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cause_n	body_n	see_v	soul_n	2,772	5	5.0753	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77515	Two treatises the one, handling the doctrine of Christ's mediatorship : wherein the great Gospel-mystery of reconciliation betwixt God and man is opened, vindicated, and applyed. The other, of mystical implantation : wherein the Christian's union and communion with, and conformity to Jesus Christ, both in his death and resurrection, is opened, and applyed. / As they were lately delivered to the church of God at Great Yarmouth, by John Brinsley, minister of the Gospel, and preacher to that incorporation.	Brinsley, John, 1600-1665.; Ashe, Simeon, d. 1662.	1652 (1652)	Wing B4737; Thomason E1223_1; ESTC R22919	314,532	569

suppose it be directed to others men dead in trespasses and sins Such exhortations not uselesse to others yet such Exhortations are not uselesse unto them In as much as through those channels God is pleased to convey his grace and spirit wherby he enables them to do what hee requireth from them Thus in raising Jairus his daughter from the death-Bed our Saviour cals to her Talitha Cumi Damosell arise Mark 5.41 And in raising Lazarus from the grave he cries unto him Lazarus come forth Joh. 11.43 not that either the one or the other had power of themselves to do what was commanded but there was a power went forth together with the word like that which went forth with that Creating word at the first God said Let there be light and there was light Gen. 1. There was a power went forth with the word giving a being to that which was not Thus doth God cal things which are not as if they were Rom. 4.17 By his word making things to be what they were not And thus doth be call upon dead souls to awake and arise by and through his word conveying that spirit and power unto his Elect wherby they are inabled to do what of themselves they cannot The first Resurrection is a work of no lesse power no lesse difficulty then the second 5. To these adde in the fifth place Resemb 5. This spirituall resembles the corporall Resurrection in the Indisposition of the Subject In the indisposition of the Subject A dead Corps lying in the grave it hath no disposition no aptitude no inclination to rise again As it cannot raise it selfe so neither can it do any thing in a way of tendency towards its own resurrection It can no wayes fit or prepare it self for it Nay it cannot so much as will or desire it Even such an indisposition is there in a dead soul to this first Resurrection A soul dead in sin as it cannot raise it selfe to the life of grace so neither can it do any thing which tendeth that way Such an Impotency is there in man since the fall All are now by nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without power When we were yet without strength Christ died for us Rom. 5.6 Not able to contribute ought towards this blessed change Not able to do any thing by way of preparation to fit themselves for the receiving of the grace of God no nor yet so much as will and desire it when the grace of God first meeteth with man it findeth him a meer patient like a dead body lying in the grave having only a passive capacity rendring him a subject capable of receiving the impressions of grace and so of having a new life put into him Man hath not only an outward but an inward Impediment to this Resurrection So indisposed is man naturally to the work of God's grace not only having an outward Impediment as Papists and Arminians would have it like a Prisoner as some of them frame the similitude who having fetters upon his legs cannot walk but yet he hath an inward power in himselfe so to do if that outward impediment were removed Not onely so but man hath also an inward impediment Being like a dead carkass lying in the grave which though all the grave-clothes be taken from it yet it cannot move nor stir untill a new life be put into it Until God doth breathe the breath of a new life into the soul the man is whole indisposed unto this blessed change I might go a step further Man not only indisposed but averse to this Resurrection and shew you how he is not onely indisposed to this life but averse to it In which respect the first Resurrection goeth beyond the second The second Resurrection meeteth with a Body which though of it selfe it be indisposed to live again yet it maketh no resistance no opposition against its own resurrection But in the first Resurrection when God cometh to raise up a dead soul from the grave of sin he findeth it not only indisposed but opposite to it making resistance against the work of his grace Ye stiffe-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost As your fathers did so do ye saith Saint Stephen to the Jewes Acts 7.51 To these I might yet add one more 6. This spirituall resembles the corporall Resurrection in the efficient causes of it Resemb 6. The Efficient Causes of it and that both Principall and Ministeriall and Instrumentall In the second Resurrection the Resurrection of the body the Principall Efficient is God himselfe the Ministeriall the Angels the Instrumentall the sound of a Trumpet You have them all together 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an Archangel and with the Trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall arise Now see a resemblance of all these in the first Resurrection The same Principall Efficient God God quickneth the dead Rom. 4.17 as dead bodies so dead souls The like Ministeriall and Instrumentall Cause Herein God maketh use of his Angels Revel 2. 3. and of his Trumpet His Angels the Angels of the Churches the Ministers of the Gospell whom he now sendeth forth to gather together his Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other Mat. 24.31 His Trumpet is his word in the mouth of his Ministers A spirituall Trumpet shadowed out by those silver Trumpets under the Law by the sounding whereof the Priests called the people to the publick Assemblies on earth Numb 10.2 Thus do the Ministers of the Gospel by lifting up their voice like a Trumpet as it is given in charge to the Prophet Isaiah Isai 58.1 by preaching and publishing the Gospell they call men to the Kingdom of God Hereby awakening and raising them up The hour is coming and now is saith our Saviour when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they which hear it shall live John 5.25 Men dead in sin hear the voice of Christ in the Ministery of his Word and thereby the Spirit concurring with the Ordinance and giving efficacy to it they are quickned and raised up to a new spirituall and heavenly life Even as dead bodies shall be at the last day raised from their graves by the voice of an Arch-angel and sound of a Trumpet Thus then you see this Generall made out How that the first resurrection the resurrection of the soul from the death of sin to the life of righteousnesse carries with it the resemblance of a Resurrection resembling it in the Order in the Nature in the Integrity in the Difficulty of the work in the Indisposition of the Subject in the Efficient Causes of it both Principall Ministeriall and Instrumentall Now come we in the second place to see how it resembleth the Resurrection of Christ 2. The spirituall Resurrection resembles the Resurrection of Christ So it doth

it Thus grow the members of the naturall body and thus grow the Branches of a tree they grow in height and they grow in thickness See that our growth be such that we grow in every grace Grow in knowledg It is Pauls prayer for his Colossians that being fruitful in every good work they might increase in knowledg Col. 1.10 Grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet 3.18 In knowledg And that not only Speculative which yet is requisite Leaving the principles of the doctrin of Christ let us go on to perfection Heb. 6.1 but experimental That I may know him and the vertue of his resurrection saith the Apostle Phi. 3.10 Grow in faith it is Pauls gratulation on the behalf of his Thessalonians that their faith did grow exceedingly 2 The. 1.9 This is the Apostles desire Lord increase our faith Lu. 17.5 And let it be the desire of every of us to grow in faith In the Assurance of faith We desire saith the Apostle that every one of you do give all diligence to the ful assurance of Hope unto the end Heb. 6.11 In the exercise of faith in learning to live by faith in all conditions The just shal live by faith Heb. 10.38 The life which I now live in the flesh saith Paul I live by the faith of the son of God Gal. 2.20 Grow in Love This is the grace which the Apostle desireth that his Thessalonians might specially grow in 1 Thes 4.10 we beseech you brethren that ye increase more and more viz. in brotherly love Grow in holines Perfecting holines in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Grow in heavenly mindedness Seek the things which are above Col. 3.1 So grows the plant and so should the christian grow upward heavenward Our conversation is in heaven Phi. 3.20 Grow in contentation I have learned in whatsoever state I am therwith to be content Phi. 4.11 Grow in a close conscionable walking with God We beseech you brethren exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more Thes 4.1 And so in the rest Adding one Grace to another To faith vertue to vertue knowledg c. 2 Pet. 1.4 And one degree of Grace to another The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith Rom. 1.17 that is from one degree of Faith to another This is the glory of Christianity Growth the glory of Christianity and Honour of Christ Grow continually In this not like Grafts and the honor of Christ As it is the glory of the stock when the grafts grow and thrive in it Even so is it the glory of Christ when those that are in him do thus grow up in him Let it be the desire and indeavour of every of us that we may so do And that continually In this not like unto grafts which shoot forth much in the first two or three first years more then afterwards and when they are come to their height stand at a stay So fareth it too often with christians At their first conversion and calling they grow exceedingly but afterwards stand at a stay if not decline But thus it should not be Christians must have no consistency Though trees and men have their consistency yet so should not christians have They should ever be going on from strength to strength til they come to appear before God in Zion Ps 84.7 Ever growing in grace untill they come to a state of perfection in glory Q. But who is there that thus growes If none be truly ingrafted into Christ but those who thus grow who is there but hath cause to suspect his Condition Doubts about Growth cleared from the Metaphor Ans For answer The Metaphor we have in hand will suggest unto us somwhat which may give quiet to the soule in this case Grafts grow but first it is insensibly A man may see that they have grown but not see them growing And secondly They grow but not in winter And such is the Christians growth 1. Growth may be insensible yet true 1. Sometimes it may be an Insensible and yet a true Growth The Christian may grow though neither others nor himselfe perceive it That he is grown that he may know by comparing himselfe with himselfe his present with his former condition Though his present growth be insensible 2. Christians have their winters wherein it may be they do not grow But 2. Again Christians have their winters Their winter of Affliction their winter of Temptation their winter of spirituall Desertion Now in these winters they may seem in their own apprehension not to grow but rather to decline Nay in truth they may so do I but 1. This is a winter to them 1. This is a winter to them when God maketh them sensible of their estate A sad time wherein the soul goeth heavily not content with their condition but drooping under it Such is the winter to the Graft a nipping time And such are these winters to the Christian 2. They grow downwards 2. Though Christians in these times do not grow upwards yet downwards they may So doth the Graft in the winter it groweth into the Stock into which the sap is gone down And so groweth the Christian in the winter of affliction and spirituall desertion He now groweth downwards Groweth though in no other grace yet in Humility being brought hereby to think more meanly of himself And he groweth into the Stock groweth more into Christ in whom and with whom Col. 9.3 his life is for the present hid 3. And 3dly though he do not at present actually grow 3. They have a Principle of Germination yet he keepeth a principle of germination in him a disposition and inclination to grow which upon the return of the Spirit putteth forth it self Even as the Graft though in the winter it doth not grow yet it hath a germinating principle in it which upon the return of the Sun and the rising of the sap sheweth forth it selfe So is it with the Christian However upon the withdrawing of the wonted heat and influence of the Spirit of grace from the soul for a time he do not grow but rather decline yet there is a principle of grace in him a seed as Saint John calleth it 1 John 3.9 viz. that grace of the holy Spirit whereby he was regenerated which inclineth him to a spirituall germination and which upon the rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon the soul return of the Spirit will put forth it self as formerly In the mean time there is in the soul an inclination to such a growth and if it be it self a constant desire after it II. And by this Christians are to judg of themselves not by their present proficiency but by the reality and constancy of their affections and indeavours Thus God judgeth of them not

Proclamation runs Isai 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come unto the waters and he that hath no money come Buy wine and milk without money or without price A gracious invitation wherein Christ proclaimeth a free-Mart to all those that feel themselves to stand in need of true grace and sound comfort and desire a supply thereof let them come unto him but come emptie-handed without money or monies worth bringing nothing of their own with them nothing but hungring and thirsting souls So shall they be supplyed with wine and milk all things needfull to their spirituall refreshment and nourishment 5. And thus coming to him now cast our selves upon him 5. Cast our selves upon him depend upon him So did Joseph's brethren at their last coming now they cast themselves upon Joseph depending upon him for provision for them and theirs The like do we not knowing where else to have our wants supplyed Master John 6.68 whither shall we go saith Peter thou hast the words of eternall life come we unto Jesus Christ and cast our selves upon him in a confident assurance of being nourished by him As David saith of temporall food Psal 37.3 Trust in the Lord c and verily thou shalt be fed So say I of spirituall Trust in the Lord rest upon Jesus Christ and verily thou shalt be fed So doth the graft upon the stock it resteth upon it and depends upon it for nourishment which by an attractive vertue being hungry as it were it sucks and draweth from it And the like do we from Jesus Christ coming unto him in the sense of our wants set faith awork which is an attractive grace thereby as it were sucking and drawing this nutritive vertue from him 6. Give glory and honour unto Jesus Christ 6. Which being in our measure made partakers of now give praise honour and glory to Jesus Christ offering unto him the best that we have So Jacob directeth his sons at their return into Egypt In as much as they had received such speciall and undeserved favour from the Governour of the Land to furnish them with corn without money he orders them to take the best fruits in the land in their vessels and carry down the man a present a little balm and a little honey c. Gen. 43.11 The like do we having tasted of this so undeserved a favour this speciall grace of Jesus Christ in the communication of his saving sanctifying Spirit unto us in any measure now present him with such as we have Praise Honour Glory Service Obedience Bringing forth fru t answerable Above all endeavouring to bring forth fruits answerable to what we have received This is the greatest honour that the graft can do to the stock to bring forth fruit in it answerable to that nourishment which it hath received from it And this is the greatest honour that we can do to Jesus Christ when we shew forth his vertues his praises as Saint Peter hath it 1 Pet. 2.9 And this do we not onely in word speaking well of the Name of Christ extolling and magnifying his power his vertue put forth in and upon us But also and chiefly in deed by expressing that power those vertues in the course of our lives and conversations bringing forth fruits in measure worthy of sutable to such a Stock But of this God willing more hereafter Here is the first of these subordinate benefits which accrew unto the believer from his communion with Jesus Christ being ingrafted into him he receiveth nourishment from him A second followes viz. Augmentation The Graft being put into the Stock and receiving nourishment from it 7. Resembl A second Benefit Augmentation now it groweth up in it And the like doth the Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ being ingrafted into him and receiving spirituall nourishment from him now he groweth up in him Ex iisdem nutrimur crescimus Nutrition and Augmentation are both from the same cause That which plants are nourished by that they grow by Christians receiving nourishment from Christ they grow and increase in him So it followeth in that fore-cited Text of the Apostle Col. 2.19 Where speaking of the mysticall Body of Christ the Church he saith that having nourishment ministred to it from the Head it increaseth with the increase ef God Thus doth the mysticall Body of Christ grow not only Extensively in regard of the daily addition of new members to it there being daily added to the Church such as shall be saved Acts 2.47 In which respect the Apostle saith that it groweth unto an holy Temple Ephes 2.21 But also Intensively in regard of the growth of every member This is true Augmentation when it is secundùm omnes partes when every member of the body every branch of the tree groweth and increaseth in the severall dimensions thereof And thus groweth the Body of Christ the Church Every member of it groweth increaseth with the Increase of God that is a spirituall Increase which is both from God and to God From God as the principall Efficient Cause of it Paul planteth Apollos watereth but God giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3.6 And it tends to God to his Glory as the ultimate end of it And besides for the kind of it it is a divine Increase not in the things of this world but in the things of God In all which respects it is called the Increase of God Whereof all living Branches are made partakers Christ himself And with this Increase do all the true members of this mysticall Body all the living Branches ingrafted into this Stock grow and increase Thus did Christ himselfe who in respect of his Manhood was a Branch grow and increase So it was fore-told that he should do Isai 53.2 He shall grow up before him as a tender plant Which is to be understood both of his Person and Kingdome Both which were of small beginnings but growing So did Christ in his Person according to his humane nature he grew and increased and that as in the outward so in the inward man as in stature so in Grace So you have it attested Luke 2.40 And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdome and the Grace of God was upon him and again ver last And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man Thus did he grow the Graces of the Divinity breaking forth and shewing themselves by little and little through the lanthorn of the Humanity according to the maturity of the faculties thereof Herein was Christ a Pattern and sampler to the Believer who being in Christ is in his measure made conformable to him growing up in him It is one of the properties which the Psalmist giveth of the righteous man Every righteous person Psal 92.12 He shal grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Cedars are growing trees every year putting forth a new set of shoots till they come to their full perfection And thus is it or

part to make use of in the working of this first Resurrection Not that hee is tyed to an uniformity in his way of working alwaies to work after the same manner No his dispensations as in other of his works so in this are various But ordinarily so it is Before dead soules arise and come out of the grave of sin there is a shaking and an Earthquake and a rending of the Rocks God prepares the hearts of his people for this blessed work by some degree of a Legall contrition and compunction giving the soul to feel somewhat of the spirit of Bondage letting into it some sense and apprehension of sin and the wrath of God due unto sin After this cometh the still voice In the Gospel As it was in Eliahs vision at Mount Horeb 1 Kin. 19.11 12. After the whirlewind and the Earthquake and the fire came the still small voyce Thus fareth it ordinarily in the work of Conversion After the Whirlewind and the Earthquake and the fire of the Law cometh the still voyce of the Gospell quieting the soul with the offers of grace and mercy letting into it some comfortable apprehension of Reconciliation with God through Christ withall exciting it to lay hold upon that mercy and to indeavour to walk answerably to it in newnesse of life Now have we heard this voice of the Son of God Have we heard Christ thus speaking to our souls making his word effectuall unto us in this way If so here is an hopefull evidence that this blessed change is begun and that we have a part in this first Resurrection Whereas otherwise are we strangers to this voice never felt any such power in the word We may justly conclude our selves strangers to this blessed work surely we are as yet in our graves under the power of a spirituall death Enquiry 2. Have we received the spirit of Christ 2. Let a second enquiry be Have we received the spirit of Christ we know by what meanes it is that the dead body is raised by putting a spirit into it Thus we read of Jairus his daughter Luk. 8.55 After that Christ had called upon her saying Maid arise her spirit came again saith the Text and shee arose straightway By a like meanes doth Jeses Christ effect this Resurrection of the soule by putting his spirit into it By this meanes was his own Body raised Hee was put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit 1 Pet. 3.18 viz. that divine and eternall spirit which dwelt in his humane nature And by the same meanes are dead soules quickned By this means were those dry bones made to live again Ezek. 37.5 Behold saith the Lord I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live Now what were those dry bones and what was this Breath you may see the Interpretation of both in the sequels These bones are the whole house of Israel ver 11. And yee shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves O my people and brought you up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and yee shall live ver 13 14. This is the Breath put into these dry bones even the spirit of God put upon his people being then in Babylon causing them to live again restoring them to a flourishing condition By the same meanes doth Christ cause dead soules being Captives unto sin to live by putting his Spirit into them Hence is it that he is called a Quickning spirit 1 Corin. 15.45 Because by this meanes hee shal quicken the dead Bodies of his Saints at the last day Hee shall quicken your mortall Bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you Rom. 8.11 And by the same meanes hee now quickneth dead soules by communicating his Spirit unto them Which in this respect the Apostle calleth The Spirit of life Rom. 8.2 Now then have we received this Spirit It was Pauls question to those new Converts Act. 19.2 Have ye received the Holy Ghost This he spake concerning the Extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which flourished in the Church at that time Let me propound the same question in a more ordinary sense Have we received the Holy Ghost Have we received the Spirit of Christ As it was Pauls question to his Galatians Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith Taking it for granted that they had received the Spirit And so have all those who have any true union with Jesus Christ If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Now have wee received this spirit by the hearing of faith Have we so heard the voice of Christ in the doctrine of faith the Gospell as that wee have received the spirit of Christ If so questionlesse this Spirit will have the same operation and effect in our soules that it had in the Body of Christ As it raised up the one so it will raise up the other Whereas otherwise being voyd and destitute of this Spirit of Christ we may like dreaming men fancy and imagine our selves to be risen but we are yet in the grave This Quickning spirit how discerned Question But the Question here will run on How shall we know whether we have received this Quickning Spirit or no. A Question that will be very usefull in the resolution of it The rather because there are so many who pretend to this spirit never more then at this day who yet are meere strangers to it By the fruits and effects of it Answer For your satisfaction know that this Quickning spirit where it is discovers it selfe by the fruits and effects of it Of these fruits and effects I might name many I shall only single out three of the Principall which will be properly usefull to our present purpose This Quickning Spirit where it dwelleth in the soul Which in working this Resurrection are three it is to it a Spirit of Illumination a Spirit of Faith a Spirit of sanctification A threefold work whereby the Spirit effecteth this first Resurrection in the soul being to it first a Spirit of Illumination secondly of Faith thirdly Of Holinesse 1. A Spirit of Illumination 1. It is a Spirit of Illumination Here is the beginning of this work it beginneth in Light Even as in the first Creation the first born of Gods works was Light God said Let there be Light Gen. 1.3 So is it in this new Creation the first work is Light The Light shineth in darknesse John 1.4 a new light shining into the soul of man which since the fall is become a dungeon of darkenesse As it was with Peter when God sent his Angell to fetch him out of Prison Acts 12.7 he caused a light to shine in the prison So is it with dead souls when God sendeth his Angells his Ministers to fetch them out of the prison the dungeon of the grave he causeth a light to shine forth unto them