Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	part_n	soul_n	2,761	5	5.3627	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28173	The sinners sanctuary, or, A discovery made of those glorious priviledges offered unto the penitent and faithful under the Gospel unfolding their freedom from death, condemnation, and the law, in fourty sermons upon Romans, Chap. 8 / by that eminent preacher of the Gospel, Mr. Hugh Binning ...	Binning, Hugh, 1627-1653.	1670 (1670)	Wing B2933; ESTC R6153	246,575	304

comprehensive of all that can be imagined to be the perfective good of man It is no wonder then that the Apostle reckon this Doctrine of the Resurrection amongst the foundations of Christianity Heb. 6.1 2 for truly these t●o the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the mortal body are the two ground-stones or pillars of true Religion which if they be not well settled in the hearts of men all Religion is tottering and ruinous and unable to support it self That the soul cannot taste death or see corruption and that the body shall but taste it and as it were salute it and cannot alwayes abide under the power of it these are the prime foundations upon which all Christian perswasion is built for without these be laid down in the lowest and deepest part of the heart all exhortations to an holy and righteous life are weak and ineffectual all consolations are empty and vain in a word Religion is but an airy speculation that hath no consistence but in the imaginations of men it is an house upon sand that can abide no blast of temptation no wave of misery but must straight way fall to the ground From whence is it I pray you that the perswasions of the Gospel hath so little power upon men that the plain and plentiful publication of a Saviour is of so small vertue to stir up the hearts of men to take hold on him How comes it to passe that the preeepts and prohibitions of the most high God coming forth under his authority lays so little restraint on mens corruptions that so few will be perswaded to stop their course and come off the wayes they are accustomed that men pull away the shoulder and stop the ear and make their hearts as adamant incapable of being affected with either the authority or love of the Gospel that when He pipes unto us so few dance and when he mourns so few laments Is it not because these two foundations are not laid and mens hearts not digged deep by earnest consideration to receive these ground-stones of Christianity the belief of their souls eternal survivance after the dust and of the revivance and resurrection of the body after it hath slept a while in the dust I remember Heathens have had some noble and rare conceptions about vertue and some have laboured to enamour men with the native beauty of it and to perswade them that it was a sufficient reward to it self and truly it would far more become a Christian who knoweth the high and divine pattern of holinesse to be God himself and so must needs behold a far surpassing beauty and excellency in the Image of God than in all earthly things I say it would become him to accustome himself to a dutiful observance of Religion even without all respect to the reward of it he would train his heart to do homage to God out of a loyal affection and respect to His Majesty and from the love of the very intrinsick beauty of obedience without borrowing alwayes from such selfie considerations of our own happinesse or misery Notwithstanding such is the posture of mans spirit now that he cannot at all be engaged to the love of Religion except some Seen advantage concilat it and therefore the Lord makes use of such selfie principles in drawing men to Himself and keeping them still with Him and truly considering mans infirmity this is the spi●it and life of all Religion Immortality and Resurrection that which gives a lustre to all and quickens all that which mak●s all to sink deep and that which makes a Christian stedfast and immovable 2 Cor. 5.8 It is certainly Hope that is the key of the heart that opens and shuts it to any thing These the Apostle Peter 1 Epist. 1. blesseth God heartily for the new birth and in the expressing of it makes hope the very term of that generation and so it must be a substantial thing Blessed be God who hath begotten us again to a lively hope Hope hath a quickning power in it it makes all new where it comes and is full of spirit it is the Helmet and Anchor of a Christian that which bears the dint of temptation and makes him steady in Religion No man will put in his plough in this ground or sow unto the Spirit but in hope for he that soweth must sow in hope else his Plough will not go deep 1 Cor. 9.10 This then is the very spirit and life of Religion the resurrection of the dead without which our faith were in vain and men would continue still in their sins Certainly it is the deep inconsideration of this never-ending endurance of our souls and restitution of our bodies to the same immortality that makes the most part of men so slight and superficial in Religion else it were not possible if that were laid to heart but men would make Religion their business and chief business We have here the two genuine causes of the resurection of the bodies of Christians the resurrection of Christ and the inhabitation of his Spirit The influence that the resurrection of Christ hath on ours is lively and fully holden out by this Apostle 1 Cor. 15. against them who deny the resurrection from the dead If Christ be not raised your faith is in vain ye are yet in your sins and they that are asleep are perished Religion were nothing but a number of empty words of show Preaching were a vanity and imposture Faith were a meer ●ancy if this be not laid down as the ground-stone Christ raised not as a natural person but as a common politick person as the first fruits of them that sleep vers 17 18 19 20. where he alludes to the ceremony of offering the first fruits of their harvest Lev. 23.10 for under the Law they might not eat of the fruits of the land till they were sanctified all was counted prophane till they were someway con●ecrated to the Lord. Now for this end the Lord appointed them to bring one sheaf for all and that was the representative o● all the rest of the heap and this was waved before the Lord and lifted up from the earth now according to the Apostles argument Rom. 11 16. If the first fruits be h●ly so is the lump for it represents all the lump and therefore Iesus Christ the chief of all his brethren was made the first fruits from the dead and lifted up from the grave as the representer of all the lump of his elect and so it must needs follow That they shall not continue in the grave but must in due time partake of that benefite which he was first entred in possession of in their name and for them for if this fi●st fruits be holy so the whole lump must be holy and if the first fruits be risen so must the lump You see then the force of the present reason If the Spirit that raised Christ dwell in you He shall also raise you namely because he

greatest fear is death not so much because of it self but chiefly because of that eternity of unchangeable misery that naturally it transmitts them unto Now it is only Christian Religion possessing the heart that a●mes a man compleatly against the fear either of death it self or the consequents of it it giveth the most powerful consolation that not only overcometh the bitternesse and taketh out the sting of death but changeth the nature of it so far as to make it the matter of triumph and gloriation There is something here supposed the worst that can befall a Christian it is the death of a part of him and that the worst and ignoblest part only the body is dead because of sin Then that w●ich is opposed by way o● comfort to counterballance it is the life of his better and more noble part And besides we have the founta●ns both of that death and this life mans sin the cause of bodily death Christs righteousnesse the fountain of spiritual life Of death many have had sweet meditations even among these that the light of the Word hath not shined upon and indeed they m●y make us ashamed who prosesse Christianity and so the hope of the resurrection from the dead that they have accounted it only true wisdom and sound Philosophy To meditat often on death and made it the very principal point of living well To be alwayes learning to die and have applyed their whole studies that way neglecting present things that are in the by have given themselves to search out some comfort against death or from death Yea some have so profited in this that they have accounted death the greatest good that can befall man and perswaded others to think so Now what may we think of our selves who scarce apprehend mortality especially considering that we have the true fountain of it revealed to us and the true nature and consequents of it All men must needs know that death is the most universal King in the world that it reigns over all ages sexes conditions nations and times though few be willing to entertain thoughts of it yet sooner or later they must be constrained to give it lodging upon their eye lids and suffer it to storm the very strongest tower the heart and ba●●er it down and break the strings of it having no way either to flee from it or resist it Now the consideration of the general inundation of death over all mankind an● the certain appro●ching of it to every particular mans door hath made many serious thoughts among the wise men of the world But being destitute of this heavenly light that ●hineth to us they could not attain to the original of it but have conceived that it was a common tribute of nature and an universal Law imposed upon all mankind by nature having the same reason that other m●tations and changes among the creatures here below have and ●o have thought it no more strange thing then to see other things dissolved in their elements Now indeed seeing they could apprehend no other bitter ingredient in it it was no wonder that the wisest of them could not fear it but rather wait and expect it as a rest from their labours as the end of all their miseries But the Lord hath revealed unto us in his Word the true cause of it and so the true nature of it The true cause of it is sin sin entred into the world and death past upon all for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Man was created for another purpose and upon other conditions and a Law of perpetual life and eternal happinesse was past in his ●avours he abiding in the favour and obeying the will of Him that gave him life and being Now sin inte●posing and separating between man and God loosing that blessed knot of union and communion it was this other law that succeeded as a suitable recompence Thou shall die It is resolved in the Council of Heaven That the union of man shall be dissolved his soul and body separated in just recompence of the breaking the bond of union with God This is it that hath opened the sluce to let in an inundation of misery on mankind this was the just occasion of that righteous but terrible appointment It is appointed that all men once should die and after death cometh to Iudgment Heb. 9.27 That since the body had inticed the soul and suggested unto it such unnatural and rebellious motions of withdrawing from the blessed fountain of life to satisfie its pleasure the body should be under a sentence of deprivement and ●orfeitour of that great benefite and priviledge of life it had by the souls indwelling and condemned to return to its first base original the dust and to be made a feast of worms to lodge in the grave and be a subject of the greatest corruption and rottennesse because it became the instrument yea the incitement of the soul to sin against that God that had from Heaven breathed a spirit into it and exalted it above all the dust or clay in the world Now my beloved do we not get many remembrances of our sin Is not every day presenting our primitive departure from God our fi●st separation from the fountain of life by sin to our view and in such sad and woeful effects pointing out the hainousnesse of sin Do you not see mens bodies every day dissolved the tabernacle of earth taken down and the soul constrained to remove out of it But what influence hath it upon ●s what do the multiplied funeralls work upon us It may b● sorrow for our friends but little or no apprehension of our own mortality and base impression of sin that separats our souls from God Who is made sadly to reflect upon his original or to mind seriously that statute and appointment of Heaven in that day thou shalt die It is strange that all of us fear death and few are afraid of sin that carrieth death in its bosome That we are so unwilling to re●p corruption in our bodies and yet we ●re so earnest and l●borious in sowing to the flesh Be not deceived for you are dayly reaping what you have sowen And O that it were all the harvest but death is only the putting in of the sickle of vengea●ce the first cut of it But O to think on what follows would certainly restrain men and cool them in their fervent pursuits after sin SERMON XXVIII Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse THE sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law saith our Apostle 1 Cor. 15.56 These two concur to make man mortal and these two are the bitter ingredients of death Sin procured it and the Law appointed it And God hath seen to the ex●ct execution of that Law in all ages for what man liveth and shall not taste of death Two only e●caped the common lot Enoch and Elias for they pleased God and God took them

raised up Christ the very first fruits of all the rest so that Christs resurrection is a sure pledge and token of yours and both together are the main basis and ground work of all our hope and salvation the neglect and inconsideration whereof makes the most part of pretended Christians to walk according to that Epicurean principle let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die as if there were no life to come they withold nothing from their carnal minds that can satisfie or please their lusts But for you who desire a part in this resurrection and da●e scarcely believe so great a thing or entertain such a high hope because of the ●ight of your unworthinesse as ye would be awaked by this hope to righteousnesse and to sin no more vers 34. of that Chap. So you may encourage your selves to that hope by the resurrection of Christ for it is that which hath the mighty influence to beget you to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Look upon this as the grand intent and special design of Christs both dying and rising again that he might be the first fruits to sanctifie all the lump Nevertheless it is not he defect of your bodies for they are often a great impediment and retardment to the spirit and lodgeth the enemy within their walls when he is chased out of the mind by the Law of the Spirit of life but it is the great design of God through the whole work of redemption and the desert of Christ your head and therefore you may entertain that hope but take heed to walk worthy of it and that is if we have this hope let us purifie our selves let us who believe that we are risen with Christ set our affections on things above else we dishonour Him that is risen in our name and we dishonour that Temple of the Holy Ghost which he will one day make so glorious SERMON XXXI Rom. 8.11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead c. AS there is a twofold death the death of the soul and the death of the body so there is a double resurrection the resurrection of the soul from the power of sin and the resurrection of the body from the grave as the first death is that which is spiritual then that which is bodily so the first resurrection is of the Spirit then the second of the body and these two have a connexion together therefore saith the Apostle Iohn Blessed are they who have part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests to God c. Rom. 20.6 Although death must 〈…〉 their bodies yet the sting wherein the strength of it lyes is taken away by Christ that it hath no power to hurt him whose spirit is raised out of the grave of sin and truly it is hard to tell which is the greatest change or the most dificult to raise a Body out of corruption to life or to to raise a Soul out of sin to grace But both are the greatest changes that can be and shadowed out under the similitude of the greatest in nature for our conversion to God is a new birth a new creation and a resurrection in Scripture style and so both require one and the same power the almighty power of his Spirit you who were dead in sin hath He quickned c. O what a notable change it maketh them no longer the same men but new creatures and therefore it is the death of sin and the resurrection of the soul for as long as it is under the chains of darknesse and power of sin it is free among the dead it is buried in the vilest sepulchre old graves and these full of rottennesse and dead mens bones are nothing to ●xpresse the lamentable case of such a soul and yet such are all by nature whatsoever excellency or endowment men have from their birth or education yet certainly they are but apparitions rather then any real substance and which is worse their bodies is the sepulchre of their souls and if the corruption of a soul were sensible we would think all the putrifactions of bodily things but shadows of it And therefore no sooner is there any inward life begotten in a soul but this is the very fi●st exercise of it the abhorrency of the soul upon the sight and smell of its own loathsomnesse Now there is no hope of any reviving though all the wisdom and art of men and Angels were imployed in this businesse there is nothing able to quicken one such soul untill it please the Lord to speak such a word as he did to Lazarus Arise come forth and send his Spirit to accomplish his word and this will do it when the Spirit cometh into the soul he quickeneth it and this is the first ●esurrection O blessed are they who have part in this whose souls are drawen out of the dungeon of darknesse and ignorance and brought ●orth to behold this glorious light that shineth in the Gospel and raised out of the grave of the lusts of ignorance to live ●nto God henceforth for such they have their part in the second resurrection to life for you see these are conjoyned If the Spirit dwell in you He shall raise you c. You see here two grounds and reasons of the resurrection of the body Christs rising and the Spirits indwelling now I find these in Scripture made the two fountains of all Christianity both of the fi●st and second resurrection The ●esurrection of Christ is an evidence of our Justification the the cause of our quickening or vivification and the ground and pledge of our last resurrection and all these are grounds of strong consolation The first you have Rom. 4.25 Christ died for our sins and rose for our Iustification and the vers 34. of this Chap. Christ is dead yea rather that is risen again who then shall condemn Here is a clear evidence that He hath payed the debt wholly and satisfied Justice fully since He was under the power of death imprisoned by Justice certainly he would not have won free if he had not payed the uttermost farthing therefore his glorious resurrection is a sure manifestation of his present satisfaction it is a publick acquittance and absolution of him from all our debt and so by consequence of all he died for for their debt was laid upon him and now He is discharged and therefore the believing soul may tremblingly boast who shall condemn me for it is God that justifieth Why because all my sins were laid on Christ and God hath in a most solemn manner acquited and discharged him from all when he raised him from the dead and therefore he cannot and none other can sue me or prosecute a plea against me since my Cautioner is fully exonered of this undertaking even by the great Creditor God himself But then his resurrection is a pawn or pledge of the spiritual raising of the soul

of h●s Law sur●ound when your Conscience accu●eth and God cond●mneth it may be too late and out of date Alas then w●at will you do who now put your consc●ence by and will not hearken to it or be put in fear by any th●ng can be represented to you we do not desi●e to put you in fe●r where n●●ear is but where there is infinit cause of ●ear and when it is possible that fear may introduce faith and be the forerunner o● these glad tidings that will compose the soul We desi●e only you may know what bondage you are really into whether it be observed or not that you may fear lest you be enthralled in the chains o● everlasting da●knesse and so may be perswaded to flee from it before it be irrecoverable W●at a vain and empty sound is the Gospel of liberty by a Redeemer to the most pa●t who do not feel their bondage Who believes its report or care much for it because it is necessity that casts a beauty and lust●e upon it or takes the scales off our eyes and opens our closed ears Now for you who either are or have been detained in this bondage under the fea●ful apprehension o● the wrath of God and the sad remembrance o● your sins know that this is not the prime intent and grand businesse to torment you as it were before the time there is some other more beautiful and satisfying structure to be raised out of this ●oundation I would have you improve it thus to commend the necessity the absolute necessity of a Redeemer and to make him beautiful in your eyes Do not dwell upon that as if it were the ultimat or last work but know that you are called in this rational way to come out of your selves into this glorious liberty of the sons of God purchased by Christ an● revealed in the Gospel Know you have not received the spirit of bondage only to fear but to drive you to faith in a Saviour and then you ought so to walk as not to return to that ●ormer thraldome o● the ●ear of wrath but believe his love SERMON XXXVII Rom. 8.14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God Vers. 15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father THE li●e o● Christianity take it in it self it is the most pleasant and joyful life that can be exempted from these fears and cares these sorrows and anxieties that all other lives are subj●ct unto for this of necessity must be the force and efficacy of true Religion i● it be indeed true to its name to disburden and ease the heart and fill it with all manner of consolation Certainly it is the most rich Subject and most compleatly ●urnished with all variety of delights to ente●tain a soul that can be imagined Yet I must confess while we consult with the experience and practice of Christians this bold assertion seems to be much weakned and too much ground is given to confirm the contrary misapprehe●sions of the world who take it to be a sullen melancholick and d●●consolat life attended with many ●ears and sorows It is alas too evident that many Christians are kept in bondage almost all their l●fe-time through fear o● ete●nall death how many dismall representations of sin and wrath in the souls of some Christians which keep them in much thraldom at least who is it that is not once and often brought in bondage a●ter conversion and made to apprehend fea●fully their own estate who hath such constant uninterrup●ed peace and joy in the holy Ghost or lyes under such direct beams of divine favour but it is sometimes eclipsed and their souls fill●d with the darknes of horrour and terrour and ●ruly the most part ta●●e not so much sweetness in Religion as make● them uncess●nt and unwearied in the wayes of Godliness yet not withstanding of all this w● must vindicat Christianity it self and not impute these things unto it which are the infirmities and faults of the followers of it who do not improve it unto such an use or use it so far as in it self it is capable Indeed it is true that o●ten we are brought to fear again yet withall it is certain that our allowance is larger and that we have received the Spirit not to put us in bondage again to fear but rather to seal to our hearts that love of God which may not only expell fear but bring in joy I wish that this were deeply considered by all of us that there is such a life as this attain●ble that the word of God doth not deceive us in promi●ing fair things which it cannot perform but that there is a certain reali●y in the life of Christianity in that peace and joy tranquility and serenity of min● that is holden out and that some have ●eally found it and do find it and that the reason why all of us do not find it in expe●ience is not because it is not but because we have so little apprehension of it and diligence after it It is strange that all men who have pursued satisfaction in the things of this life being disappointed and one generation witnessing this to another and one person to another that notwithstanding men are this day as fresh in the pursuit of that as big in the expectations as ever and yet in this business of Religion and the happiness to be found in it though the Oracles of God in all ages have testified from Heaven how certain and possible it is though many have found it in experience and left it on record to others yet there is so slender belief of the reality and certainty of it and so slack pursuit of it as if we did not believe it at all Truly my beloved there is a great mistake in this and it s generally too all men apprehend other things more ●easable and attainable then personal holinesse and happinesse in it but truly I conceive there is nothing in the world so practicable as this nothing made so easie so certain to a soul that really minds it Let us take it so then the fault is not Religions that these who professe it are subject to so much fear and care and disquieted with so much sorrow it is rather because Christianity doth not sink into the hearts and souls o● men but only puts a tincture on their out-side or because the ●aith of divine truths is so supe●ficial and the consideration o● them so slight that they cannot have much efficacy and influence on the heart to quiet and compose it Is it any wonder that some souls be subject again to the bondage of fear and terrour when they do not stand in aw to sin Much liberty to sin will certainly embondage the spirit of a Christian to fear Suppose a believer in Jesus Christ be exempted from the haz●rd of condemnation yet he