Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	become_v	body_n	soul_n	5,271	5	5.3562	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42547	God's soveraignty displayed from Job 9. 12. : Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? &c., or, A discourse shewing, that God doth, and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth, as to the matter what, the place where, the time when, the means and manner how, and the reasons thereof : with an application of the whole, to the distressed citizens of London, whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the fire : an excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal, the ends that God aims at in it, with directions how to behave themselves under their losses / by William Gearing ...	Gearing, William.; Gearing, William. No abiding city in a perishing world.	1667 (1667)	Wing G435A; ESTC R18630	101,655	265

this so great affrightment He saw a hand what hand the hand of a man What could one hand of a man saith one terrifie so mighty a Monarch Had he seen the paws of a Lion of a Bear or Dragon there had been some cause of terrour but need such a puissant Prince fear the hand of a man so much at whose beck and command an hundred Troops of Armed Horse would presently fly to his assistance What dreadful weapon could that one hand wield or mannage None but a Pen with which it wrote No other man would much less a King be afraid of a writing pen. Had he beheld the three darts of Joab or the Fiery Sword of the Flaming Cherub brandished directly against him he had then had some argument of astonishment But one hand one pen one piece of writing which he understood not this was that which daunteth him Sometimes the imagination that this or that evil will befall them doth so disturb them that they are presently over-whelmed with fear There are more things which affright us than there be which oppress us some things do torment us more than they ought some things do afflict us before they ought some do disturb us which ought not We often give place to our imaginations and do not give a check to those things which lead us into fears but feeding our fears by our fancy we turn our backs and fly and many times fly when none pursueth I have read of certain Souldiers who being amazed at a little dust raised up by a flock of sheep turned their backs as if the Enemy had been at their heels The French History tells us that the men of Burgundy were so affrighted at the apprehension of the approach of their Enemies that they thought long Thistles to be men with Lances We read that in the daies of Ahaz King of Judah that Rezin the King of Syria and Pekah the Son of Remaliah King of Israel went up to Jerusalem to war against it but could not prevail against it and it was told the house of David that Syria was confederate with Ephraim hereupon the heart of Ahaz was moved and the heart of his people as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind Isa 7.1 2. This kind of fear fills the heart with all confusion leaving a man without memory judgement or will to encounter any danger that threatens his ruine it dis-spirits a man and enfeebleth his spirits that whereas fear is a spur to generous spirits to strengthen them stirring them up to the use of the most effectual means to avoid the danger it doth so deject the faint-hearted and fearful man as he remaineth like a meer block or stone uncapable at all of any action There is a slavish fear when the dread of evil drives us to desperateness in evil and forceth us to fly from the presence of God This is the worst plague of all other no terrour is like inward terrours arising from a guilty Conscience The Conscience of sin is the Mother of fear saith Chrysostome sin is horrours fuel This was the ground of Cains fear the accusation of a guilty Conscience followed him where-ever he went he knowing that blood required blood feared lest every one that met him would kill him Gen. 4. 14. Such a fear surprized Caligula the Roman Emperour of whom it is written that when it thundered he would get into a Vault he had under the earth to hide himself from the wrath of God Such was the fear of some whom Aulus Gellius speaks of who thought there was a plurality of Gods and they divers in quality so some good some bad some good to whom they sacrificed and prayed to help them and some bad also whom they desired to please that they might not hurt them Sin makes in man an Assizes where the soul standeth arraigned and condemned before a terrible Judge The Heathen said that the greatest terrour was earthquakes thunderbolts burnings deluges the earth gaping but what is all this to a trembling heart to the thunderbolts of Gods Judgements to the burning Lake to the inundations of the waters of bitterness to the yawning of the gulf of hell this and worse is the condition of that man whose heart is the habitation of terrour such a man is Magor Missabib he is compassed about with terrour on every side yea he is a terrour to himself he feels a deadly arrow wounding him to the very heart there is both a fire burning and a knife sticking in his tender heart SECT IV. He takes away beauty from man Beauty is but momentaneum corporis accidens If the body fall to ruine the accident cannot stand Among all the qualities that flee away with the body of man there is none more swift than beauty When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Psa 39.11 David complained that when Gods hand lay heavy upon him his moisture was turned into the drought of Summer Psa 32.4 The radical moisture or chiefest sap of his body was dried up wasted and worn away so as he was even brought to deaths door and become little better than an Anatomy or bag-full of bones The radical moisture is an airy and oily substance dispersed through the body whereby the life and vigor of the body is fostered which being spent death ensueth And Solomon tells us that a sorrowful spirit drieth the bones Prov. 17.22 the gathering together of much blood about the heart extinguisheth the good spirits or at least dulleth them and that humor having seized on the heart it cannot well digest the blood and spirits which ought to be diffused through the whole body but turneth them into melancholly the which humor being dry and cold drieth up the whole body and consumeth the beauty thereof for cold extinguisheth heat and driness moisture which two qualities do principally concern the life of man The passion of fear hath likewise wrought strange effects upon some mens bodies I have read of some to whom the sentence of death hath been brought in the Evening whose hair hath turned white before the next morning Beauty is but skin-deep a very slender vail a painted flower that soon withereth although thy hair doth now flourish thy flesh doth shine like ivory though thy Rofial face be beautified with the twinkling gems of thy rolling eyes though the health of thy body doth now minister ability though youthful age doth promise space of longer life though reason springeth and the bodily senses are nimble and vigorous though the sight be quick the hearing ready the going right and strait the face and countenance most pleasant and delectable yet a violent Fever will debilitate thy body and a few fits of a Quartan Ague turn thy beauty into swarthy deformity old age and the space of a few years will shew the slightness of it and death will utterly consume it If vain

these fading helps he placed all his trust and hope in God who would heartily embrace those that came unto him and never forsake those that trusted in him SECT IV. A fourth end God aims at in taking away these things from us is to have us to be instructed in this that mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Luk. 12. 15. By life two things are understood 1. That a mans happiness doth not consist in the abundance of the things he doth enjoy only Christ and a right to assurance of heaven that is a mans happiness in this life and the fruition of Christ and heaven hereafter is the eternal happiness of a man Lazarus was an happy man though he had nothing and Dives a miserable man though he had abundance Earthly-minded persons seek for satisfaction from earthly things therefore there be many that say Who will shew us any good 1. Such a satisfying good as may make our souls happy they look downward and think to find this happiness in outward things But David opposeth his resolved choice to their vain wandring desire Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me as if he had said I know where to have enough Lord let me enjoy thee and have the light of thy countenance shineing upon me and I am satisfied Then he speaks of his former experience that formerly he had found satisfaction from God Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine encreased Psal 4.6 7. as if he had said the fullest Barns and Wine-cellars cannot yeeld that content to an earthly heart that my soul hath formerly found in thee when they are as full as they can hold yet their immortal soul is not satisfied but I by enjoying thee am fully satisfied Then David compareth the satisfaction he had found in God not only with the abundance of these things but with the encrease of them for it is the encrease of outward things that is apt to win the heart a lesser estate encreasing doth more win the hearts of natural men than a greater estate not encreasing But David found more content in God than worldlings did not only in the abundance but also in the encrease of corn and wine Lastly saith he Thou hast put gladness into my heart Thou hast infused it into my soul it is God that sheddeth sweet consolation into the spirit of a man he doth not only give matter of joy and ground of comfort to a believer but giveth as it were the very affection of it to the soul As for earthly things they put not comfort into our hearts if a man will have any good from them he must extract and draw it out and when the heart and the world do close most yet it then falls short of satisfaction but God doth put gladness into the heart and he can satisfie it 2. By life is meant likewise that although a man had never so many possessions had an house full of gold and silver yet all his wealth cannot prolong his daies nor adde a minute to his life as if our Saviour should reason thus I wonder to see men take such great pains for the things of this life to toil and labour in a restless manner if every pound they got and had would adde a day or year more to their lives there were some reason why men should thus toil for riches but can a rich man redeem his life from death with thousands of gold and silver for a day would not a rich man that feareth death and hell give a world if he had it that he might not die and be damned and yet ten thousands of worlds cannot redeem a mans soul from death and hell therefore why are men so greedy after these things that cannot make their lives any longer Let us take a view of the Parable which our Saviour spake upon this very occasion of a rich Farmer wherein several things are to be observed 1. His Trade was very gainful intimated by his ground which brought forth plentifully the world was coming on upon him apace 2. He had heaped together abundance of riches he had so much he could not tell where to lay them 3. See what he resolved upon viz. to follow his pleasures and contentments without all controul as the Proverb is What is a Gentleman more than his pleasure he would take his pleasure as well as the best man in his Country he would play the Glutton and Hunt and Hawk and Whore and Drink and Swear and Swagger and let him see what man would dare controll him he would make the Town and Country too hot for him Thus saith he to himself Soul thou hast riches enough and that not for a day or a moneth or a year but for many years go take thy pleasure eat drink and be merry thy abundance of riches will maintain thee in it here you see the prosperity of a rich covetous fool Mark now the end and conclusion of him behold the lamentable Tragedy of an Earth-worm behold what God saith unto him Thou fool He was but a fool for his labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insipiens an unwise man so the word signifies one that lived by sense like a bruit not forecasting for the future This night they shall take away thy soul Mark the words This night Thou hast to day promised thy self long life mirth and pleasure thou art deceived thy riches shall not lengthen thy life for this night thou shalt die They i. e. the Devils shall come and take away my soul And thou that didst dream of many years pleasure shalt burn in hell to Eternity Salvian hath a good meditation on this place With his goods he prepareth happiness for others misery for himself mirth for others tears for himself a short pleasure for others everlasting fire for himself His Heirs that enjoyed his riches did game eat drink and were merry and this poor covetous wretch was howling and roaring weeping and wailing in hell Now see our Saviours use of this Parable So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God that is so is every covetous wretch that laboureth more for temporal riches than for grace and godliness such a one is a fool though he gets abundance of riches such a one will God cross in his plots and purposes and when he thinks to enjoy his pleasures then God will cut him off and throw him into hell his children after him shall spend his wealth he shall be tormented in hell when they are merry and jovial upon earth SECT V. A fifth end is that thereby we may learn to mortifie our selves Clemens Alexandrinus spake to the purpose The Vine turneth wild and degenerateth unless it be pruned man proveth exorbitant except he be scourged for as the luxuriancy of the Vine-tree runneth out into wilde branches except it be cut and curbed and bringeth forth

earth because our heart and thoughts are here and how unwilling are we to go out of it albeit we are in danger of being suffocated with the smoak of it It is a great folly so eagerly to love fading and unstable things Gregory speaks well to this purpose We never forego any thing willingly but what we possess inaffectionately and speaking of Job he saith He parted with all with a willing mind which he possessed without inordinate delight You now see the best of this world to be but a Moth-eaten thred-bare Coat resolve now to lay it aside being old and full of holes and look after that house above not made with hands eternal in the heavens Set not your heart upon the world since God hath not made it your portion and your inheritance What misery of miseries is it for the immortal soul of man to be enslaved to the world which is but an heap of fuel kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men especially now in this age of the world when it is ready for the fire but in that day when the perdition of the ungodly shall be then shall the world be destroyed the world and all its fond lovers shall perish together in one day How shall this make for the glory of Gods Justice who shall bring destruction upon them that love the world above himself on that day wherein the world it self shall be destroyed Let us therefore endeavour daily to curb and restrain this exorbitancy of affection as King Tarquinius walking in his garden whipped off the tops and heads of the tallest flowers with his staff so must we cut off these rising affections as soon as they begin to peep forth and put up head in our hearts this world which God will not have to be yours O Christians is but the dross and scum of Gods Creation the portion of the Lords poor hired servants the moveables not the heritage of the Sons of Zion It is but an Offal or hard bone cast to the dogs that are thrust out from the new Jerusalem upon which they rather break their teeth than satisfie their appetite Keep your love and your hope in heaven it is not good your Love and your Lord should be in two sundry Countryes as one excellently speaketh he is semper idem alwayes the same yesterday to day and for ever Keep at a distance from the walls of this Pest-house even the pollutions of this defiling and fading world SECT IV. Do not muse too much upon these transitory things do not let your thoughts dwell too much upon them do not mind the things that are beneath do not think often nor think seriously of them so as to say It is good for us to be here let us here build Tabernacles as they are transitory in their own nature so they must be lookt upon in transitu As a Traveller in a Journey may see many fine Towns and stately Edifices with his eye but he mindeth his way he will not stay his horse to take a view of them So he that hath heaven in his thoughts and will seek after a City that is to come must not suffer these fading things to stay him in his course heaven-ward It is the vanity of our spirits that enclineth us to muse upon these transitory things and on the other side the more we dwell upon them in our thoughts the more light and vain our spirits are the more you muse upon them the more you will be ensnared by them What is a soul the poorer to want the lusts and perishing vanities of this present evil world Certainly we have no cause to weep at the want of such toyes as these we have nothing to do in this prison except to take meat drink and house-room in it for a time only this world is not yours let not your heaven be made of such poor mettal as mire and clay Oh where are those heavenly-minded souls that have nothing but their bodies of earth walking up down upon the Superficies of it whose souls and the powers of them are up in heaven Oh mens souls have no wings and therefore they keep their Nest and fly not to that upper Region Could we be deaf and dead to this worlds charms we might deride at the folly of those who are wooing this world for their match and scorn to Court such a withered Princess or buy this worlds kindness with a bow of our knees Alas it is little the world can take from us and it is not much that it can give us but the worst of Christ is better than the worlds best things his Chaff is better than the worlds Corn. Oh let your thoughts dwell much upon that blessedness that abideth you in the other world and upon that continuing City that is to come SECT V. Labour not much for these transitory things Labour not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 Our Saviour therein teacheth us to look upon all things here below whatsoever but as meat that goes into the belly and is cast out of the draught to the dunghill and exhorts us to labour after that meat that shall endure to eternal life Do not then toil and moil for such uncertainties all earthly things are very mutable they are like a Land-flood which faileth in a time of drought when we have most need of water S. Peter tells us The end of all things is at hand It is true in a two-fold sense 1. In a relative sense in relation to every particular person and his interest in them in relation to thee and me and every one of us when our end cometh then the end of all things is come unto us when thy life endeth then the world and all the things of the world do end to thee it is as much to thee as if all the world were at an end 2. It is true in an absolute sense 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up So that all these visible things are temporal and shall have an end Now these visible things are of two sorts either first The substances or subjects Or secondly The accidents though in a proper sense the accidents are visible and the substances cannot be discerned but by their accidents You see not the substance of the world but the colour the form and figure of it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and even this also is temporal and the fashion of it passeth away 1 Cor. 7.31 All visible things though never so pleasing to us as health wealth honours pleasures riches beauty strength all the outward and natural perfections that are in any creatures are not abiding they are temporal only though never so pleasant to us On the other side all

out of which all griefs and sorrows all pains and dolours are banished where there is no place for fears and terrours for diseases or death but all is full of joy and pleasure Happy are they who have passed their hard and wearisome time of Apprenticeship and are now Freemen and Citizens in that joyful high and continuing City the new Jerusalem CHAP. X. Use 2. THe second use that I shall make of Use 2 this point is that of the Apostle in my Text seeing Heaven is a continuing City let us therefore seek this City that is to come You see by experience that we are not to abide for ever in this world neither are men nor any creature of long continuance your health your strength your life your estate your houses your Lands your City your Country are of no duration your pains your aches your weaknesses your sicknesses your Funerals frequently before your eyes do preach that we are not to continue here Oh then make it your work your care your business your one thing necessary to seek after the heavenly City Will ye have everlasting life then seek after this City will ye have happiness that shall continue for ever then seek heaven will ye have pleasures riches honours mansions that shall continue for ever then seek this continuing City that is to come SECT I. Now seek after this heavenly City 1. It supposeth a sense and apprehension that we have lost heaven we were driven out of heaven when we were driven out of Paradise losing Communion with God we lost heaven Sin hath made a wide Gulf between every son of Adam and heaven now till men are under conviction of this loss they will never seek after heaven When the woman in the Parable was convinced of the loss of her groat she made earnest and diligent search after it The Psalmist tells us plainly that men seek not God because they understand not they do not understand they have lost him Psal 14.2 Many a poor creature never cometh to the knowledge of their loss of heaven till they have lost both heaven and their souls for ever and their first entrance into hell is the first tidings of their loss of heaven 2. It implieth a trouble of mind for the loss of heaven it is the fear of hell that puts men upon the diligent seeking after heaven if men were not troubled for the loss of any thing they would never seek after it Let it go say they we care not for it If a man be not troubled for the loss of a friends favour he will never seek to regain it This is one reason why so few seek heaven because few are troubled at the loss of it Oh where is the man that signeth and crieth out woe is me I am undone for I have lost heaven and am in danger of hell I can lay no claim to heaven but hell layes claim to me Where is the man that is troubled in spirit that he is without God without Christ without hope therefore it is that this heavenly City is so little sought after it is only the troubled spirit that is an heaven-seeking soul 3. It supposeth a knowledge of the worth and necessity of the thing we seek for No man will seek for a thing of no value let it go will men say such a thing is not worth a seeking after we can do well enough without it but when men are once convinced of the worth and necessity of a thing which they cannot be without they will earnestly seek after it Now if there be any thing worth seeking for it is this heavenly City Who can be without heaven Is there any thing more precious than God Is there any possibility for our souls to be happy without enjoying God Is not eternal life of unspeakable worth What more precious in this world than life Is not life eternal in heaven most precious O who can suffer the pains of eternal death That man will never be perswaded to seek heaven who never thinks it worth the having and enjoying 4. It implies vehement desires of heaven what a man desireth not that he seeks not earnest longings will put us upon seeking for every thing in other things desires are not seekings but in spiritual things earnest desires of God and heaven are seekings of God and heaven For what are heavenly desires but the reachings of the soul after heaven pursuings after God O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee my soul followeth hard after thee Psa 63.1.8 SECT II. In the second place I will shew you wherein this seeking doth consist 1. It consisteth in an earnest enquiry after the way to heaven Isai 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found the word in the original signifies quaerere interrogatione verbis to seek by words and interrogation as a wandring traveller will be enquiring of all he meeteth the way to such a City So they who seek after this City that is to come they will be very enquisitive about the way to heaven very desirous to be directed in the right way How did divers persons come to Christ Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life What shall I do to be saved O that my feet were directed into the wayes of thy testimonies saith David The greatest fear of holy men is lest they should be out of the way therefore none more scrupulous and less confident than they none fuller of holy doubts than they and more frequently putting forth holy questions Usually men are very confident that they are in the right way to heaven therefore they never seek out after it It vexeth them very much when they are put to the question are ye sure that ye are in the right way to heaven I know not any thing in all the world wherein the generality of men are more contentedly cheated than about their state of Grace and their title to Heaven few there be who have a care to buy gold tryed in the fire 2. It consisteth in a diligent and industrious application of our selves to the use of all appointed means leading and directing us to this heavenly City He that diligently prayeth diligently seeketh heaven he that diligently heareth the Word diligently seeketh heaven Hence in the New Testament the Gospel is often called the Kingdome of Heaven and seeking God is frequently put for the worshipping of God Gods Ordinances are a Jacobs Ladder the top whereof reacheth to heaven though the foot thereof be on earth for by it we scale heaven The Ministery of the word are a light and a Lanthorn to our steps to guide our feet in the way to heaven God hath set up the Ministery as way-marks to direct Travellers in the right way those that neglect Gods faithful Ministers do neglect the seeking heaven Take this rule or caution when you come to Gods Ordinances make heaven and salvation and seeking