Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	blood_n	body_n	flesh_n	14,336	5	7.2820	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47199	The way to the city of God described, or, A plain declaration how any man may, within the day of visitation given him of God, pass out of the unrighteous into the righteous state as also how he may go forward in the way of holiness and righteousness, and so be fitted for the kingdom of God, and the beholding and enjoying thereof : wherein divers things, which occur to them, that enter into this way with respect to their inward trials, temptations, and difficulties are pointed at, and directions intimated, how to carry themselves therein ... / written by George Keith in the year 1669 ... : whereunto is added the way to discern the convictions, motions, &c of the spirit of God, and divine principle in us, from those of a man's own natural reason, &c.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1678 (1678)	Wing K235; ESTC R33462	109,527	235

this they contend among themselves IV. They judg that this Seed of God is only some supernatural accident or quality but not a substance and that the life of Grace or Holiness is no substantial life such as the vegetative sensitive or rational Life or Soul is which is a fourth error and is indeed the foundation of all the other three above-mentioned otherwise it might be thought no materal thing nor worth the while to contend whether the Seed and Life of Grace and Holiness be a substance or accident it seems rather to be a question of Philosophy and so not needful to be determined the one way or the other by them who meddle not in such matters But I say this makes the thing the more needful to be opened because the other three errours and divers others are built on it for say they If the Seed of God be an accident it cannot be in the Soul but it must denominate it according to its own qualities or properties so that the Soul must be Holy Righteous Pure c. because the Seed is such Also it cannot be in the Soul but it must be in union therewith because the essence or being of every accident consists in its being in union with its subject But say they the Seed of God is an accident Therefore c. Now the first proposition of this Argument is certain and cannot be denied but the second is false which is the foundation of divers other gross errors and so their whole superstructure false And for the refutation of it and the confirmation of the Truth viz. That the Seed of God is a Substance and the Life of Holiness and Grace is substantial I shall no● enter into Philosophical niceties but produce a few plain Arguments obvious to any clear and sound understanding as 1. Even as we do infer from the variety and nobility of the operations of the rational life and soul that it is a substance and no accident So both from the great variety and also the great nobility much greater than that of the rational soul or life of its operations we conclude that it to wit the Seed of God is a Substance 2. It is the root and sp●ing of the spiritual senses whereby we see hear tast savour and feel spiritual and heavenly Objects therefore it is a Substance 3. And seeing it is commonly granted that the life of vegetation the life of sensation the life of Reason are all substances shall we deny that the life of Grace or Holiness which is far above all these lives and doth passingly excell them yea is the very crown and glory of Man is a Substance 4. When God made Man he made him according to his own Image and this was mans dignity above the Beasts that he was made capable to receive the impressions of this Divine Image which the brutes were not Now this Image is the holy and Spiritual Life by which as by a s●●l he doth impress or effigiate the Soul of man Therefore it is a Substance For it were absurd to say that the Soul of Man or Man himse●f was made according unto or after the pattern of an accident 5. This Seed and that by which it is nourished God giveth from Heaven as the Scriptures do plainly declare Therefore it is a Substance for if it were an accident it could not come from Heaven because the Maxime is an Accident cannot pass from one subject into another 6. It is called oft in Scripture the body of Christ and his flesh blood which the Soul feeding upon it becometh cloathed therewith as with a body and thereby dwelleth in Christ and liveth in him as the branch in the Vine Therefore it is a Substance and hath a substantial life and spirit For what an absurd thing were it to call the body of Christ an accident 7. The Saints feel it in them as really to be a part or particle of the very substance of Heaven viz. of that spiritual and invisile Heavens where the Saints live as they do feel the body of their outward man to be a part or particle of the sustance of this outward world 8. It receiveth the names of all these things which are substances but never the name of an accident in Scripture Therefore c. But some may say that by this it would appear that we judg the S●ed and Divine birth as we call it not only a Sub●tance but that it is a composed Substance of body and Spirit To which I answer Yea it is so for its body is the vehicle or vessel of its Spirit for as every natural seed and birth hath its body and pirit so hath this Spiritual Seed and it is the body that is the vessel which containes or conveighs the Spirit And so the Seed of Corn hath its Spirit or Vertue in its Body and so every other Seed and Herb and Tree of the Field as the Apple-Tree the Vine-Tree whose fruit have both Body and Spirit As Wine hath its Spirit and so any other Liquor which evaporated or extracted leaves its body dead so this Spiritual Seed and Vine hath its Body and Spirit containing in it manifold most noble and excellent Powers and Vertues which Spirit is a measure of the Spirit or Soul of Christ the Heavenly Man And thus having got through this Particular I pass unto another which is to shew that regeneration is not simply the infusion of the Seed of God into the Soul For indeed as it is in natural seeds and births so is it here in the spiritual Now in naturals the seed is not the birth nor is a thing said to be generate when its seed is sown the seed of an Apple-tree is not ●he Tree it self but a principle out of which the Tree with its spirit life and powers doth spring And the seed of a man is not a man yea the seed may be cast into the womb and by some impediment no conception follow and in the very conceiving may be marred And indeed the words of Christ are plain how that the Seed of the Kingdom after it is sown springeth up like the Corn which may be choaked by impediments but where it is not choaked it springeth up first to the Blade then the Ear then to the full Corn and that is its g●●●ration Now ●hen a thing is but in the See● the Life Spirit and Powers or Vertues of its nature are hid and as it were buried within the body of the Seed which because the Seed hath not a body so large nor so organized as they require therefore they do not appear till it have received in some measure a larger and organized body and the more the Body groweth up and becometh organized its Spirit Life and Powers do manifest themselves more and more which in the Seed lay as it were dead and buried and altogether unable to perform their operations as being confined as in Fetters in so narrow a room Yea further their being is so

THE WAY To the CITY of GOD Described OR A PLAIN DECLARATION How any man may within the day of Visitation given him of God pass out of the Unrighteous into the Righteous state As also how he may go forward in the Way of Holiness and Righteousness and so be fitted for the Kingdom of God and the beholding and enjoying thereof WHEREIN Divers things which occur to them that enter into this way with respect to their inward Trials Temptations and Difficulties are pointed at and Directions intimated how to carry themselves therein and how to apply themselves to the Works and Exercises of Religion so as to find Acceptance with God With divers other weighty particulars which may be of service to Inquirers and Beginners Written by GEORGE KEITH in the Year 1669. In the time of his being a close Prisoner in the Tolbooth at Edinburgh Whereunto is added The way to discern the Convictions Motions c of the Spirit of God and Divine Principle in us from those of a man 's own Natural Reason c. Written in the time of his Confinement in Aberdeen in the Year 1676. With a Preface to the whole written this Year Printed in the Year 1678. Isa. 62.10 cast up cast up the high-way gather out the stones c. 57.14 Cast ye up cast ye up prepare the way c. 40.3 Prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the Desart a High-way for our God 1 Ioh. 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked 1 Ioh. 3.2 but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Ioan. Picus mir and. Conclus Qui perfecte in animam redierit primae formae suam formam aequaverit Englished thus He that shall perfectly return into his own Soul shall make his own frame or mould like unto the first Friendly READER IF thou art brought unto any sense of thy inward state and art come to feel thy absolute need of Christ so as nothing less can satisfie thee than the true and real enjoyment of him in thy Heart and Soul and thou canst no longer content thy self with the bare report of Christ until thou feel the vertue of his Blood to sprinkle thy Conscience from dead works to serve the Living God And if thou breathest for Life and to have the living knowledg of God and art weary of all that knowledg which thou hast gathered by bare hear say or reading while thou wast ignorant of the Life of Christ in thy heart And if thou desirest Holiness it self more than a naked form or profession of it and hungrest and thirstest after Righteousness and so art a true inquirer after the Kingdom of God To thee I hope this small Treatise will be acceptable and of service and indeed to such as thee it was mainly directed and intended I wrote it some years ago when I was by an outward restraint for divers months separated for most part from the company of all men for my testimony to the Truth But the Lord was near unto me and in the enjoyment of his Presence I had more satisfaction than all worldly things could afford me And being made use of by some in Manuscripts to whom it was serviceable they desired it might be made publick for a more general good and the rather because there was little or nothing after the manner of controversie with any particular adversary in it but that for the most part it was practical and experimental which some who have not a desire to read controversie are willing to read and that the whole aim and scope of it was to help and assist such who desire sincerely to live a godly life in their journey and travel as the title of it imports which is A Description of the Way to the City of God for thither should all our endeavours and labours tend for we have here no abiding City And seeing without Holiness none can see God and unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God therefore this whole Treatise doth hold forth divers necessary and useful things concerning the Nature of Regeneration how and after what manner it is begun and carried on So that the various steps of the Spiritual Traveller are set down from the beginning until a good growth and progress be attained in the new birth or life of Holiness it self And who are thus far advanced they are more s●fe and more out of danger to miscarry and miss their way than beginners are And therefore it is mainly intended for beginners and such as have made no great progress as yet in this Divine Travel What I have here delivered of the practical part or of experience is my own and my Spirit and Soul have travelled in some measure in all these steps herein mentioned and I have found the experimental good and advantage of all those advertisements cautions warnings and considerations delivered in the same And because it was not fit to burthen the understanding or memory of Readers with many things I have only aimed for the Readers good to set down some clear and plain directions concerning the most needful things and those which although they be most necessary are most neglected and especially to call back transgressours to the heart according to Isaiah 46.8 as the Hebrew hath it or as otherwise it is rendred but to the same purpose Return unto the heart O ye transgressours and that is the import of the word introversion which is a turning-in to find and feel after God and Christ in the heart to wait to see him as he appears there and to hear him as he speaks there and to be sensible of his walkings goings and movings as he is found there as he hath promised I will dwell in them and walk in them saith the Lord Lev. 26.12 2. Cor. 6.16 For we are to seek after Wisdom as Silver and to search for understanding as hid treasures Prov. 2.4 Which seeking and searching in the first place must be in our hearts and inward parts for there hath God placed this hidden treasure which is Christ Jesus to wit a measure of his Divine Spirit Life and Light and if thou findest it in thy self thou wilt then find it in others and also thou wilt savour of that Divine Life and Spirit both in the Scriptures and also in all writings that in the least measure have proceeded from the same Spirit in others And whatever testimony hath at any time proceeded from him and remaineth upon record the same witnesseth unto that testimony in all unto all to whom it cometh and all who have a sense of that Divine Spirit and Life in themselves can and do fell and discern that it hath proceeded of God and is owned by him And to such the Scripture or any other writing that hath been written in the least measure of a Divine motion or drawing are

into the hands of sinners to be so dealt with as it came to pass in the fulness of time And according to this in a true sense it may be said that he bore the weight of his outward sufferings in great measure from the very beginning As even among us men what we do certainly foresee of sufferings or trials to come upon us for the future doth affect us with no less weight many times in the foresight of them then in their accomplishment yea sometimes more as every one knoweth by some experience And that he was given up and resigned in the very beginning to come into the World outwardly and suffer those indignities and cruelties with many other deep trials was certainly a sacrifice of a sweet smell before the Lord and was very acceptable and satisfactory unto him VI. And thus according to the plain and genuine sense above mentioned obvious to the weakest capacity we may truly say that all the benefits and blessings which come upon men or have come upon them from the very beginning for either their justification or sanctification have a spiritual relation and respect unto Jesus Christ both in his inward and outward coming and his doings and sufferings in both by which he gave perfect obedience unto his Father and thereby he hath obtained the free Gift to come upon all unto justification of life Therefore we are not too nicely to distinguish betwixt the influence of his inward and outward coming and the effects thereof but rather to take them conjunctly as in a perfect conjunction having a perfect influence upon all mankind for their reconciliation and renovation unto God as obtaining that measure of Light and Grace from God unto all and every one whereby it is possible for them in a day to be saved VII And indeed we do very freely and willingly acknowledge that the 〈…〉 aforesaid by his obedience and suff●●●ngs even in the outward hath by his satisfaction un●o God obtained it that man may come into justification and favour with God but not any otherwise but upon these terms viz. upon their Faith and Repentance Mortification or dying unto sin and living a new life of holiness and righteousness unto God otherwise all p●etence unto Justification by Christ his Satisfaction is but a deceit and a cloak for men to sooth and gratifie themselves in their sins and lusts for the Lord justifieth only his own Seed and them who are begotten and born of it in whom the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled through the Power Life and Spirit of Christ manifest in them who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit to whom there is no condemnation And these terms videlicet Faith and Holiness are very gentle and easie forasmuch as Christ is freely given of the Father unto all men to enable them to the full performance thereof Also here is another great errour and mistake among Professors generally that they do not conceive that Christ did really suffer for and by mens sins but only at his outward coming which mistake is grounded upon this other mistake that Christ had no being as man but at his coming into the outward and consequently could not suffer which consequence behoved to be admitted if the ground on which it was built were true but it is utterly false for it is most certain from the Scriptures Testimony that he suffered all along by mens iniquities as where it is said I am pressed under them c. Amos 2.13 and that he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World yea that he endured the old world with much long-suffering and many other places For even from the beginning he was Mediator therefore he is said to be the beginning of the creation of God the first-born of all creatures And why might not Christ suffer in men before his outward coming as he doth now suffer in them long after it even as Paul speaketh of the sufferings of Christ which remained to be accomplished in him for the Seed which is Christ according to his participation with the Creatures hath been the same in all Ages and hath had its sufferings under by and for the sins of men in them all for the removing and abolishing of them This outward coming of the Lord Jesus and his Conception Birth Life Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension c. is one of the greatest and profoundest mysteries of the Christian Faith and hath an exceeding much deeper sense and consideration than most apprehend or than any can apprehend but as it is opened unto them in the Life Light and Spirit of Christ in their own particulars And therefore I do admonish and warn all yea I obtest them in the Power and Spirit of Jesus Christ that they do not make any slight account of it or undervalue this great and glorious mystery that shall be the eternal object of the Saints contemplation for which as among other things they shall eternally adore and admire the infinite goodness wisdom mercy and power of the Lord in and over all his works And if the mystery be not opened unto them as aforesaid let them be silent and hold their peace not meddling to measure the mysteries nor this mystery of God with the weak and shallow capacity of their own apprehensions And seeing the Lord has given me some in-sight and knowledge thereof in a measure and that by the Revelation of the Spirit and Life of his Son in my heart I may not forbear to mention and declare somewhat of it unto others which I warn and admonish all that shall read or hear of it to beware of judging of the same but in the express sense feeling and opening of the same Life and Spirit in their own particulars It hath been commonly taught and supposed that the coming of Iesus in the outward and his becoming man had no further in it but that the WORD which was from everlasting did assume the true nature of man in Soul and Body ●nto an immediate union with it self commonly called the Hypostatical or Personal Vnion and that this Manhood of Chri●t was conceived in a miraculous way by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Virgins Womb. All which is willingly granted and truly and cordially believed by me But I say there is yet a further thing in it than they yet speak of or apprehend and it is this That even that holy Birth and Conception as it had the real and true nature of man so it had much more viz. a certain Divine Perfection as I may so call it through the wisdom given me of God whereby it was not only the whole and intire Nature or Birth of Manhood but was more yea much more than a man It 's true it is commonly granted that Christ was more than a man yea both God and man which is true but yet they do not apprehend the thing whereof I speak For tho they grant Christ was both God and man yet they do

whence it was what was its tendency and wherefore it was given them If then thou be but diligent in thy mind to observe and give attendance to the inward Operations Motions and Shinings of the Divine Light in thee and Breathings of the Divine Life in the silence and quietness of thy Soul out of the many wanderings vain thoughts and imaginations of thy mind thou wilt certainly come to a true measure of clear discerning of the true Divine Principle Life and Light and of the operations thereof so as to distinguish it from all that which is but Natural and Carnal as also from all that is of Satan in his cunning transformings And although in the beginning it will be very hard to thee to attain to that perfect and absolute inward silence of mind from all thy own thoughts and imaginations which will afterwards become easie and familiar unto thee as thou dost experience any considerable growth in the Truth yet as thou pressest after it thou wilt find they self helped by the Lord to come into some measure of true silence And although thou canst not say that all vain foolish thoughts and idle imaginations are put out of thy mind yet if a considerable part of them be gone and evanished so that thy mind is somewhat more cool and quiet and still and empty of such things than it 's wont to be here thou wilt find thy self at some advantage and in some capacity to discern the Divine Light and working thereof even as it were in this imperfect state of Silence or half Silence as we may call it To help thee then a little further in this inquiry and search that thou mayst come to know discern and be acquainted with the true Divine Light and working thereof in thee which is indeed a very necessary knowledg and without which thou art liable to sit down in a false rest and build upon a false foundation as many do at this day taking the Natural Light and Principle for the Divine and Supernatural And so what the Socinians and Pelagians are in profession who profess no higher Principle in them necessary than the Natural these Men are whatever they profess of the necessity of having and being illuminated and led by the Spirit really in practice Therefore that thou mayst avoid this snare and come to the true knowledg of the Divine Light and Principle of God in thee I shall briefly point at some distinguishing marks and characters whereby the Divine and Supernatural Principle is truly distinguishable from that which is but Humane and Natural As 1. The light influence and operation of the Humane and Natural Principle is cold saint and dead but that of the Divine and Supernatural warm living and powerful and the warmth power and life thereof reacheth not only the Brain or Head or the animal part and affections which the natural can do and often doth but it reacheth also the heart and most inward parts even the most inward affections of the Soul and is of a Heavenly and Divine Nature as the Principle is of which it proceedeth It is said of Christ when he preached outwardly he spake with Authority or Power and not as the Scribes Matth. 7.29 and he said himself The words that I speak unto you are Spirit and Life It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing Joh. 6.63 And thus it is in the inward what Christ speaketh in the Soul or Heart of any Man or Woman is with Power even with a Heavenly Power and Authority that raiseth an awe and reverence in the Heart by which the Soul is convinced that it is indeed the Voice or Word of God and not of Man by reason of that innate Majesty and Glory that is in it as it is said in Psalm 29.4 The Voice of the Lord is Glorious the Voice of the Lord is full of Majesty c. And although many Souls be so dark blind deaf and stupid that many times they have no sense of any Divine Power or Principle yet when it pleaseth God to speak in the most deaf and stupid Soul he causeth it to hear and raiseth up some small sense of the same in it at that present time although soon after darkness and death doth prevail over them again and they forget any such experience as if they had never had it How did God speak unto Cain and expostulate with him We read not that it was by an outward Voice nor is there any need to suppose that when God reproved him for his anger against his Brother it was by an outward Voice and not rather by the Spirit of God inwardly in his Heart and Conscience as he doth reprove men at this day and as he did strive in man before the deluge and did judge and reprove him for sin Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not alwaies strive or contend in Man for so the words should be translated and Christ promised that he would send the Comforter unto his Disciples to wit the Holy Spirit and he should reprove the World of sin Joh. 16.8 Now although a man by his own reasonings may reprove himself for sin yet there is a great difference betwixt man's reproving himself and God's reproving him by his Spirit and Divine Principle in his Heart that of Man being saint cold and dead as is said but the inward reproof of the Spirit of Truth powerful hot and living which goeth to a man's heart and pricketh him to the quick woundeth him deeply and of this no man but hath some experience at times especially before sin be come to such an heighth and hath power in the Soul that it is become past feeling Now that some are so become doth plainly imply that once they had a feeling Again when a man reproves himself he doth it too partially although he will be ready to judg himself in the general a great sinner yet there are many times many particular sins whereof he is guilty that he will not reprove himself for by any reasonings whatsoever or Arguments drawn from Scripture but will rather justifie and defend himself for the natural light and natural understanding is exceedingly corrupted by the fall and therefore it cannot impartially witness against sin but is most ready to call many sins vertues and to call many vertues sins and so to put light for darkness and darkness for light and call good evil and evil good Isa. 5.20 Yea the Natural Light or Understanding is so dim and dark that it is no where in all Scripture called Light but I find that unconverted men are ealled darkness in Scripture and that by reason of the darkness of their understandings It is said in Scripture the carnal mind is enmity against God and the wisdom from below is carnal earthly and devilish All the natural powers of man's Soul are so corrupted by sin that he is but dark foolish blind and deceived in his most sublime and refined reasonings in Spiritual matters But the inward