Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	angel_n	body_n	soul_n	8,225	5	5.5180	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05318	An exhortatory instruction to a speedy resolution of repentance and contempt of the vanities of this transitory life. By Samson Lennard	Lennard, Samson, d. 1633.	1609 (1609)	STC 15460; ESTC S108479	125,824	546

in the selfe same eternitie There are innumerable multitudes of all sorts of people and tribes languages who all at all times praise the Lord his praise is alwaies in their mouth neuer ceasing to crie out Holy Holy Holy Lord God of host There are sung his euerlasting praises vpon the Violl and the Harpe Psal 150. And in that eternall blessednesse which is a perfect state by by the aggregation of all good whatsoeuer all happinesse is perfect and simple not mixt with their contraries Wherby so great is the felicitie ioy and pleasure as if thou mightest bee permitted to stay there but one day thou wouldest presently contemne all the delights of this life All sweetnesse compared to that is bitternesse all mirth mourning all beautie deformitie and whatsoeuer may any way delight molestation and anguish There is there as great pleasure and facilitie in obeying God as there is felicitie in liuing and reigning with him But yet the blessednesse of the saints of God and their glorie cannot bee perfect their ioy compleat being alwaies vrged with a naturall desire of the resurrection and the glorification of their bodies For their happinesse can not be entire and perfect before the number of their fellow seruants and brethren be compleat Before the resurrection they all receiue their garments of glory because as yet they enioy the blessednesse of their foules onely but after the resurrection they are adorned with another the incorruption of their bodies At that time their blisse shall be doubled when with the felicitie and rest of their soules they shall arise to the immortalitie and glory of their bodies The bodies of the blessed are heere sowen Impassibilitie the first gift of the body 1. Cor. 15. and by nature begotten in corruption but they shal rise in incorruption because they are incorruptible impassible and immortall All fragilitie and earthly pollution shall vanish away and be turned into celestiall puritie and stabilitie for there can be no euill with GOD who is the chiefest good and therefore though they were in hell they can take no hurt no more than Sidrach Dan. 3. Mishach and Abednego in the burning furnace They are sowen in weakenesse Subtilty the second gift they shall rise in power because they are subtile penetrable and able to ouerthrow whatsoeuer they will By glorie the grossenesse of their bodies shall be so taken away that no obstacle can hinder them but that they may freely penetrate any thing as the beames of the Sunne passe thorow a glasen window An example wherof there is in the bodie of Christ who rose the sepulcher being shut went in vnto his disciples the gates being fast locked and did penetrate the heauens no way diuiding them And as the soule is now with the body and hot burning fire with iron so a glorious bodie may bee with an inglorious Such shall be the subtiltie of spirituall bodies that neuerthelesse the trueth of flesh and bone is reserued in them that which subsisteth of a liuing spirit ceaseth not to be a body Because they shall bee true bodies not vaine or phantasticall they may bee toucht and make resistance against that which toucheth or made none because they can penetrate by the subtiltie of their spirituall power the organe or instrument of feeling As the soule shall there haue her inward senses so the body shall haue his outward the sight shall bee delighted with the contemplation of the humanitie of Christ the eare with the melodie of the praises of God In God the soule shall bee inebriated with such delight inwardly as it shall not need any other delight in the outward senses For God shal be all in all he shall be a looking glasse to the sight a harpe to the hearing Honie to the taste Balsum to the smel a delectable flower to the touch Agility the third gift They are sowed earthly bodies because heauie and slow to execute the desires of the soule they shall rise spirituall not because they are turned into spirit aire or winde for a spirit hath neither flesh nor bone but because like spirits they are Luk. 14. quicke light and swift inclining no more downward than vpward The flesh seruing the spirit is said to bee spirituall because by an excellent facilitie of obeying it is subiect to the spirit for whether soeuer the spirit flieth there is presently the bodie also Assoone as the Sunne rising with the beames thereof enlightneth the Westerne part of the world and the eie looking vpward seeth the starres as speedily as angels mooue themselues without a bodie so speedily can the soule mooue her bodie from heauen to earth and from earth to heauen In which motion it is not wearied and because it is subtile by the resistance of the medium it is no way slowed Yea whatsoeuer it will it can mooue and ouerthrow and that with as little labour and endeuour as a man moueth his eie Whersoeuer it is it is alwaies alike happy because it hath God alwaies present This so great agilitie shall be acceptable and pleasant not because it is necessarie or that it hath it because it hath any need of it but only for the greater increase of glorie as wee vse not all those perfections that we haue and reioyce to haue How great O Lord is the multitude of those ioyes thou hast prepared for those that feare thee Oh how much doest thou loue vs who reseruest vs miserable wretched sinners to so great glory Glorious things are spoken of thee ô citie of God and therefore it shall be more possible for mee to number the starres in the firmament and to inclose the whole sea in a little vessell than to expresse the least part of the blessednes of one soule The ioyes thereof are such and so great that all the Arithmeticians of the world can not number it the Geometricians measure it the Rhetoricians with their tongues expresse it It doth not onely exceed the power of our eloquence but the capacitie of our intelligence Our thoght can conceiue it greater than our tongue vtter it and yet it is greater than we can conceiue and whatsoeuer wee thinke thereof is lesse than it is because the eye hath not seen the eare hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what God hath prepared for those that loue him Faith apprehends it not Hope attaines it not Charity comprehends it not because it farre exceedeth all our vowes all our desires It may be obteined estimated it can not for there is more to be gotten than Faith could beleeue Hope looke after The rewards of GOD are greater than the desires of his saints for so great is the sweetnesse of that heauenly countrey as that if a droppe thereof should descend into hell it would sweeten all the sorrowes of the damned and if God could be seene by the damned in hell hell were a Paradise By this it euidently appeareth what and how great a

this time hee hath repented and God hath pardoned and if God haue wilt not thou Wilt thou still persecute him whom God hath absolued and require that debt that God hath pardoned God is made a friend to thy penitent brother and art thou still his enemie Wilt thou hurt him whom God loueth Take heed I say for if thou bee contrarie to God in his works thou art not Gods friend but his enemy What good would this thy furious and reuengeful mind do thee if to day which may fall out thou shouldest happen to die Doest thou think that when thou art buried in hell thou canst hurt thy enemy yet liuing and reuenge thy wrongs Yea rather he is strongly reuenged of thee in that thy hatred towards him hath brought thee to that place and that hee whilest thou art in torment hath time to begge mercy at Gods hand to obtaine his grace in this life and his glory in the life to come Wherfore deare brother that thou maiest truely loue thy brother being hurt hurt not being slandered slander not hate not him that hateth thee detract not from him that detracteth from thee for it is a more grieuous thing to ouercome a wrong by patience than by reuenge Whether the wrong be iustly or iniustly offered beare it patiently euer remembring that thou hast deserued more greater things for thy sinnes Which thy great and manifold sinnes if thou wilt haue forgiuen thou must needes forgiue those few and small trespasses thy enemie hath committed against thee CHAP. IIII. That by the example of Christ it is no hard matter for a man to pardon his neighbour as often as he offendeth BVT perhaps thou wilt say it is not once that he hath wronged me but many and sundrie times and still he hates me and persecutes me and therfore who can indure it Resp My deare brother as often as thy brother shall sinne against thee Matth. 18 21. so often doeth the Lord command thee to forgiue him To whom Peter came and said Master how oft shal my brother sinne against mee and I shall forgiue him Vnto seuen times Iesus said vnto him I say not to thee vnto seuen times but vnto seuen times seuen times See heere hee setteth downe a finite number for an infinite as if he should say as often as thy brother shall sinne against thee so often forgiue him How greatly and how often soeuer thou sinnest against God so often out of an humble and contrite spirit and an assured hope in the mercies of Christ Iesus thou asking forgiuenesse hee forgiueth and yet shall it seeme a greeuous and an irkesome thing vnto thee a vile and base worme to forgiue thy brother Man can but lightlie wrong thee and seemeth it so heauy a thing to thee not to bee reuenged If thy brother sinne against thee seuentie times seuen times forgiue him yea if a hundred times nay how often soeuer yet forgiue him As often as hee offends thee so often forgiue him if thou wilt that Christ shall forgiue thee as often as thou offendest If thy brother hate thee hate not thou him if hee persecute thee persecute not him but arme thy self against him with the armour of patience not of furie that if he will needs perish thou perish not with him but he die and be damned aliue without thy company But thou wilt say it is a hard thing euer to beare and forbeare and to bridle thy wrath against him Res Yea rather my deare brother it is a more hard and difficult thing to keepe malice rancor in thy heart than to quit thy selfe of it there is no labour in learning it much in retaining it To be freed from anger brings rest and peace to the mind and it is an easier thing to forget iniuries than to remember them There is nothing more greeuous to a man than the remembrance of forepassed wrongs and one man cannot wish a greater mischiefe to another than to wish him haunted with this diuell malice and desire of reuenge For as the first thing that a worme feeds vppon is the wood wherein he is bred so wrath doth first hurt and afflict his hart from whence it springeth Thy minde of it selfe is vnquiet enough and doest thou with hatred and malice increase and exasperate it Thou hast many other crosses from outward causes and yet thou increasest thy burthen and art not at peace with thy owne heart First suppresse thy familiar enemie that is thy carnall concupiscence before thou prouide to make warre against others For though thou be able to ouercome all the enemies thou hast yet new will arise whereof some will sooner oppresse thee than thou all See now which of the two is the more easie to retaine rancour or to leaue it As it is easie and light for an humble man to quit himselfe of enuie and malice so is it a matter of great difficultie to a man of a proud spirit If thou call to mind the passion of Christ there is nothing so hard that with a willing mind thou maist not beare Doest thou not remember how much more hard and bitter things Christ hath suffered when he laid downe his own soule for thee How great and how many slanderous reproches sufferered he of the Iewes How many blowes How many scourgings being mute and silent How patientlie turned hee not his face from the prophane spittings of wicked men How meekly did he yeeld his diuine head to the crown of thorns How contentedly when hee was thirsty did hee take the bitternesse of gall How willingly being life it selfe did he suffer death But who and by whom hath hee suffered these cruelties The creator by his creatures God by men the lord by his seruants the giuer of all good things by vngrateful wretches than which what thing can bee more intolerable And yet being scourged with whips crowned with thorns wounded with nailes crucified being vnmindfull of all these his miseries and torments hee still pitieth those that pitie not him healeth those that wound him giueth life to those that kil him when with a pleasing acceptance much deuotion of spirit fulnesse of charity hee doth not only spare vnto his enemies the life of that holy Lambe but praieth vnto his Father for them saying Luke 23. Father forgiue them they know not what they doe Heere consider the manifold miseries of his body there the manifold mercies of his heart and neuer forget his abundant charitie and wonderfull patience for he tolerateth those hee could punish and cast into the bottomlesse pit of hell Hee that iudgeth and to whom the Father hath giuen all iudgement will not reuenge himselfe but forgetteth and forgiueth his wrongs yea praieth for his persecutors leauing vnto vs an example of his patience that we may follow his steps that as often as others shall offend vs we may bee stirred vp to patience not reuenge For if our master when hee was murdered did loue his enemies how much more