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	union_n	6,110	5	9.7698	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42818	Lux orientalis, or, An enquiry into the opinion of the Eastern sages concerning the praeexistence of souls being a key to unlock the grand mysteries of providence, in relation to mans sin and misery.	Glanvill, Joseph, 1636-1680.	1662 (1662)	Wing G814; ESTC R23333	73,655	232

the soul hath to exert in a body would have been idle and to no purpose But 1 the most that can be argued from such like objections is that we know not the manner of the thing and are no Arguments against the assertion it self And were it granted that the particular state of the soul before it came hither is inconceivable yet this makes no more against it then it doth against it's after-condition which these very objectors hold to be so as to the particular modus But a Why is it so absurd that the soul should have actuated another kind of body before it came into this Even here 't is immediately united to a purer vehicle moves and acts the grosser body by it And why then might it not in its former and purer state of Life have been join'd only to such a refined body which should have been suitable to its own perfection and purity I 'me sure many if not the most of the Antient Fathers thought Angells themselves to be embodyed and therefore they reputed not this such a grosse absurdity But an occasion hereafter will draw our pen this way again and therefore I pass it to a third return to this objection 3 Therefore though it were granted that the soul lived afore-times without a body what greater incongruity is there in such a supposition then that it should live and act after death without any union with matter or any body whatsoever as the objectors themselves conceive it doth But all such objections as these will fly away as mists before the sun when we shall come particularly to state the Hypothesis And therefore I may be excused from further troubling my self and the Reader about them here Especially since as hath been intimated they prove nothing at all but that the objectors cannot conceive vvhat manner of state that of Praeexistence was which is no prejudice to the opinion it self that our souls were extant before these earthly bodies Thus then I hope I have clearly enough made good that all souls might have been created from the beginning for ought any thing that is made known either in the Scriptures or our reasons to the contrary And thereby have remov'd those prejudices that would have stood in the way of our conclusion Wherefore we may now without controul from our proof of That it may be so pass on to enquire whether indeed it is so and see whether it may as well be asserted as defended And truly considering that both the other ways are impossible and this third not at all unreasonable it may be thought needlesse to bring more forces into the field to gain it the victory after its enemies are quite scattered and defeated Yet however for the pomp and triumph of truth though it need not their service we shall add some positive Arguments whereby it may appear that not only all other ways are dangerous and unpassable and this irreproveable but also that there is direct evidence enough to prove it solid and rational And I make my first consideration of this kind a second Argument CHAP. VI. A second Argument for Praeexistence drawn from the consideration of the Divine Goodnesse which alwaies doth what is best 2 THen whoever conceives rightly of God apprehends him to be infinite and immense Goodnesse who is alwaies shedding abroad of his own exuberant fulnesse There is no straightness in the Deity no bounds to the ocean of Love Now the divine Goodnesse referrs not to himself as ours extends not unto him He acts nothing for any self-accomplishment being essentially and absolutely compleat and perfect But the object and term of his goodnesse is his creatures good and happinesse in their respective capacities He is that infinite fountain that is continually overflowing and can no more cease to shed his influences upon his indigent dependents then the sun to shine at noon Now as the infinite Goodnesse of the deity obligeth him alwaies to do good so by the same reason to do that which is best since to omit any degrees of good would argue a defect in goodnesse supposing wisdome to order and power to execute He therefore that supposeth God not alwaies to do what is best and best for his Creatures for he cannot act for his own Good apprehends him to be lesse good then can be conceived and consequently not infinitely so For what is infinite is beyond measure and apprehension Therefore to direct this to our purpose God being infinitely good and that to his Creatures and therefore doing alwaies what is best for them methinks it roundly follows that our souls lived and injoy'd themselves of old before they came into these bodies For since they were capable of living and that in a much better and happier state long before they descended into this region of death and misery and since that condition of life and self-enjoyment would have been better then absolute not-being may we not safely conclude from a due consideration of the divine goodnesse that it was so What was it that gave us our being but the immense goodnesse of our Maker And why were we drawn out of our nothings but because it was better for us to be then not to be Why were our souls put into these bodies and not into some more squallid and ugly but because we are capable of such and 't is better for us to live in these then in those that are lesse sutable to our natures And had it not been better for us to have injoy'd our selves and the bounty and favours of our Maker of old as did the other order of intellectual creatures then to have layn in the comfortless night of nothing till 'tother day Had we not been better on 't to have lived and acted in the joyful regions of light and blessednesse with those spirits that at first had being then just now to jump into this sad plight and state of sin and wretchednesse Infinite Power could as well have made us all at once as the Angells and with as good congruity to our natures we might have liv'd and been happy without these bodies as we shall be in the state of separation since therefore it was best for us and as easy for our Creatour so to have effected it where was the defect if it was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not this to 〈◊〉 his goodnesse and to straight-lace the divine beneficence And doth not the contrary Hypothesis to what I am pleading for represent the God of Love as lesse good and bountiful then a charitable mortall who would neglect no opportunity within his reach of doing what good he could to those that want his help and assistance I confesse the world generally have such narrow and unbecomming apprehensions of God and draw his picture in their imaginations so like themselves that few I doubt will feel the force of this Argument and mine own observation makes me enter the same suspicion of its successe that some others have who have used it 'T is only

little remain of what it had of old In this state we grow up meerly into the life of sense having little left of the higher life but some apish shews and imitations of reason vertue and religion By which alone with speech we seem to be distinguisht from Beasts while in reality the brutish nature is predominant and the concernments of the body are our great end our onely God and happiness this is the condition of our now degenerate lost natures However that ever over-flowing goodness that always aims at the happiness of his creatures hath not left us without all means of recovery but by the gracious and benigne dispensations which he hath afforded us hath provided for our restauration which some though but very few make so good use of that being assisted in their well meant and sincere indeavours by the divine spirit they in good degree mortifie and subdue the bodie conquer self-will unruly appetites and disorderly passions and so in some measure by Principle 7. awaken the higher life which still directs them upwards to vertue and divine love which where they are perfectly kindled carry the soul when dismist from this prison to its old celestial abode For the spirit and noblest faculties being so recovered to life and exercise require an aetherial body to be united to and that an aetherial place of residence both which the divine Nemesis that is wrought into the very nature of things bestoweth on them by Principle the second But they are very few that are thus immediatly restored to the celestial paradise upon the quitting of their earthly bodies For others that are but in the way of recovery and dye imperfectly vertuous meer Philosophy and natural reason within the bounds of which we are now discoursing can determine no more but that they step forth again into aer● vehicles that congruity of life immediately awakening in them after this is expired In this state their happinesse will be more or lesse proportionably to their virtues in which if they persevere we shall see anon how they will be recover'd But for the present we must not break off the clue of our account by going backwards before we have arriv'd to the u●most verge of descent in this Philosophical Romance or History the Reader is at his choice to call it which he pleaseth Wherefore let us cast our eyes upon the Most in whom their Life on earth hath but confirm'd and strengthned their degenerate sensual and brutish propensions And see what is like to become of them when they take their leave of these terrestial bodies Only first a word of the state of dying infants and I come immediately to the next step of descent Those therefore that passe out of these bodyes before the terrestrial congruity be spoyl'd weakened or orderly unmound According to the tenour of this Hypothesis must return into the state of inactivity For the Plastick in them is too highly awakened to inactuate only an aerial body And there being no other more congruous ready and at hand for it to enter it must needs step back into its former state of insensibility and there wait its turn till befitting matter call it forth again into life and action This is a conjecture that Philosophy dictates which I vouch not for a truth but only follow the clue of this Hypothesis Nor can there any danger be hence conceiv'd that those whose congr●ityes orderly expire should fall back again into a state of silence and intertnesse since by long and hard exercises in this body the plastick life is well tamed and debilitated so that now its activity is proportion'd to a more te●uious and passive vehicle which it cannot fail to meet with in its next condition For 't is only the terrestrial body is so long a preparing But to The next step of Descent or After State TO give an Account of the After State of the more degenerate and yet descending souls some fancy a very odd Hypothesis imagining that they passe hence into some other more course and inferior Planet in which they are provided with bodyes suitable to their so depraved natures But I shall be thought extravagant for the mention of such a supposition Wherefore I come to what is lesse ●bnoxious When our souls go out of these bodies therefore they are not presently discharg'd of all the matter that belong'd to this condition but carry away their inward and aerial state to be partakers with them of their after fortunes onely leaving the unlesse earth behind them For they have a congruity to their aery bodies though that which they had to a terrestrial is worn out and defaced Nor need we to wonder how it can 〈◊〉 have an aerial aptitude when as that congr●ity expired before we defended hither If we consider the reason of the expiration of its former vital aptitude which was not so much through any defect of power to actuate such a body but through the excesse of invigoration of the Plastick which was then grown so strong that an aerial body was not enough for it to display its force upon But now the case is alter'd these lower powers are worn and wearied out by the toylsome exercise of dragging about and managing such a load of flesh wherefore being so castigated they are duly attemper'd to the more easie body of air again as was intimated before to which they being already united they cannot miss of a proper habitation But considering the stupor dulness inactivity of our declining age it may seem unlikely to some that after death we should immediately be resuffitated into so lively and vigorous a condition as is the aerial especially since all the faculties of sence and action are observed gradually to fail abate as we draw nearer to our exit from this Stage which seems to threaten that we shall next descend into a state of less s●upor and inertnesse But this is a groundless jealousie for the weaknesse and lethargick inactivity of old age ariseth from a defect of those Spirits that are the instruments of all our operations which by long exercise are at last spent and seattred So that the remains can scarce any longer stand under their unweildy barthem much lesse can they perform all functions of life so vigorously as they were wont to do when they were in their due temper strength and plenty However notwithstanding this inability to manage a sluggish stubborn and exhausted terrestrial body there is no doubt but the Soul can with great care when it is discharg'd of its former load actuate its thin aery vehicle and that with a brisk vigour and activity As a man that is overladen may be ready to faint and sink till he be releived of his burthen And then he can run away with a cheerful vivacity So that this decrepid condition of our decayed natures cannot justly prejudice our belief that we shall be crected again into a state of life and action in aerial bodies after this congruity