Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A57957
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A funeral sermon preached at the obsequies of the right reverend father in God, Jeremy, Lord Bishop of Down who deceased at Lysburne August 13th, 1667 / by Dr. George Rust.
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Rust, George, d. 1670.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing R2362; ESTC R17604
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18,875
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46
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inconsiderable Estate he left at his Death will be easily convinc'd that Charity was Steward for a great proportion of his Revenue But the Hungry that he fed and the Naked that he cloath'd and the Distress'd that he supply'd and the Fatherless that he provided for the poor Children that he put to Apprentice and brought up at School and maintain'd at the University will now sound a Trumpet to that Charity which he dispersed with his right hand but would not suffer his left hand to have any knowledge of it To summ up all in a few words This Great Prelate he had the good Humour of a Gentleman the Eloquence of an Orator the Fancy of a Poet the Acuteness of a SchoolMan the Profoundness of a Philosopher the Wisdom of a Counsellor the Sagacity of a Prophet the Reason of an Angel and the Piety of a Saint He had Devotion enough for a Cloyster Learning enough for an University and Wit enough for a Colledge of Virtuosi 〈…〉 and had his Parts and Endowments been parcell'd out among his poor Clergy that he left behind him it would perhaps have made one of the best Diocese in the World But alas Our Father our Father the Horses of our Israel and the Chariot thereof he is gone and has carried his Mantle and his Spirit along with him up to Heaven and the Sons of the Prophets have lost all their beauty and lustre which they enjoy'd only from the reflexion of his Excellencies which were bright and radiant enough to cast a glory upon a whole Order of Men. But the Sun of this our world after many attempts to break through the Crust of an earthly Body is at last swallow'd up in the great Vortex of Eternity and there all his Maculae are scatter'd and dissolv'd and he is fixt in an Orb of Glory and shines among his Brethren-stars that in their several Ages gave light to the World and turn'd many Souls unto Righteousness and we that are left behind though we can never reach his perfections must study to imitate his Vertues that we may at last come to sit at his feet in the Mansions of Glory which God grant for his infinite mercies in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father through the Eternal Spirit be ascribed all Honour and Glory Worship and Thanks-giving Love and Obedienee now and for evermore Amen FINIS Books and Ser 〈…〉 written by Jer. Ta late Lord Bishop of Down and Conor ENIAUTOS A Course of Sermons for all the Sundays of the year together with a discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in folio 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ the 3d. Edit in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living in 8. 4. The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying in 8. 5. The Golden Grove or 〈◊〉 of daily Prayers fitted 〈◊〉 days of the Week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness in 12. 6. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses in 〈◊〉 newly reprinted 7. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12. new 8. A Collection of Offices or forms of Prayer fitted to the needs of all Christians taken out of the Scriptures and Ancient Liturgies of several Churches especially the Greek together with the Psalter or Psalms of David after the Kings Translation in a large 8. newly published 7. Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience fol. in two Volumes 10. The Doctrine and Practice of Repentance describing the necessities of a Strict a Holy and a Christian Life Serving as a necessary Supplement unto the Rule of Conscience 11 ` 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Supplement to the ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or course of Sermons for the whole 〈◊〉 All that have been 〈◊〉 published since the 〈◊〉 to which is adjoyned his Advice to the Clergy of his Diocese 12. The Worthy Commu 〈…〉 cant or a Discourse of the Nature Effects and Blessings consequent to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper Printed for J. Martin 13. A Discourse of Confirmation in 8o. new 14. A Dissuasive from Popery in 8o. new First Part 15. The Second Part of the Dissuasive from Popery in vindication of the First in 4o. new A Funeral Sermon preached at the Obsequies of the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Down All sold by R. Royston
his faculties in their due subordinations gratified with their proper objects and I cannot but believe a great part of heaven to be the blest Society that is there Their enravishing beauty that is to say their inward life and perfection flowring forth and raying it self thorow their glorified bodies The rare discourses wherewith they entertain one another The pure and chast and spotless and yet most ardent Love wherewith they embrace each other The ecstatick Devotions wherein they joyn together And certainly every pious and devout soul will readily acknowledg with me that it must needs be matter of unspeakable pleasure to be taken into the Quire of Angels and Seraphims and the glorious Company of the Apostles and the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets and the noble Army of Martyrs and to joyn with them in singing Praises and Hallelu-jahs and Songs of joy and Triumph unto our great Creator and Redeemer The Father of Spirits and the Lover of Souls unto Him that sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever We are sure we shall then have all our capacities fill'd and all our desires answered They hunger no more neither thirst any more for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters What vast degrees of perfection and happiness the nature of man is capable of we may best understand by viewing it in the person of Christ taken into the nearest union with Divinity and made God's Vice-gerent in the World and the Head and Governour of the whole Creation In this our narrow and contracted state we are apt to think too meanly of our selves and do not understand the dignity of our own natures what we were made for and what we are capable of but as Plotinus somewhere observes We are like Children from our birth brought up in ignorance of and at a great distance from our Parents and Relations and have forgot the Nobleness of our Extraction and rank our selves and our fortunes among the Lot of Beggers and mean and ordinary persons though we are the off-spring of a great Prince and were born to a Kingdom It does indeed become creatures to think modestly of themselves yet if we consider it aright it will be found very hard to set any bounds or limits to our own happiness and say Hitherto it shall arise and no further For that wherein the happiness of Man consists viz. Truth and Goodness the Communication of the Divine Nature and the Illapses of Divine Love it does not cloy or glut or satiate but every participation of them does widen and enlarge our Souls and fits us for further and further Receptions the more we have the more we are capable of the more we are sill'd the more room is made in our Spirits and thus it is still and still even till we arrive unto such degrees as we can assign no measures unto We shall then be made like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said the Areopagite Salvation can no otherwaies be accomplish'd but by becoming God-like It does not yet appear what we shall be but when he shall appear we shall be like him sayes our Evangelist for we shall see him as he is There is no seeing God as he is but by becoming like unto him nor is there any enjoying of him but by being transform'd into his Image and Similitude Men usually have very strange Notions concerning God and the enjoyment of him or rather these are words to which there is no correspondent conception in their minds but if we would understand God aright we must look upon him as Infinite Wisdom Righteousness Love Goodness and whatever speaks any thing of Beauty and Perfection and if we pretend to worship him it must be by loving and adoring his transcendent Excellencies and if we hope to enjoy him it must be by conformity unto him and participation of his Nature The frame and constitution of things is such that it is impossible that Man should arrive to Happiness any other way And if the Soveraignty of God should dispense with our obedience the nature of the thing would not permit us to be happy without it If we live only the Animal Life we may indeed be happy as Beasts are happy but the Happiness that belongs to a Rational and intellectual Being can never be attain'd but in a way of holiness and conformity unto the Divine Will for such a temper and disposition of mind is necessary unto Happiness not by vertue of any arbitrarious constitution of Heaven but the eternal Laws of Righteousness and immutable respects of things do require and exact it Yea I may truly say That God and Christ without us cannot make us happy for we are not conscious to our selves of any thing but only the operations of our own minds t is not the person of God and Christ but their Life and Nature wherein consists our formal happiness For What is the happiness of God himself but only that pleasure and satisfaction that results from a sense of his Infinite perfections And how is it possible for a creature to be more happy than by partaking of that in its measure and proportion which is the happiness of God himself The Soul being thus prepar'd shall live in the presence of God and lie under the influences and illapses of Divine love and goodness Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory They that fight manfully under the Banners of Heaven and overcome their spiritual Enemies They shall eat of the hidden Manna and become Pillars in the Temple of God and shall go no more out They shall stand before the Throne of God continually and serve him Day and Night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell amongst them God shall put under them his everlasting Arms and carry them in his bosom and they shall suck the full Breasts of eternal goodness For now there is nothing can hinder the most near and intimate conjunction of the Soul with God for things that are alike do easily mingle with one another but the mixture that is betwixt Bodies be they never so homogeneal comes but to an external touch for their parts can never run up into one another But there is no such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or resistance amongst spiritual Beings and we are estranged from God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by distance of place but by difference and diversity of Nature and when that is remov'd He becomes present to us and we to Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. like the Magnitudines congruae in Mathematicks Quando prima primis media mediis extrema extremis partes denique partibus usquequaque respondent each of whose parts do exactly answer one to the other This therefore is the Soul's progress from that state of purgation to illumination and so to Union There