Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	die_v	life_n	soul_n	23,154	5	5.3621	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78566	A brief apology in behalf of the people in derision call'd Quakers. Written for the information of our sober and well-inclined neighbors in and about the town of Warminster in the county of Wilts. by Will. Chandler, Alex. Pyott, Jo. Hodges, and some others.	Chandler, William.; Pyott, Alex. (Alexander); Hodges, Joseph.	1693 (1693)	Wing C1934; ESTC R229320	34,744	78

once glewed and some of them would have had the believing Gentiles come under that Yoak and be circumcised which Paul their great Apostle withstood seeing beyond all those things knowing that the Kingdom of God was not Meats and Drinks but Righteousness Rom. 14. 17. Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost and not in Word but Power 1 Cor. 4. 20. not divers Washings and carnal Ordinances which were Shadows and to Colos 2. v. 14 16 17 22 10. Heb. 9. 9 10. Gal. 5. 2. perrish but the Body is of Christ and those that are in him are in him compleat believing that if they were circumcised Christ should profit them nothing and yet we see such was his Condescention that he himself notwithstanding circumcised Timothy and when he was at Jerusalem shaved his Acts c. 21 v. 20 to the 28. head c. behaving himself as a Jew for the sakes of those who saw not so far as himself And notwithstanding he was such a labourious and zealous Publisher of the Gospel yet we find 1 Cor. 1. 14. he baptized but very few and thanks God that he baptized no more surely 't was not then essential to the Gospel but saith plainly That he was not 1 Cor. 1. 17. Colos 1. 13. sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel to turn People from Darkness to Light from the Power of Satan to God who had delivered them from the Power of Darkness and translated them into the Kingdom of his dear Son 't is this that is of absolute Necessity to our Salvation he did not then baptize because some others did it which yet is as large a Commission as perhaps any pretend to now-a-days Of which we say as he did of Circumcision though we do not grant 't is the Seal of the Covenant and introduced in room of Circumcision as some will have it but without Scripture-authority Baptism or no Baptism availeth any thing short of a new Creature which is the truest Sign of possessing the inward spiritual Grace and of being in Christ and is beyond all visible Signs whatsoever The Apostles having thus indulged it 't is no wonder that 't was continued and since got footing under the Degeneracy for as Corruption entred the Church and was encreased the Spirit and Life of Christianity was more and more eclipsed and the minds of its Professors grew darker and then adhered more to external Performances and not only continued that which had been used by their Predecessors or at least something in its stead but by degrees added more Rites and Ceremonies and at length began to trim and deck that Religion that in itself was plain simple and homely and consisted more in Power and Divine Love than outward Observations which in process of time was so drest and garnisht that its August Splendour became inviting to others Under this Degeneracy in degree sprung up Infant-Baptism a meer Humane Invention without any Scripture-authority either by Precept or Practice wherefore for those who do not use Baptism as 't was instituted under its proper Dispensation to upbraid us for neglecting it is abfurd and unreasonable But that which makes the loudest Out-cry of all is our Disuse of the Sacrament so called of Bread and Wine 't is this is that pestilent mortal Error that in our Opposer's Account renders us worse then the Papists whatever 't is that makes us the Spawn of the Jesuites which with several others are Epithets that to be sure were calculated tho' unjustly to render us as odious as may be to the People and carry a great deal of Rancour in them and savours of too much Gall to proceed from the meek Spirit of Christianity 2 Tim. 2. 22. that teacheth to be at Peace with and have Charity for all that call on the Lord out of a pure heart But whether upon the whole Matter we deserve this severe bitter Censure or whether those that so liberally bestows it upon us have a just right to cast the first Stone is what we desire our sober Neighbours to consider and not judge us also by whole-sale from an implicit Belief of what others say of us We are not ignorantof the great Noise and Stir there hath been about this in Christendom to the scandalizing Christianity among both Jews and Turks the Papists have improv'd it to downright Idolatry affirming 't is the real Body and Blood and as such adores it one would think 't were better let alone others that Christ is in it though they know not how one saith 't is this another 't is that while they all seem to expect that from it which it doth not necessarily administer for want of distinguishing between that Bread of Life that John 6. 51 56. came down from Heaven that Flesh and Blood of Christ which giveth Life to all that feed thereon by which they dwell in him and he in them and that Supper which was eaten by the Primitive Christians in Commemoration of his Death and Sacrifice which are not so connext as that the one necessarily includes the other as Experience abundantly testifies would People but be true to themselves herein how many are there that receive this from Year to Year who yet complain all their lives of Deadness Dryness and Leanness of Soul and want of Power not receiving that renewing of Life and spiritual Strength that is proposed in it and so but an empty Shadow indeed for how can they in truth expect to feed on John 14. 20 21 23. Christ spirituallyin their Hearts who will not admit that he really dwells in his Saints but esteem it an Error in those that do however we believe all People ought to be well perswaded in their own Minds and seriously considerate in these and other religious Practises and not take up things meerly tradititionally because others do it nor ought they to be vehemently prest to or against things not absolutely essential to Salvation in which their Understandings are not clear nor should any be scoft or reproacht for those things which to them are Matter of Conscience and therefore Sacred though to others it may appear of less moment a Practice that is a great Shame among People professing Christianity Nor do we judge and condemn those that are found in the Practice either of this or Water-baptism as 't was primitively used whose sober Christian circumspect Lives witnesseth to their sincere Intentions herein who may be conscientiously tender in it and fearful to omit it till they are otherwise fully perswaded But for us to whom the barrenness and emptiness of these outward visible Things are manifest we cannot continue therein yielding no true Soul-satisfaction nor administring any inward spiritual Grace to us Wherefore having tasted that 1 Pet. 2. 2 3. the Lord is good and gracious we wait for the sincere Milk of that Word by which we have been begotten to God that we may receive strength thereby and grow in Grace and the

Knowledge 2 Pet. 3. 18. of our Lord Jesus Christ and a greater Acquaintance with that true inward Spiritual Communion and Fellowship Rev. 3. 20. with him wherein he sups with his Saints and they with him and receives Life by him who dwells in them Eph. 5. 30. and they in him as the Members are joyned to the Head and partakes of its Life and liveth by it or the Branches to the Vine which receives Joh. 15. 5. Life Vertue and Nourishment from him whereby Fruit is brought forth to the glory of God and well-pleasing to him 'T is not sufficient that we participate hereof once a Month or Quarter but as the Jews had their Manna Exod. 16. 21. fresh every Morning so ought we to receive a daily supply and renewing of strength in our inward Man by eating that Heavenly Bread that nourisheth up to Eternal Life and drinking plentifully of that Well of Living-Weter Joh. 4. 14. which in the Saints springs up to Life Eternal for as in God we live move and have our very being so is Christ the true and proper Life of the inward Man by which it truly lives to God nor can it live but by him Those that are begotten to God by the Word of Life and are born again of the Spirit are priviledged thus to feed on Christ and enjoy him which none can do that are not first quickened and made alive by him none can receive Life Sap and Vertue from him as Head and Vine that are not first joyned to him as Members and Branches of him nor is it sufficient to make People Members of Christ and give them admittance to feed on him in that they were sprinkled when Infants c. as we have already express'd though they should eat Bread and drink Wine all their days Since then we no less enjoy the Substance without the Sign why may we not omit it as either being but temporary or not of absolute necessity as well as our Opposers do that which was instituted to use their own term at the same time and with as great solemnity and greater formality and was no less positively commanded under the same pretence Why may not the same Authority absolve us from the use of this and excuse us from being chargeable with the breach of a Command of Christ as release them from washing one anothers Feet and secure Joh. 13. 4 5 8 14 15. them from the like censure As also that of the Apostles cencerning things strangled and Blood and that of James Acts 15. 20 29. Jam. 5. 14 15. anointing the Sick with Oil Why should they be thus partial Have we not good reason to conclude that if these had not been long since laid down they would have cleav'd as close to them and that had those of Baptism and Bread and Wine been then discontinued also they would be now as easie under its omission For Tradition Custom and Education makes greater impressions on Mens minds than perhaps every one may be sensible of nor is it an easie task at first to move them from those things to which they have been fastned by it Would but People wholly relinquish these Prejudices and consider it impartially 't is probable there may appear no such real difference as justly to omit the one and yet with equal reason to continue the other since 't is not that Bread that gives life to the Soul nor doth necessarily include it but that Christ may be and is received and sed on without it Nor that those can be thought to forget his Death and Sacrifice who sensibly partake of the Benefits thereof Tit. 2. 14. and pursue its Ends who are taught and assisted by him to live a godly Gal. 1. 4. righteous Life and bears about in them the Marks of the Dying of our Mat. 1. 21. 2 Cor. 5. 15. Lord Jesus who died for all that those who live should no longer live to themselves fulfilling the desires of their minds but to him that died for them that through the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3. 10. they may mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh and have Fellowship with his Sufferings in whom his Life is made manifest neither can those who acknowledge his Death and Sacrifice and partake from time to time of this Bread and Wine in memory of it and yet are not by him redeemed from a vain Conversation and made conformable to his Death and so feed on him as to participate of that Life that comes by him in anywise escape Damnation let their Pretensions be what they will Since then God hath replenisht our Hearts with his Grace and hath not with held his heavenly Manna from us but daily owns us by his comfortable Presence to our great satisfaction under the Omission of these things supplying our Wants and Necessities as we have recourse unto him in that which ever hath access unto him having our continual Dependancy on him who enables and strengthens those of us * For we intend not to Apologize for those who tho' they may be call'd by our Name yet live loosly and walk disorderly and are Blemishes and a Grief to us which yet ought to be imputed to their Insincerity or Unwatchfulness and not to the In-sufficiency of the Prin-ci-ple they pretend to that retain our Primitive Sincerity and Integrity to lead a Sober Pious Christian Life as becomes the Gospel of Christ which is the certain Product of Spiritual Grace and forasmuch as our Opposers acknowledge it to be but an outward visible Sign and dare not say that the inward Spiritual Grace is tied to it nor that 't is of absolute necessity to Salvation with what Reason do they Unchristian us and so load us with Calumnies and Accusations on this Account using it as an Instance to blacken us and condemn in gross our whole Christian Profession principally from hence as though 't were the chief thing that constitutes a Christian and entitles him to the Benefits that come by Christ What shall we think then of perhaps more than two parts in three of their own Assembly who no more practice this than do we and yet are many of them as sober People and if we may know as Christ directs us by their Fruits are doubtless as near the Kingdom and no less in a State of Grace than are those who so exult in and value themselves upon this Performance which however it may bound and distinguish particular Societies and Communions 't is certain no Observations nor Performances short of being ruled and governed by the Spirit of Christ as Head can entitle us to a Membership in him we may make a specious Shew and carry a System of Divinity in our Heads but if he rules not our Hearts we are none of his 'T were well they were as thoughtful to fulfil all Righteousness in every respect and as zealously careful and concern'd to observe and punctually perform all the Commands

same and shall so believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and love him as for the future to live a holy Circumspect Christian life and obey his commands thereby continuing in his love Which holy life so much Celebrated and strictly kept to in the Primitive Ages of Christianity that whosoever named the name or took the name of Christ upon them were to depart from iniquity we believe ought to be inseparable from a true and faithful Christian as ever accompanying a true living and active Faith and it seems was thought no less necessary by those who composed the promise that should be made in behalf of infants before they were admitted into that once sacred Catalogue to wit that as they Tit. 2. 11 12. came to years of discretion they should forsake the devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the Luk. 1. 75 flesh and keep Gods holy will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of their lives This we believe Ro. 6. 18 19 22. 2 Cor. 7. 1. Eph. 4. 24 Thes 3. 13 4. 7. Heb. 12. 10. 14. 1 Joh. 4. 4. to be the bounden duty of mankind and though our Opposers have scoft us and branded us with error for holding perfection because in pleading for a holy righteous life as that which is well-pleasing to God and avouching his power to be stronger in man as man cleaves to it and believes to rescue him from under the power of Satan than is that of the devil to retrain him in Thraldom we have sometimes made use of the words of Christ and his Apostles as be you perfect as Mat. 5. 48 Col. 4. 12. 1 Joh. 3. 3. your Father which is in Heaven is perfect he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure c. Yet have we never pretended to a moral perfection beyond what is contained in the above promise which is sound and true in it self and is that which God requires of us and therefore 't is that we frequently press it's necessity and fervently exhort people to its performance And notwithstanding we have hence been falsely accused that we expect to be saved by our own works as being Meritorious yet we don't acknowledge a holy life as the Efficient and procuring Cause of our Salvation which we no less than you totally refer to the free Grace and mercy of Eph. 2. 8. God in Christ without any merit in Man but we esteem it as a constant companion James 2. 18. to the end thereto and a necessary condition on our part in complyance with God's gracious offer without which we may not obtain it being inseparably annext Heb. 11. 6. Ro. 12. 1. 2. to that Faith which only pleaseth God and is but our reasonable duty And we believe that although Christ Heb. 2. 9. 10. 12. thus offer'd up himself once for all for the sins of all men to the end of the world thereby rendring repentance and amendment of life prevalent with God yet that the Traditional Belief of that alone is not sufficient to entitle us to that common Salvation that comes by him but that 't is of necessity that we truly repent and be converted from Act. 3. 19 the evil to the good and therefore 't is no less necessary for us now than 't was for believers in the Apostles days that 26. 18. 20. we be turned from darkness to light or in otherterms from the dark power of Satan to the power of God who is light that thereby we may every one know the work of Redemption and Salvation wrought in and for our selves For 't is not enough to believe that Christ dyed if we feel not the blessed effects of his death who came to save us from our sins and bless us by turning Mat. 1. 21. Act. 3. 26. Tit. 2. 14. us from our iniquities and gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works For we believe such to be the natural Gen. 2. 17 Ro. 5. 12. 2 Cor. 5. 14. Gen. 6. 5. Ro. 7. 5. State of Man in the fall that by nature we are dead as to God at a distance from him prone to evil and to gratify the desires of our sensual minds sway'd by the corrupt and sinful Eph. 2. 2. lusts of the flesh and under the power of a strange King rul'd by the 2 Tim. 2. 26. Prince of the Power of the air so that our inward man being thus dead from God we cannot exercise our spiritual senses towards him nor can this natural 1 Cor. 2. 14. man perceive know or savour the things of God which only arc spiritually discerned wherefore notwithstanding our Saviour dyed for us we are yet by nature in a miserable undone condition in Captivity to our souls Enemy except we know the second 1 Cor. 15. 45. 47. Eph. 2. 1. 5 Col. 2. 13. Ro. 8. 11. Eph. 5. 13. 14. Joh. 1. 9. Adam the Lord from Heaven that quickning spirit to quicken our souls and make us alive to God again that being restored to the use of our inward senses we may by the assistance of his Divine Light wherewith for that end he hath blest all the Sons and Eph 2. 3. 5. 6. Daughters of Men see our selves in this sad and lost state under the wrath of God and abhor our selves therefore and under this living sense wherein things will appear with another aspect than before cry to God for deliverance therefrom with such and inward 2 Cor. 7. 10. hearty sorrow as works a true repentance for the same 'T is not our being sprinkled when infants that will make us true Christians convert us from Joh. 1. 12. 13. Ro. 8. 14. being children of wrath to become children of grace and Sons of God and members of Christs Church and invest us in an interest in him 't is not learning our Catechism and subscribing to certain Articles of Faith though never so Orthodox and being educated in a historical belief of what Christ did for us above sixteen hundred years ago 't is not this only that will administer a sufficient true and saving knowledge of Christ and really interest us in his death and sufferings all which people may talk of and please themselves withal and yet continue as fast bound under the dominion of Satan who still rules where disobedience is as those less perfect in that lesson but the true and saving knowledge of Christ is to know our selves Act. 26. 18 turn'd from darkness to light from the power of Satan to the power of Col. 1. 13. God that by it we may be delivered from the power of darkness and be translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son to know his saving power really to rescue and redeem us from Joh. 8. 32. 36.