst living and their usual Character bestowed upon them by their surviving Friends when dead That they were very just and honest and punctual in all their dealings And they will challenge any one to say They ever wronged him in a Farthing This is their Triumph and their Crown This they fancy must secure their Reputations in this world and their Souls in the next But it is the greatest Charity to undeceive their flattering Hopes and to deal plainly and impartially with them in this matter 1. They say They are strictly Just and were never False in their Dealings At present we 'll suppose it What then Is nothing more required than to be Just and to do no Wrong Is there not Right as well as Wrong Is there not such a Duty as Mercy as well as Justice Are there not Poor to be relieved as well as Creditors to be paid Ye have the poor always with you saith our B. Saviour Mark 14. 7. But for what reason think you are such Objects of Pity such helpless Wretches so frequent amongst us Can you fancy that they are only placed as a Foil to your Greatness That you may despicere look down upon these Underlings with a scornful eye Is it only to insult over them and despise them to contemn and oppress them No certainly But the poor you have always with you that whensoever you will you may do them good That you may Comfort and Refresh them that you may Relieve and Protect them and in any other Instance as their case shall require may exercise and enlarge your Charity towards them Which if you shall neglect to do then hearken to your Sentence and it is not your pretence of being Just and your Fair Square Dealing as you call it that can reverse that dismal Doom Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not And therefore though the Laws of the Land or some other Secular Design may so far restrain you that you do them no Wrong and so far may give you the Reputation of being Just and Honest yet if according to your Ability and their Occasions you do them no good you shall be condemned for your Uncharitableness as well as for the greatest Injustice But 2. These Covetous Rich Men who will not be persuaded to be Charitable to the Poor they are far from being Just As I thus easily convince them To be Just is to give every man his own If therefore upon enquiry it doth appear That a Prudent Well-regulated Charity is the Poor Man 's Own his Property his Due then those who deny it are apparently Vnjust To prove this I must remind them of