Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	abate_v	sin_n	vigour_n	34	3	10.3046	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31961	An Exact collection of farewel sermons preached by the late London-ministers viz. Mr. Calamy, Mr. Watson, Mr. Jacomb, Mr. Case, Mr. Sclater, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Jenkin, Dr. Manton, Mr. Lye, Mr. Collins : to which is added their prayers before and after sermon as also Mr. Calamy's sermon for which he was imprisoned in Newgate : his sermon at Mr. Ashe's funeral and Dr. Horton's and Mr. Nalton's funeral.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1662 (1662)	Wing C241; ESTC R1910	251,365	374

or faint in it Sin you know is twofold Original and Actual Actual sin is not meant primarily for that is not peccatum agens sin that easily besets us but peccatum transiens the sin that passes from us and Original sin is that which is emphatically called sin Rom. 7. 8. Now this original corruption may be considered as meerly native or as acquired and improved into evil customes and habits for according to mens tempers and constitutions as they are severally disposed so by the corruption of nature they are inclin'd to one sin more then another as the channel is cut so corrupt nature finds a vent and issue in every man there is some predominant sin and in every regenerate person some relicks of that sin from whence is the greatest danger of his soul thus David speaks of his iniquity Psalm 18. 23. Well then this is that sin that doth easily beset us Original sin improved into some tyranny or evil custome which doth encrease and prevail upon us more and more Now this is said easily to beset us for three reasons Partly because it hath a great power and restraint over us and implies the whole man the members of the body the faculties of the soul so great an interest hath it acquired in our affections it doth easily beset us it hath great power and command over us Partly because it sticks so close that we cannot by our own strength lay it aside Ier. 13. 23. Can the Ethtopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots c A man can as ●…oon change his skin as lay aside his customes that are so deeply engraven as the blackness of an Ethiopian or the spots of the Leopard And partly because it mingles it self with all our motions and actions Rom. 7. 21 c. It easily besets us 't is present with us it impels us and solicites us and draws us to sin further and further and make us negligent in what is Gods we cannot do or speak any thing but it will infest us in all our duties of piety charity justice on every side it is interposing vexing thwarting the motions of the Spirit and so abates our strength vigour and agility and retards our course towards heaven and glory therefore lay aside as every weight so every sin c. Quest. Now what is it to lay aside or how can we lay aside since sin sticks so close to us and is engraven in our natures Ans. Certainly something may be done by us for this is every where pressed as our duty Ephes. 4. 4. 22. Put off the old man and 1 Pet. 2. 11. we may put it off more and more though we cannot lay it aside Then we are said to lay aside the sin that so easily besets us when we prevent and break the dominion of it that it shall not raign over us Rom. 6 12. Let not sin reign c. Though it dwells in us lives in us and works in us yet it should not overcome us and bring us into bondage and so it will not be imputed to our condemnation and at length when the soul shall be separated from the body we shall be wholly free from it Quest. I but what must we do that we may so repress it the question returns that we may break the domonion of it Ans. I answer this is the work of the Spirit of God but we must know the Spirit of God doth work the work of mortification two wayes By Regeneration and after Regeneration By Regeneration and so he doth immediately without any co-operation of ours mortifie the deeds of sin gives sin its death-wound That which is left is as a thing mortified it is broken the Scripture often speaks of this first work of Regeneration Rom. 6. 6. Col. 2. 11. First when we are planted into Christ then we put off the body of sin and though it doth not presently dye yet it is weakened that it cannot reign though it be not destroyed 2. After Regeneration the Spirit doth more and more destroy sin the reliques of sin this crucified body of sin till it dieth wholly away this he doth in us but not without us Rom. 8. 13. Through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body Not the Spirit without us nor we without the Spirit but ye through the Spirit What is then required of us 1. Seriously purpose not to sin and promise to God to yield him unfeigned obedience Especially should we make this promise in the use of those solemn Rights by which the Covenant between God and us is confirmed Take up a solemn purpose not to grieve the Spirit nor to break his Law Psal. 119. 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Iudgements This purpose of heart is the root of all good actions therefore in the confidence of Gods help in the sence of thy own weakness Psalm 119. 32. we cannot lay Wagers upon our own strength yet it is our duty to engage our hearts to God To sin against the light of our own Conscience and illumination of the Spirit and the chastening and instruction of our own reins that aggravates our sin but to sin against and besides our fixed purpose of not sinning that lightens sin for then it is a sin of weaknesse and infirmity not of wilfulness and malice and then we can say as Paul Rom. 7. 19. when the heart is fixedly bent towards God The evil which I would not that do I. Two wayes may we be said to sin against purpose either when we are over-born besides our purpose our purpose still remains to please God As when the water breaks over the bank the bank remaining in such a case the fault is not in the bank but in the violence of the flood Or secondly when we break off our purpose or consent to do evil as when we cut through the bank the water may easily make through There is a great deal of difference between sin dwelling in us and sin entertained by us between sin remaining and sin reserved and when you have a firm purpose against all sin there is sin remaining but it is not reserved but it is not kept and allowed 2. Watch over thy self with a holy self-suspition because thou hast sin within thee that doth easily beset thee therefore consider thy wayes Psal. 119. 59. Guard thy sences Iob 31. 1. but above all keep thy heart Prov. 4. 23. Conscience must stand Porter at the door and examine what comes in and what goes out watch over the stratagems of Satan and seducing motions of thy own heart 3. Resist and oppose strongly against the first risings of the flesh and the tickling and pleasing motions of sin that doth easily beset us when it doth intice us away from God or do any thing that is unseemly and contrary unto the duties of our heavenly calling Oh! remember we are not debtors to the flesh Rom. 8. 20. Thou art tyed to the Lord by all obligations and

Witnesses that have been exercised and tried to purpose 1 Pet. 5. 9. They are troubled with a busie Devil a naughty World a corrupt heart all have had their trial from God's correcting hand The same afflictions are accomplished in your Brethren that are in the world So that we have many fellows our lot is no harder then the Saints of God that have gone before us for there is a Cloud of Witnesses 3. Observe the Apostle calls it a Cloud compasses us round about i. e. We have instances for every trial Temptation duty that we are put upon Here we have examples of those that have fulfilled the Commands of Christ on this side with an undaunted courage and the examples of those that have borne the Cross of Christ with an invincible patience Here we have examples of those that have conquered right-hand Temptations that have despised the delights of the World and there of those that have conquered left-hand Temptations that have not been broken and affrighted with the terrors of the World all the Saints of God have trodden that way the same paths wherein we are to walk after them we cannot look this way or that way but we have instances of Faith confidence in God and patience We are compassed about c. In short here lies the encouragement that Christians should propound to themselves 1. That there are examples Christians of later times have more to answer for their Infidelity than those of former ages they that first believed the promises believed without such a cloud of witnesses or multitude of examples many have gone before us that have broken the Ice and that found good success from their own experience they have commended God to us as a true and faithfull God and will not you go on When Ionathan and his Armour bearer climbed up the rocks of the Philistins then the people were encouraged to go up after So here are some that are gone before you and it hath succeeded well with them 2. These examples are many not one or two that might be supposed to be singularly assisted and to have eminent Prerogatives above the rest of their Brethren but many in every age a whole cloud of them 3. There are examples of many rare and excellent men the best that ever lived under Heaven Take my Brethren the Prophets for an example c. Jam. 5. 10. 4. They are propounded to us not for their words only and for their profession but for their deeds for their bitter sufferings and they abundantly manifest to us that there is nothing impossible in our duty or any thing so difficult but may be overcome through Christ's strength enabling us They all had the same nature we have they were of the like passions with us flesh and blood as we are of the same relations and concernments and then on the other side we have the same Cause with them the same recompence of reward to encourage us the same God and Saviour to recompence us he suffered for us as well as for them therefore we should follow in their steps and hold fast our confidence to the end for they have shewed us that poverty reproaches death it self and all those things that would look harsh and with a ghastly aspect upon the eyes of the World are no such evils but that a Believer may rejoyce in them and triumph over them I say they have shew'd the blandishments of the World have not such a charm but they may be renounced without any loss of considerable joy and contentment and that the duties of Christianity are not so hard but that a little waiting upon God will bring in Grace enough to perform them Therefore saith the Apostle Seeing we have a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside c. And so I come to the encouragement to the Second thing and that is the duty here pressed 1. Here is the privative 2. The positive part of our duty Here is mortification and vivification Mortification Let us lay aside c. Vivification Let us run with patience c. In both the branches he alludes to terms proper to Races In a Race you know men strip themselves of their Cloaths and whatever is burdensome and heavy that they may be the more light of foot and so the Apostle bids us lay aside every weight and they did withall diet themselves that they might have no clog from within 1 Cor. 9 25. Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things c. They took care that they did not clog and indispose themselves for the race they were to run but they verily run onely for a corruptible Crown we for a Crown that is incorruptible and glorious so according to this double practice of Racers we are to cast aside every weight from without c. So here 's a double object laying aside every weight and of sin There 's onus externum the weight without that presseth us down and hinders our speed and then there 's impedimentum internum there 's sin that which weakens within By reason of the former we make little speed by reason of the latter we are often interrupted and therefore we must do as they that they might be swift and expedite lay aside every weight and be more temperate in all things Herein a Runner in a Race differs from a Traveller a Traveller strengthens himself for his Journey as well as he can his clothes on sometimes carries a great burthen with him but a Runner of a Race makes himself as light as he can But to come more particularly to the words First Lay aside every weight By weight is meant those things that burden the soul and make our Heavenly Progress more tedious and cumbersome and by weight is meant I think the delights and cares of the world the multitude of secular business all our earthly contentments and affairs so far as they are a burden to us hinder us in our way to Heaven these must all be put off Lu. 21. 3 4. saith Christ Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life c. The heart that is deprest cannot be so free for God and the Offices of our Heavenly Calling when we give way to surfeiting drunkenness cares of this World 1. The heart may be overcharged with the delights of the World Surfeiting and Drunkenness must not be taken in the gross notion you must not think of spewing reeling vomiting as if to avoid these were a full compliance with Christs direction the heart may be overcharged when the stomach is not there is a dry drunkenness and a more refined surfeiting and that is when the heart grows heavy unfit for prayer relishes not the things of the spirit when the delights of the flesh clog the wheel abate that vigor and chearfulness that we should shew forth in the Worship of God and holy actions when the delights●… the flesh