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	hand_n	numb_a	41	3	10.0963	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80637	A treatise of the covenant of grace, as it is dispensed to the elect seed, effectually unto salvation. Being the substance of divers sermons preached upon Act. 7. 8. / by that eminently holy and judicious man of God, Mr. John Cotton, teacher of the church at Boston in N.E.	Cotton, John, 1584-1652.	1659 (1659)	Wing C6465; Thomason E1920_2; ESTC R209963	152,585	277

greatest falls have been in their most exemplary gifts If you shall mark the sins of all the servants of God they have been chiefly found in the very exercise of their best gifts Let us take a little taste of them that we may learn to use our gifts in the strength of Jesus Christ Abraham a man full of faith none went beyond him in Old nor New Testament yet if you read of any failing in him it is in want of the acting of faith What made him afraid not once but the second time that his wife would be taken away from him by Pharaoh Gen. 12. by Abimelech chap. 20. had not the Lord promised that he would bless him wheresoever he came Gen. 12.2 He had so much of the knowledge and grace of God shining in him that Sarah needed not have dissembled and Abimelech a poor Heathen could say as much chap. 20.16 Behold thy husband it a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee and with all other thus she was reproved as if he should say Thou needest no shifts and lies for thy protections and to be a vail unto thee this a poor Heathen can discern that such a man as hath God with him needeth no other shifts nor covering to defend and shelter him Thus we see that these great failings of Abraham were proper acts of unbelief Moses a meek man none like him for meekness on the face of the earth there is but one sin storied of him after he was called to the Government of that State and this was his failing Hear now you rebels Must we fetch you water out of this rock so he lift up his hand and with his rod he smote the rock twice Numb 20.10 11. they provoked Moses as meek as he was sometimes when Aaron and Miriam dealt as peremptorily with him he was not moved from the meekness of his spirit but now he falleth into Passion and this was the very sin for which the Lord excluded him out of Canaan Numb 27.12 13 14. It was the breach of this royal grace chap. 20.12 Because ye believed me not to sanctifie me in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the Land which I have given them which words shew us the reason of his failing in the grace wherein he so much abounded because ye believed me not The Lord will have him know that he must live by his fiath in his meekness If any man think himself to be a meek man and nothing shall over-wrastle him there if you believe not in God but in your meekness your confidence will soon fail you Peter a man full of courage and you read of two of his principal failings and both in point of courage he failed in the high Priests hall at the voice of a Damsel and in the porch at the speech of another Maid and the third time at the voice of one that stood by Mat. 26.69 c. whereas afterward when he lived by faith he became undaunted Another failing of his in point of courage we read of Gal. 2.12 He feared those of the circumcision and whereas before he did eat with the Gentiles when certain of the Circumcision came from James he withdrew and separated himself and so dissembled and others likewise with him insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulution Thus the Apostle Peter's most eminent gifts did not bring forth their fruits Know therefore that the best of all your gifts faith meekness courage wisdom love to your brethren will fail if you trust in them and you will be most apt to fail there wherein you do most excel If a man be wise he shall fail in that point and it may be in nothing so much as in that even in those things wherein he thinketh he walketh most wisely and such an one will find most trials in point of his wisdom and the like will be found in all other graces and all to this end to teach the Israel of God to know that no man liveth by his wisdom nor by any thing in himself but by faith in Jesus Christ whom God hath given unto his people and who is only able to give new supplies of his Spirit unto his servants to act every gift which he hath given them I might have mentioned the example of Sarab a meek and a quiet godly spirited woman subject and obedient to her husband and called him Lord whose daughters you are while you do well 1 Pet. 3.6 and yet you know one of her greatest failings was in point of Reverence to her husband Gen. 16.5 When she saw that she was despised in the eyes of her maid whom she had given unto her husband she said to Abraham My wrong be upon thee and the Lord judge between me and thee Where is the reverence of Sarah now Will you have the daughters of Sarah to imitate her herein What had her husband done There was no fault in him in this matter she had no reason to tax him upon this point it was her own counsel ver 2. that he should go in to her maid that I may obtain children by her therefore there was no colour of any just complaint on her part yet see this meek-spirited woman failed in the point of her meeknesse herein and did express no greater failing all her life long that we read of she was weak in faith once but there was great reason for that her womb was dead and her Lord as she called him was old also nor doth the Angel so much blame her about it but that action wherein she most failed was against that grace wherein she most abounded And though every grace of the Spirit be of great force when the Lord doth act and move it yet let a man go forth in the strength of his greatest gifts and if ever his heart fail him it will be in them Think not when you have done all you can that you are worthy of any thing but say that you are unprofitable servants for though Sanctification be the way wherein the Lord will pour out all his blessings upon his servants yet he doth require them to boast in none of their excellencies but look at them all as freely given them of God and consider that the right unto all springeth from fellowship with Jesus Christ that so not only the gift it self is grace but the blessing that followeth upon it is grace also And suppose that we have attained all that we pray for shall we then exalt our own gifts No but let us say with Jacob Gen. 32.10 I am less then the least of all the mercies and truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant Do not trust upon gifts nor upon duties performed by those gifts to reach the blessing so look not for your justification from thence at all for the Apostle is plain that he looked not for any thing for his righteousness before his conversion and after his

as there is a real difference in the presence of the Spirit so also in the work of Faith in hypocrites and the children of God for the one putteth confidence in himself and the other in Jehovah This is the first difference of Sanctification 2. There is difference also in the Rule whereby they are guided though both seek to the Word of God and take delight in that insomuch as you shall not be able to difference them there yet a great difference there is in the apprehension of the word the one is so confident of the strength and comfort that he hath in the word as he will be ready to take it ill at Gods hand if he finde not assistance from him and acceptance before him Now the other see their need they have of the Lord to maintain their strength and comfort for them this manner of affection we finde in David when as the Lord had brought him and his people into a sweet frame and temper of spirit to offer willingly towards the building of the Temple what saith David now doth he think this to be enough No no But he prayeth to the Lord 1 Chron. 29.18 O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our Fathers keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee thus is he sensible that these comforts and strength would soon fail them and they should again wax barren and uncomfortable if the Lord should not still keep them and here is the nature of true strength and consolation in Christ to look up unto the Lord to preserve and maintain it and so he is still drawn nearer and nearer unto Jesus Christ But now though both attend unto the Word as their Rule of Sanctification if you take it in the way in which the one and the other hold it forth yet there is a great difference Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments Psal 119.6 Here is a Rule what may not Hypocrites walk according to this Rule Truly they profess no less and they think it is enough if they have but a rule in their eye and therefore under a spirit of Bondage they are confident and say Whatsoever the Lord commandeth us we will hear it and do it Deut. 5.27 and what saith Balaam Though Balak would give me an house full of gold and silver I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord Numb 22.18 and yet he loved the wages of iniquity and indeed those that undertake so much in their own strength they come afterward to be weary of the Lord and weary of his commandments as Amos 8.5 When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat c. and they say at last It is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances Mal. 3.14 These are but like washed Swine that will crop grass for a while in a fair pasture but if you keep them long there they will not delight in such manner of feeding but will rather choose to go into the myre and into a jakes that I may so speak with reverence to the Assembly but as for Goats they will delight in the commandments of the Lord Isa 58.2 They delight to know my ways and delight in approaching unto God It is not a very hard thing unto them nor grievous to keep solemn fasting-days together they come willingly they delight to come therefore the difference will hardly be discovered and unless you be a Christian of a very clear discerning you will not finde the difference But an Hypocrite will not delight in all Gods commandments if you take Herod Object he will delight in John Baptists preaching and reform many things but if it come to his not having his brother Philips wife then put John into prison and in the matter of Herodias off with Johns head We see what hypocrites profess Deut. 5.27 Answ Whatsoever the Lord commandeth us we will hear it and do it But you will say Not always It is true a difference in time will grow but whilest they hold forth universal obedience how will the difference be discerned Discerned it will be when the Lord leadeth them forth with workers of iniquity but many may be led on to their death before they can be discovered and therefore what will the servants of God say I have seen hypocrites to outward view well rooted and more comfortable then I my self and for zeal and love the Galatians would have plucked out their eyes to have done Paul good they thought themselves blessed in his ministery blessed souls they took themselves to be whereas the dear servants of God are slow to see so much goodness in themselves they see so much corruption But you will say Object An hypocrite cannot aim at God as his last end but will out-shoot God in his own bow and at the highest he seeketh no more but his own salvation without respect unto the glory of God in it It is true Answ and in time will appear that every hypocrite thinketh to out-reach God in all the gifts that he hath received but in the mean while it is much that an hypocrite will do and so much that a poor Christian will be put to much exercise to finde a difference between himself and them Jehu did not only think that he had zeal for the Lord as he said Come see my zeal for the Lord of Hosts but good Jonadab likewise did so perswade himself and therefore did readily joyn with him in his reformation and when he proclaimed a sacrifice for Baal he thought that Jehu would do no harm to himself in the Temple of Baal Thus therefore sometimes it cometh to passe because an hypocrite may for a long time finde all his own ends attained in seeking the glory of God as Jehu did but but in conclusion when a man and his own honour must part then either he must hold to his own glory or else he must neglect it and keep him close to the honour of God but in the mean time what can I tell but that I may shake hands with and bid farewell unto Gods glory when his and mine lie at stake together But may not a man perceive a plain difference when it cometh to persecution Object No Answ persecution will not clear the difference For though the stony ground indeed fell off upon point of persecution yet the thorny soyl did not so Many Papists have died for their Religion and how much more then may some hypocrite do it for the Truth yea even give his body to be burned and yet want Jesus Christ and everlasting salvation by him 1 Cor. 13.3 Now when a poor Christian cometh and seeth how much such an one doth magnifie God both in doing and suffering and yet falleth away It maketh him conclude Surely I also shall at length turn away from