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	soul_n	whole_a	13,673	5	5.8632	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93737	Divine arithmetick illustrated in the right and exact numbering of our days, or, A discourse of the near and continued approaches of death unto every one whatsoever with the same inference and application which the apostle in I Cor. 15 makes from and alike subject, that the knowledge and consideration of these things should exhort people to be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord / by Richard Stafford.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5117; ESTC R42707	17,947	18

which he is afraid to die For God will all one enter into Judgment and call People to an account for the same all one as if they did die in the very Act of such or such sins And so it is of the several deeds already done now in doing or to be done in the body Each thing now is just done and then it passes into Judgment for we shall be called in question and to give account for each days Transactions And if as Christ saith Sufficient unto the day is the Evil thereof So if we would have Boldness and Comfort at the last and great Tribunal we should in the mean while look well unto it and give heed and use our utmost diligence and endeavour that to counterpoise for the Evil of each day some Good should be done something for the Glory of God and for the Good of his Church and People as also for the Edification and Advancement of our own Souls in Righteousness and true Holiness That it may be pronounced at last to our endless and unspeakable rejoycing when all the days of this Life shall come to be rehearsed as they now pass though it will be hardly said as to the best Saints and Servants of the Lord for all come short of the Glory of God Rom. 3. 23. and of what he hath required sufficient unto the day is the Good thereof yet in each day somewhat was the Good thereof Every rising of the Sun and setting of the same sets us somewhat nearer to the general and final Audit the great day of Account and Retribution to every one according to his Works Yea so doth every minute and second which is the least reckoning of Time for as sixty minutes make an hour so sixty seconds make a minute and this Time is in continued flux and passing on until it comes to be determined and swallowed up in that last Period when Time shall be no longer Like as a little Brook or River loses it self when it ends and empties it self into the great and wide Ocean As the shadow upon the Dial is always moving though to us it seems very slow As the streams of a swift running River do continually pass by As the little sands in an Hour-glass are for the most part running Yea This whole sublunary Creation is made up of change and perishing things the World passeth away and the Fashion thereof and day after day and night after night they haste nearer unto the Eternal and Irreversible state of things so our selves Men and VVomen being a part thereof we are now in the same transitory and dying Condition and we do always approach yet nearer in time unto that state wherein as to the Earth as now it is and as to this Mortal Body and outward Flesh and Blood as to the manner of this short present Life we shall be no more But exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching Here the Word of Exhortation is not confined to Ministers or Priests only but Indefinitely unto all Christians And so much the more Mark give heed unto and obey that as ye see the Day Approaching even the Day of Death and Immortality of Judgment and the succeeding Eternity Whether we Eat or Drink Sleep or Play Labour or are Idle the things which shall come upon us make haste and do Steal and Approach unto us nearer and nearer As it is written Fools make a Mock at Sin So there be some who make a jest of the World to come whereof the Scripture and those Instructed with the Ministry thereof do speak But it may be Proved and Demonstrated to such who have but any Sence as to Apprehend that there is a World to come in Reality whereinto many Millions of Souls have entered already and our Selves are just entering into the same It is not properly another World but only another part of this same World as a Room of an House For thus much is manifest even by Reason and Perspective Gla●●es that this Earth where we now in the Body do Inhabit is the least part of the World as a Point is unto the whole Globe This may be known as a Man And so it may be known because it is seen That the Day of Death to each Person is as certain as was the Day of his Birth and it will as certainly be as that once was And this thing of Death is the Gate or Door which lets and opens into what is called the Future and Invisible World And then do appear forth the things contained in Scripture which are the Objects of our Faith now But then they also will be Actually Present Visible and Manifested before us all one as the things which we now see handle and converse withal But let such Unbelievers and Scoffers Consider what is written To me belongeth Vengeance and Recompence Their Foot shall slide in due time for the Day of their Calamity is at Hand and the things which shall come upon them make Haste Deut. 32. 35. It is commonly-said of Old People That they have one Foot in the Grave already But this is certain and true of all People both Young and Old even Infants before they can stand or walk on this Earth that their and our Feet are continually sliding off from this Stage or Slippery place of the Earth even when we sit still or lye along upon our Beds we are always sliding off from this Earth In due time God hath fixed out and appointed the time when we shall be slidden off from this Earth And the Day of Calamity to Sinners and to such as have their Portion in this Life for Death to them is the beginning of Sorrows is at Hand It is not just already come but it is within Call and the things that shall come upon them make haste Looking for and Hasting unto the coming of the Day of God 2 Pet. 3. 12. Whether we do think thereof or not we do certainly run yea and fly towards it But the holy Ghost doth Teach and Instruct us by this manner of Speech Looking for and Hasting unto the coming of the Day of God that though we do move so fast towards it yet we should even prevent it in our Thoughts So we should think more Continually and Earnestly as we come nearer in time and see the Day Approaching Conceive the Case as so it will one time be that we were upon our Death Bed and Gasping for our last Breath and were Apprehensive every Minute or Quarter of an Hour that our Soul would take her Flight out of the Body we know not where What would our Soul for every Man's Soul is himself then give if she had it or do if she were able to be assured of the Peace and Favour of God How doth the Spirit then contract and gather it self as it were together and run and make towards the Father of Spirits Ones first Born Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl Yea she would then

through Knowledge and distinct Apprehension of what all these things mean they think of them because they are forced to think of them sometimes but they do not set and apply their Hearts unto them And so it is the very same concerning the Numbring their Days their latter End and Death Who is there even amongst the Ignorant and Ungodly Multitude yea amongst those who are most Despisers and backward in Nature towards the Ministry of the Word that doth not know in the General how Old they are how that time and their Days do pass away and how that they must Dye at last No Body whatever can be Ignorant of or not know this because it is Sensible and Evident But it is too certain again that they do not for all this Apply their Hearts unto the true Wisdom That is To set about it in good Earnest for they do not Understand what it is nor Labour after it But they are Careless and Negligent as pertaining thereto Whereas Contrariwise the Righteous and Godly do so apply their Heart as to Mind nothing in Comparison thereto but they bring all things in Subordination to it Nothing remains in a Man but what he doth in the Service of God and for the Good of his own Soul All his other Acts and Actions perish in the using and if they do not come under that End they had much better be not done at all for whatever is of Sin or Evil that tends to sad Account or Loss at the last Day And that is Wisdom indeed and nothing else is so which procures Good unto a Man●s self and avoids Evil Which nothing doth so certainly effect according to his own Ordering and Establishment of things taking in things to come all one as things present as the Service of God and the keeping of his Commandments For if there was nothing else therein as there is Ten Thousand times more it appears much better and more excellent on this Respect That whereas all other things perish and pass away and so doth all the Glory of Man pass away as the Flower of the Grass But he that doth the Will of God abideth for ever Religion our Duty to God is not only throughout the Book of Proverbs but in several other places of Scripture called Wisdom as particularly in that saying of our Lord Jesus Christ Wisdom is Justified of her Children But also it may be Proved Evidenced and Demonstrated to be the only Real and true Wisdom and all Despising Neglect and Variation from it to be the greatest Folly To shew or treat of this particularly and at large would be somewhat besides the present intended Subject But as certain of the Ancients defined the sum and whole of Wisdom to be a Meditation of Death and that upon this or the like Reason because it would Influence a Man's whole Life and Conversation unto Wise and Good things it being Reasonable to do those things whilst Living which one shall wish he had done when he comes to Die And also nothing is so much worthy the Concern and Regard of a Wise Man as Death is It is every ones Prudence to keep off and provide against all Evils whatsoever and if the World calls them Wise who are so much busied about the getting of Riches or Honour about the attaining of every little seeming Good and avoiding every little Evil that may befal them much more will he who is Wise unto Salvation be so as to the greatest and most enduring things which are to come and will quickly be Manifested before us with open Face If every one is Concerned how it goes with him now much more should a Rational and Understanding Man look about him both take thought and also take care what shall become of him after this vain short and uncertain Life is Ended Truly this was my manner of doing from my tender Years and from my Youth up As it is written That Isaac went out to Meditate in the Field at Even-tide So I can Remember that when I was but a School-Boy and so when I went first to the University whereas others of my Fellows and Cotemporaries were all for Play and Company I would rather choose to Walk all alone by my self and in some Solitary place Meditate partly upon the Works of God's Creation All which being then new and fresh to my Mind did Seem to me in the Phrase of the same Isaac To be as the Smell of a Field which the Lord bath Blessed For I did then perceive Sweetness Beauty and Delight in them though I do now confess that having beheld them so very often I have since lost that just Wonder and Astonishment which I had formerly in beholding them For it hath Diminished and I have in a manner Ceased to be Affected therewith There is so much in Custom and Repetition even of the most Marvellons things that by continual seeing them they cease to be Marvellous not but that they are so nevertheless in themselves But as the Edge grows dull by often cutting so through Humane Infirmity and Weakness we become dull of Hearing and dull of Seeing and dull of Understanding when it is continually upon the same Object But as the same Isaac could say Behold now I am Old I know not the Day of my Death Gen. ●7 2. So when I was but very Young this was the Subject that I did most Think and Meditate on though I was then Young Yet I did not know the Day of my Death for so much was Sensible and Evident to me and I had so much Understanding as then to Apprehend that Young Boys were Liable unto Death and several of them did Die all one as People of Riper or Declining Years or in Old Age. I then knew well enough of the suddenness of Death and that we always carry the Root of the matter about us even those Seeds of Mortality and Corruption we being but like brittle Glass which can be dashed or broken in a Moment Yea when I was a Child I Spake as a Child I Understood as a Child I Thought as a Child I could even then Discern that the longest Day would have a Night that though this Life which is as a Vapour and continueth not should be extended up to Youth Manhood I am now passing this Second Stage of Life Declining Years or Old Age yet at last an end would come the end is come Ezek. 7. 4. And now I can Reason this as a Man that nothing is long which hath an End But now I call to Remembrance my Thought and Searching of Heart which was in the Days of Old the Years of Ancient Times when I was but a Stripling I did then commune with mine own Heart and my Spirit made diligent Search What will become of me after that this Body which now I carry about me is laid in the Earth For I did find even then that my Spirit would Abide and Liv● elsewhere as truly God hath shewn this unto me even

give the whole World if she had it and if such a thing were possible for to obtain his Reconciliation and Loving Kindness Then the same Soul that did heretofore Despise and Disobey God is all for Honouring of and Obeying him But she should have done it before for now it is too late But even from the Thoughts of Dying Persons we come to know and discern what would have been good for them and what the Lord did require of them in the midst of Life and Happy would it be and it would be well with them if they had then so done For this is the very top of the chiefest VVisdom to do those things whilst Living which one shall wish he had done when he comes to Die As also to refrain from those things such are Sin and the Pleasures of Life as we shall indeed wish and desire that we had abstained and refrained from when we come to Die To approach draw near and stick close unto God To wait upon him in all his Publick Ordinances not forsaking the Assembling our selves together and that so much the more as ye see the Day Approaching as also in all private Duties To serve him with our utmost Power to be a doing of Righteousness and good VVorks Alms Mercy and Compassion to the very utmost of our Ability There is indeed a Bitterness in Death as Agag truly called it For my part I am not ashamed to own that I do Vehemently and very much Fear it This makes me to do Sundry things Pertaining to God and Religion which I should not do otherwise if hereby I may somewhat take off and lessen from this bitterness of Death If hereby I may store up to my self Comfort against my dying Day For this Cause I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ nor yet of Preaching it in what is called a Foolish and Contemptible manner as I make it known unto People in its Simplicity and pureness For I believe that God hath chosen the Foolish things of the VVorld and the things which are despised 1 Cor. 1. 27 28. I have already Sufficiently Experienced the same and I have been given to Understand further that this kind of doing hath been and will be an Occasion of Loss as to VVorldly Goods For more might be allotted unto me if I would leave off the Preaching and Publishing the Truth of the most High God But when I ponder it in my Mind this same Hope of storing up to my self Comfort against my dying Day doth with me weigh down all VVorldly Considerations or Temptations And I trust in the Everliving God that this shall be my Guide unto my dying Day That I may give up an Account of the Ministry which I have received with Joy and not with Grief for this would be unprofitable for you The Searcher of all that is in all Hearts knows that the very Reason why I do desire a full and greater Assembly of Hearers and that my Books and Writings may have a more Universal Reception is chiefly that I may let down my Net for a greater draught of Fishes For I know and believe that the more Souls shall be converted Edified or built up in their Holy Faith by my Ministry it will tend so much the more to their own and also my Comfort and Rejoycing and Crown in the last Day But however whether more or few will receive it I shall endeavour by the Divine Grace to approve my self Faithful in the Ministry as Moses was Faithful in all his House I mean not to lead People on as the manner of some is in a meer outward Profession as if there was no more than only to come to such a place of Worship Or in a Partial Obedience of the Law Mal. 2. 9 In that deceit so common and universal amongst those who call themselves Christians of keeping some of the Commandments of God and neglecting others Or the Naming the Name of Christ and not departing from Iniquity Like those who call him Lord Lord and do not the things which he saith So there be others of a more Religious sort who mightily harp upon the word Christ Christ and yet themselves in the mean while shew forth a ●erverse Spirit against the Ministration of his Word and they refuse him that now Speaketh from Heaven through one of his least Members Against all such I do here set my Testimony according as I have received the same from the Word of Truth God is most Glorified when his Servant doth follow the Conduct and Leadings of his Truth whethersoever it goes for this is to follow the Lamb whethersoever He goes inasmuch as the Lamb is the Way the Truth and the Life And so I am determined by his Grace to go on although in the continued Ministration and Successive Outgoing and Emanations of his Divine Truth Lover and Friend hast thou put away far from me and mine Acquaintance into Darkness whether the Multitude or greater part of People do hear or forbear receive it or not and so we intirely leave and submit it all to his own Divine Majesty for God is Judge himself when every Man shall receive his own Reward according to his own Labour 1 Cor. 3. 8. When Jesus did by the Grace of God taste Death for every Man Heb. 2. 9. He thereby took away that exceeding bitterness in it for all those who will comply with the Ends of his death which is to die yea and to be dead unto Sin and to rise again unto newness of Life But this doth not belong to the Wicked or Sinners for in the Hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the Wine is Red and it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the Wicked of the Earth shall wring them out and drink them Psal 75. 8. so that the same Cup of Death will taste differently unto two sorts of People The Righteous and the Wise will taste some little Bitterness therein wherewith also Sweetness will be intermingled Marvel not at this for I know a Man to whom Sweetness and a kind of Perfume hath arose even from the Apprehension of Death But it will be only mixture wherein the sowre and bitter part will make the greatest Ingredient and dregs to the wicked of the Earth for the sting of Death is Sin which sting gives the Pain or smart and it stings more or less according as Sin is more or less in the Person who is to undergo it So that it must be the wiser and more excellent way to stand in awe and Sin not and to cease from our own Works By which I mean the ceasing from those our Works which do proceed and arise from the worldly fleshly and corrupt Nature for all this is our own The Duty and Obligation hereof appears from what is written There remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of God for he that is entred into his Rest hath ceased from his own Works