Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
kingdom_n call_v father_n king_n 4,264 5 3.6705 3 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A42350 The Christians labour and reward, or, A sermon, part of which was preached at the funeral of the Right Honourable the Lady Mary Vere, relict of Sir Horace Vere, Baron of Tilbury, on the 10th of January, 1671, at Castle Heviningham in Essex by William Gurnall ... Gurnall, William, 1617-1679. 1672 (1672) Wing G2258; ESTC R10932 62,221 185

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

is present not one imaginary point of time wherein he can be more or shall be less happy to all Eternity Fourthly It is a consistent and fixed state free from all changes and vicissitudes which in this life he is subject to here alas the Christian is sometimes well and sometimes sick now in Prosperity then in Adversity Rich and Poor in the same day In momento vertitur mare ubi luserunt navigia sorbentur In a moment a storm arising where the Ship even now danced it is wrackt He is like one that Travels in an April day whose Cloak is wet with the Rain and dryed again by the Sun and then wet again neither do these changes only befal the Saints outward state but his inward also both in point of Grace and Comfort Now his Heart is up and lively in the performance of a duty anon so dead and down as if he were not the same man Now the Christians Coat is on ready to attend and follow his Master anon it is off and he on his bed of sloth So in point of Comfort one while the Spouse hath her Beloved in her arms and is ravished with his company another while she is setting up her Si quis and enquiring if any can tell her tydings of him hora longa brevis mora The Christian waits long for the Comforter and when he comes he doth but look in and then withdraws again so that the joy which he hath at present is much interrupted from the fear of losing it for nemo fruitur solicito bono how much there is of fear so little is then of enjoyment in what we have Indeed what ever the Saints refreshings are here 't is but like a Travellers entertainment in an Inn the thoughts that he must to Horse again in the morning doth lessen the pleasure he takes in it But in Heaven the journey is at an end the Saint is at home his labour is gone and his rest is come he is in a Kingdom that cannot be moved Fifthly It is an Eternal state this is more than the former the property that crowns all the rest There are some in this life and those none of the best who meet with no changes and that for a long time who enjoy a continued Summers day their Sun of Prosperity goes not in and out but shines with a constant beam no black cloud of any great Affliction interposing to hide their joy from them but at last death chops in upon them and spoils all their mirth in a moment they go down to the pit and with them all their thoughts perish What joy remains to him that is in misery to remember the years of pleasure he hath had A past felicity is a present misery and to remember the pleasure we had doubles the sorrow we have This made Saint Bernard interpret that place of the Psalmist with long life will I satisfie him of Heaven because he thought nothing was long that had an end This indeed is the Emphasis of Heavens joy those Blessed Souls shall never sin never weep more they shall not only be with the Lord but ever with the Lord. This is the accent which is set on the Elogies given to Heaven in Scripture 'T is an Inheritance and that an incorruptible one that fadeth not away It is a Crown of Glory and that a weighty one yea an exceeding great and eternal weight of Glory When once it is on the Saints head it can never fall or be snatched off it is a Feast but such an one that hath a sitting down to it but no rising up from it The second way I propounded for seting forth the Saints reward was to compare the Saints work and labour with the reward For though the reward be great yet if the labour bear any considerable proportion to it so much of its greatness is taken away But the Christians labour here bears no proportion at all with his reward hereafter and therefore the Apostle saith It is not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed His labour is finite but his reward infinite and there is no proportion between finite and infinite There is but little proportion you will say betwixt a drop of water and the Sea yet there is some because though vastly greater yet not infinitely greater but betwixt these finite and infinite there is none at all The Christians reward is infinite First Intensive God himself is his reward as well as his rewarder who is infinite in all his Divine Perfections And what proportion between a poor nothing Creature and his nothing Service to the having this infinitely Glorious God his portion So far are these from bearing any proportion to God that compared with him they are denyed to be I am and there is none besides me saith God or to have any excellency he is the Holy one the only wise God Mans wisdom is no wisdom his holiness no holiness compared to God Secondly It is infinite extensivè or in duration Their reward is an everlasting life but their work and labour for the Lord how short how soon is it dispatched If there be no proportion between Time and Eternity then none between the Christians labour which is performed in so little a point of time and the reward which endures for ever and ever The Christian is a few hours in the Field at his work and then called into an everlasting rest in his Fathers house He carries a light cross a little way on his back which death at the furthest takes off and then an Eternal Crown of Glory is set on his Head It aggravated King Lysimachus his sorrow that he had lost so great a Kingdom for so little a matter as a draught of water How will it ravish the Saints Heart to receive so great a reward at the end of so short a labour Jonathan wondered that a little Honey should cost him so dear as death I did saith he but taste a little Honey with the end of the Rod that was in mine hand and lo I must dye How much more admiringly may the Saint say 't is but a little and that sorry service that I have done for my God on Earth and lo I must live yea live with God yea with God everlastingly in Glory Well may the Apostle say That Christ shall come to be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 2.10 How can it but make them admire to see so infinite a Glory the reward of so poor a labour Object But why should not the Christians Holy labour and Faithful service bear the same proportion to his reward in Heaven as the wicked mans sin doth to his punishment in Hell this deserves that why not that this though the wicked mans sin be as little a time in committing as the Saints Holy service is in performing yet there is an infinite evil in his sin that is objective because committed against an infinite God And why should there not