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	congregation_n	zion_n	53	3	8.3587	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02735	Deaths aduantage little regarded, and The soules solace against sorrow Preached in two funerall sermons at Childwal in Lancashire at the buriall of Mistris Katherin Brettergh the third of Iune. 1601. The one by William Harrison, one of the preachers appointed by her. Maiestie for the countie palatine of Lancaster, the other by William Leygh, Bachelor of Diuinitie, and pastor of Standish. Whereunto is annexed, the Christian life and godly death of the said gentlevvoman.	Harrison, William, d. 1625.; Leigh, William, 1550-1639.	1602 (1602)	STC 12866; ESTC S117329	105,988	243

lie is taken you all do well know which haue any experience in the world whither he is brought the Apostle teacheth when hee saith Ye are come to the mount Sion and to the citie of the liuing God the celestiall Ierusalem and to the companie of innumerable Angels And to the congregation of the first borne which are written in heauen and to God the iudge of all and to the spirits of iust and perfect men and to Iesus the mediatour of the new testament Who would be vnwilling thus to be taken away And why should the righteous be afraid of death by which they are thus taken away Had the Israelites anie cause to be vnwilling or to feare to be taken out of the land of Egypt the house of bōdage and to bee caried as it were vpon Eagles wings into the land of Canaan a land that flowed with milke and honie No more cause haue the righteous to feare death which would carie them from the bondage of this world to the heauenly Canaan a place of eternall rest And why then should we mourne immoderately for the death of the righteous Whē Ioseph was taken from prison to be made a chief ruler in Egypt if his father Iacob had bin in prison with him and had beene acquainted with his preferment should he haue had anie iust cause to be grieued So soone as hee heard of it he reioyced and was willing to go vnto him When Saul was takē frō seeking his fathers asses and annointed to be king ouer Israel had his father Kish any reason to lament Whē Dauid was taken from following the Ewes great with yong ones and ordained King to feed the Lords people had his father Ishai anie iust occasion of sorrow No more cause haue anie of vs to bewaile the death of the godly seeing they are as highly preferred as any of thē When Hester was takē from Mordecai who had brought her vp as his own daughter to be maried vnto king Ahashuerosh and crowned as Queen did he lament it was he not most willing to leaue her Why then should anie man be so vnwilling to leaue either daughter or wife though neuer so deare vnto him seeing that shee is but taken vp into heauen there to be maried vnto Christ the husbād of his Church and there to be crowned as a Queene to raigne in glorie with him But in this taking away there is great difference betwixt the godly and the wicked They are also taken away but why The godly are taken out of the world because the world was not worthie of them but the wicked are taken away because they are vnworthie to liue in the world Those are taken away in mercie these in iudgement those in the Lords fauour and these in his displeasure And whence are these taken or whither They are taken from the practise of sinne to suffer punishment for sinne from ease to torment from the first life to the second death from men to diuels from earth to hell from prison to the place of execution In a woful taking shall they be when they are thus taken away Their lamentable taking away is described in him that will not in time be reconciled to his brother The iudge deliuereth him to the sergeant the sergeant takes him and casts him into prison whence he must not come till hee haue paide the vtmost farthing Likewise in him that would not forgiue his fellow seruant an hundred pence his master being wroth deliuered him to the iayler who tooke him and cast him into prison till he should pay all that was due Also in him that wanted the wedding garment at the marriage feast of the kings sonne the king saith to his seruants binde him hand and foote take him away and cast him into vtter darkenes there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Likewise in the vnprofitable seruant which would not imploy his maisters talent the talent must be taken from him he must be taken and cast into vtter darkenes where is weeping and gnashing of teeth Lastly in them which would not suffer their king to raigne ouer them he shall say those mine enemies which would not that I should raigne ouer them bring hither and slay them before me It is a grieuous thing for one that is making merrie among his companions to be sodainely apprehended by a sergeant or officer for a traitour theefe or murtherer and presently without baile or mainep●ise to be taken from his companie and carried to prison and from thence to the place of execution As grieuous is it for a wicked man that liues in the pleasures of sinne to be taken away by death which is the Lords sergeant to apprehend him and bring him to the prison of hell As his entrance into the world was euill and his continuance in the world was worse so his taking out of the world shall be worst of all Oh then let vs take heede least we be thus taken away Let vs learne to liue in the world as the righteous doe and then shall we be taken away as the righteous are Balaams wish is vsed by many Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his And yet they will not liue the life of the righteous but few of these obtaine their desire Looke what way a tree boweth while it stands and groweth the same way it commonly falleth when it is cut downe euen so looke how men are inclined in their life time to righteousnes or vnrighteousnesse so shall they fall at their death Men can hardly begin righteousnesse at their last end Late repentance is seldome sound repentance Men drawing neere to their end shall be so affrighted with death so troubled with paine and grief that they shal not be able to set themselues to repent soundly They shall then rather seeke ease for their bodies then mercie for their sins or grace for their soules The beginning of euerie thing is hardest and therefore he which hath begun wel is said to haue done halfe his worke As it is in other things so is it with repentance it is a harder matter to begin repentance at the first then to renue it afterward therfore the fittest time should be taken for the beginning of it that is rather the time of our life then the time of our death rather the time of our health then the time of our sicknesse In the time of our life and of our health we be scarse able and fit to begin serious repentance but much more vnable and vnfit shall we be in the time of sicknes death We read in scripture but of one which became righteous at his last end the theefe on the Crosse wee reade of one that no man might despaire though hee haue deferred his repentance so long we reade but only of one that no man might presume to deferre it so long The surest and safest way is to begin

well Isaac sonne of the free woman as Ishmael sonne of the bond woman as well Iacob whom God loued as Esau whom God hated as well chast Ioseph as incestuous Ammon as well meeke Moses as rayling Rabshekah as well zealous Phineas as the luke-warme angell of Laodicea as well Dauid a man according to Gods owne heart as Saul from whom God tooke his spirit and mercy as well Salomon the wise as Nabal the foole as well tender hearted Iosiah as hard harted Pharaoh as well the humble Publican as the proude Pharisie as well poore Lazarus to bee caried into Abrahams bosome as the rich glutton to be caried into hell as well Iohn the beloued disciple as Iudas the traytour as well Simon Peter the Apostle as Simon Magus the sorcerer Mercilesse death doth exercise her crueltie vpon all alike Why should this be so Hath not Christ dyed for the righteous why then should they dye Death is the reward of sinne Christ hath satisfied for all their sinnes wherefore should they beare this penaltie of sinne The righteous must dye the first death though Christ haue died for them and suffered for their sinnes His death shall free them from the second death but not from the first death which is the separation of soule and body He hath onely altered the nature and vse of the first death but not quite taken it away Whereas at first it was ordained for a punishment of sinne he hath made it a passage into heauen it was threatned and inflicted as a curse but he hath turned it into a blessing It did at first depriue men of good but now it putteth them in possession of good Christ hath taken away the sting of it and therefore Paul saith O death where is thy sting So as it can no more hurt vs then a Bee which hath lost his sting It doth not hurt vs but help vs not hinder vs but further vs in obtaining of glory Iacob not long before his death pronounced this as a curse from the Lord vpon the tribe of Simeon and Leui for their crueltie I will diuide them in Iaakob and scatter them in Israel Yet when the children of Leui shewed their zeale and obedience in killing the idolaters at Moses commandement the Lord turned this curse into a blessing Their scattering was a furtherance vnto them to make them more fit to teach the people in euery citie and receiue the tythes of euery tribe So at the first the Lord threatned death at the punishment of sin but by faith in Christ it is made the end of sinne and beginning of glorie He who could at the beginning bring light out of darkenes could afterward bring a blessing out of a curse If Phisicians by their arte can extract an antidote or preseruatiue against poyson out of poysonfull things why may not God by his infinit power and wisdome drawe good out of euill a mercy out of iudgement and a blessing out of curse Yea and as Augustine teacheth death remaineth still for the righteous to exercise their faith withall If immediatly vpon remission of sin there should follow immortality of the body faith should be abolished which waiteth in hope for that which is not yet enioyed Yea the Martyrs could not testifie their faith their patience their courage their constancie and loue vnto Christ in suffering death for his sake But now let vs more particularly consider the titles giuen to the death of the righteous First it is said that he perisheth which must not so be vnderstood as if he were quite destroyed brought to nothing and had no more being as it befalleth bruite beasts at their death whose soules being traduced with their bodies are mortall and perish with their bodies the righteous hath a being euen after death yet may be said to perish in regard of outward appearance in the iudgement of flesh and blood he seemeth to perish Yet we must know that the righteous consists of soule and bodie his soule being immortall cannot perish by any meanes it can liue out of the bodie as well as in the bodie When it leaues the bodie it goes vnto the Lord. This Salomon taught Dust returnes to the earth as it was and the spirit returnes to God that gaue it This Paul wished desiring to bee loosed and to be with Christ. This Lazarus enioyed at his death being carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome And this Iohn in a vision saw performed to the Martvrs vnder the Altar hee sawe the soules of them which were killed for the word of God But the bodie of a righteous man may bee saide to perish because it loseth the forme the nature and propertie of an humane body It is within a short space eaten vp of wormes and turned into dust and ashes so as there can appeare no signes of a body Though wee make neuer so much of our bodies yet can wee not keepe them from perishing though we feed them most daintilie clothe them most costly and cherish them most carefullie yet at last they will become a thing of naught the beautie of them will fade they shall be deformed and most ougly to behold The strength of them will be taken away so as they shall not stirre an hand or a foote the agilitie of them will be lost they shall remaine stiffe and be nummed the parts and members of them shall perish and fall away one after another The flesh blood and bones shall be so strangely turned to dust and earth that there shall not remaine any propertie or qualitie of them and a man if he knew it not before would neuer iudge that dust and earth to haue been flesh and blood and bones of a liuing man yea so greatly shall our bodies be altered that men shall not be able to discerne which dust came of them and which came of the earth Yet one thing I must needs adde for the comfort of the righteous that although his body seeme thus to perish in the iudgement of men yet it still hath a being in the sight of God and doth euen at that time and in that case remaine a member of Christs mysticall body For the vnion betwixt Christ and the faithfull is not of soules only but also of bodies the body of euery faithfull man and woman is truely vnited to Christs bodie And this vnion cannot be broken death cannot dissolue it though death doth breake the vnion betwixt man and wife yet it cannot breake the vnion betwixt Christ and the faithfull As death did not make a separation betwixt the two natures of Christ at the time of his suffering but his soule and bodie being farre distant the one in heauen the other in the graue were at that time and in that case personally vnited to his godhead no more can death make a separation betwixt Christ and the faithfull though their bodies doe putrifie and lie rotting in their graues yet stil they remaine

is some euill for the righteous to dwell among ill neighbours It greatly greeueth them to see others commit sinne and dishonour God Lot being righteous and dwelling among the Sodomites in seeing hearing their vnlawfull deeds vexed his righteous soule from day to day And Dauid said Mine eyes gush out with riuers of water because they keep not thy law And also woe is me that I remaine in Meshech and dwell in the tents of Keaar Hee which is truelie grieued for sin in himselfe wil also be grieued for sinne in others Now the world is so fraught with sinners that if a man would not keepe companie with fornicators or with the couetous or with extortioners or with idolaters then as Paul saith he must go out of the world Death therefore frees men from this euill because it taketh them out of the world and suffereth them not to behold eyther the sinnes which men commit against God or the euils which God doth bring vpon them yea death doth carrie them into heauen to the holie angels and spirits of iust and perfect men which sinne not at all but fulfill the will of God in all perfection They shall haue cause to reioyce for them and not to be grieued at them There be also extraordinarie euils from which the righteous are deliuered by death and those are extraordinarie iudgements which the Lord bringeth vpon the people and countrie where they dwelt for some late and grieuous sins Thus was a young child of Ieroboam dealt withall The Lord threatned to bring euill vpon the house of Ieroboam and to sweepe off the remnant of his house as a man sweepeth away dung til it be all gone Yea the dogs should eate him of Ieroboams stocke that died in the Citie and the foules of the aire should eate him that died in the field yet that childe should die in his bed and all Israel as it is said shall mourne for him for he onlie of Ieroboam shall come to the graue because in him there is found some goodnes toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Ieroboam Thus also was good king Iosiah dealt withall The Lord told him before hand because thine heart melted and they hast humbled thy selfe hast rent thy clothes and wept before mee behold therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be put in thy graue in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the euill which I will bring vpon this place And thus was Luther dealt withall as some haue obserued who was taken away in peace not long before the Lord brought that miserable calamitie vpon Germanie which he had often foretold would come vpon that people for the contempt of the Gospel Who also desired that hee might be called out of the world before he saw those grieuous punishments which hee greatly feared Though this be no perpetuall law for sometime the righteous perish in the common destruction among the wicked as Ionathan did with Saul other Israelites in battell against the Philistims And in the Pestilence Christians haue dyed with the Infidels Sometime God spareth the wicked for the righteous mens sake which liue among them The Lord promised Abraham that if he could finde ten righteous men ●n Sodome hee would not destroy the citie for those tennes sake And Iob sayd The innocent shall deliuer the yland and it shall be preserued by the purenes of his hands Yea wheate and tares must grow together till the haruest that is good and bad must liue together in the world vntil the end of the world Yet oftentimes God pluckes his children out of fire which shall consume the wicked and prouides a place of safety for them in heauen before he powre forth his iudgements vpon the earth Lot was commaunded to make haste vnto the citie of Zoar to saue him there because the Lord could doe nothing vnto Sodom till hee was come thither And when the Lord would destroy Ierusalem for the abominations committed in it he shewed to the Prophet in a vision the destroyers comming forth with their weapōs to destroy yet they must not touch any vntill they were all marked in their fore heads which mourned for all the abominations done in the midst of it And the destroying Angels must not hurt the earth neither the sea nor the trees till the seruants of God were sealed in their foreheads As the righteous are carefull to serue the Lord so is he carefull to preserue them As they haue not bin partakers with the common sort in the practise of sin so shall they not bee partakers with them in suffering punishment He takes them from among the wicked and then executeth his iudgements vpon the wicked alone The Egyptians did vse to gather their corne out of the fields and laid it vp in their barnes and then caused the Israelites to gather the stubble to make bricke withall and in some Countreys Farmers first carry the corne into their barnes and then burne the stubble in the field where it growes so the Lord first gathereth the righteous into the kingdome of heauen and then consumeth the wicked on the earth It is farre from the iudge of all the world to slay the righteous with the wicked 1. In this respect those which suruiue the righteous haue iust cause to feare some present euils and labour by vnfained repentance if it be possible to preuēt them Their death is a plaine prognostication of some euils to come and should be as a trumpet to awaken others out of the sleepe of sinne Many of the wicked reioyce when the godly are taken away frō them they loue their roomes better then their company they hated them and their profession in their life time because as they say they are not for our profit and they are contrary to our doings they checke vs for offending against the law it grieueth vs to looke vpon them for their liues are not like other men and therefore at their death they are glad that they are rid of them when indeede they haue greater cause to howle and weepe for the miseries that shall come vpon them The righteous need not to imitate the vngodly practise of Herod who being ready to dye thinking that his death would be a great ioy to many shut vp in prison some noble men of euery towne and required his sister Salome her husband Alexa that so soone as he was dead they should kil those noble men and then all Iudaea would lament his death The Lord himselfe doth often make the death of the righteous to be lamented by sending of extraordinary iudgements immediatly after their death When Noah enters into the Arke the world is drowned with the floud when Lot departs out of Sedome it is burnt with fire 2 In this respect also y● righteous haue no cause to feare death but rather to desire it for what is it