Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A56123
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Truth unvail'd by scripture-light In three parts. Written for the sake of those that desire to behold it in its native beauty. To which is added, an appendix, which the author desires to leave as a legacy to his children. By a despised follower of the blessed Jesus, Robert Prudom.
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Prudom, Robert.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing P3883; ESTC R218355
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94,157
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208
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experience and that is by leading a poor sensible Sinner to the Declaration of the Sufferings of the Blessed Jesus and conveying the Declaration into the Soul and with it giving the Soul an inward Glance of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ from whom the Soul by the help of the Spirit doth draw such Virtue as causeth an immediate removal of inward Guilt which the Soul hath contracted by Sin and under much Brokenness the Soul is brought to close with him Where this Closure is witnessed there doth an Intercourse with the Father attend it The Name of the Blessed Jesus is with this Closure engraven so on the Heart that the Injoyment of him becomes exceeding pleasant and comfortable 3ly I shall proceed to shew how the Holy Spirit doth break down Corruption in the Soul and carries on the Work of Sanctification 1. By discovering unto the Soul the polluting Nature of Sin that unless the Soul be preserved from it Communion with a holy God cannot be enjoyed It leads the Soul to watch against Temptations that draw into Sin and it leads the Soul through Christ to the Father for power to be kept from it The Lord Jesus Christ as Mediator is the Person upon the account of whose Worthiness the Soul craves help from God No sooner is the Soul come before God to seek him in its private Addresses but if Christ be enjoy'd by Faith the Outgoings of the Heart are to him and through him to the Father The Soul claims a Right of Relation or Kindred with him and so useth Plainness of Speech with him about its State and Condition and by beholding that its own nature in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ stands nighly related to the Father it puts him upon taking its Condition and the managing of it into his own hands as being able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him seeing he ever lives to make Intercession for them 2. The Spirit of God doth put the Soul upon seeking unto God for more light that so those Seeds of Sin that lie undiscovered in the Soul may not only be brought to light but likewise be rooted out as saith the Psalmit Search me O God and know my Heart try me and know my Thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Such is the nature of Holiness in the Souls of the Saints that it would have the very Seeds of Corruption removed and as the Spirit of God doth put the Soul upon the using that means which God hath appointed for the subduing of Sin and Corruption so it likewise doth not only beget a Principle of Grace in the Soul by the Soul's Union with the Lord Jesus Christ but by its inward Supplies it puts fresh Vigor and Life into it by which the Heart comes more and more to be led forth unto God to seek after him and engaged more closely to follow him 3. The H. Spirit doth encourage the Soul to persevere in the Way that leads to Communion with God by letting the Soul feel the peaceable Fruit that it doth bear in it in this Life and likewise that eternal Happiness that it fits the Soul for in glory The Saints sow in Tears here but they shall reap in Joy they go on their way weeping bearing pretious Seed but at the Morning of the Resurrection then they shall appear bearing their Sheaves with them I come now in the third place to prove how all this is subservient to the Decree of Election and answers the designs of it Ephesians the first Chapter ver 3 4 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly places in Christ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will to the praise of the glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved Compared with the first Epistle of Peter the first Chapter 2 3 4 5th Verses Elect according to the Fore-knowledg of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ Grace unto you and Peace be multiplied Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time These Scriptures do fully prove the Truths of which I have been treating the Oneness of the Covenant of Grace and Redemption for here the Decree as it proceeds from God is eternal and passeth through Time into Eternity to the effecting or perfecting what was designed by it Can any Person separate the means comprehended in the Womb of the Decree to attain the End and not do manifest Wrong to the Decree it self Let the serious Reader judg Here is the Lord Jesus Christ the second Person in the Godhead set up by the Decree as the Head of the Elect all the Elect comprehended in him He appears in a State of Humiliation for the Elect they have the Offers of Grace by him and are brought to give Obedience to the Offers have his Blood applied to their Souls for their Justification and through him have the Spirit sanctifying them and by his mighty Power bringing them to the Glory which the Decree hath designed for them All these outward Acts which were transacted in time were but the gradual fulfilling of what was comprehended in the Decree which in it self was eternal which I hope doth prove that which was designed by the second Part of this Book that is that the Covenant of Grace and Redemption is but one Covenant For a Conclusion This Doctrine administers a great deal of Comfort to those that have the Marks of Election already wrought in their Souls to see their Salvation sixt upon such a sure Foundation and the Accomplishment in such a way as brings the greatest Motives with it to Humility and Thankfulness of engaging the Heart unto God And for those that are under the means which lead to attain the End it is not discouraging Doctrine to them because who are comprehended in the Decree is a Secret wholly reserved to God alone and we no otherwise know that our selves or others are in it but as we come under effectual Calling which is that which opens the Door into it Therefore it is in vain for the Creature to think to know what God at present conceals from him any other way but that which is of his own appointing Secret things belong to
took he Counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the Path of Judgment and taught him Knowledg and shew'd him the way of Vnderstanding Behold the Nations are as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small Dust of the Balance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing The Majesty and the infinite Power that is in God when some glimmering of it is beheld by the Soul how doth it lay it in the Dust before him and make it willing to be resigned up unto him to be disposed of by him For as his own Pleasure and his own Glory was the moving Cause why he created Angels and Men so in disposing of them according to his own good Pleasure who shall say to the most High Why dost thou thus God will be honoured by all his Creatures in a way of Mercy or in a way of Justice That he secured part of the Angels in the state wherein he created them is infinite Grace to them that he gave up others that fell from him to follow the Counsel of their own Wills and to persist in a course of Rebellion against him that so they might glorify the Attribute of his Justice is no Injustice in him the Evil which they brought upon themselves being a voluntary Act of their own That part of the Offspring of Adam are rescued out of their fallen state by rich and free Grace whilst the rest are left to the Light or Law of the first Covenant under which the great Creator hath placed them determining to proceed towards them according to the Tenor of that Covenant which they stand under before him is his own good pleasure In clearing up the Soveraignty of God I shall proceed a little further and before I leave it open two or three Scriptures in Job Chap. 2.3 And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright Man one that feareth God and escheweth Evil and still he holdeth fast his Integrity altho thou movedst me against him to destroy him that is in his outward Estate without cause From hence I observe that Sin was not the moving cause why that great outward Calamity fell upon Job but an Act of God's Soveraignty over his Creature intending to bring Glory to himself out of the Misery of his Servant of whom he might dispose as he pleased without the least Injustice And Job beholding God dealing with him in a way of Soveraignty his Soul was kept in a right frame before him ver 9 10. Then said his Wife unto him Dost thou still retain thy Integrity Curse God and die But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women Shall we receive Good at the hand of God and shall we not receive Evil The best Support for God's Children when under Affliction is to look at the Soveraignty of God that so they may be kept from murmuring against him When we look up unto God as no ways bound to us but as he is pleased himself it makes us stoop before him and when the Soul goeth from its Duty here it goeth from that which should support it in Peace and Quietness An Example we have in Job when he begun to stand upon terms with God how was his Spirit unsettled as Chap. 31. from ver 1 to the 35th and then he breaks forth O that one would hear me Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me And in ver 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps as a Prince would I go near unto him Look forward into Job 40. from ver 1 to 15. and we find that God doth come forth to answer Job but how doth he answer him Doth he give Job an account why he brought such Calamity upon him No he stands upon his Soveraignty ver 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him He that reproveth God let him answer it Doth Job now make good what he said that he would declare unto him the number of his steps as a Prince doth he go nigh unto him No he falls under him ver 3 4. Then Job answered the Lord and said Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Here is the end of the Creatures standing upon terms with God and here is the safety of God's Children to endeavour to witness a humble submissive frame of Spirit to him I have treated hitherto of the Soveraignty of God I come now under the second Head to shew that Election proceeds from God as an Act of Grace and Goodness the advancing of his own Glory being that which is carried on in the Decree of Election Rom. 9.23 And that he might make known the Riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory For altho God was infinitely happy in himself yet so great is his condescending Grace to those whom he doth by his eternal Decree choose to be Vessels of Mercy that he is pleased to manifest of his Goodness to them and to take them into a state of eternal Glory with himself nothing foreseen at all in them being the moving Cause of God's choosing of them the only Cause being the good Pleasure of his Will 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which is given us in Christ Jesus before the World began Chap. 2.19 Nevertheless the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his This Doctrine administreth great Comfort to the Saints who feel the Work of Election upon their Hearts that their Salvation standeth by God's eternal Decree that cannot be changed and not in themselves that daily might lose it How doth this make the Saints love God to the uttermost who hath manifested so great Love to them How doth this serve to humble them that they had nothing of themselves for their Salvation but it freely came from God Thirdly I shall proceed to shew how the Lord Jesus Christ is made the Head of the Elect and the way through which electing Love doth pass to every elect Person I shall prove it by these following Reasons 1st Because that our Nature in him was fitted as a Tabernacle for the receiving of the eternal Word the second Person in the Godhead the Holy Ghost by his incomprehensible Power working his Conception supernaturally purifying that Matter of which his Human Nature was taken in the Womb of the Virgin so that his Nature had not the least Defilement in it The Divine Nature and the Human Nature became united in him to him run all the Promises and to all the Elect as they are united in him 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us that through him