Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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B03891
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Now and ever; shewing, where the work of conversion is thoroughly done, it is done for ever. / By William Jemmat, preacher of the Gospel in Reading.
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Jemmat, William, 1596?-1678.
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1666
(1666)
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Wing J550A; ESTC R178967
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36,525
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49
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gap is made till all be ashamed of him and he weary of himself A woful pickle and damnable but that he recovers all as Peter for a while a Turn-Coat but by and by a Penitent and at last a Martyr 6. The joy of the Lord is our strength Neh. 8.10 Sometimes we take much comfort in God go about his work very chearfully and pass not for small rubs that lie in our way no nor great ones it sufficeth that God is gracious and we shall have joy and glory enough in heaven But this bright-shining day suffers obscurity by a cloud when the Lord withdraweth a little Yet toward Evening it waxeth as bright as ever it was as the Martyrs at the stake after Recantations In every thing with a true Christian there is a recovery of losses to be made it is like the dead root of Jesse yet budding or as a Wheat-Corn dead in Winter but putting forth much strength in the Summer against the Harvest And this power of renewing his strength comes chiefly from God who saith such shall renew their strength and secondarily from themselves who being acted by grace will be willing all along to help themselves and so the Lord gets the honor of renewing their strength and themselves get much comfort by it Do ye yet want any more comfort Then see a little how this waiting on God and renewing of strength may stand you in stead against all those fears and cares and troubles which at times ye are subject unto No Prince when a Battel hath gone against him is so sure to recruit his forces and joyn issue again with the enemy as the Believer is sure by waiting on his God to renew his strength and recover all he hath lost and if he fear it is more then his good estate alloweth as for instance 1. Some good souls are afraid they shall never hold on to the end they have gone a good way in Religion but are so wearyish in themselves and find the world run so strong against them that they doubt they shall not overcome and then they must lose their Crown To whom I reply This and other places assure us of sufficient grounds for perseverance in the state of grace We stand by the everlasting love and compassion and covenant of our God We stand by the grace of a Mediator and so are better able to hold on then was Adam in innocency We stand by the strength and conduct of the Almighty Spirit of God who will never forsake us but abide with us for ever We stand by the invincible power of faith which through the mercy of God is able to keep us unto salvation We stand by vertue of the word that Immortal and Incorruptible seed which endureth for ever And the seed of God so abideth in us that we shall not fall away neither totally nor finally If so what ground for these fears or faintings 2. Some old Disciples are much troubled with the infirmities of old age in mind or body or both and are even weary of themselves and perform Religious duties but wearishly they are willing still to wait upon their God but cannot tell whether they shall be accepted or no or enabled to go on to Victory Answ Yet shall such be holpen with a little help Dan. 11 34. Little in their sense and apprehension but not in it self it is the power of God whereby they are kept to salvation and we know that the weakness of God is stronger then men We know also that God hath enlarged his power and all his excellencies for the good of his Chosen Esa 46.3 4. Hearken unto me O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel which are born by me from the belly which are carryed from the womb And even to your old age I am he and even to hoar haires I will carry you I have made and I will bear and I will carry and will deliver you Good comfort to them whose understanding and memory fails them with legs and senses and all that is of nature and weather offends them whether hot or cold and much ado they have to hold out with cheariness a little longer Yet in their God they shall find a supply both of strength and comfort to carry them to their journies end Only let them pray and it shall be done for them Plead as David Psal 71 9 12 17 18. Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth O God 〈◊〉 not far from me I will go in the strength of the Lord God O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto I have declared thy wondrous works Now also when I am old and gray-headed O Lord forsake me not untill I have shewed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to every one that is to come Where note by the way what is the proper and chief end of desiring long life or the assistance of God in our way It is that we may the better advance the glory of God and serve our generation according to his counsel 3. Another is even tyred out with Satanical temptations and accusations and doubts that one time or other he shall fall by the hand of this hellish enemy Oh how black and cunning and incessant his fiery darts are and himself in the mean time very weak and simple and easie to be over-reached Can there be any hope of carrying the Victory Answ Yes because thy Captain hath said Resist the Devil and he shall fly from you and ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and the God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly and the head of the old Serpent is so bruised by the seed of the Woman and his Victory that he can never recover full strength against the remnant of her seed We know too that greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world We read of the weapons which we are to weild and overcome that they are of Gods framing and appointment the Armour of God and The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to cast down strong holds which are raised against God and against our comfort and Not only the weapons are mighty but we by them Strong in the Lord and the power of his might so that a song of triumph may be sung by fainty Believers Who shall accuse or condemn or separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ Certainly all the gates of hell shall never prevail against the Church of God nor any faithful Member of it 4. Other Believers fear because of many troubles of the family or of the world there are fightings without and terrors within they even faint and are weary and shall be tyred out one time or other what shall they do Answ Let them remember that Christ hath overcome the world and therefore though in the world they have
this Banquet and not be the better for it How is it possible Well remember what that is to go rightly and do it indeed it is often shewed in our ministery and you called upon none can say he knows not Then settle to do it He that loves grace indeed and the comforts of grace let him strive to be lively and get as much of it as he can Doctr. 3. It is the nature and duty of good Christians to be constant in their good courses to the end not to be weary when they run nor faint when they walk The duty is in Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful unto the death The priviledge is in this place They are born of incorruptible seed led by an holy Spirit that abides with them for ever embraced with an everlasting love and Covenant strengthned by a mighty faith which overcomes the world and quencheth the fiery darts of the Devil And this of the Text stands by way of promise They shall mount up They shall run and not be weary They shall walk and not faint Now all the promises of God in Christ are Yea and Amen The Oath and Promise of God are two immutable things wherein it is impossible he should be deceived or deceive Object They are weary oftentimes and faint in their course afflictions dishearten and unsettle them corruption of nature even foils them Satan gets within them Answ At the worst they fall not either totally or finally nor are ever so weary or faint but their strength is renewed again and they may say as the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.8 9 16. We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed We faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day Use Let all that wait on the Lord with their hearts both rejoyce in their priviledge and look well to their duty 1. Rejoyce in your priviledge Your endeavours in holy ways shall be Crowned with perseverance and your perseverance with glory Your desires shall be answered and satisfied to the full When many fall you shall stand And in the day when you are shrewdly shaken yet still you shall stand or if you fall you shall surely rise again True you must fear in respect of your selves and your own unstedfastness but in respect of God you have no cause at all to fear or be dismayed Through the mercy and grace of your God who hath promised you are as sure one day to be in heaven as now you are upon earth 2. Look to your duty that is to keep your selves in the love of God as the Apostle Jude adviseth Be not high-minded but fear and Let him that standeth take heed left he fall Holy joy never breeds security nor a neglect of the means as carnal and presumptuous us useth to do And not only work out your salvation with fear and trembling to shun a total and final Apostasie but take heed of partial and temporary backslidings admit as few interruptions in the way of well-doing as possibly you can still shake up your selves out of every weariness and every fainting Beware of the preparative though not to everlasting destruction yet temporary chastisement especially in the soul by the absence of Christ who withdraws a while when security prevailes Cant. 3. and 5. Ever fear to come any whit near that fatal conclusion of hypocrites who one time or other fall away and shew they were never the men and women that they would be taken to be not of us though among us 1 John 2.19 And of such the Lord saith If any man draw back my soul hath no pleasure in him and they draw back to perdition Heb. 10.39 USE IV. Conclusion ALL this so being may encourage all to a godly life and to receive the grace of God when it is offered to them as that which will set them in such a blessed and permanent condition above all the excellency nature is any way able to reach or attain Alass man what art thou by nature in the greatest of thy strength thou art but a fainting dying man In thy youth the flower of thine age thou mayest be soon cropt and defaced and then without grace in thy heart thou goest to hell as surely as Belzebub What is the strength of legs or beauty or nimbleness or healthiness or any natural endowments pretty things in their kind and such as whereof a good use may be made but in respect of Gods favor and heaven very trifles If so then much more honor riches pleasures ease dainty diet and the like these some call the gifts of fortune and Scripture saith they take them wings and profit not them that have been exercised in them Heb. 13.9 Wisdom would that a man look beyond all these to the better and enduring substance It is good that the heart be established with grace and not with meats He that is born anew unto God shall also be strong in God Though his beginning be but small and weak yet his latter end shall increase exceedingly Others of strong shall become weak he of weak shall become strong Let us hear the end of all All flesh is grass and the glory of man as the flower of the field the grass withereth and the flower fadeth away but the word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the word which by the Gospel we preach unto you 1 Pet. 1.24 25. FINIS