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
A86340	Glory sometimes afar off, now stepping in; or, The great gospel-mysterie of spirit, or Divine nature in saints: not in that philosophical and humane sense, by effects and habits of grace, but after a more evangelical, divine, and mysterious manner of in-being. Opened, affirmed and cleared, and gloriously breaking forth through a cloud of subtil pervertings, carnal objections, and dreadful condemnings cast upon it; and closed up with an account of some principles, practises and wayes which have sealed up this mysterie, and thereby held down the saints in weakness, and shut up the world in darkness for so long a time.	Higgenson, Thomas.	1653 (1653)	Wing H1948; Thomason E687_9; ESTC R206885	45,476	57

be called Temples but from the fulness of God filling them and dwelling in them Eph. 3.19 all which doth hold forth a clear account of this truth as worthy of all acceptation that the spirit or Divine nature it self dwells in Saints SECT VI. A Further witness to this truth is from 1 Cor. 6.17 But he that is joyned unto the Lord is one spirit Ephes 4.4 The fifth testimony to the spirit in Saints There is one body and one spirit First members of the natural body being many are but one body because united together and living in one common principle or spirit of life dwelling in them so Christ and Saints being many members are but one mystical body because united together and living in one eternal spirit dwelling in them Christ is to the soul what the soul is to the body the one being as real an union in spirit and Mysterie as the other is in nature and reason yea and much more real for what the natural spirit is to the body natural that and far more is the Spirit of Christ to Saints 1 Cor. 12.12 13. Vnion of Christ and Saints by created inspirations only brings forth two conclusions which destroy the reality of that union First conclusion Secondly he that brings down this union of Christ and Saints in one body by one spirit to be no more then an union of the created inspirations and habits of one spirit he must unavoidably affirm the conclusions following both which do debase weaken and quite disanul the reality of the union between Christ and Saints or Saints and Saints First that the highest principle of life in Saints as one body is some created gift or habit of grace or something below the spirit for as in the natural body so it is in the body spiritual the highest principle of life is that only which unites many members into one body and denominates them one body so that if it be not the Spirit himself but some infused habit which unites Christ and Saints into one body then that infused habit is the highest principle of life in Saints as one body of Christ which assertion besides the irrationality of it in making an habit or quality a principle of life may be judged the highest wrong and dishonour that can be to the body of Christ that the Body of bodies the body of the Son of God the Temple and City of Jehovah the eternal Spouse of Christ the Lambs wife the joy and praise of all the earth that body which shall be comprehensive of such stupendious masses and eternal weight of glory should have no higher larger no more substantial principle of life then a bundle of created habits how doth this strip the glorious body of Christ Mystical of its glory and perfection and brings it into a condition below the very natural body of a man whose highest perfection of natural life consists in something more substantial and noble then any such thing as a meer habit or quality Second conclusion Secondly if the union of Saints with Christ in one body be only by infused habits then the Mysticalness and reality of the union comes to no more then a moral union the union of man with God no more then the union of man with man or two lovers or friends that is of one heart mind or thought in a moral conjunction and so the riches of the glory of that Mysterie which was hid from Ages and Generations under the whole Law and not made manifest until the dayes of the New Testament which is Christ is in us are no more but that which hath been common Col. 1.26 27. and known amongst all men in Ages and Generations Vnion of Christ in Saints was a Mysterie hid until the dayes of the Gospel that is a moral union wherefore this union of Christ and Saints being a Mysterie so ful of glory and hid from the Prophets and Fathers under the Law must be something unseen unknown to the world before something more hi●h Divine and perfect then moral union that having been well known unto the Saints before and therefore it is Christ himself in Saints that is not onely an heart will or mind like to Christ in Saints but Christ himself his Divine nature and spirit in Saints a Mysterie so deep and glorious that the Disciples of Christ understood it not all the while he was with them in the days of his flesh until some time after he was gone unto his Father and in that day they should know that he was in the Father and they in him and he in them Joh 14.20 All which do give their witness to this glorious Mysterie of truth that the spirit himself dwells in Saints SECT VII ANother convincing witness to the spirits in-being in Saints is from Joh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father The sixth testimony to the spirit in Saints and he shall give you another Comforter which shall be in you Joh. 16.7 It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you c. God in Christ the great promise under the Law First two great promises have been made and revealed to the world one by the Father under the Law of sending the Messias or Emanuel or God manifest in the flesh of Christ whose coming forth in the flesh should put an end and consummation to that administration of him under the Law the other by Christ of sending his spirit into the flesh of Saints God in Saints the great promise under the Gospel whose first coming forth should put an end to Christs dwelling among us in the flesh which accordingly came to pass and his second approach or coming forth should finish the Mysterie of God or the witness of Christ under the Letter and external administration of the Gospel which yet is not come to pass but is that we wait for until it be revealed in us Both these promises pass through the same states conditions and changes Secondly both these promises may be observed in their several succeeding reasons and proper day of their comings forth to have trodden the same path of Occurrences and to have passed through the same states conditions and changes each after other They are as follows The first promise or God in flesh and his threefold state The first Promise or God coming forth in flesh had his appearance disappearance and reappearance or had his time of witnessing his time of being cut off from witnessing his time of finishing or sealing his witness by his rising again and ascending up into glory in the first state or time God was in Christ yet veiled and hid in his weak flesh obscure estate and uncomely form from the wise and prudent Princes Scribes and Disputers of this world but known and manifest to a few Babes and despised ones which state prepared him for his second state or time wherein he

state Fourthly that which constitutes perfects and denominates the first Adam and all in him is no more but a spark of light a Divine breathing a created inspiration called a living soul that which perfects constitutes and denominates the second Adam and all in him is the Fountain of light the increated inspiration therefore called a quickening spirit Christ and Saints in him wherein excelling Adam and all natural men in him The summe of all is herein is the second Adam which is Christ and all Saints in him differing from and excelling the first Man which is Adam and all natural men in him that the first Man hath no more but a communication of gifts the second of the quickning spirit himself This is the first testimony to this truth that the spirit himself dwelleth in Saints SECT III. THE second testimony to this truth follows from Gal. The second testimony to the spirits in-being in us 2.20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me Rom. 8.13 If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body c. The Truth flowing from these Scriptures linked together may be presented under the ensuing Conclusions 1. A Saint is both a dead and a living thing as he came forth in the state and nature of old Adam which is earthly and after the flesh and so stands up and lives and doth all in a spirit mind and principle contrary to God as a man under no government nor command of God nor of any but his own will and fleshly lusts and so is out of God in nature selfishness and flesh As thus he is dead being crucified with Christ who in the body of his flesh condemned the state nature law will and works of old Adam in all his Saints and abolished it in his death Again he is a living thing as the heavenly and divine life of Christ is revealed in him So that now it is no more he man or creature but Christ the son of God who lives and acteth and rules him whither and how he pleaseth Sins crucified perfectly and at once to faith imperfectly and gradually to sense 1 Cor. 15.31 2. Sins and the works of old Adam are crucified and slain two ways in the head and in the members in Christ they were perfectly slain once and for ever in the flesh of Saints they are slain by a gradual mortification He that said I am dead with Christ said also I dye daily they are perfectly dead as in faith having put off the flesh and put on Christ they have yet somewhat to kill as in sense having flesh and a body of death to put off This is clear from Col. 3.3 5. Rom. 6.6 12. 3. The same divine principle of life and righteousness which did slay and abolish sins and death in the flesh of Christ doth slay and abolish sins and death in the flesh of Saints head and members vine and branches having but one life as they live in and by one common principle law or spirit of life so they have one death and that which slays the one slays the other But lest there may be obscurity or offence in words I offer this explication of my sense upon those expressions of abolishing sins and death in the flesh of Christ and in the flesh of Saints 1. Hereunto doth agree the witness of the Apostle Rom. 8.3 Eph. 2.15 2. The son of God or Christ manifest in flesh must be considered to have put on a twofold state Rom. 8.3 1. As he descended and came forth in the form and likeness of sinful flesh that is in the name nature comprehension and reckoning of sinners so he was reckoned both by the Father and himself to have put upon him the spirit and life mind and will flesh and body of sinners and so offered and resigned up his life will and body as the life will and body of sinners to the eternal will to be delivered unto death As we were in Christ under this state Saints how perfectly crucified and freed from the guilt and filth of sin so though in the life of flesh or sense we feel the body of sin yet to live in us as if it were not dead and crucified yet in the life of faith or in a mysterie we reckon our natural man life flesh sin and the whole old Adam root and branch Rom. 6.4 6 11. to be indeed and perfectly dead and buried Col. 2.11 12. and abolished for ever out of the sight of God The second state of Christ was as he ascended and left the world in the reality and truth of a justified man 1 Tim. 3.16 Heb. 7.26 Having taken up not his own single person only but in his person our nature the nature of all Saints into a sinless justified and heavenly state of divine life and glory in union with the Father So while in flesh sense or old man we are and live in this world Saints how raised up into a spotless state we reckon our selves in faith mysterie or new creature to live no more in this world but to be raised up together with him and freed from sin in the filth as well as the guilt of it Col. 2.12.20 Rom. 6.7 Eph. 2.6 Joh. 14.20 and to be set in the heavenly places in a spotless justified and heavenly state in union with the Father in Christ Jesus This digression holds forth my sense of abolishing sins in the flesh of Christ and Saints 4. The Divine Nature dwelling in Christ was that principle which crucified our sins in his flesh which I do with submission conceive is thus to be understood That the Divine Nature in Christ crucified the spirit life understanding The Divine Nature crucified our sins in Christ reason will and affections of the man Christ to it self his reason as a man was not the light of his created mind and spirit but the Eternal Wisdom in him his own will ceased and was not but the Fathers will in him he gave up his whole man and therein our earthly man which as in us was active arbitrary lordly and selfish to be a meer passive thing unto the Divine Nature so that the Eternal Wisdom and Will revealed and taught all commanded and acted all in Chri●● his created humane wisdom will and reason was s●●owed up of the eternal wisdom and will in him as ●rop of the great Ocean If then as the third Conclusion depones the same principle which abolished our sins in the flesh of Christ The Divine Nature crucifies sin in Saints doth crucifie sin in us then the Divine Nature or the same spirit of Christ doth mortifie or crucifie sin in us by his dwelling and manifesting himself in us and is daily abolishing our wisdom reason light will and affections by the nearer approachings and clearer revealings of the eternal wisdom light will and fulness in us until Christ and Saints be made one compleat

through and over and beyond all things most eminently in Christ and Saints These are a further account and reason of my faith joy and hope That the spirit himself in his own glorious power and Divine Nature dwels in Saints however as yet not acknowledged by many of themselves SECT XI THE last record to the spirits in being in Saints Tenth testimony to the spirit in Saints that I shall present is the sweet and heavenly testimony which is in Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Col. 3 4. When Christ who is our life shall appear The Divine life of Christ or the life of God in Christ is not the life of Christ alone as one single person but the life of Christs mystical body of Saints Christ and Saints have but one life the eternal spirit whereby he and they live in one All that Christ received was given to him not as single and alone but as Head of a spiritual Body and so his life and fulness is not the life and fulness of one but of many in one The Father revealed his fulness in Christ not that it should stop and be confined or restrained there that is in the flesh of Christ as one man but that through him it should proceed flow out and be poured forth upon all the Children And so as the Father in Christ is the life of Christ or he by whom Christ lives Joh. 6.57 so Christs in Saints is the life of Saints not the flesh of Christ but God manifest in his flesh or the Father in Christ by whom Saints live And so Christ is the way through which God comes down into Saints not in created influences or graces only but in the spring of influences in the fountain of graces in his own essential love nature and fulness filling them in a divine and incomprehensible manner even as the natural spirit or soul of man is in the head and not there only but diffused in and through all the members and is the life of all in which the members being many become and conspire into one body So is the spirit of God in Christ the Head and thence and therethrough shed abroad not by infusions only as some distinct effects but by himself into all the members 1 Cor. 12.12 13. and is the life of all in and for which they being many become one spiritual body And if it be not so is not the union between the head and members of a body natural more real and substantial then the union of Christ and Saints or is not Christ the head of all things less to his Church then the head of an earthly Creature to its body and if Christ be in Saints by created workings only and not by spirit then all those figures allegories and parabolical similitudes of Vine and Branches Husband and Wife Head and Members chosen and expressed by the spirit in Scriptures to shadow out the union of Christ and Saints have much more in them then is in the mysterie or truth typed and shadowed by them If Christ himself be not in Saints no life in Saints Secondly if Christ himself be not in Saints there is no life in them graces separate from Christ are dead things faith love humility zeal if they have not Christ in spirit wrapped up in them are no more faith nor love then the body of man without the soul is a man Graces are to Christ what the chanel is to the river cut off the stream that runs in the chanel from the river and the chanel becomes as the parched land full of weeds and briars So graces are the passage through which Christ lets out himself if he shuts up they are dryed up and wither The graces of a moral man have glory and beauty in appearance but having nothing above man that is not having Christ living and flowing in them they are clouds without water wandring stars trees without fruit whited wals their faith is the dead faith of Pharisees their holiness the holiness of Hypocrites their beauty in the flesh is the beauty of Harlots graces without Christ in them leave a man dead his soul empty all his worship carnal until Christ awake and bring in himself in spirit and glory and then my soul makes me like the Chariots of Amminadab and my feet are become like Hinds feet and I shall tread upon all high places and nothing shall be able to hurt us because of the Anoynting which dwels in us Thirdly it is worthy of consideration whether the state of the new Creature in Christ be no more nor higher then the state of the first man in his pure Paradisical nature before the transgression if no more then the administration of light and glory from God upon Adam and Adams union with that light was as high and spiritual as is the light and union which by the Gospel is administred to a man in Christ and the first man who was made but a living soul had as much glory in him as the second man who is made a quickning spirit Second Adam and all in him wherein excelling the first Adam and all in him but if the new Creature does excell the first Adam then the preheminence must consist both in internals and externals that is in perfections within him and priviledges without him And this is manifest that the new Creature excels first in priviledge in that Adam was under a Law of works a Covenant that might be broken the new Creature is under a Law of grace a Covenant that cannot be broken a better and surer Covenant better in this that it was established upon better promises Heb. 8.6 This new and better Covenant is the excellency of a man in Christ above Adam under the old faulty Covenant as to external priviledge the better promises of this new and better Covenant are the excellency of the new Creature above Adam as to internals or perfections within him which promises are I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my judgements and do them Ezek. 36.27 Isa 59.21 Heb. 8.10 2 Cor. 3.6 The excellency and dignity of the new Covenant above the old is in that the old Covenant ministred the letter only and could not cause man to walk in righteousness the new Covenant ministers the spirit into Saints 〈◊〉 so causeth them to walk in righteousness and that the Covenant cannot be broken New Covenant ministers spirit into us therefore cannot be broken the Law the letter only therefore broken by all which it appears that the first man broke the Covenant he was under because it put not the spirit into him and also the new Covenant cannot be broken because it is the ministration of the spirit and puts it into Saints so that whosoever takes the spirit himself out of Saints either brings the Saints back again into the old Covenant or he makes the new Gospel-Covenant into which they are redeemed