Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	apostle_n	law_n	sin_n	5,562	5	5.3183	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53333	The blessedness of good men after death a sermon preach'd at the funeral of the Revd. Mr. Henry Cornish, B.D., who died on Sunday, Decemb. 18th, in the eighty ninth year of his age and was interred on Thursday, Decemb. 22d, 1698, in the Church of Bisiter, in the County of Oxford : with a preface to rectifie some misrepresentations &c. in a late pamphlet, entitled Some remarks on the life, death, and burial of the said Mr. Cornish / by John Ollyffe ...	Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717.	1699 (1699)	Wing O286; ESTC R7832	31,135	36

follow them IN these Words we have Three Things considerable which we have an account of from the Voice and Spirit of God First That they who Die in the Lord are Blessed Secondly The Reason or Parts of this Blessedness They rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Thirdly The time of the Beginning or Commencement of this Blessedness From henceforth First They that Die in the Lord are Blessed But here the Question is who they are that may be said to Die in the Lord Or what it is that is intended in that Expression or Description of those to whom the Blessing here doth belong I make no doubt as it is also generally understood that these Words were especially and principally intended for the comfort of such Christians who were then like to suffer in those Days of Persecution of the Church of God whereby the Patience of the Saints of which he speaks ver 12. was so much Exercised The outward State of the Church was then very dismal and sad in those dark and afflictive Times And therefore it was but need to give a Word of Comfort and Support to such as were like to bear the Burden of those direful Calamities that were about to fall upon them This seems to be mainly intended here in this Blessing that they might be encouraged thereby to hold out in their Faith and Profession notwithstanding all that should fall upon them In this Sense then by those that Die in the Lord the Holy Martyrs must first be intended who laid down their Lives for the Lord that is for his sake or for their Adherence to his Faith and Gospel This being a very grievous Case God was pleased often in the Scriptures to provide for their Encouragement 2 Tim. 2.11 It is a faithful saying saith the Apostle if we be Dead with him we shall also Live with him If we Suffer we shall also Reign with him Rom. 8.16 17. And that we shall be also glorified together and that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 that shall be revealed in us For saith he our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Thes 1.6 Seeing it is a Righteous Thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe And a great many more such Promises and Encouragements there are to Suffering Christians who Die in the Lord. But then it must be likewise supposed That those who Die thus in or for the Lord and for their Adherence to the Faith of Christ do Die in or under the sanctifying Power of that Faith also the great Design of which was to Purifie the Heart and Work by Love Without which Effect obtained Martyrdom it self if it could be supposed would not at all profit them as we have the Apostle's own Resolution in the Case 1 Cor. 13.3 For saith He Tho' I give my Body to be burnt and have not Charity which is the great Christian Vertue and comprehensive of all the rest it profiteth me nothing For the great End of the Faith of Christ and of the belief of the Gospel is to make Men Holy to recover the Image of God in Men that they may Live to his Glory So that there is no Salvation without this let Men's Sufferings for the Faith seem to have been never so great But then on the other side they who Live and Die in the Power of that Faith having felt the transforming and sanctifying Vertue thereof and so have attain'd to the great End of it tho' they have not undergone the Sufferings of Martyrdom surely may be said to Die in the Lord also They Die United to him adhering to his Interest and Cause Yea they Die for him fighting under his Banner and in his Quarrel against all his Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil And these are also Martyres Animo in the Disposition of their Minds and they would by his Grace maintain the Field for his Sake to the very Death And the sufferings of Mortification which they have endured already are a kind of Martyrdom in cutting off their Right Hands and plucking out their Right Eyes in bringing down the Old Man and crucifying the whole Body of Sin Therefore there is no doubt but that to these also the Blessing here mentioned doth belong For these the Apostle tells us being made free from Sin and become Servants to God have their Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life Rom. 6.22 And all these shall partake of the Inheritance which are sanctified by Faith that is in Christ Acts 26.18 In which Sense 't is a very comfortable Consideration to all truly Penitent and Sound Believers and Good Christians For the evidencing of which these few Things may be farther considered to perswade us that it shall be so First Because the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ is in them so that they are led by the Spirit and live in the Spirit by the Dictates and according to the Rules of the Holy Spirit of God Now there is no Condemnation saith the Apostle to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made them free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.1 Rom. 8.11 And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Ver. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ These Men are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and God will no more destroy those Temples than he will allow others to do so But the Spirit of God with the Blessed Fruits of it which is in them when they Die is a sure Pledge and Earnest of more Blessings to be received afterwards Secondly From hence it will follow That the Image of God is upon them and that in a more eminent manner than it is upon any others They being renewed after the Image of him that Created them in Righteousness and true Holiness So that they have not only the Natural Image of God as it may be called for distinction sake in the Spirituality Powers and Immortality of their Spirits but they have the Moral Image of God also which is the Glory of the Divine Nature which is wrought in them by the transforming Power of the Holy Ghost to whose Holy Dictates and Motions they have been brought to submit themselves And by this Means they are

or Decay For so it shall be 1 Thes 4. for as much as we shall for ever be with the Lord who will for ever Delight in his People ever take Care of them and be a Guard to them that no Evil shall come near them Oh Blessed Day and Blessed State when all this Good shall be imparted to them But when will all this be Thirdly I now proceed therefore to the Third Thing observable in the Words which is the time of the beginning or the Commencement of this Happiness which shall be Henceforth i. e. from the very Day or time of their Death or Departure out of this World Not that they shall be presently instated in all that full Possession of Good which I have mention'd which cannot be whilst their Bodies remain still in the Grave or before the Resurrection Therefore the full Possession or Perfection of Happiness is not to be expected till the Coming of Our Lord as the Scripture generally sets it forth to us Col. 3.4 But when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we appear with him in Glory But yet this Happiness is to begin on the Day of the Saints Dissolution Henceforth from the very time of their Death They shall Rest from all their Labours presently and their Reward doth then begin I know there are other Senses given of this Expression but I can see nothing but this that answers the Design of comforting the Afflicted Servants of God in their present Sufferings which this Text is intended for There is nothing but this Possession of the Reward at Death can denominate them Blessed from Henceforth If they might Glorifie God in this World tho' it were in Suffering yet they would rather desire to do so than be gone hence unless they may come to the present Enjoyment of their Happiness How are they Blessed from Henceforth in having the Reward of their Works if there be no such Reward yet to be enjoyed If the Soul were to sleep in the Grave in a lumpish and unactive State where then would be their Blessedness It were better to continue longer here in performance of their Master's Work and in the Service of their Lord as long as God shall be pleased to uphold them and enable them to hold out in it tho' it were in the midst of Labour and Suffering And they would chuse to do so because hereby they would further their Reward hereafter when God shall Reward Men not only according to the Nature but also according to the Measure and Degree of their Labour and Sufferings All the Troubles and Labours of this Life therefore would rather be endured a great deal than One would chuse to be put into an insensible and unactive State where there is neither Work nor Enjoyment no One that hath any thing of Christian Zeal and Magnanimity would be glad to be removed hence so long as God is pleased to give him Strength and Patience to hold out unless He might immediately pass to the Enjoyment of that Happiness which is the End of all his present Seeking and Striving and Labouring It was this that put St. Paul into such a Strait that he knew not which to chuse Phil. 1.21 For to me to Live is Christ saith he He being heartily devoted to him and being glad to be employed in his Service but then to Die was present Gain For that He must mean or else it had been better and more Gain to live still For if I Live in the Flesh this is the Fruit of my Labour to be serviceable to Christ in the Conversion of more to him Yet what I shall chuse I know not Why Would not the Apostle chuse to serve Christ in the Work of the Gospel rather than cease to be But I am in a Strait betwixt two having a Desire to deport and to launch out from this Body and this World and to be with Christ which is far better That was the Reason why He was willing to be gone from the Body because then he was to be with Christ and that would be far better for him For in this the Apostle is very Positive and Peremptory 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know saith he if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle the Body were dissolved we have a better Dwelling for our Spirit prepared a Building of God an Habitation in the Heavenly Glory an House not made with Hands of Mens or Mortal Facture or Procreation Eternal and undecaying there And in this therefore we Groan earnestly and desire to be clothed upon with that our House which is from Heaven Knowing saith he Ver. 6. that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord therefore are willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. So that it seems the Souls of Good Men at Death are to leave the Body and then be absent from it and then they are forthwith to be present with Christ So 2 Tim. 4.7 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day And what Day was that But the Day of his Departure of which he speaks Ver. 6. and saith was then ready at Hand And that we may not think that this was only a Priviledge belonging to him or to such Excellent Persons as he was He adds and not to me only but also to all them that Love his appearing So that we see that this is a Blessing that all the Faithful Servants and Followers of Christ shall partake of as well as the Blessed Apostle himself Now the Enjoyment of this Happiness in the Regions above I do not only in Charity hope as I would of every ordinary Good Christian but do most firmly believe is the State and Condition of this Reverend and Good Man whose Relicks we have now before us and upon the occasion of the Interment of which we are here met Of whom therefore I cannot but say something tho' not near so much as his Character I believe doth deserve my Acquaintance with him having been so long Interrupted as for some Years He seemed to me to be an Aged Person when I first knew him but by Temperance and Wise Conduct and the Blessing of God thereupon and by the Divine Protection warding off Evil Harms and Accidents from him which might either have cut him off or broken his Health much sooner how hath his Life been prolonged to almost half the common Age of Man since that time It being now towards Thirty Years ago since I was first acquainted with him That which I had always observed in him was a great Kindness and Benignity of Disposition joined with an Undissembled Integrity and Uprightness whereby I dare say he wish'd Well to all Men and bore a Loving Respect in his Carriage to all and rejoic'd in all Men's Welfare and Happiness and was glad when He could himself any ways promote it This I doubt