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	scripture_n	soul_n	6,785	5	5.5065	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68733	A fountain sealed: or, The duty of the sealed to the Spirit, and the worke of the Spirit in sealing Wherein many things are handled about the Holy Spirit, and grieving of it: as also of assurance and sealing what it is, the priviledges and degrees of it, with the signes to discerne, and meanes to preserve it. Being the substance of divers sermons preached at Grayes Inne. By that reverend divine, Richard Sibbes, D.D. and sometimes preacher to that honourable society.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.	1637 (1637)	STC 22495; ESTC S117375	62,609	291

from corruption as he came to work the redemption of our soules from sinne and death and he that will redeeme our bodies out of the grave he will redeem his Church out of misery he will call the Iewes he that will doe the greater will doe the inferiour When we heare of this let us thinke with comfort of all the promises that are yet unperformed Secondly full redemption is not yet What need I bring Scripture to prove it It is a point that every mans experience teacheth Alas let our bodies speake we are not free from sicknesse and diseases nay what is our life but a going to corruption the sentence is passed upon us earth returneth to earth till death we are going to death so besides sicknesse and weakenesse here we must dye and after death bee subject to corruption The Apostle in this respect calleth our body a vile body As for our soules though they bee freed from the guilt and damnation of sinne yet there are remainders of corruption that breed feare and terrour and though they be freed from the rule of Sathan yet not from his molestation and vexations by temptations In a word our whole state and condition in this world is a state and condition of misery we are followed with many afflictions so that there is not yet perfect redemption whether we look to body soule or state the body being subject to diseases the soule to infirmities the state to misery But there is a day appointed for it By a day wee are not to understand the time measured by the course of the Sunne in 24. houres but in the Scriptures meaning a day is a set time of mercy or judgement As there was a solemne day the fulnesse of time for the working of the first redemption so there is a solemn time set for the second redemption when all the children of God shall bee gathered those that lye in the dust shall be raised and for ever glorified It is the day of all dayes that day that by way of excellency is called THAT day in the Scriptures and the day of the Lord. The day that we should thinke of every day especially in sicknesse and trouble and crosses and molestations from the wicked world and in sense of the remainders of corruption There is a day of redemption to come that will make amends for all The frequent thoughts of that day would comfort us and keepe us from shrinking in any affliction and trouble it would move us to a carriage and conversation answerable to our hopes and also it would helpe to fit us it would infuse a desire of qualification to be prepared for that great day But how little of our time is spent in thoughts this way If we could oft thinke of the day of redemption our lives would be otherwise both in regard of gracious as also of cōfortable carriage should we be disconsolate at every losse and crosse at sicknesses and the thought of death when wee shall be turned into our first principle the earth if wee did thinke of the day of redemption when all shall be restored againe all the decayes of nature and the Image of God be perfectly stamped the thought of this would make us goe willingly to our graves knowing that all this is but a preparation for the great day of redemption The first day of redemption when Christ came to redeeme our soules and to give us title to heaven It was in the expectation of all good people before Christ they are said to wait for the consolation of Israel that was the character to know those blessed people by And what should be the distinguishing character of gracious soules now but to bee such as wait for the comming of Christ how oft in the Epistles of Saint Paul is it There is a Crowne of righteousnesse for mee and for all that wait for the appearing of Christ There was a yeare of Iubile among the Iewes every fifty yeares then all that were in bondage were set at liberty So at this blessed Iubile this glorious day of redemption all that are in bondage of death and under corruption shall be set at everlasting liberty No question but the poore servants that were vexed with hard masters they thought of the Iubile and those that had their possessions tooke away they thought of the Iubile the day of recovering all So let us oft thinke of this everlasting Iubile when we shall recover all that we lost for ever to keepe it and never to lose it againe as we did in the first creation Let us oft thinke of this day it will infuse vigour and strength into all our conversa●ion Indeed to the ungodly it is not a day of redemption but a day of judgement and the revelation of the just wrath of God when their sins shall be laid open and receive a sentence answerable Alas there is such a deale of Atheisme in the world and the seeds of it in the best unlesse it be wrought out daily that we forget the God of vengeance and the day of vengeance Would men goe on in sinnes against conscience if they thought of this last day It is impossible such cou●ses come frō this abhominable root o● Atheisme and unbeliefe fo● had they but a slight faith it would be effectuall to alter their course in some measure therefore the Scripture gives them the name of fooles though they would be thought to be the onely wise men The foole hath said in his heart there is no God and what followes Corrupt are they and abhominable The cause of all is the foole hath said in his heart he will needs force it upon his heart that there is no God hell nor heaven nor judgement thence come abhominable courses Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption FRom the consideration of all that hath beene formerly spoken of the sealing of the spirit to the day of Redemption there ariseth these foure conclusions First that we may attaine unto a knowledge that we are in that state of grace Secondly that upon knowledge of our state in grace for the present we may be assured of our future full Redemption Thirdly that this assured knowledge is wrought by the Spirit Fourthly that the consideration of this assurance wrought by the Spirit is an effectuall argument to disswade from grieving the Spirit For the first wee may know wee are in the state of grace first because the Apostle would not have used an argument moving not to grieve the Spirit from a thing unknowne or guessed at it is an ill manner of reasoning to argue from a thing unknowne 2 Again sealing of us by the Spirit is not in regard of God but our selves God knoweth who are his but we know not that we are his but by sealing 3 The scope of the Scriptures indited by the Spirit is for comfort the Apostle saith so directly and what comfort in an

and his Sonne as man and as Minister of Circumcision was grieved at the rebellion and destruction of his owne people The holy Spirit as in us grieveth with us witnesseth with us rejoyceth in us and with us and the spirit in himselfe and as he worketh in us hath the same name as the gifts and graces and the comforts of the Spirit are called the spirit even as the beames of the Sunne shining on the earth are called the Sunne and when we let them in or shut them out wee are said to let in or shut out the Sunne We may grieve the spirit when we grieve him as working grace and offering comfort to us the graces of the Spirit have the name of the Spirit whence they come as the Spirit of love and wisdome Again our owne spirits so farre as sanctified are said to be the Spirit of God So the Spirit of God not in it self but in Noah did strive with the old world and so we grieve the Spirit when we grieve our owne or other mens spirits so farre as they are sanctified by the Spirit Now the spirit as in us worketh in us according to the principles of mans nature as understanding and free creatures and preserveth the free manner of working proper to man and doth not alwaies put forth an absolute prerogative power but dealeth with us by way of gentle and sweet motions and perswasions and leaveth it in our freedome to imbrace or refuse these inferiour workes of the Spirit and our hearts tell us it is in our power to entertaine or reject the motions which when we doe in our owne apprehension we churlishly offend the spirit as willing to draw us to better waies and wee cannot otherwaies judge of this but as grieving God in his dealing with men puts his cause into our hāds that by our prayers and otherwise wee may helpe or hinder him against the mighty And Christ puts himselfe into our hands in his Ministers and in the poore counts himselfe regarded or neglected in them so the holy Spirit puts as it were his delight and contentment in our power and counts when we entertaine his motions of grace or comfort we entertain him and when we refuse them wee grieve him And the holy Ghost will have us interpret our refusing of his motion to be a refusing of him and not onely a refusing of him but of the Son and of the Father whose spirit he is Oh if we did but consider how high the slighting of a gracious motion reaches even to the slighting of God himselfe it would move us to give more regard unto them As we use these motions so would wee use the Spirit himselfe if he were in our ●ower They are not only ●●e Ambassadors but the ●oyal off-spring of the spirit 〈◊〉 us and when we offer ●iolence to them we kill as ●uch as in us lyeth the roy●ll seed of the Spirit Ob. It may be objected when we doe any thing amisse we intend not the grieving of the Spirit It is true unlesse we were divels incarnate we will not purposely and directly grieve the Spirit but when we sinne we will the grieving of him in the Cause No man hates his owne soule or is in love with death yet men will willingly doe that which if they hated their own souls and loved death they could not doe worse Why will you perish you house of Israel saith God they intended no such matter as perishing Gods meaning is why will you go on in such destructive courses as will ēd in perishing if we could hate hell in the cause of it and way to it as we hate it in it selfe we would never come there For the second point wherein wee especially grieve the Spirit griefe ariseth either from antipathy and cōtrariety or from disunion of things naturally joyned together In greater persons especially griefe ariseth from any indignity offered from neglect or disrespect and most of all from unkindnesse after favour shewed Thus the holy Ghost is grieved by us what more contrary to holinesse then sinne which is the thing and the onely thing that God abhominates yea in the divell himself But then adde to the contrarietie in sinne the aggravations from unkindenesse and this makes it more sinfull What greater indignity can wee offer to the holy Spirit than to prefer base dust before his motions leading us to holinesse and happinesse what greater unkindnesse yea treachery to leave directions of a friend to follow the counsaile of an enemy such as when they know Gods will yet will consent with flesh and bloud like Balaam who was swayed by his profit against a cleere discovery of Gods will We cannot but make the Spirit of God in us in some sort ashamed to thinke of our folly in leaving the Fountaine and digging Cisternes in leaving a true guide and following the Pirate men are grieved especially when they are disrespected in their place and office It is the office of the Spirit to enlighten to soften to quicken and to sanctifie when wee give content to Sathan it puts the holy Ghost out of office The office of the holy Ghost is likewise to bee a comforter it cannot therefore but grieve the holy Spirit when the consolations of the Almightie are either forgotten or seeme nothing unto us in the perishnesse of our spirits when with Rachel wee will not bee comforted Who in stead of wrastling with God by prayer wrangle with him by cavelling objections They take pleasure to move objections instead of a holy submission to higher reasons that might raise them to comfort and take Satans part against the holy Spirit and their owne spirit and against arguments that are ministred by those that are more skilfull in the wayes of salvation then themselves How little beholding is the holy Spirit to such who please themselves in a spirit of opposition and yet so sweet is this holy Spirit that after long patience hee overcomes many of these with his goodnesse and makes them at length with shame lay their hands upon their mouthes and bee silent Yet that is one reason they sticke so long in temptations and are kept so long under the Spirit of bondage Those likewise cannot but grieve the Comforter that leave his comforts and seeke for other Comforters that thinke there is not comfort enough in Religion but will bowe downe to the world such as linger after the liberties of the flesh after stolne waters as if God kept house not good enough for them It is a great disparagement to preferre huskes before the provision of our fathers house and to die like fish out of their proper element if wee want carnall comforts But above all they grieve the Spirit most that have had deepest acquaintance with the Spirit and have received greatest favours from the Spirit When the holy Ghost comes in love and wee have given way to him to enlighten our understandings and when in our

conscience they have the Spirit to set them on and that spirit that had so well deserved of them before which cannot but increase the horrour and shame In hell it selfe this will be the bitterest torment to thinke of refusing mercy mercy pressed and offered with all love A carelesse spirit oft proves a wounded spirit and that who can beare untill hee that woundeth healeth againe by giving grace to afflict our selves and wait his good time to take pitty of us that which wee say of conscience is true it is our best friend and our worst enemy If a mans conscience bee his friend it will make all friendly to him it will make God his friend affliction his friend nothing can sit at the heart to grieve him But if a mans conscience turne his enemy there need no other enemies be sought out he hath enow in his owne heart his owne tormenting conscience tearing it selfe This may be as truely said of the Spirit of God who is above Conscience if wee make him not our best friend we are sure to have him our worst enemy that sets all other enemies upon us Displeasure is as the person is it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God who knowes the power of his wrath it is a powerfull wrath no creature hath power over the Spirit immediately but this Spirit of spirits who can fill the soule the whole soule and every corner of it being adaequate to the soule as large as the soule and larger he can fill it with wrath that shall burne to hell and who shall take off the wrath of God when the Spirit of God sets it on once Qu. Whence is it that we grieve the Spirit Answ Because there is a cursed principle in us alwaies active which is not perfectly subdued in this life Death is the accomplishment of mortification but while we are here this corruption in us will alway be working The flesh lusteth against the Spirit the flesh is an active busie thing it bestirs it self now when cōtraries are so neare as the flesh and Spirit in the same soule they must needs thwart and grieve one another continually It may be demanded how farre forth a childe of God may grieve the Spirit and yet remaine the childe of God In Answer to this know that we must not judge of sinne by the matter in which but by the Spirit from which sinne is committed There is no sinne so grosse but the Saints of God may fall into it but yet the childe of God is h●ndered by a contrary law of the Spirit from yeelding full consent before or taking full delight in a sinne or allowing or persisting after And though in regard of ingratitude the sinne of a godly man admits of a greater aggravation than the sinne of others yet setting that aside the sinne it selfe of a godly man is lesse for his temptations be stronger and Sathans malice more eager against him and his resistance of sinne greater all which doth abate the hainousnesse of the guilt The more resistance from within argues a stronger party from within in the godly the force of sinne is broken from within take a godly man at the worst there is some worke of the Spirit in him that in some measure is answerable to the counsels and motions of the Spirit without him the holy Spirit hath some hold in him by which he doth recover him A wicked man proceeds from grieving to quenching and from quenching to resisting The Spirit hath no party no side in him and therefore when the Spirit is gone farewell he glad they are that then they can follow their pleasures and sinnes without checke Sometimes God leades his children to heaven through some foule way by which he lets them see what need they have of washing by the bloud and Spirit of Christ which otherwise perhaps they would not so much value when they grieve the Spirit and the Spirit thereupon grieves them and that griefe proves medicinall the griefe which sinne breeds consumes the sinne that bred it We are in covenant with so wise and powerfull a God that over-rules even sinne it selfe to serve his purpose in bringing his to heaven They have that in them whereby they hate the sinne they doe and love the goodnesse they doe not whereas others hate the good in some respects they doe and love the ill which they dare not commit Howsoever they are drawn into sinne yet they will never breake their conjugall bond betwixt Christ and their soules so farre as that sinne should raigne in them as a commanding Lord they will not forsake their oath of allegeance to serve willingly a contrary King They may presume sometimes upon Christ thinking they have a Balme ready to cure the wound againe as some to shew the vertue of their oyles doe make wounds in themselves the deceitfulnesse of sinne seducing them but God ever chastiseth this boldnesse and taketh such a course with them that it ends in taking the greater shame to themselves and by so much as they have beene more presumptuous The losse of comfort and the sence of sorrow they feele makes them say from experience that there is nothing gotten by sinne and that it proves bitternesse in the end Againe though they are not kept from sinnes in some sence presumptuous yet they are alwaies kept from that great offence Though they may commit a sin against the holy Ghost yet they can never commit the sinne against the holy Spirit because this is a sinne of malice after strong conviction expressed in words dipt in malice by a tongue set on fire by hell and in actions comming from an opposite spirit and tending to opposition and to bitter persecution if their malice bee not greater then their power And it ends alwaies in impenitencie by reason they despise that grace and cast away that potion whereby they should recover their pride will not stoope to Gods way Thirdly after such fearfull relapses darkenesse in the understanding and rebellion in the will increaseth sinne growes stronger and they weaker weaker to resist Fourthly Sathan being once cast out by some degree of illumination and reformation brings seven divels after worse than himselfe when they see their former courses stand not with their lusts and hopes they take a contrary course and so fall to bitternesse in the end There is a double miscarriage about this sinne some are too head-long in their censures of others whereas the greater the sin is the greater caution should bee in fastening it upon any especially whose spirits we are not thorowly acquainted withall considering so many things must meet in this sinne The second miscarriage is in an ungrounded censure of our selves there be three things that feare frees us from the danger of First feare lest the time of our conversion be past because we have so often grieved the Spirit whereas if their time were past they would be

the Spirit being incouragement to dutie or suffering in a good cause the soule by this witnesse of the Spirit findes increase of spirituall mettle it finces it selfe steel'd against opposition 〈…〉 this winde filleth 〈…〉 they are carried on a maine and are frighted with nothing that stands in their way See how the beleevers triumph upon the Spirits witnessing to their spirits that they are the sonnes of God Rom. 8. God usually reserveth such comforts for the worst times Give wine to those that bee of heavy hearts Pro. 31. The sence of this love of Christ is better then wine This refreshing Paul had in the dungeon and hee sung at mid-night After this witnessing therefore looke for some piece of service to doe or tryall to undergoe Much must bee left to Gods fatherly wisedome in this who knowes whom to cheare up and when and in what degree and to what purpose and service and remember alwayes that these inlargements of spirit are as occasionall refreshings in the way not daily food to live upon we maintaine our life by faith not by sight or feeling Feasting is not for every day except that Feast of a good conscience which is continuall but I speake of grand dayes and high feasts these are disposed as God seeth cause 3 Where this sealing of the Spirit is there followeth also upon it a lifting up of the head in thinking of our latter end it makes one thinke of the times to come with joy as the holy Ghost here mentioneth the day of redemption as a motive to them to take heed that they did not grieve the Spirit intimating they should thinke of the day of redemption with a great deale of joy and comfort The Saints are described in Scripture to be those that looke for the appearing of Christ they are Christs and in him their reckonings and accounts are even And therefore with delight they can often think and meditate upon the blessed times that are to come There be divers degrees of sealing arising from divers degrees of revelation God first reveales his good will in his promises to all beleevers this is the privilege of the Church especially in these latter times then by his Spirit reveales those saving truths to those that are his by a divine light So that by argument drawne from the power they feele from truths in searching secrets in casting downe in raising up in staying the soule they can seale to them that they are divine The same Spirit that reveales the power of the Word to mee reveales in particular mine owne interest in all those truths upon hearing them Whereupon they are written in my heart as if they had beene made in particular to me the comfortable truths in the Word are transcribed into my heart answerable to the Word as that God in Christ is mine forgivenesse mine grace mine whereupon adoption in Christ is sealed which God still sealeth further to my soule by increase of comfort as hee seeth cause for incouragement The same Spirit that manifeste● in me the word I he●●e and reade to be the truth of God from the 〈…〉 efficacie of it the same Spirit teacheth to a●ply it and in applying of it sealeth me Therefore wee ought to desire to bee sealed by the Spirit in regard of an holy impression and then that the holy Spirit would shine upon his owne graces so as we may clearly see what is wrought in us above nature and because this is furthered by revealing his love in Christ in adoption to us wee must desire of G●D to vouchsafe the Spirit of Revelation to reveale the mysteries of his truth unto us and our portion in them in parti●ular and so our adoption and in the meane ti●e to wait and attend his good pleasure in the use of all good meanes Thus wee waiting God will so farre reveale himselfe in love to us as shall assure us of his love and stirre up love againe and the same Spirit that is a Spirit of Revelation will be a Spirit of sanctification and so adoption Dignitie and fitting qualities suteable to dignity go both together In that grand inquirie about our condition there is a great miscarriage when men will begin with the first worke of the Father in election then passe to redemption by Christ I am Gods and Christ hath redeemed mee and never thinke of the action of the third person in sanctification which is the neerest action upon the foule as the third person himselfe is nearest unto us And so fetch their first rise where they should set up their last rest Whereas wee should begin our inquirie in the worke of the third person which is next unto us and then upon good grounds we may know our redemption and election The holy Spirit is both a Spirit of Revelation and of Sanctification together as hath beene said for together with opening the love of the Father and the Son hee fitteth us by grace for communication with them People out of selfe-love will have conceits of the Fathers and Sonnes love severed from the worke of the Spirit upon their hearts which will prove a dangerous illusion Although the whole worke of grace by the Spirit arise from the Fathers and Sonnes love witnessed by the Spirit yet the proofe of the Fathers love to us in particular ariseth from some knowledge of the worke of the Spirit the errour is not in thinking of the Fathers and Sonnes love but in a strengthening themselves by a pleasing powerlesse thought of it against the worke of grace by the Spirit which their corruption withstands So they will carve out of the worke of the Trinitie what they thinke agreeable to their lusts whereas otherwise if their heart were upright they would for this very end thinke of Gods love and Christs to quicken them to duty and to arme them against corruption To the day of Redemption There is a double redemption redemption of the soul by the first cōming of Christ to shed his bloud for us redemption of our bodies from corruption by his second comming Wee have not the perfect consummation and accomplishment of that which Christ wrought in his first comming till his second comming then there shall be a totall redemption of our soules and bodies and conditions There is a double redemption as there is a double cōming of Christ the first and the second the one to redeeme our soules from sinne and Sathan and to give us title to heaven the other to redeeme our bodies from corruption when Christ shall come to be glorious in his Saints As likewise there is a double resurrection the first and the second and a double regeneration of soule and body In sicknesse weaknes of body or when age hath overtaken us that we cannot live long here and the horrour of the grave the house of darkenesse is presented to us Oh let us thinke there will bee a redemption of our bodies as well as of our soules Christ will redeem our bodies