Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	dead_a	sin_n	trespass_n	4,880	5	10.3889	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17049	The mysterie of the Lords Supper Cleerely manifested in five sermons; two of preparation, and three of the Sacrament it selfe. By a reverend and faithfull preacher of Gods word.; Sermons upon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. English.	Bruce, Robert, 1554-1631.; Mitchell, S., fl. 1614.	1614 (1614)	STC 3922; ESTC S119531	126,266	304

turne to God so conioyne thee with God make all thine actions well pleassing vnto him There is no good actiō that we do though it seeme neuer so good before the world but it is abhomination before God if it be not done in fayth and will forward our condemnation hauing fayth all the creatures of god are seruiceable vnto vs they must all conspire to the furtherance of the worke of our saluation As on the contrarie wanting fayth there is none of the creatures of God but shall bee enemies vnto vs and conspire to our damnation For fayth conioynes vs with the God of heauen and makes vs heauenly This Iewell of faith seasons all the gifts graces which God giueth vnto vs All the riches of the earth is of no value to my soule without fayth And what auailes it any man to haue all the knowledge and wisdome in the earth without fayth For the diuell hath all this knowledge and is not the better What auailes it me to conquer all the Monarches kingdomes and whole riches in the earth what can all these auaile my soule Nothing but accuse mee if I want fayth Therefore all the benefits and gifts of God without faith auail nothing but to augment our misery All the gifts and graces of God are abused without fayth Fayth onely makes thee to vse the benefits and graces of God rightly Fayth onely should bee sought kept and intertained heere in this life hauing fayth all the rest of Gods graces are profitable vnto thee for this Iewell keeps them al in order makes them al fruitful whereas wanting this iewel there is nothing here on earth but it wil testifie against thee Let vs then speak of this faith how it is wroght in you I take my groūd out of the Euangelist Iohn How faith is created in our soules 6.44 where our Sauiour saith No man canne come to me except the Father which hath sent mee drawe him In the which words we see cleerely that except wee bee drawen except wee bee compelled except we be thrust except of vnwilling wee bee made willing by God the father it is not possible for vs to come to his sonne What is the reason of this that the spirit of God must drawe vs and make vs willing or euer wee come to God Because by nature wee are not only wounded and launced by sinne and iniquitie but as the Apostle sheweth Ephes 2.1 wee were wholly dead in trespasses and sinnes yea obserue how voide any dead bodie is of a naturall life so voide are our soules though they be liuing the naturall life so voide are they of the life of God of that heauenly and spirituall life whereunto wee in this life doe aspire vntill such time that the spirit of God draw our harts and mindes that is quicken our harts and mindes No it is not a drawing as wee commonly speake it is a very quickning of a dead thing It is a quickning of that thing which was voide of the life of the spirit Then except the spirit of God drawe vs that is quicken vs with that spirituall and heauenly life it is not possible for vs to come to heauen And except hee nourish this life which hee hath begunne it is not possible that wee canne stand in this life So the spirit of God is said to drawe vs that is to beginne this life in vs and by the same holy spirit to continue and nourish this life in vs. Now by the drawing of the spirit our soules are quickned and by the drawing of the spirit I vnderstand no other thing but the framing and creating of fayth in our soules which makes vs new creatures Now let vs see what order the spirit of GOD keepeth in drawing vs and informing and creating this faith in our soules First of all I diuide the soule into no more parts then commonly it vseth to bee diuided that is into the heart and the minde Our minde then being a cloud of darknesse altogether blinde naturally there being nothing in that minde of ours but vanitie error and ignorance whereby wee vanish away and can neuer long continue in any good resolution or purpose What doth the spirit of God The first worke that euer the spirit of God doth he taketh order with the minde and what doth hee to the minde he banisheth darknesse he chasethout vanitie and blindnes that naturally lurketh in the mind and insteed of this darknes he placeth in the minde a light a celestiall and a heauenly light a light which is resident in Christ Iesus only Then the spirit chaseth out that cloude of miste darknes and placeth light in the minde And what worketh he by this light We getting this inward and heauenly light in the minde a sanctified vnderstanding incontinent hee makes vs to see God not only as he is God the creator of the world but also as hee is God the redeemer and hath redeemed vs in his son Christ Iesus Now before I obtaine this light what is my heart mind doing There is not one of you but haue experience as I my selfe haue in what estate the heart and minde is before that this light enter The minde lieth drowned in blindnesse and the heart is hardned and they both conspire together in vice to sette vp an Idoll in stead of God a domesticall and inuisible Idoll what sort of Idoll is that No doubt some worldly or fleshly affection or other this is sette vp in the throne of thy heart and on this Idoll thou bestowest the seruice of thy whole heart of thy whole minde of thy whole soule and bodie So that the seruice both of the soule and bodie which should be bestowed vpon God only is imployed vpon that Idoll which is set vp in thy heart that is in the place of God in the steed of the most high God And thou art more addicted to the seruice of that Idoll then euer thou wast to the seruice of the liuing God yea vntill such time that this Idoll of ours bee banished and that this blindnes whereby this Idoll is serued be taken away there is not one of you but are seruants to one lust or other thy soule that should bee consecrated to the seruice of the liuing GOD is imployed vpon one affection or other vpon some worldly or fleshly lust of thine owne But from the time that the Lord beginneth to scatter the cloudes of our naturall mindes and vnderstandings and beginneth to chase away this thicke mist of the darke soule and placeth therein some sparke of heauenly light which floweth out of Chr. and whereas we were children of the night and darknesse before hee makes vs to be light in the Lord and to be children of the light and of the day Then we see that all the things in the world besides the liuing God are vanities deceiueable allurements vnconstant shadowes fleeting and flowing without any abiding and and then wee see that our hearts

vnderstand not this therefore they imagin a gross carnal coniunction Except the spirit of God reueale these things they cannot be vnderstood The spirit of God must illuminate our mindes and be planted in all our harts before wee can come to the vnderstanding of this Then wouldest thou vnderstand hovv Christ is giuen thee This ground is true that the bodie of Christ is at the right hand of the Father the bloud of Christ is at the right hand of the Father yet notwithstanding though there be as great distance betwixt my body and the bodie of Christ as is betwixt heauen and earth yet Christes body is giuen to me because I haue a title to his body giuen to mee the right and title which is giuen to me of his body and bloud makes me to possesse his body and bloud The distance of the place hurteth not my title nor my right for if any of you haue a peece of Land lying in the farthest part of England if ye haue a good title to it the distance of the place cannot hurt your title so I say the distance of place hurts not my title and my right that I haue to Christ But though he be sitting at the right hand of the Father yet the title and right that I haue to him makes him mine so that I may say trulie this Christ is my property Then Christ is not made mine because I fetch him out of the heauens but he is mine because I haue a sure title right to him hauing a sure title and iust right to him the distance of place how farre soeuer it be can no wayes hurt my title nor right but where-euer he be he is mine because I haue a right title to him Yea not onely haue I a title to him but this title is confirmed to mee For as I gette a title to him in the vvord and if I got not that title to him in the word I durst not come to the Sacrament so in the Sacrament I get the confirmation of my title I get the Seale which confirmes my title Then to come to the point Christs bodie is sitting at the right hand of the Father and yet he is mine and is deliuered to me because I haue right to his bodie be it where it will hee was borne for mee giuen to mee and deliuered to mee So distance of place hurts not the suretie of my title as propinquitie of place helpes not the suretie of the same Though Christ would bow the heauens and touch thee with his bodie as he did Iudas yet this could not helpe thee for if thou hast not a title to him thou darest not call him thine So it is not the neernesse nor proximity of place that makes Christ mine It is onely the right that I haue to him I haue right to him only by faith So by faith only Chr. is made mine But they thinke they haue gotten a great vantage of vs if we be so farre from Chr. as the heauen is frō the earth but this shal be answered by Gods grace I haue a title to his body his body is distant frō my body yet his body is not distant from me that is from my soule I say his bodie and my soule are conioyned It is a strange ladder that will reach from the earth to the heauens yet let me tell you there is a corde that extendeth from the earth to the heauens Faith is that which couples vs and Christ and coupleth mee and Christ together and this is onely true fayth By true faith Christ though he be in the heauens is coupled and conioyned with me who am heere on earth I will shewe you this by a similitude Similitude taken from the sunne Is not the bodie of the sunne in the firmament It is impossible for you to touch the bodie of the sun yet the bodie of the sunne and yee are conioyned How By those beames that shine on you by that light that shineth vpon you Why may not the bodie of Christ then though it be in the heauens be conioyned with mee that am on the earth namelie by the beames by the light and gladnes that floweth from his bodie My bodie Christs body are conioined by the vertue and power flowing from his bodie which vertue and power quickneth my dead soule maketh me to liue the life of Christ to beginne to die to my selfe and euer the more I die to my selfe the more I liue to Christ This coniunction nowe is the ground as I told you of all our felicitie and happinesse and I haue made it cleere to you at this time so farre as God hath giuen me insight Alwaies yee see this coniunction is brought to passe by two speciall meanes by the holy spirit and by faith If there bee no other meanes but these two what needest thou a carnall or a visible coniunction Faith is invisible and the spirit is inuisible therefore thou canst not see it nor take it vp with the eye of thy bodie The power of the holy spirit is so subtile secret and inuisible that thou canst not perceiue it nor take it vppe with the eye of thy bodie and it will worke great effects in thy soule or euer thou perceiuest his working In respect therefore that the meanes of this coniunction are so subtill secret and spirituall why thinkest thou to get a sight of this coniunction with the eye of thy bodie why imaginest thou such a carnall coniunction as this which would doe thee no good if thou hadst it knowst thou not that the spirit that coupleth vs and Christ is infinite so that it is as easie for the spirit to couplevs and Christ how farre distant soeuer wee bee as it is easie for our soules to couple our head and the feete of our bodies though they be distant Then seeing this coniunction is the ground fountaine of all our happinesse And seeing this ground of happinesse is so subtil and so spirituall What is your part Remoue all your outward senses remoue al your naturall motions remoue your naturall discourses and your naturall reason and follow the sight and information of the spirit of God Craue that it would please him to illuminate your vnderstanding that by the light of his spirit yee may see cleerely the spirituall coniunction Except the eye of the spirit be giuen you to perceiue this spirituall coniunction It is not possible that yee can get any insight in it But if the Lord of his mercy will bestowe some measure of his holy spirit vpon you out of question yee shall soone come to the vnderstanding of it and yee shall thinke the time happie that euer yee heard this word Except yee haue some part of this spirit it is not possible that yee canne bee spirituall That which is borne of flesh and bloode will remaine flesh and bloud except the spirit come in and make it spirituall Therefore yee must bee borne againe of the spirit