Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	eat_v	eternal_a	life_n	10,247	5	5.7542	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66447	Experiments of spiritual life & health and their preservatives in which the weakest child of God may get assurance of his spiritual life and blessedness, and the strongest may finde proportionable discoveries of his Christian growth, and the means of it / by Roger Williams ...	Williams, Roger, 1604?-1683.	1652 (1652)	Wing W2762; ESTC R7812	48,635	62

drink of the hope of the joyes●…o come Lay hold saith Paul to Timotbie of eternall life and as the Souldier meditates upon the glory of his victories The sick passenger at Sea upon his sweet refreshings on shore the Traveller upon his journeys end and comforts at his home the L●…bourer and the Hireling on his wages the Husbandman on his harvest the Merchant on his gain the woman in travail on her fruit so let us sometimes w●…rm and revive our cold hearts and fainting spirits with the assured hope of those victories those crowns those harvests those refreshings and fruits which never eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor never entred into mans heart the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Of which however it pleaseth God to give his servants a taste in this life yet the harvest and the vintage are to come when they that suffer with Christ Jesus shall reign with him and they that have sown in tears shall reap the never ending harvest of inconceiveable joyes Sixthly as it is in the restoring of the body to health or in the preserving of it in an healthfull condition it is often necessarie to use the help of sharp and bitter things bitter pils bitter potions bitter medicines sweatings purgings vomitings blood-lettings c. So is it with our souls and spirits and preservation of the health and chearfulness of the spirituall and the inner man The sharp and bitter things which it pleaseth God to make use of in these cases are of two sorts First such as himself is pleased to use towards us in the way of his fatherly afflictions of all sorts on our spirits our bodies our yoak fellows children servants cattel goods c. out of which yea also out of the injurious and slanderous and persecuting dealing of others yea and out of our own sins and failings his most holy and infinite wisd●…m fetcheth all sorts of cleansing and purging yea and sometimes cordiall and healing physick The second sort of sharp and bitter means are such as we voluntarily use an●…apply our selves unto our selves for the slaying and the purging out of the filthy humeurs and corruptions of pride securitie uncleanness self-love covetousness and what ever else remains behinde of the body of dea●…h in us It is true that the word of God and all his holy Ordinances they are not only of a feeding and nourishing but also of a purging and cleansing Nature of a preserving and a restoring Quality and therefore out of these we must take direction for all our spirituall Remedies against those soul distempers unto which our spirituall and inuer men are subj●…ct First then it is an wholsome though bitter pill often to call to mind our many our great our known our unknown transgressions against the Lord as a Creatour against the Lord as a Father against the Lord as a Redeemer against Christ Jesus against his holy Spirit against his Ordinances against his Saints against our selves c. Yea the sins and severall corruptions of our Natures callings and conditions to which we yet are subject and lye open and without supply of Grace and strength from Heaven we shall fall and tumble into as well as the strongest of Gods servants of whose wofull falls we read of in holy Scripture Obj. It is a part of the Lords New Covenant that he will forgive our sins and remember our iniquities no more I answer unto all the promises of all sorts Ezek. 36. it pleaseth the Lord to adde this Gospel Proviso For all this I will be sought unto saith the Lord according to that most holy direction of the Lord Jesus to pray daily not only for daily Bread but also for daily forgivenes Obj. The Lord hath forgiven them already in Christ what need to pray for forgivenesse of them again I answer We must marke the Lords Ordinance for all this I will be sought unto Prayer and other spirituall Ordinances hath the Lord appointed for our souls good as well as corporall meanes for our bodily comfort Hence the many examples of the servants of God throughout the whole Scripture both before Jesus Christ and since David Peter Mary Magdalen breaking forth into heavenly showres of godly teares Hence the Paschall Lambe the figure of Christ Jesus was appointed by the Lord to be eaten with bitter herbs implying and teaching that Jesus Christ himselfe his blood pardon of sin Life and Salvation and all the spirituall and eternall sweets that here below we finde in Christ Jesus they have not their native and proper rellish without the helpe of such sharpe and bitter hearbs What though therfore in Gods councel before the world was all his works of creation and redemption vocation justification glorification are knowne to him and acted by him I say in the most inconceiveable deep councels of his will according to which he worketh all things Ephes. 1. 11 yet were it presumptuous madnesse in us and a tempting of the jealous eyes of the most High to neglect the wayes and meanes and paths of mercy for Soul or Body which his most holy Wisedome out of infinite Grace and goodnesse hath appointed to us A second sharp and bitter pill to pu●…ge out spiritual corruption is a due and serious pondering of the nature of the justice of the most High notwithstanding all the infinite sweetnesse of th●…Ocean of his mercy and not withstanding all th●…colours and pretences which we poor sinners invent to our selves to hide from our eyes the greatnesse and dreadfulnesse and terrours of it Well therefore might Job say therefore am I troubled at his presence and when I consider I am afraid of him and David Psal. 119. My Flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Object But John saith perfect love casteth out fear I answer The true love of God never casteth out the true feare of God but only that which is false and counterfeit that which is the fear of a Beast of slaves and Devils Hence it is that the Spirit of the fear of the Lord was poured upon the Lord Jesus himself This feare is an holy awe or reverence proper to a true and heavenly ingenuous child of God even first and chiefly to Christ Jesus the elder Brother in a sence of all the children of God To cherish which holy fear of God let us cast our eyes upon the fiery flashes of his severe justice revealed unto us in a three-fold time the time past present and to come For the time past how dreadfull is that we finde of the rejection and ejection of so many glorious heavenly Spirits the Angels tumbled downe for their sin of Pride from the heigth of Heaven and their glorious attendance upon God to the depth of Hell in horrible slavery to everlasting sinnes and torments How dreadfull was that dolefull Sentence upon the whole race of mankinde for the Sin of the first root our

so neer to these heavenly copies as we approach the stronger we are in the grace of God in Christ And doubtless it cannot be but it is in the desire of every true childe of God not onely to enjoy a prettie moderate health of spirituall life but to be as strong in faith as Abraham in meekness as Moses in patience a●…Job in aff●…ction to God a●…David and as zealous for the Lord and his glory as were this blessed pair of zealous servants of the most high Paul and Moses I Am now come dear Love to the third and last Head proposed which is some few means of recovering and preserving of ●…hristian health and cheerfulness and the preventing of spirituall sicknesses and diseases In this I shall desire to be brief left by too long a discourse I discourage thy reading and hinder thy use and improvement of it First then holy consideration of our estate a deep and frequent examination of our spirituall condition is an excellent means of Christian health and temper Thus teacheth us the holy Spirit of God by Jeremie Lam 2. Let us search and try our ways and turn unto the Lord This searching and examining of our ways in Gods presence is as it were a casting up of our accounts between God and our souls wherein we truly verifie that true saying That often reckoning makes God and our souls true friends This dutie is hard and therefore we must often crie t●…God with David Psal. 139. Search me O God and try my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way ●…verlasting This holy practice ought to be frequent but then especially when the hand and Rods of the Lord are upon us For then as Iob saith God sof●…neth our Hearts and we are most like then to be as the ground moll●…fied upon a Thaw fit to be broken up or like the Ground moistned with storms and showers fro●… H●…aven then in some hopefull turn for the Lords most gracious seed and heavenly planting Secondly maintain an earnest longing and endeavour to enjoy Christ I●…sus who is our souls life in every holy Ordinance which he hath appointed If it be possible with true satisfaction to our consciences and doubts in Gods presence let us never rest from being planted into the holy society of Gods children gathered into the order of Christ Jesus according to hi●… most holy will and Testament Remembring that Christian health grouth and fl●…urishing are promised to the Trees planted in Jehovahs house And that the holy Ordinances are the Lords provisions and soul meals and Breasts which he hath graciously appointed for his children of all sorts and ages Especially be much in holy prayer and fasting before the Lord this is an Ordinance of which neither Pope nor Devill could ever deprive a child of God If it be possible practice this duty with others however before the Lord in secret rememb●…ing how frequent the children of God in holy scripture were in this duty Daniel is an heavenly pattern and so is David who wept and chastised his soul with fasting although he was reproached for it Psal. 69. Our holy Bridegroom the Lord Iesus tels us that the Bridegroom shall be taken away and then his servants fast as if he had ●…xpresly named the times of the Antichristian bondage wherein the followers of Iesus like the blessed Wome●… John the 20. weeping cry out they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him This holy Ordinance is of such admirable use among the Saints that even in the first and purest times of Chris●…ianity we read of Christan yoak fellows consenting to a seperation from each other for a time that they may give themselves to prayer and fasting 1. C. 〈◊〉 Obj. But some say fasting as it seems to be more proper to the Old Testa●…ent so seems it not so usefull in the New Covenant when more spirituall worship and spirituall joys seem more suitable and seasonable I answer all the former Scriptures declare it to be an Ordinance of the New T●…stament as well as a prayer it self And for the use of it it is most admirable for the seperating and abstracting of the mind and spirit from earthly occasi●…ns and comforts for the devoting of the soul to heavenly consideration and examination of our wayes for the pouring forth of prayers and cries to God in the many gre●…t and mighty straights which Gods people passe through in this vale of tears and Lamentation And indeed it is as I may say the taking of a soul sweat or soul purge for the avoiding and cleansing out our spirituall Hum●…urs and corruptions Thirdly as ever we would preserve our spirituall health let us carefully take heed of spirituall colds and obstructio●…s For as it is in the naturall man a cold it self is a great distemper and the ground and ●…eginning of others when the warm streams of blood and spirits are stopt up and obstructed So is it and much more in the spirituall when our heavenly spirits are stopt by damp colds and ●…bstructions of unnecessary frequenting of cold societies and places destitute of the life of the Sun of Righteousnes Christ Jesus The Lord Jesus is a Christians Garment O let us keep that blessed garment always close about us and in all places and in all companies and upon all occasions expresse the life and power of Christ Jesus longing to know and to follow his blessed words and examples in life and death Fourthly take heed of spirituall surfets that the feeding too much upon the comforts of ●…oak fellows children credit profit though sweet and wholsome as h●…ny ●…urn not to bitternes and loathing Gods children as travailers on the Land as Passengers in a ship must use this world and all co●…forts of it with dead and weaned and 〈◊〉 aff●…ctions a●… if they used them not If Riches i●…Child●…en i●…Cattel if Friends if whatsoever increase let us watch that the Heart fly not loose upon them But as we use salt with raw and fr●…sh meats let us use no worldly comfort without a savoury Remembrance that these worldly Goods and comforts are the common portion of the men of this perishing wo●…ld who must pe●…ish together with them Let us muse upon their insufficiency to content and fill our Hearts upon their uncertain coming and going with Eagles wings upon their anxiety and perplexednes full of Thorns vexation upon their certainty of departing how soon we know not O le●… us therefor beg gra●…e from Heaven that we may use earthly comforts as a stool or ladder to help u●… upward to heavenly comforts profits pleasures which are only true and lasting even eternall in God himself when these Heavens and earth are gone Fifthly to maintain spirituall health and 〈◊〉 is of no small use as Paul writes to Timothie sometimes to help our cold stomacks with a little wine or strong