Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	knowledge_n	understanding_n	wisdom_n	6,916	5	6.5948	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26807	A short description of the blessed place and state of the saints above in a discourse upon the words of Our Blessed Saviour, John XIV, 2, in my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you / by William Bates.	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1687 (1687)	Wing B1125; ESTC R25866	33,196	119

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE Blessed Place and State OF THE Saints Above In a Discourse upon the Words of our Blessed Saviour John xiv 2. In my Father's House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a Place for you By WILLIAM BATES D. D. London Printed by J. D. for I. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Churh-yard M.DC.LXXXVII THE PREFACE IT is the privilege of Christianity that Life and Immortality are brought to Light in the Gospel The Heathen World sat in Darkness was secure in Misery As one that sleeps is pleas'd with the Scenes of Fancy he Dreams of Treasures of Gold of Gardens of Feasts and thinks the painted Appearances the superficial Colours of Good to be Realities thus whilst Reason was darkned by Sense the World was content with pleasant Delusions Who amongst the many pretenders to Wisdom had a convincing knowledg of the Blessed Eternity to come Who had a glimpse of that Happiness that results from the sight of God in Glory This Instruction so refreshing our Spirits darkned with Sorrows here comes from the School of Heaven as the Sun revives us by its chearful Appearance and affords that Light without which it were impossible to behold it During the Legal Dispensation there was a Mist upon the Future State The notice of Eternal Things was a Twilight mixt with Shadows The Revelation of the Heavenly Glory was reserv'd till our Saviour's appearing in the World who purchas'd it with the dearest price and offers it upon such gracious Terms that whosoever sincerely desires and seeks shall obtain it and none shall be depriv'd of it but for their wilful and guilty neglect It might be expected that such a Proposal were sufficient to engage Men with all their Active Powers to secure such a precious Interest when indeed their best Endeavours and most zealous Affections are too slight and faint with respect to that excellent Happiness Are not the first Notions of Things that are written in our Brests sufficient to convince us that what is for ever is to be preferr'd before what suddenly passes away Or is it necessary in Matters of Temporal Concernment to use strong Arguments to perswade us rather to chuse a Treasure that will enrich us for our Lives than what will purchase food only for a day Yet 't is strange to amazement that in Things of Infinite Weight Consequence that respect the Soul and trivial Things that respect the Body Men make as preposterous a Judgment and Choice as if they were irreconcilable Enemies to themselves and obstinately averse from their own Happiness The Life to come extends beyond all possible Number of Ages the Felicity is so compleat and sure that the least shadow of Evil shall never eclipse it The Soul shall be in a state of highest Perfection and Joy the Vnderstanding illuminated with perfect Knowledg with no more study than opening the Eye and fixing it on the Glorious Objects the Will satisfied with the perfect Love and Enjoyment of the Blessed God The Body shall be clothed with Light as with a Garment and shine with a Beauty that never disflourishes and decays the innumerable Assembly of Angels and Saints always affords new and inestimable Delights and what is set in comparison against this transcendent Felicity in Heaven The poor despicable vanishing Life on Earth whose Pleasures are so shallow and empty that they can't satisfy the Senses much less our noble and comprehensive Faculties whose Griefs are sometimes so heavy and oppressing that all the Comforts of the World are no more effectual to relieve the Soul labouring under them than the sounding of Brass and the tinckling of Cymbals usually done by the Heathens were to free the Moon from its dark Eclipse which they fancied to labour in extremity Yet the petty Preferments the deceitful Riches the vain Pleasures here are chosen and ambitiously and eagerly persued and the infinite everlasting Happiness hereafter undervalued and rejected But as the Wonder ceases that a Man doth not see in the clearest Day by saying He is blind so Carnal Men are without Faith that is the Internal Light of the Mind they do not stedfastly believe the Reality of the Divine World tho so clearly open'd in the Gospel They are under so strong a Delusion and Error of Sensuality that they vilify a Spiritual Happiness a Glorious Futurity and present sensible Things of no price in comparison have the highest place in their Esteem and Affections The proper Means to recover Man from his woful Folly are unceasing fervent Prayers That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him The Eyes of their Understandings being inlightned that they may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints and to represent this World and the next as they are to their considerate Minds that their Interest and Duty with united Efficacy may over-rule their Hearts and turn the Stream of their Indeavours into the right Channel that the judicious Comparison between Objects so vastly differing may be the governing Principle of their Lives All Things are vain and transient within the Confines of Time all Things stable and solid in the Territories of Eternity JOHN XIV I. In my Father's House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a Place for you OUR blessed Saviour in the words applies Heavenly Comfort to his Disciples to support their drooping Spirits in his absence from them He foretold his departure Little Children yet a little while I am with you Ye shall seek me and as I said to the Jews whither I go ye cannot come so now I say unto you This tenderly affected their Hearts But that their Sorrow might not flow into Despair he assures them that their Separation should not be final and that it was not the singular Privilege of St. Peter that he should follow him hereafter but that there were Rooms reserved in Heaven for them all and He would return and receive them to Himself This Consolation He addresses to them in a very affectionate manner Let not your Hearts be troubled No Work is more Divine none more proper and delightful to our Saviour than to comfort the afflicted Spirits of his People He directs them Ye believe in God believe also in me God is the Supreme Object of Faith his unchangeable Love and Faithfulness with his infinite Power in the accomplishing his Promises is the Security of Believers Christ as Mediator between God and guilty Creatures is the immediate Object of our Faith for he restores us to the Favour of God therefore 't is said we believe in God by him After this Preface to calm the unquiet Agitations of their Minds and make them more receptive of comfort he proposeth to them 1.

Joy is full 'T is call'd our Master's Joy Great God how ineffable is that Joy 'T is the richest Reward infinite Bounty can give to faithful Servants As being made like to Christ in Glory implies a divine and full Perfection so the entering into his Joy implies the most accomplisht and incomprehensible Felicity 'T is a permanent Joy that none shall take from the Blessed as our Saviour promises his Disciples Here below suppose a Person encompast with all the Good Things of the World yet this Felicity is neither without Defects nor without Dependance upon Casual Things that he is never compleatly happy but only less miserable and tho he lives long in Prosperity and hath a tenor of Health to enjoy it yet as the clearest Evening is presently follow'd by Night so the most vigorous old Age is certainly attended with Death that extinguishes all sensual pleasures But in the Presence of God is fulness of Joy at his Right Hand are Pleasures for ever To explain this more particularly let us consider that Knowledg Love and Joy are the Perfections and Felicity of immortal Spirits and are correspondent to the excellency of the Objects upon which they are fixt and the capacity of the Faculties that are exercis'd and the degrees of Satisfaction communicated to them Now in Heaven our noblest Faculties the Understanding and Will are rais'd and enlarg'd and entirely united to the best Objects What conception can we frame of Joy for an intellectual Creature so full and satisfying as the clear Vision of God invested with all his attractive Attributes his glorious Perfections and in perfect loving the most lovely Object and being perfectly lov'd by him When the Soul freed from this mortal muddy Flesh and the Mind clear'd from all terrene Images convey'd by the Channels of the Senses sees God Face to Face how is it ravish'd with wonder and love in the sight of his most amiable Excellencies How pure a Joy is infus'd to the Center of the Soul and fills all its Desires How permanent like the everlasting Spring from whence it flows The Psalmist inspir'd with the Love of God breaks forth in an Holy Extasy How blessed is that Man whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Courts We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy House even of thy Holy Temple Admirable Blessedness dear Felicity The same Heavenly Saint expresses his esteem and affection How excellent is thy loving kindness O Lord They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the River of thy Pleasure Here we do but taste and see how good the Lord is and that is so powerful a Cordial as gloriously supports the Saints under the heaviest Sufferings But Heaven is the Element of Joy Here a glancing sight of his Goodness how reviving is it A living Vein of Light from his favourable Countenance pierc'd into the miserable Dungeon where Paul and Silas were chain'd and rais'd their Spirits to that Heavenly pitch that they sang Praises to God the illustrious reflection of Paradise lightned them at Midnight and put a gloss of Joy upon them But in Heaven those most divine and amiable Titles that God is Light and that God is Love are most fully exhibited and experimentally understood by the Saints They see him as he is in his essential Glory and all the secret Treasures of his Wisdom in his Works of Wonder are unfolded and the sweetest Manifestations of his Love are given to them That which the Prophet declares of God's tender Affections to his Church is verified in the most excellent manner in Heaven The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is Mighty he will save he will rejoice over thee with joy he will rest in his Love he will joy over thee with singing That the blessed God is well pleased in the glorified Saints is the supreme degree of their Felicity How joyful a Complacency arises from the Communion with the blessed Redeemer and the Saints in Heaven Love is the first Fountain of Joy and the more intense the more ravishing is the Fruition The Love of Christ to them was so great that from Eternity he was infinitely pleas'd in the thoughts of their Salvation His Delights were with the Sons of Men before they delighted in him If the Design of that blessed Work was so pleasing what is the Accomplishment The Evangelical Prophet declares He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied And the Love of the Saints to Christ is a correspondent Affection according to their utmost Capacity All the Affections that were scatter'd here below are concenter'd in him for he infinitely deserves their Love having ransom'd them with the dearest Price and purchas'd for them an everlasting Inheritance He lov'd them in their foul deformity that he might superinduce a Divine Beauty upon them and prepare them for the enjoyment of himself He is now their Desire and in Heaven where he appears in all his Brightness and Beauty their everlasting Delight We may conceive a little of their ravishing Communion by the Language of Divine Love between Christ and the Church in the Song of Solomon and their harmonious Affections exprest in the most endearing manner Open to me my Love my Dove my Vndefiled And the inflam'd Spouse in a high and delightful rapture breaks forth I am my Beloved's and he is mine If a Propriety and Interest in him be productive of such a pure Joy what will the everlasting Fruition be The Scripture represents it by a Marriage-Feast as the most compleat resemblance of that spiritual Joy Thus the Inhabitants of Heaven are introduc'd speaking Give Honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready What Union what Joy How will the Saints rejoice in God their Saviour in the view of the surprising Wonders of his Love The Scripture speaks of another accession to the Joys of Heaven the innumerable Company of Angels and Saints that live in perfect Concord inviolable Love the sweetest Content and joyful Complacency Society is a principal Ingredient of Joy What exultation of Joy will there be when the whole Family of Heaven shall meet together in their Father's House We may conjecture how the Angels are affected to us by what is recorded concerning their appearance at the Birth of our Saviour There was a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God saying Glory be to God on High on Earth Peace good Will towards Men. 'T is the first time since the Fall of Man that we hear of the Angels Song They were commission'd to punish rebellious Sinners and appear'd with flaming Swords the Instruments of revenging Wrath. But when the Lord of Hosts became the God of Peace they appear'd with Harps in their Hands with Praise and Joy celebrating his Mercy They foresaw that Peace on Earth would end in