Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	body_n	soul_n	unite_v	6,137	5	9.8589	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41434	The two great mysteries of Christian religion the ineffable Trinity, [the] vvonderful incarnation, explicated to the satisfaction of mans own naturall reason, and according to the grounds of philosophy / by G. G. G.	Goodman, Godfrey, 1583-1656.	1653 (1653)	Wing G1103; ESTC R4826	120,015	119

Utinam disrumperes Coelos descenderes Elevate portas principes 〈◊〉 introibi●… Rex gloriae c. were not this Son to be born this expected Messias above the state and condition of man for by nature children should rather boast of their Parents shewing their honorable descent pedegree and linage but if the decrepit Parents for many precedent ages shall comfort themselves in hope of this childe as it is no natural course so undoubtedly this childe must claim a higher birth then nature can afford him Let their own Prophets witness against them I will now content my self with two onely quotations Jer. 33. 16. In those dayes shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and he that shall call her is the Lord our Righteousness Isa. 7. 14. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and she shall call his name Emmanuel which is by interpretation God with us For that Temporal Kingdom which the Jews expect I would gladly know what contentment can the world yield whereof their fathers were destitute a rich glorious and beautiful Temple the Land of Protnise in possession a people multiplying above measure made a terror to all Nations Peace and Plenty within their walls a wise and a just Law Politick and good Governors valiant and victorious Captains and yet in those dayes there was a continual expectation of the Messias not to adde to their worldly pomp but to establish a higher Kingdom the Kingdom of Grace and of Truth which herein exceeds all earthly Monarchs that it wants no outward Thrones nor Ceremonies to set forth his own greatness but it appears glorious in baseness powerful in weakness that so Gods immediate hand might better discover it self who pulls down the mighty from their seat and exalts the humble and meek Far be it that the coming of the Messias the expectation of all Nations should only tend to worldly and transitory honours which is but vanity of vanities and cannot quench the moderate thirst of the soul neither is so befitting mans present state and condition for this world which we now inhabit is but the place of our exile a vale of misery a just punishment for our fathers disobedience and onely serves as an earnest or a passage to a farther happiness If Paradise were to be replanted on earth God had never expelled man Paradise yet let the Jews apply those Promises of glory to the second coming of Christ his coming to Judgement and there shall they finde them truly verified according to the letter that not one tittle of the Law can miscarry Thus having incountred with the Jews I will now come to the Hypostatical Union of this Word with our flesh for Explication whereof I do much commend the saying of a Father Nec inferiorem consump sit glorificatio nec superiorem minuit assumptio two distinct and several natures the Godhead and Manhood and yet the weakness and infirmities of man not swallowed up in the Majesty of God nor yet Gods Majesty imbased or lessened by the assumption of the Manhood but both continue whole and entire both make but one Person Christ Jesus our dear and blessed Messias I will illustrate this with two similitudes God first appearing to Moses appeared in the form of fire in a bramble bush the fire not consuming the bush nor the bush obscuring the fire but both continuing whole and entire in their own nature 2. Our Saviour is here styled by the name of a Word and in a word you shall observe these two parts Sonus a sound the elision of the air proceeding from the mouth and possessing the ear and likewise Verbum a significant word carried by the Conduit-pipe of this sound and informing the understanding The sound proceeds from motion and onely beats upon the sensitive part the word taking his descent from reason doth likewise speak to the reasonable soul neither sound nor word are confounded neither sound nor word can be separated I will not onely content my self with bare similitudes but it shall further appear by a type Benjamin had two names from his mother he was called Henoni that is the son of sorrow the son of affliction and from his father he took the name Benjamin that is the son of Strength the son of Portitude and Courage Make the application to Christ. Now for the possibility of this union of the Godhead with our Nature doth not Reason inform us That as Creatures have their condition from God so it cannot stand with the same goodness of God without great and just occasion to alter and change their state and propriety See you not God in all his works and yet the works still continuing and subsisting in their own kinde Canst thou conceive how all the contrary Elements should be combined in one compound subject Canst thou understand how the body and soul are united two distinct and several substances of several kindes the Spirit and the Flesh not necessarily depending upon each other the soul having life motion action existency without the help of the body and the body likewise subsisting in his own Elements without the information of the soul Then why should it seem strange or incredible that the Godhead and Manhood should be linked in one Person since nothing is impossible to God but that which implies a contradiction From this union of the word with our flesh necessary it is that the manhood of Christ should receive all possible infusion of grace all possible perfection which may be any way competent or stand with the condition of a creature and that in the first moment of this union Christ increased in knowledge but it was according to mans apparance and Judgement for in his first conception the manhood in the right of the Deity contained in it self all the treasures of Gods wisdom the fulness of knowledge which notwithstanding by degrees according to mans state and condition did manifest and discover themselves This band between both being indissoluble which did well appear in the time of Christs passion hough the soul and the body were separated yet the soul and the Deity were never divorc'd and two distinct natures being knit together by this indissoluble bond making but one person hence it is that there is a mutuall communication of attributes between both and that without the breach of truth mans weakness fastned on the Deity and Gods power ascribed to mans infirmity Deus natus est passus est homo fecit miracula captivam duxit captivitatem in this union nothing was wanting to Christ which was necessary to mans nature no imperfection redounding in Christ whereof the nature of man might be priviledged he was conceived without sin and therefore might well subsist without sin yet the punishment of sin of that originall sin Morte morieris being tyed to our nature by a Statute Law Statutum est hominibus semel mori if God takes up mans nature he cannot

the state and condition of the creature But supposing the three Persons in one Deity why should the Word be made flesh the Father and the Spirit excluded Certainly if we were to make choice of the Person reason would inform us that to be the natural son of man is more agreeable to the natural Son of God then to the unbegotten Father or to the proceeding Spirit The manner of his double birth would testifie the same truth begotten in the understanding of God from all eternity conceived in the womb of a Virgin in the fulness of time The nature of that sin which was the first motive of this descent seems to fasten a necessity upon the second Person of the Trinity it was a sin against the wisdom of God the tasting of the Tree of Knowledge Eritis sicut Dii scientes bonum malum and therefore fit it was to shew the large treasures of Gods mercy and the strictness of Gods Justice that the same wisdom offended should satisfie for the offence Foelix culpa quae talem habuit Redemptorem where is the wrong where is the injury when the party offended shall satisfie and therefore we will with humility retort Gods own words upon himself who upon the fall of man could say Ecce Adam quasi unus ex nobis so now upon the fall of God that is upon the descent of God we will say Ecce Deus quasi unus ex nobis If man lose the image of God as concerning Holiness and Sanctity wherein he was first created nothing can restore this image but that which gave the first impression If man cannot conform himself unto God then for an upshot and agreement between both necessary it is that God should consorm himself unto man Man lost Gods image God takes up mans image and this was most competent to that Person in the holy Trinity who as the Apostle describes him to the Hebrews was Splendor gloriae figura substantiae Patris Observe I beseech you the creation of man being made of the earth God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Breath if it were agreeable to Gods nature yet certainly proceeding from an intelligent Spirit it could not be bare breath but necessarily it must be accompanied with some word especially considering that in all other Creatures you shall finde the power of this word for God spake the word and they were created But here this word is concealed and therefore we may well suppose that there is some mystery concealed Behold then the first earnest of his Incarnation God intending a marriage between the Deity and the Humane Nature he takes the body of man as it were taking his wedding gloves breathes in them to extend them to warm them to sit them for himself at length puts them on Here now at length the word accompanies the breath the breath made us living souls the word shall make us quickning spirits breath gave us a natural life the word shall regenerate and give a new birth and thus by virtue of this breath by virtue of this word man hath a double root the first Adam and the second Adam taking sap from both he is Arbor arbor inversa he hath a root downward and a root upward he treads upon the earth and looks up towards heaven And thus God if ever intending the renewing of his Creatures sit it was that God should there begin where he did end Man was the last work of the Creation and therefore in man there must be the first beginning of renovation Incipiat ubi desitum est it is a rule in all works and here you shall finde it true by experience the last work is first perfected For the Word was made flesh But I would gladly demand of the Jews who do not acknowledge these mysteries either the Trinity or the Incarnation Why should God be so careful and curious in giving himself a Name a Name it is therefore ordained to make a difference in a multitude as many men of one kinde are distinguished by their names But the nature of God is one as the Sun is but one and therefore wants no name but the name of his own kinde Gods Name then as it imports no difference in his nature so it implies a distinction and difference of Persons in that one nature of the Deity This will better appear if you please to consider that great and ineffable Name of God the Name of four letters The first letter was Jod quod significat principium and doth undoubtedly betoken the Person of the Father The second was He quod vivere significat setting out the second Person as being life in himself though life by participation imparting life unto the Creatures for in him we live we move and have our being he is the Way the Truth and the Life The third letter was Vau quae vim apud Hebraeos habet Copulandi intimating the love of God proceeding from the Father and the Son whereby the Father and the Son are united The last letter it was the same with the second letter He twice repeated ut duas in filio fateamur naturas Dei Hominis And that you may conceive that this observation of the Name proceeds not from mans fancy and conjecture I pray give me leave to bring another Example to this purpose When God had tied himself unto Abraham as touching the promised seed in token hereof it pleased God to change the name of Abraham from Abram to Abraham by the addition of a letter so likewise of his wife from Sarai to Sarah by the substraction of a syllable and the addition of a letter Now you shall observe that this letter which was added to both their names it was indeed one and the same letter and it was a letter of Gods own Name the second letter of his Name that as the second Person was to be united to the nature of Abraham and Sarah so this letter given and received might serve as a pledge or an earnest to signifie that union Observe the phrase and style of Scripture Verbum Domini venit ad Isaiam venit ad Prophetas c. which form of speech to my understanding cannot be so well justified were it not that this word were a Person and that some certain manner of coming were proper and peculiar to this Person Why should God speak of himself after the manner and fashion of men I cannot disallow the opinion of our Divines that God speaking to mans understanding fit it was that he should descend to mans capacity but desiring that truth in Gods words might altogether appear I had rather apply them to an intended incarnation then to admit a bare figure in Gods words which happily to us might be some occasion of error Wherefore serve the groanings and cries of the Fathers Expectabo salutare tuum Domine Mitte quem missurus es Rorate Coeli desuper nubes pluan●… iustum