Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	die_v	eternity_n	irresistible_a	256	4	17.2658	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26785	The divinity of the Christian religion, proved by the evidence of reason and divine revelation by William Bates ...	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1677 (1677)	Wing B1104; ESTC R33149	60,636	228

and the Redeemer of the World This I will briefly open There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in Earth The Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one All the Divinity gave testimony of this important Truth The Father not only by the Miracles wrought by his Power to confirm the Mission of Christ but which is here principally intended by a voice from Heaven First at his Baptism This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And at his Transfiguration before some of his Disciples a Shining Cloud the sign of the Divine Presence encompast them and a voice came forth of the Cloud This is my well beloved Son hear him Upon this glorious Voice they were struck with such an impression of fear that they fell on their faces And when our Saviour near his Passion prayed Father glorifie thy Name a voice came from Heaven I have glorified it and will glorifie it Now can there remain any doubt after such an high attestation from the most Soveraign Authority The Son also besides the perfect holiness of his life the exquisite Wisdom of his Doctrine the Wonders of his Works his Resurrection from the dead that were authentick proofs of his Celestial Person and Calling after his Ascension gloriously appear'd from Heaven in diverse Visions to the Preachers of his Gospel To Saul in his Journey to Damascus calling to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me It is hard for thee to kick against the Pricks This is an unexceptionable testimony that he is the Son of God being risen from the dead and returned to Heaven from whence he thus discover'd himself Now that this was real and no fantastick illusion is evident by the marvelous effects of it Those who were companions in the journey were seiz'd with great terror and himself struck blind by the overpowering splendor of the Apparition But especially the effects of it upon his Soul are convincing who it was that spake to him For Saul was by Sect a Pharisee that of all others most passionately adher'd to the Jewish Religion by Temper hot and violent by Profession a persecutor of the Christians One that breathed forth Threatning and Slaughter that excited the Fury of the High-Priests sollicited their Cruelty In short a fierce spirit that envied Nero the title of the first Persecutor of the Church Yet this Man by this Vision and Voice from Heaven of a furious Persecutor in an instant became a zealous Apostle of a Wolf became a Pastor He presently exprest his entire submission Lord what wilt thou have me to do There is nothing so hard to do nothing so dreadful to suffer but I will readily undertake for thine honour and the propagating thy Truth Now from whence came this Change so strange so new in a person confirm'd in the opposite party from whence this resignation of will so entire and perfect so unexpected and sudden What gave him courage to contradict to their faces the High-Priests whose instrument he was and declare that Jesus whom they called a Deceiver was the Son of God and their Judge What animated him to appear before Kings and Emperours to testifie this dangerous Truth What made him with unparallel'd activity with the most ardent affections propagate the Gospel and after a thousand perils by Sea and Land a thousand disgraces and injuries at last to confirm the Faith of Christ with his Blood It is therefore past all contradiction that he had the greatest assurance that the Son of God spake to him Another Vision of the WORD from Heaven was to St. John when he was pleas'd to reveal to him the future state of his Church its Combats and Victories He then appear'd in a form expressive of his Majesty Power and Providence requisite for the ordering all the great Events that should befal it And said I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for ever and have the Keys of Hell and of Death wherein he appropriates to himself the incommunicable titles of the Deity and then declares those two astonishing Miracles that the Prince of Life that had an Eternal Principle of it in himself was dead and that one who had been dead was alive This Riddle the Gospel unfolds The Son of God was made Man and by that admirable union allied Eternity and Time Life and Death together As 't is a common form of speech that a Man dies when the Body is depriv'd of Life though the Soul be immortal So it was true the Son of God died when his Body was crucified though he was uncapable of the least diminution of his Divine life And after three days he rose by the Divine Power to enjoy an Immortal Life And have the Keys of Hell and Death The irresistible force of Death all Men must yield to and from the Grave there 's no redemption by finite power But Jesus Christ has Soveraign Authority and Power to open the Grave and raise the Dead to an happy Immortality This glorious Appearance made St. John to fall as dead at his Feet and could not recover himself till assured by the reviving words of his favour The Spirit also appear'd from Heaven to give Testimony concerning the divine Person and Office of Christ First by descending as a Dove on him when he was baptised This was the completion of the Prophecy The Spirit of the Lord is upon me He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor to publish Deliverance to the Captives And in the second of the Acts the Spirit descended in the form of Fiery Tongues upon the Apostles to qualifie them for preaching the Gospel to the World And 't is worthy of observation that the Apostles were before this very defective in Wisdom and Courage so that their Divine Master though Goodness it self yet tax'd them for their stupidity and in his Sufferings they all forsook him But after the effusion of the Spirit upon them they were endowed with that admirable Wisdom and Resolution that nothing could gainsay and overcome They presently spake in various Languages the things concerning Iesus Christ that the World was astonish'd and many converted by this Testimony from God for the honour of our Saviour and others confounded in their obstinacy Now since this miraculous descent of the Spirit was to ratify the Promise that he made to them If I go away I will send to you another Comforter What more clear and valuable Testimony can we have that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World If Infidelity should reply If we had heard these Voices and seen those glorious Visions we should be convinc'd but what assurance have we there is no deceit in these Relations I answer There never was clearer Grounds of the belief of any thing done without the compass of our own senses than of what

perfect Humility to the World 'T is the special Character of his Religion that distinguishes it from all other Institutions that it preserves the Divine Glory entire that it makes the profoundest impressions in the hearts of Men of their meanness and vanity and inspires them with an humble sense of their infinit distance from God And for the holiness of his Life I shall produce a Testimony that can be liable to no exception 't is of Porphiry a Platonic Philosopher who excelled as in Learning and Eloquence so in Malignity the most furious Enemies of Christianity yet he was by irresistible evidence compell'd to acknowledge That Jesus Christ was a most pious and Excellent Person and that after his Death he ascended into Heaven And is it credible that the same Person whose Life was a glorious Example of Holiness and Righteousness should be guilty of the most transcendent Wickedness 'T is not possible for an unprejudic'd mind to entertain such a suspicion 4. That the Son of God was here below in a mean state that he was expos'd to the most cruel and ignominious death if we consider the great end of his condescending goodness it will appear to be most worthy of him and that there is no contradiction in the things themselves but in the perverse minds of Infidels For First He was to redeem the World not in the way of Majesty but by humble Obedience and Sufferings Thus it was ordered by Divine Wisdom for the honour of God's Attributes and Government Now if he had appear'd in sensible Glory the design of his coming had been frustrated who would have dared to condemn him to the infamous death of the Cross who would have shed his Blood the price of our Redemption And 't is very observable that our Saviour made no use of his Supernatural Power when the doing a Miracle before Herod would have struck him with the reverence of him as a Divine Man and might have preserved him from Death Nay when the glittering Host of Heaven all the Orders of Angels were in Arms ready upon his least Call to have come swifter than Lightning for his rescue yet he meekly yeelded himself up a bloody Sacrifice to God and an ignominious Spectacle to Men. For thus it became him to fulfil all Righteousness Secondly Another great End of his Coming was to found a Spiritual Eternal Kingdom He was constituted a new Adam to regenerate Men to an holy blessed Life that were condemned in the first Adam to Death and Misery Therefore his Life was a continual exercise of Self-denyal a pattern of Innocence and Patience of doing good and suffering evil Thus he convinces us that nothing is valuable in God's account but Holiness Thus by his own Example he instructs us in the divine Philosophy to despise the good and evil things here in order to our everlasting happiness He ascended to Heaven by the way of sufferings and calls us to follow him The fruit of Blessedness is ingrafted on the thorns of Poverty and Persecution for his Name-sake The Laws of his Kingdom are inscribed on the Body of his Cross and must be copyed in the Hearts of his Subjects And for this Reason when the Apostles who after his Resurrection had some reliques of their carnal conceit that the Kingdom of GOD should come with observation for its external splendor ask'd him Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel to raise their Thoughts and Affections above Earthly things he answered The Holy-Ghost shall come upon you and ye shall be Witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the utmost ends of the Earth Their preaching his Life and Death should be attended with the power of the Spirit to dispense a vigorous Influence into the hearts of Men for his Imitation And certainly his Example is of admirable use and profit For thus he sweetens and makes honourable those Vertues the exercise of which were very difficult and unpleasing either in respect of their quality being contrary to fleshly lusts or as they expose to Contempt in the opinion of the World For who can refuse or be asham'd to practise the most severe Self-denyal when in that he is made a Copy of so Divine an Original as the Son of God Now considering what an influence his Afflicted state has to procure Eternal Happiness for fallen Man and to prepare Man for it was it unbecoming him to descend thus low Is it unbecoming that God loves as God that as infinite Wisdom and Power appear'd in the Creation so Infinite Mercy appears in our Redemption What is more Divine than infinitely to exceed all the Ideas we can frame of Perfect Love To do greater things for his Enemies than Men are willing to do for their dearest Friends and where Sin abounds that Grace superabounds Thus the Eye of Reason clear'd by Revelation sees that the voluntary Humiliation of the Son of God for a time is so far from diminishing that it exalts his Majesty This is the great Argument and Motive of the Adoration and solemn Praise that Reasonable Creatures shall for ever pay unto him wherein his derivative Glory consists From what has been discours'd we may see the just grounds of our firm Assent and perfect Adherence to the Doctrine of the Gospel There are not only sufficient but abundant Motives to induce our belief so that it is an extreme Wonder that any to whom it is revealed should not see the Truth so illustriously visible The only account of such Infidelity is given by the Apostle The God of this World hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine upon them The love of some Lust fleshly or spiritual render Men averse from receiving it The Mysteries of Godliness are not confin'd to the speculative mind but are for moral ends to regulate our lives From hence it is that the cordial belief of them very much depends on the temper and disposition of the Soul The sincere humble Enquirer has an eminent advantage in the discovery of the truth and spiritual excellencies of the Gospel above those who are over-rul'd by corrupt habits For the carnal heart either wholly turns the mind from thinking on those most sacred and concerning objects or weakens its intention that it does not seriously and duly consider them Men will studiously apply themselves to secular Arts and can discern the truth of abstruse Mathematical Theorems that are not distastful to their evil affections yet though the Principles of Christian Faith are as unquestionable as the clearest Propositions in Geometry they will not ponder those things that may convince and perswade them to believe what is directly opposite to their Lusts. Besides as corrupt humours vitiate the palate and make what is pleasant bitter to the taste so vicious desires darken and deprave the mind and incline it to judge of Doctrines to