Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A45687
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A sermon on the decease of Mr. Hanserd Knollis, minister of the Gospel Preached at Pinners-Hall, Octob. 4. 1691. By Tho. Harrison.
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Harrison, Thomas, fl. 1700.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing H911; ESTC R221275
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16,595
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74
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Predicate do not live for ever There is a threefold life whereof we read in the holy Scripture viz. A Temporal life or a life of nature a Spiritual life or a life of Grace and an Eternal life or a life of Glory In the two latter sences the faithful Prophets of God shall live for ever The life of grace which they are partakers of here shall never be destroyed but will terminate in a Life of Glory and that Life of Glory which the Saints shall live above will be of an everlasting duration But the Spirit of God in the words of my text speaks of a Temporal Life or a Life of nature to which a Period must be put In this sence the Prophets do not live for ever From the words thus explained I shall present you with the following observation Doct. That they who minister about holy things are not exempted from a Temporal Death Or That ministers are liable to and must undergo a Temporal Death The Prophets do they live for ever If they do not live for ever they must certainly die I need not Insist long upon the Proof of such an undeniable Proposition Have not all God's Ministers who lived in Preceeding ages fallen by the stroke of Death Is not Moses gone to the House appointed for all living who is stiled the Prophet by way of eminence Hosea 12.13 Who was the Prince of the old Testament Prophets an eminent type of the Great Apostle of our Profession with Respect to his Prophetical Office as appears from Deut. 18.18 Compared with Act. 3.22 What is become of that famous Prophet who came in the spirit and Power of Elias who was the Morning Star that ushered the Sun of Righteousness into this World did not he set in a Gloomy night of Death Where are the Apostles of our Lord those Heraulds that first Proclaimed the glad tidings of Peace to the Rebellious world are not they gone down to the dark and silent grave Do not we frequently see the King of terrours hewing down those who are Pillars in Jehovah's Temple with his fatal Ax. In the farther Prosecution of this Point I shall proceed in the ensuing method 1. To shew you more particularly what that Death is which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must certainly undergo 2. To assign some general Reasons why they must die as well as other men 3. To assign some particular and special Reasons of their death 4. To give you some Account of the time when God usually calls them out of this world 5. To make some Improvement and Application of the whole 1. I shall shew you more particularly what that Death is which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must undergo 1. Negatively Neither they nor any of the Children of men are liable to or shall undergo a natural death of the Soul Though the Souls of wicked men are subject to a Moral Death which Consists in a Privation of felicity and blessedness yet they are not subject to a Physical Death which Consists in a Privation of Existence or Life when men die their Souls depart from their Bodies they do not die or sleep with their Bodies When their Bodies return to the Earth from whence they came Their Souls return to that God as a Judge from whom they came forth as a Creatour Otherwise it would be in the Power of man to kill the soul as well as the Body which our Saviour denies Math. 10.28 Fear not them which can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul Death's fatal dart cannot pierce this Immortal Being Death may break the Cabinets but cannot touch that rich Jewel which is Inclosed therein It dissolves that earthly Tabernacle wherein the Soul resides but cannot destroy it 's noble Inhabitant The Soul is a spiritual Immaterial and therefore an Immortal Everliving substance If the Soul sleeps with the Body I know not how our Lord's Promise to the Penitent theif This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23.43 could be accomplish't nor what Reason can be assign'd for the Apostle Paul's desire speedily to depart out of the world Phil. 1.23 I might produce many Arguments to establish this assertion But I cannot enter upon a large discussion of this controversy at this time 2. Affirmatively There is a two fold death which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must undergo as well as other men viz. A death of the man and a death of the Body 1. A death of the man Which Consists in a separation of the Soul from the Body As the union of the Soul with the Body is the Life of the man So the separation of the Soul from the Body is the death of the man When the Soul is Joyned to the Body we begin to live when it is divorced from the Body then we die Death's fatal stroke breaks in sunder the Ligament wherewith the Soul and Body are tyed together and Rends these Intimate Companions from each others Embraces 2. A death of the Body This is inseparable from a death of the man The Soul is the Principle of the Bodies Life and Motion while it continues in it and therefore when it takes it's flight from it it ceases to be a living Creature and becomes a lifeless lump of clay This death of the Body consists in a Cessation of the Circulation of the Blood and Spirits which are the Animal Soul of man Thereby the Body is deprived of it's strength and vigour of it's Motion and Activity and of it's comeliness and Beauty Death makes a great alteration in this Curious structure It tyes the most voluble tongue fetters the most active and nimble hands and feet It introduces paleness into the most ruddy face and dimness into the most sparkling eyes 2dly I Proceed to assign some general Reasons why Ministers must die as well as other men In general because it is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 This is a statute Law of Heaven which never was never will be repealed but shall be fully executed The Law is universal and therefore none can plead an exemption from the execution of it They who give Laws to men are subject to this Appointment of God No Priveledges either Temporal or spiritual can give the Children of men a Protection from death's arrest If it be objected that some have past by not through the Gates of death for Enoch was Translated and Elias mounted up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot and they who remain alive upon Earth at the coming of the Lord from Heaven shall not sleep but be changed It may be replyed that some Particular exceptions do not destroy a general Rule besides the foremention'd Persons either did or shall undergo a change equivalent to a Death But more Particularly Ministers must die as well as others 1. Because they as well as others descended from the first Adam by whose transgression death was entailed upon all