Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ability_n	able_a	believe_v	41	3	4.6116	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49386	The duty of servants containing first, their preparation for, and choice of a service, secondly, their duty in service : together with prayers suited to each duty : to this is added A discourse of the Sacrament suited peculiarly to servants / by the author of Practical Christianity.	Lucas, Richard, 1648-1715.	1685 (1685)	Wing L3396; ESTC R5519	91,855	259

is this they who would be extremely devout must be extremly pious they who would find the pleasure of transports in Prayer must be frequent in their Retirements strict in their Self-denial and Mortification devout if it may be even in their daily Conversation In a word they must be crucified to the World and delight in God and in Jesus above all things The Servants Duty as it respects their Obligation to and Preparation for the Sacrament shall be handled at large in the close of this Book I have insisted thus long upon these Duties because whoever conscienciously performs these will not be like to miscarry in any other I will now single out those other Duties which do seem to me more peculiarly to concern Servants for as there are some times so there are some stations which do more particularly require the practice of some Virtues as Adversity of Patience Prosperity of Thankfulness The station of a Magistrate requires the practice of Justice and the station of a Subject the practice of Loyalty and both the one and the other is bound to this out of Conscience towards God So is it in the station of a Servant tho' he must not look upon himself as dispens'd from any Duty common to him with others yet there are some wherein he must endeavour to excel and be eminent as being more immediately and directly necessary in his Imployment such are these three Fidelity to his Master dependance upon God The Servant's Fidelity to his Master a Duty owing to God and Contentment in his station First Fidelity to his Master I place this first because all his Prayers and Sacrifices without this cannot be accepted by God his diligence in reading and hearing the Word is without this Hypocrisie and his communicating of the Sacrament is without this but a bold and presumptuous prophanation of it And I place this here as a Duty towards God because I would have every Servant know that it really is so nothing can be plainer than that the * Eph. 6.5 c. Apostle thought so which you will readily acknowledge if you 'l read with impartiality that weighty and earnest Exhortation which he makes to Servants Eph. 6.5 c. Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh in fear and trembling with singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as the Servants of Christ doing the Will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free How could the Apostle more fully or more pathetically express your Obedience to your Masters to be a duty to God he tells you that the discharge of your Place is a good work that God owns it and will reward it as a Service done to him that it doth very much concern the Honour of your Christian Profession that the Rule by which you are to behave your selves is the Conscience of its being a Duty towards God a firm persuasion that you are to be accountable for it to Christ our Lord and Master and our Judge and for these Reasons you are to perform this Duty with fear and trembling that is not an apprehension of what you shall suffer in your Temporal Interest if you perform it not faithfully but a dread of dishonouring Christ and provoking God by it Those other Properties of the right performance of this Duty singleness of heart chearfulness c. as they respect your Duty towards your Master shall be treated in their proper place I am only here to mind you that they are here pressed upon you as Duties to God the Apostle intimating that where the Master's Eye could not there God's Eye would see regard and mark the behaviour of the Servant and that though his heart were not open to the inspection of his Master yet 't is to God's and therefore he must serve his Master from his heart too He that is acted by such a Conscience as this will certainly do his Duty for when he shall think that God overlooks him and fills every place which his Master cannot he cannot then easily be tempted to allow himself in murmuring or unfaithfulness or idleness Whatever he would not do or say if his Master's Eye were upon him that being govern'd by this Conscience he will not do how far soever he be absent for he will fear Damnation more than the loss of his Service and the displeasure of God more than that of Man A second Duty towards God which I would recommend to Servants is 2. Trust in God Trust in him or dependance upon him There is no state so secure or so fortunate as not to stand in need of God and consequently none wherein this is not a proper Duty But yet it seems most proper and indispensible for such as have fewest Friends fewest supports to relie upon and such are Servants they are therefore to endeavour to be eminent in this Grace there is no way by which they can more directly and immediately own God by which they can make a more publick and eminent Profession of their firm Belief of his Wisdom Power and Goodness The Servant therefore must learn to look upon God as his Father as his Patron as his Guardian as all in all to him to him he must resort for Counsel to him he must complain if wrong'd of him he must beg assistance and on him alone he must relie for a blessing in all he doth and for Provision He must learn to call upon him in all his Straits and praise him in all his Enjoyments From the conscientious practice of this Duty the Master will reap two great Advantages the first that his Servant will do his Duty with much better courage as aiming in all he doth to recommend himself not only to his Master whose power to requite him is it may be very little but most especially to God who he knows is a Patron that never wants either power or will to recompence those that apply themselves to him The second that God will bless him and all he has for his Servants sake This was the Advantage which Potiphar enjoy'd in the Service of Joseph and Laban in that of Jacob the Prosperity of those Idolaters being owing to the Religion of their Servants the Servant besides the contentment and satisfaction of his mind arising from his frequent Addresses to God and besides the actual blessings which God will one time or other certainly bestow upon those that trust in him will also find a good support a ready Antidote against all the real and imaginary Evils of his state For were but this Duty of Trust in God conscientiously practised Servants of ability and spirit would never want encouragement nor those of meaner Capacity satisfaction and comfort They who serv'd in hope would be able in despight of an

indeed to thee but comfortable and happy to us thou didst not only make an Oblation and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole World if they would believe and repent but also purchase for 'em an Eternal Kingdom I do therefore desire in this Holy Sacrament to make a publick Confession of my Faith in thee I am not asham'd of the Gospel of Christ for 't is the power of my God unto Salvation I am not asham'd of thee my Crucified Saviour for I know there is no other name given unto Man by which he may be sav'd but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I do therefore most earnestly desire to be made partaker of the benefits of thy Death and to have the assurance of my Redemption by thy Blood seal'd to me for I have O Lord a weight of sin that hangs upon my Soul from which unless thy Death deliver me it will sink me down into the lowest Hell therefore with impatience doth my Soul desire to approach this comfortable Sacrament where I may give thee the sincere assurances of my Faith Repentance and Love and may receive from the assurances and pledges of my Redemption wrought by thy Cross and Passion But Lord I know that they only can draw near with comfort to this Sacrament who with hearty Repentance and true Faith turn to thee I do therefore desire to place my self first as in the presence of God and under the awe of his all-seeing Eye to examine and try my Life and my Heart and to enter into the most sincere purposes of reforming what is amiss in me and help thou me O my God that I may do this as I ought to do give me that just sense of the weight and importance of this work that I may do it with care and vigour convince me so of the indispensible necessity of sincerity that I may neither hide nor disguise any sin in my Examination nor make any the least reserve for any in my Resolution of amendment And O my God if through the necessities of my Imployment or through the straitness of my time or through the ignorance or prejudice of my Education any thing shall escape me O impute it not to me but have compassion upon the Frailties of my Nature and the Infelicities of my State and upon whatever weaknesses unknown to me are grown upon me Secondly The Exercise of Repentance O Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Maker of all things and Judge of all Men thou Holy All-seeing and Impartial Judge I present my self before thee in the Humility of my Soul in the grief and bitterness of my Heart to confess and bewail my sins and actually and sincerely to renounce ' em Here consider first the course of your past Life in general Thus how you have behav'd your selves towards your Parents when under their Government I mean not the particulars of your actions which 't is impossible to recollect but such generals as these Whether you have been notoriously disobedient whether you have notoriously neglected the means and opportunities of your Education or by any other way procur'd the grief affliction or shame of your Parents Then consider your course of Life since you came into Service as whether you have lived carelesly and coldly towards God in an habitual neglect or it may be contempt of Religion whether you have been a Faithful and good Servant or on the contrary whether you have liv'd in the custom and habit of Disobedience or Unfaithfulness to your Master And lastly as to your selves consider whether you have lived in a habit of Drunkenness Gluttony Uncleanness Pride and Wilfulness now if upon Examination you find your selves to have been guilty of any of these things in your past lives it will be necessary to confess and bewail your error altho' you have now long ago renounc'd it broken off your sin and liv'd a new Life and it will not be amiss to consider what aggravations are to be found in these your sins for example what convictions you have resisted and stifled what restraints you have broke through what inconveniences you have suffer'd by your sins what extraordinary Mercies and Deliverances you have had what extraordinary Chastisements God has inflicted upon you what Opportunities of Grace you have slighted these and such like considerations serve to render the Soul more Humble and Contrite and to quicken the sense of Gods Goodness and Loving-Kindness towards you When you have thus examin'd what the State of your Life past has been you are secondly to examine what the present State of your Soul is and here you are to consider First Whether you are now under the dominion and power of any sin and this your Conscience if it be not sear'd will soon inform you for it cannot but tell you that it has accus'd you for the Commission of this or that sin But lest you should deceive your selves you may examine your selves in the former manner upon those several Heads of your Duty treated of in this Book as you stand related to God to your Parents to your Master and Mistress to their Children to your Fellow-Servants to your Neighbours in general and to your selves Weighing your present behaviour and affection towards each in this as you did your past in the former part of this Examination If upon this view of your selves it appears to you that you live in any sin you must not only bewail it and resolve against it but you must also make Restitution if you have wrong'd your Master your Fellow-Servant or any other if you have wrong'd 'em in their goods you must restore it if you can if you cannot you must confess the wrong and beg their pardon If you have wrong'd 'em by Lying you must discover the truth and take the shame to your selves If you have griev'd disturb'd and troubled 'em by rudeness contumelious Language or any such way you must make 'em what amends you can by confessing your error promising Reformation and begging Forgiveness If you have been injurious to the Souls of any you must be as industrious to reclaim 'em when you have done all this I would not have you make too much hast to the Sacrament But first make some trial of the Truth and Sincerity of your Repentance but in giving this Rule I would be understood to speak either of sins of habitual Omission or else of those notorious transgressions of Gods Laws which the Scripture calls the works of the Flesh the wickedness in which the Gentile World lay the filthiness of Flesh and Spirit for as to defects and frailties tho' we must strive against 'em we shall never be free from 'em As to Lukewarmness Stupidity or Lifelesness in Religion if you mean by it a form of Godliness without the power that is that you profess to believe and live civilly but the Duties that you perform are done heedlesly and perfunctorily without any seriousness or any relish and the whole

ill face and appearance of their present Circumstances to carry their prospect farther and believe their Advancement very easie to God though it scarce appeared probable to the Eye of Man and they whose Ambition mounts no higher than a mean Service would not be frightned by fears of want in Sickness or in Age as being fully persuaded that God cares for them Having said this I cannot think it necessary to stir you up to trust in God by any new Motives for the two which I have insinuated are methinks abundantly sufficient namely first the pleasure and satisfaction of mind that springs from it in that it gives men an unshaken support and security in a troublesom and uncertain World hence that of the * Psal 4.8 Psalmist I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou only makest me dwell in safety And hence 't is that a fearless Security even amongst the Menaces and Allarms of approaching Dangers is by the Psalmist made the Character of one that trusts in God * Psal 112.17 He will not be afraid of any evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. A second Motive is the actual Benefit this Trust procures you namely Relief in all your Wants and Deliverance in all your Dangers for this is that the Scripture teaches us * Psal 34.10 Fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing And so Psal 46.1 God is our Refuge and Strength a very present help in trouble O that you would be persuaded to make a Trial of the Pleasure and Happiness of this Duty that you would experience the blessedness of that state wherein a man hath nothing to do but * Psal 4.5 to sacrifize the Sacrifice of Righteousness and put his Trust in the Lord. A third great Duty of the Servant towards God 3. Contentment in his place is Contentment in his place this is a Duty necessary to your own Happiness necessary to the Service of your Master and necessary to the Honour of God To your own Happiness for though your Circumstances be never so good yet if you do not think 'em so you must needs be uneasie and discontent doubles the weight and burden of any Service To the Service of your Master for you can never serve him well if you do not serve him chearfully and from the heart which you can never do whilst you are sick of your Employment Lastly To the Honour of God which requires that you submit to the Wisdom of his Providence and not murmure and repine at his Dispensations This Humility is a Virtue so consonant to common Reason that 't is just matter of wonder how any should be guilty of the contrary for though we should not be able to give a Reason of God's dealings with us yet sure the Reverence we have for his Infinite Wisdom and the persuasion we have of his Infinite Goodness may easily induce us to believe that he has always a kind and good Reason for what he doth and surely you that look upon it as your Duty to execute the Commands of your Masters without demanding the Reasons or Motives of 'em cannot but think it reasonable to treat God with as much Reverence and Humility as you do a mortal man I might in the next place put you in mind that all we possess is owing merely to the favour of God not to your Merit and that he that has least has much more than he deserves and if so you have no reason to complain of him as if he had dealt niggardly with you because he has dealt more bountifully with others May he not do what he will with his own but there are two Motives to Contentment which I would more especially recommend to you One is that whatever you undergo in this World shall be made up and recompensed to you a hundred-fold in another if you suffer with Meekness Patience and Humility So that this state of Humiliation doth but put you into a capacity of greater degrees of Glory hereafter The other is that if you consider your state aright you have no reason at all of murmuring against God as dealing unequally with you for in all these things which are substantially good and valuable he has dealt as bountifully with you as with others You enjoy the Light of the Sun the Beauties of the Creation are as much expos'd to your view as to any Monarch's the freshness of the Air the coolness of the Stream the fragrancy of the Spring are imparted as bountifully to you as any others whoever You have Rational and Immortal Spirits healthy strong and active Bodies the Food that is best for health the Raiment that is best for for warmth is every where to be had the things wherein God has made a difference between you and others are trifles imaginary and phantastick not real Advantages but you take pains for what you have your Labour is not half so great a burden to you as is their Idleness to them But even of those things which I call substantial blessings they enjoy more than you 'T is true but you enjoy enough and more than enough like Manna breeds but Worms that is troubles and cares And this puts me in mind that the state of a Servant has some Advantages really and truly above that of a Master Not to mention that Obedience it self is not only a much plainer but also a much easier Duty than Government that it has nothing in it disobliging or unkind as Reproof Chastisement and putting away of Servants has that it is no way responsible for the discretion of its actions c. not to mention I say these and such like Advantages which you possess there are others of greater importance You enjoy the World without the Cares of it Storms sink no Ships of yours nor scorching Vapours blast your Fruit or Corn the Turns and Changes of Fortune concern you very little or not at all and I do very much question whether your travail and labour as well as your care be not much less than that of many Masters 'T is true there are a sort of men who account Idleness and Looseness as the Prerogatives of an ample Fortune envy 'em not you ought rather to bless God that he has hedg'd in your ways that he has put you in a state of Life wherein it is extremely difficult for you to be large or intemrate to be proud or wanton for surly 't is a blessed Advantage belonging to your condition that it has fewer incitements to sin and more to Virtue than that of the Rich and Great But of this I have discours'd at large in the beginning of this Chapter There remains then nothing for you to quarrel at in the condition and quality of a Servant unless you think it too mean and contemptible for you in