Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	country_n	day_n	great_a	2,103	5	2.8741	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25316	The evidence of things not seen, or, Diverse scriptural and philosophical discourses, concerning the state of good and holy men after death ... by that eminently learned divine Moses Amyraldus ; translated out of the French tongue by a Minister of the Church of England.; Discours de l'estat des fidèles après la mort. English.	Amyraut, Moïse, 1596-1664.; Minister of the Church of England.	1700 (1700)	Wing A3036; ESTC R7638	98,543	248

of this discourse is imployed to come to this Conclusion as we set shadows and leaves round about Pictures which serve for nothing but to fill up the void space and give some little Ornament to the Table so there is something in this discourse of our Lord the use whereof consists wholly in making the Parable more full bright and luminous 'T is therefore to be Considered whether it were the common opinion of the Jews that the Souls of unbelievers are tormented immediately after death or that being deprived of all perception and use of their faculties they remain as if they were in a profound sleep if it were the last of these our Lord did not it seems a thing worthy of his wisdom to establish his Parable upon an Hypothesis contrary to the common belief of the Jews For if a parable be not taken from a truth really and indeed accomplished at least it ought not to contradict the common conceptions of men And our Lord never proposed any in which we might not easily see much reason and appearance of possibility and by how much the more of difficulty there is to comprehend for these two persons could reason together there being too great a gulph between them by so much the rest of the Parable ought to be accommodated to the sense and apprehension of the Auditors to the end that they may not accuse him that speaks of giving them instructions built upon false and extravagant opinions If it were the common opinion of the Jews that Souls enjoy perception after death our Lord sufficiently confirms it not only in that he makes no opposition to it but moreover in that he builds thereupon instructions excellent and full of wisdom I make no doubt therefore but that he gives us to understand in this Emblem that the Souls of the wicked are tormented from the time they go out of this life and that the Souls of the faithful do receive Consolation which cannot be without some notable sense or perception nor can there be so notable a sense if they have not their faculties active and awake When the Apostle St. Paul tells us he was caught up into Paradise where he heard things that could not be uttered 't is true he tells us that he knew not whether'twas in the body or out of the body So that although it be not without probability that it was rather out of the body yet it would be great boldness positively to determine concerning it since he himself would not do it But 't is clear that he supposes that it might be done out of the body and by consequent that Souls can make use of their faculties when they are separated from it for in that estate in which he supposes his Soul was or might be they could not hear things unspeakable soon after without some use of their understanding moreover it must be an excellent use thereof as well because of the greatness of the object which without doubt could not be comprehended unless by an understanding very active as because it so vehemently applyed it self unto it and it received such deep impressions from it that after it was rejoined to its body and again offered unto its Organs as before it nevertheless retains the memory thereof Now it is enough that St. Paul supposes that it might be to rescue our minds from all difficulty and doubt in this matter The Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews representing in a stately manner the condition whereunto Christians are called says that it is to the Heavenly Jerusalem to thousands of Angels to the assembly of the first born who are enrolled or whose names are written in Heaven and to the Spirits of just men sanctified I will not stay to search out what is signified by those words enrolled in the Heavens although it seems to be a manner of speech taken from publick Registers and Rolls wherein are written the names of such Citizens which ought to have the right of Free-men and to partake in the priviledges of the Corporation Which will signify that these first born are already received into the Heavens a place of abode not at all proper for a sleep so profound and void of all perception as is that to which some condemn Souls till the day of the Resurrection I will only say that this word the Spirits doth signify without doubt Souls separated from their Bodies and that the word which we Translate Sanctified signifies properly perfect or accomplished A Title that in the New Testament is not given unless it be to those which be it in knowledg or holiness have obtained that degree of perfection whereunto before they did aspire and whereunto those that they have left behind them are not yet arrived Thus we are said to be perfect in comparison with the Jews who lived under the dispensation of the Law but imperfect in comparison with them that have obtained that knowledg whereunto we cannot come in this life so that these just men made perfect concerning the Spirit of whom he speaks in this Text are those that have obtained a degree of perfection which we have not as yet which cannot be obtained without an excellent use of those faculties which are called Understanding and Will In the Book of the Revelation Chap. 14. Vers 13. It is said that the Spirit declares those happy which are dead in the Lord now happiness and the privation of the use of all their faculties are inconsistent Aristotle himself says that happiness cannot properly be attributed unless it be to such who are actually in the exercise of the most excellent operations of their noblest and most excellent powers and vacant in the contemplation and love of the bravest and sublimest Objects and to the end that we may not think that they are called happy because they are appointed to the injoyment of the happiness which is to be revealed at the last day as the same Philosopher says we call little Children happy by a kind of hope when there is much of probability that one day they will obtain it 'T is said that they rest from their labours and their works follow them Now 't is true indeed that we call sleep by the name of rest in opposition to the labours and troubles of the day but nevertheless if speaking of a person that is returned into his Country after great and memorable battels fought in Forreign Lands we should say that henceforth he rests from his labours I do not think that any one would understand thereby that he had slept for a long time but that he enjoyed in peace and tranquillity the fruit of his former pains and labours and indeed these words and their works follow them do mean they enjoy their reward For because the work and the reward are inseparable by the appointment of the good will of God and the holy Spirit being willing to inform us that believers shall not lose their labours in the good works that they do