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	promise_n	20	3	6.2820	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30202	Seasonable counsel, or, Advice to sufferers by John Bunyan.	Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.	1684 (1684)	Wing B5592; ESTC R3858	96,024	262

and the which he also has taken the charge of as he is a faithful Creator And will not suffer thee to be tempted How not tempted no not above what thou art able He that tempts thee doth not at all consider thy strength so as to stop when he sees thou art weak he would have thee overthrown for therefore it is that he tempteth thee But God will not suffer that because he is faithful and because thou hast committed the keeping of thy Soul unto him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Not tempted above that ye are able He saith not above that ye are well able Indeed thy strength shall be proportioned to the temptation but thou maiest have none over and above to spare thou shalt not have bigger load than God will give thee shoulders to bear Christ did bear his burden but it made him cry out and sweat as it were greats drop of blood to carry it Bear thy burden thou shalt and not be destroyed by it but perhaps thou mayest sometimes roar under it by reason of the disquietness of thy heart But will with the temptation make a way of escape With the temptation not without it thou must be tempted and must escape too With the temptation As sure as Satan is licensed so sure he is limited and when Satan has ended all the temptation he shall depart from thee Luke 4.13 He will with the temptation by such a managing of it as shall break its own neck God can admit Satan to tempt and make the Christian wise to manage the temptation for his own escape Make a way It may be thou seest no way of escape It may be there is no way no way in all the world to escape well but God can make a way When Israel was hem'd in at the Red Sea there was as then no way no way in all the world to escape O but God made a way and a path-way too and that thorough the mighty waters Exo. 15.8.16 Psal. 106.9 Psal. 78.35 He will make away with the temptation or will with the temptation make away to escape that you may be able to bear it These are the words of the holy Ghost who is God and they are spoken yea committed to record for this very purpose that those that are under affliction might commit the keeping of their Soul to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator That 's the first Secondly He will also be faithful to us as to this He will give us a competent measure of wisdom that in our suffering condition we may in all things be made able to manage our state with discretion We are perhaps weak of natural abilities parts of utterance or the like and our adversaries are Learned Eloquent and ripe of Parts Thou hast the disadvantage on thy side and they have what the world can afford to encourage them thou art weak of Spirit they are bold and strong The great and the mighty are with thy enemies but on thy side there is no comforter Eccles. 4.1 Why now here is as to this and to what else can be objected the faithfulness of God engaged First in a general promise I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5.6 Secondly we have an invitation to come to this faithful God for wisdom to assist and help For after he had said my brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations and let patience have its perfect work he adds If any man lacks wisdom let him ask it of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him James 1.2 3 4 5. Here is more then an invitation here is a promise it shall be given him and all to shew us what a faithful Creator we have commited our Souls unto Doth any lack wisdom to know how to carry it in a time of Tryal let them ask it of God of the God that is wisdom it self let him ask it of God the liberal giver who giveth to all men all that they have and upbraideth not for their unworthiness Nor doth the holy Ghost stop here but enlarges himself in a more particular way to those that suffer according to the Text saying But when they deliver you up take no thought how or what you shall speak for it shall be given you in the same hour what you shall speak Mat. 10.19 I have often been amazed in my mind at this Text for how could Jesus Christ have said such a word if he had not been able to perform it This Text therefore declares him to be God It is also a proof of faithfulness to those that suffer for him For it is as if he should say try me and trust me if I stand not by you in a day of distress never believe me more You suffering according to the will of God and committing your Souls to him in well-doing I will give you a mouth and wisdom for so he has it in Luke 21.15 which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist Here is no consideration of what capacity the people might be of that were to be persecuted but what 's matter what they are if fools it is no matter if wise it helpeth nothing A mouth and wisdom is to be given that of it self shall do And this is according to that other Scripture mentioned afore where it saith No weapon formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn Isa. 54.17 Although it may happen in this as in the former temptation The Devil and his agents may give the Saints in their pleading for the truth their bellies full both of cross answers equivocations sophistications wrong glosses and erroneous interpretations But truth shall prevail shall turn the scale and bear away the victory Thirdly He will also be faithful to us in this we shall not want spiritual support to help us to bear up under our particular parts of suffering I do not say that thou shalt be comforted all the while but I say he will be to thee so faithful as to comfort thee under those thodes guests blasts or battering storms that beat against thy wall Isa. 32.2 Look then what present degrees or aggravating appearances are in thy afflictions to such a degree shalt thou at times be supported For as surely as ever the spirit of God moved Samson at times in the Camp of Dan when he lay against the Philistines so will the spirit of God move in and upon thee to comfort and to strengthen thee whilst thou sufferest for his name in the World As our afflictions abound for Christ so shall our consolations abound by him 2 Cor. 1.5.6 I have observed that God laies this that he useth to comfort his people in a time of sufferings as an aggravation of sin upon them that did use to shuck and shrink under sufferings I saith he even I am he that comforteth you who art thou

that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die Isa. 51.12 God says the wise man hath set the one against the other the day of adversity and the day of prosperity to the end that man should find nothing after him to complain of For as certainly as there is a time to mourn so certainly there is a time to rejoyce set I say for them that suffer for Gods cause according to Gods will Eccles. 7.14 chap. 3.4 There are several degrees of suffering for righteousness there is the scourge of the tongue The ruin of an estate the loss of liberty a Gaol a Gibbet a Stake a Dagger Now answerable to these are the comforts of the holy Ghost prepared like to like part proportioned to part only the consolations are said to abound 2 Cor. 1. But the lighter the sufferings are the more difficult it is to judge of the comforts of the spirit of God for 't is common for a man to be comfortable under sufferings when he suffereth but little and knows also that his enemy can touch his flesh his estate or the like but little I say 't is common for such a man to be comfortable in his sufferings from the consideration that his enemies can touch him no further And this may be the joy of the flesh the result of reason and may be very much if not altogether without a mixture of the joy of the holy Ghost therewith The more deep therefore and the more dreadful the sufferings are the more clearly are seen the comforts of the spirit when a man has comfort where the flesh is dead stirreth not and can do nothing When a man can be comfortable at the loss of all when he is under the sentence of death or at the place of execution When a mans cause a mans conscience the promise and the holy Ghost have all one comfortable voice and do all together with their Trumpets make one sound in the Soul then the comforts are good of the right kind of God and his spirit I told you before that there are several degrees of sufferings wherefore it is not to be expected that he that suffers but little should partake of the comforts that are prepared for them that suffer much He that has only the scourge of the tongue knows not what are the comforts that are prepared for him that meets with the scourge of the whip And how should a man know what manner of comforts the holy Ghost doth use to give at the Gaol and the Gibbet when himself for righteousness never was there But whether this or the other Christian knows it God has his consolations for his suffering people and those too such as are proportioned to the nature or degree of their sufferings The which shall assuredly be made appear to them that shall after a godly manner stick to his truth and trust him with their Souls Joseph was cast into Prison but God was with him John was banished into the Isle called Patmos for the word of God But what revelations of God had he there even such as he was a stranger to all his life before this therefore is to be well heeded For it is a demonstration of the faithfulness of God to those that suffering according to his will do commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Fourthly He will also be faithful to us in this He will not let the sharpness nor keenness nor venom of the arrows of the enemies of his people reach so far as to destroy both body and Soul at once but he will preserve them when what can be done is done to his eternal Kingdom and Glory Thus being preserved to his eternal Kingdom and glory is a m●rvellous thing But it must be so because God has called them to it Wherefore after Peter had told them that the Devil their adversary sought to devour them and had bidden them resist him stedfast in the faith he saith But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal Kingdom and glory by Christ Jesus after ye have suffered a while make you perfect strengthen stablish settle you 1 Pet. 5.8 9 10. The truth is persecution of the godly was of God never intended for their destruction but for their Glory and to make them shine the more when they are beyond this valley of the shadow of death Indeed we oft-times when we are perscuted do feel the terrors of our adversaries in our minds But 't is not because they can shoot them thither nor because they of themselves have power to reach so far but we like fools by our ignorance and unbelief do admit them thither No suffering nor inflicter of suffering can reach the peace of the sufferer without his own consent This is provision of Gods making Yea and if thorow our folly their terror is admitted to touch us yet since we are not our own but are bought with a price we are not so at our own dispose but that God will have the butting and bounding of their rage as also a power to uphold and support our spirits When I said my foot slipped thy mercy O Lord held me up And the reason why by Gods ordinance the spirit is not to be touched in suffering is because that is it that is to sustain the infirmity of the sufferer therefore God will have the spirit of his servants kept sound and in good health Prov. 18.14 Isaiah 57.16 The room therefore and the ground that the enemy has to play upon is the body and outward substance of the people of God but the spirit is reserved for the reason hinted before and also that it might be capable of maintaining of communion with God And how else could they obey that command that bids them rejoyce in tribulation and glorifie God in the fires as it is Rom. 12 and Isaiah 24.15 But I say if they have not power to touch much less to destroy body and Soul for ever The body is Gods and he gives that to them to destroy the spirit is Gods and he keeps that to himself to shew that he has both power to do with us what he pleases and that he will recover our body also out of their hand for if the spirit lives so must the body when men have done what they can therewith This is the argument of our Lord Jesus Christ himself Luke 20.37.38 Therefore the faithfulness of God not only is but also will be seen by them that dare trust him till the next World to his glory and their eternal comfort We will now conclude with a short word by way of use you see how I have opened the Text and what hath naturally followed thereupon from the whole of which may be gathered First that the people of God are a suffering people a people subject to trouble for their faith and profession The reason is besides what hath been said already because the power of truth is in their