Selected quad for the lemma: head_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	body_n	member_n	mystical_a	10,421	5	11.0632	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92204	The fiery change: or, Almighty God, his melting and refining of his people, purging out their drosse and drossy metals, making them like unto himself and to his Son who is the pure Word. Wherein is discovered, by the comparison of metals, how the visible church is corrupted, consisting of men of all degrees and conditions and how God hath begun to refine them: which have past in the world a long time for good metal: but now is discovering by fire. / By Robert Read.	Read, Robert, fl. 1653-1656.	1656 (1656)	Wing R440; Thomason E899_3; ESTC R206741	92,260	122

to know himself where he is or what he is All these severall evils as to the naturall sense conduceth much to the undoing of the body and estate of man But drunkennesse in the spirituall ●en●e in the in●isible and internall part of man to be drunk and not with wine to stagger and not with strong drink to be drunk with the wine ot the fornication of the great Whore Esa 29 9. to sleep in sin to forget God to be full of wrath against God his will his people and his Word to do e●ill and speak evil to be infatuated and to have the powers of darkenesse rule over us and in us and not to knovv our selves nor vvhere vve are but reel and stumble and fall This is misery Be sober in your invisible actings Jer. 25.27 in your thoughts imaginations understandings affections wills passions that nothing break into outvvard act against Almighty God or his deare relations either in revilings reproachings or persecutions But be patient bearing all things and abiding in the vvil of our God although never so crosse to our vvills Furthermore Watch Watch as a Centinel doth both to destroy and to discover and by prayer call for help and assistance against the potent Enemies of our soules who doth continually assault us by inward objects injected into our mindes and thoughts and some visibly presented before our eyes which we cannot be freed from so long as we are in the flesh but are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation which is prepared to be shewed in the last time 1 Pet. 115. Again Have fervent love c. Above all things especially and chiefly primarily and in the first place have fervent love hot love not cold and frozen but fervent earnest the want of this love makes all things to be out of order that we love not our superiours inferiours nor our equals but differ with them all and speak evill of all We should love all for Gods sake and be tender hearted forgiving one another as God for Christs sake forgave us 1 John 4.11 Beloved if God so loved us then ought we to love one another For this want of love all men are to be blamed For those that are called Ministers the teachers of the people at this day they do speak bitterly and would act cruelly against divers poor people of God that are otherwise inlightened then themselves and are led by the true light of God living above the ordinances of man which they call the ordinances of God And they that are so highly inlightened by the inward teachings of the Almighty are full of censuring and condemning of those that have not attained to the same measure nor yet come to that pitch and height that they are come to not considering that that which they now live in being darknesse was once their own light and so seem to despise the small things of the Lord which once they rejoyced in Zach. 4.10 Ephes 4.4 There is but one body that shall be saved yet there are many members of that one body the Presbyter and the Baptized Churches are of that body if they cleave to the Lord with all their hearts though they vary in the outward Let not one member therefore despise another for love covereth all All Christian beleevers are but one body of which there are many members The head is the greatest and chiefest part of the body the Spirit of God acteth all one and the same thing in every beleever in different forms As the life of mans body is three wayes so is the life of the mysticall body three wayes In the body of man the life thereof is Animal in the brain Vitall in the heart Naturall in the liver sinews and arteries As it is thus in the body naturall so in the body mysticall yet but one life though three distinct for in the body mysticall there is God in you Christ in you and the Spirit of Christ in you where the Spirit of Christ is there is God be it in what opinion soever For our life is hid with God in Christ Col. 3.3 2 Cor. 3.17 where there is both secrecie and safety Resist not the Spirit For the Spirit is the Lord and there is liberty The Spirit is light the Lord is that light let the members of the body sympathize if one part suffer and is not in its perfection let the other parts and members suffer with it and lament for it In the primitive time there was scarce a brother did differ with a brother but now Churches against Churches differ and are at great variance O let brotherly love be among us yea that fervent love that covereth the multitude of sins Gods infinite and eternall love manifested to us in the fulnesse of it even in the Lord Christ covereth all our sins And our love one to another covereth the sins and offences committed one against another Let not our hearts burn within us one against another because of opinions but rather wait to be delivered out of this apostate state the Church of Christ is now in Matth. 24 2● for God is beginning to gather his together from the four winds and to scatter and consume all fleshly worships and service done to him set up by the will of man and to set up his King on the holy hill of Sion let the heathen rage never so much it will be all in vain for he will come and reign and rule over us and in us he will be our guide our counsellour and our teacher and will dwell with us after we have past thorow the fire of his indignation and are purged cleansed purified and refined Therefore what our God shall do unto us or bring upon us either by wounding squaring sifting purging purifying cleansing or refining let us be patient with meeknesse of spirit in it and under it and rejoycing with gladnesse of heart that out of his great mercy he will take us into his own hands being unclean filthy impure earthy and drossie and make us partakers of such and so great g ory by being made like unto himself Hear then the word of the Lord you people of the Land Rom. 11.25 who are succenturiated from Israel that that did concern them doth concern you being in the same posture the same di●ea●e must have the same cure the Lord will not ●et his people perish he wil have judge mercy on them and heal them for the Lord wil● judge with fire and his sword Esa 66.16 all flesh And the slain of the Lord shall be many Son of man the hou e of I●rael is unto me as drosse All they are brasse and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace they are e en the drosse of silver Therefore thus saith the Lord God Because you are all as drosse behold therefore I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem as they gather silver and brasse and iron and

I had been undone Consider how fit this resemblance is Man is as drossy metall that must be melted refined and purified These metalls are all generated and bread in the earth and they are no way usefull or serviceable as they come forth of the earth but must passe through a strong blowing fire before they can be made perfect or usefull for the Artificer Even so it is with man being brought forth into this world he is not fit for any thing nor to have to do with his Maker untill he hath past through the fire that all the earthy disposition and incapable substance of drosse that fixeth to him be clean taken away A man canno● commune with his Maker nor offer any sacrifice to him as he is in nature untill he is new born he cannot enter all that earthinesse and drossinesse that is in the internall part must by fire be scummed cleared and utterly taken away and consumed hence it is that Saint John the Baptist saith John 3.3 I Baptise you with water but there is one that cometh after me who will baptize you with the Holy Ghost Matth. 3. and with fire the baptisme of fire is that that will be hereafter for the Whore sits upon the many waters and she is in discovering What is there in the world that is fit for use and service as it is brought forth Children are apt and prone to all evill and disobedience and do whatsoever is contrary to right if they be not educated taught corrected and instructed the naturall disposition must be subdued and kept under that the direction to a good demeanour may work upon them and they grow up into it Survey the whole creation and see where there is any thing that is fit in its body naturall by reason of its afaffixes to make use of before there is a change Corne canot be made into bread before it be threshed winnowed ground sifted and baked no flesh can be fit to nourish before it hath been ordered dressed by fire Trees cannot serve for building but they must be squared sawed and fitted stones must be hewed and so must all things that doth belong to meate and drink apparell and manufactory there must be a change of them or an abatement from them the earth it self canot yeeld forth fruits before it be tilled and manured Canst thou then Oh unbeleeving man conceive although thou art lord of the Creatures that thou art cleaner then other creatures canst thou approach neer to canst thou serve and obey thy Creatour in that nature of thine thou wast brought forth in before thou art cleansed purified purged melted plowed winnowed and sifted before thy self thy will wisdome understanding desires Psal 51.8 and all in that nature be dead and a new birth be witnessed that the broken bones may rejoyce over the dead body of sin which is called the old man because it is as old as thy self having all the parts of a man a head to imagine mischief and vanity to plot and contrive against his Maker a stiffe neck arms and hands full of oppression and guile and stretched out against the innocent feet swift to shed blood heels to kick against the law of God eares to hear folly eyes to behold vanity if this old man be not dead in thee and thou art not a new creature nothing that thou doest can be accepted thou mayest dream of a happinesse to be had when thou hast gotten an artificiall tongue like a newborne creature and art through education and thine own wisdome Esa 1. civilized in the outward garbe but if thy heart b● not changed thou art farre off from happinesse Judgement must passe over thee yea the fire of the Lord must burn out thy drosse or else thou wilt be miserable poor blinde and naked Thou must yeeld and submit thy self to thy God bring thy cursed nature to him there to be slain come willing y Psal 10. humble thy self under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt thee learn of thy Maker to know him and to beleeve in him that for the love of the world gave his onely begotten Son that they should not perish but obtaine through him everlasting life Thinke on this O man of the great love of God to thee what satifaction could the whole world give for the Redemption of one soul and hath Christ Jesus equall to God his Father purchased Redemption for the whole world and art thou so far from prising it that thou wilt not accept of it but think to live happie without change in thy naturall unclean unpurified and unrefined condition Consider in thy hought it to minde did thy Saviour Jesus Christ that be no robbery to be equall to God as it were un-God himself becomming man and suffering a shameful death to recover and Redeem thee and art thou so desperately wicked and so fool-hardy that thou wilt not unman thy self to be like God that is to say to put off thy will wisdome righteousnesse thy pride lust and carnall minde to be invested into a kingdom of righteousnesse peace and holinesse and to be made like unto Christ in whom all fulnesse dwels and to be in union and communion with the Father Let him that hath ears to hear hear what the Lord hath said Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates and except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter if you are the servants of sin your wages is death if you live after the flesh you shall die for they that are in flesh cannot please God for the wisdome of the flesh is death but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace all that you can do in the raw unquoth earthy rough drossy vain darke uncircumcised unprepared and dead condition of nature though never so much beautified and adorned with art learning and outward wisdom and glory it is but hypocrisie we are onely Christians portraied and as it with a diamond if not right it is worth nothing and as in a picture if it be not to the life then it hath no regard so except we are really changed and metamorphosed from that we were borne in and are made like the Son of God we are not free from the law of sin and death but it hath power over us to eternall death Will the almighty God melt his people let them be of what sort soever in their outward callings either men of authority men of the world teaching men or mean men Then here Behold the great love of God unto you he will will melt you he will make you pliable tractable and vertible that what you cannot do your selves he will do for you Can the Leopard change his spots or the Blackmore his skin no more can a man change his nature of himself or by any power within himself but God onely is the changer of all Are his people Brasse Tin Iron and Lead such metalls