Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	body_n	soul_n	union_n	2,456	5	9.5499	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26793	A funeral sermon preached upon the death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton, who deceas'd Octob. 18, 1677 by William Bates ... ; to which is now added, the last publick sermon Dr. Manton preached.	Bates, William, 1625-1699.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.	1678 (1678)	Wing B1110; ESTC R11400	38,335	122

A Funeral Sermon PREACHED Upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton Who deceas'd Octob. 18. 1677. By William Bates D. D. To which is now added The Last Publick Sermon Dr. MANTON preached LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil over against the Royal Exchange 1678. The Bookseller to the READER INtending to reprint this Funeral Sermon it was judg'd convenient to annex to it a Sermon of Doctor Thomas Mantons suitable to the Subject that was treated on and being the last he publickly preached This will shortly be followed with a Volumn of the Doctor 's Sermons now in the Press 1 Thess 4.17 the last clause And so shall we ever be with the Lord. THE Words are a Consolation brought by the Apostle from the third Heaven where he was by extraordinary Priviledge rais'd and saw and understood how great an Happiness it is to be with Christ And they are addrest to Believers to moderate and allay their sorrows for the death of those Saints who by their conjunction in Blood or Friendship were most dear to them Thus he speaks in the 13th Verse I would not have you be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that yè sorrow not as others which have no hopè The Heathens that were strangers to a future state and thought that after a short course through the World Mankind would be lost for ever in the Dead-Sea might with some pretence abandon themselves to the extremity of their Passions But Christians to whom Life and Immortality are reveal'd by the Gospel who believe that as Jesus died and rose again so all that sleep in Jesus that persevere in Faith and Holiness to the end God will bring with him are forbid upon the most weighty Reasons to indulge their Grief in excess The Union between Christ and Believers is inviolable and from thence it follows they shall be partakers with him in his Glory The Soul immediately after Death shall be with Christ Whiles the Body reposes in the Grave 't is in his Presence who is Life and Light and has a vital joyful Rest in Communion with him And in the appointed Time the Bodies of the Saints those happy Spoils shall be rescued from the dark Prison of the Grave and be sharers with their Souls in immortal Glory This consummate Happiness of the Saints the Apostle assures from the highest Authority the Word of the Lord and describes his glorious Appearance so as to make the strongest Impression on our Minds For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a Shout with the Voice of an Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then Death the last Enemy so fearful and feared by Men shall be destroyed And the Captive Prince of the World with all the powers of Darkness and all other Rebellious Sinners that obstinately joyn'd with him shall be brought in Chains before his dreadful Tribunal and after the great Act of the Universal Judgment shall be compleated then all the Saints shall make their triumphant Entry with the Captain of their Salvation into his Kingdom and shall ever be with the Lord. The general Proposition from the Words is this The Saints after the Resurrection shall be Compleatly and Eternally happy in the Presence of Christ To make this supernatural Blessedness more easie and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For whilst the Soul is cloath'd with Flesh Fancy has such a dominion that we can conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material things 'T is therefore set forth by a Feast and a Kingdom to signifie the Joy and Glory of that State But to prevent all gross conceits it tells us that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of Hunger and Thirst nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those appetites The objects of the most noble senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mix'd with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile that glorious State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Blessed are represented plac'd on Thrones with Crowns on their heads sometimes cloathed in White with Palms in their hands sometimes singing Songs of triumph to Him that sits on the Throne and to their Saviour But the reality of this Blessedness infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors Heaven is lessened by Comparisons from earthly things The Apostle who was dignifi'd with the revelation of the successes that shall happen to the Church till Time shall be no more tells us it does not appear what we shall be in Eternity The things that God has prepar'd for those that love him are far more above the higest ascent of our thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a great Prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has always liv'd in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the poverty of our Understandings But so much we know that is able to sweeten all the bitterness and render insipid all the sweetness of this World This will appear by considering that whatever is requisite to constitute the perfect Blessedness of Man is fully enjoy'd in the Divine Presence 1. An exemption from all evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness The sentence of wise Solon is true in another sense than he intended Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet No Man can be named happy whilst in this valley of Tears But upon the entrance into Heaven all those Evils that by their number variety or weight disquiet and oppress us are at an end Sin of all evils the most hateful shall be abolish'd And all Temptations that surround us and endanger our Innocence shall cease Here the best Men lament the weakness of the flesh and sometimes the violent Assaults of Spiritual Enemies St. Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful Complaint O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death And when harrass'd with the buffetings of Satan renews his most earnest Addresses to God to be freed from them Here our Purity is not absolute we must be always cleansing our selves from the relicts of that deep defilement that cleaves to our nature Here our Peace is preserv'd with the Sword in our hand by a continual Warfare against Satan and the World But in Heaven no ignorance darkens the Mind no passions rebel against the sanctified Will no inherent pollution remains The Church is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And all Temptations that war against the Soul shall then