Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	aaron_n	bring_v	rod_n	69	3	9.6959	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92141	Influences of the life of grace. Or, A practical treatise concerning the way, manner, and means of having and improving of spiritual dispositions, and quickning influences from Christ the resurrection and the life. By Samuel Rutherfurd, Professor of Divinity in the Vniversity of St. Andrews in Scotland.	Rutherford, Samuel, 1600?-1661.	1659 (1659)	Wing R2380; Thomason E971_1; ESTC R207742	387,780	467

allurement upon the phancy of the bird enticing it to the net and the bird also physically makes use of its wings God joyning his influence so would we looking to the command and promise of God be induced to bring will and affections under the acting and breathing of the spirit also physically act our faith in the mean time relying upon God for the flowings of his spirit 3. If any thing be said that Soveraignty does also hinder influences for God hides himself will your faith and prayers conclude him that he shall not hide himself but shine Answ Soveraignty should counter work Soveraignty if there were a law passed by the Lord that ever when we pray in faith in that same very nick and moment of time he must take off the arrestment of desertion as if prayer were to speak so a sort of charming of holy Soveraignty But the law is and the promise that when we pray in faith for shining influences he shall remove our night of the hiding of his face and the Spirits sad withdrawing not absolutely but in the way of his own holy and wise Soveraignty and also the prayer of faith hath some other effect then the present removal of desertion prayer keeps the soul under sufficient graces fresh showrings and stays the burnt man under patient induring of the fire in condition of a refreshing cooling and expelling of the heat The man Christ lies under forsaking but influences of the Spirit to pray to believe to submit to hope keeps him vigorous and green that gloriously and triumphingly he endures the Cross for suffering pain in faith and joy is more excellent then the removing of pain CHAP. IIII. Of other impediments of influences in particular coming from the mind will and some other considerable affections and their cures 1. False and heretical light 2. A corrupt will 3 From hatred of Christ 1. THe corrupt wisedom and the wicked learning of men who are carnal and destitute of the truth can produce nothing but doting about questions and strife of words whereof cometh envy strife railing or blasphemys evil-surmisings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perverse disputing these are the genuine fruits of the heretical spirit 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. and of the wisedom of men which neither is subject to the law of God and his truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither can be subject Rom. 8. 7 c. of the carnal man who neither receives the things of the Spirit of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither can he know them and observe that the Holy Ghost in both places denies both the act and the possibility of the minds subjection to the truth where the judgement is rotten Now as we may well say the rock hath no natural power to receive an influence from God for the growing of wheat on it nor a thorn-tree to bring forth wine grapes as our Saviour speaks Matth. 7. 16. so neither can the corrupt and heretical mind produce sound truths nor can the Lord give influences in a natural way to a thistle to bring forth figs indeed by a miracle the Lord caused Aaron's dead withered rod to blossome and bring forth almonds And Caiphas I say not by a miracle but in an extraordinary way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 11. 51. not of himself but by the Spirit prophesied and so did Balaam But they did not spiritually and with the light of faith know what they prophesied yea I would crave leave to doubt whether they literally knew that Christ God-man was the star of Jacob the light of the Gentiles and to die for the Elect as many Hereticks yea and the Divels literally know and believe these things with an Historical faith If you would have breathings of the Spirit to know savingly and to assent to divine truths motes and dirt and scales must be removed and the mind renewed then divine illumination is absolutely needful 2. Nor acts the Spirit in the polluted mind and conscience of the world which cannot receive the Spirit Now that power of receiving the Spirit denyed of the world John 14. 17. must be both a power natural and a power acquired by wicked actings for the elect redeemed world by a natural power cannot receive the Spirit of truth 2. If the will be corrupt that it will not come to Christ John 5. 40. and will not have Christ to reign Luke 19. 14. the man cannot lend a seat to the Spirit and his actings to obey and follow God until the fallow-ground of the rocky will be plowed and broken otherwise the man sows among thorns and labours a husbandry to the flesh and not to the Spirit as Paul speaks Gal. 6. 8. and the harvest must be corruption and rotten fruit judge then if the Spirit labours and tills a plot of ground to the flesh and if the Spirit from on high can send down influences and divine impressions of dew and warm sun-beams upon the fleshes plowed earth or if nature intend that rain and Sun-heat shall make the rocks bring forth wheat O how needful is a denyed will when Saul speaks of no will but Christ's and commits all to Christ's will as if his own will were annil●ilated though it was perfected Acts 9. the man is fallen to the earth And he trembling and astonished saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord what will thou have me to doe There is a strong Emphasis in Lord and in the word will His own wicked will was playing the King or the Tyrant over the Saints and when his will is down and the will of Christ up and the man hath been three days in this condition fasting and praying then comes the spirit to take his own chop and to act in Panl v. 17. Ananias saith Brother Saul the Lord even Jesus that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest hath sent me to thee that thou mayst receive thy sight and be filed mith the holy Ghost a humble broken will deadned to self and to all things shall be rained on and such as is rebellious shall be a land of drought Zech. 14. 16. And it shall come to passe that who so will not come up of all the familys of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the king the Lord of hosts even upon them shall be no rain 3. There be strong impediments that obstruct influences of the spirit of grace from all the affections if the heart be not with all watching watched over 1. The world that hates Christ John 15. 18 20. and persecutes him and his servants is the same world which cannot receive the spirit of truth John 14. 17. if ye hate Christ and the Godly no influences of grace for you Ye shal hew all your dayes be ye minister or professor upon hard timber without the Spirits tools ye shall pray preach professe hear sing praise in the letter with out the Spirit and his influences for ye can not receive the Spirit of truth John 14. 17.

For the Spirit helps our infirmities And then praying is a mass of influences for faith for holy desires for sense of want yea and no man gets the spirit but the praying son Luke 11. 11. Only this shall bide a question How shall they pray for the Spirit that want the Spirit Answ Yea Magus though in the gall of bitternesse is commanded to pray Acts 8. 21. The Law commanded praying to God incarnate when he is revealed to be incarnate As the first command charges all to know the Lord practically in all the wayes of Law and Gospel by which he shal reveal himself and the Lord hath not abated a whit and come down from his holy rigorousnesse as if the Lord would make amends and give us as some Pelagians say a lower and milder Law which forbids not venials Et peccata quotidianae incursionis praecise sub periculo aeternae condemnationis Yea but there is not any Law nor Gospel which forbids not sin under the same penalty that the Law forbids and the Gospel forbids not adultery and murder in David but he is free from eternal punishment if he be humbled for these sins as he must be humbled for lesser and venial sins Psal 19. 12. Psal 51. 5. Psal 130. 3 4. God may strait all men to pay the very stock which he gave them in Adam 2. Are not men inexcusable when they will not await the wind and lie at the tide and use meanes but refuse to command body and legs to present themselves to the sea-side and the ship The body and legs have no influence on the winds so they declare that they hate the covenant and bargain of grace as well as the Law who refuse to stir in his ways 3. The first giving of the spirit is like the growing of lillies and flowers wilde on the mountaines plough or spade can do nothing to cause them so to grow in the garden and the infield Pelagians must not get their will their common universal grace is not the spirit of Adoption and those who say men can pray who never received the spirit of Adoption happily they may complement with the Lord in word but They deny prevening grace and in effect say that nature prevenes grace and men prevene God and not grace prevenes nature For if there be such a thing as prevening nature this were to say the child is born before the mother and the apple growes before the tree and the bloom is before the herb Nay to pray for the spirit and not to pray in the spirit shall never be my Divinity that were to buy Rubies and Jasper-stones with clay and common flints and rocks nay nature cannot trade without grace And while the Lord creates the rose-tree the rose-tree cannot seed nor bring forth rose-trees Oh but it concernes us much Ministers and Professors to have the spirit and to have more of it Too many Ministers in the Land cast never fire on the people they never warm hearts but by hewing and striking and hammering upon the Letter the fire of the Lord falls not down upon the sacrifice Ah our fleece is dry and we are like the Land not rained upon And let men speak Can ye live without the Spirit and his influences more then ye can live without God and without Christ in the world And who cries Lord can my dry bones live misse ye the anointing The complaining of the suspending of influences of the ebbing of the free manifestations flowings and out-lettings of free grace speaks a spiritual disposition For 1. The Church complains to God of it Isa 63. 17. 2. Yielding to a temptation is a pain to the Saints Psal 73. 21 22. 3. The Saints pray for influences of grace for teaching leading quickening inclining of the heart to the way of God uniting of the heart to fear the name of God then must the withdrawing of these be evil 4. When we pray against temptations to sin and not to be led into temptation 5. When we pray for the spirit of grace to be poured on us from on high we pray not for the giving of the bare habit for that could not hinder David Lot Peter Asa Iehoshaphat Aaron Hezekiah and others of the Saints to fall into sad and hainous transgressions but we suit also from the Lord the sanctified use and exercise of grace and so must suit influences 6. When we pray that God would not take his spirit from us Psal 51. 12. nor forsake us nor take the word of truth utterly out of our mouth Psal 119. 43. we then also pray that he would not withdraw gracious influences 7. A gracious finding how sweet safe and comfortable it is to be acted led moved guided by the sweet influences of the spirit cannot but be grieved at the departure of such a guide and counsellour 8. It 's lawful to seek sense of Gods loving countenance in joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. 1 Pet. 1. 7 8. in delighting in God and in duties relating to him and our brethren and in the consolations of the Holy Ghost and in the spirits work of sanctifying us then we may and are to be grieved at the withdrawings of God that we see not his power and glory in the Sanctuary as we have sometimes done Psal 63. 5. The spirit that is of God goes along with the word if we 1. consider the spirits relation to the word My spirit and my words Isa 59. 21. For the Gospel is the chief chair and seat of the spirit Rom. 1. 16. Isa 53. 1. The word is as it were the work-house and shop and the spirit the worker the word the ship or chariot and the spirit drives and stirs the promises The spirit honours so the word the spirit moves and acts when the word moves and acts the spirit utters not a groan but according to the will of God in the word Rom. 8. 26 27. Acts 10. 44. While Peter yet spake these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost fell upon those that heard the word When the ship or the chariot moves the Pilot or Steers-man and the Coach-man are moved with them The poor Minister often drives an empty coach and carries but sounds and letters but when the spirit strikes in with the word and is steers-man in the ship the vessel is afloat and sayls gallantly before the wind 2. The word preached is the breathing of the spirit and the spirit speaks and breaths through the word and it is the word of the spirit the holy Ghost prophesied well of you c. 3. The spirit is referred to the word as the soul to the body the body is but a lump of dead clay if the soul be removed and the word is so many sounds syllables and letters if the spirit act not this is a similitude and would be well exponed There is a two-fold power one subjective and material which comes from the Author the holy Ghost

a stranger on earth hide not thy Commandments from me The Commandments are the way and a hid and covered way is a misery to a stranger or pilgrim A frequent sight of ignorance and errors and a being in love with the spirits leading is good Though a man could get the work through be it praying hearing reading warring governing eating and drinking yet he is not satisfied with the bulk of the work except the spirit be the doer This gracious spirit looks not so much to praying as to praying in the Holy Ghost nor to hearing as to hearing in the spirit of faith nor to fighting though David be stronger then the enemy except the spirit of the Lord lead the army Psal 60. 1 2 9 10. Psal 140. 7 8. Psal 18. 29 30 31. Nay it 's not enough to eat and drink except the spirit act the man to eat and drink for God Men spend and waste away their actings and call not for the spirit to get them compassed about We are men abundance to build the Temple and mighty Kings favour us and work-men have strength in legs and arms to lay stones in the wall O but that will not doe it Zach. 4. 6. Not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts and so only is the Temple builded 6. There is a spiritual facility in the spiritual actings of a spiritual man 1. The acting is connatural and easie when it comes from an inward principle the stream naturally without violence flows from the fountain and so doth heat from the fire nor is it any pain to the earth to fall down and descend or for the light bodies fire and air to ascend it 's neither toyl nor labour to the Sun to give light for all these come from principles internal There is violence in the motion of an Horologue and therefore the wheels shall be worn out by time but the actings of the spirit are sweet and facile grace makes the Commandments not grievous it s no pain but easie to a gracious pastor to love Christ it breaks neither leg nor arm to desire Christ and be sick for him and to feed his flock for love to the chief shepherd 2. Psal 25. 9. The meek will he guide in judgement the meek will he teach is ways It 's easie for God to guide any man to guide and lead Lions and Unicorns but in the very object there is a facility to counsel a broken and danted spirit If a man be in his flower and prime and rich and mighty healthy and prosperous readily he will doe but what he will but if the man be in chains and broken and meekned with the rod of God he is easily bowed and counselled to what is good as iron red hot will bow and yield to the smitings of the hammer i'ts hard to lead a Lion The Lord speaks like the Lord to Job cap. 39. 9. Will the Vnicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by thy cribs Canst thou bind the Vnicorn with his band in the furrows or will he harrow the valleys after thee but it is easie to bind a lamb Meeknesse is easily led and drawn when the spirit comes in the man is made pliable for counsel he is a plowed and a broken man who saith Acts 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord what wilt thou have me to doe There was no pride in him but the fulnesse of the spirit of the anointing above all his fellows and all mankind who said not my will but thy will be done And if any living man should have had his will or a piece of his will it was a man whose holy will could never crook and it was now when sinlesse holy harmlesse nature was debating the greatest question that ever Heaven or Angels knew But the fulnesse of the spirit bids him quit his will and so he did The sweet passive tractablenesse of the spirit of grace will enjoyn the man to be ranged bridled and led of God there be some whom God can neither lead nor drive any inspiration fals upon him a moral influence this I should and ought to doe but I shall not I will not doe it let God doe his best and it is as if a burning cole were cast into the sea or river will it burn the sea will it be welcomed and received no it s presently quenched An unbroken Tyrant void of the spirit when he heard that charge Let my people goe They are my servants saith the Tyrant not thy people Exod. 5. 2. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel goe Let his influences be lodged with meeknesse O wrestle not against warnings but yield to them So are all gracious influences sweet delectable and easie is it pain nay its sweet and pleasant for a field of Roses of Vine-trees to receive showers and summer influences from the Sun and Heaven It was sweet for the baptised man Christ to receive and lodge the Holy Ghost who came down in the form of a Dove on him in all his influences 7. To act much in the spirit brings more abundance of the spirit 1. The more publick the work be the more is the man under the spirit Christ must have been under mighty flowings of the spirit who for the publick Catholick duty of redeeming mankind was willing to be suspended from the influences of his personal comfort and to be under that sad cloud of being forsaken of God that God might embrace us It 's the proper work of the spirit to glorifie God John 16. 14. He shall glorifie me saith Christ of the spirit for he shall receive of mine Then the more we glorifie God and Jesus Christ his Son we testifie we partake the more of the flowings of the spirit The Church hath so much the more of the spirit that she is willing to bear the Lord's indignation because she hath sinned Mic. 7. 9. and bear publick sufferings to illustrate the glory of his justice 2 We are also with Magdalen and other godly persons so far to be dead to the private comforts of love to Christ and his presence and waiting about the grave to anoint his body that we are to wait upon the more publick duties of resting in and of sanctifying of the Sabbath though otherwise the rescuing of the life of an oxe be mercy above this sacrifice If we have much of the spirit we shall patiently submit to the Lord's dispensation of his soveraign withdrawing of influences of comfort yea and delight in other inferior duties What though he will not feast me with the apples of the tree of life and suspend his comforts what if he withdraw joyful influences of believing of glorying and rejoycing in the Lord and feed the poor sinner with absence and exercise him with sad desertions 3. It 's a spiritual condition when Christ casts in feelings and discernable motions of the spirit and not only knocks but Cant. 5. 2 4.