Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	air_n	element_n	fire_n	13,062	5	7.1789	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85953	Gospel-revelation in three treatises, viz, 1 The nature of God. 2 The excellencies of Christ. And, 3 The Excellency of mans immortal soul. By Jeremiah Burroughs, late preacher of the gospel at Stepney, and Giles-Cripple-gate, London. Published by William Greenhill. William Bridge. Philip Nye. John Yates. Matthew Mead. William Adderly.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.	1660 (1660)	Wing G6083; Thomason E1029_1; ESTC R208881	280,310	387

is to see him that hath all excellency in him and to see all the good there is in God as the good of the soul The soul is capable of the understanding of the minde of God to have all the glorious Counsels of God about his works and wayes that hee hath had from all eternity to bee revealed unto so far as concerns it and as any way may make it happy To live to see what the wayes of God have been from all eternity and what they shall bee to all eternity and that for the good of this soul that it may bee for ever in his presence and to stand and look upon his face and see him as the portion of it Oh this must needs bee a glorious thing Certainly if the presence of God put such a glory upon the heavens it must needs put abundance of glory upon the soul that shall stand immediately alwayes in his presence To have eternal communion with God that is to have the imbracements of God imbracing the soul and delighting himself in it above all other his works but onely the Angels and his Son delighting I say himself in the soul and imbracing it communicating and letting out himself in all his lustre and glory when hee shall have inlarged the soul to bee able to the uttermost to receive in that glory that hee hath to communicate And for him to converse with the souls of men to all eternity in a familiar way as one friend with another and for the soul to bee letting out its self again to God for that is in communion there is Gods letting out himself to it and its letting out its self again to God now I say it is the greatest delight to what God hath in himself his Son and Spirit and Angels the letting out of himself to the souls of men those that shall bee saved And on the other side it must needs bee an infinite delight to the soul alwayes to bee letting out it self upon God as now what delight do men take in eating and drinking now if there bee such delight from the humour in the palat meeting with a peece of meat in the mouth because of the suitableness between one object and another Oh what delight must there needs bee when this immortal precious soul being inlarged to the uttermost with all exc●●●ency shall then meet with an infinite God the infinite first-being of all things as the most suitable object to it and so bee letting of its self forth to God and God letting of himself forth to it again Again the good that the soul is capable of with God it is to have an union with God for the soul to be made one with God to be united so as to be made one with him Hee that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit saith the Apostle and saith Christ in Joh. 17. Father I will that those that thou hast given mee may bee one with mee as thou and I are one Spiritual things do most unite one to another there may bee a thousand beams of the Sun united and almost into one point because it is of a more spiritual nature so when the soul shall bee made one Spirit with God it being a Spirit and God likewise a Spirit there will bee an exact union one with another And so the more spiritual things are the more they communicate one to another as in nature the more corporeal a thing is the less it communicates its self the earth doth not communicate its self with any creature the water communicates its self more than that and the air more than that and the fire more than that the Sun that is less corporeal than any of these elements that wee have here and therefore that communicates its self more than the element doth Now God being a Spirit and the souls of men spiritual Oh what a communion will there bee of each to other And then further the soul is capable of fruition of God union and communion and fruition what is that you will say that is to have God not onely to bee united to it but to have a kind of possession of him to have the use of all that there is in God that can make mee happy to have the full use of it when I will then a man doth injoy a thing when hee can have the use of such a thing when hee will Now the souls of the Saints shall enjoy God that is shall have the use of all that glory and good there is in God that can make them happy when they will shall have as much use of God as they will surely they must needs bee happy that shall thus enjoy God If a man had the fruition of the world that hee could have the use of all the good things in the world when hee would you would think him happy but this is the happiness of the souls of the Saints that they shall have such a fruition of God that they shall have all the use of God that they will and when they w●ll And further Fruition hath this in it it hath a reflect act A man though hee hath a great deal of riches given him yet if hee doth not know this or if so bee that hee doth know it and yet have not the comfort of it hee doth not enjoy it such a man though hee bee born to a great deal yet if hee have not the reflect act to know that hee hath it hee doth not enjoy it So wee enjoy but little of God now because God though hee bee the portion of a gracious heart yet the heart doth not know this fully But knowledge when it shall bee perfect then the soul shall perfectly know what good there is in God and how far my soul may and is happy in the enjoyment of this God I shall know how to make use of God to the full and shall have continually the comfort of all that good there is in God And yet further the presence and communion with Jesus Christ that the soul shall have besides that of God the Father it shall bee with him where hee is It is a blessed thing here to follow the Lamb whithersoever hee goes but to bee alwaies with him to have alwaies fruition of him and to have communion likewise with all the Saints and Angels and all the blessed spirits that is a blessed thing indeed I remember I have read of Cato when hee was about to dye Oh blessed day saith hee for now I shall go to the souls of wise men and Philosophers and so upon that ground he did account the day of his death a blessed day because hee should go to have communion with the souls of Philosophers and wise men But how blessed is it then for our souls to have communion eternally with Angels and blessed spirits You are come to an innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12.22 23 and the spirits of just men made perfect When a soul is converted it

given up unto sin Rev. 16.11 And they blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and sorrows Now that is spoken of the beast of Antichrist but if men here blaspheme God because of pains what shall they do that are damned in Hell they that shall have the vials of Gods wrath poured out upon them But you will ask how doth it appear that for the wicked to bee given up to sin is such an evil unto them whereas here it is their delight to commit sin To which I answer though they love sin and though sin bee their delight here yet hereafter when they are cast off from God for ever then they shall not finde that delight in sin as now they do as to give you it in an example put a fish into a pot of water and the fish doth swim and play and delight therein because it is the proper element of the fish to bee in the water but now if you do but put fire under that pot of water wherein the fish doth play and take delight why then that which was before the delight and element of the fish thereby becomes its pain and torture so though sin in this life is delightful unto wicked men because it is their proper element to bee in sin in this life yet hereafter sin shall bee their pain because then there shall bee mixt with it the wrath of God which will make it pain and torture Again the loss of the soul consists in this when the soul is fully possessed of all the evils that are contrary to all the good it is capable of Thus shall it be with the lost soul eternally That as the Saints shall bee inlarged and made more capable of good which they shall enjoy to all eternity so those that are wicked and lost souls which shall bee opposite to God shall bee inlarged in their capacities and bee possessed and made capable of all contrary evils First To bee cast under the eternal curse of God I say to bee eternally under the curse of the Almighty Secondly To have all the faculties of the soul to bee filled with the wrath of God to have the understanding to bee filled with what may increase torment in that and for the conscience to have the worm gnawing which never dieth and to have the thoughts employed and running upon those things that will bee so hideous unto them and to have the will continually crossed by God himself and to have the heart sinking under the wrath of the infinite God in despair for ever Brethren the soul of man it is a very large vessel and because wee know but little of the large extent of our souls therefore it is that wee are so little sensible of the loss of them or of the pain and torment they are capable of or liable unto But as the soul is larger than the body to take in comfort so is it larger than the body likewise to take in pain misery and wrath we should bee sensible of such an expression as this to have the body in all the members of it to bee filled with fire so as to bee all on a hot fiery burning coale and that to all eternity this you would think could not but bee an extreme misery But the souls capacity is far larger than the bodies And to have the soul filled in every faculty of it with the wrath of God it is far greater pain than to have the body in such a condition which is the condition of a lost soul Further it doth consist in having the power of God stretched forth to bring evil and wrath upon it and that to the utmost Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endureth with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction As thus First The infinite power of God put forth in enlarging their natures that they may bee the more capable of evil Secondly The infinite power of God put forth to uphold their natures that they bee not sunk down with those dreadful evils that God hath to put upon them Thirdly The infinite power of God to let out upon the soul what ever it can bear to make it miserable so as not to bee annihilated therewith which it shall bear for ever And further A lost soul is in this condition also to be continually under the stroak of Gods justice that when it ha●h lain under its pains thousands of thousands of years saith divine Justice I am not yet satisfied Now that that is required is that the soul should lye under the wrath of God until such time that God may have as much honour by punishing it as hee hath had dishonour by its sinning against him and that must bee for ever because God can never have so much honour by the punishing of it as hee hath had dishonour by its sinning against him And then As the soul should have had eternal communion with God and Christ c. it being lost it must have communion instead thereof with the Devil and the damned spirits in Hell And if this bee the condition of a lost soul in Hell as it is then what shall a man gain in gaining the world if hee lose his soul But further to make this misery appear to bee misery indeed There is required a perfect sense of all these evils for a man or woman may bee in a lost condition as many are now but they do not understand it and therefore are not sensible of it But that soul that is lost eternally the Lord shall so far enlighten its understanding as may make it sensible of all its evil certainly many this day are in such a condition as did they but understand the lost condition they are in it would make them tremble But now when the soul is eternally lost it shall then perfectly understand what its lost condition is and then the thoughts of its mind shall bee so busied about its misery as that it shall not bee able to ease its self one moment but its thoughts shall be busied about its condition so far as may make it miserable And the Lord is able to make a creature as sensible of misery as hee pleaseth For this is the propriety of God to make a creature as sensible of all the evil that is upon him as hee pleaseth and if so then when all these evils come upon the creature and the Lord intends to make the creature fully sensible of it then certainly it must needs bee miserable indeed Further then this loss of the soul consists in this That it must have nothing to support it when the burden of the wrath of the infinite God shall bee thus upon it as also there shall bee no mixture of any good to bring relief or ease nor any intermission of time it must not bee one moment of time out of this condition of misery but must bee in it continually to all eternity Further In this doth

comes to have some kind of communion with innumerable company of Angels and with the spirits of just men made perfect It hath the assurance of it here and shall have the enjoyment fully and perfectly hereafter And then the continual exercise that the soul shall bee busied in to bee for ever blessing and magnifying and praising and worshipping of God and receiving in from God and letting out its self to God The eternal Sabbath that it shall keep and then the eternal rest that the soul shall have when it comes to God it comes there to its Center there it hath perfect peace and rest and can never have trouble further Yea and it shall live in God not onely God live in it but it shall I say live in God as though the similitude comes short of it the fish swimming in the Sea so the soul shall bee swimming in the infinite Ocean of the excellency of the great God It is said of John Rev. 1.10 Col. 3.3 that hee was in the Spirit on the Lords day so the soul shall live in God Our life is hid with Christ in God But our life shall bee plain and apparent not hidden but apparent before Angels and all the rest of the blessed and so our lives shall bee after another manner than now they are Now to open every one of these things would bee very large so that it suffices now onely to present them to you to shew in a short view the good of the soul in the full enjoyment of God and what it shall have from him that so you may see what the loss of the soul means Now if these things bee true and real Oh what a dreadful thing is it for a man to lose his soul for a man to come to lose all this good that others that have souls like unto him shall come to enjoy and that hee might have enjoyed as well as others If there were no more in the loss of the soul but this to bee cast away from the good that it is capable of it might shew unto us this loss to bee very dreadful It was a speech of Austin long since speaking of that place where Dives did desire Lazarus to come with one drop of water to cool his tormented tongue saith hee If there should bee but one drop of heavenly felicity let into Hell it would quench all the fire of Hell presently And Chrysostome hath such an expression that hee would rather suffer thousands of years in pain and torment in Hell than hee would lose that good that hee might have in the enjoyment of God hee accounted paena damni the loss of God to bee the greater and it were a good sign of a soul that did understand its own excellency and what good it were capable of to fear as well the loss of God and what good it might have in God and to account that as great an evil to it as pain and horrour and torment Why when wee come to express the wrath of God to you and the evil that sin deserves we speak of Hell fire and so the Scripture doth If wee would set out the great evil of punishment when wee speak to men and women that are lead by sense wee would tell them of their bodies being thousands of years in scalding Lead and kept alive there and this would startle and amaze them but certainly the evil of the souls rejection from God and being cast off from the good that there is in God it is as great if not a greater evil and a good sign I say it were that God is going to shew what our souls are to us and the true excellency of them If wee begin to bee affected with the loss of God himself and the good wee might have in God not onely afraid of Hell because of fire and torment there but afraid of having our souls lost because of being deprived of such infinite good as otherwise wee might come to enjoy with God A gracious heart hath more thought about losing the good that there is in God than of the pain that hee should feel in Hell To set it out a little but in this resemblance of the eye being deprived of light An eye that hath beheld the glory of the Heavens and of the Creatures though it should never have any pain but onely there should bee such an ill humour so as to take away all light from it why what hurt is here to the eye it is but onely the absence of a good thing the eye feels no pain but what man in the world but would rather bee willing to have his eyes to see and not to bee blinde all his life time than to have the enjoyment of thousands of gold and silver Now if the bare absence of the sight of a mans eyes bee so great an evil and hee would rather almost endure any pain than to have his eyes deprived of the light then certainly the absence of God must needs bee a most dreadful evil to the soul when the Sun shines in its lustre how beautiful is it ☜ and how pleasant to that it is at midnight when it is dismal dark why what is done it is onely the absence of one Creature one Creature is here now and shines gloriously upon us and at midnight the Creature is gone so what a mighty change and alteration would there bee in the soul if it should bee deprived of the presence of the Lord if the Lord who is infinite in glory bee present with the soul and shine upon it to all eternity Oh how glorious will it bee but Gods withdrawing himself fully and everlastingly from the soul Oh what a dismal night of darkness will there bee and therefore it is a most dreadful thing for the soul of a man to bee lost in regard of this first particular in regard of the privation of that good that it is capable of The Fourth SERMON ON The Excellency of the Soul Matthew 16.26 For what is a man profited if hee shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul NOw for the second Particular Namely wherein consists the eternal loss of the soul it is this when the soul in Hell is so possessed with sin as to bee contrary unto God eternally I say the soul cast away from God is possessed of all the evil of sin so as for ever to hate God and to abhor him and to blaspheme him that is one particular of the condition of a lost soul As every soul here by nature is deprived of all that good in which it was created and secondly as it doth wander from and is at enmity against God so when the soul is lost eternally then it is perfectly against God and doth hate and blaspheme God for ever Thou that art a wicked man thou wilt sin but when God hath cast thee away from him eternally then as I may say thou shalt have thy belly full of sin thou then shalt bee fully