Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	body_n	soul_n	union_n	1,547	5	9.5555	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51412	The spirit of man, or, Some meditations (by way of essay) on the sense of that scripture, 1 Thes. 1:23 ... by Charles Morton ...	Morton, Charles, 1627-1698.; Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.; Mather, Increase, 1639-1723.	1692 (1692)	Wing M2825; ESTC R31044	42,571	116

but to confound it with Body in the business of Sanctification and Preservation here spoken of These three forementioned Interpretations I ●ill not Absolutely deny nor Contend with their Authors about them Because they all agree well enough in the General Scope of the place which is be sure that all that is In Man be sancti●yed to God However any one part be Distingui●hed from the other Yet I am apt to think that a more Proper Interpretation may be found which will give a more F●ll and 〈◊〉 sense to the place then is ●ually a●●ribed to it For the Enquiry after this we shall consider to what things the Name of Spirit i● given in Scripture besides those before men●ioned And this I finde to be to some things Out of Man and some things In Man 1 Out of Man the Word Spirit is ascribed bo●h to God and Creatures 1. To God both Essential and Personal 1. Essential as in Iob. 4. 24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him c. Not that Spirit is an Univocal Genus of God and any of his Creatures for then there would be a Common Nature but there is Infinite Distance between them Only because Spirit i● the Name of the most Noble Created Nature we Ascribe it also to God by Anal●gie for that we have no better Name to give him 2. Perso●al the Third in the Blessed Trinity under the Tide of the H●ly Ghost or Spirit the Spirit of the Lord of Iesus c. But ●his is not OUR Spirit nor is he to be Sanctified ●r Preserved and so cannot be here meant 2. To Angels both Good and Bad but Bad Angels cannot be Sanctified and Good need no Prayers in this Respect Nor can they be called OUR Spirits unless by Assignation of particular Guardia● Angels to particular men which whatever were the Opinion of some Jews and Gentiles of old I know no ground to Believe This of the Spirit Out of Man 2. In Man the Spirit is that wh●ch belongs to a man in a proper and natural sense and of this kind there seem to be four distinct Significations of the word Such as 1. When taken for the Soul the forma hominis Resigned up to God in Death So I understand David Psa. 31. 5. Unto thee O Lord I commit my Spirit however men deal with my Body And this the rather because Christ at his Death using the same words must needs be so understood Luk. 23. 46. Agreeable to Eccles. 12. 7. The Spirit returns to God who gave it And in the same sense also Ch. 11. 5. Thou knowest not the way of the Spirit nor how the Bones grow in the womb That is as I take it Thou understandest not how the Soul doth form the Body as an Habitation for it self 'T is the Inward part of man so the Exegesis seems very plain in that Isa. 26. 9. With my Sou● have I desired thee in the night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early i. e. with my inward man I have and will apply my self to thee from whence arises a Tropical sense of Spirit namely to signifie Sincerity God is my witness whom I Serve in my Spirit in the Gospel Rom. 1. 9. 2 Spirit is taken for the Life or Union of Soul and Body or Souls being in the State of Union So I understand Iob. 10. 12. thou hast granted me Life and thy visitation hath preserved my Spirit namely to continue in and with my Body And ch 34. 14. 15 If God gather to himself mans spirit and his breath all flesh shall perish to gether and man shall turn again unto Dust. Thus t is said of the Damsel whom our Saviour Raysed to Life Her Spirit came again and she arose Luk 8. 55. came again ie to be again United to her Body We Read Ecl. 3. 21. of the Spirit of a man that goes upwards and the Spirit of a beast that goeth Downwards If the Spirit in both parts be understood in the same sense as most likely it is then either Brutes have proper Spirits which many are loath to admit or the Spirit of man must signifie but the Life which is all if not more then some will allow to Beasts Again Chap. 8. 8. No man hath power over the Spirit to Retain the Spirit in the Day of Death i. e. No man is M●ster of his own Life to prolong it To the same purpose is that Expression in Hezekiahs Prayer Isa. 38. 16. O Lord by these things men Live and in all these things is the Life of my Spirit so wilt thou Recover me and make me to Live He me●ns not by the Life of his Spirit the continued Duration of his Ever-living Soul but the continuance of its Union with the Body whereby the Li●e of his person should be prolonged The Spirit in this sense taken may indeed be Sanctified The Life may be Devoted unto God according to that of the Apostle Rom 14. 8. Whether we Live we Live unto the Lord or Wh●ther we Dye c. But this I think is not the direct meaning of the Spirit in our Text. 3. Spirit is taken for some special Faculties or particular Acts of the mind such as 1. Understanding Prov. 20. 27. The Spirit of a man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the Inward Parts of the Belly not in an Anatomical but Moral Sense The Understanding is set up by God in man as a Candle to search and find out by its Exercise all those Inward Acts and Inclinations which would othe●wise lie hidden and undiscovered So that Isa. 29. 24 They that Erred in Spirit shall come to Understanding and they that Murmured shall Learn Doctrine That is they that had misapprehensions of Me and my Ways shall come to Understanding not the Faculty but the Rectitude thereof and they that Murmured whose Wills were averse to embrace Truth shall be graciously Inclined to Learn that which is Right 2. The Fancy or Imagination is sometimes to be understood by Spirit Ezek. 13. 3. Wo unto the Foolish Prophets that follow their own Spirit and have seen nothing or that walk after the things which they have not seen as in orig which God hath not Revealed to them but they have fabricated to themselves out of their Evil Hearts and Foolish Fancies or Imaginations 3. The Spirit is also taken for the Thoughts upon or Remembring of some person or thing Thus the Apostle Expresses his Thinking of the Corinthians I Cor. 5. 3. I verily as absent in Body but present in Spirit have judged already as tho' I were present concerning him that hath done this Deed. He thought of them and their Affairs tho' at a distance from them So of the Colossians Chap. 2. 5. Tho' I he absent in the Flesh yet am I with you in the Spirit Ioying and Beholding your order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ. He Rejoyced to behold their Graces by the eye of his mind his Cogitations

have the worst Manners might be accounted the best M●rallists they could easily mend all the world who cannot mend themselves Nor must we understand by this our Substrate Matter the Faculties above-mentioned as if The Body has an Operative Influence upon the Soul to Induce as it were a new form upon it for the Soul is the Active part in Man and the Body nothing so But the thing stands thus The Soul which is a True Spirit in a Nobler Sense than that whereof we are now treating being by its Information of the Body most Intimately conjoyned thereunto while it is in the State of Conjunction and Union in Man Uses the Parts Humours and Members as its Instruments or Organs in all its Operations Now as a Workman Receiveth nothing of his strength or skill from his Tools wherewith with he works yet in the Exercise of his Abilities he will find himself much furthered or hindred in his business according as his Tool is either Apt or Unapt for his Work So is it in this Case The Soul Receives no power from the Body But in Exerting its own proper powers is helped or hindred by the Bodys good or ill Temperament Thus an 〈◊〉 Tempered Brain makes that Soul Act like a Fool or Ideot which had it a Brain Well● Tempered would be both prudent and sagacious And so also the Temperament of the Heart Blood and Natural Spirits gives Help or Impediment to the ●ill and Affections even as The Organs of Sense do to their proper Senses Hence that saying Anima Ga●bae male habitat The Brave Soul of Galba had but an Ill Lodging He being a brave Spirited Man but very sickly 3. Acquired Habits do much Alter the Genius or Spirit from what it would be if men were left to their Pure Naturals These Habits arise partly 1 From Instruction Rules so Intellectual Moral Habits whether good or evil are formed much according to the Information men meet with especially in their younger dayes Thus as to Advantage every part of Philosophy contributes its share Logick and Metaphysicks sharpness of Judgment Mathematicks Solidness and Sagacity Physicks good conjecture at the Reasons of things Moral Philosophy and History Prudence Rhetorick Fairness and Confidence of Address Poetry quickness of fancy and Imagination Any of these as they are better studied do accordingly Enable and Incline the mind of Man Didicisse fideliter Artes c. And so on the Contrary as to Disadvantage All vicious and erroneous Principles foolish and vain traditions and such like evil Rudiments being Instilled into Youth do Taint and Darken the Judgment Debauch the Will Affections and Debase the whole Spirit and Genius of the Man 2. From Pattern Example and Converse with People make deeper imp●ession then Rules and have a very great influence in forming the Genius especially of Youth when they are stepping from Boy to Man and are taking upon them to chuse their own way then if ever Multum Refert quocum vixeris it concerns you to think where you dwell The force of Example is set forth in that Prov. 22. 24. 25. Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go Lest thou learn his way and get a snare to thy soul. T is called a Snare tho' the ill-favoured humour be no plausible bait to allure yet for that all Custom has a secret and fascinating Insinuation whereby at least the Aversation and Abhorrence of Ill things to which we are enured is very much abated So as not only the Vices themselves under some false name such as Gallantry of Spirit Greatness of Soul Scorning to take an injury c. put fair for an approbation and are contagious But even the Inclinations to them preparation of Spirit for them do commonly spread themselves from one person to another And so also in some measure tho' not casually may we expect in things of a better Character Prov. 13. 20. He that walketh with the wise shall be wise c. Which place I think does not only intimate Gods usual Blessing upon fit means but also discovers those proper means which in their own Nature are apt to operate in a Moral way upon the minds of men not indeed to give the Truth of Grace for then all in Godly Families would be Religious Leave no ground for that complaint In the Land of uprightness will he deal unjustly Isa. 26. 10. And the contrary too often do we find by sad experience Nor are those ●air Dispositions which Conversation may work such Preparations for Grace as doth oblige God ex congruo to give the Truth thereof but only the whole is this If God please to give his Supernatural Grace to one that has fair Natural Disp●sit●●ns Those Graces will the more ●llu●●riously appear to Render a Man the more Eminen●●y Servi●●all A●d to 〈◊〉 our daily Experience and common ob●●●vati●n that men are much what the Cus●om and usual practice of the place is where they live He that is bred or● much conversant in the country gets there a simple plain heartedness or perhaps a Rough Rusticity He that is much in the City has more of Civility Sagacity and Cunning. One who lives where News is frequently Talked Gets somewhat of a Publick Spirit Amongst good natured People a Candid Spirit Amongst Souldiers a Bold and Boysterous one And so of all other Affections which may be considered in an Indifferency Neither morally Good nor Bad in themselves but only as Sanctification or Corruption makes the Difference 4. Outward Circumstances do also Exceedingly vary mens spirits and that in a shorter space of time then Habits use to do Thus Prosperity Wealth Honour Health friends c. do commonly enlarge the mind of a m●n and make him bold and brisk Whereas the contrary Poverty Disgrace Sickness c. do usually Contract and Emasculate the Spirit If these are of a long continued Series they do very much towards the forming of a setled and fixed Genius But if only Occasionally or at certain times they occur then they vary and Contemperate the Setled Spirit for a season and perhaps become a means to Reduce it to a better Mediocrity Thus one of a Light and Airy Spirit and for the most part in all good Circumstances may at such times be unmanageable by Advice until perhaps a particular sore A●●iction hath somewhat abated of his Gallantry and opened hi● Ear to Instruction whereby his Spirit may be better Regulated for the futu●e And thus much for the Aggregation or Resultance of this our Spirit from the concurrence of divers things both within and without the Man 3. The next particular in order to the Explaining of our General Notion shall be the taking Notice That all these do some way concurr to Constitute and Represent the Man Abstracted from Grace and Sin yet the Internals and Essentials of Soul and Body have the principal stroak herein And then that the other matters that are