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
A66408	The perfection of the evangelical revelation a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, Jan. 6, 1695/6, being the first of the lecture for this present year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2717; ESTC R38655	14,734	36

there is nothing either in the nature of the thing nor is there any notification of the Divine Will concerning any time set for its expiration but rather the contrary and so there is not the same reason for a new Dispensation after the Evangelical as there was for the Evangelical after the Mosaical I grant that it is as possible in it self for God to reveal himself at some time hereafter as it was for him to have revealed himself heretofore And he that revealed himself under the Law and at the first Institution of the Gospel may if he so please after the same manner reveal himself at any time or times But he that will assert the futurity of this must have more to prove it than a possibility It is certain God has revealed himself and that the Gospel was by Revelation from him But there is not the like certainty for a Revelation after the Gospel or in after-times of the Gospel as there is that the Gospel it self was of Divine Revelation It is certain that the Gospel has been the only Revelation for above 1600 years past and that we have had no other Revelation than that contained in the Scripture And therefore whatever Pretences any Persons or Age made to it were apparently Mistakes and Impostures for that Dispensation of the Holy Ghost which each Sect fancied to be in their Age or near to it is yet to come if ever it is to be But to give some further light and force to this Argument I shall shew 1. That there is no proof of any other Revelation than the Gospel of our Saviour and now recorded and preserved in the Holy Scripture 2. That there is no need of any further Revelation 3. That the Scripture shuts up all Revelation with it self so that no other Revelation is to be expected beyond it 1. There is no proof of any other Revelation than what is contained in the Scripture If any one will contend that there either is or shall be such a Revelation he must have some Revelation to prove it And that must either be an antecedent Revelation such as Scripture is taken to be or it must be some personal Revelation made to himself or to some other credible Person or Persons But where is the Revelation of this Revelation If it be to be found in Scripture where is the Prediction of such a State That the Gospel shall be superannuated and another of greater perfection shall grow out of it Under the Law there was a plain signification of another Revelation to be in the time of the Messiah and of a more perfect state of things to ensue But where are the Proofs as plain under the Gospel for a New Revelation as there were for that of the Gospel under the Law Or where is it said of that as it is of the Law that it decayeth or is antiquated and waxeth old and so is ready to or shall at last vanish away Our Apostle here saith on the contrary If we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed If it be a personal Revelation then we may reasonably demand Where is the Evidence for such a Revelation All Revelation must have a sufficient Evidence and if it be a true Revelation and what obliges us to receive it as such it will be able to produce its Evidence And a New Revelation must suppose a better sort of Evidence than the former or at least equal to it There must be the like wonderful Works the Blind must as miraculously be made to see and the Lame to walk and the Diseased to be whole and the Dead to rise Nay Christ himself must again descend from Heaven and dye and rise and ascend or else the Miracles will fall short of what it is in competition with Nay it must proceed farther and its Evidence must not only be equal but superior also to that which it is to supplant It was not only fit that Moses's Rod should be turn'd into a Serpent but when the Magicians pretended to do the same to shew his Power to be greater than theirs his Serpentine Rod swallowed up theirs It was not enough that he brought forth Frogs when Jannes and Jambres produced the like but that he should do what they could not and so what would oblige them to acknowledge it to be the Finger of God And thus our Saviour being to advance a new Scheme of things did not only shew he was the Person described and prophesied of but also by his numerous Miracles and many of them such as never any neither Moses nor any Prophetical Person ever did work If then there be no such Evidence for such a new Revelation where there is a pretence to it we may conclude it to be another Gospel a supposititious Revelation and what is to have no credence given to it no regard paid to it It 's Anathema 2. There is no need of any further Revelation Revelation has somewhat in it of a Miracle it is a way extraordinary and as we cannot suppose God will work Miracles and break through the standing Laws of Nature when there is no occasion for it nor necessity to require it so we cannot suppose he will communicate himself by a way of Revelation and immediate Inspiration and much less break down an Established Order of his own appointment when there is as much reason for the Continuance of it as for the Institution and that it answers all the Ends for which a new Constitution can be framed or a new Revelation made The Apostle argues If the first Covenant had been faultless there should no place have been sought for the second And if there be a place for a Third there must be some fault or imperfection chargeable upon the Second But that I shall shew it to be freed from and that the Second Covenant or Gospel-Revelation is so perfect that there is no need of another For 1. There can be no more noble and useful Subject for a Revelation than that of the Gospel which is concerning God's Reconciliation to Mankind and their Redemption by the Death of his Son And where this is plainly revealed there is no place for a Second nor any need of a new Revelation 2. If we consider the Gospel-Revelation as a Covenant consisting of Promises and Conditions there cannot be more excellent and beneficial than those nor more necessary than these For what can be proposed of greater advantage unto Mankind than what the Gospel offers to those that believe and obey it It is no less than the favour of God the blessing and protection of his Providence the assistance of his Spirit and in the close of all Everlasting Life a translation out of this mortal uncomfortable and uncertain State to a State of unchangeable Happiness where Body and Soul shall again be united When this corruptible shall put on incorruption

must be after our Saviour's second appearance But of that we have nothing to say Thus far as I have consider'd the Argument there may be very few supposed to be concerned that is such as set up another Revelation in opposition to the Gospel-Revelation or that maintain the Revelation of the Gospel to be only temporary and that it shall have its season in which it is to expire and be succeeded by another And it may seem to be scarcely worth the while to have spent so much time upon it with respect to such wild Enthusiasts as have been and still are in the World But however what has been hitherto said may be of further use with reference to another Case just mentioned before and that is the Case of personal and occasional Revelation which may be conceived only to serve to a more spiritual manifestation of the Revelation already received and so be no more derogatory to that Revelation than occasional or personal Revelation heretofore in the Mosaical State was to the Body of that Law which was of immediate and Divine Revelation and of universal obligation to that People I would not altogether deny this because I know not how far some Persons may in some cases be enlightned by a Spirit of Prophecy nor what particular directions they may receive in an extraordinary way in some special Cases with ●espect to themselves to others and the Church of God which may be like a special Providence to some particular persons But now as a man must govern himself by the general Rules of Divine Providence and not by particular and because he has sometimes met with Deliverances and Supplies and Directions beyond all his own foresight and reasoning must not forsake his own reasoning and care and wholly rely upon the Extraordinary So it is to be here a person may perhaps have some occasional Revelation some Divine Inspiration at some special Season or in some special Case but if he forsakes the Ordinary to depend upon the Extraordinary and expects Revelation in every case because he has had it in some particulars he will as much be subject to error and err no less dangerously than if he wholly relied upon Divine Providence and forsook all other means whatsoever And truly this is a way much liable to be abused and to mislead persons and is very suspicious and dangerous 1. It is a Case liable to imposture and abuse forasmuch as those that are under the influence of such a conception are not always if at all capable of making a certain judgment of it For it is all transacted within and the Imagination may be so much influenced by the Body and by an agitation of the Humours and Animal Spirits from an Enthusiastal and even a devout Temper by prepossessions and foreconceived Principles and even by the Circumstances of Life that it may be wholly natural as natural as Dreams or the Deliriums of a Fever which proceed from the ebullition of the Blood and such like ordinary Causes 2. Persons have been imposed upon and taken the effect of Imagination for Inspiration and Divine Illumination I am far from condemning all the Instances of this kind of Hypocrisy and of a design to deceive like Maria Visitationis in Portugal I will rather think more charitably That very often they have thought themselves thus moved and acted by the Spirit of God And yet notwithstanding all their Pretences and the opinion others have had of them it has been afterwards evident that it has been far from being a Divine Infusion and Illumination What shall we think of Teresa whose Life is full of her Visions and Revelations and of whom we are told by one of that Way That besides many other extatical Sights in the Kingdom of Heaven she often had the sight and company of the Holy Trinity of each person in particular that they spoke to her and she to them and used to ask and did obtain particular favours of each that God shew'd her how all Creatures are contained in his Divine Essence as in a Chrystal glass and that she saw therein the thoughts words and deeds of all men This and truly she had reason to think so she said was one of the greatest favours to her Now if we would but alter the place and for the Nunnery conceive her to be in a Hospital we should take it to be what that Author in a transport sometimes calls it a Phrenzy And what a Legend of Dreams would the World be furnished with if the Visions and Revelations of this kind were bundl'd up together as the Miracles of reputed Saints have sometimes been 3. They are very much to be suspected of Imposture 1. And that because we read so little of this way in Scripture even in the Apostolical Times and nothing to encourage us in the expectation of it afterwards We read nothing there of the Union of the Soul to the Divine Essence of its being absorpt and drowned over head and ears and ingulphed in the depth of Divinity so that it became one and the same with God by a true Deification We read there sparingly of some Extasies as one of St. Peter and one or two of St. Paul but with how much reserve and modesty doth the Holy Apostle speak when he comes to Visions and Revelations of the Lord when he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter But what can be greater if these of Teresia be true And where might we more expect to be entertained with the Relations of such Rapts as in the Gospel So that when they are there so unusual and here so frequent that even Societies are embodied and formed from it we have reason to suspect 2. It 's much to be suspected when that which is the proper means of judging and of distinguishing Imagination from Revelation is laid aside which is Reason and when all is resolved into the Person 's own testimony We are required in all Cases to search and to try which doth suppose the free exercise of our Reason and when this is rejected 't is a sign there is no truth in the thing pretended 3. It is suspicious when they exalt their own private Revelations to the same Authority with the Revelations of Holy Writ and seek to justify the one by the other 4. When they esteem the way of Religion as describ'd in Scripture to be mean in comparison of this that they are in and prefer this way of Contemplation and Inspiration above the plain Precepts of Christianity When it is a condescention in them to join in External Worship Thus it is given by Father Ubald as an instance of the attainment of one to some degree of this rapturous state that when the hour of Prayer was spent he could hardly be persuaded that it was so not knowing what Prayer he was in And the famous Quietist Molinos reports of Gregory Lopez That having for the space

and this mortal shall put on immortality An Encouragement that is the highest Cordial that can work upon Humane Nature and will if any Consideration can qualify the Troubles of this present Life and set a man above the fears of an exclusion out of it And when this is promised there can nothing be offer'd beyond it nor is there any need to find out others after this is proposed And such as the Promises are such are the Conditions required of us which are as unchangeable as the Reward those indeed are unchangeable from the Divine Declaration and God's faithfulness but these are unchangeable from the nature of the things as well as the Divine Command So that there is no room for another Revelation unless we can change the nature of things and make evil good and good evil and put darkness for light and light for darkness unless we will dissolve all Order and confound all Relations and set the Creature loose from all obligations of Love and Gratitude and Service to the Creator Terms surely uncapable of abatement or alteration For who can suppose Mankind should be left at liberty whether they would love God or neglect him whether obey or violate his Laws whether they would be vertuous or vicious and whether they would believe in Jesus and own him to be their Saviour or with the Jews reject him and not have him to reign over them Alter the Promises and Conditions and there is another Gospel and another Revelation but till they are altered or alterable there needs no New Revelation All the abatements or relaxations that can be allowed are inserted into the body of this Revelation where there is a two fold allowance an allowance of remission for whatever sins are past and truly repented of and an allowance for Humane Infirmities under the strictest obligations to our duty And lower than these the Gospel doth not nor for the reason before given can descend since then it would countenance Impenitence and establish Iniquity by a Law and then indeed it had been an imperfect a defective a faulty Covenant and there would have been a place for a New 3. The extent of this Law or New Covenant is such as none can exceed it for it is as much fitted for the whole Race of Mankind as any could be for any particular Nation The Law of Moses was a Law to the Jews suited to their Temper and Circumstances in its original Frame and Constitution and so what other Nations as Nations could not come within the benefit of nor could particular Persons otherwise than as they became Proselytes and made themselves subject to it by the same way of initiation in Circumcision And it is of the nature of all Humane Laws though the general Lines running through them are one and the same that they are fitted for the immediate use and service of that People whose Laws they are and which therefore vary infinitely and alter as Circumstances alter and as Reasons of State require But now the Gospel-Dispensation comprehends in it all Nations and they are all to that as if they were but one People It was our Saviour's Commission to his Apostles after his Resurrection Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature And such as the Commission was such were the Rules and Precepts they were to give and publish which were of universal concernment and obligation and neither confined by Persons nor Places by Times nor Circumstances but what all Persons in all Places Times and Circumstances are equally obliged to observe and which are of that nature and have such a tendency to the good welfare and happiness of Mankind whether alone or in Society whether as particular Persons or Families or Nations that if exactly observed purity and peace and love would every where abound and the Earth be a kind of Paradise again And therefore if there be any Narrowness of mind and feuds among Mankind if Vice and Wickedness overflow the World it is not for want of a Law every way perfect to bind and restrain them or that there need another Gospel to mend them but for the reason given by St. James from their lusts that war in their members 4. If we consider the Evidence given to the Gospel-Revelation we shall find there needs no other evidence to be given to that Revelation nor that there needs any other Revelation for want for want of Evidence in this Our Saviour's Life was a Life of Miracles as well as Innocence and where ever he went the Divine Power went along with him for in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily And which he exerted where ever he came and as occasion served to the confusion if not the convicton or conversion of his Adversaries and all which at last concluded in his own Resurrection from the dead his Ascension into Heaven and the effusion of the Holy Ghost which began on Pentecost but like a torrent ran on through the Apostolical Age and bore down all manner of competition And what then can any Revelation pretend to beyond it or where can there be any that can be suppos'd to produce the like Evidence for its veracity as I have just before observ'd Lastly How can we have a Gospel that can pretend to vye with that which the Son of God came into the World to reveal who was the last that was to come from Heaven and when our Faith is that which was once delivered to the Saints Once for all and so there is no more another Faith or Revelation to be expected after that than another Mediator after Him who was once offered to bear the sins of many This leads to the Third Branch 3. The Scripture shuts up all with this Revelation and because we have now no Revelation but that Written Revelation we cannot suppose any Revelation beyond it and much less derogatory to it or that shall direct us to any other way by which we are to be saved than that we have already received and is therein recorded I have before observed that the time from our Blessed Saviour's appearance and the publication of the Gospel by him to his second coming is called the last days in Scripture and consequently has none to succeed it So the Apostle As it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without a sin-offering unto salvation That is as there is no alteration in the state from Death unto Judgment but as men dye so they will appear to be at Judgment So there is no alteration to be between Christ's first appearing when he offered himself and his second when he shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven If therefore there is to be any alteration as to this Revelation it is not to be before but