Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	abel_n	abraham_n	cain_n	49	3	9.6714	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51842	One hundred and ninety sermons on the hundred and nineteenth Psalm preached by the late reverend and learned Thomas Manton, D.D. ; with a perfect alphabetical table directing to the principal matters contained therein.	Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; White, Robert, 1645-1703.; Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1681 (1681)	Wing M526A; ESTC R225740	2,212,336	1,308

thou afflicted and tossed with tempest Names are taken a notioribus things are known and distinguished by their name 't is one of the Way-marks to Heaven Act. 14. 22. Through many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of God As the way to Canaan lay through a howling Wilderness If we were told before that we should meet with such and such marks in our Journey to such a place if we found them not we should have cause to suspect we were out of our way From the beginning of the World the Church hath always been bred up under troubles and innured to the Discipline of the Cross Psal. 129. 1. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say The spirit of enmity wrought betimes The first Family that ever was in the World yielded Abel the Proto-Martyr and Cain the Patriarch of Unbelievers While the Church kept in Families the outward estate of Gods People was worse than their Neighbours Abraham was a Sojourner though owned and blessed by God when the Canaanites were possessors and dwelt in walled Towns Iacob's Family grew up by degrees into a Nation but Esau's presently multiplyed into many Dukes and Princes And as they grew up they grew up in Affliction Egypt was a place of retreat for them for a while but before they got out of it it proved an house of Bondage Their deliverance brought them into a Wilderness where Want made them murmur but oftner Wantonness But then God sent fiery Serpents and broke them and afflicted them with other Judgments After forty years wandring in the Wilderness they are brought into Canaan a Land of Rest but it afforded them little rest for they forfeited it almost as soon as they Conquered it it flowed with Milk and Honey but mixed with Gall and Wormwood Their story as 't is delivered in the Book of God acquaints you with several varieties and intermixtures of Providence till wrath came upon them to the utmost till God saw fit to inlarge the pale and lines of Communication by treating with other Nations Now if the old Testament Church were thus afflicted much more the new God discovered his approbation and improbation then more by temporal Mercies and temporal Judgements The Promises run to us in another strain and since Life and Immortality was brought tolight in the Gospel we must not expect to be so delicately brought up as never to see an evil day he hath told us 2 Tim. 3. 12. We must be conformed to our head Rom. 8. 29. And expect to pledge Christ in his bitter Cup and our condition must inform us that our hopes are not in this World 1 Cor. 15. 19. In the Gospel-dispensation God would deal forth temporal Blessings more sparingly and spiritual with a fuller hand the experience of all Ages verifieth this When Religion began first to fly abroad into all Lands the Pagans first persecuted it and then the Pseudo-Christians the holiest and best People were Maligned and Bound and Butchered and Racked and Stoned but still they Multiplied 'T were easie to tire you with various Instances in every Age those that went home to God were those that came out of tribulations and had washed their Robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb Rev. 7. 14. There is always something set a-foot to try God servants and in the latter times the roaring Lion is not grown more gentle and tame rather more fierce and severe Rev. 12. 12. For the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time Dying Beasts struggle most As his Kingdom beginneth to shake so he will be most fierce and cruel for the supporting of it 2. As to particular persons The whole Creation groaneth Rom. 8. 22. and Gods Children bear a part in the Consort they have their share in the Worlds Miseries and Domestical Crosses are common to them with other Men in the World Yea their condition is worse then others Chaffe and Corn are threshed in the same floor but the Corn is grinded in the Mill and baked in the Oven Ieremiah was in the Dungeon when the City was besieged The World hateth them more than others and God loveth them more than others The World hateth them because they are so good and God correcteth them because they are no better There is more care exercised about a Vine than a Bramble God will not let them perish with the World Great receipts call for great expences first or last God seeth it fitting sometimes at first setting forth as the old Germans were wont to dip their Children in the Rhine to harden them so to season them for their whole Course they must bear the yoke from their youth or first acquaintance with God Heb. 10. 32. Sometimes God lets them alone while they are young and raw and of little experience as we are tender of Trees newly planted as Iacob drove as the little ones were able to bear 1 Cor. 10. 13. He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able They are let alone till middle age till they are of some standing in Religion Heb. 11. 24. Moses when he was come to years 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometimes let alone till their latter time and their season of fighting cometh not till they are ready to go out of the World that they may die fighting and be crowned in the Field but first or last the Cross commeth and there is a time to exercise our Faith and Patience before we inherit the Promises I will not inlarge in the common place of Afflictions and tell you how necessary the Cross is to subdue Sin which God will do in an accommodate way to weaken Pride to reclaim us from our Wandrings to increase Grace to make us mindful of heavenly things these are discussed in other Verses to make us retreat to our great Priviledges to stir us up to Prayer c. Tribulatio tam nobis necessaria quam ipsa vita immo magis necessaria multoque utilior quam totius mundi opes dignitates saith Luther We think Wealth is necessary for us Dignity and Esteem is necessary for us no Affliction is necessary for us 1 Pet. 1. 6. If need be you are in Heaviness c. Use 1. Let us look for Troubles and provide for them we shall not alwayes have a life of ease and peace the Times will not alwayes be friendly to Religion Then had the Churches rest Acts 9. 31. Halcyon dayes the enmity of wicked men will not always lye asleep we would gather rust and grow dead therefore look for them If because you are Christians you Promise your selves a long lease of temporal Happiness free from Troubles and Afflictions 't is as if a Souldier going to the Wars should promise himself Peace and continual Truce with the Enemy Or as if a Mariner committing himself to the Sea for a long Voyage should promise himself nothing but fair and calm

now white when stamped with the printing Irons hath a Story written upon it in legible Characters 6. How much it concerneth you to come out of this Condition speedily for God is not a God to be neglected or dallied with When he calls in the seasons of Grace he will be observed otherwise you may call and he will have no regard They shall call and I will not answer they shall seek me early but not find me Prov. 1. 28. When you receive many checks of Conscience intreaties of Grace motions of the Spirit in vain God will be gone God doth commonly give Men a Day and no Man or Angel knoweth how long this Day shall last God gave Cain a day if thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted if thou dost ill Sin lieth at the door Oh then when you begin to have thoughts of turning unto God let them not be quelled God reckoneth every hour these three Years this second Epistle this second Miracle and when his Patience will expire you cannot tell 7. How happy it will be for you when once you change your Course The Prodigal remembred the plenty in his Fathers House you will find a manifest difference Rom. 6. 21 22. What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is Death But now being made free from Sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life In the way no such gripes of Conscience no shame sorrow fears in the end everlasting Life It was your mistaking that called the days of Sin good days Oh but when fruitfull in Holiness you will have present Comfort and serenity of Mind a tast of the clusters of Canaan in the Wilderness hope of a glorious State and the best will be at last Compare Pain with Pain Pleasure with Pleasure We do not compare right the pains of Godliness with pleasures of Sin and yet there you may see the discharging of our Duty will yield more true Comfort and Peace than all the Pleasures of Sin can bring us 8. What Hopes by Christ Heb. 3. 1. Wherefore holy Brethren partakers of the heavenly Calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Iesus Christ what Provision God hath made Thirdly Let me argue the Necessity of this Consideration 1. Otherwise Men are rash careless and precipitant and act as they are carried on by their own Lusts whereas if they did consider it would stop them in the course of Sin they rush like an horse into the Battle because no man saith what have I done Jer. 8. 6. Men run on like a head-strong Horse after their Lusts and Fancies whereas if they do seriously bethink themselves and cast in a few grave thoughts about things to come it would be like the putting in of cold water into a boiling Pot abate the fervour of their Lusts. Men are wicked because they are Inconsiderate there are Arguments enough against Sin if they would but pause and weigh them seriously but we do not think of Heaven and Hell and therefore they do not work upon us Eccles. 11. 9. Remember that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment 2. This serious Consideration is a good means to awaken us from the sleep of security when we consider the end why we were made the Rule we are to walk by and pose our selves about Conformity or Inconformity to this Rule and do withall revolve the issues of things in our Minds it cannot but rouse us up out of our sloath and stupidness and make us act more vigorously and regularly as to the ends of our Creation Oh what shall I doe the first Grace is Awakening that maketh way for other Graces Eph. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light Whereas otherwise when we consider not we are stupid and sottish Isa. 44. 19. None considereth in his heart is there not a lye in my right hand I have burnt part in the fire Eccles. 5. 1. They offer the Sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they have done evil they do not weigh their Actions The Reason why they goe wrong and continue wrong is they do not seriously ponder and debate with themselves what it will come to 3. By Consideration we come to find where the Work of God sticketh with us and so Conviction being the more particular worketh the more kindly A blunt Iron that toucheth many points doth not so soon go to the quick as a Needle that toucheth but one point Mal. 3. 17. Return and they said wherein shall we return we do not see the need of Repentance so much as by prying narrowly into our own Ways In short without this Life is not so regular the Heart is not overpowred with such strong and full Reason to comply with God's Counsel II. How much it concerneth us after we have considered our Ways to turn to the Lord and diligently to pursue the Course which he hath prescribed I turned my feet unto thy Testimonies a sound Conversion is here described 1. I turned in the thorough purpose of his Heart that is the Act on our part It is by God's Grace that we are turned but we turne our selves when the purpose of our Souls is fixed Turne me and I shall be turned God inclineth the Heart and we manifest it by binding our selves by a thorough purpose A wish an offer when it endeth onely in that we have not considered enough but when the Heart is bent I am turned The Prodigal when he took up came to himself and had reasoned the case says I will goe to my Father Luke 15. 18. it must be such a purpose as is diligently pursued 2. The Object or Rule my feet unto thy Testimonies By his Feet is meant the course of his Life Our Will and natural Inclination should be no Rule to us but God's Testimonies We must intirely give up our selves to the direction of his Word As many as walk according to this Rule Gal. 1. 16. we are not to walk as we list There is a fixt determinate Rule which must be kept with all accurateness and attention a Godly man is very tender of breaking this Rule he makes Conscience of keeping to this Rule Now it concerneth us to make sure work of it 1. Because Convictions lost occasion the greater hardness of Heart No Iron so hard as that which has been often heated and oft quenched and no Heart so bad as theirs that seemed to have some serious and anxious thoughts about their eternal Condition The Devil is the more busy and watchfull about them because of their offer to escape and God is the more provoked because they started aside when they were at the point of yielding As better a Match were never proposed then to break off just as it is ready to be concluded Always according to the closeness of the Application if it succeed

benefit that we have by his Reign is this ver 10. compar'd with ver 1. he preserveth the souls of his Saints that is their lives he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked there is an over-ruling a secret and invisible Providence by which they are kept and hidden as in a Pavilion so they have often experience of wonderful preservation in the midst of all their Troubles 2 God shews his Power for over-ruling all these Accidents for the increase and benefit of his Church and People When the Believers were scatter'd and driven up and down when exposed to hazards and inconveniences it is said Acts 11. 21. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. God can make their loss turn to their increase Christ often gets up upon the Devils shoulders and is beholden more to his Enemies than to his Friends in this sense because that which would seem to stop his course and to obscure his glory doth advance it so much the more Phil. 1. 12. The things which hapned unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel The Gospel was not extinguish'd by Paul's imprisonment but propagated I say Paul's sufferings were as necessary as Paul's preaching that the truth might gain and that it might be known and heard of God over-rules all these actions for his glory and for the benefit of his Church Use 1. First If we be not in this condition let us look for it and prepare for it Religion is a Stranger in the World and therefore it is often ill entreated we have a stable happiness elsewhere and here we must expect changes All the comforts and hopes of the Scriptures is suited to such a condition a great part of the Bible would be needless and would be but as bladders given to a man which stands upon dry land and never means to go into the waters the comforts and provisions God hath made for us in the Word would be useless if such things did not befal us why hath God laid in so many supports if we think never to be put to distress and troubles Oh then think of these things before-hand and make them familiar to you The evil which I fear is come upon me saith Iob. When the back is fitted the burden will not be so dreadful think of these things before-hand that you may provide and prepare for them Now that you may not be strange at such kind of Providences consider four things 1. The World will be the World still There 's a natural Enmity between the two seeds which will never be wholly laid aside between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. as natural an Enmity as between the Wolf and the Lamb the Raven and the Dove 1 John 3. 12. Cain was of that wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore slew he him because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous Separation and Estrangement in course of life is a provoking thing Men that live in any sinful course are loth any should part company with them that there might be none to make them ashamed therefore when they draw from their sins and do not run with them into the same Excess of Riot they think strange your life is a reproof to them Iohn 7. 7. The world hateth me because I testified of it that the works thereof are evil And Heb. 11. 7. Noah condemned the world being moved with fear prepared an Ark. Strictness is an object reviving guilt Every wicked man loves another Velut factorem adjutorem excusatorem sui Criminis as one that favors his Actions and helps to excuse his Actions One wicked man doth not put another to the blush It is no shame to be black in the Countrey of the Negroes But when there 's a distinction some walk with God humbly and closely certainly your life is a reproach to others that do not so therefore they will hate you 2. This Enmity hath ever been working the Prophets and holy men of God have had experience of it Abel was slain by Cain Gen. 4. 18. Isaac scoff'd at by Ishmael Gen. 21. 11. which Example the Apostle alledgeth Gal. 4. 29. He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit So it was then so it is now and so it will ever be to the worlds end Ever it hath been the lot of God's children to suffer hard things from the men of this world though they are related to them in the nearest bonds of kindred and acquaintance Iacob because of the blessing and birthright was pursu'd to death by Esau and driven out of his fathers house Gen. 27. Moses driven out of Egypt by his unkind Brethren Acts 7. 25 26 27. David hunted up and down like a Partridge upon the Mountains Iezabel sought Elijah's life Micaiah thrown into Prison and hardly used Elisha pursu'd by Iehoram for his head Instances are endless of this kind ever there hath been an Enmity and ever will be 3. Persecutions are more greater and longer in the New Testament than in the Old why partly because the Old Testament Church were under Tutors and Governors Gal. 4. 1 2. Neither for light of knowledge nor ardor of zeal to be compar'd with the New Testament Church when the kingdom of heaven suffers violence Mat. 11. 11. Look as Christ spar'd his Disciples until they were fit for greater troubles till fit for the new Wine Mat. 9. 17. so God spar'd that Church the Church then had troubles but for the most part they were not for Religion but for defection from God for their sins and partly too because the Church of the Old Testament was not so dispersed but confined within the narrow bounds of one Province or Countrey not mix'd with the profane Idolatrous Nations nor expos'd to their hatred contradiction and rage But of Christians the Apostle tells us this Sect is everywhere spoken against and partly because Satan then had quiet Reign over the blind world for a long time but now when Christ comes to dispossess him to turn out the strong man the goods were in peace before and now he hath but a short time he hath great wrath Rev. 12. 11. When Christ came to seize upon the world it was quick and hot work his force and violence was greater Again Temporal Promises were more in the eye of the Covenant where all things were wrap'd up in Types and Figures when Prosperity signifi'd Happiness and Long Life signifi'd Eternity there were not such Exercises and Trials then But now All those that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution 1 Tim. 3. 12. But since Christ hath set up his Church and brought light and immortality to the world now Troubles are greater 4th Consideration Persecutions from Pseudo-Christians will also be hot and violent Rev. 14. 13. Write from henceforth saith the Spirit Blessed are the dead