Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	work_n	world_n	worthy_a	78	3	5.9231	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47040	The future state, or, A discourse attempting some display of the souls happiness, in regard to that eternally progressive knowledge, or eternal increase of knowledge, and the consequences of it, which is amongst the blessed in heaven by a country gentleman, a worshipper of God in the way of the Church of England.	Whitaker, Edward.; Jones, George, d. 1704.	1683 (1683)	Wing J941B; ESTC R13197	63,632	160

his Boundless Perfections 21. God knows his Own Excellencies and needs no Effects for the Discovery of them He needs not This or any Other World to acquaint himself with the Extent of his Power his Wisdom or his Goodness These and all his other Attributes are Perfectly understood by him He Doth not nor Cannot learn any thing concerning them from the Works of his Hands His Creatures do not teach him Knowledge nor doth he gain any Vnderstanding by the Effects of his Creative Power and Virtue 22. Therefore Reasonable Creatures must contemplate and behold them or 't will be Very hard in my Apprehension to give any fair Account of them Of what Use were the Heavens and the Earth the Sea and the Dry Ground with those various and almost innumerable sorts and kinds of Beings that are in it if there were no Intelligent Beings to Behold View and Consider them Why were they Made and why did God engrave his Own Image and impress the Characters of his Own Perfections on them if there were no Intellectual Essences to observe them And if this Fabrick that our Eyes behold were made to be a Glass in which Men and Angels might see and contemplate the Glory of its Maker such will be the Use of all Other Worlds that have been are or may be They will be also Mirrors in which understanding and intelligent Beings will behold the Glory of God and among them the Blessed-Inhabitants of Heaven 23. 'T is true in the Present State and by reason of the Darkness and Impotence that Sin hath introduced upon the Soul of Man this World is in great degree useless with regard to the Principal and Main end of it 'T was Built Framed and Fashioned to Reveal God unto them and it bears very Apparent Characters of a Deity upon it But Man is Blind and cannot See them or Lazy and Negligent and will not observe them or ingaged in the Prosecution of Pleasures Profits and Honours and cannot attend to consider them But in my Opinion this only proves That there are other Intellectual Beings that do contemplate God in the Several Creatures and Sorts of Essences that are here below And that though the World were made chiefly to reveal God to Man yet that was not the Only Vse of it but that Angels might therein see and behold the Glory of God And if This World were made partly for the Use and Contemplation of Angels 't is not improbable but that This and Other Worlds may be also made partly for the Use and Contemplation of the Blessed and Glorified Saints of Heaven 24. Yet I must add That This World is of Vse to Mankind Some among them do See and Discern a God If Infinite Excellency and Perfection therein and More might do so if they would apply themselves to Consider it Thought Sin hath darkned the Eye of the Mind it hath not Vtterly extinguished and put it out Something it may still See of God in the Creation if it would put it self on the Meditation of them But if it were granted That Mankind were utterly disabled from Seeing or Learning any thing of God from the Things that are seen yet it would not follow that it were Vseless to him Things may be in their own Nature Vseful to certain Ends and Purposes though Men may have Voluntarily made themselves incapable of Vsing them Wholsom Meat and Drink may be Vseful for the nourishing of Humane Bodies though Some Persons may have so injured their Constitution and destroyed their Stomachs and Digestive Faculties by Intemperance that they are uncapable of making that Vse of it And 't is certain that the World were of Vse to teach Men God though Man were Vtterly disabled so to Vse and Imploy it 25. The Sum of what I have said in this Chapter is this The World in which we Live and do Behold is of very Large and Great Extent the Species and Kinds of Beings in it are Very greatly Numerous There may have been Other Worlds Pre-existent to This there may be Others Co-existent with it and Others may Succeed it to an Indefinite and Vnlimited Period All God's Works Shew forth his Glory they are Vseless to their main End and Intention if there be no Intelligent Natures to Behold and Consider them Angels do Behold and Consider the Works of God in This Sublunary World And 't is not improbable in my Judgment that the Glorious Saints of Heaven may see and behold the Glory of God in the Works that he hath made and done in This and many Other Worlds And so Great and almost Infinitely various may they be as to minister Eternal Matter of Contemplation and an Increase of Knowledge for evermore CHAP. IV. Of the Several Ways and Means of obtaining Knowledge and first of Knowledge by Intuition 1. THe Ways and Means of Obtaining and Increasing Knowledge are Various I shall reduce them to these Heads 1. Intuition 2. Historical Narration 3. Revelation 4. Discursive Argumentation That I be not misunderstood I shall here premise That I do not Positively affirm that the Knowledge of the Blessed will increase by all These Ways in the World to come nor that there are no Other Ways of making Addition to it All that I shall affirm is That 't is Possible yea and Probable that it may be augmented by them 2. By Intuition I mean a present Inspection of Things or a View of them as they are presented to us and set before us Knowledge of things by present Intuition is distinguished from that Knowledge of things that we have by considering the Signs Images and Representations of them The Knowledge that I have of Persons Cities Villages and Countreys by ocular and present Inspection differs from the Knowledge that I have of them by viewing their Pictures and Statues or inspecting the Maps and Delineations of them The Knowledge that we have of the Glory of the Kingdom of God and the Person of our Saviour in it differs much from that which the Blessed Saints and Angels have concerning them Theirs is Present and Intuitive Ours is Absent and Abstractive We obtain it by considering the Reports that are made and the Descriptions that are given of them in the Book of God Whereas Theirs is attained by the Vision Presence and Inspection of those things themselves 3. In this World 't is but very little that we know by Intuition and the Reasons are our Presence is Limited and Confined We are fixed to a Little Spot of God's Creation and can View at once but few of the Creatures of God And though by Local Motion we are able to remove our selves from Place to Place and view Many things Successively by present Intuition which at Once we cannot do yet the Sphere of our Activity is small and 't is with Difficulty and Slow Motions that we do pass through it It takes up a Great deal of time to inspect the Beings that may be seen in a Circumference of a few Miles

to those Attributes that hath not a Very Great and Perspicuous Knowledge of the several Events and Contingencies that have happened in the World 23. And forasmuch as the meanest Saints that formerly lived on Earth had a Part to act upon the Stage of This World and did perform it perhaps even Each of Them as well as the Holy Angels may contribute something to the mutual Increase of Knowledge amongst the Blessed The Least of all Saints will be able to say Something of the Attributes and Perfections of God Some of the Effects of his Power Wisdom and Goodness they have observed and will be able to mention to his Praise 24. How many of the Days of Eternity may be spent in learning the History of the World and the Church of God in it I must not pretend to Discourse much less Define But surely it being so Exceeding large and the Parts and Instances of it being so Numerous it may Justly be thought that a very Considerable Part thereof will be therein imployed 'T is certain that in the Future State the Blessed will retain their own proper Essences which being Finite I am not able to conceive how they can receive the Knowledge of things any other way but Successively and what is received Successively doth exhaust more or less of Time according as that Knowledge or those Notices of things are more or less numerous and increased 25. Let no Man hence infer that the Days of Eternity will be spent in Ineffective Discourses Histories and Narrations To entertain Such Thoughts of it were to Defame and Blaspheme it The Discourses of the Blessed will not be Ineffective Idle and Vnprofitable they will Affect the Hearts both of those that Speak and those that Hear they will produce Affections suitable to their Nature Some of the Histories that will be reported There will produce Amazements and Wonder others will awaken and actuate Love to God others Joy Delight and Pleasure in Him And all of them Praise and Confessions to the Honour of his Transcendent Excellencies and Glorious Attributes and Virtues The Minds of the Blessed will be so Set and Tuned that every mention of the Works and Providences of God will make Impressions on them Acceptable to God and to the Advantage of their own Felicity 26. And certainly such Discourses are an Imployment worthy of the Blessed and very suitable to the Estate and Condition to which they are advanced They are advanced to a High and Happy State and what is more comely and decorous than to speak of the Wonders of his Power Wisdom and Goodness that hath Raised them to it and thereby excite and actuate their own Love Thanks and Praise Nothing can be more Congruous and Agreeable to Rational Natures in their Circumstances and under their Obligations than such kind of Exercises Nothing can be more worthy of God nor nothing more agreeable to Vnderstanding Beings 27. We may observe that the Holy Psalmist very frequently calls to mind and reports the Mighty Works and Stupendious Providences of God towards the Jewish Nation He remembers God's Covenant with Abraham their Captivity in Egypt and miraculous Deliverance thence He reports their many Provocations in the Wilderness the Judgments that he executed upon them their Feigned Repentance and Flattering him with Their Lips when Their Hearts were not Vpright with him And why did he remember these things 'T was to exalt the Honour of God's Kindness Grace and Mercy towards the Jews and his Stedfastness in his Covenant He had sworn unto Abraham to give the Land of Canaan for an Inheritance to his Seed and he would not fail to Verify his Oath notwithstanding all their Provocations 28. And truly I see no reason why the Blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven may not report the Works and Providences of God and make mention of them to His Praise If Praise be comely for the Righteous in this World it will be altogether as comely for them in the Other And if the making mention of the Mighty Acts of the Lord be a proper means of exciting and awakening it in This it may be so also in That which is to come If it be a Great and Pleasant Duty on Earth 't is Much more so in Heaven Though Pious Men on Earth have received Many and Great Blessings from God and such as do very much oblige them to Laud and Praise Him yet sure it is that those that are in Heaven have received Many More and those that are of More Raised and Excellent Nature and therefore are under Greater Obligations thereunto And if we may conjecture any thing of the Nature and Constitution of Humane Minds There by what we have experience of Here nothing will more inlarge and excite their Gratitude and their Praise than the Reports of his kind Providences and Mighty Works done in the World 29. Some more things I might suggest to make the Increase of Knowledge by Tradition Probable and that Eternally as the Nature and Constitution of the Kingdom of Darkness the Order and Government the Laws and Constitutions the Rewards and Punishments that are observed and found among them For without some Order and Government they cannot manage their Opposition to the Kingdom of God and his Christ and without Rewards and Punishments Laws are Insignificant and Toothless things These things I doubt not are well known by the Holy Angels and by Them communicated to the Blessed As also what are the Punishments that God inflicts upon Them and Condemned Souls for their Wickedness and the several Measures and Gradual Differences of them with other things of like nature But perhaps the Reader may think I have been too Prolix already therefore this Chapter shall here receive its Conclusion CHAP. VII Of the Increase of Knowledge by Ratiocination 1. RAtiocination is an Inferring of One thing from Another or a Proceeding from Things Known to those that are Vnknown and a Concluding of One from the Other Thus we conclude that the Sun is near the Summer-Solstice because the Days are at their Greatest Length and that it is near the Winter-Solstice because they are of the Greatest Shortness Thus we conclude that the Sun approaches the Equator when we see the Grass grow Green and Flourishing and the Trees put forth their Buds and Leaves 2. The reasoning Power and discursive Faculty will be of use in the World to come From the Consideration of what God is from the Memory of what He hath done and from the Knowledge of what He doth do the Blessed will Certainly conclude the Necessity of Love and Obedience to Him When they consider that He is the First Cause and giveth Being to all Creatures and to Men Life and Breath and All Things When they remember that He Made them after his Own Image and when they had lost it by sinning against Him He sent his Son into the World to Take away their Guilt to Renew and Sanctifie their Natures and to Restore his Image to them

Connexion among Beings and One follows upon and oftentimes derives from Another 't is very probable that such will be the Knowledge of them and that the Manner of understanding them will be such as is their Manner of Being i. e. One Thing will be inferred and deduced from Another which is an Exercise of the Discursive Faculty Besides if any thing be known by its Effects of which I think there is no doubt in the Future World there must be the Use of Ratiocination For from the Nature and Qualities of the Effects to determine the Nature and Properties of the Cause is to reason and argue from what is Obvious and Easie to that which is Dark and Difficult 29. Again Is it worthy or doth it become a Rational Creature to act or do any thing for which he can give no Account Is it congruous and decorous for Intellectual Essences to act like Natural Agents or like Brutes Such is their Manner of acting if they act without Ratiocination and Discourse Is that Obedience and Worship Worthy of God that is Irrational and performed without any Previous Exercise of the Reasonable Faculty Or is it possible that Worship Love and Obedience can be performed without it Is that Worship or Love is that Service or Obedience that hath no Consideration of the Excellency Goodness or Authority of God as the Cause and Foundation of it I know not what it may Seem or Appear to others but I must acknowledge I am of Contrary Apprehensions and do think that all Obedience and Love to God proceeds from Ratiocination and consequently that 't is of Use for the Increase of Knowledge as well as for the producing of Love and Obedience in the Other World 30. I have hitherunto supposed a Multiplicity of Worlds for the making an Eternal Increase of Knowledge among the Blessed a thing probable and such as hath some Appearance of Truth in it And I do confess I cannot possibly reconcile my Mind to an Opinion That from all Eternity nothing was made or produced by God till the Present World the Annals of whose Birth and Duration are left us by Moses and other Inspired Authors and since them by Others and the whole Period of its Continuation amounts not to Six Thousand Years 31. Nevertheless I will here add That I know not whether there be any Need of it Peradventure the History and Affairs of This VVorld together with the great Variety of Beings that are in it and that of the Kingdom of Heaven and the more Illustrious Creatures that are There may minister Matter for Eternal Contemplation and an Increase of Knowledge thereby For how Many and Numerous they are and what vast Systems of Science may be gathered from them who is able to inform us If the Conclusions that we make from some Few Principles in this State of Darkness and Imperfection be so Numerous and almost Infinite what may they be in that State of Light and very Great Perfection 32. For as I think it Probable that the Knowledge and Happiness of the Blessed is Progressive so I do easily and willingly grant that it Receives very great Advantage and Increase immediately upon their Admission into the Kingdom of Heaven And I do farther grant that their Powers and Capacities will be very much Enlarged and Perfected yea and made more Able and fit for Ratiocination They will much more Easily make Inferences from Principles and Premises than they would do as long as they were in this VVeak and Imperfect State and consequently enlarge the Bounds and Extent of Science exceedingly And how far they may be able to extend them I cannot conjecture but I think it may be done Indefinitely if not Eternally 33. These things I have suggested to make it fairly Probable that the Knowledge of the Blessed in the Future State may Increase by Ratiocination What Force or Weight there may be in them I must leave to the Judgment of the Reader and here Conclude This Chapter CHAP. VIII Objections against the Doctrine delivered in the Precedent Discourses briefly Answered 1. I Am not ignorant that the Opinion that I have asserted in the preceding Discourses is liable to sundry Objections And 't is no wonder for there is almost nothing in any Part of Science either Natural or Theological which hath not been assaulted by them Some Men have made Objections against the Being and Providence of God others against the Possibility of Motion and the Certainty of Sense And if Objections have been made against things so Plain to all the Reason and Sense of the World it may not be expected that a thing so much in the Dark as what I have discoursed should be Vtterly Free from them This Chapter therefore shall be imployed in making some Answer to them 2. 1. Object The Holy Scriptures speak of the Future State as a State of Great and Present Perfection and all Divines when they make mention of it represent it as a Glorious and Perfect State To which no Addition can be made but is at its utmost Exaltation as soon as ever we be admitted into it To this Objection I have sundry things to Answer 3. 1. I do easily grant that some yea many Divines may have spoken very much to the Sense of this Objection But among Protestants especially those that are of Free Judgments 't is not the Dogmatical Assertion of Divines but the Evidence and Proof of what they do affirm that doth Convince and make their Doctrine Worthy of Credit and Belief So that unless they have Proved as well as Asserted the Doctrine of this Objection I am not obliged to believe or give Assent unto it 4. 2. But I would distinguish of Perfection There is an Absolute and there is a Relative Perfection The Saints of God under the Gospel-Dispensation are Perfect in a Relative Sense and compared with those that lived under the Law and so are Grown Christians compared with those that are Weak and as the Apostle expresses it Babes in Christ And in one of these Comparative Senses must the word Perfect be meant 1 Cor. 2.6 Howbeit we speak Wisdom among them that are Perfect In an absolute Sense neither Christians compared with Jews nor Strong Christians compared with Weak ones are Perfect but in a Relative Sense they are so And so the Blessed as soon as they are admitted the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven are Perfect in a Relative Sense and in comparison of those they have left Behind them in This World and of what they themselves were when they dwelt Here below And in this Relative Sense must we understand the word Perfect Heb. 12.23 And to the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect and others of like importance 5. 3. Perfection may be considered with Respect to Sin and it may be considered with Respect to all Attainable Excellencies that Humane Nature or Mankind are capable of In the first Sense the Blessed are Perfect as soon as they get to Heaven they are