A26786:447
The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in…
The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in several discourses / by William Bates.
London: printed for Brabazon Aylmer, 1691
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And that single Petition is so restrained, that 'tis evident by its Tenor, that earthly things are not absolutely good to be desired for themselves, but relatively and subordinately to our eternal Good. Daily Bread we must ask of our heavenly Father, the necessary support of the present Life, without which we cannot exercise our internal or external Powers and Faculties in his Service, but not Delicacies and Abundance for the luxurious Appetite.
And that single Petition is so restrained, that 'tis evident by its Tenour, that earthly things are not absolutely good to be desired for themselves, but relatively and subordinately to our eternal Good. Daily Bread we must ask of our heavenly Father, the necessary support of the present Life, without which we cannot exercise our internal or external Powers and Faculties in his Service, but not Delicacies and Abundance for the luxurious Appetite.
The difference of Conditions in the present World is very great: as in Pharaoh's Dream, some Ears of Corn were so full and weighty that they bended with their weight; others so thin and blasted, that they were as Stubble for the Fire. Thus some abound in all Felicities possible in this Life, others are chastened every Morning, under various and continual Afflictions. Now this infallible Principle being planted in the Heart, that all present things are to be improved with respect to our future Happiness, will moderate the Affections in Prosperity, so to use the World that we may enjoy God, and make us not only patient, but pleased in Adversities, as they are preparatory for Heaven.
The Original of all the Sins and Misery of Men,1 is their perverse abuse of things, by turning the Means into the End, setting their Affections of Love, Desire, and Joy upon sensible things, as their proper Happiness, with inconsiderate neglect of the spiritual eternal state, to which all other things should be subservient. As if one diseased and sickly in a Foreign Country, that could not possibly recover Health but