Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	body_n	earth_n	soul_n	16,341	5	5.1635	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76092	Sick-bed thoughts, upon those words of the apostle in Phil. 1, 23 ... Part. I containing an answer to that great and solemn question, what that state and condition is, which a person must be found in, before he can have good and sufficient ground, not to be affraid, or unwilling to dye? / by J.B.	Batchiler, John, ca. 1615-1674.	1667 (1667)	Wing B1075; ESTC R42879	47,054	145

do the two great Apostles Peter and Paul mean but this when they speak of their earthly Tabernacles in which Paul said he groaned 2 Cor. 5.2 4. and which Peter said he must shortly put off 2 Pet. 1.14 Erasmus falls in with this construction of the Word likewise as well as of the former Sometimes 't is the Waggoners or Carriers Word verbum ab aurig is ductum saies Beza when he doth sovere lora unharness his Horses at his journey's end And do we not unharness as 't were and put all off when we prepare for the grave towards which wee have been fetching many a weary step and drawing many a hard draught all our life-time and this too with many a smart lash and sometimes goades to quicken us how gawled soever our sides have been in the mean while with heart-akeing cares and griefs and the sorrows which we every day meet with Sometimes 't is the prisoner's word when he doth solvere vincula catenas post se relinquere unfetter and unshackle himself or hath his bonds and his chains knocked off as Peter's were by the Angel when he was in prison Acts 12.7 And this is the way Tremelius seems to go while he translate's the word Liberari to be set at liberty or freed out of prison Pythagoras that knew nothing above or besides nature could instruct his Disciples in this that the Body is but a prison to the Soul and that it is one of the chiefest businesses of Philosophy animam de carcere corporis liberare to deliver the soul from the prison of the body as he is quoted by Jerome against Ruffinus And many times what a dark loathsome and uncomfortable prison is it a kind of a nasty and filthy dungeon especially to men of melancholly constitutions and under the power of their own filthy lusts and guilty-consciences Sometimes sayes Erasmus again It imports as much as farcinas colligere ad iter preparare to take up ones pack and be gone and so it is a word proper to Porters and Pedlars which carry heavy burdens and packs at their back as having no other Trade to drive but this And I pray what is this body of ours but a burden of clay a clog of fresh which we every day where-ever we go do bear about with us And oh how heavy and tiresome is it in a time of sickness to be troubled with it How painful to the weary bones and the feeble knees to tumble and toss first on the side and then on the other and this an hundred times in a night Sometimes chill and cold causing every joint to shake and as it were to beat together at other times all in flames and burning like a fiery Oven After which perhaps 't is parboyl'd in its own moisture and at last left so faint and weak as if all its nimble and volatile spirits had quite forsaken it Hath not many a strong man many a lusty hail debonair son of Adam been thus surprized on a sudden Once it was my lot to be in company on a Tuesday-night with a person of as great strength and vigour as any I knew who speaking of his great prowesse and courage in many feats of Activity and particularly of his wrastling leaping vaulting and how many hundred pound weight he could take up with his Teeth and swing over his head with one hand and that with ease stripping up his brawny arme in a kind of a boasting way caused me to take some more than ordinary notice of him but this vain man having at that time gotten a little cold before forty eight hours more were passed was so enfeebled with a Rheum and Cough that he lay groaning in a very pittiful manner to the admiration of all that knew him not having strength enough to turn him in his bed so that he dyed on the Thursday and the next day after which was Friday in the same week I followed him to his grave Well therefore doth the Prophet say Let not the mighty man glory in his might for even such an one may dy in his full strength whilst his breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistened with marrow Job 21.23 24. though he be wholly at ease at present yet before another day comes he may be in great pain and upon his sick-bed may have cause to cry out with the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.4 We groan being burdened And here methink's may very aptly be sub-joined that excellent passage of Seneca in the 35th Epist of his first Book of Epistles the consideration whereof referring to what went before will elevate and lift up the Soul sayes he Animum qui gravi sarcina pressus explicari cupit reverti ad illa quorum fuit nam corpus hoc animi pondus ac poena est premente illo urgetur in vinculis est nisi accessit Philosophia quae à terrenis dimittit ad divina the Soul which being pressed down with an heavy burden desires to return from whence it came for this Body of ours is but a weight and punishment unto the Soul so long as that oppresseth it 't is as 't were in chaines till it returns from this earth to Heaven Sometimes 't is the Traveller's word when he doth migrare ex hospitio quit his Inne and goes farther on and so Beza translates it as some others before him had done and what thence can we infer but that this world is no more than an Inne where we make but a little stay having a journey to go and so must not take up our abode here Excellently speaks M. T. Cicero in his Cato major Ex vita hac discedo tanquam ex hospitio non tanquam ex domo commorandi enim natura diversorium nobis non habitandi dedit I depart out of this life as out of an Inne not as out of an House Nature having given it to us as a place only to lodge in for a short time not to dwell in Sometimes 't is the Strangers word who is a kind of Pilgrim abroad in forreign Countryes far from home which when he desires and is resolved to repair to either as weary of his wandrings or by a call from his Father who sent him thither is then said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redire Domum to return home Thus Athanasius takes it yea and a greater than he even the Holy Ghost it self Luke 12.36 where when the great Lord there mentioned is said to return home 't is thus phrased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now how aptly this also expresseth our condition here the holy Scriptures do frequently tell us For did not the Patriarchs of old account themselves as pilgrims and strangers in this world What sayes Jacob Gen. 47.9 The dayes of the yeares of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty yeares few and evil have the dayes of the yeares of my life been and have not attained to the dayes of the yeares of the life of my Fathers in the

dayes of their pilgrimage So David Psalm 39.12 I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were And hath it not been thus with all the sons of men in all ages though 't is true few or none almost but good men have thought so that have been thorowly convinced and believed that their home is somewhere else even in heaven where their father dwells there there it is that they have a dwelling indeed a dwelling properly their own an house built on purpose for them a sure house that will alwayes be new and never grow old that is their home and thither they all hasten even upon the very first call of their heavenly Father Once more ere I leave this Word and then I le have done with it Tertullian about the middle of his Book de Patientia translates it thus Cupio recipi jam I desire now to be received or taken up he means into the Heavens as 't is said of Christ himself when he ascended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was received up into heaven Mark 16.19 Luke varies the word and sayes Chap. 24.50 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was carried up And in Acts 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was caught up and a Cloud received him it comes all to one and intimates thus much that in our passage out of this life to Heaven we are not alone but are accompanied with blessed Angels that do as 't were wait to receive our soules as soon as ever they leave our bodies and then carry them up where they carried the soul of Lazarus even into Abrahams bosome Luke 16.22 and this was it which the Apostle longed for and which it seems as to his own particular he most desired namely to be carried up to heaven as I may so say on the wings of Angels he had often fled thither himself upon the wings of Faith and Prayer but now he would fain go thither for good and all as our Proverb is he would have the winged Cherubims now come and fetch him from hence as being weary of staying here any longer I but whether would he be fetched whether would he go Himself tells us He would go to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I desire to depart and to be with Christ Mark the words he doth not say I desire to go to heaven or to be among the soules of just men made perfect to be where the general Assembly of the first-born are or to be in the heavenly Jerusalem to be a glorified Saint and among the innumerable company of Angles but to be with Christ as if that were instar-omnium in stead of all or better than all Heaven it self is not so much an Heaven to an holy heart no not when it is in Heaven as Christ is all the rest of the glories there are but beams of this Sun it is the presence of Christ only and of God in Christ that makes Heaven Heaven Coelum ipsum non esset Coelum absente Christo Heaven it self would be no Heaven if Christ were absent But perhaps some will say Was Christ absent from Paul or Paul from him and that even now at this time when he sayes he desires to be with him How could he have been so valiant so couragious so bold for the truth and that even in the face of the Imperial Court it self under the very nose of that bloody Nero that was then Resident at Rome while he was a prisoner there had not Christ been with him and been with him i more than an ordinary manner To which I must answer without any denyal at all that it is most true a great presence of Christ was with him no doubt is to be made of it how else could he have suffered so great things for his Name as was by Christ himself foretold he should Acts 9.16 How else could he have run through so many and great sorrows which himself innumerates in 2 Cor. 11 23-29 Where he tells us that he was in labours more abundant than any other of the Ministers of Christ in stripes above measure in prisons more frequently in deaths oft Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one thrice was I beaten with Reds once was I stoned thrice I suffered ship-wrack a night and a day I have been in the deep In Journeys often in perils of waters in perils of Robbers in perils by mine own Countrey-men in perils by the Heathen in perils in the City in perils in the Wildernesse in perils in the Sea in perils among false Brethren in weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakednesse besides those things that are without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the Churches Now had not Christ been with him in all these troubles what had become of him would not the wrath of men have swallowed him up The manifold dangers he encountred with have destroyed him Would not both Sea and Land have been against him and many a time have devoured him Yes verily had it not been that Christ was with him strengthening him supporting him comforting him enabling him both to do and endure all things he had been as miserable a man as had been then alive But it is most evident that Christ was indeed with him and took as much care of him as ever good master did of a most faithful servant or the most benigne Prince did of a most loyal Subject that did him the most singular and eminent service But though this be acknowledged and cannot be in the least denyed yet Pauls words are not vain words or any way inconsistent with this Truth when he saith He desires to depart and to be with Christ For First Though Christ was with him in and by his Spirit with him in his Image upon his Soul and the divine impressions thereof upon his Heart Though he was with him by protecting him blessing him delivering him from a thousand evils that otherwise would have befallen him Though he had many a kind message from Christ many a sweet Love-letter as I may so speak yea and more than all this many a precious Jewel as 't were sent as Tokens from him though he found and felt the secret influences of Christ shed all abroad in him and such powerful attractions after him by the effusions of his Oyntments and sweet smelling Myrrhs yet all these were rather the things of Christ and some expressions of good will from him at a distance than Christ himself It was the Person of Christ that he desired I mean his personal presence and personal communion with him not onely interest in him for this he had where ere he was but Vision as Penelope said to her Ulysses Ovid. Ep. 1. Nil mihi rescribas attamen ipse veni 'T will not suffice if thou thy Letters send Thy presence only will the matter mend Write what he would 't was himself onely coming

wrought Gold Psal 45.9 13. So doth poor captive Hester when taken out of her captive-condition and made Queen she throws away her captive-weeds and comes to her Liege-Lord and Prince with the Crown Royal upon her head and in robes of Majesty though all still not at her own cost or charges or by her own procurement but by free-gift from her gracious Prince who finding love enough in his heart to make her his Queen found money enough in his Coffers thus richly to adorn her And thus is it here between Christ and the Soul he provides it sumptuous attire and the soul by Faith puts it on and Oh! now how lovely and taking is it in the eye of Christ what a goodly person is it How doth it dazle in it● Cloath of Gold and in such a cloat● of Gold as is Coat of Male too which Divine Justice it self with its keenest Arrows can never pierce all which while Conscience hath an evidence of within it self and can prove that it hath thus put on Christ Is not here also another ground of peace of admirable peace Yes verily saies the Apostle Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Fourthly When Conscience bears witness that 't is not content onely with the meere work of Regeneration and that it hath indeed passed that over whereby it is become a Childe as well of the second Adam as of the first and bears the Image as of the Natural man so of the Heavenly too but also is every day endeavouring to perfect holiness in the fear of God and to be growing in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and so more and more making sure of Heaven according as the Apostle excellently discourseth in 2 Pet. 1.5 9. For so says he An entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ So how why by giving all diligence to adde to Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledge and so of the rest that is to add new degrees to every Grace for otherwise there is no new Grace can be added that was not received in the first work when the soul was first regenerated and became a new creature The meaning therefore is that he is not satisfied with meere habitual Grace but is careful that every grace may grow and grow at root and branch too in fairness sweetness fragrancy He would not have the earthly plants and 〈◊〉 in his Garden out-grow the Heavenly ones that are in his heart he would not have the Sun Showers and Influences of the visible Heavens fall 〈◊〉 upon his Violets and his Roses than the powerful Be●●●s and Influences of the Sun of Righteousness upon his Soul and therefore he takes pains with his own heart waits upon every Ordinance improves every opportunity he meets with seeks all waies and means and useth all possible endeavours that he may thrive in his inward man and at last attain to that stature in Christ that may render him meet to partake of the inheritance of the Saints in light However others spend their time in this world this is one of his main businesses and this his Conscience bears him witness and is not here again more matter of peace Fifthly when Conscience bears witness to a man that to the utmost of his power he hath faithfully discharged all relative duties that lye upon him either as a good subject to his superiours and the powers he lives under as far as may any way consist with his loyalty to Jesus Christ or in his domestick relations in his family as an Husband a Father a Master or as a Childe a Servant or what ever other Family Relation he or she hath stood in or as related to a Church of Christ of which happily he is a member or to any other of his fellow-Saints abroad or Neighbours Dealers Traders with whom he any way converseth I say when Conscience accuseth for no want of duty here likewise It is a quiet Conscience and at peace within it self Sixthly When Conscience bears a man witness that he hath been or at least is of a God-like Spirit that is of a gracious and benigne Disposition 1. To all men in general That as his Sun shines both upon the Just and unjust and his Rain falls on good and evil Matth. 5.45 So he hath been and alwaies is ready as occasion serves to do good to all sorts of men even the very worst that are so far as may consist with the Rule of his Duty and he hath any warrant for it But more especially towards three sorts of persons in the World 1. To Malefactors Enemies such as hate him have much offended him and done him wrong yet hath been alwaies ready to lay aside revenge and to pardon and forgive even to seventy times seven Thus God doth and thus his Conscience bears him witness 't is his not onely endeavour but delight to do even to overcome evil with good 2. To persons in misery he is like God here too of a merciful disposition can say as Job yea and appeal to God himself as he did concerning his compassion and helpfulness to the Widdow the Fatherless the poor and the oppressed that had no friend to speak for them in the Gate No Morsels to feed upon nor Garments to wear but what they received from his Table Bounty or Procurement Job 31 16-22 3. But most of all to the poor suffering Members of Jesus Christ to them of all others his Bowels yearne them to be sure he will not fail to relieve cherish visit comfort and every way as far as able minister unto them and this without distinction of Persons or Parties 't is not this or that difference in Opinion provided it be such as leaves a man upon the foundation but the grace of Christ that draws his heart and his compassions from him Seventhly and lastly When Conscience yet farther bears witness that in all he hath purely sought the glory of God even in all that he hath done throughout his whole course in one kinde or another yea and that he hath not onely been ready to do what Service he could for God in any capacity wherein he hath at any time set him since he had any saving knowledge of him but hath been ready also to suffer for him and give testimony to his Truths Waies Ordinances and holy Institutions in opposition to what-ever hath been contrary unto them What-ever Sufferings of his might any way advance Christ his Name Honor and Interest in the world he hath willingly undergone them and still is ready as much as in him lies in all lawful and warrantable waies to do his utmost for the raising of Christ and his Kingdome higher and higher even above the Thrones and Scepters of all that oppose him If Christ might ascend but one inch by his becoming a foot-stool to him he would joy and glory in it he

many ardent affections and pious ejaculations may pass from the heart to Heaven which the Devil may not know the reason of and of which alone God is witness This then is another excuse that Conscience makes for it self and 't is none of the least And yet 4. There is one more a very good one when all else is said that can be the Conscience flies to that in 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Christ cleanseth me from all sin So that let the Devil accuse as home and charge as deep as hee can yet here to be sure is a full answer for him an irrefragable one and such as he can never invalidate or take away the force of And in case Satan should be so impudent as to urge the matter farther and say that is true the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin but that belongs to none but a true Beleiver which you can never prove your self to be To this Conscience answers likewise and that roundly and smartly Thou lyest Devil and besides thou art no Judge in this case it comes not within thy cognisance what transactions are in my soul what mutual embraces betwixt Christ and me what acts of faith and love are in that secret place as I said before thou knowest not It doth not therefore follow it is not de non entibus de non apparentibus idem est judicium things that appear not to one that is ignorant are as if they were not Let that matter alone Devil for as cunning as thou art thou art no Judge in it it is enough that my God who alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knower of the heart Acts 15.8 knows that I love him and believe in him whether thou knowest it or not Thus now we see what a good Conscience is in both the parts of it both as 't is honestè bona pacatè bona as 't is a quiet Conscience and an excusing Conscience every way void of offence both towards God and towards men and where such a Conscience is is it not a sufficient fortification against the fear of Death What is it that can be a just ground of trouble to this man That which is the most disquieting thing of all namely his sin and the guilt of it that is removed Christ hath taken it off from him What is it can be matter of terrour to him at the great Tribunal which he must one day stand before No enemy will appear against him there for God is reconciled to him and hee that shall sit there as his Judge is no other than his Redeemer And if Conscience here even in this life whose internal motions are known to none but God himself upon which ground none else but he can impose a Law upon it and oblige it be at so much ease Surely 't is from the same God that he is going to who alone can comfort or afflict the person to all eternity hereafter whose conscience he alone also can comfort or afflict in time But I hasten to answer two impertant objections which seem much to contradict all that hath been said hitherto SECT 9. Two important objections answered against the preceeding doctrine and what hath been said upon it FIrst It may be some will say shall we think that all those that are afraid or unwilling to dye are to be looked upon as persons without such a quiet and excusing Conscience or as those which have not such inward testimonies of a good estate and that in all the particulars which have been mentioned Would not this be very uncharitable to pass such a censure Yea and very unwarrantable too and against plain evidence both of Scripture and Experience Of Scripture which positively affirms Heb. 2.15 that some and those precious ones too for 't is spoken of Saints through fear of death are all their life time subject to bondage And doth not experience farther prove it almost every day How many choice Servants of Christ have met with hard struggles when they come to dye Have been willing to live yet longer if it might bee Have they not had their dreads on them Yea their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pangs and bands in their death like a woman in travel Secondly On the other hand is it not a very ordinary thing to see wicked men live and dye in peace Men as vile as prophane and deboished as any the earth hath and yet their Consciences are quiet notwithstanding they have no disturbance at all from them nor as the Psalmist saies have they any bands in their death Psal 73.4 but seem to pass out of the world as innocent as Lambs and without any fear at all upon them These are two considerable Objections indeed and must be answered and to satisfaction too least the truth before delivered bee prejudiced and shaken by it I answer therefore to both in order and first to the first objection I say three things First by way of concession I grant it that many who have indeed such a quiet and excusing Conscience a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men as I have been speaking of do notwithstanding dye with fears upon them and seem to be taken out of the world by violence rather than freely to go out of it and this contrary to the very precepts even of an Heathen moralist For what saies Seneca in his 104th Epistle Vir fortis sapiens exire debet è vita non trahi a wise and a valiant man ought to go readily out of this life not to be drawn And again quid est obsecro cur timeat mortem homo What is there in death considered simply in it self that a man should fear cum illâ nihil sit mali nisi quod ante ipsam est timeri the greatest evil of it is to be afraid of it before it comes Thus he even a very Heathen Well but yet for all that such is the extraordinary timidity of some persons and good ones too such is their aptness to despond partly from the natural constitution and temper of their melancholy bodies and mindes partly from the molestation of the great enemy of mankinde through Divine permission the Devil that the work of natures dissolution comes off hard with them and is a much more difficult task to them than to some others And the truth is who that is a Son or Daughter of Adam let them be never so holy and never so fit for Heaven but more or less have something of a cohorrescency of death upon them Two such old friends and so intimate as the body and the soul are loath to part It is natural for every thing to desire and seek the preservation of it self and to oppose and be afraid of that which destroys it Hence 't is that Aristotle in the third Book of his Ethicks the fixth Chapter tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death is most dreadful Thus also another Heathen Epicur Ad me nunc Apud