Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	death_n	great_a	time_n	2,228	5	3.0827	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35042	A defense against the dread of death, or, Zach. Crofton's meditations and soliloquies concerning the stroak of death sounded in his ears in the time of his close imprisonment in the Tower of London, anno 1661 and 1662 : digested for his own private staisfaction and support in the vale of the shadow of death, and now made publique for the advantage of such as abide under Gods present visitation in London by the pestilence.	Crofton, Zachary, 1625 or 6-1672.	1665 (1665)	Wing C6992; ESTC R24795	57,690	178

thee afraid the splendor of his Majesty shall not dazle thine eyes nor discapacitate thy vision of him thy work shall not there be tyring thy service shall not then waste thy strength wear thy cloaths or dull thy spirits that thou shouldst wish for a return of time wherein to take thine ease obtain refreshment or renue thine apparel so eminent is this relation so easie so excellent is this employment that the Eternity hereof is mine exceeding mine infinitely great advantage I long to enter upon it I shall never desire to leave it mine eternal enjoyment of it is mine onely hope my Glory The Company with whom my soul parted from my body In Heaven I shall have glorious company shall associate is no less glorious then the place of my future residence or the business of my future employment when I dye I shall be admitted into and entertained by the assemblies of the first born whose names are written in heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect and the glorious Angels those shall henceforward be my companions for ever Oh blessed company who would not long to be with them who would not gladly go to them who can with any possible content think of parting from them how foolishly loath am I to leave my friends on earth yet I have not enjoyed their company without a cross many of them have scorned me many of them have slighted me many of them have failed me many of them have fallen out with me many times they have provoked my passion greived my soul and vexed my spirit all of them have one way or other given a check to my comfort and content in their society I now parting from them shall pass into enjoy and never more be parted from much better more desireable and more pleasurable company I shall now associate with Angels those glorious creatures the beauty of whose feet mortal eye can hardly look upon and live those holy spirits who wait immediately on God and with all power and speed perform the pleasure of the most high those active spirits which are sent of God to minister unto the heirs of salvation these are now attendant on me though I see them not they do me many good turnes though I perceive it not by them I am guarded in many dangers they keep me in all my ways they pitch their tents about me they do me much good and yet I understand not their nature office or ministry but now my Soul they attend my death to perform their last work to me to receive thee and carry thee into Abrahams bosom and to place thee in fellowship with themselves thou shalt thenceforward know them their natures and offices thou shalt familiarly converse with them and not be affrighted by them nor shalt thou be weary of their company these will not scorn thee these will not vex and grieve thee but as fast and faithful friends they will with freedom and fullness communicate themselves unto thee to the abundant increase of thy joy which will be the more abundant by the eternity of thy abiding with them My soul though at death thou art taken from among men and made a mate for Angels yet thou shalt not onely converse with these glorious creatures different in nature and seemingly above thee thou shalt now also associate with the spirits of just men made perfect thou shalt sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God thou shalt now be placed under the Altar among the souls of them who were slain for the Testimony of Jesus I have taken abundant pleasure in the fellowship of the Saints on earth yet there infirmities have many times occasioned to me great vexations Oh how pleasurable will their company be now they are made perfect I have had reverend thoughts of the Saints departed the Fathers of Old and the Martyrs of latter days how precious do I account the memory of Adam Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph David Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel Zachariah Peter Paul James John Ignatius Polycarpus Justin Athanasius Wickliff Hus Luther Calvin Beza Cranmer Ridley Latimer Hooper Glover Rogers Laurence Bradford with many others of these I have onely heard and read I never yet knew them but now my soul shall go to them now my soul shall know them it shall dwell in house and be most familiarly most intimately acquainted with them and not onely with these but also with all the elect of God whose names I have not yet heard of this blessed society shall so much increase the joy of my soul as to make Eternity the height of its desire of its delight who would not live for ever in so good a Neighbour-hood it hath often greived me to part from good men on earth I now lament that I must leave my godly friends on earth and go to Heaven without them and yet this my loss is made up by the enjoyment of others as good yea much better and I have an assurance that those I leave behind me shall come to me though I cannot come back to them but Oh what an hell would it be if time could cut me off from the blessed fellowship of these glorified Saints and Angels My soul put out pass freely into the Ocean of Eternity seeing thy voyage is made so comfortable by sailing in such blessed company ●orious ●ualities ●all en●ow my ●●ul The Qualities of my soul shall be suitable to this heavenly place work and company for these also shall be Glorious after death conformity to God and exact similitude to the Lord 1 Joh 3 2● shall be the endowment of my soul we are now the Sons of God it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Oh blessed vision which transformeth its subject the sight of God and Christ by faith as they are represented to us in the Gospel doth on earth begin that change in mans soul which is compleated by the beatifical vision of their real existency in themselves there can be no symmetry without similitude no communion without conformity two cannot walk together except they be agreed there can be no satisfying apprehension of the object but by a suitable organ Like to like is the formal reason of all true and full content they that will see God and live must be holy as God is holy and perfect as God is perfect My soul passing into immediate communion with must be made conformable to God his image stamped on man in his creation was the principle and capacity of communion with God this defaced by sin man was driven and hath been kept at a distance from God but this shall be now restored to and compleated in my soul that it may return into constant communion with God all that disparity and disproportion which rendred God dreadful and destructive to my being and therefore deterred mine approach to

death my terror my trouble this remove will transmit me into a station not more permanent then glorious I am removing to a better house yea to possess a KINGDOM A Kingdom not like the Kingdoms of this world not a narrow empty envied distracted divided shaken sinful transient and temporal Kingdom not a Kingdom subject to wars tumults fire famine pestilence ruine and desolation and yet with ambition men do seek with joy they remove into with difficulty and danger they obtain these miserable earthly Kingdoms but my Kingdom to which I shall pass is a spiritual heavenly unshaken united ample abundant undefiled undisturbed peaceable and everlasting Kingdom not subject to any invasion or usurpation to any confusion or commotions to any mutations or violent revolution to any alteration or danger Seeing it is the will of my heavenly Father to give me a Kingdom such a Kingdom and my Kingdom is not of this world why should I be unwilling to leave this world and to go to my Kingdom will any Prince desire to live out of that Kingdom to which he is heir Since O my God! thou hast given me a Kingdom give me a spirit fit for and desirous of this thy Kingdom Let me live and dye worthy the hopes of thine heavenly Kingdom let not this beggarly and these base appendants make me draw back when called to pass into my Kingdom Up my soul enter this strait gate into thy royal Mansion stoop under this cross that thou mayst receive the crown of righteousness and life the incorruptible crown of glory ambition maketh men whose portion is in this life most desperately daring to adventure their all for a poor Cottage-Kingdom subject to commotion shall not grace make me much more willing to put off my natural life that I may put on this living immarcessible Crown which cannot sit on a mortal head and to pass from an house of bondage through a red Sea to a land of rest and pleasure a station permanent and to a Kingdom of glory I will cheerfully remove this once seeing I shall remove to so great advantage and after this I shall remove no more SECT XIV DEath will take me from off my work Death wil end my work yea and my day after it Christs Church shall enjoy no benefit by my Ministry I must now no longer labour in the Lords Vineyard It is very true and this cannot but reduce me to a strait and put me to a stand what to chuse for if I live in the flesh the Church will reap the fruit of my labour that I abide in the flesh is for them more profitable Phil. 1.22 23. nevertheless for me to dye is gain I shall be hereby eased of the charge and care of immortal souls of the pains and burden of my Ministry of the fear and dangers which attend my duty of the toil and travel of all my labour and of the tiring brunt of my working day all which have made me often wish my day were enden and that my night were come There are twelve hours in the day Joh. 11.9 wherein men work and then commeth the night wherein no man worketh My day is not measured by my work but my work is proportioned to my day though I could by my natural strength I cannot work longer for lack of time when my day is done my work is done and shall I not be content with the end of both if my Master ease me of my burthen by ending my day have I any cause to murmur and yet The hinderance of my work shall be no hinderance to my wages Wages shall be sure my two talents well improved for a little time may approve me faithfull when my master commeth Matth. 25.22 23. and 20.9 and so will pass me into my Masters joy as certainly as if I had traded with ten talents and for a longer time he who worketh in my Lords Vineyard but one hour shall receive his penny as well as he who hath endured the heat and brunt of the day I have all my days stretched forth my hands to a stiffnecked and stuborn generation who would not hear mens obduracy hath made my ministry a work of difficulty and danger I have in it been often tyred and willing to lye down and rest yet I never durst look back nor take my hand from the Plough on which my God hath layed it but I shall now find my recompence is with the Lord and my reward is with my God shall I repine to go to him to receive it I will rejoyce I have been so long serviceable in Gods Church and an instrument to glorifie him on earth and it shall be my joy that I must now cease from my labour go home to my Master and be glorified with him in the heavens I shall when dead labour no more in the Lords Vineyard but I shall now drink my self drunk of the fruit of his Vine with himself in his Kingdom I shall no longer serve God on earth but from henceforth I shall sing praises to him for ever in the heavens though the Church militant must loose my labour it shall not loose my masters care he will thrust forth other labourers into his Vineyard and the Church triumphant will enjoy my company to enforce their cry Rev. 6.10 How long Lord before thou wilt avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth come Lord Jesus come quickly I have done the work of my generation what can I do or desire to do more I have dispatched the business charged on my hand shall I be unwilling to sit still and take mine ease I have delivered the embassie to me committed shall I not willingly return at my Lords command My soul bless God that he would employ weak worthless me and that I have done so much and such work in his house as I have done Let me be no less willing to rest and take my ease then to work at my masters bidding SECT XV. DEath will dissolve my being Death dissolveth my being and dischargeth my burden when I am dead I am not but it will also discharge my burden when I am not I am not greived my self my sin and my sorrow shall all cease together and at once better therefore is the day of my death then the day of my birth through all my life I have found little very little that is desireable but much which I may well spare very much whereof I may desire to be eased for the discharge hereof I may well bid death welcome What hath been my whole life but an estate of sin sorrow of pain and travel a condition full of cares fears greifs temptations afflictions crosses losses persecutions reproaches dangers and great distresses sicknesses and sinful weaknesses and soul-perplexities man that is born of a woman Job 5.7 is born unto trouble a● the sparks flye upward these are so natural to me and inherent i● me that they exist in

the cross can I chuse but desire these should be can I chuse but leap for joy to know that these invisible things are eternal My soul stand still upon thy dying shore take a second a serious view of eternity as affixed to thy salvation to thine inheritance to thy glory and to thy life and tremble be troubled at the thoughts thereof if thou canst thou wilt be more ready to tumble thy self headlong into then once to turn back from thine Eternity First then Eternal salvation Death determineth all my woe it giveth me an immunity from all evil it passeth me into the possession of salvation salvation from sin from sorrow from weakness from sickness from all defects and deformities from all infirmities and imperfections from diseases of body disgrace unto my name and distempers of mind from all the envy of Satan rage of men and wrath of God is the happy and certain sequel of my death through Christ my Lord. Can it possibly greive or amaze me to see and to know that this salvation is eternal or that I am going to possess and enjoy it for ever shall my heart ake to appprehend it shall never ake more shall I blear mine eyes with weeping because God is about to wipe all tears from mine eyes for ever Have not I beleived and preached this salvation and the eternity thereof shall now mine entrance thereinto be mine affliction I have professed my self did and would and I have earnestly perswaded others to persevere in piety pressing to salvation and waiting for the time when there should be no more weeping or woe no more pain or greif no more fear or sorrow no more distress death or danger and shall I now give back when God hath brought me to that time shall I dread the discharge of evil which I have all my days desired and groaned for or shall the eternity of this immunity embitter mine expectation or enjoyment of it do I retain the sence of evil and can I desire to return to it again have not the Paroxismes of a Feaver the Fits of an Ague of the Stone or Collick perplexed me and made my strength to fail have not the threats of humane rage filled my soul with terror and exceeding dread have not mine apprehensions of Gods wrath and eternal woe which my sin hath deserved filled my heart with horror my soul with fear and greif and my bones with trembling shall I now fear to be put into that estate wherein all these evils shall end for ever wherein I shall never more feel it I shall never more fear it Oh blessed Eternity annexed unto so great salvation 2. Mine Inheritance is eternal Death putteth my soul into the possession of mine inheritance the inheritance which Christ hath purchased for me which God hath promised to me the inheritance among the Saints the inheritance of the Saints in light the inheritance of an house in heaven the inheritance of the blessed mansions of God the inheritance of a Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven the Kingdom of God in this inheritance I shall inherit the confluence of all honour and happiness in this inheritance I shall sit down a Co-heir with Jesus Christ the onely begotten the onely beloved Son of God shall it greive me that this inheritance is eternal is not Eternity the Emphasis the excellency of this inheritance my soul could never be so much ravished with the plenty pleasure scituation society greatness and glory of this mine inheritance as it would be damped and deadned discouraged and discomfited with the vanity the transiency of the same what a cutting consideration would it be to think there were but a possibility of a cutting off from this inheritance or of my being cast out of it though but for a time unto this inheritance I have been called by the glorious Gospel I have been sealed by the blessed spirit of adoption I have received in my self the earnest the first fruits of this inheritance I have been thereby encouraged in mine expectation and enflamed in my desire of a full possession thereof shall I now draw back and decline mine inheritance and the enjoyment of it because it is incorruptible and fadeth not away because it is eternal without end I have ever deemed and determined the most rich and honourable inheritance on the earth a pompous vanity because it is temporal and transient Shall I now dread to enter into the possession of that inheritance which is Real because Eternal can I be so foolish as to desire the worm of time should eat into my fair estate and make my flourishing inheritance to fade I have all my days lived a child in nonage longing for and looking at but kept out of mine inheritance but I am now at age I shall now become a man a grown man and enter upon and into mine estate and this is my comfort mine advantage I shall abide a man a perfect man for ever the second childehood of old age shall not overtake me to deprive me of or discapacitate me to enjoy this my heavenly inheritance Oh! how have I longed and laboured how have I panted and prayed how have I pleaded with God how have I pressed against the power of men and Devils to get into the possession of this inheritance now I am come to the door shall I stand at the Threshold shall I dread to enter in sit down and possess mine inheritance because it is eternal will eternity be the burden of my heavenly estate My soul embrace death the door the dark entry which passeth thee into thine inheritance proceed with joy with courage praise God for the eternity of thy future state is not this my substance much better because more enduring then all my worldly goods hath not the hope of this made me content with the loss and to take joyfully the spoyling of those shall desireable delight eternity dismay my soul entring into the possession of what I have so much esteemed so long expected who would not exchange a Lease for life for an inheritance to be enjoyed for ever who would not part with all to purchase to possess such an inheritance a Royal Heavenly holy inheritance and shall I not gladly breath out a dying life to affix and secure eternity to this mine inheritance 3. Eternity is affixed to glory Death shall invest my soul with GLORY Eternity must needs be the sparkling lustre of GLORY mine Inheritance shall be a Glorious Inheritance and so much more glorious by being eternal mine inheritance is a palace not a poor cottage a mansion not a moveable Tent a Kingdom not a Country Village an Heavenly not an Earthly Kingdom a Kingdom of God not of men and is not this a Glorious Inheritance would not any man desire to enjoy this for ever Mine Inheritance or estate in this world hath ever been poor vile and base but my soul shall now pass into Glory and be invested with nothing but Glory I