Selected quad for the lemma: body_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	dead_a	life_n	spirit_n	12,824	5	5.8944	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62629	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions By John Tillotson, D.D. Dean of Canterbury, preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn, and one of His Majesties chaplains in ordinary. The second volume.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1678 (1678)	Wing T1260BA; ESTC R222222	128,450	338

particularly known to us when they are committed and consequently it is impossible that we should particularly repent of them And therefore in this case there can be no doubt but that God doth accept of a general repentance as he did from David when he made that humble confession and prayer to him Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret sins 3. They are afraid their obedience is not sincere because it proceeds many times from fear and not always out of pure love to God For answer to this It is plain from Scripture that God propounds to men several motives and arguments to obedience some proper to work upon their fear as the threatnings of punishment some upon their hope as the promises of blessing and reward others upon their love as the mercies and forgiveness of God From whence it is evident he intended they should all work upon us And accordingly the Scripture gives us instances in each kind Noah moved with fear obeyed God in preparing an Ark Moses had respect unto the recompence of reward Mary Magdalen loved much And as it is hard to say so it is not necessary to determine just how much influence and no more each of these hath upon us It is very well if men be reclaimed from their sins and made good by the joint force of all the considerations which God offers to us To be sure Love is the noblest and most generous principle of obedience but fear commonly takes the first and fastest hold of us and in times of violent temptation is perhaps the best argument to keep even the best of men within the bounds of their duty 4. Another cause of doubting in good men is from a sense of their imperfect performance of the duties of Religion and of the abatement of their affections towards God at some times They have many wandring thoughts in prayer and other exercises of devotion and they cannot for their life keep their minds continually intent on what they are about This we should strive against as much as we can and that is the utmost we can do but to cure this wholly is impossible the infirmity of our nature and the frame of our minds will not admit of it And therefore no man ought to question his sincerity because he cannot do that which is impossible for men to do And then for the abatement of our affections to God and Religion at some times this naturally proceeds from the inconstancy of mens tempers by reason of which it is not possible that the best of men should be able always to maintain and keep up the same degree of zeal and fervour towards God But our comfort is that God doth not measure mens sincerity by the Tides of their affections but by the constant bent of their resolutions and the general tenour of their life and actions 5. Another cause of these doubts is that men expect more than ordinary and reasonable assurance of their good condition some particular revelation from God and extraordinary impression upon their minds to that purpose which they think the Scripture means by the testimony and seal and earnest of the Spirit God may give this when and to whom he pleases but I do not find he hath any where promised it And all that the Scripture means by those phrases of the testimony and seal and earnest of the Spirit is to my apprehension no more but this That the Holy Spirit which God bestowed upon Christians in so powerful and sensible a manner was a seal and earnest of their resurrection to eternal life according to that plain Text Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But then who they are that have the Spirit of God is only to be known by the real fruits and effects of it If we be led by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh then the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in us But this is very far from an immediate and extraordinary revelation from the Spirit of God to the minds of good men telling them in particular that they are the children of God I know not what peculiar favour God may shew to some but I know no such thing nor ever yet met with any wise and good man that did affirm it of himself And I fear that in most of those who pretend to it it is either meer fancy or gross delusion 6. As for the case of melancholy it is not a reasonable case and therefore doth not fall under any certain rules and directions They who are under the power of it are seldom fit to take that counsel which alone is fit to be given them and that is not to believe themselves concerning themselves but to trust the judgment of others rather than their own apprehensions In other cases every man knows himself best but a melancholy man is most in the dark as to himself This cause of trouble and doubting is very much to be pitied but hard to be removed unless by physick or by time or by chance One may happen to say something that may hit the humour of a melancholy man and satisfie him for the present but Reason must needs signifie very little to those persons the nature of whose distemper it is to turn every thing that can be said for their comfort into objections against themselves Thirdly But besides those who mistake their condition either by presuming it to be better or fearing it to be worse than it is there are likewise others who upon good grounds are doubtful of their condition and have reason to be afraid of it Those I mean who have some beginnings of goodness which yet are very imperfect They have good resolutions and do many things well but they often fall and are frequently pull'd back by those evil inclinations and habits which are yet in a great measure unsubdued in them These I cannot liken better than to the Borderers between two Countries who live in the marches and confines of two powerful Kingdoms both which have a great influence upon them so that it is hard to say whose subjects they are and to which Prince they belong Thus it is with many in Religion They have pious inclinations and have made some fair attempts towards goodness they have begun to refrain from sin and to resist the occasions and temptations to it but ever and anon they are mastered by their old lusts and carryed off from their best resolutions and perhaps upon a little consideration they repent and recover themselves again and after a while are again entangled and overcome Now the case of these persons is really doubtful both to themselves and others And the proper direction to be given them in order to their peace and settlement is by all means to encourage them

coming upon them like a whirlwind heaven above threatning them and hell beneath moving her self to meet them at their coming can we possiby do less than to warn such persons to flee from the wrath which is to come and out of a sad apprehension of the danger that hangs over them to caution them against it and endeavour with all our might to rescue them from the misery which is ready to swallow them up Indeed one would be apt to think it a very vain thing to disswade men from being miserable to use great vehemency of argument to hinder a man from leaping into a pit or from running into the fire to take great pains to argue a sick man into a desire of health and to make a prisoner contented to have his shackles knocked off and to be set at liberty one would think all this were perfectly needless But yet we see in experience sin is a thing of so stupifying a nature as to make men insensible of their danger although it be so near and so terrible It is not so with men in other cases When we labour of any bodily distemper it is much to find a man that is patient of his disease but when our souls are mortally sick that we should be contented with our condition and fond of our disease that we should fight with our Physitian and spurn at our remedy this surely is the height of distraction for men to be thus absolutely bent upon their own ruin and to resolve to make away themselves forever And we who are the Messengers of God to men must be born of the rocks and have hearts harder than the nether milstone if we can patiently look on and endure to see men perish without using our utmost endeavour to save them Therefore I shall in the III. Third and last place apply my self to this work of Exhortation the duty commanded here in the Text. And here I shall address my self to two sorts of persons 1. To perswade those who are yet innocent of great crimes to resist the beginnings of sin lest it gain upon them by degrees 2. To press and urge those that are already entered upon a wicked course that they would make haste out of this dangerous state lest at last they be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin 1. To perswade those who are yet in some measure innocent to resist the beginnings of sin lest it gain upon them by degrees Vice may easily be discouraged at first 'T is like a slight disease which is easie to be cured but dangerous to be neglected The first approaches of sin and temptation are usually very modest but if they be not discountenanced they will soon grow upon us and make bolder attempts Every inclination to sin every compliance with temptation is a going down the hill While we keep our standing we may command our selves but if we once put our selves into violent motion downward we cannot stop when we please Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit All Vice stands upon a Precipice and to engage in any sinful course is to run down the hill And if we once let loose the propensions of our nature we cannot gather in the reins and govern them as we please If we give way to presumptuous sins they will quickly get dominion over us It is much easier not to begin a bad course than to put a stop to our selves after we have begun it Stulta res est nequitiae modus 'T is a fond thing for a man to think to set bounds to himself in any thing that is bad to resolve to sin in number weight and measure with great temperance and discretion and government of himself That he will commit this sin and then give over entertain but this one temptation and after that he will shut the door and admit of no more Our corrupt hearts when they are once in motion they are like the raging sea to which we set no bounds nor say to it hitherto thou shalt go and no further Sin is very cunning and deceitful and does strangely gain upon men when they once give way to it It is of a very bewitching nature and hath strange arts of address and insinuation The giving way to a small sin does marvellously prepare and dispose a man for a greater By giving way to one little vice after another the strongest resolution may be broken For though it be not to be snapt in sunder at once yet by this means it is untwisted by degrees and then 't is easie to break it one thread after another 'T is scarce imaginable of what force one sinful action is to produce more For sin is very teeming and fruitful and though there be no blessing annext to it yet it does strangely encrease and multiply As there is a connexion of one virtue with another so vices are linkt together and one sin draws many after it When the Devil tempts a man to commit any wickedness he does as it were lay a long train of sins and if the first temptation take they give fire to one another Let us then resist the beginnings of sin because then we have most power and sin hath least This is the first 2. To perswade those who are already engaged in a wicked course to make haste out of this dangerous state And there is no other way to get out of it but by repentance that is by a real change and reformation of our lives for herein the nature of true repentance does consist And without this all the devices which men use to get rid of the guilt of their sins are vain and to no purpose 'T is not to be done by a formal confession and absolution nor by a long pilgrimage nor by one of those little Tickets from Rome which they call Indulgences A wise man would much sooner perswade himself that God would not at all punish the sins of men than that he would forgive them so easily and receive great offenders to favour upon such slight terms Let us not deceive our selves there is one plain way to Heaven viz. sincere repentance and a holy life and there is no getting thither by tricks And without this change of our lives all our sorrow and fasting and humiliation for sin which at this season we make profession of will signifie nothing There is an excellent passage of the Son of Syrach to this purpose Eccles 34.25 26 He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing so is it with a man that fasteth for his sins and goeth again and doth the same things who will hear his prayer or what doth his humbling profit him There is this plain difference between trouble for sin and repentance sorrow only respects sins past but repentance is chiefly preventive of sins for the future And God therefore requires that we should be troubled for our sins that we may resolve to leave them And to oblige

and without delay And because they are many I shall insist upon those which are most weighty and considerable without being very curious and solicitous about the method and order of them For provided they be but effectual to the end of perswasion it matters not how inartificially they are rang'd and disposed 1. Consider that in matters of great and necessary concernment and which must be done there is no greater argument of a weak and impotent mind then irresolution to be undermined where the case is so plain and the necessity so urgent to be always about doing that which we are convinced must be done Victuros agimus semper nec vivimus unquam We are always intending to live a new life but can never find a time to set about it This is as if a man should put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day and night to another till he have starved and destroyed himself It seldom falls under any mans deliberation whether he should live or not if he can chuse and if he cannot chuse 't is in vain to deliberate about it It is much more absurd to deliberate whether we should live virtuously and religiously soberly and righteously in the world for that upon the matter is to consult whether a man should be happy or not Nature hath determined this for us and we need not reason about it and consequently we ought not to delay that which we are convinced is so necessary in order to it 2. Consider that Religion is a great and a long work and asks so much time that there is none left for the delaying of it To begin with Repentance which is commonly our first entrance into Religion This alone is a great work and is not only the business of a sudden thought and resolution but of execution and action 'T is the abandoning of a sinful course which we cannot leave till we have in some degree mastered our lusts for so long as they are our masters like Pharaoh they will keep us in bondage and not let us go to serve the Lord. The habits of sin and vice are not to be plucked up and cast off at once as they have been long in contracting so without a miracle it will require a competent time to subdue them and get the victory over them for they are conquered just by the same degrees that the habits of grace and virtue grow up and get strength in us So that there are several duties to be done in Religion and often to be repeated many graces and virtues are to be long practised and exercised before the contrary vices will be subdued and before we arrive to a confirmed and setled state of goodness such a state as can only give us a clear and comfortable evidence of the sincerity of our resolution and repentance and of our good condion towards God We have many lusts to mortifie many passions to govern and bring into order much good to do to make what amends and reparation we can for the much evil we have done We have many things to learn and many to unlearn to which we shall be strongly prompted by the corrupt inclinations of our nature and the remaining power of ill habits and customs and perhaps we have satisfaction and restitution to make for the many injuries we have done to others in their persons or estates or reputations In a word we have a body of sin to put off which clings close to us and is hard to part with we have to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God to encrease and improve our graces and virtues to add to our faith knowledg and temperance and patience and brotherly kindness and charity and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God We have to be useful to the world and exemplary to others in a holy and virtuous conversation our light is so to shine before men that others may see our good works and glorifie our father which is in heaven And do we think all this is to be done in an instant and requires no time That we may delay and put off to the last and yet do all this work well enough Do we think we can do all this in time of sickness and old age when we are not fit to do any thing when the spirit of a man can hardly bear the infirmities of nature much less a guilty conscience and a wounded spirit Do we think that when the day hath been idlely spent and squandered away by us that we shall be fit to work when the night and darkness comes When our understanding is weak and our memory frail and our will crooked and by a long custom of sinning obstinately bent the wrong way what can we then do in Religion what reasonable or acceptable service can we then perform to God when our candle is just sinking into the socket how shall our light so shine before men that others may see our good works Alas the longest life is no more than sufficient for a man to reform himself in to repent of the errors of his life and to amend what is amiss to put our souls into a good posture and preparation for another world to train up our selves for eternity and to make our selves meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light 3. Consider what a desperate hazard we run by these delays Every delay of repentance is a venturing the main chance It is uncertain whether hereafter we shall have time for it and if we have time whether we shall have a heart to it and the assistance of Gods grace to go thorough with it God indeed hath been graciously pleased to promise pardon to repentance but he hath no-where promised life and leisure the aids of his grace and holy Spirit to those who put off their repentance He hath no-where promised acceptance to meer sorrow and trouble for sin without fruits meet for repentance and amendment of life He hath no-where promised to receive them to mercy and favour who only give him good words and are at last contented to condescend so far to him as to promise to leave their sins when they can keep them no longer Many have gone thus far in times of affliction and sickness as to be awakened to a great sense of their sins and to be mightily troubled for their wicked lives and to make solemn promises and professions of becoming better and yet upon their deliverance and recovery all hath vanished and come to nothing and their righteousness hath been as the morning cloud and as the early dew which passeth away And why should any man meerly upon account of a death-bed repentance reckon himself in a better condition than those persons who have done as much and gone as far as he and there is no other difference between them but this that the