Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A26823
|
A funeral sermon on the death of Mrs. Mary Paice, late wife of Mr. Joseph Paice, merchant of Clapham, who died April 8th, 1700 by Edmund Batson.
|
Batson, Edmund.
|
1700
(1700)
|
Wing B1141; ESTC R4308
|
20,450
|
70
|
number but such as Voluntarily put themselves into it and wilfully continue notwithstanding the means which the great Redeemer uses to educe and recover them Death is no where perpetual but where it is self-procured None lie under it and abide under it but they that loved it and refused to to take hold of the Paths of Life None die unintrested in the Redeemer and his Power but such as rejected him while they lived Therefore 2. Vse Let this admonish us to take care and provide that we be of that number to whom this blessed priviledge belongs Since it is not common to all but proper only to some with what solicitude should we concern our selves and follow on the Enquiry till we arrive at a certainty in this matter Since the enquiry is of highest importance and admits of a plain and true solution it can never be justified as rational to continue in a dubious uncertainty Who would not covet to be in a special Relation to the Almighty and Gracions Redeemer and to be one of those whom he will Redeem from the Power of the Grave The knowledge of this alone can preserve the true comfort of our lives and fill us in Death with Joy Vnspeakable and full of Glory Let us therefore with assiduous diligence endeavour to make our Calling and Election and therewith our Glorious Resurrection sure This matter will quickly be brought to an Issue with every one of us either Death will Triumph over us and prey upon us as Eternal Trophies of its Conquest or through Divine Grace and Love we shall be delivered and Triumph over it There are Two or Three Things will ascertain our State and let us into the Knowledge of what our final Issue will be 1. Are we Regenerate Creatures We are naturally Apostates from God and in open defiance against his Soveraignty and Laws and there can be nothing but a fearful Expectation or looking for of Death and Vengeance which shall devour and consume such Adversaries until we cease to be Adversaries until the contrariety of our Natures against him be subdued and we become new Creatures Our Expectations cannot rationally be altered but upon a precedent Change of State The Resurrection of Christ is the Ground of this blessed Hope in Believers as hath been shewn but their Regeneration is the Evidence of it A Soul that passes out of this World unrenewed must never expect a Reunion with a raised Glorified Body The Body indeed shall be raised and reunited to the Soul but it will be in order to compleat the Misery of the Sinner Redemption from the Power of Sin and Redemption from the Power of Death are Coextensive and have both the same Subjects Rev. 20.6 Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no Power There is the Priviledge and there is the Character of the Person to whom it belongs It is in vain to think of dissolving the Divine Order or separating what God hath joined together None ever was or shall be so blessed as to be exempt from the Power of the second Death but such as are Holy and have Part in the first Resurrection Though the Soul be the immediate Subject of Regeneration yet it respects the whole Person The Understanding and Conscience and Will and Affections are all changed in this Work And the bodily Members and Senses are destinated by the renewed Soul and employed in new Services and are no more the Members of Unrighteousness but Instruments of Service to Jesus Christ Rom. 6.19 The Laws of the great Redeemer are the Rule of Duty to the entire Man and are obeyed or violated by the Soul and Body in Conjunction Now where there hath been this entire Obedience yielded by a Man renewed in his whole Constitution it shall receive a just recompence of Reward and those that have followed Christ in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory they shall sit with him judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel Mat. 19.28 2. Are we Dead with Christ If we be Dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him If we be planted together with him in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection If we suffer with him we shall reign with him Rom. 6.5 8. Our likeness to Christ must be begun in our present embodied State This is the fixed Order of Heaven The other World is the World of Perfection where the Image of Christ or of the Devil is compleated according to which of them was begun here upon Earth None can have Communion with the Redeemer in his glorious Resurrection but such as have Fellowship with him in his Sufferings and are conformable to his Death Phil. 3.10 A Man that continues to Live cannot while such be the subject of Resurrection He must first Die So our Self-denial and Mortification and Dying with Christ as necessarily precedes our Communion with him in his glorious Resurrection 3. Are our Hearts and Affections now with God and Christ in Heaven Nothing less than an Heavenly Conversation can justifie our looking for a Saviour who shall change our vile Bodies into the Image of his most glorious Body Phil. 3.20 21. A Terrene Temper of Mind and an Heart unlimitedly engaged in the World doth absolutely contradict the Hopes of a blessed Resurrection and Reception into Heaven It is the Nature of Hope as it is a Christian Grace to engage the Soul in a serious Pursuit of that which is hoped for And also to give it a deep Tincture of its Object before it is actually enjoyed Therefore if we don't savour heavenly Things above all carnal and worldly Delights and seek them with the greatest Diligence our Hopes are Fallacious The Wise and Holy God cannot act so Inconsistently with Himself How Inconsistent soever Mens Actions and Hopes may be as to bestow Heaven and Glory upon one that never desired or esteemed or sought it that would always prefer the Honours and Emoluments of the World before it This would be to violate the Rules of Discrimination which he himself hath fixed and such an Inglorious Amplification of that blessed Kingdom as would leave it almost undesirable and the Priviledges of Christians would cease to be Priviledges when others may have an equal share in them These Enquiries do in short recur to this Have we a sure Interest in Christ who is the Prince and Lord of Life Have we received him in all these Respects wherein he is to be received and absolutely resigned our selves to him as our Lord and Saviour Hath there passed such mutual Acts between us and him of giving and receiving as that thereupon He may be truly called ours and we as truly said to be his He will finally redeem none but his own Have we remaining Indications of this in our Hearts and Lives Have our Course in this World been ordered agreeably thereto in