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	resurrection_n	soul_n	16,270	5	5.8130	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32041	The monster of sinful self-seeking, anatomizd together with a description of the heavenly and blessed selfe-seeking : in a sermon preached at Pauls the 10. of December, 1654 / by Edm. Calamy, B.D. ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing C259; ESTC R15527	29,832	44

obtaine a better resurrection Heb. 11. 35. who received joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10. 34. It is said even of Christ himselfe That for the joy that was set before him he indured the crosse and despised the shame c. Heb. 12. 2. There is a great difference between amor mercenarius and amor mercedis Mercenary love and the love of the reward Mercenary love is when we serve God onely for reward This is sinfull but to make the hope of reward one motive of service is not only lawful but necessary For it is our duty to use all Gods Motives as well as all Gods Ordinances and as it is a sinne for any man to say that he hath no need of Gospel-Ordinances so also to say that he hath no need of Gospelmotives amongst which this is one of the chiefest Know therefore that there is a threefold selfe-seeking 1. There is a lawfull and an allowed selfe-seeking 2. There is not onely a lawfull but a heavenly and blessed selfe-seeking 3. There is a sinfull cursed and Diabolicall selfe-seeking 1. There is a lawfull selfe-seeking and that is when a Christian seeks his owne private gaine and honour in the last place and in the least place when he seeks the things of Christ in the first and chiefe place and his owne things lesser and after the things of Christ when he seeks his owne things not in separation from opposition to competition with but in subordination to the things of Christ In a word when a Christan seeks his own things in due order and measure so as not to hinder but to further his seeking the things of Christ this is a lawfull selfe-seeking 2. There is not onely a lawfull but a most Divine Angelicall heavenly and blessed selfe-seeking Here I shall hold forth this Scripture Paradox That no man can be truly said to seek himselfe that doth not seek the things of Christ That the more we seek the things of Christ the more we seek our selves That he that seeks not the things of Christ doth not seek himselfe but destroy himselfe That a Christ-seeker and a true self-seeker are termes convertible Qu. What is this heavenly and blessed selfe-seeking Ans. To understand this aright is a point of great concernment For the more we know of this Divine selfe-seeking the more we will shun and abhor the sinfull self-seeking Give me leave to deliver what I have to say about it in these ensuing Propositions which I doe not name as several distinct heads but as divers instances of a divine and sublimated selfe-seeking amounting most of them to one and the same purpose That man who seeks the good of his Soule more than the good of his body seeks himselfe after a Divine manner The Body of Man is the worst halfe of Man vilissima pars hominis The shell the boxe the carcasse of Man Intus est quod homo est The Soule of Man is the Man of Man Animus uniuscujusque is est quisque And therefore he that seeks to get his Soule beautified with grace to be made Christs picture and a reall member of his body this Man and this Man onely seeks himselfe He that seeks the good of his body to the hurt of his Soule doth not seeke himself but the destruction both of Body and Soule That Man that makes such a fire as to burne himself and his house doth not seek the good of himselfe nor his house That Merchant that so over-loads his Ship as to drowne it and himselfe doth not seek his owne good Even so that Man that over-pampers his Body that laboureth curare cutem magis quam animam to stuffe his body with dainty food to cloath his body with fine apparell and in the mean time to neglect his most pretious Soule this Man doth not seek himselfe but ruine himselfe For the happinesse of the Body depends upon the happinesse of the Soule If the Soul goe to Hell at death the Body at the great resurrection will goe thither also And therefore he that beates downe his body and brings it into subjection and labours to make it a fit servant to his soule that endures hardship with his body as a good souldier of Jesus Christ that weares and tires out his body in the service of God that works with his body for the good of his soule this is the true heavenly and blessed selfe-seeker That man who seeks his eternall good more than his temporall who seeks not onely to make himselfe happy for forty or fifty years but for ever and ever This man seeks himselfe after a divine manner For what will it profit a man to be happy for a few years in this life and to be miserable for ever in hell hereafter How quickly will a man in hell forget the happinesse he had here He that makes provision to live pleasurably and comfortably while he lives but makes no provision to live happily when he dyes this man may seeme to love himselfe for a minute but sure I am he hates himselfe to all eternity He that layeth up treasure for himselfe upon earth but none in heaven may be accounted rich in this world which will quickly end but he will be poore world without end Such a selfe-hater was Dives Luc. 16. and the rich foole Luc. 12. and such are all they that lay up treasure for themselves but are not rich towards God Luc. 12. 21. He is a divine selfe-seeker who labours to live holily here that he may live happily hereafter to live graciously here that he may inherit eternall glory hereafter He that denyeth his sinfull selfe most seeketh himselfe most He that hates himselfe as corrupted by Adams fall and seeketh the utter ruine and extirpation of the old Adam within him this man doth truly love himself This is divine self-seeking to kill thy sins that thy sins may not kill thy soule As Zipporah by circumcising her child saved the life of her husband So the way to save thy soule is to circumcise and pare off {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} all superfluity of haughtinesse James 1. 21. This is the meaning of that which Christ saith Mat 5. 29 30. If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable c The more thou hatest thy gainful and pleasurable sins the more thou lovest thy self As a man in a Dropsie the more he denieth himself drink the more he seekes himself because the lesse he drinketh the more he destroyeth his disease Even so the more thou deniest thy corrupt self the more thou seekest thy self because the more thou deniest thy corrupt self the more

thou destroyest thy spirituall diseases the more thou ruinatest the Devils faction within thee weakenst the opposition of the Flesh against the Spirit He that loves his sins hates his own soul Pro. 8. 36. Gal. 6. 8. he that soweth sin shall reap hell he that makes provision for the flesh provides fuel for bel fire He that nourisheth the old Adam within him cherisheth that which tainteth and polluteth all his holy duties which indisposeth him to all good and disposeth him to all evill he cherisheth his Souls greatest enemy 1 Pet. 2. 11. he delights in that which was Pauls greatest misery and which made him cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7. 24. therefore I may truly say he that is the greatest selfe-denier is the greatest selfe-seeker He that seeks to doe most service to God in his generation that seeks his own glory by seeking Gods glory is a Divine self seeker The reason is because the perfection of every thing consisteth in attaining the end for which it was made As the perfection of meat is to be eaten he that hoards it up and will not eate it destroyes it The end for which God made Man is to serve him to glorifie him here and enjoy him hereafter Therefore the more service we doe to God the more we seek his glory the more we attaine the end of our creation and therein we are the more happy He that loves himselfe for himselfe and for his owne ends destroyes himselfe because the end for which God made us is to serve him and not our selves When all the streames of selfe-love flow into the great Ocean of the love of God this is Divine selfe-love Oh that men would thus labour to love themselves and seek themselves to look upon themselves as servants and instruments unto God and his glory to say Lord how may I advance my selfe by advancing thy name how may I glorifie my selfe by glorifying of thee How may I seeke my selfe by seeking thy praise and perfect my selfe by disposing of my selfe of my understanding memory will heart affections and actions in order to thee and thy glory The more a man serves God out of pure love without reflection to selfe the more he seeks himselfe for this is a certaine truth The lesse we seek our selves and our owne ends in any holy duty the more we seek our selves because the lesse we seek our selves the more we seek God and his glory and the more we seek God his glory the more reward we shall have The lesse we look after reward for that we doe the more reward we shall have and therefore the Papists who teach men to doe good works that thereby they might merit heaven supposing their Doctrine to be true lose all the reward of their good worke He that serves God to merit by his service cannot merit by his service the more he eyes merit the lesse he meriteth He that serves God for his owne ends doth not serve God but himselfe but he that serves God for Gods sake shall be rewarded by God The lesse we eye our selves in any duty the more reward we shall have and therefore the more we seek our selves That man who seeks the glory and honour of God above his owne glory and honour is a Divine selfe seeker The reason is because the happinesse of Man is more in God than in himselfe As the happinesse of a member of the body is in conjunction with the body take it from the body it dieth So the happinesse of Man is in conjunction with God who is our chiefest good who is an universall good therefore he that seeks union with God most seeks himselfe most As the safety of the beame is more in the Sun then in it selfe and of the streame in the Fountaine then in it selfe So the safety comfort and happinesse of every Christian is more in God then in himself therefore he that seeks the glory and honour of God more than his owne glory and honour is a heavenly and blessed selfe-seeker He that loves the publique good more than his owne private good that seeks the prosperity of Sion and Jerusalem of Church and State more than his owne is a Divine selfe-seeker Oh that this word were mingled with Faith A man that is in danger to have his head cut off will willingly even out of selfe-love lift up his arme and suffer it to be cut off to save his head because his life is more in his head than in his arme Our safety is more wrapt up in the publique welfare than in our private and therefore they who preferre the publique before the private are the truest selfe-seekers Thus did Old Ely he mourned more for the losse of the Ark● than of his two Sons Thus also did David Psa 137. 6. He preferred Jerusalem above his chiefe joy In a storme at Sea he that seeks the preservation of the Ship seeks most the preservation of his own Trunk for if the Ship be drowned his Trunk cannot be saved The truth is if the Church and the true Religion be destroyed to what purpose is it for a godly man to live I read of Titus Vespasian that when the Souldiers had destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem they came to him and asked him what they should doe with the Priests that did supervive Kill them said he for now their worke is at an end When Religion is destroyed what will it advantage a godly man to live therefore they that seek the good of the Church more than their owne are blessed selfe-seekers That man who had rather lose wife children estate and life it selfe than sinne against God is a Divine selfe-seeker The reason is because his happinesse is more in keeping a good Conscience than in keeping his Estate or saving his Life The holy Martyrs who loved not their lives unto the death were the greatest selfe seekers It is a most blessed selfe-seeking to suffer the fire of Martyrdome to avoid the fire of Hell to lose earthly promotions to attain everlasting honours And therefore Christ argueth from selfe-love Mat. 16. 25. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall finde it so also Mark 10. 29 30. the antient Martyrs did the like Heb. 10. 34. Heb. 11. 35. He that loseth all for Christ shall finde more than he hath lost in Christ From all that I have said concerning this blessed selfe-seeking I gather these three conclusions 1. That no Man is a true selfe seeker who is not a true Christ-seeker 2. That true Religion and a consciencious walking according to the rules of it is founded upon Right reason and that no man can be truely said to be a rationall man who is not a Religious man for the more Religious any man is the more he seeks himselfe and his owne happinesse the more irreligious he is the