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	life_n	soul_n	34,804	5	5.7811	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66430	The unreasonableness of infidelity a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, April 6, 1696, being the fourth of the lecture for this present year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2737; ESTC R38945	13,908	35

The Vnreasonableness of Infidelity A SERMON Preached at St. Martins in the Fields April 6. 1696. BEING THE Fourth of the LECTURE For this Present YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey MDCXCVI LUKE XVI 31. And he said unto him If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead FROM the 19th Verse of this Chapter to the end under the Parable of if I may so call it the Rich man and Lazarus there is a way proposed by which we may best judge of the wisdom and folly the happiness and misery of Mankind And it is as if our Saviour had said Suppose we a man as happy as the world can make him abounding in Prosperity Wealth Ease and Luxury that wanted nothing for his Vanity for he was in a condition honourable and splendid was cloathed in Purple and fiue Linen and Silk nothing for his Appetite for he fared sumptuously every day And when he died was buried with Ceremony and Pomp agreable to his Quality Suppose we on the other hand a person as miserable as this world can make him poor so as to beg full of Sores and Ulcers so as not able to help himself destitute of Friends so as to be cast at the Rich man's gate hunger-starved so as to need the very crumbs which fell from the other's table contemned so as not to be regarded though lying at the gate in the passage and view of all or if taken notice of yet so as not to be relieved naked so as not to have wherewith to cover his Body or to defend his sores from the cold and that found more pity among the dogs than men while alive for they came and licked his sores and when dead through want pain and anguish found as little charity to bury him Thus far we find them as unlike as can be in their present condition But now let us follow them beyond the Grave and see what becomes of them in the other world There we find the poor Lazarus that once pitiful contemptible necessitous wretched Creature that wanted what the dogs had here the crumbs of the Table taken care of at his death by the Holy Angels and carried by them into a place of safety and rest comfort and happiness where Abraham was and there preferr'd to a place of honour and kindness for he lay in Abraham's Bosom having no poverty nor sores nor contempt nor any of the evil things he received in his Life-time here This he had because of his afflictions that he endured and bore with admirable patience because of his steady dependance upon God and an humble submission to him in the most deplorable condition On the other hand the Rich man when he died went to Hell where he had none of the Ease and Luxury the Respect and Honour none of the good things he received in his life-time but was tormented in a flame wanting water there as much to cool his tongue and quench his insatiable thirst as Lazarus did before the crumbs which fell from his Table to satisfy his hunger There he was and there he was to abide for there was a great Gulph fixed that rendred him as uncapable of receiving relief in the other world as he was neglectful and unwilling to give it to such as needed in this This he had for his Pride and Unmercifulness for his Contempt of God and of others better than himself This he was too late sensible of as to himself he lift up his eyes but he was in torments he cried to his Father Abraham but he proves inexorable he calls for mercy but is minded of his former ingratitude to God and his uncharitableness to others and is put to silence with a Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things ver 25. When he could not prevail for himself he then turns his thoughts towards his Five brethren whom he left behind that were as careless and so likely at last to be as miserable as himself and intreats Abraham that Lazarus might be sent to testify unto them how it was with him and how it would also be with them unless they repented ver 27. To which Abraham replies ver 29. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them But that doth not satisfy him and he urges further Nay Father Abraham but if one went from the dead they will repent ver 30. This he speaks from his own Experience who had Moses and the Prophets as well as they and yet he was as secure and careless as if he had never heard or knew what they Taught and therefore unless some other Expedient be thought of or some other means used they are like in the conclusion to be as miserable as himself and surely that if any would prevent it if one went from the dead But to this Abraham replies in the Text If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead that is if they give no Credit nor regard to what is contained in their Writings concerning a Future State of rewards and punishments they are incurable neither will they be persuaded to repent as it is ver 30. though one rise from the dead That there is a Future State of Happiness or Misery in which the Souls of men do live after a separation from their Bodies has been in all Ages universally received But yet was not so convincingly to be proved from the sole light of Reason but that a fuller evidence of it was very desirable For which there are but two ways Either that of Divine Revelation by persons Divinely Inspired Or by the return of one from the Dead who was before known to the Living And these are the ways taken here into consideration by our Saviour in the case before us Where there may be three sorts of persons concerned 1. Those that had not Moses and the Prophets and were wholly without a Revelation as was the case of the Heathens And how shall they believe who have not heard Rom. 10. 14. 2. Those that had Moses and the Prophets and yet were incredulous and did not believe what Moses and the Prophets relate concerning a Future State Such were the Sadducees who held there was no resurrection angel nor spirit existing out of a Body 3. Those that had Moses and the Prophets and did believe what was therein revealed concerning the Soul's Immortality and a Future Life but were not thereby persuaded to repent Such were the Pharisees who professed to believe what the Sadducees denied And of this sort were the Rich man here spoken of and his Five Brethren supposed to be Now toward the conviction of each of these it might