Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A90885
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A sermon preached in the Colledge Church of St. Katharin's, Februaey [sic] the 13th 1698. / By Josia Povey, Brother and Minister there.
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Povey, Josia.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing P3041; ESTC R181978
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14,064
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32
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not doubt of compassing this Peace since such act according to their Primitive Institution and are in the state they were intended and in that condition for which God design'd them But in the revers those take much pains to loose their Labour that hope to finde Peace in the paths of Impiety No it s only a Religious life can make us happy for that ever yeilds comfort when we stand most in need of it in times of Affliction or Death Holiness being of that Blessed Nature that it makes all Light within tho there be nothing but Darkness without Riches Honours Pleasures and Preferments saith a Pious Author are coy and keep distance and when we loose them leave us with a weeping Eye and heavy Heart but Virtue never leaves us till we force and chase it from us It s the Sovereign Cordial in all conditions it s not lost in the many Misfortunes that surround us it continues sweet and comfortable in Misery gives Courage in Adversity makes us rich in Poverty is such a Physitian that puts us to little Expence yet gives such Cordials as chear the Body Spiritualize the Soul Nay is the precious Pearl that purchases our Peace to all Eternity and shines on our Souls even here with Beams of Everlasting Glory For such thoughts of Spiritual Ravishment and Unutterable rapture are many times inspired by the Spirit of Comfort into the hearts of Gods Children who have oft in a sweet showre from Heaven a whole Sea of Comfort powred on their Souls and by the Glorious fruition of inward Peace and Joy have such a lively perception and foretast of Everlasting pleasures as is beyond the power of the Heart of Man to conceive or the Tongue of Angels to express as if with one hand they had already laid hold on the Crown of Life and had got one step within the Gates of Heaven for the Angels whom they fill with joy with a careful tenderness and alacrity become their Guardians and servisable to them All the Creatures are in League with and reconciled unto them and with a secret reverence do adore that Sacred Character of Divinity that is imprinted on them for by being Undesiled These regain all that Adam by his fall lost and are happier in this state of Integrity then Adam in that of Innocency for the Undefiled are now Sons of God and Heirs to his Kingdom Nay for ought we know such may hereafter Equalize if not Transcend the splendour of Angles for tho the Undefiled are lower then Angels by Creation yet they are superior by Adoption Angels have only Glorified Spirits but the Undefiled shall have Glorified Souls and Spiritualized Bodies too even like our Saviour for the Felicity and the Eternity of such shall be like his as in the 1 Epistle St. John 3 Chap. 2 3 Verses And if the Pious enjoy such Transcendant Peace and Glory who in his wits then wou'd not deny himself the pleasure of a moment to be pleased for ever Who then wou'd not be a Christian for a few years to Reign with Christ for ever Did you see as I oft do in my Visits of the Sick I say did you see Sinners in that stormy night when Vengence reaches them or Death pangs seizes them you could no more describe their Fears and their Cares then fathom the Firmament But on the contrary if you were sensible of the Transports of Peace and Comfort that Pious Souls enjoy in the time of Afflictions or Death it wou'd make the greatest Debauch turn Puritan and the most refin'd Epicure a Mortified Saint it wou'd charm the Cup out of the hand of the Drunckard and lure the Sinner from the softest Embrace For when the Undefiled resign their already Mortified Bodies into the cold hands of Death their Souls being conscious of an upright and unspoted Life have created Eyes so Fortified that many enjoy Transcendent Rayes of the Beatific Vision before Departure Nay being supported by the Spirit of Comfort feel no sting in Death discover no darkness in the Grave no amazment at that Great and Terrible day of the Lord when the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Blood when the Heavens shrivel together like a Scrole of Parchment and the high and mighty Mountains skip out of their places like roused Hindes Then Lastly The Undefiled shall be Eternally Blest they shall not only look down with Cheerfulness into the Grave but in to the other World without terror where they shall not see a Court of Justice but a Throne of Grace where they shall not see a severe Judg but a kind Father and a Saviour who died for them ready to pronounce them Blessed and set the Crown of Glory on their Heads where they shall ever be in the conversation of Excellent Persons brave minds Charitable Souls and dear Friends be eas'd of all their Pains resolved of all their Doubts freed from all their Fears and happy beyond their Hopes having Scepters made to fill their Hands and mighty Glories to Crown their Heads and forever enjoy Gods dearest delights and highest Glories for Blessed are the Vndefiled in the way that walk in the Law of the Lord. FINIS