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	soul_n	spirit_n	17,497	5	5.6554	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09963	An elegant and lively description of spirituall life and death Delivered in divers sermons in Lincolnes-Inne, November the 9.th, M.DCXXIII. vpon Iohn, 5.25. By Iohn Preston then Bachellor of Divinitie, and chaplaine in ordinarie to the Prince his Highnesse.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1632 (1632)	STC 20221.5; ESTC S115172	68,183	135

AN ELEGANT AND LIVELY DESCRIPTION OF Spirituall Life and Death DELIVERED In divers Sermons in Lincolnes-Inne November the 9. th M.DC XXIII vpon Iohn 5.25 BY John Preston then Bachellor of Divinitie and Chaplaine in Ordinarie to the Prince his Highnesse Ignatius Epistola 15. ad Romanos Mors est vita sine Christo. LONDON Printed by Tho Cotes for MICHAELL SPARKE at the blue Bible in Greene-Arbor 1632. AN Elegant and lively description of Spirituall DEATH and LIFE IOHN 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you that the houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live THE Occasion of these words was this when as Christ had affirmed to the Iewes That God was his Father and the Iewes went about to kill him for it Hee proves what hee had said by this argument He that is able to give life to the dead is God or the Sonne of God But I am able to give life to the dead The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and those that heare it shall live Therefore I am the Sonne of God In briefe these words shew Christs Divinity by the effects of it that hee can quicken the dead In these words we may consider these parts First the subject on which Christ doth exercise his Divinity and that is on dead men The dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and shall live Secondly the instrument by which he doth it and that is by his word which is not meant onely the bare preaching and hearing of the word barely but such an inward commanding powerfull operative word that makes men doe that which is commanded them Such a word was spoken to Lazarus being dead Lazarus come forth and hee did it This word commands men and makes them to obey it Thirdly the time when hee will exercise his divinity the howre is comming and now is that is the time shall come when as it shall be abundantly revealed the fruite of the Gospel shall appeare more plentifully and fully hereafter but yet it is now beginning to appeare there is now some small fruit of it Lastly it is affirmed with an asseveration or oath Verily Verily I say unto you And these are the parts of this Text. Out of these words I purpose to shew you these three things First what the estate of all men is out of Christ. Secondly what we gaine by Christ. Thirdly what we must doe for Christ. First we will shew you what your estate is out of Christ for this will make you to prize him more And the point for this is That every man out of Christ is in a state of death or a dead man that is All men however they are borne living yet they are still dead men without the living Spirit the root is dead Hence are these places of Scripture Gen. 2.17 The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Math. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead Ephes. 2.1 You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephe. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light The meaning is that all men are spiritually dead This will be of some moment to shew you that you are dead without Christ. Yee account it a gastly sight to see many dead men lye together it affects you much but to see a multitude of dead men walke and stand before us that affects us not The naturall death is but a picture or shadow of death but this spirituall death is death indeed As it is said spiritually of Christs flesh Iohn 6.55 That it i● meate indeed Now that you may know what this death is I will shew you First of all what death is Secondly how many kinds of death there are Thirdly the symptomes and signes of this death Fourthly the degrees of this death For the first what this death is it consists in two things First in death there is a privation of life then a man is dead when as the Soule is separated from the Body so a man is spiritually dead when as the soule is separated from the quickning Spirit of Grace and righteousnesse This is all our cases In us there dwels no good there is no Spirit of life within us the Soule is so out of order that the spirit is weary of it and forsakes it When the Body growes distempered and unfit for the Soule to use it then the Soule leaves it Even as when the instrument is quite out of tune a man layes it aside whiles it is in tune he playes on it So a man dwels in a house as long as it is habitable and fit to dwell in but when it becomes unhabitable he departs so as long as the body is a fit organ for the soule it keepes it when it becomes unfit it leaves it Even so the holy Ghost lives in the Soule of man as long as it is in good temper but being distempered by sinne the holy Ghost removes You may see it in Adam as soone as hee eate of the forbidden fruite the holy Ghost left him and hee lost his Originall righteousnesse Secondly in this death as there is a privation so there is also a positive evill quality in the soule whereby it is not onely voyd of goodnesse but made ill In the naturall death when as a man dyes there is another forme left in the body so in this spirituall death there is an evill habit left in the soules of men This you may see Heb. 9.14 where the workes you doe before regeneration are called Dead workes there would be a contradiction in calling them dead Workes if there were not another positive evill forme in man beside the absence of the quickning Spirit which forme is called Flesh in the Scriptures But it may be objected that sinne is a meere privation of good that it is a Non-ens therefore flesh cannot be said to be an operative quality and forme of sinne To this I answer that though all sinne bee a meere privation yet it is in an operative subject and thence it comes to passe that sinne is fruitfull in evill workes as for example take an horse and put out his eyes as long as hee stands still there is no error but if he begins to runne once he runnes amisse and the longer hee runnes the further he is out of the way wherein he should goe and all this because hee wants his eyes which should direct him So it is with sinne though it in its selfe bee but a meere privation yet it is seated in the soule which is alwaies active Anima nunquam otiosa The goodnesse that should inlighten us is taken away and there is a positive evill quality put into it that leads us on to evill Consider farther whence this death proceeds the originall of it is the understanding mind of man which is

that are most sweetest unto you Thirdly dead men are sencelesse like Idols that the Psalmist speakes of they have eyes and see not eares and heare not mouthes and speake not feet and walke not they have sences to discerne but there is yet an inward eye they want they see no beauty in the wayes of God therefore they thinke there is no such matter because they have eyes see it not they have mouthes and tast it not they relish it not they smell no sweet savour from the graces of the Saints when as the graces of the Saints have a sweet savour like an oyntment powred out Cant. 1.2 So for feeling they feele not they are not sencible of the judgements or threatnings the Law nor the Gospell move them not they have hard and insensible harts the more insensible they are it is a signe they are ever dead the more sensible we are of the threatnings or promises the more life is in us Lastly dead men are speechlesse there is no breath in them Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The dry and empty channell drives not the Mill but a full streame sets it on worke If the heart bee full of life the tongue is full of good speeches Prov. 10. The words of the righteous are as fined silver because there is a treasure within them but the words of the wicked are nothing worth because their hearts are evill As it is said of evill men that their tongues are set on fire of hell so the tongues of the righteous are set on fire by heaven Esay 19.18 they speake the language of Canaan In hypocrites there is loquacity as blasing meteors and in Saints there is sometimes an indisposition by reason of some sinnes which make them like to springs which are dammed up with stones and mudde Yet judge not of them by such fits but take them as they are in their ordinary course the mouth speaketh out of the abundance of the heart Every man is delighted in some genious operations in things that are sutable to him if there be aboundance of life aboundance of grace within a man he delights to speake of it as all men are severally disposed such are their speeches Now all these are privative signes of death I will adde one more that is positive Fiftly looke what life a man lives he drawes to him the things that nourish it and expelleth that which hinders it If a man bee alive to sinne he drawes that which is sinfull but holinesse and the meanes of grace hee expels as contrary to him What doth satisfy his lusts that he doth he may doe good for a time but he is quickly sicke of it But I doe much good I abstaine from much evill may some say To this I answer that if one member lives it is a signe that the whole body lives so if one mortall sinne live in you it is a signe you are dead Truth of grace cannot stand with one mortall sinne unrepented unsubdued one disease kils a man as well as an hundred so one living lust kils you Doth any lust live and reigne in them it kils them But what is it to live and to reigne I answer when a man ceaseth to maintaine warre with his lust and resists it not when a man layes downe the weapons when he seeth his lust is naturall to him and therefore yeelds unto it then sinne reignes in him There is no man that lives the life of grace but hee hath this property that hee strives against all sinne to the utmost not in shew but in sincerity he strives against the occasions of sinne though they foyle him hee still maintaines warre against them and so they live and reigne not in him 2 If every man out of Christ be in an estate of death let us not deferre repentance but doe it whilst wee may Repentance makes a dead man to be a living man What is it that makes you deferre repentance yee thinke yee can change your courses sorrow when you list therefore ye deferre it If men be dead and repentance puts as it were a new soule into thē makes them to passe from death to life then is it not so easy a thing Suppose yee had Ezekiahs warning is it in your power to make your selves live no it is beyond your power God onely can doe it Every man lyes before God as that clod of earth out of which Adam was made God must breathe life into him else hee continues dead God doth not breathe life into all He quickens whom he will It is your wisedome therefore to waite on him in his Ordinances if you have good motions begun in you presse them forwards they are ofsprings of life Thinke seriously am I dead or alive If dead why then say it s not in my power to quicken me its onely in God to doe it and he doth this but in few those whom he quickneth are but as Grapes after the Vintage or as the Olives after the beating how then shall I bee in the number Give your selves no rest know that it is God that breatheth and then depend on him Make that use of the doctrine of election with care and more solicitude to looke to your selves Phil. 2. God workes both the will and the deed of his good pleasure worke out therefore your salvation with feare and Trembling If repentance be a passage from death to life if it bee such a change then labour for to get it The Spirit doth not alwayes strive with men yee are not alwayes the same yee will sticke in the sand grow worse and worse if yee grow not better and better No more power have you to change your selves than the Blackamore hath to change his skinne or the Leopard his spots the time will come when you shall say as Spira did O how doe I desire faith would God I had but one drop of it and for ought we know he had it not Thirdly learne hence to judge of naturall men for all the excellency they have yet they are but dead men If a man be dead we doe not regard his beauty all excellencies in naturall men are but dead It is a hinderance in the wayes of God to over-valew outward excellencies and to despise others that want these trappings let us say for all these excellencies yet he is but a dead man we knowe none after the flesh any more 2. Cor. 5.16 Againe for your delight in them know that this death doth differ from naturall death for these dead men are active ready to corrupt others they have an influence that doth dead those who are conversant with them sinne communicates as well as grace Nothing so great a quench-cole as the company of bad men there is an operative vertue in them to quench mens zeale as the dropping of water will quench the fire though they cannot wholly extinguish it being once kindled Fourthly if all out of

thinkes and beleeves that the wayes of sinne are evill and that they are evill to him When God doth convince us that such a thing is evill and that it is evill to us then wee live and not before A man having a businesse to doe if all bee done but one thing this one thing crosseth all the rest but that being done our businesse is brought to passe so in this life a man having many offers of grace which doe not fully perswade him this is not enough if Gods helpe bee absent but when once hee speakes he doth fully convince and perswade us and makes us to continew As Sathan hahaving leave never gives over vexing man so the Spirit keepes us in good things where there is this life there the Spirit dwels But after what manner is this effectuall perswasion done I answer when as God gives an eare and speakes a voyce for it to heare he that hath an eare to heare saith Christ let him heare Wee then heare when as there is a disposition wrought within us when as we preach there are many that have hard hearts and nothing for to soften them therefore the words falls from them as raine from a stone but if there be a man that God will chuse he fits his heart and so hee is perswaded This is called the opening of the understanding Luke 24.45 hee opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures when wee speake to men we sow as it were upon fallow ground which will beare no Corne unlesse God plow it Those that saw the miracles of the Loaves esteemed them not because their hearts were hardned Ephe. 4.18 They are alienated from the life of God thorow the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their hearts that is they are not sensible of sinne and death the word or the threatnings when God takes away this hardnesse they are fit to harken then comes light the beginning of life which is the informing of the understanding to judge righteous judgement Those who have the life of Christ if hee speakes it quickens them It is the inward voyce that quickens seeke therefore to God earnestly that Christ would speake to your hearts yee heare and are not quickned because he speakes not And thus much for this second point that all in Christ are in a state of life We come now to the third point that may bee noted out of these words and it is this That the voyce of the Sonne of God is the onely meanes to translate men from death to life Men before are dead Christ by his voyce makes them living men This voyce is the onely meanes there is no voyce but this that is able for to do it that 's the scope of this Text. This proposition may bee resolved into two parts First nothing else is able Secondly this is able for to doe it As it is said of faith that it justifies and nothing else but it can justify so may it be said of this voyce that nothing else can translate men from death to life and this can doe it To translate from death to life is nothing else but effectually to perswade and change the heart now nothing else can thus perswade and alter the heart but this voyce of the Sonne of God God himselfe frames the heart it is as a curious framed locke none can picke it but hee that knowes the turning of it God onely fits the perswasions and turnings mens perswasions are as one that will unlocke a locke with a wrong key God onely can perswade Iapheth to dwell in the Tents of Shem I cannot doe it Esay 57.19 I create the fruite of the lippes that is I make them to bring comfort I create the fruite of the lippes for peace by my power That this is so you may see by divers reasons First that it is so see it by this we speaking to y e quickest often times they beleeve not but the others do the same sometimes beleeve sometimes not If man were the sole cause the word would have the same effect at all times Secondly this is life and God onely gives life it is as the breathing of life into a clod of earth It requires an almighty power to worke this in those that beleeve Eph. 1.19.20 The same power that raised up Christ from the dead raysed us up it is an almighty action to give this life Thirdly if it were not proper to Christ and his voyce to translate men from death to life hee should lose his chiefest soveraignty hee quickens whom hee will he hath compassion on whom hee will have compassion If men could translate men from death to life then it would not be proper to God to doe it Lastly as nothing else can doe it so the voyce of the Sonne of God is able for to doe it At the first creation all was made by the voyce of God hee saith Let there be light and there was light let him say to any man follow mee and he doth it Matth. 9.9 hee saith to the Publican sitting at the receipt of Custome follow me and hee left all and rose up and followed him Christ speaking to his eare and heart made him to follow him his speech was like the speech of Elias to Elisha hee followed him and could not chuse but doe it Christ speaking wee cannot but follow him But what is this voyce of the Sonne of God that translateth men from death to life I answer it is nothing else but an inward worke of the Spirit by which hee perswades men effectually to turne from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan to God It must be understood of the effectuall working of the Spirit because who ever doth heare it lives this voyce reneweth and changeth men translating them from death to life Now this effectuall speaking consists in two things First in propounding the object the truth to the heart Secondly in the perswasion of the truth First the Gospel must be laid open to the heart all things necessary to salvation must be manifested to it then there must be light in the heart to apprehend these reasons which are propounded The Scripture propounds things by authority Then the holy Ghost doth kindle light to apprehend them which another doth not Marke how Moyses beginning his booke saith that in the beginning it was thus and thus God did he doth not perswade them by arguments to beleeve it so Iohn begins his Gospel without perswasions In the beginning was the word c. so the Apostles commission was Goe and preach that Christ is Come he that beleeved shall be saved he that beleeves not shall be damned The word of it selfe is sufficient authority when the Gospel it selfe is thus propounded then the holy Ghost kindles light And therefore this life begins when as the Gospel is propounded and light kindled then this life is wrought Now there