Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	member_n	sin_n	4,796	5	5.1191	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29649	The way to the Sabbath of rest, or, The souls progress in the work of regeneration being a brief experimental discourse of the new-birth in which many of the serpents wiles are detected, the mysteries of the Cross unvailed, the death of the old man, the life of the new man, the angelical dispensation, with the entrance to the divine / clearly laid open and discovered by Mr. Thomas Bromley.	Bromley, Thomas, 1629-1691.	1692 (1692)	Wing B4888B; ESTC R35790	39,085	70

to give To those imbodied Souls that purely live CHAP. VII THe Soul having now attained to the Death of that which so long hindered its growth in the Pure Life and to the Enjoyment of those Spiritual Objects which exceedingly refresh and quicken the Heart in the midst of all discouragements proceeds chearfully in the strait way of Resignation offering up its Sin-Offering daily as a Sacrifice to the Fathers Justice For now the Daily Oblation is restored in the Holy Place which must continue till the death of sin and the rending away the Vail of flesh from before the most Holy Now therefore the Circumcising Knife of Gods Power constantly cutts off the Fleshly part which is offered up in the Fire of Justice and consumed before the Lord Now the Soul sees it must resist to blood that is to the Death of the Body of sin which is wholly to be separated from the Spirit with all its Members For this is that false Covering it hath wrapped it self in through the Fall instead of that naked Innocency in which there was no uncomliness and therefore no shame Except therefore this Fore-skin of the Flesh be cut off the Angelical Robe cannot be put on and as that falls off this is assumed increasing as that decays for they cannot both rise and fall together for while the outward Man decays the inward Man is renewed day by day Here it clearly appears we must forsake all we have otherwise we cannot be Christs Disciples All Objects of our Carnal Affections all complacency in Fleshly things all Propriety of Will which assuredly came through the Fall and the Souls Departing from the Universal Love the true ground of heavenly Community into the particular Objects of self-affections which as it hath been awakened by the Souls going out of Gods Will into its own so it must be Crucified by returning from its self into the pure eternal Will of God which we can never attain till we are dead to the affections of the sensitive part For carnal Love Joy Hope Fear Desire Displeasure are all the selfish Motions of the Natural Man the corrupt Members of the Body of Sin together with earthly Pride Covetousness Envy Jealousy Emulation Wrath Strife all which are the Leggs of the earthly Adam and therefore to be cast away and destroyed and in their Fall the Will comes to be crucified to all their Objects and so to all selfish Propriety Here we come to lose our own Lives to hate our selfish Motions to be slain to all fleshly Things the Will hath espoused instead of God in Christ Here we begin to be truly Poor renouncing all for Christ owning no Propriety in earthly Estates We see here that the Earth is the Lords and the Fulness thereof and that Covetousness hath been the cause of Propriety and of all those engrossings of Land and Money which most are involved in and that Christ came to destroy this Work of the Devil by his Doctrine and Pattern who had all things in common with his Disciples even as the Primitive Christians one with another which was a renewing of the Law of Love by which we were and still are obliged to love our Neighbours as our selves and to do Gods Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven where the holy Angels and glorified Saints inherit their eternal Substance in common For he that overcomes shall inherit all things Here likewise we die to and forsake earthly Relations as part of that we call Ours And though we are not to destroy natural Affection nor to neglect the performing1 forming of any due Obligation laid upon us by the Law of Nature as it accords with the Will and Justice of God yet we are to die to all such Propriety of Affection as flows from corrupt Nature and hinders the impartial Communication of our Love to every one according to the perfect Example of our Heavenly Father who takes in no fleshly Respects in the giving forth of his Love to his Creatures which is our Pattern to imitate for we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Here those that have Wives are as though they had none returning from Idolizing and desiring the Woman of the World to the Virgin Sophia who is the unspotted Mirrour of the eternal World the first and chief Spouse of Christ Rev. 21.2 And they that are unmarried follow the Example of Christ who lived and died in Virginity as he was born of a Virgin and this they do for the Kingdom of Heavens sake according to that precept Mat. 19.12 He that is able to receive it let him receive it where Christ speaks concerning the abstaining from Marriage and of those that have made themeselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven Whence it is clear that the dying to and crucifying of that Root whence the enjoyment of that State comes is to such a real mean to the growth and encrease of Gods Kingdom in the Soul which is to be presented as a Chaste Virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 And Paul 1 Cor. 7.31 32 33 34 25. prefers the Virgins State far before the Married and therefore Verse 7. saith I would that all Men were as I am Which certainly he spake according to true Light found Judgment and great Experience in the Work and Progress of Regeneration But in a word in this State before described we come to see that we our selves are not our Own but the Lords and that we are to consecrate our Bodies Souls and Spirits to him and to resign up all we call ours to him whose is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever And truly our gradual incorporation into the Body of Christ with the Enjoyment of new Relations and Treasures which are Spiritual and Eternal make it the more easie to die to and forsake all earthly Things which being of a lower Nature shew their Rise by their Fall for being of the Earth they are earthly and return to Earth as utterly incapable t● enter with us into the Kingdom of Love As we then leave the Spirit of the World they leave us and so we arrive to a good degree of Conquest and Victory over that Beast which rules the whole World which gives the Soul occasion thus to express its self in praise Blest be that Power by which the Beast Is made to serve and we releast From that base servile Drudgery Which some mistake for Liberty Sad Liberty that chains poor Souls to Dust And soils immortal Things with mortal Rust CHAP. VIII THe Soul having arrived so far in the Circumcision of the Heart from the Body of Flesh and in the Renovation of the Spiritual Image cannot but have attained a good step in the Command over Imagination especially in the death of it to Complacency in any corrupt fleshly Object which now becomes too gross for the renewed mind to regard But yet we shall find the Tempter working

Soul being now sensible of its present state and seeing that there 's no Safety where the Devils have such access and influence sinks down into the Mercy and Love of God and flies to the Cross imbracing and delighting in it that so the Blood of the Cross may be shed into it to cleanse it throughout and to take away those Stains which are the Devils Mansions And here it clearly finds there 's no way of triumphing over the Prince of Death but through Death so it dies daily to that the Evil One lives in and lives to that which is death to Sin In this way there may much Discouragement sometimes seize on the Soul through the strength of Satans working and the reluctancy of Flesh and the Outward Man which is loath to subject his Neck to the sharp Axe of Death But this Bitterness is recompenced with that Refreshment the Soul finds in its Constancy of Self-denial which is attended with many glances of Divine Comfort darting in upon the Soul to encourage it and though it should for a while remain in this Progress which is bitter to the Flesh without any sensible Comfort which may well be through that great opposition the Dragon will make at this remove of the Soul yet when Patience hath had its Work and the Soul is come to be wrapt up in Contentation and Passiveness as to any Change of its Condition and so fitted for Enlargement the showers of God's Love will seasonably and sweetly descend to the strength and blessed Support of the Heart so that it will be forced to cry out It is good that a Man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord And what the Spirit sometimes now enjoys so sweetens the Cross that it cannot but thus break forth Why should the Soul refuse that Cross That Gold returns instead of Dross Why should it fear that piercing Nail Which rends away the fleshly Vail And gives a Prospect of that Place Which Time and Age cannot deface CHAP. VI. BY this time the Soul begins to delight in the habit of strong Self-denyal and watches diligently over its self to discover whatever is to be slain upon the Cross of God's pure Will and now it begins to be ashamed of all Passions and Affections that flow from the Animal Man and therefore much restrains it and keeps it in subjection to the Angelical which is according to that Order God himself set at the beginning Now it likewise sees how the Animal Mortal part with its Motions and Passions is too much imbraced by most few understanding how it was in the Beginning or how it is to be changed and again subjected to the Angelical Part in the Children of the Resurrection But the Soul having now some Sight and Enjoyment of the inward Spiritual Body raised from the dead is much ashamed of the outward Body which stands in the Curse under awakened Wrath seeing what Temptation Spirits are exposed to by Union with this which should continually be under the Law of Mortification till its Change lest through its Earthly Inclination it should infect the Intellect and draw the Immortal Soul into Defilement which now dares not hearken to the Allurements of the sensitive Spirit which as tempting Eve oft presents the Apples of Mortality as those which are pleasing to the Eye and good for Food But through the renewal of the Spiritual Body with its five Faculties or Powers answering to the five Senses of the External Body the Objects and Pleasure of the Outward begin to be forgot and to displease instead of alluring and affecting the Heart For by the Exercise of the Internal Senses we see Spiritual Objects as the Internal Light-World Visions of Angels and Visions of Representation In this state we likewise hear the Songs Voices and Harmony of Angels with the Harpers upon Mount Sion who there continually praise the Lord We smell the Perfumes of Christ's Garments and are oft entertained with Paradisical Odours We touch and feel the powerful tincture of Christ's Body which many times strongly affects the Heart with powerful delight We also oft taste the Heavenly Manna and those Dews of Paradise which are sweeter than Honey to that Part which receives them I could here more largely particularize the several Objects Delights and Enjoyments of the inward Spiritual senses but because there may be great Variety according to the different Gifts and Capacities of several Persons and in regard some for ought I know may pass far in the Progress of the New Birth without a particular knowledge of those Enjoyments I shall not instance in many particulars I could nor set down my own with some others peculiar and various Experiences Yet in general I cannot but affirm that the unlocking the Sences of the inward Man is a great Priviledge and that the Soul by it attains many great Supports and Refreshments to uphold it and give it incouragement to hold out to the end For truly this Communion it lives in now with the Angels of God and other Divine Objects continually minds it of Heaven and Paradise and exceedingly draws the Heart from all that is in the World where Death and Corruption is wrote upon every thing And the Dragon and Beasts bring forth their various Wonders But in this state the Soul blesseth God for that Constancy he afforded under the Cross and for that Death it hath undergone in Resignation to his Will which hath proved a passage into this Life in which the Soul beholds the opening of a New World with its glorious Hoasts And begins to feel the Sweetness of the Angelical Life and to see what we fell from by descending into the Spirit of Mortality and the sensitive Nature Now this state cannot be attained but by a Death to that which was the chief Ingagement of the Soul to the World and the primary Chain that hindred its gradual Ascent towards God And we may find there is something in every one which is the Souls Dalilah that shaves its Locks and betrays its strength and whilst this remains it cannot effectually grow in the Love of God and Conformity to Christs Death But when this subtle Harlot comes to be discovered and killed the Soul flies apace and very swiftly to Eternity for when this Wheel is taken away the smaller that depended on it lose their strength and motion and so cease with it giving Freedom to the Soul of tending towards its true Center which having regained this Liberty and attained in some Measure the Restoration of the Holy Powers of Sensation sings a Song of praise to God in this manner Blest be that Power which hath that Idol broke Which did so long depress me with her Yoke Blest be that Hand which hath restor'd to me An Eye within this World a World to see Where Angels and blest Spirits freely move As they are acted by the Laws of Love Whence they a Visit sometime deign

is continually to be restrained and as much as is possible reduced unto subjection to the illuminated Understanding and also upon the Relicks of the Old Man in any other Faculty which are always to be slain in their first Buddings and therefore to be strictly eyed which cannot be whil'st Imagination is so busie in its motions The second is that Complacency which the Soul may take by representing its self adorned with and enjoying the Gifts of Hearing Seeing Touching Tasting and Smelling in a spiritual Way with all the Beauty and Sweetness of the Objects of those Faculties both in its self so proviledged and in the Objects themselves most of which being but Streams and not the Fountain it self the Soul may be in danger of taking too much delight and so of being entangled in them The third inconvenience is the obstructing that Still Silence of the Soul in which it should be oft wrapped up as a mean to those extraordinary effusions of Light and Power which God many times affords the Soul in its passive quiet waiting Whereas this labour of Imagination too much keeps the Soul in action and so in an unfitness for those Divine Impressions which very seldom come down but into a Spirit profoundly silent Seeing then there may be so much danger in indulging Imagination even in these pure Objects we shall find it very requisite oft to cease from all Imagination and to act no Thought upon any thing in the heights above or the depths below I say no Thought Thoughts being but Images which reach not the Essence of spiritual Objects But this Practice excludes not that general constant intellectual sight and apprehension of God which the Soul thus far arrived enjoys Therefore I speak not here to those who have not attained a continual habitual apprehension of the Divine Presence for if they should strive to cease from their good Thoughts they might fall into a kind of Stupidity far worse But I here give Directions to those who having attained constant habitual Communion with God press after Perfection in their constant Progress through all Impediments of which this working of Imagination being one we here give experimental Directions to over come it And certainly there is no better way than the Annihilation of all Thoughts and the retiring from the Phantasie into the silent Mind which more fits the Soul for Divine Irradiation and spiritual Imbraces for the more quiet we are the less resistance we make against a supernatural Impression and the easier we perceive the Beginnings of Divine Attraction and so yield our selves to it And truly when the Soul hath attained the Power to throw its self as oft as it is meet into the silent super imaginary State which must be attained by the habitual constant Practice of it it will then come to internal Openings and intellectual Sights of the Invisible worlds and many times receive quickning Glances from the Eternity with those strong infusions of Love that bring the Soul many times near to a Rapture And truly the enjoyment we have in this State fully recompenceth all that Self-denial we pass through to the attainment of it Here then the false Prophet which is irregular Imagination comes to be conquered being commanded by the inward Mind that now oft draws up the Soul into the Paradisical World from the motion of Phantasie and Imagination And now the Soul doth bid Adieu To Phansies Glass ' cause 't is not true And to that Mirrour turns its Eye Where Things are view'd Essentially And there in silence waits that State to know To which all former Dispensations bow Wait on blest Soul and know this Passive Life Will send thee into Oneness from all strife CHAP. X IMagination being now over-come and the Animal Man mortified the Soul cannot but clearly discover its growth in the Image of God and the Resurrection of the Angelical Man which now evidently perceives its self springing up in a new Principle above the Spirit of the World and its mixt Laws And here we come to own and receive new Relations contracted by our Progress in the New-Birth and our tendency from the Spirit of the World toward Eternity And as through the Act of Generation we came to be invested with Earthly Relations so by the Work of Regeneration we come to possess those that are Spiritual Here we come to honour God as our Father in the Spirit not excluding any other of his beloved Ones who have been instrumental to beget us into the Divine Image and Wisdom or Jerusalem above as our true Mother And so all other Saints who have been begotten by the same Power into the same Nature become our true Brothers and Sisters all standing upon one Root drawing one nourishment and knit together by one Spirit which is the Instructer Leader and Comforter of all But we shall here find a nearer Vnion and Communion amongst those who have been by one particular Instrument begotten into the Life of Christ having a peculiar Vein of Spiritual Enjoyment running through them which others who received not that particular Tincture do not partake of And had we lived in the Apostles times we should have seen this among the Primitive Christians for certainly they that were begotten by Paul had a particular endearment to him and to one another and so it may be said of those that were converted by Apollo Cephas and others Which is clear by that Scripture 1 Cor. 1 12. Ev●ry one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas And though Paul blames them here for Contention Emulation and Irregularity in their particular Affections to their Spiritual Fathers yet not for a peculiar ownment of those who instrumentally converted them for that is according to the Law of pure Justice seeing he that Converts a Sinner saves a Soul from Death and covers a Multitude of Sins And Paul himself in some places speaks of himself as a Spiritual Father requiring of those he had begotten into the Faith due Respect Obedience and Love But amongst those who are thus peculiarly united we shall see some more closely knit in Spiritual agreement than others and essensed into one anothers Spirits as may appear by that great Union which Christ had with John and that particular Affection he bare towards him which was the reason why John was called by way of eminency and distinction from the rest The Disciple whom Jesus Loved Now when we come to experience this we shall know the meaning of that Scripture where Bone is said to come to His Bone For as some Bones are locked one in another and some Members grow more immediately one out of another though all make up but one Organical Body so some Spirits are nearer united in Christs body then others and stand closer joynted and more intrinsecally compacted but all make up but one spiritual and mystical Body And this we shall find to flow from