Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	faith_n	true_a	work_n	6,989	5	6.0140	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28180	A funeral sermon preach'd on the decease of Grace Lady Gethin, wife of Sir Richard Gethin, Baronet, on the 28 day of March, 1700 at Westminster-Abby and for perpetuating her memory a sermon is to be preach'd in Westminster-Abby, yearly, on Ash-Wednesday for ever / by Dr. Birch ...	Birch, Peter, 1652?-1710.	1700 (1700)	Wing B2937; ESTC R23089	10,751	34

the same Case Flete alios c. Go Weep for others My Daughter doth need no Tears So Prays at the Throne of Grace for Your Ladyships Health and Happiness both in this World and the next Honoured Madam Your Ladyships most Humble Servant F. G. INSCRIPTION on the Lady Gethins Monument On the South-Side of Westminster-Abby TO the Pious Memory of Dame Grace Gethin Wife of Sir Richard Gethin of Gethin-Grott in Ireland Bar nt Daughter of Sir George Norton Knight and Bar nt and Grand-Daughter of Sir George Norton Knight and Great Grand-Daughter of Sir William Owen of Salop Sir Thomas Freak of Dorset and Sir Thomas Culpeper of Kent Knights Who being Adorned with all Graces and Perfections of Mind and Body Crown'd them all with Exemplary Patience and Humility and having the day before her Death most devoutly receiv'd the Holy Communion which she said she would not have omitted for ten thousand Worlds she plainly evidenced Her sure and certain hope of future Bliss And thus continuing sensible to the last She resign'd her Pious Soul to God in fervent Transports of Spiritual Joy and Comfort for her near Approach to the Heavenly Glory Obiit October the 11th in the Year of her Age 21 of our Lord 1697. Her Disconsolate and Afflicted Parents for a lasting Memorial of this Her Godly and Blessed End Erected this Monument She being the last of their Issue REV. 14. 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them THIS is a Triumphant Hymn over Death the King of Terrors and the last Enemy of our Nature and so have all regular Churches understood it for they have long used it in their publick Offices as an expression of the firmness of their Faith and the Alacrity of their Hope that this Mortal should put on Immortality and that which is now sown in Corruption shall be raised up in Glory And of this we are assured by St. John beyond the possibility of mistake I says he heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Blessed are the dead And this wonderful Sentences which only Heaven could Reveal was immediately ratified yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours A Consolation so strong amongst those who first receiv'd it that of old they seemed Ambitious of a preference in Death and so to rejoyce in the Tribulation as to tempt their Fate and run too fast to the Crown They knew not the modern Arts to cover Infidelity or thought it became them to dissemble in the presence of their greatest Foes but gave up their lives unto Death and rejoyced they were counted worthy to lose them Hence came those Holy Customs of attending the Dead with Thanksgiveings of yearly Celebrating the remembrance of Martyrs Agonies of burying the remains of their Bodies under their Altars of making the days of their Death Festivals and the places of their Burial Churches This was the Practice of an undefiled Christianity and it often awakened the observation of unbelievers to enquire into the reasons why the faithful esteem'd them Blessed whose end seem'd to be without Honour nay we often read that this lead them on to Conviction and so the Blood of Martyrs became the Seed of the Church As for those who wish these Honours had not been paid to the Saints departed and who refuse to continue them they do alone by consequence as wish their Religion had not prevail'd and as for those dumb Funerals they would introduce in their stead these express neither Faith nor Hope nor is it imaginable what such a stupid Custom can express but only the Pleasure of Contradiction at parting As to the Sense and Connexion of the Words they are part of a Prophecy so hard to be understood that it may well excuse all pretence to a strict Interpretation But in general they seem intended for a present Comfort to the Christians of that early Age who were appointed to bear the weight of the succeeding Persecutions and had need of all the Faith and Patience of Saints to support them The Title at least c. 1. only speaks of things that must shortly come to pass and so the most antient Writers that best knew the Language of the times Interpret it In their Sense the fall of Babylon was that of Heathen Rome with the Idolatry it supported and the Planting of the Faith of Christ in its place was making all things New and this is a Sense which it is possible to understand still but to kill the Witnesses of the Church Universal in the corner of an Island or to make Scotland or Genva sit Scenes for all the mighty and surprising Events that are here recorded this is a Modern and still undigested thought one that seems intended to make Court to Friends but hath certainly made sport for Enemies Whatever is the Design we are sure of the Event Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord and not in their Sins and in that Latitude it is a noble Testimony to the certainty of our future Reward For 1. The distinction is here made that will divide all Mankind for Ever none are pronounced Blessed except those who die in the Lord and are Members of his Body which is exclusive of all others whatsoever It is not a promiscuous blessing that shall fall indifferently upon the Good and the Bad like that of the Sun or the Rain but the Foundation of God standeth sure he knoweth who are his and 't is happy for us he does so because by this the Righteous are assured that they shall not always be vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked 2. The Sentence is again ratified by the same Divine Authority and that solemn Repetition is not in vain for it is the true and proper Foundation of Faith The Voice commands St. John to Write tha strange Proposition Blessed are the dead for a lasting Memorial and the Answer of the Spirit confirms it as a Matter so important that it could not be too often inculcated And 3. The substance of this Answer namely our resting from Labour and having our Works to follow us suggests the best Method of conceiving what the happiness of another World is for so far as our short Conception reaches a Man can Enjoy no more even in desire than to rest from the Evil that attends our imperfect State and to have all his Good to follow him And 1. We are never to forget unto whom alone the Blessing is confined for it is at the Peril of our Souls and of all the dreadful Consequences which attend the loss of them that we remember the distinction The Caution perhaps may not seem pertinent to him that considers only how plain it is in Speculation but there is a continual use of it when reduc'd unto Practice or the uses of Life There every Profession of