Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A48949
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The souls ascension in the state of separation Summarily delivered in a sermon preached at Shenly in the county of Hertford, the 21. of November, 1660. at the funeral solemnities of Mrs Mary Jessop, late wife of William Jessop esq; and since enlarged and publish'd for common benefit. By Isaac Loeffs. M.A.
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Loeffs, Isaac, d. 1689.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing L2818; ESTC R222694
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62,138
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158
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6.22 When Gideon perceived he was an Angel of the Lord Gideon said Alas O Lord God for because I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face therefore he thought he must dye as appeareth by the foregoing verses An so Manoah when the Angel appeared unto him did wondrously Judges 13.23 Manoah said to his wife we shall surely dâ—e because we have seen God or an Angel of God for it is said before Manoah knew that he was an Angel of God But some of the Patriarchs and Saints entertained Angels with joy as Abraham did the three Angels in the plain of Mamre Gen. 18.8 who accepted his invitation and did eat before him what he had dressed and provided for them Likewise the two Angels which came to Lot in Sodom Gen. 19.1 He made them a feast and they stayed with him all night Surely that man is greatly honoured of God unto whom in favour he thus sendeth his Angels which the Authour to the Hebrews maketh use of as a motive unto Christians to hospitality Heb. 13.2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares What will that honour be then to the Saints in heaven to be entertained with Angels and to dwell with Angels and to have familiarity and fellowship with an innumerable company of glorious Angels yea with those Angels that have been made ministring Spirits for their good Heb. 1.14 Are not they ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation with those Angels that rejoyced at their conversion Luke 15.10 I say unto you saith Christ that there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Yet this is not all beleivers after death shall not only be and dwell with the Angels in heaven but be also as the Angels Angels of God Math. 22.30 They shall live as Angels without these earthly comforts and comfortable relations they shall neither marry nor give in marriage they shall be like the Angels themselves moving up and down as the Angels and joyning in consort with the whole Quire of Angels in singing Hallelujahs to him that sitteth upon the throne of eternal Majesty Secondly they shall have full and perpetual fellowship with glorified Saints and Spirits of just men made perfect Communion with Saints on earth in Gospel fellowship whereby beleivers enjoy the comfort of the unity of the spirit each with other in spiritual administrations is one of their great priviledges in Christ which the Apostle exhorteth the Ephesians to maintain and keep in the bond of peace Eph. 4.1 Which he also urgeth as a motive to the believing Philippians to persevere in mutual love and condord phil 2.1 2. If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Yet there is a great defect in the society of Christians one with another here below besides the intermissions thereof partly through difference in judgement and opinion whereby their affections are in a great measure quenched and withdrawn each from other and partly through corruption of nature and occasional offences depriving them of the mutual benefit and advantage of each others gifts and graces However let not these accidental inconveniences and obstructions beget in you low and mean thoughts of this holy fellowship but remember how your hearts have been warmed your affections quickned your resolutions confirmed and your hands strengthened by the presence and close and spiritual communion ye have had with the people of God in the mysteries of Christ that your esteem may be preserved and your love so far increased as to abound more and more to the precious Sons of Sion and coheirs with you of the everlasting inheritance Considering that ye shall shortly live together with Christ when ye shall enjoy the society of all the faithful that are with him those whom ye have never seen but have loved in the spirit upon the reports of their graces with the Patriarchs and Prophets and the cloud of witnesses gone before you and that shall beleive in Christ to the end of the world and what a joyful meeting will there be of the children of God when they shall dwell together in their Fathers house being made perfectly one as God and Christ are one What a solemn assembly will there be in heaven in the presence of God himself when the whole Church of the first-born shall keep a perpetual Sabbath and God shall be all in all And how magnificent and glorious will be the heavenly Festivals of the righteous in celebrating the marriage of the Lamb when they shall all come together and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God Fourthly and lastly To be with Christ is to have eternal life with Christ for Christ giveth his sheep eternal life and they shall never perish John 10.28 And this is his promise which he hath promised us even eternal life 1 John 2.25 Therefore saith Paul we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 This is no other then the Fathers house which is built upon eternal foundations an everlasting rock the rock of ages the eternal Godhead and the unchangeable essence of God himself is the support of it There is nothing properly eternal but the divine nature for as time is the measure of motion and the continuance of successive and changeable creatures so eternity is the immensurable duration of the immutable essence of God who only is from everlasting to everlasting without shadow of turning or the least variation in being So that the Saints shall receive and enjoy their eternal life and happiness with Christ by the eternity of God himself who is the only true God and eternal life 1 John 5.20 As their life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 So it is communicated unto them through Christ who lived by the Father and now liveth with the Father and that for ever more Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore And because I live ye shall live also John 14.19 Nay beloved this eternal life is begun already in your hearts by the spirit of God in you as a well of water springing up to eternal life John 4.14 By the knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ which is life eternal John 17.3 And by faith in Christ John 6.47 He that beleiveth on the hath everlasting life But your full possession thereof shall be after the dissolution of the tabernacles of your mortal bodies when ye shall never suffer change more so as to see any weakness or the least inclination to corruption Then mortality shall be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 5 4 As
some of us are come to this place at this time as Abraham at the cave of Machpelah to bury the dead out of their sight and are mourning for the departure of a near relation I shall speake a few words unto them before I come to direct and counsel Christians in general And I shall only exhort you freely to resign your relation to Christ and not to mourn as those that have no hope which was Saint Pauls counsel to the Thessalonians in the like case 1 Thess 4.13 14. which he presseth with a strong argument for saith he if we beleive that Christ died and rose again even so them also which beleive in Jesus will God bring with him which implieth that they are with God and Christ It becometh all that fear the Lord to be silent in submitting to every providence of God It is recorded of Aaron when his two Sons were slain by an immediate hand of God and the fire of his displeasure that after Moses had declared the mind of God unto him he held his peace Levit. 10.3 When David understood the death of his child for which he mourned so exceedingly during the time of its sickness he rose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped 2 Sam. 12.20 The patience of Job is set forth in Scripture for an example to all beleivers who when he had heard out the relation of the evil tidings which his sad messengers brought unto him of his great losses in estate and also of the sudden death of all his children glorified God under all Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. How then should Christians not only labour to submit but willingly and chearfully satisfie and quiet their spirits when they part with Relations upon such Comfortable terms that no sooner they are out of their sight but they are immediately with Christ It is true nature is strong in her affections and loth to let go the possession of any present comfort and therefore cannot but discover her passions when she is bereaved of near enjoyments And this seemeth to be the ground of sorrow in the breach and dissolution of natural bonds even a long continued absence or an imagination of never seeing departed friends any more if not a conceit of annihilation and that the dead are not as ignorant persons are ready to entertain strange notions thereof But however natural men may immoderately mourn upon such apprehensions of the state of the dead or which we may add of the greatness of their own loss in such a case who know not how to value or prize a creature comfort with any moderation because they mind not a greater and better portion yet where nature hath been at school and under the teaching and instruction of grace in those who understand and are acquainted with the truths of the Gospel and the mysteries of Christ how should all such manifest a more noble and heavenly principle ever the grace they have received in adorning their profession and justifying the truth and worth of religion by a comely gracious solid and sweet behaviour and demeanure of themselves under such providences The faithful part with their spiritual Relations at their dissolution upon the grounds of heavenly promotion wherein they should be more free then those that can take a joyful farewell of their nearest friends for the greatness of earthly preferment Let the Godly husband therefore rejoyce under his sorrow and rather weep for joy that the wife of his bosom is translated into the bosome of Abraham and taken into the presence and embraces of Christ her heavenly head and husband now knowing her no more after the flesh but in Christ in whom all natural relations are spiritualized by the medicinal union of fellow membership in his body which is the church and the spouse of Christ And let the off-spring and children of such aparent no longer look with teares upon the womb that bare them the papps that gave them suck and the tender bowels of her that now ceaseth to care for them but unto the Lord with whom the fatherless find mercy and the orphans succour and releif when they put their trust in him and cast their cares and burthens upon him How soon would tears dry upon our cheeks and our sighs and sobbs turn into songs could we see the heavens open and not only Christ standing at the right hand of God but our dear and godly relations departed at the right hand of Christ having put off the weedes raggs of mortality and temporal misery and being clothed with the garments of praise and robes of immortality and glory Such a sight the eye of faith can see which periceth the heavens and seeth things invisible Therefore let us not think that the Saints departed are less happy because we are uncapable of beholding their heavenly advancement like Jacob deluded by Josephs brethren and his coat of many colours which they presented unto him as torn by wild beasts whence he concluded that he was not though yet alive and in the way to be advanced to be Lord of Egypt and the next unto Pharaoh in the Kingdom Our godly relations though dead are yet alive and we shall shortly goe to them though they return not to us I shall say no more in this case but what Christ said unto those who followed him towards his death lamenting him Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for your selves your children So weep we not forthe dead in Christ but let us weep for our selves and mourn over our dead hearts and their corruptions that sin still dwelleth in us and we cannot honour Christ as we desire nor doe that which we would the flesh lusting against the spirit and withall let us follow Christ on earth and the faith footsteps of those who are with him that when we depart we may also be with Christ which is far better Thus I come at length to lay down some spiritual directions and counsels to Christians in general in reference to their comfortable and joyful departing unto Christ at their dissolution Direct I. Labour to rejoyce in beleiving and so to exercise and act faith upon Christ as spiritually to rejoyce in him This is a duty incumbent upon all beleivers though all doe not at all times attain nor keep up and maintain this heavenly frame and sweet temper of spirit but walk mournfully and disconsolately depressed by fear and doubtings concerning their state and condition in grace dejected by corruption of nature and the motions and strivings of the flesh the cause either of sinful falls of distracting infirmities or else darkned and clouded by spiritual desertions and withdrawings of the gracious presence of God formerly enjoyed and the light of his countenance sometimes lifted up upon them vexed also by Satan troubling their peace by his strong and powerfull temptations who envying their