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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	body_n	earthly_a	soul_n	2,499	5	5.3816	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10083	Tracts theological. I. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and vertue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites. II. The life of St. Antony out of the Greek of Sr. Athanasius. III. The antiquity and tradition of mystical divinity among the Gentiles. IV. Of the guidance of the spirit of God, upon a discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. V. An invitation to the Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and virtue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Life of St. Antony.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Antiquity, tradition, and succession of mystical divinity among the Gentiles.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Enthusiasmus divinus: the guidance of the spirit of God.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Apology for, and an invitation to, the people call'd Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5444E; Wing S5444E; ESTC R184630	221,170	486

Auditors c. He calls it Speculation because the Soul doth not measure Divine Visions by the Will but by the Intellective Faculty and Measure of its Purgation Psell 9. What the Sun is in Sensibles that God is in Intellectuals For as It doth illuminate the visible World He doth in like manner the Invisible Moreover as It makes those who look upon it bright so He makes them Divine and Deiform Nicetas The Presence of Spiritual Light and Divine Splendor converts the Mind of those who are judg'd worthy of such a Glory and Contemplation from many and various Opinions and Imaginations to that which truly is that is to God c. Nicetas For what the Eye is in the Body this the Mind is in the Soul As therefore to behold the Lightning when it breaks out there is need of good Eyes so also for this that we may be illustrated by the Contemplation of God is required a Pure and Sound Mind For as in a Looking-Glass sordid and impure the Form of a Face cannot be represented so neither in a foul and unclean Mind the Splendor of God Ni. Whoever knowing that they are only Mind have pasled the bulk and grossness of the Body and have purged their Mind from the Stain of Vices and rendered it fit and meet for the Reception of the First or chief Mind and Creator of all things God is united to them For when the Mind is Pure and Incorrupt he doth converse with the Mind without any thing intervening and by it hath Communion with the Soul as again by this he is joyned to the Body But he is united not as He is but as We are capable of that Union And hence at last he becomes known Nor can any one otherwise know God unless he open his Soul to Him and receive him in it Psellus God doth so much become known to Men as he is familiarly joyned to them who by Vertue are joyned to Him For according as is their Ascent he doth descend And how much Man doth approach to God so much also doth God become known to Man imparting the Knowledge of himself according to the proportion of Purity that is in every one See whether the Spiritual and Divine Gradation will raise us For from the Incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature as from the first step of a Ladder we are raised to Admiration of him as to the second step again from Admiration we ascend to more earnest Desire then from Desire are we raised up to Purgation and from hence further to Likeness with God and lastly we arrive to converse familiarly with God and know Him more perfectly by Vnion Then when we are made Deiform doth the true and natural God converse familiarly with those who by Grace are call'd Gods infusing the Divine Fulgers of his Knowledge in us as every one is purified Nicetas To be made God is to be partaker of Divine Illumination but not to pass into the Divine Essence Since we are set in the Confines between God and Matter if we decline to Matter we are Gross and Material if we tend toward God we are call'd Divine and thereupon Gods Nicetas St. Austin concerning the same THE Life of the Body is the Soul the Life of the Soul is God The Spirit of God dwells in the Soul and by the Soul in the Body that our Bodies also may be the Temple of the Holy Spirit whom we have from God Ser. 18. de verb. Apost c. 6. It is not unreasonable to say That the Incorporeal Soul is so illuminated with the Incorporeal Light of the Simple or pure Wisdom of God as the Body of the Air is illuminated with the Corporeal Light and as the Air grows dark upon the departure of that Light 11 de Civ Dei c. 10. Minds are to Souls as their Senses but of Sciences whatever things are most certain they are such as are those things which are illustrated or shined upon by the Sun that they may be seen as the Earth and all Earthly things But God is he who doth illustrate but I Reason am so in Mind as the Aspect is in the Eyes The Eye of the Soul is the Mind pure from all stain of the Body that is remote and purged from all desires of Mortal things c. 1 Soliloq c. 6. It is a great and very rare thing with the Intenseness of the Mind to transcend all Creature corporeal or incorporeal being considered and found mutable and to approach to that unchangeable Substance of God and there learn from Him that none but he made all Nature which is not Himself For so God speaks with Man not by any corporal Creature sounding in corporal Ears c. but he speaks by the very Truth it self if one be fit to hear with the Mind not with the Body 11 de C. D. 2. v. ibid. Coq When the Soul sees that singular and true Beauty it will the more love it But unless it fix on it its Eye with a mighty Love and decline not any whether from beholding it it cannot remain in that most Blessed Vision 1 Solil c. 7. One thing there is that I can prescribe thee I know no more That these sensible things are wholly to be forsaken and that we must greatly beware while we act this Body that our Wings which we need have intire and perfect be not hindered by any of their Birdlime that we may fly away from this Darkness to that Light c. Therefore when thou shalt be such that nothing of Earthly things doth at all delight thee believe me in that moment in the same point of time thou shalt see what thou desirest c. 1 Soliloq c. 14. Thou dost desire to see and imbrace Wisdom as it were naked without any thing of covering so as she doth not suffer herself except to very few and her most choice Lovers c. It is a certain ineffable and incomprehensible Light of Minds that vulgar Light c. ibid. c. 13. Confide constantly in God and as much as thou canst commit thy self intirely to Him Do not be willing to be as it were thine own but profess thy self to be a Servant of the most Gracious and Bountiful Lord. For so will he not cease to raise thee to Himself and will permit nothing to befall thee but what shall profit thee though thou knowest it not 1 Soliloq 14. Hear me my God hear me after that manner of thine known to very few Command I beseech thee whatever thou wilt but heal and open my Ears that I may hear thy Voice Heal and open my Eyes that I may see thy Becks Say to me which way I shall look that I may behold Thee c. 1 Soliloq c. 1. Being admonished to return to my self I entred into my most inward parts thou being my Leader and I could do it because thou wast become my Helper I entred and I discerned with the Eye of my Soul such as it was above the

our Saviour in his Subjection to Joseph and his Mother Which though Self-denial be a Precept is a voluntary Act of the nature of a Reasonable Free-will Offering and a doing it daily as is expressed Luk. 9.23 a Living in it and a continual Reasonable Sacrifice of the prime Faculties of the Soul for the Service of God And the whole Business of an abstracted Ascetick Life What is it but a reasonable religious and devout Exercise of our Saviour's Doctrin in his Admonition to Martha Luk. 10.41 42. against being careful and troubled about many things when it was only for a short Entertainment of Himself and that One thing is needful and that Mary's Choice was of the better part In his Sermon upon the Mount of taking no thought for our Life Mat. 6.25 34. In his Parable of the Sower concerning the Cares and Riches and Pleasures of this Life the Thorns which choak the Seed of the Word that it bringeth no Fruit to Perfection Luk. 8.14 and concerning Watching that we be not surprized Mat. 24.42 25.13 Mar. 13.35 Luk. 21.36 And now if any one please as many have done to make any question concerning the meaning of our Saviour or the Interpretation of any part of this what more Authentick Evidence of that can be reasonably desired than what the wisest of Men have always approved and had recourse to in such Cases Usage and Practice afterward which daily Experience in the Construction of Laws and ancient Records and Deeds doth sufficiently confirm The APOSTLES certainly practised all this as far as was consistent with their Circumstances and Business they were imployed in and Preached it and recommended it by their Doctrin too as far as the Circumstances of the People and the Times would bear They forsook all not one of them Married any Wife afterward though they might have done it and were so far abstracted from all Diversions and Distractions of the World that they ordered Deacons for other necessary Works that they might give themselves continually to Prayer and to the Ministery of the Word or to Preaching And the effect of their Preaching and of the powerful Operation of the Holy Spirit upon the People was that they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrin in Communion in breaking Bread and in Prayers And all that believed were together and had all things Common and sold their Possessions and Goods and parted them as every Man had need c. Act. 2.42 And again Act. 4.32 The Multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things Common For as many as were Possessors of Lands or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles Feet What is here briefly said of the first Converts and Primitive Christians at Jerusalem agrees so well all things considered with what Philo more largely relates concerning those about Alexandria whom he calls THERAPEUTS who were never heard of before nor after under any Denomination unless of that of Christians which began early at Antioch and was soon spread over the World where any Disciples of Christ were and took place of all others that as the Ancients do affirm we also have great reason to rest satisfied that they were indeed such notwithstanding all the Cavils of some of the last Age which have since been sufficiently refuted It is true they did not long appear in that form of Communities for they were dissolved at Jerusalem and dispersed into divers Regions by that great Persecution after the Death of Stephen and doubtless by like Occasions in other Places But the Example and Doctrin of our Saviour and his Apostles could not but provoke many especially among the Jews before well-disposed for it to forsake the World and betake themselves to a retired abstracted Contemplative Life The Natural Inclination in them was excited and fortified by the various Examples which were common among them before and then receiving such further Encouragement from our Saviour and his Apostles both directly and indirectly from several Doctrines of the Gospel concerning Self-denyal Mortification Contempt of the World Heavenly-mindedness c. this could not but mightily affect them generally with an Heroick Contempt of the World and of the Body and all Earthly things The very Doctrin Promises and Miracles with which they were confirmed were apt of their own Nature to produce all this but much more being accompanied with such a Spirit and Power as the Preaching of the Apostles and the Primitive Christians then was And certainly they wanted nothing but Opportunity even then in the Apostles times to have settled in Coenobitical Societies which as soon as the commom obstacle the Persecutions was removed by the Providence of God in raising Constantine to the Throne of the Empire they presently began to do first in Egypt where 't is probable were many descended from the Recabites and Esseans and in no long time after in most other Parts Concerning those in Egypt in his time St. John Chrysostome gives us this Account Should any one come now to the Deserts of Egypt he would see all the Wilderness altogether more excellent than a Paradice and innumerable Companies of Angels shining in Mortal Bodies For there is to be seen spread over all that Region the Camp of Christ and the admirable Royal Flock and the Conversation of the Heavenly Powers illustriously shining upon Earth And this you may see most splendid not in MEN only but also in WOMEN Heaven it self doth not so shine with various Constellations of Stars as Egypt is beset and illustrated with innumerable Convents of Monks and Virgins But of this more hereafter These things being well considered it will be very plain 1. That they who have derived these Religious Institutions from our Saviour and his Apostles by their Example and Doctrin and the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit had a good Foundation of Truth to maintain their Assertion 2. That they who have raised such Prejudice in the Minds of the People against such Holy Religious Societies in general as to beget in them an Odium against all if they did it in simplicity and meerly through the Prejudice they themselves had conceived from the Scandals of those of their time yet did they very rashly and inconsiderately in so doing but if they did it to temporize and ingratiate themselves with Princes and Great Men who had inriched themselves with the Spoils of the Monasteries and the Revenues of the Church they did very wickedly and impiously We must not deny or question the Justice of the Judgment of God upon them but Who are they by whom the Righteous God doth usually execute such Judgments And at this time we have great reason to take that for a Warning to our Selves Were they cast out for their Laziness and Corruptions What then have we to expect Suppose ye that

heal'd many wounded Persons and others that were wounded in their Understandings And many Greeks desir'd to touch the Old Man believing they should be benefitted thereby By this means there were as many Christians in a few Days as us'd to be made in a whole Year Some Persons thought the Crowd was too troublesome to him and therefore kept Persons from pressing upon him But he was not disturb'd with them and said to them The People are not more in Number than those Devils with which I have contended in the Mountain When he went away we went before him 43. And as we were just at the Gate as it were a Woman cry'd out O Man of God pray tarry a little for my Daughter is grievously troubled with a Devil Tarry I pray thee lest I also fall into some danger by running after thee When the Old Man heard her he willingly tarry'd at our Entreaty so the Woman drew near and the Maid fell upon the Ground and when Antony had pray'd and mention'd Christ the Maid rose up very well for the Unclean Spirit was gone out of her and the Maid bless'd God and all the Spectators gave Thanks and St. Antony himself also was very glad and return'd to his own abode in the Mount He was also very prudent and which is very strange though illiterate he was a very piercing and judicious Man 44. Once there came to him Two Greek Philosophers with a design to try him now at that time he was in the outer part of the Mountain St. Antony perceiv'd what kind of Men they were by their Looks and spoke thus to them by an Interpreter O ye Philosophers Why did you trouble your selves to come to such a simple Fellow But they reply'd That he was not so but very prudent If ye come to a silly Fellow said Antony your Labour is lost and to no purpose But if ye think otherwise become such as I am for we should imitate all things that are fair and commendable Had I come to you I would have imitated you Since therefore ye come to me become such Men as I am for I am a Christian But they admiring withdrew for they saw the Devils dreading Antony 45. Others also met him there thinking to scoff at him because he had not learnt to read Said Antony pray answer me one Question Which think ye is first the Mind or the Alphabet Whether of the two is the Authour and cause of the other the Mind of Letters or Letters of the Mind They answered The Mind is first and the Inventer of Letters Well then saith Antony Whoso has a sound Mind stands in no need of Letters Which Answer astonish'd them and all that were with them so they went away admiring to see so much Understanding in a private Man for though he grew Old in the Desart yet he was not Savage in his Carriage like a Mountaineer but he was Courteous and Civil His Mind and Discourse was season'd with Divine Salt so that none envy'd him but all that visited him took delight in him 46. After this some Pretenders to Wisdom among the Greeks came to him and demanded of him an account of his Christian Belief and made offers to dispute subtilly with him about the Divine Cross in order to mock him St. Antony having paus'd a while and pity'd their Ignorance spoke very well to them by an Interpreter to this Effect Which of the Two is more laudable to confess a Cross or to charge those whom ye call Gods with Adulteries and Sodomies For our Confession is a sign of Manliness and Contempt of Death but yours are the Passions of Lasciviousness Which is better to say That the Wisdom of God was not chang'd but for the sake of Salvation and Beneficence to Men assum'd an Humane Body that by Communion with the Humane Race he might make Men partake of a Divine and Intellectual Nature or To liken the Deity to Irrational Beings and so worship four-footed Creatures and creeping things and Statues of Men For these are the Adorations of your Wise Men. Moreover How dare ye deride us who say That Christ did appear a Man when ye deriving the Soul from the Divine Mind say That it wandred and lapsed from Heaven into the Body and I wish it did not pass not only into an Humane Body but into four-footed and creeping Creatures Our Faith saith That Christ came for the Salvation of Men but ye erring say The Soul is not generated We consider the Power and Philanthropy of God because this was not impossible with God But ye saying That the Soul is the Image of the Mind yet attribute Lapses to it and fable it to be changeable and by consequence introduce the Mind as changeable by the Soul for such as was the Image such must that of which 't is the Image necessarily be But when ye have such Thoughts as these concerning the Mind pray consider that ye blaspheme the Father of the Mind himself And as for the Cross What can ye say of it When ye see wicked Men ensnare us ye see we are ready to endure the Cross and to contemn Death whensoever or wheresoever forc'd upon us Alas the Fables of the Rovings of Osiris and Isis and the Treachery of Typho and the Flight of Saturn and Gormandizings of Children and of Paracide What are these Yet these are your wise Contrivances and mighty Foundations But moreover How comes it to pass that when ye despise the Cross ye don't admire the Resurrection since those who speak of one have also writ of the other or Why are ye when ye remember the Cross silent of the Dead rais'd the Blind who had their Sight restor'd the Sick of the Palsie who were heal'd and the Lepers that were cleans'd and the walking a Foot on the Sea and other Signs and Wonders which shew Christ not to be meer Man but God also Truly to my mind ye do your selves wrong and have not read our Writings with Sincerity But pray read and see that the things which Jesus did shew Him to be God pilgrimaging upon Earth for the Souls of Men But pray tell us of your great Signs 47. What can ye plead for Irrational Gods and their Savageness Ye may if ye please fly to shelter by Allegorising Let Proserpine be the Earth Vulcan's Lameness the Fire Juno the Air Apollo the Sun Diana the Moon and Neptune the Sea But nevertheless this does not make it any more the Worship of God This is to serve the Creatures more than the Creatour for ye have compacted these Stories out of the Consideration of the Creation's being Beautiful These Works should be admir'd but they should not have been made Gods for by this means ye have given the Architect's Honour to the things that he Built which is just like paying that Honour to the House which is due to the Builder or the mis-placing the General 's Honour on the Common Souldiers Come answer me these Questions that

them how they might baffle their Wiles explaining the Weakness and Subtleties of the Devils working in them Every one therefore as animated by him departed daring the Devices of the Devil and his Party Virgins also who had Suiters having only seen St. Antony at a distance continu'd Virgins to Christ. There came also some from Foreign Parts to him who were dismiss'd from him as from a Father with great Benefit When he dy'd they were all his Orphans comforting themselves with his bare Memory and holding fast his Admonitions and Instructions 56. And now 't is but decent and fitting to acquaint you with the Nature of the End of his Life for indeed 't was such as does deserve Emulation Near his Death he did according to his old Custom visit the Monks in the outer Mountain and being informed by Providence of his End he spake to them thus I make this as my last Visit to you and shall admire if we should see one another again in this World 'T is time for me now to let go my Body for I am near an Hundred and Five Years Old At this saying they wept clung about him and saluted him But he just as it became one leaving a strange Place for his own Countrey rejoyc'd and charg'd them not to be negligent in Labours nor to faint in Exercise but to live as dying daily and as I said before to keep their Souls from filthy Thoughts and to have a Zeal for the Saints but not to go a-near the Meletian Schismaticks for said he ye know their wicked and prophane purpose nor to have any Correspondence with the Arians for their Impiety is manifest Neither when ye see their Judges in Power be ye troubled for 't will cease and their Opinion and Splendour is mortal and of a short standing wherefore keep ye your selves pure from them and hold the Tradition of your Fathers and principally a pious Faith in our Lord Christ Jesus whom ye have learnt in the Holy Scriptures and have often been put in mind of even by me 57. When he had said this the Brethren urg'd him to tarry and die there But that he would not he shew'd by his silence as for many Reasons so especially for this The Egyptians love to bury the Bodies of Zealots and especially of Martyrs and wrap them up in fine Linnen Now they don't bury them in the Earth but lay them upon Couches and keep them in Repositories by themselves thinking thereby to honour the Deceas'd But Antony often besought the Bishops to warn the People against it and also reprov'd many Lay-Men and Women for it saying That that was neither Lawful nor very Holy for the Bodies of the Patriarchs to this Day are preserv'd in Sepulchres nay even the Body of our Lord Himself was laid in one and a Stone was laid upon it and hid it till he rose again whereby he shew'd them that they transgressed the Law in not hiding the Bodies of the departed although they be Holy for What is greater or more holy than our Lord's Body Many therefore afterwards bury'd under Ground and gave Thanks to God Now St. Antony knowing the Custom of Egypt and fearing lest they should do so by his Body hasted his Departure and took his Leave of the Monks in the Outer Mount and went into the Inner Mount where he us'd to live 58. A few Months after he fell Sick and having call'd to those that were with him for he had Two within with him who had been Asceticks with him Fifteen Years and serv'd him because of his extream Old Age he said to them I now as 't is written go the way of my Fathers for I see my self call'd by my Lord but be ye sober and finish a long-liv'd Exercise Be as earnest to hold fast your Purpose as though you were just beginning Ye know the Devils are plotting against you Ye know they are fierce in Will but weak in Power don't therefore be afraid of them but breath Christ and believe in Him and live as dying every day taking heed to your selves and remembring my Exhortations Hold no Communion with the Schismaticks nor the Arians for ye know how I declin'd them because of their Heterodox and Christ-opposing Heresie Do ye study principally to cleave unto Christ and his Saints that after Death they may receive you as Friends and Acquaintance into Everlasting Habitations Think upon and relish these Counsels and if ye have any regard for me and do remember me as a Father don't suffer any one to take my Body into Egypt lest they lay me in their Houses for for that reason I came hither Ye know how I have rebuk'd those who did it and charg'd them to do so no more Do ye therefore bury my Body under Ground and mind my Words that no Body but your selves may know where I am bury'd for I shall receive my Body incorruptible from my Saviour in the Resurrection And pray do ye divide my Cloaths Give one Leathern Garment to Bishop Athanasius and the Blanket which he gave new to me but is now grown old and the other Leathern Jacket to Bishop Serapion and take ye the Hair-Cloth and save it my Children for Antony passeth away and is no longer with you 59. Having said this he saluted them and gather'd his Feet and as it were seeing Friends come unto him and rejoycing because of them for he look'd with a cheerful Countenance as he lay he left us and was added unto the Fathers So in fine the Monks wrapp'd him up and buried him under Ground according to his Command And no Body to this Day except the Two Monks knows where he was Bury'd The Vestments being distributed according as he order'd every one kept them as a great Purchase for he that sees them does as it were see Antony and he that puts them on carries his Admonitions about him with Joy 60. Such was Antony's Exercise and such the End of his Life in the Body And if these things are small in comparison to his Excellency judge ye what sort of Man of God he was who to so great an Age from his Youth up kept close to his rigorous Discipline neither conquer'd by Variety of Food upon the Account of his Old Age nor changing the Habit of his Raiment for want of Vigour or so much as washing his Feet And yet in all respects he was sound and unhurt for he had his Eyes clear seeing very well not one of his Teeth was lost only near the Gums they were worn because of his great Age He was also sound in his Hands and Feet and much clearer in every part than those who use several Diets Bathings and Variety of Garments and as to Strength too they were much more ready 61. St. Antony liv'd and dy'd admir'd and celebrated by all every where and long'd for by those who never saw him A great Sign of his Vertue and of a Soul that truly lov'd God for he did not get