Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	eye_n	heart_n	see_v	6,000	5	3.4328	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61219	A discourse of the misery of Hell and happiness of Heaven grounded from the following words, Matth. 25, 46, And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5116; ESTC R26941	13,459	16

Happiness doth arise from him as Waters do flow from the Fountain Light doth proceed from the Sun or as Heat doth issue forth from Burning Fire to the things that are next unto it As on the foregoing part of our Being he is our Creator and he is our Preserver in the mean while who holds our Soul in Life all the time that it is in the Body and afterwards also he that first breathed into us the Breath of Life can and also doth preserve it when it is gone forth So in his being our Portion for ever he will take Care of and do good for us in the time to come and throughout the succeeding Eternity Vnto God shall all flesh come Ps 65.2 that is good and bad promiscuously to appear before him in judgment but unto him shall the gathering of the People be Gen. 49.10 This in a particular manner is meant of his own particular Elect Redeemed and Chosen People who in this Life and on this Earth do gather and make towards God by Faith and Obedience by Love Trust and Adherence and hereafter they shall flow back unto as Rivers again to the Sea from whence they did first arise and be admitted into his immediate Presence to the nearest Communion and closest Union with the Godhead himself He will gather all Souls which are his which he hath made and which he hath redeemed that is from Sin here and from Death and the Devil hereafter as nearly and as closely to himself as a Hen doth gather her Chickens under her Wings It is somewhat too gross an Expression to say that the Souls of the Righteous shall be incorporated with the Deity for that denotes somewhat too material a Conception of such Spiritual and Immaterial things But the Union will be as near and as close as what is ingrafted into such a Stock is near and close to the same stock and it becomes as one and the same with it And the nations of them that be saved shall walk in the light of it Rev. 21.24 But this is not all for further they shall be one and as it were the same with God himself Holy Father keep thorough thine own Name those whom then hast given me that they may be one as we are And now I come to thee that they may be all in one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Joh. 17.11 13 21. This being one and as it were the same with God who shall then be all in all but the Creatures have and derive it from him by Union and participation will be the highest and greatest and only Happiness in Heaven The Truth whereof may be hence understood for God is a most happy Being For he created all Happiness and Good and he is comprehensive of all Happiness and Good so that all Happiness and Good do reside and lodge in him as in their Foundation Stock or Fountain from whence do flow forth all Derivations and Emanations of Good and Happiness So as when any one is nearer to the Sun he is nearer to the Light and Heat so the Nations and Persons of those who are saved who are nearer to God are also thereby nearer to Good and Happiness Himself in a peculiar and eminent manner is stiled the Blessed Art thou Christ the Son of the Blessed Mark 14.61 And as Christ himself doth promise Where I am there shall my servant be if any man serve me him will my father honour John 11.26 That they may be all one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one John 17.22 23. which Prayer of Christ is heard and granted accordingly he elsewhere calls him My Father and your Father my God and your God Joh. 20.17 By expressing of which on this wise he shews himself to be the first born of many Brethren that Christ in all things should have the Pre-eminence But from all this put together it may be most surely Argued and Reasoned that if Christ be the Son of the blessed then they that are Christ's are the Sons of the Blessed and accordingly the Scripture doth elsewhere expresly averr the same Behold now are we the sons of God 1 John 3.2 and if they are the Sons of the Blessed then we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is This Reasonng out of the Scriptures is right preaching for so did Paul reason out of the Scriptures concerning several things and so are we allowed to bring out all those many Truths relating to the Kingdom of God and man's Salvation We know further that some of his blessedness will be derived from him and conveyed and communicated forth unto us The least Drop or Ray whereof will then suffice us for we are but little Beings and that is of infinite Contentment and Satisfaction As the Apostle argues Furthermore we have Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live for they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our Profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12.9 10. From which very last words I do reason that if we may be partakers of his Holiness here as this Text doth most plainly import that we may then assuredly we shall be partakers of this Happiness and Blessedness hereafter From whence note That the only way to Happiness is by Holiness because of what is said in this same Chapter Without holiness no man shall see the Lord ver 24. who have not Holiness here that man or Woman will not have Happiness or Blessedness hereafter Concerning this future and everlasting Happiness of Blessedness many things do arise in the Mind which are hard to be uttered and hard to be conceived For since the beginning of the World Men have not heard non perceived by the heart neither hath the Eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Isa 64.4 As we do this Day in this Ordinance of Hearing his word or that love him But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit Which same Spirit spake by the Prophets Christ and the Apostles out of whose Words and Writings this same description of Heaven and the Joys thereof hath been brought forth And what shall I say more where I begun and found it there I must leave it If I should multiply never so many Words I cannot say more than what I have said already That the whole of Heaven and the Happiness thereof is comprised in these very few Words The Lord our God the Lord is the strength of my heart and my Portion for ever Or in the Language of the Gospel We that is only his Elect shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 If you set aside these kind of Expressions and then if you Read or Hear never so much concerning Heaven yet when you come there you will affirm as the Queen of Sbeba did of the Wisdom of Solomon The one half was not told me But if you once add and mention The Lord shall be my Portion for ever Or We shall ever be with the Lord therein the whole and utmost of Heaven was told unto thee before hand and the Souls of such as shall be Saved and admitted there will make their return As we have heard so have we seen in the City of the Lord of Hosts in the City of our God God will Establish it for ever Selah Psal 48.8 When the Apostle Paul in 1 Thes 4. doth mention how we shall ever be with the Lord He thereupon immediately annexes and subjoyns Wherefore comfort in the Marginal Reading there it is exhort One another with these Words And as it is here said God will establish it that is the City he hath prepared for his People for ever Selah So it is Meet and Right that by the way of Retaliation and Common good Will Paul Calls it a Good Mind towards God this little while that we are in the way that his Servants and their Seed should be established before him in his Worship and Service in finishing his Work and doing his Will They should be settled fixed and rooted herein Be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 But he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 Hereby also People will be enabled in this World of Tryal and Temptation to chuse rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt For he had respect unto the recompence of reward Heb. 11.25 26. So they will go through the course of what is imagined the dulness irksomness and tediousness of a Religious Life which indeed is real Peace and Satisfaction to the Heart of Man to such who universally comply and conform unto it all along although the World and Strangers to this Joy and also our fleshly corrupt Nature are apt to call it so rather than to enjoy the outward Mirth Recreations and Pleasures of Sin for a season knowing that all the Reproaches and Inconveniencies which we meet withal for holding and continuing in this our good way are greater Riches than the Treasures of the World for we have respect unto the recompence of reward Keep an Eye still to that and this will prevent that we wax not weary in well doing for we shall reap in due season if we faint not Whilest let others do what they will we do all along follow propose and endeavour after an end which is worthy viz. To serve God here with all our Mind Body and Estate that we may enjoy Him hereafter and so ever be with the Lord Amen Written by Richard Stafford FINIS LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1697.