Selected quad for the lemma: body_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	nature_n	soul_n	unite_v	6,882	5	9.6339	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26915	Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation of souls, and of those scandals, heresies, and desperate apostasies that are the consequents of a counterfeit, or superficial change / by Richard Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1658 (1658)	Wing B1243; ESTC R15278	227,645	552

Paul must be laid exceeding low in his Conversion that he might be the fitter as a chosen Vessel to bear Christs Name among the Gentiles Lay all this now together Sirs and consider what cause you have to cherish the Humbling works of Grace and not to quench them When your hearts begin to be afflicted for sinne go not among foolish and merry Companions to drink or laugh it away drive it not out of your minds as unkindly as if it came to do you hurt But get alone and consider of the matter and on your knees in secret beseech the Lord to follow it home and break your hearts and make you meet for his healing consolations and not to leave you in this red sea but to bring you through and put the Songs of praise into your mouths DIRECT V. Having thus directed you about your Humiliation the next Direction which I would offer you that you may not miscarry in the worke of Conversion is this See that you close with the Lord Jesus Christ understandingly heartily and entirly as he is revealed and offered to you in the Gospel In this your Christianity doth consist Upon this your Justification and Salvation lie This is the summe of your Coversion and the very heart of the New creature The rest is all but the preparatives to this or the fruits of this Christ is the end and the fulfiling of the Law the substance of the Gospel the way to the Father the life the help the hope of the Believer If you know not him you know nothing If you possess not him you have nothing And if you are out of him you can do nothing that hath a promise of Salvation And therefore I shall distinctly though briefly tell you what it is to close with Christ Vnderstandingly heartily and entirely as he is offered in the Gospel And I. That you may close with Christ Vnderstandingly you must look to these things 1. That you understand who Christ is as in his Person and his Offices 2. That you understand the Reason of his undertaking 3. That you understand what it is that he hath done and suffered for us 4 That you understand the Nature and worth of his benefits and what he will do for you 5. That you understand the terms on which he conveyeth these benefits to men and what is the nature extent and condition of his promises And 6. that you understand the Certain Truth of all this For the first you must understand that Jesus Christ hath two Natures in one Person that he is both God and Man As he is God he is of the same substance with his Father and one in essence with him the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity the Word of God the only begotten Sonne of the Father Eternal Incomprehensible and Infinite As Man he hath a true Humane Soul and body as men have so that his Godhead his Humane Soul and his Body are really distinct This Humane Nature was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin Mary without man and born of of her and is so truly united to the Divine Nature as that they are one Person Not that the Godhead is turned into the manhood nor the manhood into the Godhead but the Godhead hath taken the manhood into Personal Unity with it self This was not from Eternity but when man had sinned and had lost himself and needed a Redeemer By reason of his Miraculous Conception he was free from all Original sinne being holy harmless and undefiled His Person and Natures were fit for his Office which was to be the Mediator between God and man to make Reconciliation and recover us to God Had he not been God but meer man his dignity would not have been sufficient for such an interposition nor his obedience or sufferings of any such value as to be the price of our Redemption Nor could he have born our burden or conquered death and risen again and overcome the Prince of death the Devil nor have ruled his Church and preserved and sanctified them and prospered his Cause and subdued his enemies nor effectually interceded with the Father nor judged the world or raised the dead and done the work of a perfect Saviour Nor was the Angelical Nature sufficient for this Office Had he not been man he had not been neer enough to us to have suffered in our stead and taught us by his Doctrin and given us his Example nor could he have suffered or dyed for us For God cannot die or suffer As he is God he is One in Nature with the Father and as he is man he is One in Nature with us and therefore is fit to Mediate for us and in him we are brought thus nigh to God To this Office of the Mediator there are many acts belonging from whence it hath several denominations of which more anon So much of Christ's Person 2. The next thing that you must understand is the Reason and Ends of his Undertaking which though we are not able fully to comprehend nor the Reason of any of the works of God yet must we observe so much as is revealed And these following Ends or Reasons of this work do shew themselves clearly in the Scripture and in the event 1. One is The Demonstration of Gods Justice as he is Governor of the world according to the Law of Nature He made man rational and a voluntary Agent capable of Good or Evil with Desires and Hopes of the Good and fears of the Evil and so to be ruled according to his Nature He made for him a Law that Revealed Good and Evil with Promises to move him by Desire and Hope and with Threatnings to drive him by necessary Fear By these engins God resolved to govern mankind This Law was the Rule of mans Duty and of his Receivings or of Gods Judgment According to this Law the world was to be Governed by God His Governing Justice consisteth in giving all their Due according to his Law At least so far as that the End of the Law may be attained that is the honour of the Law-giver preserved transgression made odious by the terror of penalty and obedience made honourable by its fruits of impunity and reward Otherwise the Law would not have deterred effectually from Evil nor encouraged to Good especially to so much as Creatures must go through for the Crown of Life And so the Law would have been no fit Instrument for the Government of the world that is the Law would have been no Law But this the Wise and Righteous God would not be guilty of of making a Law that was no Law and was unmeet for the ends to which he made it which was essential to it as a Law There was no way to avoid this intollerable consequent when man had sinned but strict execution of the Law or by sufficient Satisfaction in stead of such an Execution The Execution would have destroyed the Commonwealth even the whole inferior world at least the reasonable

lay the blame on God because he doth not give it you and say We cannot convert our selves But would you have the Spirit come in while you hold the dore against him He knocks and desireth you to open and let him in and you wish him to come in but you bolt the dore and no intreaty will procure you to open it It is Consideration of the saving doctrine of the Gospell that openeth the heart and giveth it entertainment Set you selves therefore on purpose to this work open the doores of your heart which are now shut and let the King of Glory come in Who will believe that you love the Light when you shut the windows and draw the curtains If you will set your selves to consider of the Truth the windows of your Soul will be set open and then the light will certainly come in Now you read over whole Chapters and hear Sermon after Sermon and either they never stir you or at least it 's but a little for a fit like a man that hath a little warmd him at the fire in the winter and when he goes from it is colder then before But if you would but set your selves to consider of what you hear or read one line of a Chapter or one sentence of a Sermon would say you in tears or make you groane or at least do more then now is done Satan hath garrisond the heart of every carnall man And consideration is the principall means to cast him out If by considering of the terrible threatnings of the word you would discharge these Canons of God against them what a battery would it make in the corruptions of your Souls Our God is a consuming fire and the fire of hell is threatned in his Law as the wages of sin By serious Consideration you may as it were fetch fire from God and from his word and set to the very gates of Satans garrison and fire him out of many of his holds But because this is so needfull a point I shall be so large upon it as 1º to tell you some of those things that you should consider of 2o. to tell you in what manner you should do it and 3o. to give you some Motives to put you on I. The first thing that I would have you oft to think on is The Nature of that God with whom you have to do Consider that if he be the most wise it is all the reason in the world that he should rule you If he be Good and infinitely Good there is all the reason in the world that you should Love him and there is no shew of reason that you should love the world or sin before him If he be faithfull and true his threatnings must be feared and his promises must not be distrusted and there is no reason that you should make any question of his Word If he be Holy then Holiness must needs be most excellent and those that are the Holiest must needs be the best because they are most like to God And then he must be an enemy to sin and to all that are unholy because they are contrary to his nature Consider that he is Almighty and there is no resisting him or standing out against him In the twink of an eye can he snatch thy guilty Soul from thy body and cast it where sin is better known A word of his Mouth can set all the world against thee and set thine own conscience against thee too A frown of his face can turn thee into Hell And if he be thine enemy it is no matter who is thy friend For all the world cannot save thee if he do but condemne thee They are blessed whom he blesseth and they are cursed indeed whom he curseth He was from Eternity and thou art but as it were of yesterday Thy being is from him thy life is alwaies in his hands Thou canst not live an hour without him thou canst not fetch a breath without him nor think a thought nor speak a word nor stir a foot or hand without him Thou mayst better live without bread or drink or fire or aire or earth or water then without him All the world is before him but as the drop of a bucket or a little sand of dust that should be laid in ballance with all the earth Hadst thou but compassed about this lower world and seen all the Nations of it and its wonderfull furniture and seen the great deeps of of the mighty Ocean and the abundance of Creatures that be in all O what thoughts then wouldst thou have of God! But if thou hadst been above the Starres and seen the Sun in all its glory and seen the frame and course of those higher Orbes and seen the blessed glorious Angels and all the inhabitants of the higher world O then what thoughts of God wouldst thou entertaine O but if it were possible that thou hadst seen his Glory or seen but his back-parts as Moses did or seen him in Christ the now glofied Redeemer what apprehensions wouldst thou have of him then Then how wouldst thou abhor the name of sin and how weary wouldst thou be of the pleasantest life that sensuality could afford thee Then thou wouldst quickly know that no Love can be great enough and no praises can be high enough and no service can be holy and good enough for such a God Then you wouldst soon know that this is not a God to be neglected or dallyed with nor a God to be resisted nor provoked by the wilfull breaking of his Laws It is Eternal Life to know this God Joh. 17. 3. and for want of knowing him it is that sin aboundeth in the world This maketh Holyness so scarce and leane Men worship they care not how because they worship they know not whom O therefore dwell on the Meditations of the Almighty So far as he doth possess thy mind there will be no place for sin and vanity One would think if I should set you no further task and tell you of no other matter for your Meditation this one should be enough For this one is in a manner all What will not the due knowledge of God do upon the Soul That 's the best Christian and the most happy man that knoweth most of him And that 's the most vile and miserable wretch that is furthest from him and strangest to him It is the Character of the foole of fooles to have a heart whose disposition and practice saith There is no God Psal 14. 1. That is To be so affected and employed in their hearts as if there were no God and when God is not in all his thoughts Psal. 10. 4. It was better with man when he had less knowledge for himself and fewer thoughts for himself and more of God And there is no way to restore us to sound understanding and to perfect our knowledge but to turn our eye upon God again For in knowing him we know all that 's worth the knowing Take

to him as that he had and may make him more happy Look to it therefore that you have right and beliving thoughts of Heaven and that unfeignedly you take it for your Home and Happiness and look not for any other Portion Till you see so much of the certainty and excellency of Everlasting Glory as shall prevail with you to lay out your faithfull labour for it and to be at a point with all this world as having laid up your Treasure and Hopes in the world to come you have no ground to conclude that you are true Christian Converts Seeing therefore that it's Heaven that is the very Reason the End the Life of all your Religion it follows that you must necessarily understand somewhat of its excellency and believe its certainty and accordingly set your hearts upon it and make the attainment of it your daily work and business in the world This is to be a Convert indeed Remember therefore first what I told you before wherein the nature of this Blessedness doth consist I will only name the Essentials of it that your apprehensions may be right and forbear to say much as being done already 1. The first thing considerable in our Everlasting Blessedness will be our personal Perfection of the whole man This is in order to the Perfection of our Everlasting Operations and Enjoyments Our bodies shall be no more flesh and blood nor corruptible or mortall or subject to hunger or pain or weariness nor to passions that rebell against the reasonable soul but they shall be spiritul bodies and Immortall and Incorruptible and Undefiled Our Souls will be perfected in their Natural Perfections and in their Moral They shall be of more advanced Understanding and comprehensive Wisdom then now Our wills shall attain to perfect rectitude in a perfect conformity to the Will of God and every affection shall be brought to its perfect order and elevation All sinne shall be done away whether it were in the understanding will affections or the actions The executive power will be answerable to the rest of the Perfections and to the blessed work which it hath to do And thus we shall be like the Angels of God 2. The next thing considerable in our Blessedness is our approximation or approach to God We shall be admitted into the holiest and brought as neer him as our natures are capable of and we are fit for 3. Moreover we shall be Members of the new Jerusalem and receive our Glory in Communion with that blessed Society and so as Members contribute to her Glory 4. And we shall behold the glorified Person of our Redeemer and he will be glorified on us as the fruits of his Victory 5. And we shall behold the face of the blessed God and see his wisdom and power and glory and know as we are known Though we cannot now fully know the manner yet in that sense as our Angels are said to behold the face of God Mat. 18. 10. we also shall behold it 6. We shall also enjoy him in the neerest relation and by the most raised vigorous affections of our souls We shall be filled with his Love as full as we can hold and we shall abound with perfect Love to him again And the Joy that is in his presence which this Intuition and Everlasting Love will afford us is such as no heart is here able to conceive 7. Being thus furnished we shall be employed in his perfect Praises in singing and rejoycing to him with the heavenly Host and Magnifying his great and holy Name 8. And in all this will the Glory of God shine forth and he will be admired in his Saints 2 Thes. 1. 10. 11. In us it shall appear how abundant he is in power and wisdom and goodness in holiness faithfulness and righteousness 9. And God himself will be well pleased with us and with the new Jerusalem and his glorified Sonne and will take complacen●y in this manifestation and communication of his Glory and of Himself unto his creatures And this is his Ultimate End and should be the highest point of ours The Revolution hath now brought all to that Center which is both the Alpha and Omega the begining and the end His Will is the Fountain or Efficient of all and it is the Ultimate End and Perfection of all There is no more to add as to the matter but that as to the Duration first we may take it as that which leaves no room for any addition that all this will be Everlasting leaving not any doubts or fears of a cessation Abundance of glorious adjuncts of this felicity might be mentioned but I pass them all by and do but name these few which are the Essentiall Constitutive parts of our Happiness because I have touched them before and fullyer spoken of them in the Saints Rest. Thus much I thought meet to mention here that you may have somewhat of that in your eye that I am perswading you to intend and seek and the rather because I perceive that many of the godly have not such distinct Apprehensions of the constitutive parts of this Felicity as they should have but much wrong their souls and God Himself and the Glory of their Profession by looking but at some of the Parts Believe God sirs that this is the life that you shall live if you will take it for your Portion and set your hearts upon it and follow the Conduct of Christ for the obtaining it Can you be content with Heaven alone Is it enough for you though you be despised and persecuted in the world Do you account this for Certainty and Excellency to be worth all Yea that all is dross and dung to this Thus must you do if you will be true Converts For all such are heavenly in their minds and hearts and in the drift of all their lives and Conversations DIRECT X. My next Advice that you may prove sound Converts is this Rest not and count not your selves truly Converted till God and his holy Waies have your very Love and Desire and Delight and take not that for a saving Change when you had rather live a worldly ungodly life if it were not for the fear of punishment I shall speak but little of this because I toucht upon it before when I told you that Christ must have your hearts and because it is but a consectary of the last or contained in it But yet I think it best to present it here distinctly to your Consideration because a slavish kind of religiousness doth deceive so many and because the life of Grace is here exprest I deny not but holy Fear is e●ceeding usefull to us even a Fear of the Threatnings and Judgments of God But yet I must tell you that in Fear there is much more that is common to the unsanctified then there is in Love Desire and Delight Though the Fear of God be the beginning of wisdom it is Love that is the Perfection and that Fear is not