Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	divine_a	life_n	soul_n	5,625	5	5.0009	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46713	A sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich, March 8th, 1695/6 being the second Sunday in Lent / by John Jeffery ...	Jeffery, John, 1647-1720.	1696 (1696)	Wing J521; ESTC R1811	12,473	30

Guilt and Condemnation strive in Vain to Raise themselves unto Divine Glories dazle the Eyes and confound the Minds of the Guilty while the same Glories Transport the Hearts and Constitute the Blessedness of the Righteous But through all that Confusion the Sinner lifts up his Desires unto Rest and Bliss The divine Purity and the Image of a Holy God which is upon the Souls and Lives of those who are Happy is so contrary to the Sinner's Inclination and Temper that the Sufferings of Hell cannot make a wicked Spirit unfeignedly desire the Holiness of Heaven But there is another Notion under which the perishing Sinner considers Heaven and that is merely as a place of Rest and Ease There is Rest and Ease which in general every one Desires and without advancing one Thought further wicked Men Wish for that Rest and Ease 'T is manifest if they do think that the Ease and Rest of Heaven is inseparable from and the Effect of the Similitude and Enjoyment of God and for a wicked Spirit to Consider this is Torment But stopping short of that Reflexion Indolency of Body Tull. de fin l. 2. Tuse Qu. l. 3. §. 38. and Tranquility of Mind are what an Epicurean would desire for his Happiness and without considering from whence that Ease and Joy must come Sinners Wish this may be their Portion for ever While it was in their Power to secure the Rest and Joy of Heaven they sought their Pleasure from Sense and Sin and when the Means and Causes of that Pleasure fail the Desires of that Pleasure continue though the Sinner know not how to procure it But wicked men are a Contradiction to themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut vit Crass and their Wickedness has made them so They desire Rest in the midst of Perturbation and Joy in the Operation of the Causes of Sorrow But who can avoid those Desires when he even feels that the perfection of Happiness or the extremity of Misery must instantly befall him such Distress and Perplexity does a Man's Wickedness bring him unto because the Consequences of his Sin are contrary to the strongest Instinct of his Nature The wicked Man knows what the Hope of the Righteous is in his Death Prov. 14.32 and what must be his own portion at his last End The wicked also desires on his own behalf that he might die the Death and that his last End might be like unto that of the Righteous Thus wicked Men desire they may at last have the Reward of the Righteous without being Righteous They desire to escape that Misery which their Sin has made necessary and they desire to obtain that Happiness which their Sins have made impossible So inconsistent are the Choices and the Wishes of bad Men that while they chuse Death in chusing Sin they desire to obtain Life and Happiness notwithstanding that Choice They would be happy and yet refuse that without which no Man can be happy they would not be miserable and yet make themselves such as cannot be otherwise All this is done by sinfull Men i. e. by those who are endowed with Reason and Foresight and can be astonished at infinitely less Absurdities in other matters They can decry and wonder at the Folly of those who desire to be Rich and practise what is impoverishing who desire to be honoured and do what is infamous What Infatuation then is it for the same Men obstinately to chuse the necessary causes of Misery and as obstinately to wish for the Enjoyment of Happiness Remember this and bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors consider and shew your selves Men. Such palpable Contradiction there is between the Desires and the Choices of Sinners through the whole Course of their Lives and the frequent Admonitions of God and Men concerning this must needs prove at last one of the most afflicting Remembrances that is possible This will exasperate the Torments of Hell to call to mind That all his days the Sinner did with equal Passionateness chuse Destruction and wish for Salvation Thus the Desires which are in Wicked Men of the Portion of the Righteous have a respect to what is to come and so wicked Men wish at last That they might escape the Misery due unto Sin and that they might obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience 2ly The Desire of this Portion by wicked Men has a Respect to what is past and so wicked Men shall wish 1. That they had refused the Sin they chose And 2. That they had chosen the Duty they refused 1. Wicked Men shall wish at last that they had refused the Sin they chose At the time of their Account and at all other times in which wicked Men are considerate and have their final State in distinct View they wish with the utmost Impatience that they had refused the Sin they chose because so they had refused Death Deut. 30.15 19. in refusing Sin which is the meritorious Cause of Death Life and Death were set before them in this World and then they made their Choice which they must abide by for ever They had indeed a Liberty while they lived here of Retractation they might have corrected the Choice which was bad by making one that was good Those Sinners who had chosen Sin and Death had a Liberty and were under an Obligation to repent and to chuse Life and live But that Liberty did not continue longer than the time of their Probation this Life and this Liberty ended together When this time is at an end that Choice which was made in it must be stood to and there is no correcting that Choice after Death * Math. 25.11 12 13. I had almost said nor at it † Distulet in seram commissa piacula mortem Virg. Aen. 1.6 But altho' a Sinner has spent all that time in which he should have avoided his foolish and pernicious Choices or at least should have corrected them yet he cannot avoid at last repenting that he has chosen so ill for himself and wishing without end and without Patience that he had refused the Sin he chose because in so doing he had also refused that Death he suffers The perishing Sinner has not only his Choice of Sin to repent of Prov. 1.24 c. but also his Obstinacy in chusing it and that no consideration could withhold him from making of and persisting in that Choice Yea which is a special Aggravation of his Fault and Folly he did in this Life often repent in that Kind though not in that Degree in which he shall repent at last He who in the Hour of Death and in that Eternity which is after it repents wishing he had never chosen Sin shall then remember that those Wishes are not the first he made of this kind that he did before this wish he had never done such things as he perishes for The last and the endless Repentings of a Sinner in Hell will be aggravated