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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

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09981	A liveles life: or, Mans spirituall death in sinne Wherein is both learnedly and profitably handled these foure doctrines the spirituall death in sinne. The doctrine of humiliation. Mercy to be found in Christ. Continuance in sinne, dangerous. Being the substance of severall sermons upon Ephes. 2. 1,2,3. And you hath he quickned, who were dead in trespasses and sins, &c. Whereunto is annexed a profitable sermon at Lincolnes Inne, on Gen. XXII. XIV. Delivered by that late faithful preacher, and worthy instrument of Gods glory, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, master of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes-Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1633 (1633)	STC 20235; ESTC S122552	73,904	134

A LIVELES LIFE OR Mans Spirituall death in Sinne. Wherein is both learnedly and profitably handled these foure Doctrines The Spirituall Death in Sinne. The Doctrine of Humiliation Mercy to be found in Christ. Continuance in sinne dangerous Being the substance of severall Sermons upon EPHES. 2. 1 2 3. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins c. Whereunto is annexed a profitable Sermon at LINCOLNES INNE On GEN. XXII XIV Delivered by that late faithful Preacher and worthy Instrument of Gods glory IOHN PRESTON Dr. in Divinity Chaplaine in Ordinary to his Maiesty Master of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher of Lincolns-Inne ROM 7. 9. For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sinne revived and I dyed LONDON Printed by I. Beale for Andrew Crooke at the Blacke Beare in Pauls Church-yard 1633. AN EXCELLENT TREATISE OF THE SPIRITVALL DEATH IN SINNE EPHES. 2. 1 2 3. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sinnes Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Among whom also wee all had our conuersation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath euen as others THe scope of the Apostle in the former part of this Chapter is to stirre vp the Ephesians to a high estimation of their redemption by Christ and that hee might the better doe this hee sheweth ●hem their estate without Christ That they were children of wrath and dead in sinnes and trespasses and that they were dead in sinne hee proueth Because they walked in sinne That they walked in sinne he proveth Because they had amongst them some false guides which here hee reckons up and declares them to be these three First the World They walked according to the course of the world Secondly the Devill According to the prince of the power of the aire Thirdly the lusts of the flesh Among whom also we all had our conuersation in times past in the lusts of our flesh c. The first point that we will observe as naturally arising out of the words is this That all men by nature are dead in trespasses and sinnes This point is to be considered of all men both those which are alive and quickened out of this Lethargie and those which are yet dead in their trespasses and sinnes That wee are thus dead in sinne it plainly appeares by this reason All mankinde were represented in our first parent Adam of whose fall this death of sinne and of nature was made a part of the punishment now he being the root of us all and that being dead all the branches must needs be dead also It is also plaine by places of Scripture as Ioh 5. 25. The dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live so againe Ephes. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand vp from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Also in the Gospell our Saviour Christ saith Let the dead goe burie the dead that is let such as are dead in trespasses and sinnes goe burie those that are dead through sinne By all which places it plainly appears that all men by nature are dead in sinne This men consider not You would thinke it a gashly sight to see Churches streets and houses for to lye full of dead corpes but for to see places full of men spiritually dead which is farre the worse is a more gashly sight and yet who amongst us is there almost that doth consider it In this death in trespasses and sinnes for our fuller understanding of it I will shew you these five things 1. What this death is 2. The kinds of this death 3. The signes of this death 4. The degrees of this death 5. The use to be made of it First What this death is To know this we must understand that as a corporall death so a spirituall death hath two things in it First As in the naturall death there is a privation of life when the soule is seperated from the bodie so in the spirituall death there is a privation of the life of the soule namely the extinction of originall righteousnesse by reason of which a man can neither set hand nor foot forward in the waies of goodnesse as Paul confesseth of himselfe for as the seperation of the soule makes the body to dye so the extinction of originall righteousnesse makes the soule to dye Secondly As in the death of the bodie there is a stinking carkasse left when the soule is departed thence so in the death of the soule there is a positive corrupted qualitie left called the flesh whereby a man is prone to doe all evill And therefore they are called dead workes Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us goe on unto perfection not laying againe the foundation of repentance from dead workes c. Heb. 6. 1. And so againe in the 9. chapter of the same Epistle and 15. verse where it is said How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead workes to serve the living God Now it seemes a contradiction that they should be workes and yet dead but yet it is so because besides the privation of good there is a positive evill and stirring qualitie which is active and bringeth forth these evill and dead workes Now for the chiefe seat of this death It is chiefly seated in the minde and understanding and not in the will The Understanding is primum vivens moriens primum the first living and first dead for although the will bee corrupted yet whatsoever is in it is carried through the understanding And this death of the understanding is such a darkenesse of judgement as thereby a man esteemes not but dislikes the wayes of God and goodnesse and approves the wayes of sinne and wickednesse And in this facultie of man the understanding is this death of sinne chiefly seated therefore it it is said Ioh. 1. 4 5. In him was light and that light was the life of men So also Ephes. 5. 14. the place before mentioned Awake thou that sleepest and stand vp from the dead and Christ shall give thee light where hee sayes not life but light for if there be light life will certainly follow So againe Acts 26. 18. To open their eyes that they may turne from darknesse to light One would thinke that in these places it should bee life and not light but it is so put to shew that the chiefest seat of this death is in the understanding Therefore also is it said Be renewed in the spirit of your mindes Rom. 12. 2. And to

the same purpose also saith Iames Iam. 1. 18. The word of Truth begat you now Truth hath a reference to the understanding And thus briefly have I given you a taste what this death is and the place wherein it is seated 2. Now it followes that we speake of the kinds of this death which for the better handling and benefit of your memories I will range into these three sorts 1 The death of guilt by which we are bound o-over to eternal damnation and so in the same manner usually wee say a man condemned is a dead man 2 The death which is opposed to the life of grace which is the seperation of grace from our soule 3. The death which is opposed to the lif of joy and comfort which is a thousand times more terrible than all deaths if it were truly and as it is indeed apprehended Which latter death that you may the better conceive of I will open it a little to you God joynes with every mans soule and gives to the most wicked man some seeming life of grace and some colourable life of comfort for else they would indure an hell here upon earth For the first although the wicked have no true grace yet they have a shadow of it as is manifest in their morall vertues So for the second for comfort they have some although no true comfort for God is the author of comfort as the Sunne is of light which all both good and bad doe more or lesse participate of or else they could not subsist As may appeare by the contrary for when he doth but once with-draw his comfort from us it is the terriblest thing in the world An example of this we may see in Christ when this comfort was with-drawne from him but in sense and feeling onely it made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27. 46. Where Gods presence is taken away there is nothing but horror and trembling and I have knowne such that in his absence when his presence hath beene taken away have had their soules so pressed with horror that they have said That if at a thousan● yeeres end they might enjoy the comfortable presence of God they would thinke themselves th● happiest men in the world The absence of this made Luther to say That if all the creatures in heaven and hell should set to torment him they could not doe it so much as the with-drawing of Gods comfort did Alas poore creatures now in this world God is not seperated from you you feele not the torment of this death but now you enjoy the crepusculum and day-light of this comfort and therefore although it bee now slightly esteemed and little regarded yet when that day shall come that the Lord shall totally seperate them from his presence they shall by lamentable experience learne how terrible a thing it is Thus much for the second point the kinds of this death 3. For the signes of this death The signes of it may be taken from them of the bodily death the signes of that are these foure 1. The understanding faileth 2. There is want of sense 3. Want of motion 4. There is a deadnesse in the face These foure things you shall finde in a spirituall death First As those that are corporally dead want reason and understanding so doe those that are spiritually dead they cannot understand the things of God no more then men can judge of colours in the darke I but some man will object and say The carnall man knowes many things he hath a generall notion of the God-head and can talke of the creation of man and his redemption by Christ he can discourse of faith repentance c. There is a great difference betweene knowing Spirituall things and knowing them after a right manner a carnall man knoweth them but not in a right manner not in a spirituall manner And hence is that of the Apostle Tit. 1. 16. They professe that they know God but in workes they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good worke reprobate The word which there is translated reprobate is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying unable to judge Indeed in the generall they may understand and like the things that are of God but come to particular circumstances that crosseth them they as a Divine sayes of them love veritatem lucentem non redarguentem they wholly dislike particulars because they bring them to hic et nunc to particulars In the abstract they loue holinesse but not as it is applied to particulars as it convinces them of their particular sinnes Hence it is that godly men are most hated of them that come neerest to them in shew because they bring light home to them and discover their acerrima proximorumodiv their inward and bosome hatred of their neighbours It is as much as if one should bring a Torch to one that is a doing some unlawfull thing some deed of darknesse he would wish him further off their lives shine as lights and therefore giving good examples by a shining and godly conversation which is contrary to the life of the ungodly and hypocriticall ones they cannot chuse but hate them and as all wicked men hate them so especially those that are nighest unto them in shew because that their life doth not onely shine unto them and lay open their vildnesse but scorch them also and therefore they being occupied about the workes of darkenesse wish them as farre off as they can So that hence we see with an approving judgement not any save those which are quickned can understand spirituall things 2. The second thing wherein a naturall death consisteth was in a privation of sense so also is it in the Spirituall death for their hearts are strong and cannot bee moved although I deny not but sometime they may have a little griping of conscience and sense of Gods judgement which naturally ariseth from conscience but they never have any reall and true feeling of it 3. In a naturall death they are without motion so likewise it is in a Spirituall death for the wicked can no more move themselves unto any good worke than a dead man can move himselfe out of his grave 4. In a naturall death there is a want of vigorousnesse and beauty as well in the face as in all other parts of the body so also there is in the Spiritual death the losse of that vigorous beauty which followes the life of grace they may bee seene to have death in the face if a living man beholds them he knowes how to discerne it although I deny not but that they may have hypocriticall painted vertues which may to weake eyes for a great while seeme true ones as men may have painted faces that have been taken for living ones but they are not true graces such as proceed from the life of grace indeed I but some may here object and say have not

Seeing that by nature all of us are children of wrath and dead in trespasses and sinnes This should stirre up those that are quickened to be thankefull to God therefore Above all wee ever labour to bee most thankefull to him that hath saved our lives and this God hath done for us let us therefore stirre up ourselves to thankfulnesse Paul as we may read Rom. 7. 24 25. joynes these two together his deliverance and his thankfulnesse O wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me from this body of death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. I confesse the world esteemes not this but if they have riches therein they rejoyce and so like the dunghill Cocke or unskilfull Lapidaries preferre vaine things before this precious Jewell but they that have once found the sweetnesse of it will not lose it for a world for if wee have but this what though wee lose wife children goods credit and good name they are all too light being layd in the ballance with this Doe yee every one therefore consider who it was that gave thee this and to him yeeld all thankfulnesse Let us love much because as much is forgiven so much is given to us Paul was much stirred up with this consideration thinking that he could never doe enough for Christ who had done so much for him as appears in many places of his Epistles The fourth Use we will make of this point is If we are all dead in trespasses and sinnes then this teacheth us how we should esteeme of the means of grace if wee are dead then it must bee an Omnipotent power which must quicken us All the meanes as the Word preached the receiving the Sacraments c. are but dead letters they are but as pennes without inke God must put inke into them if ever they be effectuall and therefore as wee must not give too little to the meanes so wee must not give too much nor rest in them When wee come to heare the Word preached it is not the hearing of the Minister but Christ in the Word preached which makes us live It is good to heare the Minister but except wee heare another voyce speaking to the heart as his doth to the eare we shall never be the better it is Christs voyce in the Word which doth quicken and put life in our soules But here let mee warne you to take heed of breaking the Conduit-pipe from the Fountaine if thou hearest and profitest not know that it is because Christ speaketh not to the eares of the heart as well as the Minister to our outward eares The fifth and last Use wee will make of this point shall be If that naturally all men are dead in sinne this should teach us to try our selves and see whether wee are dead or alive Consider the shortnesse and uncertainty of thy life here Mans life is like an houre-glasse if it runnes his course it is but an houre and it may be broken before it is run out ye have but a short while to live here according to the course of Nature and yet perhaps that course may not runne out too it may bee broken off before wee are aware and then for ever either in heaven or hell wee must abide hereafter Oh then never be quiet vntill you see wihther you shall goe to eternall blisse or everlasting woe Here the Diuels triicke is to put it into mens heads that a civill life will serue the turne but he dealeth with them as those that take gold from infants and give them counters and rattles and thus he would keepe them from this consideration perswading them of the latitude of religion and telling them that they are well enough seeing they are troubled for some sinnes and doe some duties perhaps in private but this you may doe and yet be dead still If he cannot prevaile this way then he will labour to hinder them by drawing them on in a voluptuous course of life or with worldly cares and so draweth them from themselves and so makes them never to consider what they are doing nor whit●er they are going and therefore is it that in the Gospell of Saint Luke chap. 16. the prodigall Son is sayd to come home to himselfe when he once beganne to consider his estate Although their conscience tell them all is wrong yet the tabrets of lusts and pleasures make such a deane where they are that they heare it not and so never consider nay if that Christ himselfe againe or the sonnes of Thunder should speake yet except Gods Spirit should inwardly worke it would not make men seriously to consider their estates It is the hardest thing in the world to make men sensible of life and death Let us therefore bee moved in particular to consider whether we are dead or alive If thou art quickened thou shalt finde one time or other these two things in thee First Thou once hadst a deepe and sensible consideration of thine estate by nature thou wert deeply affected with it so that thou sawest what need thou hadst of Christ till thou hast had this consideration thou art a dead man I know God can save thee without this hee could come without the terrible voyce as Christ could have come without Iohn Baptist before him but hee will not neither ever doth because it is impossible for a man highly to esteeme of Christ till hee is thus humbled for hee never will preferre him in particular actions and take him with all crosses and losses till hee fully see what need hee hath of him which he cannot untill he is thus humbled Secondly Consider if thou wer● ever changed from what thou formerly wert neither is it a slight change that will serve but it must bee both constant and generall it must not be for a month or a yeare but daily and continually It must bee such a change that all where thou livest may see it thou must become a new soule in another body Thy change must be so great that thou mayst say Ego non sum ego I am not my selfe I am quite another man There must be as great a change in thee as there is in a white cloth when it is died blacke Such a change was in Paul he was converted from a persecutor to a Preacher So thou must of a Lion be made a Lambe there must as much difference be in us as is between winter summer And now seeing the time of the Sacrament is at hand let us all examine our selves we must not make excuses to keepe from the Sacrament but as all Nehem. 9. were to come to the Passeover else they were to be cut off from their people except they could shew some good cause so I know no reason why it should not be so still for the Sacrament But againe on the other side if wee doe come and are dead men wee come unworthily and eat and drinke our owne damnation in not discerning the body

will the Lord be seene in distresse will the Lord shew himselfe and therefore you are to take heed of discouragements that you leave not your hope for then you take away indevour and so Gods causes fall to the ground and thereby the Lord is forsaken of us for it is our hope that sets all aworke and the want of hope makes us turne our backes yea foyle and give over the Lords Battels and therefore we should still maintaine our hope in all extremities whatsoever for when the Lord sends any afflictions on the Church or our selves wee ought not to despise or make light of them because they are the messengers of the Lord to humble us so we must not on the other side have the sinewes of our soules loosened by them for as we are not to despise the Chastening of the Lord so are wee not to faint when wee are rebuked of him for in the Mount will the Lord be seene that is it is a thing that the Lord will usually doe not at this time when thou wouldest have him but even when Abraham was fetching the blow then to stay his hand And it is his usuall course so to doe and therefore it is turned into a proverbe because it is ordinary Secondly we have ordinary use of it and therefore likewise it is put into a proverbe for the Lord usually brings us into extremities and that it might be the better remembred of us it is put into a proverbe for that is the use of short sentences to be easily carried in the memory and therefore the Lord hath thus turned it As men doe by their Silver they change it into Gold that it may with the more ease be carried Now to cometo the words out of which wee may learne That it is Gods usuall manner to bring his children to extremities The examples are so many in Scriptures and in our daily experience of this that we need not insist on the proofe of it but proceed to shew the reasons thereof And the first cause why the Lord doth so usually doe it is When hee brings afflictions on his children he lets it runne along till they may thinke there is no more helpe nor hope that so it may be an affliction to them for it would not bee an affliction except it did runne on to the uttermost point for if there were any doore for us to get out wee were not compassed about but when a man hath no gap to goe out at that is it that makes the spirit of a man to sinke If a man were in a smoky house and had a doore open it were no difficulty for him to shift himselfe out of it but when wee are shut up that is it which makes it difficult and that it might be so the Lord suffers it to come to an extremity Secondly The Lord brings us to an extremity because the Lord might be sought to for so long as the Creatures can doe us any good we will goe no further but when they faile us wee are ready to looke up to the Lord As it is with men which are on the Seas when they are in an extremity those that will not pray at any other time will pray now and bee ready to say with these in the Prophet Hosea 6. 1. Come and let us returne unto the Lord for ●● hath torne and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will binde us up and the reason is because where the Creature ends the Lord must beginne otherwise there can be no helpe at all And hence it is that at the time of death when a man once sees that and hath no deliverance it quaileth the stoutest spirits that are as Saul when he could see nothing but death before him then he sanke downe to the ground and till then the Lord is not sought to but in their afflictions they will seeke mee saith the Lord because then they can goe no where else Therefore when a man is brought to say vaine is the helpe of man then he will looke to the Lord for his helpe but till then man is subject to looke round on every side to see if there bee any that will helpe but when there is none then hee seekes unto the Lord and is delivered Thirdly The Lord doth it because that hereby it comes to passe that the Lord may bee knowne to be the helper that when wee are delivered hee may have all the praise for otherwise if there be but a little helpe in the Creature wee are ready many times to ascribe it all to it or at least to divide the prayse and therefore the Lord said to Gideon Iudg. 7. 2. The people that are with thee are too many though indeed they were but few in comparison of the multitude which they were to goe against yet they were too many for Gideon to have acknowledged the hand of the Lord in it if hee should have had the victory with them But the Lord will not divide his glory with another and therefore he will bring a man to the streight to bee without all hope that so hee may have all the praise for when other meanes concurre with his helpe then it is divided but without that his arme lyes naked as it were and therefore that it might bee knowne hee brings them to extremitie Fourthly The Lord doth it because all that we have wee might have as a new gift Therefore the Lord suffers us as it were to forfeit our Leases that he may renew them otherwise we should thinke our selves to bee Free-holders But when wee come to see all gone our health wealth and credit to faile us and in that extremity the Lord to give it us it is as a thing given on a new gift and then we take our life as given againe of the Lord and so in any other streight when there is no helpe of man left then wee take it wholly from the Lord and then wee give it to him againe Fifthly The Lord doth it because hee may teach us by Experience to know him But here some man will be ready to say Why cannot that be without these extremities To this I answer You must know when a man goes on in a course without any troubles or changes his experience is to no purpose for hee hath no great experience of the Lord But when a man is in tribulation that brings experience and experience ●●pe for it is another kinde of experience that is so learned than that which comes without it and indeed nothing is well learned till it bee learned by experience And therefore our Saviour Christ himselfe that had all knowledge that could be had without this would have this also of experience likewise for when a man is in ex●●emity then shall hee have experience of the Lord And therefore it is said of Manasses when he was in affliction and had prayed to the Lord humbling himselfe and