Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	death_n	dissolution_n	4,857	5	11.3460	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30701	The believer's groan for heaven in a sermon at the funeral of honourable Sir Richard Hoghton, of Hoghton, baronet / preached at Preston in Amoundernes in Lancashire, Feb. 14, 1677, by Seth Bushell ...	Bushell, Seth, 1621-1684.	1678 (1678)	Wing B6236; ESTC R4461	12,496	34

better nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you And having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all But men must be careful in bounding and moderating this desire lest they flatter themselves out of an over-love to this present life that they are more necessary for the Service of their Generation than indeed they are 2. This Christian desire to die may be consistant with some lothness to change and that for fear of those things that lie betwixt us and the other world such are 1. A separation by death the divorce between soul and body the parting of those so old and close companions Nature shrinks at it and St. Paul is not willing so to be unclothed as to be found naked 2. There is also in death a dissolution and corruption of the body turning it into dust becoming vile and loathsom the meat of worms This body is sown in corruption and dishonour 1 Cor. 15.43 This strikes nature with a kind of dread which good men cannot wholly put off 3. The dreadfulness of the last Judgment approaching before the infinite greatness and Majesty of that God from whose face Heaven and Earth fled away who is Inexorable in his Justice Irresistible in his Power and Intollerable in his Wrath This may make one say with David My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments This may make men desire time to gain better assurance of their state which is but imperfect and attained by degrees Therefore life is a precious mercy not so much for what we enjoy here as for that a blessed eternity and the assurance thereof depends upon it and he that will find a treasure in Heaven hereafter must be careful to lay it up here and give diligence to make his calling and election sure And hence it is that men when they are visited with sickness may pray for recovery and are to use the means appointed in order to the obtainment of it They are also to pray for others in their sickness and to make Sackcloth their clothing and to humble their souls with fasting Psal 35.13 And further they are to give thanks for such recoveries as a great mercy and value the time so granted and improve it as a choice and signal blessing that must strictly be accounted for He that does thus loves Heaven better than Earth and this present life only in order to that which is to come But 3dly There is a lothness to die which is an evil disease and may be truly stil'd Antichristian which proceeds from men's inordinate affecting their present state when men sit not loose from the world but their hearts are glew'd to it that they cannot part with it When they love the things in this world better than the things of Jesus Christ and prefer their lusts before their Saviour and would rather feed upon husks with Swine than the bread of life in their Fathers House These are struct dead with the very thoughts of death and their heart like Nabal's becomes cold as a stone upon the violent darting in of an unacceptable apprehension of their latter end Thus Adrian the Emperour breaths out when ready to die Animula vagula blandula Comes hospesque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula nudula rigida Nec ut soles dabis jocos This evil frame of heart is dangerous and destructive So Ben Sirach O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee c. When linquenda est tellus domus placens uxor as he saith haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori And thus much for the former particular in the Text viz. the vehemency of St. Paul's Passion express'd in groaning earnestly and desiring I come now to the latter particular viz. the Motive and Object of this desire for death is desirable but accidentally and indirectly and this is express'd in a double Metaphor in these words viz. clothed upon with an house which is from heaven Clothes are for a covering an ornament defence a distinction and such is the glory of the future State For clothed upon signifies not any clothing in this life as putting on Christ and the Robes of his Righteousness or the putting on the Newman or the Wedding-garment or the like but a Vesture of Immortality which the followers of the Lamb are clothed with stil'd White Raiment and fine Linnen white and clean Rev. 3.5 and 19.14 to denote their Joy their Dignity and their Triumph 2. Nor Secondly does it mean any clothing before the Resurrection but then either the soul with a body or that body with glorious Endowments The Apostle distinguisheth between being naked and being clothed and being clothed upon which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text does intimate and offer to us 3. Neither thirdly does this clothing upon necessarily imply death but a change which shall be the condition of those that are found alive at the day of Judgment and second Coming of the Son of Man 1 Thes 4.17 1 Cor. 15.51 This day the Apostle look'd upon as near at hand and did suppose it might come in his time how much more may we expect it every moment Surely the night is far spent and the day is at hand therefore let us wait earnestly till our change come This of clothing is the former Metaphor The other Metaphor is the House from heaven denoting the glory of the Resurrection the stability and permanency whereof is hinted in that it is called an house and the sublimity and spirituality of that glorious condition is expressed in that it s said to be from heaven Only here must be thrown off two heretical Expositions that would fondly be put upon these words 1. Of the Socinians that suppose the Soul to sleep till the Resurrection and then to have a new heavenly body fitted for it which consumes and swallows up the old mortal body And this they would have to be the house from heaven 2. Of those that would raise upon these words the Platonick Vehicles As if this house were the Aetherial Vehicle to which the Souls of the just are to be advanced which is all the body design'd for them at the Resurrection For they make three sorts of these Vehicles viz. Trrestrial Aerial and Aetherial The Terrestrial say they is that into which Souls are thrust as into a Prison for misdemeanours in a former world and this is their earthly Vehicle Then those that have done well and squared their actions according to the meet rule of justice these have an Aerial Vehicle But thirdly those that have abounded in well-doing and by living up to the height of vertue have raised themselves and arrive at Heaven these are advanced to the Aetherial Vehicle the Terrestrial like the Prophets Mantle dropping from them in their assent thither And they suppose this place of Scripture clinks to their thinking as all Hereticks do coin notions and then stretch and

vita morbus est Aug. Therefore in the interim our present state in respect of corporal evils is a burden under which we groan 2. But the burden of spiritual evils is more disquieting and insupportable such are these viz. 1. The burden of our corruptions 2. Of Satan's temptations 3. Of Desertion upon the account of sin 1. The burden of our corruptions which are continually heaving and fermenting within us ever stirring to bring forth fruit unto death The flesh lusting against the Spirit and the law of the members warring against the law of the mind This old man is active and unwearied in his work This makes Believer's groan and cry out wo is me that I dwell in Mesech and have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar And this burden a man labours under all his days So that he only that is dead is free from sin Rom. 6.7 This made the Apostle so grievously bemoan his present state Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death It 's fitly stiled a body of death as well in respect of it's weight and ponderousness as of it's loathsomeness and annoiance 2. The assaults and temptations of Satan who is ever busie going about seeking whom he may devour Who bestirs himself with the utmost diligence to captivate immortal Souls His winnowings and buffettings his arts and stratagems his subtilties and devices which as a Sophister or Politician he uses to catch us in his snares and to bring us into his Net these are an heavy burden to Believer's and stir up in them as the spirit of watchfulness against his encounters so groaning to be delivered from him 3. Desertions upon the account of sin when God withdraws the light of his Countenance and hides his face that we cannot see him When the joy of the Lord which is the strength of the Soul is removed and darkness yea thick darkness covers then the Soul languisheth under weakness and does utter it's grief by groans in private The spirit of man may support his infirmity but this wounded spirit who can bear And thus the burden of spiritual evils does make believer's groan 2. From St. Paul's Passion express'd in desiring Observe that It is the property nature and duty of true Christians to desire to get rid of this burden by death Death is ommibus finis multis remedium nonnullis votum Therefore we find death in Scripture spoken of promised and bestowed as a blessing All things are yours saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.21 And in the enumeration of divers particulars there mentioned death is reckoned up as one and theirs and theirs to advantage Solomon prefers it before the birth day And St. Paul desires to be dissolved as far better Phil. 1.23 And he groans and waits for the redemption of the body Rom. 8.23 and is willing to be absent from the body 2 Cor. 5.8 Though St. Paul be not so much a Standard as a Pattern to Christians being a Star of the first Magnitude in respect of his high assurance and great measure of holiness yet there is no Christian though he comes not nigh to the glory of this example but is bound to long for a better state though he pass thereto through the Valley of the shadow of death For where there is a principal of grace there will be imprinted a propensity towards Heaven 'T is the nature of grace to abstract a person from the world and to produce a tediousness in earthly things and to engrave a new bias in the Soul whereby it is carried towards Heaven as its center and place of rest Devotio est motus mentis in deum Where there is a work of grace there the Soul follows hard after God and longs to appear before him and would break through all obstruction and endeavours the removing of all impediments that lie in its way 'T is the nature of love that it cannot bur desire enjoyment and the more fervent and true it is the more it breaths after a full enjoyment of its Object Where the treasure is there will the heart be also Thus the love of Christ shed abroad in the Soul has a constraining vertue in it and stirs up in true Christians a desire to die But here in reference to this point there are some particulars to be considered as that 1. This desire of death is Spiritual and not Natural not for its own sake but the advantages and consequences of it as it is an out-let from sin and an in-let into happiness Nay nature cannot but abhor a dissolution the principal whereof is self-preservation Thus says our blessed Saviour let this cup pass from me which yet upon other thoughts he presently corrects by a free submission to his Fathers will nevertheless not my will but thine be done His sufferings as the School-men say were against his voluntatem sensualitatis by which we desire life and avoid that which is sad and painful but not against his voluntatem rationalitatis 2. This desire to die must be without impatience and peevishness as Elijah when he was persecuted then O Lord take away my life for I am no better then my Fathers And Jonah when the Gourd failed him and he fainted then he wish'd in himself to die As many do when the world frowns on them and their enjoyments are imbitter'd to them when their hopes are disappointed and their humours cross'd then discontent seizeth their spirits and they would go off in a pet and pass out of the world in a passion as weary of Gods work in either doing or enduring what he calls them to This perverse temper the very Heathens did explode says Seneca Ridiculum est ad mortem currere taedio vitae But now the true Christian desire much be with submission to the Divine Will and Wisdom we are not to stir from our Sentinel nor quit our station till we have our Pass-port and furloe from the General We must wait God's leasure as to our going off There are many things we may desire to have done which we must not do our selves We must not procure or hasten our own death not break the Prison but stay for a legal release Say it is the Lord let him do what seems good unto him 3. This true Christian desire to die may be consistent with some kind of lothness to change For there are several degrees of grace and strength and all men are not equally prepar'd for nor fortified against the King of terrours For 1. Men may desire God to delay their deaths that they may be further serviceable to the Church That was David's design in his Prayer to be spair'd a while till he had shew'd Gods strength to that generation and his power to them that were to come Psal 71.18 The like was St. Paul's case which put him in a strait Phil. 1.23 24. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far

wrest the holy Scriptures to give them countenance They turn the sacred Scriptures into Philosophical burlesque and apply them to the groundless fancies and vain superstitions of a fabulous Philosopher Beware of such corrupters of the Divine truth who bring in damnable doctrines that are incompatible with the Christian Systeme and deny the great Articles of our Belief as the Resurrection of the dead the Misery of Mankind by nature the Incarnation of Christ the Covenant of Grace and Life everlasting and the like which were so highly contended for against the wit and malice of the Heathen and the errors of those that held contrarily thereto were accordingly condemn'd in the five general Councils Beware of those they are Original errors and in that the more dangerous and of evil consequence by how much the more ancient Now for the correcting of these and many such gross conceits we must not think that Allegories run on four feet nor must Metaphors be driven from their borrowed to their natural Senses We shall therefore here endeavour to shew two things First That by being clothed upon the Apostle means the retaining of the same body at the Resurrection not any new not any other body Secondly What that is that makes this body an house from heaven 1. It is the same body that is Clothed upon For he says that he would not be found naked but have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swallowed up of life that is that mortal should put on immortality Now there is no abolition nor transubstantiation the same remains but altered in quality like Christ's body at the Transfiguration on the Mount which was a Praeludium of the Resurrection So must our vile bodies be fashioned according to that pattern Phil. 3.21 and it is this mortal that must be so fashioned Thus Christ himself arose with the same body to the conviction of Thomas with flesh and bones and scares The miraculous resuscitations of some in the Gospel were perambulatory proofs of the Resurrection as at Christ's Passion many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their Graves Mat. 27.52 53. And such is the description of all that rise they are said to sleep in the dust and to be in their Graves The Sea and the Grave must deliver up their dead Rev. 20.13 and they refund but what was in their custody Nor can there be a Resurrection unless the same body be restored for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quickning or setting up that which first fell now the spirit of man falls not it goes upward the soul dies not 't is the body that dies And that body that before was depriv'd of life and that has its particular individuation and distinction from other bodies even that very body shall rise again Resurget caro quidem omnis quidem ipsa quidem integra Bern. Can the justice of God permit that these bodies that suffered for him here should be rewarded in a Substitute that these should contend and be victors and others carry away the Crown Must they not all appear before the Judgment Seat to receive the things done in the body 2 Cor. 5.10 It is the same mortal body that shall be quickned Rom. 8.11 Death shall give up it's dead and that to be judged every man according to his works Rev. 20.13 Now this is not to be understood of the soul but of the body for it 's the body that dies this death delivers up which reunited with the soul does constitute and make the man who is to be judged and this extends to every individual person for Every man is to be judged and that according to their works which are their own and not the works of any other and these works done in that very individual body And thus it is evident that it is the very same body that is to be rais'd again which is here express'd by being clothed upon 2. What that is that makes this body an house from heaven That this mortal body is to be raised again from the dead we do believe and that this mortal body shall then be gloriously altered as to heavenly qualities and endowments is a truth which Believers are well satisfied in Now wherein this glorious alteration stands which makes this body an house from heaven is to be enquired into And this the Apostle gives in a fourfold Morphosis 1 Cor. 15.42 43. 1. This body is raised in incorruption Here the body is liable to corruption but when raised again shall see no corruption It shall not be obnoxious to fragility and breakings to stench and diseases to putrifying sores and corrupting aggressions preparing it to be meat for worms It shall be freed from passion not liable to feel nor suffer under the sense of such evils as here it is burdened with The Saints raised from the dead are as the Angels of God in heaven they die no more death is swallowed up in perfect victory to them 2. 'T is raised in glory Here 't is a vile and inglorious body but then it shall be gloriously fashioned at the Resurrection As the face of Christ at his Transfiguration did shine as the Sun and Moses and Elias did then appear in glory arraied with beauty and Majesty so the bodies of the Saints shall be full of glory The Prophet Daniel does thus express this change saying And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 3. 'T is raised in power not needing any of those supports that the body in this life does necessarily call for Here the body would fail were it not supported and from time to time prop'd up by the continued accessions of meat and drink and sleep and rest But there the body shall need none of these supplies but be ever powerful and active to the performance of those heavenly exercises and employments to which it is appointed without the help of these This power wherein the body is to be raised and which the body is to be vested with does imply its strength for action without weakness and it's agility for exercise without dulness and this by virtue of that power only and that to all eternity 4. 'T is rais'd a spiritual body Here it is onely natural there it shall be spiritual The naturality of the body shall be changed into a spirituality Now this spiritual change does import two things 1. That the bodies of the Saints shall be freed from the dregs of the earth no more of that gross matter of that lumpish leaven in them they shall be spiritualiz'd and purified from their earthly dross 2. The spirituality of the body does import the perfect subjection of the body to the spirit without a lust to the contrary or the least gainsaying motion No sensual appetite or unruly passion then begging and craving satisfaction or maintaining a Plea or Claim to that which the spirit