Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	eternal_a	good_a	3,595	5	3.1999	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81131	The arraignment of unbelief, as the grand cause of our nationall non-establishment: cleared in a sermon to the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament, at Margarets Westminster, upon the 28th. of May, 1645. being the day of their publike fast. / By Joseph Caryl, late preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne, now pastor at Magnus neer the bridge, London.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1645 (1645)	Wing C749; Thomason E286_5; ESTC R200075	31,767	54

God An unbeleeving heart is an heart departing from the living God The antithesis in the Prophet ver 7. confirmes that exposition Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is Hope and trust are the contraries to unbelief But what is the portion of this unbeleeving heart No good I warrant you The sixth verse assures us so He shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good commeth As unbelief locks sinne upon our souls sorrows and judgements upon our bodies so it locks our souls out of eternall and our bodies out of temporall salvation An unbeleever shall not see when good cometh that is he shall not taste or enjoy good when it commeth So Elisha told that unbeleeving Lord when in the name of the Lord he had promised plenty in Samaria Behold thou shalt see it with thine eies but shalt not eat thereof 2 King 7. 2. That text of the Apostle carries a shew of opposition against this truth Rom. 11. 32. God saith he hath concluded them all sc Jews and Gentiles in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all It seems then that mercy rather comes in then is shut out by unbelief God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all as if God intended to make his advantage and opportunity of shewing mercy to that people by finding them in an unbeleeving condition I answer There is a two-fold mercy First the mercy of vocation Secondly the mercy of salvation when the Apostle saith that God concluded or shut them all up in unbelief that he might have mercy upon them all he means it of the mercy of vocation The Gentiles in their time were all unbeleevers then God called them and the Jews at this time are unbeleevers they deny obedience to the Gospell yet God will call them again the calling of the Jews hereafter as heretofore the calling of the Gentiles shall be of free grace there was no preparation in the one there shall be none in the other to move God to call them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ God calls us to faith when we have no faith He calls to beleeve while we are in unbelief The mercy of vocation prevents faith God doth not call men because they are beleevers or because they have faith but he calleth them to beleeve he calleth them unto faith So the Apostle arguing about that great mercy of justification Rom. 3. 19. shewes how the Lord stops every mouth and makes all the world become guilty before him God doth not justifie any person because he is guiltlesse or holy but that he may be guiltlesse and holy He doth not justifie any man because he is free from sinne but that he may be free from sinne Thus the mercy of vocation prevents our faith and the mercy of justification prevents our righteousnesse and obedience God justifies the ungodly But in giving the mercy of salvation whether it be temporall or eternall salvation God looks upon a people or a person beleeving and therefore makes promises for faith to act upon that we may be saved that we may be established A second objection rises against this point from that speech of Christ in the close of the Parable of the unjust Judge and the importunate Widow where assuring his elect who cry unto him night and day that he will avenge them speedily he adds Neverthelesse when the Sonne of man commeth shall he finde faith on the earth that is he shall not finde faith on the earth and yet then he comes upon a gracious design the deliverance of his elect It seems then that unbelief or want of faith doth not hinder mercy for this great mercy shall be given in when faith shall not be found to beleeve it See here a plentifull harvest of comfort and yet at the same time a dearth of faith none to be found upon the earth I answer first The words import only a great declining of faith in those times not a totall decay of it Secondly The intent of those words is not to bring unbelief into any credit but only to support and cherish the faith of some few in the appearing of much unbelief and despondencie in others For in hard times we hear frequently such complaints as these Do ye not see how the hearts of men fail how their spirits are down how they give up all for lost Faith was never so low as now and therefore surely we must shortly be lower then we are this prevailing raign of unbelief among us is a sad argument that evils shall raign over us too thus the heart misgives To releeve such our Lord Christ saith Neverthelesse when the Sonne of man comes shall he finde faith on the earth As if he had said though all ought to encrease and strengthen faith in darkest times both in themselves and others yet let no man despair because some or many do not beleeve for as their unbelief shall not make the faith that is the faithfullnesse or faith-word of God without effect Rom. 3. 3. so neither shall it make the faith of other men without effect Yea in this sense the lesse faith the more hope When you see the spirits of most drooping their flesh trembling and their hands hanging down This looks most like the time wherein Christ will come to avenge his elect and do great things And those Saints in whom faith bears up its head in such times may use the generall unbelief of their brethren as a strong advantage for their own faith and representing it to God in prayer may plead thus Lord faith failes exceedingly very few of thy oppressed people do or can be perswaded to beleeve that thou wilt help them why therefore Lord hasten in help now come to our succour Is not this the day of thy comming for thou shalt scarce finde faith on the earth to beleeve thou wilt come Thirdly Though Christ will come at last to releeve his people when little faith is to be found among them yet it shall be best with those in whom he findes most faith and wo to those who neglect the raising of their faith because they hear Christ will come when faith is down The freenesse of his grace in helping an unbeleeving generation will be no excuse but a reproof of their unbelief Our duty to beleeve is not the lesse because his goodnesse to those who beleeve not is so great yea they who to put themselves into a posture for deliverance cast away their faith are cloathed with presumption And though Christ may establish those who through weaknesse or want of faith cannot beleeve yet surely they shall never be established who through boldnesse with or wantonnesse upon his grace strive not to give him glory in beleeving To cleer which I shall now proceed to give you some demonstrations of this point why unbelief is the barre and stop of blessings This appears First From the greatnesse of the sinne of

so he shewes them reason why they should not First from the persons who appeared so dreadfull ver 4. They are but two tails of smoaking firebrands As if he had said You look upon these men as a devouring fire or unquenchable flames but I assure you they do but smoak and they are but brands and they are but tayls of brands they have almost consumed themselves they are but brands ends and they are smoaking rather then burning As that phrase in the Gospel smoaking flax notes the lowest degree of grace which Jesus Christ will not quench or put out so here smoaking firebrands note the least degree of remaining power or malice almost spent and going out not in regard of desires but abilities to do mischief Again As the Lord shewes their power so neer extinct that they could do no great hurt so he declares his own will that they should not vers 7. For thus saith the Lord It shall not stand neither shall it come to passe Ther 's no reason we should run for fear when we are assured the counsels of our enemies shall not stand They are confederate but they shall be broken they have taken counsel but it shall not stand neither shall it come to passe The counsels of men stand or fall at the pleasure of God The opposition of all creatures cannot hinder one of his counsels and all their endeavours cannot produce one of their own Though a conclave of Achitophels every one an Oracle should lay a design yet it is at the will of God whether it shall succeed The policie of man is no match for God thus saith the Lord it shall not stand Not stand why who is able to throw it down by whose hand shall it fall Syria and Ephraim are mighty in power as well as deep in policie shall their counsels be made voide The Prophet Amos knowing the weaknesse of Iacob questions chap. 7. 2. By whom shall Jacob arise for he is small And the Prophet Isaiah knowing the strength of Syria and Ephraim might question By whom shall these fall for they are great Yes saith God I assure you how great so ever they are they shall not stand I can reckon up the greatest of their strength and the top of their confederacies The head of Syria that is the chief power and strength of Syria is Damascus the mother City and the head of Damascus is Rezin the King of Syria and in threescore and five yeers shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people And the head of Ephraim is Samaria I can tell you likewise what strength Ephraim hath and who is the strongest person there The head of Samaria is Remaliahs sonne I can soon cast up all the power of your enemies I can go to the very head of it it is but Damascus and Rezin and Samaria and Remaliahs sonne this is the outside of their strength We may quickly see an end of all worldly perfections both in power and policie Now that which is secretly implied and couched in this contemptuous account of Ephraims and Syrias strength is that Iudah had such a head as they were not able to reach such forces as they were not able to tell over much lesse to triumph over It is as if he had said You see the head of Syria and the head of Ephraim but the head of Iudah is Ierusalem and the head of Ierusalem is Jesus Christ Who is able to reach the head of Iudah which is Jerusalem while that hath Jesus Christ for the head of it who is Rezin or Remaliahs son put into the balance with Jesus Christ The Prophet having brought them this message not to fear and strengthened it with these reasons concludes all with an Epiphonema in the words of the text If ye will not beleeve surely ye shall not be established As if he had said I have brought you as good newes as you can desire should the Lord have sent you down a blank from Heaven and bid you write the wishes of your own hearts in this condition and engag'd his own faithfullnesse and all-sufficiency to performe them what could you have requested that I have not offered could you frame any more sutable mercies as your case stands then these that your enemies shall fall that their counsels shall not stand that their projects shall not come to passe yet let me tell you ye may obstruct these blessings and deprive your selves of this promised deliverance your unbelief may weaken the arm of your salvation and re-inkindle these smoaking brands into a consuming flame your unbelief may shake your kingdome more then your feares have hitherto shakt your hearts If ye beleeve not surely ye shall not be established The words are diversly read The margin of our Bibles gives them thus out of the Hebrew Do ye not beleeve it is because ye are not stable As if he should say What! after the report of these gracious promises do ye persist in your fear still are you yet in your trembling fit ye are unbeleeving sure and therefore ye are unstable An unbeleeving heart must needs be when put to it a trembling heart The Septuagint give us another sense If ye beleeve not ye shall not understand according to which translation the text is often cited by the Ancients to prove that the Iewes did not therefore understand the Scripture because they did not beleeve faith is the light as well as the strength of the soul and they who are shut up in unblief are usually shut up in ignorance Our reading sutes the Prophets message and bears fair with the Grammaticall construction of the text If ye will not beleeve surely ye shall not be established though ye have heard of much good you shall not taste a drop of it though God hath infinite strength for you yet he will not put forth the least of it except ye beleeve There is an elegant Paronomasia ●●●phil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cr●d●d●● fi●it in n●phal tabile statum esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall That word which in the active Conjugation signifies to beleeve signifies to be established in the passive If ye beleeve not Unbelief is of two sorts either first an impotencie or inability to beleeve or secondly a crookednesse or perversenesse of disposition against the means of beleeving understand this text of the latter Again unbelief may be taken either in generall in reference to the whole revealed will of God or secondly in particular in reference to some speciall manifestation of it The Jewes to whom the Prophet here speaks were all beleevers in the former notion but many of them proved unbeleevers in the latter even as on the other hand the Ninevites who were unbeleevers in respect of the generall word proved beleevers in regard of that speciall revelation by the Prophet Ionah Surely ye shall not be established That is ye in your politike capacity as a Kingdome and Commonwealth shall not be established Two points arise

of holy rhetorique in it Beleeve in the Lord your God so shall you be established beleeve his Prophets so shall you prosper 2 Chron. 20. 20. The prosperity of our worldly affairs as well as of our heavenly depends upon and flowes from the actings of our faith In the next place Give me leave Honourable and beloved to be an informer this day against the Kingdoms greatest enemy and the hinderer of our National establishment It was the custome of the Iews as some of the Learned have observed from the story of Naboth 1 King 21. 10. upon the day of their solemn fast to accuse and charge notorious offenders How many things and persons have been and still are suspected yea charged with that notorious offence the shaking of this nation while that which is most guilty is not thought on at all by many and not enough thought on by any I mean and I 'le name it unbelief And I mean not only unbelief abroad and at large but your own in whose ears I chiefely speak this day and into whose hands that great and noble work of establishing this shaken and of uniting this divided Kingdom is committed Though it be uncomely for me to charge you yet it is the duty of this day for you to enquire of your own hearts whether your own unbelief hath not impeded that long prayed for and long waited for effect and issue of your counsels the establishment of this Nation This Nation hath been long in counsell and yet it is not established long in action and yet it is not established We have prayed long fasted long and yet we are not established I have the text and my point to warrant if I accuse and arraign unbelief as the cause of all this Why what hath unbelief done or who hath seen it doing this evil Unbelief is an invisible enemy and therefore a more dangerous enemy But though it be invisible in its nature yet it is not only visible but palpable in its effects as holy faith also is Hence as faith is called effectuall faith and prayer effectuall prayer because these break forth and operate in glorious effects so unbelief may be called effectuall unbelief because it breaks forth and operates in lamentable effects And whatsoever is or can be lookt upon as a cause of our continued troubles and shakings is without any strain or slander reducible to unbelief as the cause of those causes and therefore the cause of those effects First Some say we are not established because we are so divided And are not our divisions the fruit of our unbelief Hearts not joyned in faith to God cannot joyn or not firmely joyn to one another in love They that go off from God and every act of unbelief in us is a step from him seldome keep close to one another Faith is the cement and soder of affection Secondly If it be said we are not established because still so unreformed sinne abounds still and therefore trouble abounds still I grant it But whence is it that sinne abounds I must set that also upon the head of unbelief It is unbelief which protects sinne and keeps it alive notwithstanding the sentence of death hath gone out so often against it Though it hath so often in these sin-mortifying duties of prayer and fasting been carried out to execution Sinne laughs at all our daies of sorrow and humiliation at our fasts and prayers while unbelief backs and stands to it For as faith is a shield to the new-man which quenches all the fiery darts of the Devil so unbelief is a shield to the old-man which quenches all the holy darts of the Spirit The word cannot wound a sinner while he is armed with unbelief Sinne will save its skinne much more its heart till faith sets it naked to the stroaks and smitings of the word Thirdly If it be said Surely we are not established because we are grown so carelesse so cold and formall in those Kingdom-establishing duties fasting and prayer Many neglect to keep them as counting such daies lost out of the calendar of their lives But most are negligent in keeping them and have turned the whole businesse into a meer bodily exercise or the hanging down of their heads for a day This neglect to keep fasts and negligent keeping of them is so grosse and notorious that it makes many hearts to bleed while they think of it Hence some have thought it most safe to move for the supersedeating of these duties fearing that such setled fasts will but more unsettle the Kingdom and rather provoke the Lord then pacifie him towards us Reasons may be given for the laying down of these Monethly and the keeping only of occasionall fasts though in one sense our monethly fasts are occasionall the great occasion why they began continuing to this day But how sad is it to consider that this should be given as a reason That we have laid down these fasts because we are weary keeping them or are grown formall in keeping of them To break off from such a duty upon these terms is a lamentation and will be one What have we fasted away the tendernesse of our hearts and our sensiblenesse of Gods hand have we prayed away our zeal for God and our love to communion with him this is dreadfull But how dreadfull soever it is this which God forbid if it be so must be charged upon unbelief Why do any neglect fasts it is because they do not beleeve it will quit cost to observe them they beleeve more gain is to be got by working in their callings and more comfort will come in by letting themselves out in pleasures therefore they will not forbear their labours or abridge themselves for a day of their pleasures No man will afflict his body as in such daies he must much lesse his soul as in such daies he ought unlesse faith shew him a benefit which will bear his charge and comforts which will swallow up his sorrows in doing them And whence is it that many who appear outwardly in these duties are so formall rather personating the faster and petitioner then being fasters and petitioners is it not from unbelief They who have slight thoughts of a duty must needs act it slightly And whence is it that prayer and fasting are at any time successelesse and ineffectuall is not this from unbelief Praying without beleeving is a taking of Gods Name in vain and in regard of any fruit a vain help for man Prayer without faith is nothing but a noise of words meer babling it is but speaking not praying In the sixth of Matthew Christ reproves those who thought to be heard for their much speaking We shall surely be heard if we pray but a little but we shall never be heard how much soever we speak And if faith be mixt in the duty how long soever we continue speaking how many words yea repetitions soever we use in it Christ will not call it much speaking but much