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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	body_n	heaven_n	soul_n	16,244	5	5.2792	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70803	A decad of caveats to the people of England of general use in all times, but most seasonable in these, as having a tendency to the satisfying such as are not content with the present government as it is by law establish'd, an aptitude to the setling the minds of such as are but seekers and erraticks in religion an aim at the uniting of our Protestant-dissenters in church and state : whereby the worst of all conspiracies lately rais'd against both, may be the greatest blessing, which could have happen'd to either of them : to which is added an appendix in order to the conviction of those three enemies to the deity, the atheist, the infidel and the setter up of science to the prejudice of religion / by Thomas Pierce ...	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1679 (1679)	Wing P2176; Wing P2196; ESTC R18054	221,635	492

a Christian as 't is a Pilgrimage of the Body from Earth to Earth for Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return said God to Adam and a Pilgrimage of the Soul from Heaven to Heaven for the Spirit shall return to God that gave it saith the Royal Ecclesiastes so as truly is it a warfare of Soul and Body in conjunction whereof That fights for Heaven and This for Hell The former under God's Banner and the later under the Devil 's The Flesh and the Spirit are so unequally match'd that however nearly wedded they are incessantly falling out Each may say unto the other nec possum vivere cum te nec sine te For however unwilling they are to part they are seldom or never at Agreement There is a Law in the members so continually warring against the Law of the mind that the Flesh still lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh And these are contrary the one to the other Now 't is the nature still of Contraries very earnestly to indeavour a mutual overthrow And they must Both be well beaten brought down and refracted ere they can peaceably cohabit under one and the same Roof Which kind of Peace may be effected betwixt another sort of Contraries for Heat and Cold may agree together in a Lukewarmness white and black in mixt Colours Day and Night in a Crepusculum however These two last are but privatively oppos'd but in this moral Contrariety 'twixt the Spirit and the Flesh it never can be the reason is because when the Spirit is most indulgently at Peace with the Flesh the Flesh is then the most dangerous and fatal Enemy to the Spirit Exactly such an Enemy as Joab was to Abner when he took him aside and slew him peaceably Or as the very same Joab to Captain Amasa when he saluted him as a Brother inquir'd after his health as a kind Physician offer'd to kiss him as a Dear Friend that so he might civilly and sweetly smite him under the fifth Rib. Or as the two Sons of Rimmon to Righteous Ishbosheth when making as if they would fetch some Wheat they kill'd him slylie in his own House and quietly resting upon his Bed Or as Judeth to Olofernes when she pleas'd him into Destruction and maliciously made him in love with her Conversation when she ravish'd him with her Beauty that she might kill him with the fruit of his kindness to her stole his Heart whilst he was waking that whilst he slept she might take his Head too And exactly such an Enemy is the Flesh unto the Spirit when the Spirit gives no disturbance but dwells in quietness with the Flesh For then the Lusts of the Flesh do give the Spirit such wounds as it cannot feel Wounds indued with such a numming Narcotick Quality as hurts the Spirit without offense and by killing it very pleasantly sends it insensibly to Hell Nor are any whit the less but the more certainly destroy'd for being laid into a sleep by an over-great Dose of Opium Hence those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invisible Wars and indiscernable Insurrections from which the antient Greek Liturgies were wont to pray for a Cessation For when the Soul is so degenerate as even to doat upon the Body Then does the Body with most advantage insensibly war against the Soul The treacherous Lusts of the Flesh like the treacherous Assassinates of Olofernes and Ishbosheth assault the Spirit in its own House and which is the worst of all Supercherie as they find it fast asleep in the Bed of Carnal Security Nor is it onely not awak'd by the Blows they give it but it rather sleeps the faster for being struck just as if it were struck by the Rod of Hermes That when at last it shall awake either in This or another World it may not be to escape but to see its Ruin § 14. So that the War I now speak of is more than Civil or Domestick For there we war against others but here against our own selves A Man's Enemies saith the Prophet are those of his own House And indeed the greatest Enemies excepting those of his own Heart This especially being the Field wherein the Lusts of the Flesh do still incamp against the Spirit and give it Battle and strive to bring it into Captivity to the Law of Sin And because the whole Man does consist of these two Flesh and Spirit Body and Soul matter and form as essential Parts of his Composition it cannot but follow that we our selves are incessantly warring against our selves To wit our selves as we are Animals against our selves as we are Men. Our selves as we are Men against our selves as we are Christians Our selves as we are Carnal against our selves as we are Spiritual Again it follows that we our selves are the greatest Enemies to our selves because we arm our vile Members against our Mind For what our English Translation does call the Instruments is in S. Paul's own language the Armour of unrighteousness And by the help of this Armour we Arm our base Appetites against our Wills and our brutish Affections against our Reasons We use our selves as unmercifully as Samson's Enemies did Him We strive to pluck out our inward Eyes and to deliver our selves bound to Sin and Satan We side with the old man against the new Abet the outward man in us against the inward are such Enemies to our selves as to despoil our selves of Grace whereby as much as in us lies and without Repentance we make our selves incapable of Bliss and Glory § 15. But when I speak of a War between the Flesh and the Spirit I do not mean onely the visible and gross Body of Flesh which of it self is but passive and cannot fight No 't is the animated Flesh the Flesh that is capable of Lusting It is a fleshliness of Spirit and a carnality of Reason which is arm'd with a Wisedom fetch'd up from Hell and stands in hostile opposition to that which cometh down from Heaven Jam 3. 14 15 16. And accordingly when God had upbraided Israel with their being a foolish and sottish People and void of all understanding he gave the reason of it in this That they were wise to do evil Jer. 4. 22. Observe the pithy Brevity of That Expression Because they were Wise they were therefore Foolish Their Wisedom did not onely consist with Folly but in That sort of Wisedom their Folly and Sottishness did consist This is that Wisedom of the Flesh which exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God 2 Cor. 10. 5. It is an Earthy Sensual Devilish wisdom as God Himself by his Apostle is pleas'd to call it And 't is with very great reason he calls it Devilish because the Lust of the Flesh which is its Wisedom is a direct Devil within us as having a faculty to intice us and to draw us quite away from fighting under Christ's Banner Therefore 't is that Lust and

the Multitude of the Sects which are seen amongst us For whilst 't is taken by them for granted and also confessed by our selves that True Religion can be but one 't is natural for them to infer That wheresoever there is Truth there must be Vnity at least in men of the same Profession Whereupon whilst they observe how the Professors of Christianity do stand divided amongst themselves and that in point of Opinion as well as Practice they easily slide into a Jealousie touching the Tenor and the Truth of the whole Profession Now the way to make Peace and remove the Scandal is not to conquer them into orthodoxy by dint of Argument alone though That indeed is one of our fittest Weapons as vvell because the greater part have not light enough to see a victorious Truth as because if they have they are not humble enough to own they have liv'd in Errour No the hopefullest way left for ought I am able to apprehend is not to mention Those Doctrines vvherein we find by Experience we always differ and to insist on those alone wherein we find by Experience we all agree A thing vvhich cannot be brought about by all the Subjects put together but perhaps with ease enough by the Kings of Christendom as vvell because they are but few and therefore the fitter to determin as because they are Supreme and of Power to execute § 25. For it happily falls out through the Evidence of Truth and the good Providence of God That though we differ in Superstructures yet we agree in the Foundation and Fundamentals of Christianity Which Fundamentals as they are Few and therefore easie to be remember'd so are they also very Plain and therefore easily understood and that by all sorts of People who are not flatly Fools or Mad-men As the wittiest or the most learned cannot need to know more so the most simple and illiterate cannot easily know less than what it is to fear God and to keep his Commandments which yet does grasp the whole Duty of Man as Man Again it is the whole Duty of Man as Christian to have a practical Knowledge of Jesus Christ and him Crucified And as the wisest man living needs not know any thing more so the most learned of the Apostles would not know any thing else Another Summary of Religion as to the practical part of it which is the main we have express'd in Three words both from a Prophet and an Apostle A Summary so short and yet so copious that as a man the most unskilfull cannot easily know less so the most learned and subtil Doctor is not bound to practise more than to do Justice and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with his God or to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World § 26. Now if 't is granted and agreed by every Sort of Real Christians That the Creed and the Commandments are comprehensive of the All that is Fundamental or of Necessity in Religion for Faith and Practice and if All under Authority will but allow it to be the privilege of such as are placed in Authority to judge of the Decency and the Order which S. Paul in the general and every Nation in particular thinks it a duty to observe in the publick Worship to wit the Place and the Time and the Manner of its performance which being but Accidents or Adjuncts or Externals of Religion should not be differ'd about by Them who fully agree in its Essentials It will be difficult to imagin how the Divisions and Separations which are so many and so wide as we see they are can be able to escape a most happy Closure A thing which the Preachers can but press and the best of the People can but pray for but the Rulers of the Earth can easily bring into Effect too if their Endeavours shall be as hearty as their Authority is divine and their Power cogent Which how can they possibly imploy unto a better end or use than is the binding up the Wounds of a bleeding Saviour who owns himself to be the Head of That mangl'd Body whereof the greatest men on Earth are but lofty Members Now the better to prevail with men of all Ranks both with Them who are in Authority and with Them who live under it I would present but Two things to their respective Considerations First That they who are in Authority ought not to urge the Accidentals and Externals in Religion with as much vehemence as they do the Essentials of it nor create too many Necessities in the use of things Indifferent where God himself has created none Next That the people under Authority ought not to lessen their Obedience to God in Man by still pretending their obligation of obeying God rather than Man An Axiom True indeed at all Times but yet at those times impertinent and urged quite out of Season when God does choose to be obey'd by our obedience to his Vicegerents Who if they have any right at all to make positive Laws must inevitably make them of Things Indifferent § 27. I press the former consideration with due submission to Authority and in behalf not of wilfull but of truly-weak Brethren because I conceive the Laws of Men can reach no farther than the Objects of outward Sense and therefore cannot punish Avarice Pride or Malice though they can and do Invasion Theft and Murther Nor wrong Opinions in Religion whilst they quietly lye sleeping or disturb nothing more than their Owner's Minds but onely as breaking forth of their Mouths and at last running out at their fingers ends I know the Sword is apt to terrifie but not instruct to change a Sectary's Confession but not his Creed and therefore the Maladies of the Spirit are to be Spiritually dealt with to work their Cure Not by the Gibbet or the Jayl but by the force of sound Doctrine and argumentative Conversation A man who wanders out of his way for want of light onely and not Sobriety overtaken not with Drink but with the Darkness of the Night deserves a Lantern for his Direction a great deal rather than a Rod. He would be thought a strange Organist who should not scruple to break his Pipes as oft as he finds them out of Tune Nor could our Magistrates think kindly of God himself should he recall them with a Thunderbolt as fast as he sees them going astray § 28. And as for such reasons as These I press the First Consideration so I discern as great reasons and such as make as much for Peace to resume the Second For though Ceremonies and Rites are onely Accidents in Religion yet Obedience to Authority cannot but pass for an Essential Because whatever God commands us by his Moses and his Aaron his Zerubbabel and his Jeshua his anointed Lieutenants both King and Priest he does as really and as truly and as authoritatively command us as what he commands us by a Voice or an Hand from Heaven And

them is like a very stout Champion who salls to grapple with a man that is arm'd with Sickness I mean the Leprosie or the Plague or other diseases of Infection Because notwithstanding he throws the man far enough it will be hard to clear himself from all contagion of his Disease Many are led into Captivity to the Law of Sin by not distinguishing as they ought and as holy men of old were wont to do betwixt Temptations and Temptations of several sorts I mean the Temptations they ought to fight with and the Temptations they ought to fly To make it profitable and plain I will illustrate what I say by one or two Scriptural Examples § 9. When nothing but the Patience of Job was tempted by the loss of his Estate and the destruction of his Children Tunc surrexit saith the Text Then Job arose rouz'd up himself like a sturdy Lion and as it were girded himself with strength He was so far from drawing back from the face of Danger that he arose and stood to it and bravely baffl'd both the wit and the strength of Satan But when the same Job was tempted by the Allurements of the Flesh Then he manifested his valour like Fabius Maximus or the Parthians by taking the Courage to use his Prudence And he manifested his Prudence by the timeliness of his Flight He made a Covenant with his Eyes not to look upon an Object which might indanger him by Delight It was then his chief Wisedom when not his Constancy or his Patience but his Chastity was concern'd not to make trial of his Mastery in containing from a pleasant forbidden Object but rather wholly to abstain from the Presence of it The different way of incountring the different sorts of Temptation may be collected from the difference wherewith the Scripture doth direct us to deal with the Devil and the Flesh Resist the Devil is the Precept of S. James but fly Fornication is the Caveat of S. Paul For other Vices saith Anselm upon that Caveat to the Corinthians are easily conquerable by Conflict whereas This of Fornicacation is onely conquerable by Flight Now to fly Fornication is not onely to be continent which implies a kind of Combat though 't is not follow'd with consent a being somewhat affected although not drawn but 't is totally to abstain from all commerce with the Temptation 'T is to defeat it in such a manner as King Edward the Sixth and the most excellent Bishop Wainflet are said by Budden to have defeated the Armed Rebells under Jack Cade vel non pugnando by not fighting with them at all but onely by praying against their Wickedness The total abstinence I speak of is not onely from the Objects of Fleshly Lust but from the Vicinities and the occasions yea from all the very memories and mentions of them For so Aquinas and Cajetan do expound S. Paul's Caveat 1 Cor. 6. 18. § 10. It follows then that we are likelier to be secure from such dangers by timely flight than to beat them quite down by a stout Resistance And though the later must be imploy'd when we are actually ingag'd yet to anticipate such ingagements it will be our best method to use the former For how much safer 't is to fly than to incounter such Allurements though incounter them we must when we cannot fly them we may illustrate by the examples of Joseph and Sampson who were as various in their Behaviours as they were different in their Success Joseph fled from his Mistriss by whom he was tempted day by day He was so far from discoursing about the matter in design as that he would not be with her but sprang from her presence and got him out Gen. 39. 10. 12. Whereas Sampson on the contrary was no sooner come to Gaza than he saw there an Harlot nor did he onely See but he went unto her Judg. 16. 1. Again no sooner was he come to the Valley of Soreck where he adventur'd to converse with another Woman v. 4. but one of the next Things we read of is His telling her all his heart v. 17. And the very next to That is His sleeping upon her knees v. 19 And the consequent of This the loss of his Liberty and his Eyes v. 21. It was not then without reason That so great and good a Prophet as the Prophet Elijah who had so bravely withstood King Ahab did quickly after fly away from the Face of Jezebel And that Abimelech should have fled at the sight of Sarah is very evident even from hence That no sooner had he taken her than he was fain to put her away Gen. 20. 3. 7. Nor did he part onely with Her but with a thousand pieces of Silver v. 16. And that in velamen Oculorum for a Covering of the Eyes And that not onely unto Her but to all that hereafter should look upon her as Gerundensis and Hamerus explain the Text. Or in the Gloss of Tertullian for the buying of veils enough wherewith to cover both her own and her Maiden's Beauty and this to the end they might not easily either See or be Seen by the other Sex § 11. But I have largely enough explain'd the moral use of the word Flesh and what is meant by the Lustings of it and what it is to Abstain from all These as well according to the Object as Act of Lusting and as well in a divided as compound Sense Besides that in so spacious a Field of matter and so fruitfull of meditation as That I am entring now upon there will be need of some Care that none be surfeited even with Abstinence For though an Abstinence not from Flesh but from Fleshly Lusts is both the Best and the most wholesom and the most suitable to the Season in its primitive Vse and where the Guests are all Christian the most desirable Entertainment to be imagin'd yet a Satiety of the best things is apt to become the worst Satiety in the world And therefo●e rather than exceed the Time allow'd for This Service I will begin and end too with That one Argument or Motive which here is taken from the Nature and perpetual Employment of Fleshly Lusts which are not onely no Friends but most Implacable Enemies nor onely Enemies to our temporal but aeternal Interest § 12. It is not onely here said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they fight which may imply nothing more than a Single Battle but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they war which imports a continued State of fighting So far from being capable of a firm and solid Peace that they allow us not a Truce or time to breath in Nor do they terminate their malice upon the Body for then we needed no more to fear them than Armed Enemies from without but which is nearer and dearer to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they ever war against the Soul too § 13. Thus the life of

Satan have the very same Character in holy Scripture A man is tempted saith S. James when drawn away of his own Lust and inticed More than which cannot be said of the Devil himself who cannot drive us by force into any Sin but onely draw us by Flattery or morally drive us by panick Fears Now the very same Warrier which sometimes is call'd by the name of Flesh is elsewhere termed the carnal Mind which is as much as to say the fleshly Spirit The carnal Mind saith S. Paul is enmity against God for it is not subject to his Law nor indeed can it be It is so naturally a Rebel that it can never be any other so long as it remaineth a carnal Mind A very natural thing it is for the Son of the Bond-woman even in Abraham's own house to hate and persecute the Son of the free And even in Abraham's own Person it was as natural for the Flesh to war against the Spirit Esau kick'd against Jacob whilst both were yet in their Mother 's Womb. And even Jacob himself although as peaceable as he was plain had yet a Law in his Members as it were lifting up the heel against the Law in his Mind The best of Men are but Men and therefore at their best will still be subject to Corruption Some Canaanites will be left in the holiest Land S. Paul himself had fears and fightings as well within as without And notwithstanding his Abundance as well of Grace as of Revelations he had a thorn in the Flesh which did exceedingly terrifie and wound his Spirit Nor was David more afflicted by envious Saul than his inward man was vexed by the hostilities of the outward When our Spirits are most willing to do the will of our Lord we are forced to complain that our Flesh is weak and in that very weakness does one of its chiefest strengths lie Even then when we can say Lord we believe we have great reason to add help thou our unbelief Let the Flesh like the Thief I mean the unconverted Thief on our Saviour's Cross be bound up and Crucified yet like the very same Thief it will continue to resist or revile the Spirit As when the Taylor in the Apologue had stopt the mouth of his scolding Wife She was able still to rail with her finger's ends An Apologue not so light as the moral of it is grave and serious For the Spirit and the Flesh are in Aristotle's Comparison as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as the Husband and the Wife and so the moral of the Apologue may be affirmed to be This. Whilst Fleshly Lusts have a Being are unmortified and alive let congruous Grace do what it can so long as it is not irresistible there will be Hostilities against the Spirit For were it possible for the Flesh to cease from warring against the Spirit a Man might possibly be innocent on this Side Heaven Which because he cannot be the Carnal mind by sound Consequence must needs be at enmity with God Hence it is that Rank Atheists are very commonly Rank Wits too full of Artifices and Tricks very skilfull to destroy Themselves and others And 't is an Enmity so much the worse even because it is Spiritual as well as Carnal or to use S. Paul's language a Carnal mind For the Spirit of a man which by nature goeth upwards when like the Spirit of a beast it tendeth downwards quite against its own nature and as it were clings unto the Earth by being Carnal it is not onely a strong but a subtil Enemy It wageth war against the Soul that is itself as well by stratagem as by force It is a Treacherous cologuing deceiptfull Thing And though it seems to be but one of those three Brigades whereof the Devil 's whole Army is said by S. John to be compos'd the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life yet has it all the lower World to serve for its Armory or Magazin Profit and Pleasure and Pomps and Vanities Beauty and Honour and Strength and Greatness and to express it in a word All the Darts of the Flesh which it does shoot after the measure that the Devil gives Aim against the Spirit are commonly drawn out of that one Quiver that is to say the Carnal mind § 16. Since then our Enemies are such as have been describ'd so strongly so subtilly so incessantly warring against the Soul A Soul adorn'd with God's Image and indu'd with his Spirit and redeem'd with his Blood and sustein'd with his Grace and in a capacity of his Glory our very Dangers may serve for Orators to incourage and incite us in our Encounters And our Dangers are to be measur'd by the preciousness of the Subject or Prize we fight for And this is here expressed to be the Soul That 's the Helena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ball or Apple of contention thrown as 't were between us and our Fleshly Lusts We asserting it to God and They to Satan We contending for its Safety and They contriving its Destruction Now so infinite is the difference between the values to be put upon Souls and Bodies that He who rejoyced in those Afflictions which did but war against the Body did groan and tremble under the Lusts which still did war against his Soul And in comparison of the hurt which may happen unto the Soul we are forbidden to fear them that can kill the Body For what is the Body in its original but Dust and Ashes what at the best of its Consistence but a fair Nursery of Diseases And what when parted from the Soul but the food of Worms whereas the Soul is That Spouse which God hath betrothed to himself Hos 2. 19 20. Not a Citizen onely of Heaven but Heaven it self as S. Gregory and S. Bernard are pleas'd to call her And therefore if the Warriers or Fleshly Lusts I now speak of do fight against our immortal Souls it concerns us as much as our Souls are worth to war against by abstaining from Fleshly Lusts By which if ever we are conquer'd we are undone As being dead whilst we live to use S. Paul's Oxumoron and which is a great deal sadder as being to live when we are dead too although it be onely to die for ever or rather to be for ever dying These are some of those foolish and hurtfull Lusts which drown the Soul in misery and perdition They transform the whole man into a State of Brutality They cast us out of his presence in whose presence is life and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore For when 't is said by the Apostle That if we live after the Flesh we shall die his meaning cannot but be This That we shall certainly be damn'd For They that live after the Spirit must die the first Death and Therefore This