Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	prayer_n	spirit_n	supplication_n	3,599	5	11.3996	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47400	A discovery of some troublesome thoughts Wherewith many godly precious souls are burthened, and extreamly pressed: that like a canker eats out all their comforts, and keeps their souls under continuall fears and distractions. Together with a compound of some Scripture and experimentall cordials, for the refreshing of those who are sick of such a disease; and through the blessing of God, may prove medicinall, to the cure of some, and the comforting of others. By Daniel King, preacher of the Word.	King, Daniel, preacher near Coventry.	1651 (1651)	Wing K489; ESTC R216092	52,316	69

my friend O daughters of Jerusalem See now how this takes upon their Spirits Chap. 6.1 Whether is thy beloved gone O thou fairest among women whither is thy beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee Mark how his hiding himself from his spouse conduceth to the calling of other poor souls to the seeking after Christ When they see them mourning and grieving and complaining and cannot rest without him thinks the poor soul there is some excellency in him that we see not we will certainly go along to seek him with these poor souls he is worth seeking after And so it sets them a flame after him also The third thought is when the Soul complains it hath none of the Spirit Thirdly The third Thought that riseth in the heart to trouble the soul and perplex it is this I have none of the Spirit of God Now Christ commands John 4. To worship God in the spirit And Gal. 5.16 Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh and Jude 20. Praying in the holy ghost But how should I do this that have not the Spirit feel him not working nor quickening nor comforting me my heart is so dead and loose and weary in duty never carried up to heaven how can I but be troubled When you are carried with a fiery Chariot into heaven then you think you have the spirit But when a man moves in a lower Region he thinks he hath it not I shall speak to this 1. Generally 2. More Particularly Generall observations to this case Generally thus 1. That it is a very good thing to have the Spirit or to miss it As in hearing the word in prayer conference Meditation c. Either to feel a man hath it or to feel he wants it And the worst of these is better then to rest in a duty shaped out of your own Brain consisting in an empty sound of expressions and words For ye must take heed ye do not content your selves with shadowes and phrases without the Spirit For God doth not know the meaning of such duties Rom. 8. 2. Consider the spirit hath a manifold work in the hearts of the children of God Now a man cannot reason from the want of such a fruit of the Spirit as joy or peace c. that therefore he hath not the Spirit Ye cannot reason thus A man doth not Laugh Therefore he doth not Live Weeping is a sign of life as well as laughter So it is in this Case The sense of sin may argue the Spirit of God to be in you as well as the feeling of Joy Zach. 12 10. I will pour upon them the SPIRIT of grace and the Spirit of supplications And they shall look upon me whom they have peirced and shall MOVRN for him as one mourneth for his onely Son And be in BITTERNES c. The Spirit is a Spirit of variety 1 Cor. 12. Giving to one this gift to another that gift to one Humility Poverty of spirit Self deniall Godly sorrow to another Zeal and Courage and Joy c. And so it is oftentimes in the same man sometimes it is tuning his godly sorrow sometimes his joy sometimes his fear c. And this is one ground of the variety of conditions the Saints are in as David sometimes ye find him singing on the uppermost branch of the tree and sometimes hanging his wing in the bottome of the hedg Sometimes calling upon himself to praise the Lord seven times a day Psal 119.164 And sometimes crying out that he was cast out of Gods sight Psal 31.22 So Job sometimes professing though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 And sometimes changing his note If I had called and he had answered me yet I would not believe that he had hearkned to my voice Job 9.16 The Church spoken of in the Lamentations Sometimes lamenting my strength and my HOPE is perished from the Lord Lam. 3.18.22 and sometimes again confessing I have HOPE Paul had the spirit as well in his buffetings as in his rejoycings And David when he prayed restore to me the joy of thy salvation as when he felt it Psal 51. The Spirit led Christ to be tempted as well as supported him and brought him back into Galilee Luke 4.1 c. A man may have the spirit in the Fight as well as in the Triumph He hath the spirit that soweth to the spirit in Tears as well as he that reaps in joy Psal 126.5.6 Therefore you may be mistaken in saying you have not the spirit seing it works so variously 3. This spirit may exercise it self in thee in duties one way though it be not felt but another way as in prayer sometimes tuning thy love sometimes thy hatred sometimes thy humility sometimes thy joy Therefore do not wrong the spirit of God and say it is from home because you feel not joy Do not say it is idle for it may be working in another room tuning another grace If a man should alwaies touch one key he should never play various tunes Now our hearts are Gods Harps Rev. 14.2 and 15.2 And therefore if God should not tune them variously there would be no melody And if the spirit be not setting up a candle in thee it may be scouring of a candle-stick I mean If it be not filling thy heart with joy it may be preparing thy heart for joy 4. There may be workings of the spirit in the heart and yet ye may not perceive it is the working of the spirit As in a peice of blunt money that ye can see no mark upon you will say by the bigness it should be such a piece six pence or a nine-pence but I can see nothing upon it So there may be workings of the spirit that are not seen for the present and yet afterward when the spirit worketh another way then thou maist perceive that this was of the spirit Luk. 24. The disciples that went to Emmaus knew not Christ while he was opening the Scriptures to them which was the likeliest time yet they knew him in breaking bread And then they could call to minde the burning of their hearts by the way Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us by the way and opened to us the Scriptures ver 32. just as it is in our businesses in the world many secret providences which a man doth not see to be a providence till after by some other issue he cals it to minde and sees it a providence So God hath his glory at last As Zaccheus climbing up into the figtree what could a man pick out of it till afterward that Christ tells him he must abide at his house then it appeared to be a providence So in the Disciples being so importunate with Christ to stay when he made as if he would have gone further they saw nothing in it for the present but afterward when Christ

was discovered to them then they saw it was of God These were works of the spirit as the event did shew But they saw them not for the present till the further work of the spirit did manifest them Then they saw all these to have been of the spirit So if a man have a work in his heart that he can make little of I would counsel that man to follow on to see what will come of it afterward for it may be after some other work of the spirit he shall perceive it though for the present he see it not Particulars how to discern the spirit in duties Now for particular discerning of the spirit in duty 1. Doest thou find thy heart fashioned or in fashioning to a personal love of Christ a personal union with Christ himself The Spirit of God is the Factor for Christ the Spokesman between Christ and the heart to treat the marriage So that herein the Spirit presents Christ as all fair the chiefest among ten thousand as Can. 5. His love and reign and Kingdome is presented to thee in a glorious shew Now with this dost thou find thy heart in fashioning to a desire of Union to consent to marry with such a Husband I say to a personal love not of his benefits but him first and then to all his benefits To take him as God gives him Rom. 8.32 If God have given us his son how shall he not also with him freely give us all things When he is such an object that thou canst leave Father Mother Wife Children Liberty Life and all for his sake At first there may be self-love but in time every spiritual man will rise to a personal love of Christ himself and not only his benefits 2. Doth thy heart and the word thy heart and thy petitions go together and comply so that thou art taken and much affected with the sweetnes of Christ And some sentence of Scripture or prayer that carries thee out of thy self when thy heart complies with it suddenly and strangely I mean art thou wonderfully ravished and carried out of thy self desires and ends to God and for God It argues the spirit 3. Are there any graces set a work evengelically in thy heart Love Humility Sincerity or the like That is If thy Faith or love be set a work by the love of God to thee Doth the fresh presentings of the love of Christ to thee in thy duties freshen thy love to him and thy graces in thy heart This is an Argument of the Spirit When our hearts give Eccho to Gods voice Psal 27.8 When thou saidest seek ye my face My heart answered Thy face Lord will I seek This was the Spirit of God that thus sets the heart a work to Answer to Gods voice 4. Are your hearts moved from the feeling of the experience of the love of Christ to give your selves to Christ again in duty This is the Spirit of God For the heart cannot be carried directly to Christ for Christ but by the Spirit of Christ 2 Cor. 12.9.10 And he said my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me Therefore I take pleasure in Infirmities in Reproaches in Necessities in Persecutions in Distresses for Christs sake See here is doing or undergoing any thing for Christ And mark from what ground even from experience for when I am weak then am I strong 5. Observe the manner of the combat which the heart hath against the world or the flesh or any beloved sin There may be a Combat in wicked men between sin and shame Between conscience and fear of Hell between desire and fear Therefore mark when sin draws thee with what weapons thou fightest against sin Is it the love of God that makes thee thou wilt not sin Dost thou say I will not because I love God is thy heart drawn to God Evangelically Here is the Spirit lusting against the flesh not conscience against sin The manner of the fight shews whose the fight is For the Spirit of God causeth a man to set the love of God and the promise of God as the only Arrow against sin Here it is evidenced to be the Spirit 6. A man may know the Spirit by the discovery of sin for the Spirit may evidence it self in an humble discovery of sin as well as joy in working the heart to self loathing It discovers spiritual sins bye and base aims and ends secret and by respects when a man looks asquint from God secret and by turnings of the heart that never came into the eye of the world I say the discovery of sin is an excellent work of the Spirit Ezek. 36.31 I will pour upon them my Spirit saith the Lord And what then Then shall ye remember your waies and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations To discover sins so far as they are a detestation to the heart so far as they are a bar to the raigning of Christ The fourth troublesome thought is a mans questioning the truth of his conversion The fourth thought that riseth in the heart and troubleth it is this whether his translation into the state of grace be in truth or no whether he hath the sound work of regeneration or no For saith the heart there are many semblances and shaddowes of grace True faith and false True love and false like on another false Samuels ni Samuels mantle And if a man seriously weigh himself his good against his bad His sanctification against his corruptions His obedience against his rebellions and blemishes his faith with his distrust and his new work with the old man remaining If he weigh this he sticks and cannot tell which is the heavier in the ballance But as presumption and pride makes a man think the best of himself so many times when a Godly man is humbled especially when a grain of Melancholy is mixt with it it makes him think the worst of himself And hereupon a Godly man many-times questions himself and thinks all 's naught with him And so he questions whether his grace be grace or no And now his heart is troubled and doubts and discouragements rise in it Grounds of this thought Now the ground of these discouragements in this kind are such things as these 1. He saith He cannot say nor see That he was brought in to God at the first by any remarkable work of Humiliation or by any such conversion as will witness to it self by any hand of God as some others have been Therefore he begins to Question his graces 2. He finds some peculiar sins and corruptions that hath hung upon him long and hath haunted him a long time whither they be omissions loosness of heart c. that hath haunted him a long time And hence he is troubled and

Questions his conversion 3. He hath Discovered new sins and corruptions which before he did not observe after a long time in the state of grace And finds new ones which he did not know of And he knows not but there may be more behind And so fear ariseth 4. He finds his heart many times loose in spirituall duties the thoughts thereof roaring and ranging this way and that way when his heart should be kept to God By-thoughts come thick upon him as motes in the Sun and he is as sure to be haunted with them as to find his shadow in the Sun And hence he is troubled 5. He doth not find that growth in the Inward marrow of Religion that should be in him answerable to his time and means of knowledge For though he grant he hath grown in Knowledge and some externall parts and gifts as utterance and the gifts of Prayer and Prophesie c. yet he finds not that he is grown in Spirit and inward acquaintance with Christ 6 He finds the exercise of his graces Faith Love Patience c. failing sometimes when he hath most need of them And that the Disposition of his heart in the cause of God sometimes fails comes short of that activity that should be in it And the exercises of his graces in putting forth are many-times stained 7. He cannot attain to something that he sees in other men that peradventure were after him in Christ and are inferior in gifts yet he cannot attain to that life of Grace he sees in them nor to that Humility nor Love nor desire nor resoluteness for truth nor self-deniall nor Heavenly-mindedness And hence he fears his condition 8. He finds he enjoyes God least many times when he sets himself the best about it and goes about to fit his Soul to entertain Christ as in fasting c. 9. He hath hurt the Cause of God when God hath brought him upon the stage to have done something for God perhaps to have suffered for God And upon this questions the truth of his grace 10. He hath oftentimes relapsed it into the same sin which formerly he hath pursued with particular sorrow and grief And prayed and resolved against it and this troubles him 11. He hath grieved the Spirit and neglected Christ for trifles for smal matters things of the world vain pleasures c. 12. Lastly He hath found his heart apt to take liberty and to be loose when Occasion and opportunity hath suited to him when he might be secret from the eye of man close and hath had an opportunity to enjoy his self-pleasure he hath found his heart loose And from such like grounds as these he is many-times cast into reasonings and Questioning the truth of his state whether his conversion were ever right and so he is troubled How to setle a man oppressed with this thought Now for the setling of a mans state that is thus incumbred And to cut of all Questions and disputes which the heart of man may breed What if there may be a shorter course taken for the setling of a mans heart then to stand weighing of a mans Graces and corruptions together for though the least piece of money hath some distinct stamp upon it that a man may know it from a Counter And every grace in a mans soul hath some mark of truth upon it Yet I say what if there be another course that a Christian may take when his own heart raiseth storms in this manner to take another course to clear it from such Rocks and Shelvs And that is Generall propositions tending to the peace of such a soul In these Cases And in all these Cases to go immediately to Christ by faith And to cast your selves upon him yea to cast away your selves upon him not so much as questioning what shall become of you but to go out immediately to him Yea I say though your hearts be full of deceit and Hypocrisie yet I would go out for all this and intrude upon Christ as I may say by an impudent kind of beleeving and say thus Lord If my graces give me no comfort Christ shall And say thus God hath laid in Sion for a Foundation a Stone a tryed stone a precious Corner stone a sure Foundation Isa 28.16 And he that beleeveth on him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 Now there must be a course taken to keep the heart from wrangling For some may say what is this to beleeve in a Stone That is to be in and to be by faith built upon Christ And by faith to lie fast in the fast lieing of this Stone And in the fast levelling and laying of this stone would I lie fast Friends If your Graces yeeld you but a little comfort then presently flie to Christs person and personal offices I would have you flie from your sins to Christ and I would have you flie from your graces to Christ too For he is the Boat to receive you both from damning sins and imperfect graces for the Alsufficiency of Christ needs not thy graces to make it perfect as if he could not save thee without the perfection of thy graces Thus doing thou shalt honour Christ above and sweeten him more then thy own graces And if at any time thy heart wrangle thee out of thy graces yet let it never wrangle thee out of Christ If thy graces be a quagmire that thou shake upon them then Christ is a Stone lies firm A man may trust too much upon his graces but he cannot trust too much upon Christ A man may take too much hold upon the Mil sailes for a man may take so fast hold he may be turned about but not upon the mil-post Learn the use of Faith which is of singular use to carry thee out of thy sanctified self to live out of thy self to build out of thy self to carry thee by faith and hope out of thy self to Christ Gal. 2.20 The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me See how Paul lives here not by any thing but faith in Christ I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live saith he yet not I Lest any should think he lived upon his graces and sanctification He addes But Christ liveth in me Now lest any should dream that there is no other Christ then the creature hath within in graces qualifications c. he explains himself And the life that I live in the flesh I live by the FAITH of the Son of God And truely If a mans heart will not be setled this way it will scarce be setled any way Four considerable things Now for the use of faith in this case there are four things considerable 1. Whensoever thou art thus puzled labour to lay Christ in the other end of the ballance against all objections that thy heart can make This is the shortest cut that a man can make to plead Christ yet

not the outward name which is like a charm to charm Serpents But a faithfull opposing of Christ his merit his Love his Faith his Obedience to all that can be said And if all objections that thy heart can make be all true if they be thousands thou needest not be afraid of thy Inditement For the laying of Christ against them in the Ballance will still all As a man having a Declaration against him or an Indictment declared by some Lawyer or cunning Sophister Alas How is this man put to it to make his Answer with shifts and evasions But if he have a Pardon in his bosom he would confess guilty without fear for here is the Broad seal Here is that that puts a man out of doubt So here If conscience object all thy new and old sins that thou hast done from time to time and thou goest any other way to make good thy matter to thy conscience and not to Christ thou shalt be put to shifts with a great deal of fear to make thy answer to thy Conscience But now lay Christ in the ballance do but plead him and there is a full acquittance And if conscience object old and new sins now by faith lay Christ against these and no more If a man be upon a rock the waves that beat against it break themselves but drown not him Because he is upon a rock So when a man goes to Christ and hangs upon him by a pure faith these objections break themselves to pieces upon him A little water it may be may dash in his face but he need not fear drowning For the setling of thy self in such a case as this by faith set thy self before God in the confidence of the love of Christ and of the obedience righteousness and mediatorship of Christ alone set thy self before God in the consideration of Christ only If a subject dares not come before the king to contest with the king concerning his loyalty yet if the pardon be proclaimed then he dares come because of the proclamation So do thou If thou darest not come before God in respect of thy sins yet come because Christ is proclaimed And now you put the case to another issue for now you do not put your selvs upon trial but you put God upon trial whether he be true and faithful or no according to the word of promise which he hath delivered in the Book of God and so in stead of putting thy self upon trial thou puttest God upon trial whether he will keep his word or no. And it is a work of faith for a man to stand before God in the Love which he bears to Christ and in the acceptance wherewith God accepts Christ and in the wel-pleasedness wherewith he is well pleased with Christ I stand not now before God in the way wherewith he is well-pleased with me but in the acceptation which God bears to his son John 17.26 And I have declared to them thy Name and will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them that is That thy very Love to me may redound and be efficatious upon them Here 's a matter that puts a man out of quarrels and Objections 3. If so be you see an imperfection and ebbe in your graces then by faith put into Christs hand the managing of your graces for as the custody and keeping of those graces which we have do belong to Christ so doth the welding of them by Christ make them vigorous He can make a little grace a little faith do great things make a mustard-seed cast a Mountain into the Sea Dependance and resolution by faith on Christ is that which makes a man strong when Christ holds the plough then there is no balk made Peter had Faith when he denyed his Master but he had it in his own hands and it faints but not fails Christs prayer and looks did stir it up again Habituall grace is in a man But assisting grace helps a man to act do I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4. and 2 Cor 4.1 As we have received mercy we faint not These assistings are called Grace with me 1 Cor. 15.10 And Hebr. 4. ult Grace to help in time of need This is that which bears you up for when habituall grace is without assistings it soon fails as you may see in Adam 4. Look up to Christ alone to bear the iniquity of your holy things for he is our High-Priest that is to bear them To him therefore flie for we are compleat in him Col. 2.10 And if the work of Sanctification in us be imperfect the blood of Christ is absolutely perfect and they are coupled together 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ c. So much for the General Now I come to answer the particular objections briefly The first Ground of this fear 1. Thou fearest thy state and questionest thy conversion Because thou hadst not so extraordinary a work at thy first Humiliation not such a breaking by the Law as some others have had But by intermixing fits and a soft way Therefore thou fearest I answer It s good indeed for every man to make proof of his state whether he have Christ or no 2 Cor. 13.5 But yet we must not prescribe God a way in what order and Method he shall bring us in The manner and violence of Humiliation is not essentiall to the bringing a man into the state of grace nor it is no matter whether God open the door with an oiled Key or break it to pieces so he open it For the end of Humiliation is the ingrafting of Christ saving grace into the Soul And it s no matter how the plough go so the corn growing on the Land be as good And no matter for the manner of Humiliation look to the End look to the Issue look to the fruit of it If God have not broken thy heart with the Beetle of Humiliation but thawed it more gently thank God for it God made two Mediators Heb. 12. Moses a typicall Mediator to fear and quake exceedingly and Christ the true Mediator to sweat drops of blood and be in a pittifull agony Luke 22.44 And therefore if God gives thee the sight of sin in the Sweetness of a Father in the sweetness of a Saviour more then in the wrath of a Judge And if thy tears have flown more from sorrow of Love then from sorrow of fear If he have given thee a new birth in gentler pangs it may be as true Onely take heed to one thing that is that the sweetness of Christ in his dealings make Christ as sweet to thee as thy sowre sins would have done it Peradventure if thou hadst had some remarkable note of Humiliation of Soul thou mightst have rested in some such