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A95857 A charge against the Jews, and the Christian world, for not coming to Christ, who would have freely given them eternall life. Delivered in a sermon, before the Right Honorable the House of Peers, in the Abbey Church at Westminster, on May 26. 1647. being the day of their publick fast. / By Thomas Valentine, one of the Assembly of Divines, and Minister of Chalfont in the County of Bucks. Valentine, Thomas, 1585 or 6-1665? 1647 (1647) Wing V24; Thomason E389_6; ESTC R201520 27,808 35

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condemned eternally because I would not come to Christ who would have given me life Fourthly and lastly such as refuse to come to Christ and to be guided by the doctrin of faith may come to make an open defiance against him and his Gospel the●e is a great differancs between the wants of faith and a con●rarietie to the faith Aug. in Ioh. 15 Magnum quoddam peccatum sub generali nomine vult intelligi where this later is in the height of it men come to dissent from the truth to deny it and in time to defie it and Christ the author of it the beleever he honours Christ by acknowledging him by assenting to his truth and casting his confidence and affiance upon him but the willfull unbeleever doth the contrarie and offers much dishonour to Christ by his deniall his dissent his diffidence and defiance Aqui. 2. 2 dae q 10. Artic. 3. Infidelitas est maximum peccatum Therefore some nay almost all do judge infidelity to be a very great sin and others argue and indeaver to proove it to be the greatest sin of all We come to the Second point formerly propounded which is That Jesus Christ will freely give life eternall to them that come unto him It is cleer that he understands eternall life by his expression elsewhere I give unto them eternall life and they shal never perish Ioh. 10.28 and such as speake to Christ about life mention eternall life as the ruler that followed after Christ said Good Master Luk. 18.18 What shall I do to inherit eternall life so that the life which Christ offered and the people sought for was eternall life and it was freely to be given them Life is the best kind of being and presupposeth a cause of life remaining in and working upon a Subject capable of life all things that are yet live not there is a being inferiour to life and those that live live not all a like beasts and plants live yet not such a life as man lives for as the soule is so is their life beasts have souls and yet have but sence and somewhat like reason men have understanding and utter by speech what they conceive for they have a resonable soule and a more noble then beasts and if all difference come from the act of the forme upon the matter then the soule of man more noble will still worke as we see it doth upon the body to fashion it into more excellent parts and to make the house and roomes for it's own use and therefore this life in man comming from a more excellent principle is above the life of beasts Among men some have the Spirit of Life in them who were dead by nature in sins 2 Cor. 3. they being quickned have a more noble principle of life and have in them the beginning of life eternall such as are alive to God have union with Christ they live in another kind then naturall men do for in the spiritual life the Spirit of God works on the soul as the soul doth on the body but first the soule is a meere patient which in the naturall life is the sole agent the soule is under the power of Gods Spirit and as far as Gods Spirit is above the spirit of man so far is this life of grace above that of nature therefore the Apostle magnifies this life in the regenerate above the life of reason not so much as mentioning it In that I now live Gal. 2.20 I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himselfe for mee Life is spread over the whole man yet first and principally it is in the soule and diffused through every faculty and if we stand not too nicely upon the distinction of life and the actions of life we may say that faculty lives when it is able to do the works that belong to it as the minde lives when it knowes God and is dead while it remaines ignorant the heart lives when it loves God and reposeth trust in him the affections live when they joy in God and make fit expressions of that joy towards him as we perceive the hand to live when it can stir and work and when this life of grace continues beyond time it becomes life eternall eternity to life in the world to come is but as time in this world This is life eternall to know thee and he that beleeves hath everlasting life Faith in Christ and knowledge of him Ioh. 17.3 Ioh. 3.36 are made the beginings of life eternall and because it is propounded as a reward in heaven therefore life eternall includes the beginnings of the life of grace and the perfection of it hereafter it is the altering of our naturall lives for all our infirmities and griefes shall be remooved and for the spirituall life all the graces that in heaven shall be of use shall be perfected Life eternall includes all things essentially necessary to make us happy and also all additions and attendants to make it compleat honour and glorie and immortality are in it for such as by continuance in well doing seeke for these shall find them in eternall life But because the life of glory which Saints have in heaven Rom. 2.7 is the strongest motive that might have perswaded them to come to Christ therefore we must more fully explain that unto you the life of glory will be in the whole man but principally in the soule and most in the cheifest faculties which are the understanding and will to the understanding refer the blessed vision to the will the fruition of God these two are the principall parts of the life of glory Vide Wendelium qui scripsit upple Biel. distinct 49. conclus 4. qu. 2. I am not ignorant that many writers make the vision of God in glory to comprehend all the happinesse which the soule hath from him but there is reason and authority sufficiently to propound them distinctly 1. In the life of glory the mind shall see God that is fully and perfectly know him for seeing is put for knowing Now ye say you see Iohn 9.41 N●w we see through a glasse darkly but then face to face now I know in part ●ut then shall I know even as I am known 1 Cor. 13.12 every one in heaven shall with their own mind understand all things and know all persons so fully as may any way conduce to their happinesse and to the end it may be so all weaknesses and imperfections of the mind shall be remooved no simplicity no shallownesse shall be upon any Idiots and men of weake abilities may have so much knowledge of Christ as to bring them to heaven but when they are there they shall have sharpnesse of wit Prov 1.4 for full conformity with God in his Image Col. 3.10 is a chiefe thing in life eternall and knowledge is a principall part of Gods Image as the Apostle plainly affirmes Having put on
not what he hath the soule lives in hope to injoy God the will of man goes further in her art then any other faculty sence looks at the outside of a thing viz. colour reason hath an idea or notion of it but will desires the thing it self the heart of man is set upon God himself Charitas intrat scientia foris stat Biel and as in heauen we shall know God more so we shall love him more and injoy him more and none can tell what affections he shall have in heaven the soule shall have a wide capacity and receive in much of God which may appeare by these two particulars 1. God is sweet in the use of his creatures as meat to the hungrie clothes to the naked sleepe to the wearie fire to them that are cold these are very welcome but if God be tasted in them they are sweeter then ordinarie 2. In the Ordinances God is more to the beleeving heart when the troubled conscience can find rest no where if it hear of the mercy of God in Christ it is revived the soule that groans under the burthen of sin if it be put in hope of pardon it begins to look up which before was quite down and utterly dejected But what need I to speak how sweet God is in his Ordinances I appeale to all those hearts that ever have received good by his word whether it hath not been more then their appointed food far above all the comforts of this world but in heaven we shall injoy God not in his creatures nor in his Ordinances but in himself and we shall find the varietie of all comforts to meet in him we shall need no Sun to shine upon us no wine to make our hearts glad no oyl to make our faces shine nay we shall need no Sacraments no preaching of the word but God in himself and from himself will communicate the fulnesse of joy and it shall continue without interruption without any mixture of sorrow or sinfulnesse no devill shall be there to tempt no deceitfulnesse in our hearts to betray us no worldly occasion to entangle or trouble us our hearts shall be lifted up and never fall again our affections warm and never coole again our mindes settled in the full assurance of Gods favour and never doubt again our natures shall be perfectly holy and never sin again all our thoughts and desires shall be set on God and nothing else and for conclusion of this point we shall be happie and there will be no danger no possibilitie of loosing it again lo thus shall it be done to the man whom God will honour And now that I have explained what life eternall is I come to the latter part which is to shew you that Christ will confer upon you this life by way of gift Rom. 6.23 he will freely give it to you The gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And this aggravates the sin of the Jewes that they might have so great a blessing in such a free way of gift and yet would not come unto him and not onely the Jews in the daies of Christ were to be blamed but even in these daies the Papists will not come to him to have life in this way of gift they will merit it else they will not have it they will not have a heaven that costs them nothing To meet with both these I shall briefly shew you that Christ will freely give you life if you come to him and that you must have it this way or not at all Christ purchased it and meritoriously procured it and it is freely given by him to us he bought it as if it had been freely given it is freely given as if it had not been bought it is Christs purchase but our inheritance Christ is given who bought it the Word that works faith to apply it is given the Spirit that inables us to beleeve and to look after life eternall is given And therefore the grace of God is made the cause of salvation in generall Ephe 2.8 Rom. 3.24 Ephe. 1.6 7. and also ascribed to the particulars of justification adoption remission of sins and glorification And as God intended his glory should arise out of the manifestation of his severall attributes so he purposed severall works wherein they were to shine and more eminently to appear as his power in the Creation the invisible things of him Rom. 1.20 that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen in the Creation Wisdom and Providence are chiefly seen in the government of the world He made the Earth by his power he established the world by his wisdom and stretched out the Heavens by his discretion Ier 10.12 Justice is seen in the condemnation of the wicked and Gods free grace in the salvation of the elect Yet we must not imagine that nothing else but power and wisdom and justice and grace appear in these works but these are more eminent and perspicuous and the Attributes of God though they be not subordinate or inferiour one to another yet they give way one to another as the Mayor and Aldermen in a Corporation they give honour to him whose turn it is to have the chief place so here all give way to power in Creation none did so much appear as that and all give way to Gods free grace in our salvation and from those words of the Apostle Eph. 1.6 we were adopted to the praise of the glory of his grace We may infer the like he made the world for the praise of the glory of his power he governs it for the praise of the glory of his wisdom he condemnes wicked men for the praise of the glory of his Justice and saves his own for the praise of his glorious grace And how dare any shew themselves enemies to the grace of God or go about to obscure it or derogate from the goodnesse of Christ who doth freely offer life to them that come unto him That we may vindicate the grace of God against the Papist and others and shew that life eternall is not merited or deserved by man we will pick out an Argument or two such ●s see● to have most strength in them and answer them yet so as to deliver the positive truth rather then meddle much with the controversie There are two things alledged against this truth one by ancient Writers the other by Modern Papists which seem to prove that we are not to look for life at Christs hand of free gift I will put them both together thus If the holy actions and services of beleevers come from the Spirit of grace inabling them thereto and shall be rewarded not of grace and favour but of justice then they are meritorious and consequently life eternall comes not by free gift but is due to the Saints But both the former are true Ergo. The first is urged by Biell and Greg. de Valentia Biel li 2. dist 29.