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
A81056	Samson a type of Christ in a sermon preached at Mr. Pomfret's meeting-house in Gravel-lane near Hounds-ditch, London: at the morning-lecture, on July 22. 1691. from Judg. xiv.5. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Tunnath; and came to the vineyards of Timnath; and behold, a young lion roared against him. Wherein is shewed, I. In six particulars, how clearly Samson doth type forth Jesus Christ, ... II. With respect unto Samsons marriage, ... III. As Samson loved and married an uncircumcised woman, ... IV. As Samson did overcome the young lion which opposed him: so Jesus Christ doth overcome and destroy that roaring lion, the Devil, that opposeth him. Published at the request of the Congregation, for Publick Good. By D.C. an unworthy servant of Christ.	Crosley, David, 1670-1744.	1691 (1691)	Wing C7247A; ESTC R232725	34,097	40

from God yet there is a time wherein he will gather and call them all home to himself There was a time in which Samson went down to Timnath to take this Daughter of the Philistines to Wife And accordingly there is a Time wherein God will gather his Elect from the four Winds of the Heavens There is a Time for every one of Gods Jewels to be gathered into his Treasure and for every one of his Sheep to be brought into his Fold tho' God's People be born in Sin He will not have them to dye so for there is a time wherein I saith the Lord will call her Beloved that was not Beloved And this hath the Father appointed Eph. 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are on Earth even in him And beloved this time shall assuredly come upon every Soul belonging to God the Lord stir up our Hearts to look for it for except we be converted and born again we can never enter into the Kingdom of God An uncalled State is therefore a dreadful State for while a Man is so he knows not whether he belong to God or no But certainly such a one may conclude that for the present he belongs unto the Devil the Lord awaken all such THIRDLY From hence I would inferr That God must condescend and come down to us which indeed he hath done both in Flesh and Spirit before we can ascend to him So Samson went down to Timnath A Man whilst in Nature and so consequently dead in Sin is no more able truly and sincerely to ascend up to God either in Affection Faith or Practice than a Stone to lift up it self into the Air or a Bird to stye which hath no wings What could the dry Bones do which the Lord saith was the House of Israel till the Spirit of the Lord came upon them Ezek. 37. What cause then hath every Soul amongst us to be humble before the Lord and to be abased in our own Eyes and to cry out with David Psal 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be praise and with Paul 1 Cor. 4.7 What have we that we have not received And with Isaiah Chapter 26. 12. Thou O Lord hast wrought all our works in us But many Professors at this day suppose a possibility of setting up Christ too high and of laying Man down too low in himself But how this cometh to pass I could never yet understand sure I am there is a great deal of both Possibility and Danger of setting up Man and his Righteousness too high and thereby disesteeming of Christ and his precious Death and Merits never was there less reason to cry up Mans Works and Obedience I mean so as to boast thereof or depend thereupon than at this day in which they are I may speak it with sorrow so little practised But were but the Free Grace of God Christ Jesus and Faith in him duly exalted and freely preached in Life and Power it would I think be the only way truly and without Hypocrisie to reform Mens Lives and to work their Hearts into a godly sorrow which would issue in it true and evangelical Repentance never to be repented of but there being so much Legality among Professers at this day hath undoubtedly been a great occasion of so much lukewarmness in the World in Matters of Religion BUT I come to the Third Particular viz. TO mention some of the greatest Lets Hindrances and Impediments which do most interrupt this blessed Union and Agreement betwixt Christ and his Church which indeed are many but time will but permit me to mention some few AND the first main Let or Hinderance is the want of a thorough sight and a true sense of the Miserableness of the condition in which we are by Nature and accordingly an enjoyment of rest and satisfaction though both false and Soul-destructive in that condition And thus much even Nature it self teacheth That no Man will seek unto a Physician for a cure unless he be first sensible that he is troubled with such a Distemper as doth necessarily call for and require such a Cure And who knows not that even the best of us are a great deal more ready and forward to encline to and seek after the Benefit and Cure of the Body than the Benefit and Cure of the Soul insomuch that a Man of whom I have heard who deserting and forsaking the Work of the Ministry in which he had spent much labour and travel to take up the Practice of Physick and being asked the reason why He returned this Answer Because said he I saw People were a great deal more careful of their Bodies than of their Souls and much more free to lay out their Money and Pains for the one than the other And Christ himself tells us That the whole need not a Physician but they that are sick The reason therefore why Christ our great Physician of Souls is so much slighted is because so few are sensible of their Souls Maladies and Distempers AND the case is the same in the Point in hand for the main reason why poor Sinners are no more free to change their Estate to forsake their first Husband viz. the Devil and the World and to be joyned and married to Jesus Christ is because they see not the danger and misery which they lye in and under in the Condition in which they are A SECOND Let or Hinderance in this Matter is Persons being so much in Love with their present States and the Pleasures and Profits which as they suppose they enjoy therein For the proof of this see that Place in Matth. 22. at the beginning Where the Text tells us That a great King i. e. God made a Marriage for his Son i.e. Christ and sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding But what saith the Text Well they would not come Again he sent forth other Servants to tell them that all things were ready This was not only to invite but also to perswade But what saith the Text Ver. 5. Well They did not only refuse to come but they also made light of it and went their ways one to his Farm and another to his Merchandise Alas their Purses were full they had Riches enough at home they knew not that they were wretched poor blind miserable and naked Rev. 3.17 Yet it is not the bare having of the World and the Things thereof that hinders but it is the inordinate loving thereof This is that which spoils all In 1 Tim. 6.10 The Apostle tells us That the Love of Money is the root of all Evil. Mark it It is not the Money it self for the Creature is good but the inordinate Love of it this is the root of all Evil. Therefore pray mind what our Lord saith Luke 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not

his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple That is Whosoever pretendeth to come to Christ and hateth not all these things with what else can be named besides Christ in comparison of or in competition with Christ cannot be his Disciple and then for certain not his Spouse Oh Beloved many keep a great stir about Sin being the main Let in the way of Union betwixt Christ and a poor Soul but I tell you it is not Sin but the Love of Sin that separateth betwixt Christ and the Soul See Rev. 22.15 Whosoever loveth and maketh a Lye is cast out of the Holy City not he that barely maketh a Lye through weakness or by reason of Temptation but he that not only doth so but also loveth to do so this is the Man of the Lord's Anger Therefore saith David If I delight in Sin God will not hear my voice This therefore is the main Let in our way of Union with Christ because we Love Sin and love the World together with the Pleasures and Profits thereof we love the Flesh and we love our Lusts our Selves our Works and our own Righteousness and therefore we cannot love Christ And further provided that we should hate Swearing and Drunkenness and yet love Pride and Covetousness this is nothing or if we should hate Pride and Covetousness and yet love Deceit and Hypocrysie we are still no better This is but as it were to change one Devil for another and so keep a Devil still But I cannot enlarge THE Third Let in our way of Union with Christ which I shall now mention is want of Faith in Christ And truly Beloved this is a great Mountain in our way indeed this is the Hydra the Monster-Sin Vnbelief for as there is nothing impossible to him that believes so there is nothing possible to him that believes not For as Faith hath the preheminence above all other Graces so Unbelief hath the preheminence of all other Vices And how many a poor Soul is there that is both sensible of troubled for and burthened with Sin and also sees a want of longs for and desires to be with Christ and yet hath little or no Union with Christ by reason of Unbelief Yea there are many that are weary of the World weary of Sin weary of the Devil and of themselves too accounting in their very hearts all things nothing in comparison of Christ and yet for all this have little or no Fellowship with Christ because of the want of Faith Oh therefore this want of Faith is a great Soul-plague it is as the Devil's Castle and Tower of Defence from whence he shooteth so many Darts at the Souls of the Afflicted The Lord in Mercy arm us all against this Unbelief And truly my Friends there is no reason for the persons before spoken of to doubt of God's favour of all persons in the World for all the free and blessed Promises in the Gospel run with a direct tendency to and upon them I beseech you therefore if there be any such here this day that you would take courage trust in God and doubt no more and the Lord give and grant you Hearts thus to do for I know there is no such precious Herb as Faith is grows in the corrupted Garden of Mans Heart by Nature But oh you proud obdurate and hard-hearted ones whose hearts the Lord never yet touched nor who never yet trembled at Gods Words to you be it spoken the Dread ought to lie at your doors for there is not a Curse written in all Gods Book but it runs with a direct tendency to and upon you as little as you fear it think of it or are troubled for it now yet the Day is a coming even at the Door when you shall be made to know it The Lord God give you hearts to see it in due time before it be too late and the Offers of Grace be hid from your Fyes But there is at this day a sort of Professors of Christianity in the world who pretend to Faith and a holy Life or rather first a holy Life and then Faith as they suppose and these are still crying Do do do and upon doing they pronounce Men blessed happy and safe not regarding in the mean while whether such have any Faith or no or if they have whether it be rightly founded upon Christ or no without leaning to or depending upon any thing else especially in point of Justification But oh that such Persons would seriously consider 1. That Man as Man and whilst cut of Christ can do nothing So saith Christ himself Without me ye can do nothing John 14.5 But the strongest Argument that ever I met with to convince me of the truth of this is recorded in John 5.30 Where Christ saith thus I can of mine own self do nothing And from hence I infer That if the sinless spotless and only Son of God did acknowledge That he could of his own self do nothing that is as he was Man c. then is it most high Presumption for a poor mortal sinful wretched Creature Dust and Ashes to say or think that of himself as separate from the Grace Power and Goodness of God in Christ he can do any thing that is any thing acceptable or well-pleasing to God 2. Let them consider that whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 And also that without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 And lastly Let them consider that Faith is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 and a Fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 And if so then pray what is sinful Man in and of himself but a poor lost helpless nothing undone Creature And this must man be made to see before ever he can truly close with Christ Jesus in Truth and Sincerity And when once he comes thus to be stript of all and made nothing in himself then is he a fit Object of Mercy in which God once coming to work Faith in the heart in order to an embracing of Christ then a blessed Union betwixt Christ and the Soul is immedily brought forth BUT Fourthly and lastly For I cannot stand to mention any more Particulars Another dreadful and most mighty Let in this way of Union betwixt Christ and his Church is the Devil of whom it is said in another case and may accordingly be said in this He that now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way 2 Thes 2.7 And indeed it is him which the young Lion in our Text doth most directly point at for as the young Lion roared against Samson when he came down to Timnath to take this Daughter of the Philistines to Wife so the Devil roared against Christ both when he came in the Flesh to purchase and redeem his Church and also as he cometh in the Spirit to call and sanctifie his Church in order to the betrothing of her unto himself