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
A85327	Faith in five fundamentall principles, strongly fortified against the diabolical, atheisticall, blasphemous batteries of these times Serving for the conviction of opposers, the satisfaction of doubters, and the confirmation of believers. In a conference which a godly independent minister and a godly Presbyterian minister had with a doubting Christian. By E.F. a seeker of the truth.	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.	1650 (1650)	Wing F993; Thomason E1375_2; ESTC R209221	23,410	56

greater or lesser then the other nor none before or after other but for my part I cannot conceive how it can be and therefore cannot believe it Inde But you ought to believe it because the Scripture doth so fully prove it though you cannot conceive how it can be nevertheless for the helping of you to conceive how it can be I pray you consider that it is manifest by Gods effects and doings that there is in him a working nature or power and in every of his workes there is a singular cunning and a wonderfull order whence it is evident that there is in God a soveraigne understanding and there is nothing in God that is not his very essence or being whereupon it followeth that God not onely hath understanding but that his understanding is his very essence that is he is very understanding it selfe and that from everlasting and God is a meare doing and therefore this his understanding must needs bee everlastingly doing and what can it meet withall from everlasting to be exercised upon but it selfe therefore of necessity this understanding of God must needs yeeld a reflection back again to it selfe and so conceive and beget in it selfe a perfect image of its owne selfe which indeed is the very same thing which in the Trinity we call the Son or the word namely the lively and perfect image and wisedome of the Father and in regard that this understanding in God is everlastingly doing this second person must needs be everlasting and in regard that the being of the Father and his understanding are both one and his very essence therefore the being of the secong person who is begotton by the Fathers understanding or minding of himself must needs be the same whereupon we may conclude that look what the Father is the same is the Son only they differ in the way of relation Againe in the second place I pray you consider that in God there is not onely an understanding but also a will and this will so farre as we be able to discerne it by the effects is a certaine abilitie whereby he applyeth his workfull power and this will is his very essence as well as his understanding is still a doing as well as his understanding from all eternity and therefore as his understanding by a certaine reflection of it selfe upon it selfe hath begotten us a second person whom we call the Son so this will which worketh everlastingly having none other thing to worke upon but it selfe doth also by his working stricke backe upon it selfe and delighteth it selfe in that infinite good which it knoweth there and so sheddeth out it selfe wholly to the loving thereof and by this action it bringeth us forth a third person whom we call the Spirit or holy Ghost That is to say the mutuall kindnesse and lovingnesse of the Father towards the Son and of the Son towards the Father of the Father the understander towards the Son conceived and begotten by his understanding and of the Son backe againe towards the Father acknowledging all that he hath and all that hee is to be of the Father now because there alwaies goes some act of the understanding before the act of the will therefore wee say the third person is not onely from the will but also from the understanding and because he is from two and that by act of will and understanding therefore wee terme him proceeding and not begotten and because the third person proceedeth of Gods will and understanding and Gods will and understanding is his essence and of his essence can nothing proceed which is not his essence it must needs follow that the third person is not onely coeternal and coequall but also coessentially for as to be and to understand are all one in God so to will and to understand are all one in him and so all three come into one essence so that as we have God of God that is to say the Son of the Father by the everlasting in working of the understanding so have we also God of God again that is to say the holy Ghost or love of them both by the joynt working of the understanding and will together whereupon we conclude three distinck persons or in beings in one essence and though we say speaking after the manner of men that the act of the understanding goeth before the act of the will yet are we not to imagine any going before or comming after in these persons but onely to lay forth these things according to the order of nature And now by this time I hope you do perceive the evident foot-stepts of three in beings or persons in one essence Chris But Sir the thing which I must desire to heare is some resemblance of these things in the Creatures Indep If you would have resemblance of these things in the Creatures then I pray you consider that the Sun begetteth his one beames which the Poets doe call the Sun of the Sun and from them two proceedeth light which imparteth it selfe to all things here beneath and yet is not the one of them before the other for neither is the Sun before his beames or the Sun or his beames before the light otherwise then in consideration of order and relation in that the beames are begotten and the light is proceeding which is an apparent image of what I have said Likewise in waters we have the head of them in the Earth and the Spring boyling out of it and the streame which is made of them both and sheddeth it selfe far from thence yet it is but one selfe same continuall and unseparable essence which hath neither forenesse nor afternesse in regard of time but onely in regard of order and our considerations of it for the well head is not a head but in respect of the Spring nor the Spring a Spring but in respect of the well head nor the Stream a Stream but in respect of them both and so all three be but one water and cannot almost be considered without one another which is also an expresse marke of the originall relations and persons coessentiall in the onely one essence of God other resemblances hereof might be shewed but I hope by this time you doe behold this mistery more clearly and therefore thus much shall suffice to have been spoken touching this point Touching the Immortality of the Soule Pres SIr you have in my judgement spoken to this point most briefly and plainly and yet fully I hope for his conviction And now it falling to my lot to speake to the next point I say unto you my deare friend that as touching the immortality of the soul I hope you will now give credit to the Scripture And therefore I would intreat you seriously to consider that this truth is confirmed Eccle. 12. 7. where the wise man telleth us that at death the dody returnes to the dust and the spirit to God that gave it and therefore assuredly the soul dyeth not with the body but

is immortall And in Act. 7. 59. it is said that when the martyr Stephen was at the point of death he cryed out Lord Jesus receive my Spirit meaning thereby none other thing but when that his soul should depart out of his body Christ Jesus shoul be the perpetuall keeper of it and therefore assuredly it dyed not with the body but is immortall And in Luk. 23. 43. it is recorded that when our Saviour hung upon the Cross he said unto the good Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise whence I pray you take notice that he could not be there with him in the body for that was immediately dead and buried therefore the meaning must needs be that his soul was gathered with the soul of Christ into Paradise and so consequently it dyed not with the body And in Phil. 1. 23. the Apostle said that he desired to bee dssolved and to be with Christ by the which it is evident that he was assured that so soone as his spirit did take leave of his body he should be happie in the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ And doth not the same Apostle plainly witnesse the same truth 2 Cor. 5. 8. in saying when the soules of beleevers are absent from the body they are present with the Lord And doth not the Apostle Peter likewise seale to the same truth 2 Pet. 1. 14. In giving us to understand that there was some thing in his bodily tabernacle which must not be put off which could be none other thing but his soul and we may assure our selves that if the soul did dye with the body our Saviour would never have brought in the soul of Lazarus joying in Abrahams bosom after his death nor yet the soul of the Rich man in Hell torments Luk. 16. 23. Many other testimonies of holy Scripture might be bought for the further confirmation of this truth but I hope these are sufficient Chris But Sir because I could never yet see either in my selfe or in any other man any thing but a body I could never conceive what a thing the soul should be nor how it differeth from the body and indeed this hath made me of late to bee of their judgements who hold that the soul and body are both one and that the soul dyeth with the body Pres Well to the intent that I may clear these things unto you I pray you first of all to consider that Moses telleth us Gen. 2. 7. That after the Lord had formed mans body of the dust of the earth he breathed into his nostrils the brtath of life whereby you may perceive that the soul is of a spirituall nature and an uncorruptible substance and not a body In the creation of the soul saith a learned Author The almighty Author of the French Acad. made a blast not of his owne nature nor of his Creature the Aire but even of nothing and so new in the ordinary generation of man the soul is placed in the body not by vertue of nature it is not begotten or produced by nature but properly and peculiarly by the special working of God so that although the soul liveth and dwelleth in the body sustaining and moving it yet it is a certaine substance severall from the body and though the body hath no life in it selfe and therefore cannot subsist without the soule yet can the soul subsist and live and preserve it selfe in its substance after that it is separated from the body the soule is therefore so far from dying and corrupting with the body that it keepeth it alive and uncorrupt whilst it is in the body and doth live move and understand after that it is out of the body and though you see nothing but the body yet by the doing of the soul you may perceive there is a soul and what the soul is for the soul being of a spirituall nature as aforesaid and not a bodily we cannot see it in its own substance or nature nor have any knowledge thereof but by the testimony of the word and by the effects thereof Chris Well then Sir as you have beene pleased to give me some light and knowledge of the soul by the testimony of the Word so I beseech you doe your endeavour to add somewhat more to my knowledge by shewing unto me what be the effects of the soul Pres Well friend seeing you doe desire it I shall by the Lords assistance endeavour to let you see this truth more clearly by naturall reasons drawne from the effects of the soul for the truth is naturall reasons are as beames of the light of Gods Word and helps that may greatly further us in the understanding of the soules immortality 1. And therefore in the first place I beseech you take notice that if you doe consider of that eternity which was before the creation of the world your thought is not able to comprehend it but if you doe enter into consideration of times which shall still follow after us unto all eternity you shall finde your selfe better able to comprehend that and have a more cleare in-sight into it which shews that although your soul is not eternall in regard of beginning yet is it eternall and immortall in regard of end and was created to live an eternall life Secondly I pray you consider that in as much as mans soul was not created with his body as the soules of beast were and that it is not now begotten by way of ordinary generation as the soules of all living Creatures are we are thereby taught that God did not intend that any thing in nature should extinguish mans soule nor destroy it for if hee had so intended then would he have created and have ordered it to have come into men by way of ordinary generation as he hath done touching all other living Creatures that are mortall and therefore wee may hence undoubtly conclude that mans soul is immortal Thirdly I beseech you seriously to consider that the soules of beasts doe onely desire things present and their desire of some present good proceedeth not from any knowing vertue that is in them but onely from a sensible vertue for though beasts have a soule whereby they live and move yet is not their soul partaker of understanding but man naturally hath knowledge of an eternity yea and a disposition to beleeve it and to conceive it to be a good and profitable thing for him and thereupon doth he desire it as it is evident by that man naturally hath to live if it were possible alwaies There is not saith a learned Author so base a minde to be Duples truness Christ Religion found which coveteth not to live for ever and because they see by the daily examples of mortality that they themselves must dye therefore they do endevour to make their names eternall as much as may be as doth evidently appeare by their care of and love to their issue and posterity and by their endeavouring to do

some extraordinary act in their life time worthy of eternall fame and by their Tombs and Sepulchers which they build to make their names as eternall as they can and to what end should man desire this if there were not a possibility of attaining it nay we may assure our selves that God would not have implanted this naturall desire in man but that there is such a thing attainable by man for if he had plainted in man a desire of a thing unattainable he had dealt worse with man then he hath done with beasts who neither know nor believe nor desire any such thing from whence we may also conclude that our soules being created immortall they doe well conceive of an immortality or an everlastingnesse without end Fourthly I would beseech you seriously to consider that the brute beasts do feare a present evill of punishment in this life only but man naturally doth fear the evill of punishment after the end of his life for there is a natural impression stamped in man that vice must be punished after death as it is evident in that there was never any nation so barbarous but they were observed naturally to put a difference betwixt vertue vice so far forth as they knew it and so to have joy and content when they practised vertue and to have feare and sorrow when they practised vice and that neither for hope of reward nor feare of punishment in this life And I dare boldly say that if a Man who hath committed some gross sin should be by reason of the secrecy in the committing of it be confident that it should never be so much as known to any one man woman or childe in the time of this life yet could he not be without feare whensoever he thought upon it And what though some Epicures among us are for the present so swallowed up in the pleasures of this life that they have no thought of being called to an account for their sinnes either in this life or at the end of this life yet when did you ever hear of any such man that hath not at the houre of death beene afraid of the judgement to come for mine own part I am confident that there was never any man that when he apprehended death neare approcahing could then perswade his Conscience that his Soul was mortall and should dye with his body but then though it may be too late hee begins to think within himselfe what shall become of his soul and could then with all his heart wish that he had lived the life of the righteous and why is all this but because man naturally doth beleeve that his soul is immortall and shall come to judgement Fifthly I would also beseech you seriously to consider that although mans body I meane his sensuall appeitite can with the sensual appetite of beasts find rest and content inearthly things here below yet is his soule in a perpetuall motion and can finde no rest nor content in any earthly thing and that because it hath a secret longing desire after God though it know it not for as a childe that is new borne doth by a naturall instinct in strength of desire crye after the dugg and yet knoweth not what it wanteth even so mans poore soul doth desire God and yet through the blindnesse of his understanding it knoweth not what it wanteth and like as if an ignorant nurse should offer the childe such food as its tender age is not capable of receiving it would not be contented but would still in strength of desire crye after the dugg even so though a man should offer his soul a world of Creatures yet will they not content it for I dare boldly say that no earthly-minded man ever met with so much profits pleasures or honours in this world as did fully content and satisfie him indeed mans sensuall appetite may feed upon earthly delights and be as it were filled with the creature but what can fill mans minde not all the world for t is certain saith a learned and godly Mr. Boulton discourse true hap Author though one man were not onely crowned with the soverainty of all the Kingdoms of the earth but besides were made commander of the motions of the Sun and the glory of the Stars yet the restlesse eye of mans unsatisfied understanding would peepe and pry beyond the heavens for some hidden excellency and supposed felicity which the whole compasse of this created World cannot yield so unquenchable is the thirst of mans soul untill it bath it selfe in the River of life and the immeasurable Ocean of goodnesse viz untill it lives in him and of him in whom all things doe live and by whom all things are upheld Now then as in naturall things we may know by their motion where is their resting place even so by the motion of mans soul toward God we may certainly conclude that God is the resting place thereof which indeed is a sure testimony that mans soul is an immortall essence and so shall never dye Sixthly and lastly I would pray you to consider that although mans body may decay dye and perish if it want corporall food yet will not his soul for what can make the soul decay dye and perish can want of corporall food No for it can skil to feed upon things above the world for the minde of man is so nimble that even by way of view it feedeth upon all things take from it sensible things and the things of the understanning remaine with it stil bereave it of al earthly things and the heavenly remaine abundantly and then it feedeth at greatest ease and makes best cheare agreeable to its owne nature th● plaine truth is the soul lives best when it is most freest from all things in this world it is well known that those who want their eye-sight have their mindes most apt to understand and most firme to remember because their eyes are not busied about the beholding of outward objects and when we shut our eyes then are we best able to conceive of things spirituall in our minds yea and if we consider the matter well we shall finde that when our sences are most quenched then doth our soule most labour to surmount her selfe and the more the body decreaseth the more doth the soul increase as it is commonly seene when a man draweth nigh unto death the soul hath then the most care of her owne eternall welfare in so much as it hath been observed that when a body hath been very far spent bare consumed and withered so that whosoever looks upon it sees nothing but earth yet such a man hath been heard speake most spiritually and heavenly Now when a man doth behold such a lively soul in so weak and withered a body may hee not say as it is said of hatching of Chickens the shell is broken but there commeth forth a Chicken may he not hence conclude that for the soul to continue in its being it hath no