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	meet_v	22	3	6.4836	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13631	Theologicall logicke: or the third part of the Tryall of truth wherein is declared the excellency and æquity of the Christian faith, and that it is not withstood and resisted; but assisted and fortified by all the forces of right reason, and by all the aide that artificiall logicke can yeeld. ... By Iohn Terry Minister of the Word of God at Stocton.; Triall of truth. Part 3	Terry, John, 1555?-1625.	1625 (1625)	STC 23914; ESTC S101777	160,318	232

teach the will doth euer follow the last iudgement and conclusion of the practicke reason and that which the minde by the aduise of reason iudgeth and determineth to be acted that must the will endeauour to act As if the minde resolue that our chiefest happines consisteth in the plentifull possession and fruition of all earthly profits and pleasures then will the will and affections be wholly set vpon earthly things but if it resolue that our highest happinesse and our chiefest good consisteth in our communion with God and in the cleere manifestation of his loue in Christ then will our hearts be lifted vp to God and fixed on Christ and settled vpon heauen and heauenly things For as Saint Austine saith free-will is a seruant to sinne or to grace An euill minde maketh an euill will a minde indued with grace communicateth grace to the will For doth folly set all things Mala mens malus animus out of frame and doth not wisedome frame and order all things aright Doth darknesse cause men to stumble and fall Iohn 11. 9. Heb. 3. 12. and doth not light keepe men vpright and preserue them from falling Doth infidelity withdraw mens hearts from God and corrupt their wils and affections and doth not faith ioyne men neerely vnto God and sanctifie their wils and affections with all manner of diuine and heauenly graces Wherefore as all carnall Gospellers and loose Libertines so our Romane Catholikes are greatly deceiued in that they thinke that a sauing and iustifying faith may stand with raigning sinnes for then should the selfe-same persons at the selfe-same time be the children of God in respect of their mindes sanctified with the knowledge of the truth and with sauing faith and the children of the Deuill in their wils being polluted with dominering sins but where sauing faith getteth the sure and safe possession of the minde it not only expelleth infidelity out of the castle of the vnderstanding but also casteth out all sinne and iniquity out of the forts of the will and affections that they shall no longer rule and raigne there For sauing faith doth regenerate vs and make vs the sons of God Gal. 3. 26. as the Apostle affirmeth and so reneweth vs to his image in holinesse and crue righteousnesse and therefore will not suffer vs to giue place to wilfull and raigning sinnes and presumptuous transgressions Whosoeuer saith Saint Iohn is borne 1 Iohn 3. 9. of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sinne because he is borne of God that is whosoeuer is borne of God committeth no such sinnes whereby the Word of God is choaked and extinguished in him because it is an immortall seed which liueth and indureth for euer where it is 1 Pet. 1. 23. once rooted and settled neither can hee sinne because hee is borne of God That is sinne which is the worke of the Deuill cannot so farre forth preuaile as to annihilate his regeneration which is the worke of God because God is stronger then the Deuill and will maintaine his owne proper worke in his owne children against the malice and mischiefe of Satan For let the Deuill set his chiefest instruments on worke to draw Gods children from their faith and obedience to God yet they shall not finally preuaile against them So Saint Iohn Little children ye are of God and haue ouercome them for 1 Iohn 4. 4. greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world For albeit they be little and weake in themselues yet they are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and are enabled thereby to stand against all the assaults of the Deuill Ephes 6. 10. And verily he that truly beholdeth and duly considereth what this great dignity is to be translated out of the bondage of Satan into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God he cannot with purpose of heart serue sinne any longer and enthrall himselfe againe vnto the tyranny of Satan but he will resigne himselfe wholly ouer to God How can we saith the Aposte Rom. 6. 2. that are dead to sinne liue any longer therein When Ioseph that of a poore slaue being made chiefe ruler ouer all Gen. 39. 9. Fixum etenins quicu ique geret no● hunc ●go nolle crediderim Christo cum m●ricate mori Coster that great estate which his master was possessed withall was tempted by his lewd mistrisse to defile his masters bed How can I said he doe this wickednesse and sinne against God How much more then will all such as are indued with true Christian faith resolue and say when they duly consider their great dignity in that of the bondslaues of Satan they are made the sonnes of God and inheritours of the kingdome of heauen How can we giue ouer our selues to wilfull and presumptuous sinnes to the great dishonour of our louing and most gracious God who hath aduanced vs to so great dignity and honor Vndoubtedly they cannot but thus resolue with themselues their sure beleefe of so great a fauour throughly settled in their hearts will not suffer them to giue themselues ouer to the seruice of sinne but will cause them fully to resolue to continue and perseuere in constant and continuall obedience vnto God And in this respect the estate of all such as are reconciled vnto God by Christ albeit it be subiect to many infirmities is farre more happy then Adams was in his absolute and perfect purity For as Saint Austine saith the first liberty was a Aug. de corrept grat cap. 2. possibility not to sinne but ours is much greater being such as that we cannot possibly sinne that is giue our selues ouer to be bondslaues to raigning sinnes For to Adam was giuen grace to persist in grace if he would but to vs it is giuen that we be made willing and that by our will we conquer our concupiscence to him was giuen ability if he himselfe would haue vsed it but to vs is giuen not only to be able but also to be willing to vse our ability For the will of the Saints is so forcibly mooued by the Spirit of God that therefore they are able because they will and therefore they will because it is God that worketh in them that they be willing For if in so great infirmity wherein perfect vertue was requisite for the suppressing of pride they were left to their owne will that by the helpe of God they might persist if they would themselues and that God himselfe did not worke in them the very will that they would among so many and so great tentations the will by reason of her weaknesse would soone relent and giue ouer A remedy therefore was prouided for the infirmity of mans will that it should be so mooued by diuine grace that it should neuer decline or separate it selfe from the same and therefore albeit it were weake yet it should neuer vtterly faile Now that Saint Austine did

earth some to honour and some to dishonour So why may not the Lord haue in this his great house of the world some regenerate by his holy Spirit made to haue pure and golden soules meete to be partakers of heauenly glory and others marred by their owne malice and so made impure and vncleane spirits meet to be punished with the torments of hell 〈…〉 last iudgement some shall rise to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt And why may not wee as well say that euerlasting fire and perpetuall contempt was prepared for the one before any time was as that ouerlasting life and eternall glory was prepared for the other before the foundation of the world was laide For verily God doth nothing vpon any new aduise occasioned by some new accident For nothing is new vnto him vnto whom were well knowne all his workes euen from the very beginning of the world But he acteth all things in their Act. 15. 18. times appointed by himselfe and bringeth all things to the same ends and by the same meanes as he himselfe hath decreed from euerlasting The Philosopher gaue this glory to God Nihil sit frustra frustra autem fit quod fine caret that nothing was created in vaine not hauing an end whereunto it was ordayned and meanes to bring to the same end For there is no wise workemaster here among men that will goe about any thing but that he will first determine with himselfe both concerning the end of his worke and also the meanes whereby it may be brought thereunto Which of you saith our Sauiour Christ minding to build a towr● sitteth not downe Luc. 14. 28. before and counteth the cost whether he be sufficient to performe it Wherefore it cannot possibly otherwise be but that the most wise and prouident Creator of heauen and earth hauing purposed from all eternity to create man the chiefest and excellentest of all the rest of his workes should decree with himselfe from all eternity both concerning the end whereunto hee would create him and also the meanes whereby hee would bring him thereunto And therefore whereas all that are indued 〈…〉 changeable goodnesse or his vncontrouleable might and power For his goodnesse being vnchangeable and his power vncontrouleable if hee ordained all to life why did he not bring them all to that happy estate whereunto he had ordayned them all To say that he could not disableth his power to say that he would not impeacheth his goodnesse to say that he desposeth of them neither this way nor that way but left them to their owne disposition derogateth from his supreame wisedome yea that he being the Potter should not dispose of his owne Clay but leaue it to the Clay to dispose of it selfe himselfe being as a neuter neither bending this way nor that way taketh away from him all diuine prouidence Wherefore it ought not to be denyed but that as God electeth some to saluation in Christ and calleth them to be partakers thereof by a true faith and preserueth them thereby through his mighty power that they neuer fall away from that happy estate to the end that they should ascribe vnto him the whole glory of their eternall blessednesse so likewise it cannot be iustly denyed but that God leaueth other in their Infidelity and sinne to runne on wilfully and obstinately in their owne demnable wayes that so they might be forced to acknowledge and cousesse God to be most iust herein and themselues to be the totall cause of their owne destruction Sap. 5. 7. For as euents which in themselues may or may not come to passe are called cōtingent for that they proceed frō contingent causes albeit they could not but come to passe as they were fore-seene and fore-appointed by the vnchangeable wisedome and will of God euen so all sinfull actions albeit they be ordained of God to come to passe by his permission yet they are not to be said to be wrought by his operation and albeit they may be said to be willed by him yet none of them all is instilled by him For God made man according to his owne image and instilled into his soule all diuine and heauenly graces and gaue him hability to continue therein and left him to his owne choice to stand or to fall at his owne free will but he did not so stablish him with his grace that he could not become willing to fall away because he was no way indebted vnto him and bound to performe vnto him that fauour Much lesse when all mankinde fell away in Adam was God bound to restore all but some according to his owne good pleasure he calleth by his Spirit and Word to the estate of Grace and giueth them faith to embrace his endlesse goodnes in Christ Iesus so maketh them partakers of euerlasting blessednes other he iustly leaueth in their own wretchednesse whereinto they are fallen by their owne fault and suffereth them to perish in their owne sinnes And why might not the Lord iustly doe so An earthly Father may giue to his son some Stock to Trade withall then leaue him to his own gouernment to try whether he will play the good husband or no and might not our heauenly Father giue to Adam and in him to vs all that were then in his loynes some portion of his heauenly grace and so leaue him and vs in him to our selues to try whether we would settle our selues to continue in his loue or whether we would set light by his goodnesse and fall from him to sinne and Satan to our vtter ruine and destruction Vndoubtedly as God in his eternall Counsell did appoint that bodily diseases should come into the world to detect on the one side the weakenesse of the creature and his folly in abusing many things to his hurt and destruction that are of themselues profitable for his preseruation and on the other side to make manifest his owne wisedome and goodnesse in that he hath prouided great variety of helpes to man both for the preuenting and also for the full curing of all manner of noisome maladies so did hee in like manner decree that hee would permit man to cast himselfe into many spirituall diseases to detect on the one side his frailty and weaknesse who taketh occasion many times thereby to fall whereby he might haue been staied vpright and on the other side to make manifest his owne wisedome and goodnesse by appointing many Antidotes against sinne and such a strange restoratiue to cure sinnes as man himselfe could not so much as dreame thereof There must be Haeresies saith the Apostle that they which are approued may be knowne euen that they may be knowne 1 Cor. 11. 19. whether they be as chaffe which will be carried away with euery blast of vaine doctrine or whether they be as found and good Corne and will abide setled and constant in the truth And verily the grounds of truth are neuer better