Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	body_n	call_v	soul_n	13,519	5	5.4839	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93746	The nature of God's kingdom and dominion over men clearly laid open and explained, as the same relates to these following particulars ... in a discourse on Deut. 8.2. wherein is likewise shewed, what influence these things ought to have upon our life and conversation / by Richard Stafford.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5125; ESTC R42792	28,272	40

fron within which shall fetch out the Soul to receive for its Sinful Evil Deeds Saith one It is easy for the Lord to recompence a Man according to his ways in the day of his Death Nay He doth it not so properly in the ex●ct and particular day of Ones Death as afterwards for as when we begin an Action or Commence a Suit at Law against any Man we do first Arrest him by such a Bayli● or Inferiour Officer So God hath his Sergeant or Messenger who sits upon a Pale Horse whose Name is Death and enters into Palaces all One as common Houses for no Place or Person is Priviledged against him who arrests severally all the Men and Women of all Generations and Countries and fetches out their Souls from their Bodies Luke 12. 20 And then God begins his Process or Proceedings against them according to what they have done in this Life whither Good or Evil. God could have Punished Man in this Life and on this Earth If he had so pleased But his general Decr●● is to spare them here expecting that his Goodness Forbearance and Long Suffering should lead them to Repentance but when he hath given them a space to Repent and they Repented not then comes Retribution and Punishment In this Life man doth Despise and Provoke the Lord God but by Death God takes Vengeance on Man For the Wrath of God is Revealed from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men Rom. 1. 18. Mark here diligently how it is expressed It is Revealed that is as much as to say It is made known from Heaven but it is not yet executed and sensibly felt which will then be after the Breath of Men is gone out of their Nostrils and their Souls are departed from their Bodies or rather when they come to rise up and be Reunited again then they shall receive according to what they did in them in this Life and on this Earth On this wise all the great Promises a●d Threatnings of God do stand The Promises are now revealed or made known from Heaven they belonging unto Godliness and Righteousness but are not yet Actually given But they shall be certainly given in the appointed time or rather at the End of time And so the Threatnings are Revealed or made known from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men by which last Word is signified all that is contrary unto that great and compleat Rule of Righteousness in Scripture Comprehending all our Duty to God as well as to our Neighbour and not only Injustice and Wrong between Man and Man although this is included also it being contrary to that great and compleat Rule of Righteousness therein mentioned but God doth not execute his Threatnings presently nor yet are they sensibly felt by the Children of Men. Which yet some of them will sensibly feel Smart and Groan under after that their Spirits are deceased or departed from these Bodies of Clay and are removed to another place then this Earth God hath another place besides this Earth and another time besides this Life to fulfil and make good every thing to the least little that he hath now spoken unto the Inhabitants of this Earth in his written and Revealed Word The Bruitish Man and Unbeliever and Ignorant Persons are apt to put off all this with a transient Jest or their way of Proverb What Shall I speak of it after I am Dead Shall I feel Punishment when my Body can feel nothing Implying as if there was an Impossibility in this No such matter Behold I shew you a Mystery Neither they nor we shall Dye but we shall be all changed How now What dost thou contradict Scripture and the Experience of all Mankind It is appointed to Men once to Dye Notwithstanding that I will however make out what I before said and affirmed that neither we nor yet Unbelievers shall ever Dye We that is our selves our Souls shall not Dye This is most true For it is only the Body that Dies then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit to God who gave it Then the Soul doth only decease or depart from this Earthly House God knows where Hence Death is properly called a Decease or Departure Our Life is only taken off from the Earth Acts 8. 33. but continued elsewhere And so the Soul is equally alive the next Hour or Day after her departure from the Body all one as she was when she was in it And it returns to God who gave it And then she hath a more Lively Hope or Comfortable Assurance of good things from him or a Fearful Expectation of Evil things according as she hath behaved he self well or ill in the Body The shewing unto ye this Mystery doth also answer those two other Imaginations in the Children of Disobedience which emboldens them to Sin or Transgress against him because he is out of sight and he now keeps Silence For besides that the same Word of Truth which saith No Man hath seen God at any time Joh. 1. 18. doth elsewhere acquaint us with the Glorious Appearing of the Great God Tit. 2. 13. And how that it shall be one day said to the Cities of Judah Behold your God Isa 4●●9 The same Word which doth take notice how that God hath a long time refrained himself and held his Peace even of Old Isa 57. 11. There it is added And thou fearest me not Even for that same Reason because he h●ld his Peace And so he holdeth his Tongue when the Wicked Devoureth the Man that is more Righteous then he Hab. 1. 13. And also whilst that Evil Iniquity and Treachery are Transacted which is mentioned in the very same Verse And so it is whilst the whole course of Sin and Transgression goes on as the same is committed by the Generations of Mankind Th●se things hast thou done and I kept Silence Psal 50. 21. Why here the same Word that expresses how God holds his Peace holds ●is Tongue and keeps Silence doth also mention and assure us Our God shall come and shall not keep Silence I will Reprove thee and set them in order before thine Eyes Psal 50 3. 21. Even all the things that were done in this Life and on this Earth Behold how one Scripture answereth to another for it is even so in the Order and Determination of God And we shall see it accordingly so fulfilled as it is written in the Scriptures when the Lord God of Elijah shall take away all the Generations of Mankind from this Earth and shall cause the Dead to arise and the great Day of his Judgment is come and the after State It was before mentioned that though God is now out of sight yet at this very time he hideth himself and standeth behind the Skreen of his Visible Creatures yet Faith would find him out and perceive him for all that As also an Obedience of Faith would approve our selves unto and please him all

Assurance that all things are indeed so as they are spoken of in Scripture And I do through this which hath been a Cloud and Stumbling Block to some see clearly and apprehend plainly the Nature of God's Kingdom and Dominion over Men to be on this wise viz. As about the time of Forty Years he suffered the manners of the Israelites in the Wilderness Acts 13. 18. saith our Text To prove them In like manner for about the time of Threescore Years and Ten or Fourscore Years he doth suffer the manners of all the several Persons of Men and Women of all Countreys in this Wilderness of the Earth letting them go on as they will to see what they will do and what their End will b● This is his Eternal Decree which seems to be Establi●●e● upon great Wisdom for hereby ●e doth Effectua●●y prove them to know what is in their Heart whither t●ey will keep his Commandments or no. This very same Order and Dispensation of the things of God towards us Men may be understood from that of the Apostle as indeed the whole Series Design of Scripture hath a Relation and Tendency to what he hath written For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive for the things done in the Body according to that he hath done whither it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5. 10. Whereby it is clearly shewn forth and intimated that People do not receive in this Life according to the things that they have here done in the Body but they will receive for them in the Day of Judgment and in the succeeding Eternity There will be nothing done of this until these Bodies are laid in the Graves and an Hour is coming after that in the which all that are in their Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation John 5. 28 29 God will make one Work and Reckoning of it altogether according to Mat. 25. 32. And before him shall be gathered all Nations c. And the Destruction of the Sinners and Transgressors shall be together Isa 1. 28. Even of all Generations and Countries although now they Live out their appointed time and Dye as other Men. The Spirit of God saith by the same Isaiah The Sinner being an Hundred Years Old shall be accursed Isa 65. 20. The Word of God doth Speak Evil of him now and Evil shall befal him hereafter although as yet he hath felt nothing of outward Harm or Evil. Good Men have been offended at the present Prosperity and Impunity of the Wicked We hear frequently thereof in the Old Testament but not altogether so much in the New Those who had chiefly Temporal Promises to encourage them to Obedience might well Startle and Stumble when the Disobedient received the same in Effect Verily I have cleansed my Heart in vain Psal 73. 13. There was not then so clear a Revelation of the Judgment to come and of the succeeding Eternity which is to make a wide Decision and vast Difference between the Righteous and the Wicked This would have instantly satisfied all their doubts But now Christians who are assured of all this have no Reason to be Envious at the Foolish when they see the Prosperity of the Wicked Yet Do ye think the Scripture saith in vain The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to Envy Jam. 4. 5. The difference between the Sins of the Regenerate and Unregenerate is the Regenerate have little motions and tendencies towards the same Sins which they crush and keep short but the others suffer them to break forth into op●n Act. And so there are at this Day in sincere good People some little Inclinations or Lustings to Envy They are apt to be Grieved that they who Provoke or Despise God should Flourish and seem outwardly in better Plight then themselves There is a carnal Intermixture something for themselves when they Cry out O Lord How long shall the Wicked Triumph How long wilt thou suffer them to do on this wise Perhaps they have their Portion in this Life Psal 17. 14. As Augustine did observe that was the Reason of the long Prosperity and Continuance of the Roman Empire for their Exercise of Moral Vertues Like as we Read in One of the Prophets That God did give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar for Wages in serving him with his Army in such a Work as he would have done And this same is the very Reason why many People have Health and Prosperity Riches and long Life who will yet never go to Heaven but they are Rewarded here for that little good they have done And therefore the Psalmist Prays by the Spirit Deliver my Soul from Men which are thy Hand O Lord from Men of the World which have their Portion in this Life and whose Belly thou fillest with thy hid Treasure They are full of Children and leave the rest of their Substance to their Babes This would not content and satisfy him but he was rather afraid of it As for me By which kind of Speech he would Distinguish and Exempt himself from them I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be sati●fied when I awake in thy Likeness I have Read of a certain Godly Man who when he was Exalted to great Perfe●ment and Revenues he did very much fear least thereby God meant to give him his Portion in this Life and thereupon he was doubtful whither he should accept of it yet afterwards he did However we are to let God alone with the Ways of his Providence for he and not we poor Wretches knoweth what he hath to do How he deals with others what is that to us We may rest fully satisfied and most certainly assured with what the Wise Man saith Though a Sinner do Evil an Hundred times and his Days be Prolonged yet surely I know it shall be well with them which Fear God which Fear before him Eccles 8. 12. God cannot be Unrighteous and if he deals more Bountifully with the Wicked in this Life then with you certainly you will fare better then they in that Life which is to come It will be better for those who in the Days of their Flesh Lived before him in Righteousness and true Holiness then with those who in the same Days of their Flesh did Despise God or Lived in some Transgression or Disobedience the same while Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Right Yea He shall do Right and make an exact Distribution Judgment will I lay to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet to every Man according as his Work hath been Doth any wise or knowing Man envy Oxen or Sheep as he sees them Feeding in good Pastures but he rather Pities the poor Creatures because he apprehends what it is for to Fat them for the Shambl●s This is the very case as to the Prosperity of the Wicked