Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	able_a	body_n	kill_v	9,832	5	8.7625	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27558	Of the happiness of the saints in heaven a sermon preached before the Queen at Whitehall, October 12, 1690 / by William Beveridge.; Of the happiness of the saints in heaven	Beveridge, William, 1637-1708.	1695 (1695)	Wing B2097; ESTC R14203	15,307	36

himself is holiness or which is all one Holiness is himself his own divine Nature or Essence And that 's the reason why they who partake of his holiness are said to partake of his divine nature And hence it is that when the holy Angels would celebrate the praises of the most high God in the highest manner they can they cry Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole earth is full of his glory And hence also it is that when God designed to make Man after his own image as like him as a creature could be he made him perfectly holy And now that this image is defaced in us if it be restored again to any man so that he becomes a new man he is said to be created after God that is after the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness So that this is the great perfection wherein we were at first made and ought again to become like to God our Maker who therefore commands us to be holy as he is holy As he who hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation From whence it appears that though we cannot be holy in the same measure as God is who is so without and beyond all measure yet we should be so after the same manner as he is 〈◊〉 rather our holiness should be of the same kind or nature with his and as like it as it is possible for it to be Hence therefore as Holiness when attributed to God denotes the purity and excellency of his divine nature whereby he is exalted above all things else so when attributed to men it signifies the purity and excellency of their nature whereby they are resined and raised up above the rest of mankind This the Apostle teacheth us where he opposeth holiness to uncleanness saying God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness And David where he calls the Saints that are upon earth the excellent implying that Saints as such excell all other persons by reason of their holiness that is the highest excellency which their nature is capable of Which therefore doth not consist in any particular Acts or Habits either of the soul or body or both together but in the rectitude or due temperament of our nature in general And indeed Holiness properly so called is nothing else but that pure and excellent frame or disposition of the whole man whereby all the faculties of the soul and members of the body are reduced to their primitive constitution and become such as God at first made and would still have them to be exerting themselves in their respective places and offices according to those rules which he hath set them So that to our perfecting Holiness as the Apostle speaks in the fear of God there is required a right and clear understanding a sound judgment a pure heart an obedient will a good conscience and regular affections placed every one upon its proper objects in a due manner And wheresoever the Soul if I may so speak is thus all of a-piece all over such as God would have it to be and so agreeable to his divine will there is true holiness and such a one may be truly said to be holy yea to be holy as God is holy as being pure and excellent according to his finite capacity as God himself is in his infinite perfections Now the true notion of holiness or sanctity being thus briefly stated we may easily understand what kind of persons those be which are here called Saints For in order to a man's being a true Saint He must first have so much knowledge of God and Christ as is necessary to the possessing of his mind with a due sense of his divine Majesty and with right apprehensions of the great mystery of our Salvation by Jesus Christ He must have a sound judgment in all things especially in the fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith and in all the necessary duties required in the Gospel He must have a pure and sincere heart in believing all those Articles as revealed and in performing all such duties as required by God He must have a good conscience a conscience void of all offence both towards God and towards men He must have a pliable and obedient will ready upon all occasions to chuse whatsoever his understanding rightly informed dictates to be good and to refuse whatsoever he apprehends to be evil He must keep his affections all in their proper order fixed constantly upon such objects which they were at first fitted and designed for He must hate abhor and shun all manner of sin upon that account only because it is sin or the transgression of God's law and be heartily troubled that he was ever guilty of it He must love God with all his heart and soul and so above all things in the world besides He must bear no grudg hatred malice or ill-will against any person upon earth but love his neighbour as himself He must hunger and thirst after righteousness and desire nothing so much as to serve and please God and so to have his love and favour whatsoever it costs him He must not fear them which can kill the body but him only who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell He must trust in the Lord with all his heart and support himself under all the circumstances and occurrences of this life with an humble confidence of his goodness and mercy in Jesus Christ He must rejoyce in the Lord always both when he hath and when he hath not any thing else to rejoyce in He must be sober and temperate meek and humble gentle and peaceable faithfull to his word true to his friend loving to his enemy charitable to the poor kind and mercifull and just to all In brief he must be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord as knowing that his labour is not in vain in the Lord. And that he may be sure of For he who hath attained to such an excellent temper as this is is certainly a real and true Saint and therefore shall as certainly partake of that transcendent happiness which is here called the Inheritance of the Saints in light It is called an Inheritance or as the word signifies also a lot in allusion to that type of Heaven the land of Canaan which was divided among all the Children of Israel by lot and is all along in the Old Testament called their Inheritance And so certainly is Heaven in a proper and literal sense the Inheritance of the Saints For they being all regenerate and born again of God are properly his Children and as the Apostle rightly argues If children then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ So that all the Saints or Sons of God in whatsoever age or place they were born again from the beginning to the end of the world they are all co-heirs and so have an equal right and

title to this Inheritance not only to some part of it but to the whole and all and every one of them equally possess it all It is not like an earthly inheritance that is divided among the co-heirs some taking one part of it and some another But every one that hath any share in this heavenly inheritance enjoys it all himself as much as if he was the sole heir and there were none else to partake of it but himself Neither are the Saints joynt-heirs only with one another but as the Apostle there speaks with Christ himself And if so their inheritance must needs be very large For Christ is appointed heir of all things And if they be joynt-heirs with him as be sure they are every one of them must inherit all things too as he doth And so be sure they do For God himself asserts it saying He that overcometh shall inherit all things And I will be his God and he shall be my Son Where we may observe both the vast extent of this inheritance of the Saints and likewise the reason of it As to its extent it is not confined to a Parish or County or Kingdom upon Earth no not to the whole Earth nor to the Moon nor Sun nor to any Star nor to all the Stars of Heaven nor to the whole Heavens where they are nor yet to the greatest part of the Creation but extends it self to the whole For they inherit all things all things that are good or amiable all things that are pleasing or delightsome all things that are necessary or convenient for them All things they can desire or hope for all things they can love or take comfort in all things that can any way contribute to their happiness As all things in the whole world shall do one way or other For even while they are upon Earth all things work together for their good how much more when they come to Heaven Where they shall clearly see how all things that ever happened to them through the whole course of their lives concurred to bring them thither and so will be matter of joy and comfort to them when they are there By which means they will then take pleasure not only in all the devotions alms and good works they ever performed but likewise in all the losses crosses disappointments pains sicknesses and troubles of all sorts that ever befell them Yea and in all things that God ever made or did or suffered to be done in the world For all things are theirs even while they are here below as St. Paul assures the Saints at Corinth saying All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours All things are settled upon them at their new-birth and when they come to full age that is as soon as they get to Heaven they will have the actual possession of all things and then must needs enjoy whatsoever any thing in the world can afford them And what is there in the world but what affords the Saints in Heaven something to delight and please them The Heaven of Heavens affords them most commodious and pleasant Mansions All the holy Angels there afford them their most ag●ceable company and conversation All the Devils and damned in Hell afford them matter of praise and thankfulness to God that they are not there All the glorious lights in the firmament afford them a most delicious prospect In short All the Animals and Plants and Earths and Stones and Metals and Minerals and whatsoever else God ever made either in Heaven or Earth afford them a clear and perfect view of his divine perfections which cannot but affect their hearts with the highest transports of joy and wonder Thus doth every Saint in Heaven inherit all things All things are his And it is no marvail for God himself is his As it follows in the place before quoted He shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son He shall be my Son that is the reason he is an heir I will be his God that 's the reason that he inherits all things For he who hath him that hath all things cannot but have all things in him Yea infinitely more than all things else all things that God hath made being in a manner nothing in comparison of him that made them Who therefore to complete the happiness of his Saints doth not only give them all he hath but even himself too saving I will be their God or rather as the words signifie I will be God to them By virt●e of which promise they enjoy not only whatsoever God hath made or done but likewise whatsoever he is even all those infinite eternal incomprehensible Perfections which are concentred in him But here I must confess my self at a loss not knowing how to conceive much less to 〈…〉 ss either how the Saints in heaven enjoy God or how great an happiness that is to them Only in general we know they see God face to face as not only St. Paul but likewise St. John aquaints us saying Beloved now we are the Sons of God And it doth not yet appear what we shall be But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is From whence it is evident that they see God not only as manifesting himself in his creatures but as he is in himself Which blessed sight must needs fill them with the highest joys their finite nature is able to bear To see Wisedom and Power and Greatness and Goodness and Justice and Mercy and Immensity and Eternity to see the Lord of Hosts the chiefest the only Good to see God himself unvailing himself and shining forth in all his Glory before them yea to see him smiling as it were upon them rejoycing over them meaning himself as well-pleased with them Who is able to conceive how much their blessed Souls are affected delighted transported with this blessed sight None certainly but only they that have it They know yea they feel it to be the g 〈…〉 est the only perfect happiness they can possibly enjoy And that all things else could never satisfie their desires and so make them happy without this whereas this would do it without all things else It being impossible for them to desire any thing but what they have in God infinite Goodness it self In whom by consequence all their inclinations meet as in their proper center and so their Minds are always at rest and quiet and their Souls full as they can hold of solid and substantial joy which makes them break forth continually into Praises and Hallelujahs to Almighty God and to the Lamb that sitteth upon the Throne who purchased such a glorious Inheritance as this is for them and settled it upon them for evermore But how can these things be How is it possible for the Saints in Heaven