Selected quad for the lemma: body_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	death_n	soul_n	union_n	6,555	5	9.5716	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26785	The divinity of the Christian religion, proved by the evidence of reason and divine revelation by William Bates ...	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1677 (1677)	Wing B1104; ESTC R33149	60,636	228

and the Redeemer of the World This I will briefly open There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in Earth The Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one All the Divinity gave testimony of this important Truth The Father not only by the Miracles wrought by his Power to confirm the Mission of Christ but which is here principally intended by a voice from Heaven First at his Baptism This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And at his Transfiguration before some of his Disciples a Shining Cloud the sign of the Divine Presence encompast them and a voice came forth of the Cloud This is my well beloved Son hear him Upon this glorious Voice they were struck with such an impression of fear that they fell on their faces And when our Saviour near his Passion prayed Father glorifie thy Name a voice came from Heaven I have glorified it and will glorifie it Now can there remain any doubt after such an high attestation from the most Soveraign Authority The Son also besides the perfect holiness of his life the exquisite Wisdom of his Doctrine the Wonders of his Works his Resurrection from the dead that were authentick proofs of his Celestial Person and Calling after his Ascension gloriously appear'd from Heaven in diverse Visions to the Preachers of his Gospel To Saul in his Journey to Damascus calling to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me It is hard for thee to kick against the Pricks This is an unexceptionable testimony that he is the Son of God being risen from the dead and returned to Heaven from whence he thus discover'd himself Now that this was real and no fantastick illusion is evident by the marvelous effects of it Those who were companions in the journey were seiz'd with great terror and himself struck blind by the overpowering splendor of the Apparition But especially the effects of it upon his Soul are convincing who it was that spake to him For Saul was by Sect a Pharisee that of all others most passionately adher'd to the Jewish Religion by Temper hot and violent by Profession a persecutor of the Christians One that breathed forth Threatning and Slaughter that excited the Fury of the High-Priests sollicited their Cruelty In short a fierce spirit that envied Nero the title of the first Persecutor of the Church Yet this Man by this Vision and Voice from Heaven of a furious Persecutor in an instant became a zealous Apostle of a Wolf became a Pastor He presently exprest his entire submission Lord what wilt thou have me to do There is nothing so hard to do nothing so dreadful to suffer but I will readily undertake for thine honour and the propagating thy Truth Now from whence came this Change so strange so new in a person confirm'd in the opposite party from whence this resignation of will so entire and perfect so unexpected and sudden What gave him courage to contradict to their faces the High-Priests whose instrument he was and declare that Jesus whom they called a Deceiver was the Son of God and their Judge What animated him to appear before Kings and Emperours to testifie this dangerous Truth What made him with unparallel'd activity with the most ardent affections propagate the Gospel and after a thousand perils by Sea and Land a thousand disgraces and injuries at last to confirm the Faith of Christ with his Blood It is therefore past all contradiction that he had the greatest assurance that the Son of God spake to him Another Vision of the WORD from Heaven was to St. John when he was pleas'd to reveal to him the future state of his Church its Combats and Victories He then appear'd in a form expressive of his Majesty Power and Providence requisite for the ordering all the great Events that should befal it And said I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for ever and have the Keys of Hell and of Death wherein he appropriates to himself the incommunicable titles of the Deity and then declares those two astonishing Miracles that the Prince of Life that had an Eternal Principle of it in himself was dead and that one who had been dead was alive This Riddle the Gospel unfolds The Son of God was made Man and by that admirable union allied Eternity and Time Life and Death together As 't is a common form of speech that a Man dies when the Body is depriv'd of Life though the Soul be immortal So it was true the Son of God died when his Body was crucified though he was uncapable of the least diminution of his Divine life And after three days he rose by the Divine Power to enjoy an Immortal Life And have the Keys of Hell and Death The irresistible force of Death all Men must yield to and from the Grave there 's no redemption by finite power But Jesus Christ has Soveraign Authority and Power to open the Grave and raise the Dead to an happy Immortality This glorious Appearance made St. John to fall as dead at his Feet and could not recover himself till assured by the reviving words of his favour The Spirit also appear'd from Heaven to give Testimony concerning the divine Person and Office of Christ First by descending as a Dove on him when he was baptised This was the completion of the Prophecy The Spirit of the Lord is upon me He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor to publish Deliverance to the Captives And in the second of the Acts the Spirit descended in the form of Fiery Tongues upon the Apostles to qualifie them for preaching the Gospel to the World And 't is worthy of observation that the Apostles were before this very defective in Wisdom and Courage so that their Divine Master though Goodness it self yet tax'd them for their stupidity and in his Sufferings they all forsook him But after the effusion of the Spirit upon them they were endowed with that admirable Wisdom and Resolution that nothing could gainsay and overcome They presently spake in various Languages the things concerning Iesus Christ that the World was astonish'd and many converted by this Testimony from God for the honour of our Saviour and others confounded in their obstinacy Now since this miraculous descent of the Spirit was to ratify the Promise that he made to them If I go away I will send to you another Comforter What more clear and valuable Testimony can we have that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World If Infidelity should reply If we had heard these Voices and seen those glorious Visions we should be convinc'd but what assurance have we there is no deceit in these Relations I answer There never was clearer Grounds of the belief of any thing done without the compass of our own senses than of what

supernatural light could not be dispell'd 2. They were ambitious of superiority every great Spirit was desirous to raise a Sect to act the part of a King in the Scene of Fame Now by propounding a new Object as the blessedness of Man they had the reputation of soveraign Masters 3. They drew a Picture of happiness every one according to their different conceptions and desires Epicurus set up the pleasure of Sense as the chief object And that Reason might be flexible to his inclinations that his Roses might have no Prickles to prevent any melancholly reflections after carnal enjoyments he denied the Divine Providence and the future state 'T is said by some in his favour that he intended a calm and peaceful temper of mind a felicity refin'd from the dregs of sensuality For this they alledge Epicurus himself depreciating carnal pleasures and extolling Vertue as the great composer of the Soul But in vain they wash this voluptuous Swine For 1. Those Sentences of a more noble and generous strain might as flashes of Lightning from a black Cloud break forth of his Conscience in the midst of the darkness that cover'd it yet Sense might be his predominent Principle 2. He was a crafty Spirit and made use of some beautiful expressions to lessen the horror that his Doctrine nakedly proposed would cause in sober Persons Sometimes he speaks with a grave air as a Philosopher That true happiness consists in the pleasures of the mind At other times That there is no solid happiness but what might be tasted and enjoyed by the Senses He was a Polititian and would not scandalise the severe nor alienate the dissolute from him Tully observes that the secrets of his School the pernicious lessons of sensuality were not communicated to all But those who had intimate conversation with him had a free indulgence for their lusts Aristotle places happiness in all the perfections of the Body and Mind with the confluence of all External things as necessary Ingredients of it But this only respects Man in the present state in the World and were his opinion true yet his description would cause despair of obtaining that happiness For how could any single Person expect an entire union of all such perfections in himself as are not to be found in all Men together The Stoicks asserted felicity to consist only in Vertue But this is contrary to Reason Humanity For the union of the Physical good with the Moral is requisite to give satisfaction to the faculties of man ‖ Plato and his followers in whom Natural Reason ascended as high as in any of the Gentiles had a glimpse of the true blessedness of Man as consisting in his likeness to God and the enjoyment of him But their knowledge was shadowed with much ignorance their hopes mixt with doubtful fears They had rather suspicious and wandring desires than solid apprehensions and firm expectations of it Briefly no sparks struck out of humane intellectuals were sufficient to give light or heat to direct in the clear way and to animate against the intervening difficulties that hinder Men in the pursuit of blessedness This was the state of the Pagan World till Light and Immortality were brought to light through the Gospel The quality of this life is therein revealed 't is a pure and holy felicity consisting in the perpetual exercise of the most excellent actions the intelligent Nature is capable of That is in the perfect Knowledge and Love and Praises of God himself The subject of it is the intire Man for this end the Body shall be rais'd from its dead sleep to an eternal Life The place is the highest Heavens fram'd by the Divine power for the seat of his Majesty the Kingdom of his Love wherein he will manifest himself to his Favourits And can there be a stronger attractive a more noble inducement to make us holy Secular rewards as Riches and Honours and the like are extrinsecal to the nature of Goodness and to do our duty with such low aims and expectations is to be defective in the best part of it the love of Vertue for its inherent excellence But the Divine reward is the perfection of Holiness the glory of the Soul and the belief and regard of it has a powerful influence to make us truly good The Faith in this makes us victorious over all the charms and all the cruelties of the World For what can possibly come into competition with a happiness infinite in its greatness and duration I will only add that though Heaven be so rich a Jewel that it needs no foil to set off its lustre to those who are clear sighted to behold it yet in a merciful compassion to Man the Gospel reveals what will be the recompence of wilful continued disobedience an eternal Hell wherein the Justice and Power of God are terribly glorified And what is more powerful to excite the sensual and secure who despise the blessed hope than the fear of an Immortal Death Now after this short delineation of the Christian Religion let Reason judg whether 't is the invention of Men. The Doctrine of it shines with so clear an evidence the Precepts are so pure able to inspire us with true Holiness the Promises are so Divine that every one who does not wilfully shut his eyes or turn them to other things may discern its original to be from above that it comes from the Fountain of Wisdom Holiness and Goodness What are all the productions of the Earth to this sacred Present of Heaven If there be any shadow of Vertue in other Religions here the reality is in the highest perfection and separate from all vicious mixtures Christianity enjoyns universal sincerity and purity of Heart and Life It instructs Man to appear what he is by an humble acknowledgment of his sinful unworthiness and to be what he appears by an inward love and real practice of that Religion of which he makes a publick profession It impresses a more noble Character upon moral Vertues by enjoyning them from a principle of love to God and directing their performance to his Glory than Philosophy did that commanded them only as agreeable to humane reason What are all the most beautiful excitations of Philosophy to the high motives of the Gospel To apply our selves to the Writings of the wisest Heathens in order to our happiness and to neglect the Scriptures is to he guilty of worse folly than the barbarous Indians at Mexico who though their Woods abounded with Wax the labour of the Bees yet only made use of Brands that afforded a little light with a great deal of smoak Upon the most impartial inquiry and exact search Reason will conclude either there is no blessed end for which Man was design'd by his Maker or the Gospel only has reveal'd it and the effectual means to obtain it So that we must say with the zeal and affection of the Apostles to Jesus Christ Lord to whom