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	dead_a	death_n	5,993	5	5.8279	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10084	A verie godlie and learned sermon treating of mans mortalitie, and of the estate both of his bodie and soule after death. Preached at Denham in Suffolke. At the celebration of the solemne and mournfull funerals of the right orshipfull Sir Edward Lewkenor Knight, and of the vertuous Ladie Susan, his wife, both at once. By M. Robert Pricke their beloued and faithfull minister: now also since that time (to the encrease of our sorow for the losse of so excellent a light) departed this life.	Pricke, Robert, d. ca. 1608.; Allen, Robert, fl. 1596-1612.	1608 (1608)	STC 20338; ESTC S112476	28,846	49

stinking sauour and in the ende is wholie turned into dust Which is the estate of all men yea euen of Dauid himselfe the bodie of our Lord Iesus Christ onely excepted which by a speciall prerogatiue sawe no corruption at all The vses to be made of the former consideratiōs of the bodies estate in by death Which beeing so what doe young gallantes meane both men women so to paint their faces and frownce their haire as they vse to doe seeing that baldnes shall couer their heads and their visages shall become so pale and fearefull that the strongest hearted yea they themselues if they could possiblie discerne it should not be able to beare the view thereof but they must needes quake tremble and abhorre themselues And what reason haue the Epicures delicates and belly-gods of the world excessiuelie to pamper and stuffe their bodies with the most daintie meates and drinks seeing they must of necessitie rot putrifie and consume to dust ashes And to what purpose doe a great manie carrie about them continuallie such excesse of sweete sauours and perfumes for as much as their carkasses are within a while after to cast forth such an horrible and contagious smell as the least part whereof were able to infect a whole citie or countrie All which expences therefore are but superfluous vanitie and lost labour Neuerthelesse the bodies of those that haue led a godlie life shall not continue alwayes in this senselesse deformed and abased estate But heere some man may demaund whether the bodies of the dead shall alwayes remaine in this estate without change and restitution which if it be so it seemeth that the soule is euill matched with such a bodie that there is no difference betweene the state of the bodies of bruite beasts and the estate of men who are by the dignitie of creation their Lords and Superiours The answere heerevnto is that the dead bodies of men shall be restored by the last and finall resurrection For by the vertue power spirit of our Lord Iesus Christ whereby his owne bodie was quickened and raised vp from the dead shall the bodyes of all the faithfull first of all bee quickened and raised vp their soules restored to them againe therewithall the qualities of their bodies shal bee changed from their former worse The bodies of the faithfull shall bee raised from death be made thenc forth glorious immortall to a better renewed estate to wit from mortall to immortall frō corruption to incorruption from earthly to heauenly frō weake to strong from base to glorious For why their bodies shal be conformed like to the glorious bodie of of our Lord Iesus Christ so that the iust shall shine as the sunne in the kingdome of their Father All which is very largely handled 1. Thes 4. 1. Cor. 15. Phil. 3.21 Mat. 13.43 and set forth 1. Thess 4. 1. Cor. 15. Phil. 3.21 Mat. 13.43 Wherein it appeareth that whatsoeuer wound or losse the bodie receiueth by death the same is healed and restored againe by the resurrection of the dead And therefore as the Scripture doth often make mention of the resurrection of the deade and all the faithfull doe earnestlie wish and longe after it Three vses to be made from the doctrine of the resurrectiō our beliefe in that respect so I beseech you let our meditations and thoughts be continually occupied about it For why the true knowledge and remembrance of it doth serue for many good and comfortable vses 1. we are more willing to die our selues whē the time appointed is cō● First of all it causeth a man willingly to put off his earthly Tabernacle seeing hee shall resume and be clad with another from heauen farre more excellent and glorious 2. we haue cōfort in the death burial of our godly friends who dy before vs. Again it ministreth comfort to them that bestow and lay vp the dead bodies of their friends in the graues for why they know they doe not yeeld or deliuer them vp to destruction but lay them vp as it were in soft beds to the end that they may sleepe quietly till they be awaked by the sound of the last Trumpet 3 It stirreth vs vp to the care of a godly life that so we may haue comfort in death Finally if men thinke earnestly of the last resurrection it cannot but stir them vp so to liue and behaue thē selues in this life that they may haue a ioyfull and blessed resurrection For whie all shall not be raised vp to glorie and happines but many to shame and eternal confusion as appeareth Ioh. 5.29 Dan. 12.2 5. Ioh. 29 12. Dan. 2. All which being true and vndoubted let vs hold and maintaine the true doctrine of the resurrection The former doctrine concluded with a louing mild exhortation and continuallie set it before our eies to the end that wee may thereby stirre vp our selues to walke on and continue in such a holy conuersation that at the second cōming of Iesus Christ the Lord of the resurrection wee may not desire the mountains hills to fall vpon vs The estate of the soule after the death of the bodie but rather lift vp our heads and looke for the full accomplishment of our redemption Thus much of the state of the bodie after death It returneth to God Now followeth likewise the estate of the soule after death in these wordes The soule of man is immortall as it is proued by many reasons And all these make way verie profitably to the description of the estate of the soule folowing after The spirit returneth to him that gaue it From whence wee first obserue that the soule of man is not the naturall spirits of the bodie nor fire and heate nor breath vapor nor any accidētal qualitie which perisheth with death as wee see in bruite beastes but a spirituall immortal substance which remaineth after death 1 Because it vanisheth not but goeth to God For how can a vapor or rather that which is nothing remoue from earth to heauen Yea for further confirmation when our Sauiour saith to the repentant Thiefe Luc. 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise that is in euerlasting ioy happines he could not possiblie meane the bodie for that was taken downe from the gibbet and laid in the earth but he must needes meane the soule diuorced and seuered from the bodie 2. Because the seruāts of God desier to haue their Soules loosened from the bodie In like manner the Apostle Paule desired to bee dissolued and to be with Christ he knew very well that his body should returne anone after to the dust and therefore desireth to be present with Christ not in bodie but in soule 3 Because they doe with comfort commend them to God when they dy Psal 31.5 Luke 23.46 Act. 7.59 Furthermore with what conscience and truth could the

holy seruants of God say Father into thine hand I commend my spirit if the soule did immediatly after death perish and vanish into the aire Lastly how is it possible that empty aire and a thing without essence should be endued with such affections 4 Because they are indued with pure and earnest affections after that they are sundred from the bodie as that in heauen and eternall glory they should wish desire the accomplishment perfect felicity of all the elect as the Euangelist doth attribute to the soules of the seruants of God which are departed in the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ 5 The immortalitie of the soule hath many famous testimonies from many of the heathen Wherevpon it followeth that the soule of man is an immortall substance Which was a thing well known also to the heathen by the light of nature whose iudgment and sentences it weare an easie matter here to recite but that the holy Scriptures are so cleare and sufficient in the point as in all other that he which will not credit them will not beleeue nor be perswaded though one should rise again from the dead And yet some of the sayings of heathen men are here set down to the view of those that haue a mind to see them First of Plato of whose disputation of the immortalitie of the soule this is the summe Psuche ara athanatos c. The soule thē is immortal cānot perish c Phocylides Psuchaigar mimnousi acerioi c. The soules remaine in corruptible or immortall c. Cyrus apud Xenophōt in his Oration to his children a little before his death Plutarch citeth an Oracle for this purpose vttered to one Corax Naxus in these words Ouc hosionesti tes psuches catagnonai thanaton It is a wicked thing to acknowledge any death of the soule See also the disputation of Tullie in the first booke of his Tuscul questions Hetherto doe pertaine the fancies of Hell of the Elysian fields c. described in Homer Virgill Hether the honourable and carefull burials of the deade the imagined walking of Ghostes or spirits after death such like to make some vse of them against all prophane and hellish Atheists that liuing vnder the Gospell go not yet so far in this point as they did nay come verie far short of them to their great shame From all which reasons it may be concluded that in vaine doe the Atheists whereof we haue too manie examples puffe out a little warme breath in scorne and derision saying there goeth my soule he being therein fowlie deceiued and sheweth himselfe vtterlie impudēt and shamelesse It were a blessed thing for thee oh thou Atheist if thou wert in the estate of a bruit beast But alas thou art indued with an immortall soule which can neuer die wherof thou art euen convinced in thy selfe but that the diuell hath blinded thine eyes and strongly possessed thy heart For what is the reason that thou doest so tremble at death and art so loth to die Is it because this life is a paradise full of all pleasure and happines to thee that cannot be for rather it is a Sea fraught and tossed vp and down with such extreame miseries woes and calamities which doe oftentimes cause thee to grone and complaine And therefore the cause is the guilt and accusation of an euill conscience from which thou doest conclude that immediatly after death thou shalt suffer euerlasting torments and confusiō in hel fire which doth plainely proue to thy shamelesse face that a principall part of thee doth still remaine after death and that is thy soule The estate of the soule of man after the departure frō the bodie But to omit these graceles Caitifs let vs in thesecond place consider what becomes of the soule after death For answer herevnto it doth not wander vp and downe from place to place nor yet remaineth in a third place as Papists Pagans haue dreamed without warrant of gods word but presently as our text saith it returneth vnto God that gaue it Gen. 2. or created it as appeareth Genes 2. which speach if it be not warily vnderstoode doth first of all seeme to fauour the opinion of them that affirme that not one of them which God hath created shal be condemned And secōdly profane Epicures and vngodlie persons will thereof conclude that they may liue as they list For howsoeuer they tumble and wallow in all manner of sinne and abhominations yet all is verie well For whie as they imagine after death their soules and spirits shall enioye the presence and glorie of God for euer and euer insomuch as they returne to God The estate of the soules of the godlie and wicked are exceeding differing yea cleane cōtrary thogh the soules of all doe goe vnto God For preuenting and answering of both which sorts wee are to vnderstand that in this place the holie Ghost meaneth not that the soules of all men without exception shal be saued or enioy the mercifull presence of God for euer but that the soules of euerie one shall immediately after death appeare before God their creator Iudge who will reward thē according to that they haue done in the bodie whether it be good or euill 2. Cor. 5. For confirmation wherof it is said Heb. 9.27 that after death cōmeth iudgement And the truth thereof we see Luc 16. in poore Lazarus and the rich glotton Luc. 16.22.23 The soules of the godlie are blessed happie for euer after this life ended So that the soules of them that that haue beleeued in the Lord Iesus Christ and obeyed the will of his heauenlie Father doe presentlie meete with the Lord Iesus in Paradise are gathered into the bosom of Abraham doe enioy vnspeakeable happines and glorie But contrariwise the soules of such infidells as haue contemned Christ and his Gospel The soules of the wicked are for euer most accursed and miserable and haue shewed themselues disobedient they doe forth with without stay passe into a place of torments where the worme neuer dieth their fire neuer goeth out yea where they liue in anguish paine and affliction till the bodie for the further increase of their miserie be restored to the soule againe The doctrine is doubled to shevve the certaintie and to cause the more deep impression in the hearers From whence it followeth that as the estate of infidels is most cursed and fearefull so is the estate of those that die in the Lord most blessed happie For why saith the Spirit they rest from their labours their works follow them all teares shal be wiped from their eyes being not onely deliuered from all matter of griefe sorrowe heauinesse and calamitie but also doe enioy at the right hand of God pleasures for euermore to wit they are partakers of such comfort peace and felicitie as the eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard neither hath

it entred into the heart of man A worthie exemplification of all the former doctrine from the godly couple latelie departed this life and liuing assuredlie in heauen with the soules of the righteous for euer and euer Into the which estate there is no doubt but that these two right worshipfull persons I meane Sir Edward Lewkenor Knight and the vertuous Ladie Susan his wife whose funerall this day is heere celebrated and held are by the free mercie of God placed and aduanced For why as they liued well so they dyed In their life they loued and serued God and at the length slept in the Lorde For proofe hereof we wil not resort to the deceitfull weights of humane reason nor anie morall or ciuill Vertue which may be found in heathens that neuer knewe God Reasons for proofe of their blessed estate but to the golden and infallible ballance of the holie Scripture Wherin among other signes and arguments we finde especiallie two whereby a true Christian may be descryed and discerned 1. They were called by the preaching of the Gospel 2. They were trulie sanctified by the holie Spirit of God Many reasons alleadged to prooue their effectuall calling and that both in life and death The first is a true and effectuall calling The other is true sanctification after which followeth eternall glorification Rom. 8. That they were both effectually called may appeare by diuers arguments And first of all they were inlightned and converted by the ministerie of the Gospell preached which in an ordinarie time is a sure token of an effectuall calling Besides 1. Reason Rom. 10.15.17 they both imbraced Christ Iesus by a liuely faith 2. Reason in whom they found felt such sweetenes assurance with peace of conscience and fullnesse of life and saluation that they accompted all things in the world but drosse in cōparison of him Yea they renounced and abhorred from their verie hearts all meanes of saluation redemption and reconciliation with God inuented by mans braine and ioyned with him in the worke of iustification either in parte or in whole Againe they loued most dearelie the ministerie of the word and ministers thereof all their life after 3. Reason by the which as by an immortall seede they knewe they were borne anewe through the operation and working of the holie Ghost And therefore pursued this holie ordinance of God and the ministers thereof with no lesse reuerence and tender affection then naturall children doe their naturall Parents of whom they are bred and begotten Furthermore 4. Reason all such as were begottē by the same means thereby had the image of God repaired in them were so deare precious in their eyes as that they preferred thē before all others althogh neerely linked to thē that were not in the same estate of grace To conclude they were not contēted with their owne calling 5. Reason but they desired laboured the conuersion of others especially of them of their own familie as may appeare by their holy exhortations carefull in couragements and by their vertuous example of life set before the eyes of all Lastly by their continual praying reading meditating 6. Reason and conferring of the word of God with other holie exercises wherewith the hearts of manie were exceedingly rauished the remembrance whereof as I trust will neuer dye in the hearts of them that were partakers thereof so long as they shall liue By all which arguments their effectual calling is clearely proued And if they be not sufficient to argue prooue it I knowe not what is Nowe concerning their Sanctification another signe that they dyed in the Lord. Reasons to prooue their sanctification Sanctification is known vnto man by the outward cōuersation man cā search or see no further For that be longeth to God the searcher of the heart reynes Therefore what their outward conuersatiō was we wil next enquire that cōcerning both of thē seuerally apart And first the vertues of the Christian Lady who dyed first are faithfully testified and rehearsed And first we will begin with the Ladie because it was her lotte to departe out of this world before her husband What her conuersation was it is well knowne to all and yet it shall not bee amisse at this present more distinctlie to declare An example worthie the imitation of al women specially of Ladies Gentle womē Read it diligētly good Gentlewomen and weigh it through out To this purpose more generally she was indued with most of those vertues expressed in the Epistles of Paul in the Prouer. of Salomon and other places of holie Scripture required in a true Christian and an holy woman For why although she was worshipfullie descended and indued with excellent giftes yet she walked not with hautie eies despising and disdaining the baser sorte and such as were farre her inferiours but willingly and chearefully did stoope downe to them and so humblie conuersed with them as if they had ben her equalls Shee was temperat in her diet and apparrel professing that frō her childhood she neuer delighted in those toyes An obseruatiō most necessary for the womē of this most vaine and new fangled age vanities and superfluities of attire wherewith many women otherwise vertuous and truly religious are She was louing and tender to her children but yet with singular discretion Shee loued her Husband and was dutifull to him shining before his eies as a starre in chastitie and holines Shee was sparing in speach considerate and aduised in all her waies and deedes Shee was as louing and dutifull a daughter to her mother as euer I knew liuing which vertue God recompenced in her life time with the like that is with very dutifull and obediēt children She delighted in peace and concord and if she espied any variance toward either in regard of her selfe or others she neuer ceased nor gaue herselfe rest till shee had made vp the breache by christiā reconciliation She thought much of death and specially a little before her departing out of this world wishing if it could be by the good pleasure of God that shee might not out-liue her husband but die at the same time which thing accordingly came to passe Mine eares heard it of her in priuate and therefore I dare the more boldly auoucheit Shee was not like the foolish woman that pulleth downe the house but shee built vp her husbandes house by wise and frugall ordering of her domesticall charges and maintenance And yet for all that she knew how in season to open her hand A conclusion most aptly fitting the premises Pro. 31.29.30 God of his infinite mercie graunt vs the increase of many such good women and to giue liberally to the needy vnto whom she was a nursing mother So that we may in regard of the premises truly and rightly cōclude with the holy Ghost 31 Pro. 29 30.31 ver Manie daughters haue done vertuously