Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	believe_v	body_n	faith_n	4,273	5	5.2454	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61204	Death and the grave no bar to believers happiness, or, A sermon preached at the funerall of the Lady Honor Vyner, in the Parish Church of Mary Wolnoth in Lombardstreet, July 10, 1656 by William Spurstow ...	Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.	1656 (1656)	Wing S5092; ESTC R13492	19,798	58

which is a declaration and conveyance of what Christ hath purchased to be to their behoof and the oath of God which is added to it is as the seal upon the label of the deed that gives a further ratification unto it that so by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie they might have strong consolation Heb. 6. 18. And who is it that by the eye of faith views and reads those evidences in which a crown of life Revel 2. 10. a Kingdome that cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. an inheritance that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1. 4. are all ascertained to him doth not rejoyce more under the hopes of glory then the greatest of Princes ever can in the fruition of all their worldly greatnesse Thirdly they are partakers of Heaven it selfe in prodromo in their fore-runner the Lord Christ He at his ascension took seisin and livery of it in their name John 14. 2. I goe to prepare a place for you An expression as some conceive borrowed from travellers amongst whom some one is by agreement sent before to take up lodgings for the rest of his company And as he takes so also doth he keepe possession in their names preserving still their right unto it untill they come to be possessed of it themselves And hence it is that the Apostle saith of believers that they are raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Ephes 2. 6. Fourthly they have the happinesse of Heaven in primitiis in the first-fruits and pledges of it every grace of the Spirit is scintilla futurae lucis a sparke of their future glory every comfort of it is gutta font is vitae a drop of the well of life and are as certain evidences of an ensuing fulness as the day-star is of an approaching morning The tasts and prelibations of happinesse which believers have in this life by the mouth of faith the sight of Heven which they have by the eye of faith that sometimes stands on tiptoe and peeps into the things that are within the vaile doe differ onely in degree and not in kind from the full sruition and vision of God which they have in the other life when their souls and bodie are reunited to each other and both con●oyned unto Christ their everliving head and Lord. Fifthly and laftly believers have life and eternall blessednesse in messe in the rich and full harvest of it when all the promises both of grace and glory are wholy accomplished when all the expectations of faith and hope are swallowed up in endlesse admiration when all the desires of the soule which are more restlesse then the Sunne in their motions are eternally fixed upon one simple and infinite good which contains in it the perfection of all delectible objects Quid ●o avarius cui Deus non sufficit in quo sunt omnia What can be more insatiable then that man whom God doth not suffice in whom all things are can any thirst after a larger possession then immensity a surer state then immortality a longer term of yeers then perpetuity But if you ask me why God defers the consummation of his childrens happinesse unto the resurrection and makes it to be like a Jacobs ladder that hath sundry steps and ascensions amongst many grounds that may be assigned be pleased to take these First God doth it that he may hide his counsels and purposes concerning his children from the eyes and knowledg of carnal proud men to whom the external meanness of Christ and his followers becomes a stumbling-block and a just occasion to make them perish in their sins And he doth it also that he may hide his people from their rage and fury who are as impatient at the least appearances of their welfare as Bulls are at the fight of Scarlet They envy them their morsels of bread much more their Manna their rags much more their robes The evil husbandmen in the Gospel as soon as they beheld the heir deale worse with him then with their Lords servants Luke 20. 14. And did but the wicked of the world but fully know whose the inheritance of Heaven were they would fall upon them as the Jewes upon Steven and stone them to death Secondly God doth it that he may shew forth the greatness of his power Alchymists boast much of their skill that they can turn baser mettalls into more noble Lead into Silver Copper into gold but the ground upon which they build their presumption is that these baser mettals are in their nature in the way to be better and so they doe but perfect that which is imperfect and would by course of nature have become perfect though they had never laboured it But they never assayed to turn dross into Silver or dirt into Gold And yet the power which God putteth forth is far greater when he raiseth his children from the grave to Heaven and makes them that were Netherlanders dwelling in the dust to be citizens of the new Jerusalem which is above the companions of Angels and coheirs with Christ Who but an infinite power can make a vile corruptible body to put on incorruption or can change a naturall body into a spirituall body so as that it shall not need the assistance of meats and drinks but live as the Angels doe or can make a body sowne in dishonour to rise in honour being beautified with the glorious endowments of clarity agility and impassibility Thirdly God defers the full happiness of believers till their resurrection that they may have occasion to shew forth and exercise all kind of graces that bring glory and honour to himselfe If the crown were set upon their heads while they were as infants in the cradle where would their patience in enduring trials and in waiting on the pleasure of God be made visible to the world If they were all forthwith taken up from earth to heaven where would be the exercise of their hope and earnest longing after the appearing of Christ in glory If there were no such changes as death and dissolution intervening where would be the glory of the Christians faith who now believe that which the line of reason cannot fathome Is there any desart so hopelesse as death and the grave desertion of life and being when milke forsakes the brests marrow the bones bloud the veines spirit the arteries and the soule the body And yet after such desolations faith expects a restauration I know saith Job that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand upon the Earth at the latter day and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Job 19. 25 26. Believers know the power of God can easily break asunder the bands of death and therefore yield to it as prisoners of hope Fourthly God doth it that there may be a conformity between Christs and the believers entrance into glory He was first abased and then exalted He suffered and then

then a few base lusts Would you then subscribe to the hardest conditions of duty and set vice that God could propound and say Yes Lord to every question and will you now make a deniall to every woing O consider this all ye that forget God left he teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psalm 50. 22. O remember that your life is not so long to day as it was yesterday and that though the Sunne times measure did once stand still yet time it selfe ever passed forward and did neither stand with the Suns standing nor return with the Suns returning The last branch that should now be spoken unto is the matter and manner of this happinesse which is both full and satisfactory the matter of it is GODS face or likenesse which is commonly termed by the School faelicitas objectiva objective happiness the manner of enjoying it is by beholding the face of God which is by them also called faelicitas formalis formall happiness Mans objective happiness lieth wholly out of himselfe and out of every creature and the more he fixeth his happiness upon the object without himselfe the more happy and excellent he is for as the eye is perfected by light without so is the soule by God But yet secondly not God abstracted and simply considered is mans happinesse but God enjoyed and looked upon as God with whom he hath perfect union and communion is that which makes up mans formall happiness And this is that vision and fruition of God which David faith when he awakes he shall be satisfied with But I must of necessity wave what I intended to speak of this point having already exceeded I feare the time that should confine and terminate this Exercise It is I know expected that I should speak somewhat concerning this worthy Lady the Lady Honor Viner whose sad funerals we now celebrate but it hath never been my custome on such occasions to add a long Panegyrick to a Sermon the end of this meeting being rather to instruct and counsel the living then to commend the dead Yet do I not with others think it wholy unlawful to give a due testimony to the dead in mentioning such things of their life and conversation as may be useful patterns to the living for their imitation If we look into the Ancients we shall find them mingling the praises of their friends with their sorrowful mournings over them Thus Ambrose commends Saturus his worth as well as deplores his loss the same doth Nazianzen for Gorgonia his sister Austin for Nebridius his friend and Bernard for Gervasius The great miscarriage that hath brought this way both under suspition and censure hath been the golden commendations that some have bestowed upon worthless persons as if they did make it their professed art to garnish Tombes and Sepulchres But though Tombes may receive an addition of beauty from colours laid upon them yet pearls do not they shine best not by a borrowed but by their native lustre And such an one is she of whom I am now speaking whose own reall endowments and qualifications will more commend her then adscititious and studied praises I shall therefore give you a plain and genuine character of what she was which in brief is this She was one in whom many vertues did meet which made her truly amiable As a wife she was a rich blessing to him to whom God had for many yeers given her She was both as Ezekiels wife the desire of his eyes as Solomons vertuous woman the repose of his heart did fully deserve that praise which is given by him Prov. 31. 11. that the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoile She so managed domesticall affaires as that by her prudence his care was eased and all meet supplies fully furnished As a mother she had most tender affections which yet were governed with wisdom and discretion and unto others whose relation stood at a further distance she was as I know themselves will alwaies readily acknowledge a mother in love rather then a mother in law such an one whom few will be found to equall much lesse to exceed As a friend she was affable and courteous without haughtiness or pride and reall without guile But as the watering of the Diamond though it give a lustre to it doth yet adde little or nothing to its value so all morall perfections though they set off and beautifie a Christian yet not they but true piety doth give unto him a reall worth What therefore she was in this as well as in the other you shall see both by her way and practice In works of mercy she had an open hand and a tender heart but yet her charity run with a still and silent stream great and deep rivers that pay a large tribute to the Sea empty themselves oftimes into it in a more still manner then the petty and shallow brookes and so did she diffuse her bounty with far lesse noise then many that give little and boast much What she did in this kind was not to get her self a name but to do the poor good Of private duties she was a constant observer making Religion the work of her Closet as well as of the Church Grande est Christianum esse non videri It is a great thing saith Jerom to be a Christian not to seem one and there is no character that doth better evidence the reality of profession in any then a consciencious performance of unseen and secret duties especially in these times in which Religion shoots forth into leaves rather then into fruit And as for her esteem both of the publique Ordinances and the Dispensers of them the two contrary affections of sorrow and joy which of late had visible stirrings in her shall be the present testimony She was to my knowledge much affected with the sad breach that God had made upon this place by taking from it an able and faithfull Pastor by the stroak of death and was also not a little sensible of the mercy of God in providing again so happily for it And for her affection to the Word I shall now let passe her constant attendance on it on the Lords day and shall briefly adde a passage that since my preaching came to my knowledge from him that can best tell and that is this She expressed herselfe to be very glad that he was purposed to case himselfe of such burdens as had hitherto lain upon him in his calling and to draw his businesse into a narrower compasse For now saith she I hope you and I shall heare more Sermons and frequent more Lectures then before A speech it is which if some that have time and leisure would seriously think of their life would prove more usefull and their death more comfortable But not many weeks after she had thus spoken and pleased herselfe with the hopes of enjoying such happy opportunities it pleased God to put a sudden period to her life which yet was no other then what that infirmity with which she conflicted had once threatned some of her friends feared and her selfe expected who sometimes 〈…〉 leave them on the sudden Such indeed was the blow as that it took from her the opportunities that others have in lingring sicknesses of expressing themselves but though they be wanting yet Gods hand on her speaks to us and bids to keep our Lamps burning and our garments girt about us because we know not at what houre our Lord will come FINIS