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	life_n	6,305	5	4.8360	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66408	The perfection of the evangelical revelation a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, Jan. 6, 1695/6, being the first of the lecture for this present year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2717; ESTC R38655	14,734	36

there is nothing either in the nature of the thing nor is there any notification of the Divine Will concerning any time set for its expiration but rather the contrary and so there is not the same reason for a new Dispensation after the Evangelical as there was for the Evangelical after the Mosaical I grant that it is as possible in it self for God to reveal himself at some time hereafter as it was for him to have revealed himself heretofore And he that revealed himself under the Law and at the first Institution of the Gospel may if he so please after the same manner reveal himself at any time or times But he that will assert the futurity of this must have more to prove it than a possibility It is certain God has revealed himself and that the Gospel was by Revelation from him But there is not the like certainty for a Revelation after the Gospel or in after-times of the Gospel as there is that the Gospel it self was of Divine Revelation It is certain that the Gospel has been the only Revelation for above 1600 years past and that we have had no other Revelation than that contained in the Scripture And therefore whatever Pretences any Persons or Age made to it were apparently Mistakes and Impostures for that Dispensation of the Holy Ghost which each Sect fancied to be in their Age or near to it is yet to come if ever it is to be But to give some further light and force to this Argument I shall shew 1. That there is no proof of any other Revelation than the Gospel of our Saviour and now recorded and preserved in the Holy Scripture 2. That there is no need of any further Revelation 3. That the Scripture shuts up all Revelation with it self so that no other Revelation is to be expected beyond it 1. There is no proof of any other Revelation than what is contained in the Scripture If any one will contend that there either is or shall be such a Revelation he must have some Revelation to prove it And that must either be an antecedent Revelation such as Scripture is taken to be or it must be some personal Revelation made to himself or to some other credible Person or Persons But where is the Revelation of this Revelation If it be to be found in Scripture where is the Prediction of such a State That the Gospel shall be superannuated and another of greater perfection shall grow out of it Under the Law there was a plain signification of another Revelation to be in the time of the Messiah and of a more perfect state of things to ensue But where are the Proofs as plain under the Gospel for a New Revelation as there were for that of the Gospel under the Law Or where is it said of that as it is of the Law that it decayeth or is antiquated and waxeth old and so is ready to or shall at last vanish away Our Apostle here saith on the contrary If we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed If it be a personal Revelation then we may reasonably demand Where is the Evidence for such a Revelation All Revelation must have a sufficient Evidence and if it be a true Revelation and what obliges us to receive it as such it will be able to produce its Evidence And a New Revelation must suppose a better sort of Evidence than the former or at least equal to it There must be the like wonderful Works the Blind must as miraculously be made to see and the Lame to walk and the Diseased to be whole and the Dead to rise Nay Christ himself must again descend from Heaven and dye and rise and ascend or else the Miracles will fall short of what it is in competition with Nay it must proceed farther and its Evidence must not only be equal but superior also to that which it is to supplant It was not only fit that Moses's Rod should be turn'd into a Serpent but when the Magicians pretended to do the same to shew his Power to be greater than theirs his Serpentine Rod swallowed up theirs It was not enough that he brought forth Frogs when Jannes and Jambres produced the like but that he should do what they could not and so what would oblige them to acknowledge it to be the Finger of God And thus our Saviour being to advance a new Scheme of things did not only shew he was the Person described and prophesied of but also by his numerous Miracles and many of them such as never any neither Moses nor any Prophetical Person ever did work If then there be no such Evidence for such a new Revelation where there is a pretence to it we may conclude it to be another Gospel a supposititious Revelation and what is to have no credence given to it no regard paid to it It 's Anathema 2. There is no need of any further Revelation Revelation has somewhat in it of a Miracle it is a way extraordinary and as we cannot suppose God will work Miracles and break through the standing Laws of Nature when there is no occasion for it nor necessity to require it so we cannot suppose he will communicate himself by a way of Revelation and immediate Inspiration and much less break down an Established Order of his own appointment when there is as much reason for the Continuance of it as for the Institution and that it answers all the Ends for which a new Constitution can be framed or a new Revelation made The Apostle argues If the first Covenant had been faultless there should no place have been sought for the second And if there be a place for a Third there must be some fault or imperfection chargeable upon the Second But that I shall shew it to be freed from and that the Second Covenant or Gospel-Revelation is so perfect that there is no need of another For 1. There can be no more noble and useful Subject for a Revelation than that of the Gospel which is concerning God's Reconciliation to Mankind and their Redemption by the Death of his Son And where this is plainly revealed there is no place for a Second nor any need of a new Revelation 2. If we consider the Gospel-Revelation as a Covenant consisting of Promises and Conditions there cannot be more excellent and beneficial than those nor more necessary than these For what can be proposed of greater advantage unto Mankind than what the Gospel offers to those that believe and obey it It is no less than the favour of God the blessing and protection of his Providence the assistance of his Spirit and in the close of all Everlasting Life a translation out of this mortal uncomfortable and uncertain State to a State of unchangeable Happiness where Body and Soul shall again be united When this corruptible shall put on incorruption

of three Years continued that Ejaculation Thy will be done in Time and in Eternity repeating it as often as he breathed God discovered to him that infinite Treasure of the pure and continued Act of Faith and Love and that during the 36 years he lived after he always continued that pure Act of Love without ever uttering the least Petition Ejaculation or any thing that was sensible So that all is by this means resolved into a spiritual and senseless frame and course a certain stilness and quietness as Molinos expresseth it when the Soul doth not know whether it be alive or dead lost or gained agrees or resists this saith he is the true resigned life Where there is no External Service for the Mind to be concerned in no External Object to be attended to A state of Perfection that is above what the Gospel doth describe and is another Gospel than what we have in Scripture received and which there needs an uncontroulable Evidence for the want of which increaseth the suspicion For 5. There is no Evidence for all this beyond their own simple affirmation And who is there without good Evidence that can believe that those Rapturous Ladies such as Santa Teresa and Donna Marina d' Escobar did in Molinos's Phrase hear and talk with God hand to hand when he reads the interlocutory matters that are said to have passed between them as for Example Whenever saith Teresa the Lord commanded me any thing if my Confessor told me another I turned to the Lord and told him that I must obey my Confessor This saith that grave man upon it is sound and true Doctrine which secures Souls or rather confounds and destroys them This puts me in mind of what the same Author elsewhere observes The desire of Revelations uses to be a great hindrance to the interiour Soul especially to women and there is not an ordinary Dream but they will christen it with the name of a Vision The World especially one part of it has been much imposed upon when credulous this way The Pretence abovesaid of Maria Visitationis is an Instance beyond all exception who imposed upon her Confessor no less a man than Lewis Granada the Inquisition and even on the Pope himself And yet notwithstanding she pretended to somewhat more than internal for her Converse with our Saviour c. was detected at last of notorious Imposture But most of the Visionaries we are speaking of pretended not to so much And therefore where there is no external Evidence attempted by them nor that we have the gift of Intuition to see into their inward and Self-evidence we have no reason to think otherwise of such Illuminations and Introversions and Interlocutions than at best the effects of an heated Imagination But of this before And so much the rather are we to be careful in these matters and not to be too easy of belief 4. Because it may be very dangerous in the consequence of it For if instead of a Star it should prove an Ignis fatuus whither may not Persons be led under the delusion of it For what will not be concluded to be lawful nay a duty which Revelation shall warrant And where will this end if it once be credited and that we commit our selves implicitly and blindly to such an uncertain Guide So that in the issue such a Spirit of Revelation as it is not promised by God and therefore not reasonable to be expected so it is not to be desired I shall conclude this with a Saying of one conversant in that way You must not think them holiest that have Consolations Visions and Revelations for many are great Saints that never had any of them and others that had Visions and Gusts are not therefore Saints for true Sanctity doth consist in solid vertue and true conformity of our will to the will of God in all things c. I freely acknowledge that there will be a great alteration in the present state of the Church before the close of the whole and before an end shall be put to Christ's Mediatory Kingdom upon Earth When the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and all nations shall flow unto it When the wolf shall dwell with the lamb c. and that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea that there shall be but one Church over all the World by the conversion of the Jews and the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles and that by the coming down of the New Jerusalem from Heaven it shall be in a state of perfect peace and there shall be in that sense a new heaven and a new earth But that is a state in reserve and there will need no evidence for that which will be self-evident In the mean time if we according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness let us according to the Apostle's Advice be diligent that we be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Amen FINIS Acts 15. Acts 11. 26. Phil. 2. 8 9. 1 Tim 2. 5 6. Hebr. 9. 14 15 23. 1 John 2. 1 2. * Breviar Rom. Octob 8. Bellarm. de Purg. l. 1. c. 11. de Eucha l. 3. c. 8. * Matth. Par. Hist An. Dom. 1255. Eymericus Direct Inquisit Gul. de S. Amore de peric noviss temp Prateolus de Haer. l. 4. V. D. r Stilling fleet Fanaticism of the Roman Church Deut. 29. 29. Ex. 12. 17. Lev. 23. 14. V. Spondani Annal Eccles Ann. Dom. 1204. de Almarico Heb. 8. 13. Ex. 7. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 8. Ex. 8. 18 19. John 15. 24. Hebr. 8. 7. Matth. 28. 19. Mark 16. 15. Jam. 4. 1. Jude 3. Hebr. 9. 28. Serm. 8. of the last Year Hebr. 9. 27 28. P. 10. Jesus Maria. Joseph Teresia composed by Paul of St. Ubald 1654. Part. 3. P. 65 71 86. P. 72. Legenda aurea Bolandus c. Ubald p. 14 16 41. 2 Cor. 12. 1 c. P. 57. n. 4. Spiritual Guide lib. 1. c. 17. n. 135. Ibid. lib. 3. c. 7. n. 63. Ibid. Preface n. 17. L. 2. c. 2. c. 9. n. 71. Ibid. l. 2. c. 6. n. 46. V. Lud. à Paramo de Orig. Inquisit Bp. Wor. Fanat of the Church of Rome P. 15. Ubald ibid. part 3. c 6. n. 11. Isa 2. 2 c. ch 11. 6 c. Rev. 21. 1 c. 2 Pet. 2. 13 14.

and this mortal shall put on immortality An Encouragement that is the highest Cordial that can work upon Humane Nature and will if any Consideration can qualify the Troubles of this present Life and set a man above the fears of an exclusion out of it And when this is promised there can nothing be offer'd beyond it nor is there any need to find out others after this is proposed And such as the Promises are such are the Conditions required of us which are as unchangeable as the Reward those indeed are unchangeable from the Divine Declaration and God's faithfulness but these are unchangeable from the nature of the things as well as the Divine Command So that there is no room for another Revelation unless we can change the nature of things and make evil good and good evil and put darkness for light and light for darkness unless we will dissolve all Order and confound all Relations and set the Creature loose from all obligations of Love and Gratitude and Service to the Creator Terms surely uncapable of abatement or alteration For who can suppose Mankind should be left at liberty whether they would love God or neglect him whether obey or violate his Laws whether they would be vertuous or vicious and whether they would believe in Jesus and own him to be their Saviour or with the Jews reject him and not have him to reign over them Alter the Promises and Conditions and there is another Gospel and another Revelation but till they are altered or alterable there needs no New Revelation All the abatements or relaxations that can be allowed are inserted into the body of this Revelation where there is a two fold allowance an allowance of remission for whatever sins are past and truly repented of and an allowance for Humane Infirmities under the strictest obligations to our duty And lower than these the Gospel doth not nor for the reason before given can descend since then it would countenance Impenitence and establish Iniquity by a Law and then indeed it had been an imperfect a defective a faulty Covenant and there would have been a place for a New 3. The extent of this Law or New Covenant is such as none can exceed it for it is as much fitted for the whole Race of Mankind as any could be for any particular Nation The Law of Moses was a Law to the Jews suited to their Temper and Circumstances in its original Frame and Constitution and so what other Nations as Nations could not come within the benefit of nor could particular Persons otherwise than as they became Proselytes and made themselves subject to it by the same way of initiation in Circumcision And it is of the nature of all Humane Laws though the general Lines running through them are one and the same that they are fitted for the immediate use and service of that People whose Laws they are and which therefore vary infinitely and alter as Circumstances alter and as Reasons of State require But now the Gospel-Dispensation comprehends in it all Nations and they are all to that as if they were but one People It was our Saviour's Commission to his Apostles after his Resurrection Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature And such as the Commission was such were the Rules and Precepts they were to give and publish which were of universal concernment and obligation and neither confined by Persons nor Places by Times nor Circumstances but what all Persons in all Places Times and Circumstances are equally obliged to observe and which are of that nature and have such a tendency to the good welfare and happiness of Mankind whether alone or in Society whether as particular Persons or Families or Nations that if exactly observed purity and peace and love would every where abound and the Earth be a kind of Paradise again And therefore if there be any Narrowness of mind and feuds among Mankind if Vice and Wickedness overflow the World it is not for want of a Law every way perfect to bind and restrain them or that there need another Gospel to mend them but for the reason given by St. James from their lusts that war in their members 4. If we consider the Evidence given to the Gospel-Revelation we shall find there needs no other evidence to be given to that Revelation nor that there needs any other Revelation for want for want of Evidence in this Our Saviour's Life was a Life of Miracles as well as Innocence and where ever he went the Divine Power went along with him for in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily And which he exerted where ever he came and as occasion served to the confusion if not the convicton or conversion of his Adversaries and all which at last concluded in his own Resurrection from the dead his Ascension into Heaven and the effusion of the Holy Ghost which began on Pentecost but like a torrent ran on through the Apostolical Age and bore down all manner of competition And what then can any Revelation pretend to beyond it or where can there be any that can be suppos'd to produce the like Evidence for its veracity as I have just before observ'd Lastly How can we have a Gospel that can pretend to vye with that which the Son of God came into the World to reveal who was the last that was to come from Heaven and when our Faith is that which was once delivered to the Saints Once for all and so there is no more another Faith or Revelation to be expected after that than another Mediator after Him who was once offered to bear the sins of many This leads to the Third Branch 3. The Scripture shuts up all with this Revelation and because we have now no Revelation but that Written Revelation we cannot suppose any Revelation beyond it and much less derogatory to it or that shall direct us to any other way by which we are to be saved than that we have already received and is therein recorded I have before observed that the time from our Blessed Saviour's appearance and the publication of the Gospel by him to his second coming is called the last days in Scripture and consequently has none to succeed it So the Apostle As it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without a sin-offering unto salvation That is as there is no alteration in the state from Death unto Judgment but as men dye so they will appear to be at Judgment So there is no alteration to be between Christ's first appearing when he offered himself and his second when he shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven If therefore there is to be any alteration as to this Revelation it is not to be before but