Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	according_a	heart_n	zion_n	52	3	9.0417	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86450	The valley of vision, or A clear sight of sundry sacred truths. Delivered in twenty-one sermons; by that learned and reverend divine, Richard Holsvvorth, Dr. in Divinity, sometimes Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, Master of Emanuel Colledge, and late preacher at Peters Poore in London. The particular titles and texts are set downe in the next leafe.	Holdsworth, Richard, 1590-1649.; Holdsworth, Richard, 1590-1649. Peoples happinesse.	1651 (1651)	Wing H2404; Thomason E631_1; ESTC R202438	355,440	597

not yet learned to play the Hypocrites wee are not come so farre as the Pharisees we are not come so farre as to dissigure our faces There is no man almost turnes his countenance that turnes his eye to the ground We are smitten but we are not sensible Gods hand presseth us but we are not humbled the Fan is sent out but we are not winnowed wee are a corrupt floore and a corrupt generation that goe on still We are out of the way we and our Princes and Nobles and as our fathers before us so we have done evill as Daniel saith still we are a rebellious people I may aske Chrisostomes question that he asked the people of Antioch who is there among us all that his heart smites him who is there among us all that once grieves for sinne that once smites on his Thigh that makes his hand smite upon his breast to recal himselfe to turne to the Lord Nay wee may say as the Prophet of the people of Israell Jer. 3. I called but they would not turne and in Jer. 8. I hearkned and heard to see if there were any that would leave their wicked wayes but behold there was no man they all went on in the imaginations of their owne hearts and none said what have I done Or as the house of Judah Jerem. 18. I called to them for the forsaking of their sinnes but they gave me this answer Nay but as for us we will walke in the devises if our hearts and doe that which is delightfull in our owne eyes and according to the imaginations of our owne Spirits It is the answer that wee returne generally to God though we say it not with our lips we resolve to walke according to the devises of our owne hearts and what are those the devises of pride and vanitie of fraud and iniquitie and of lying and reviling one another and these are the devices of our owne hearts not the devises of Gods Spirit and of his law and these are the answers that we returne Nay but we will walke according to the devises of our owne hearts I cannot tell into what principle I shall resolve what should be the cause of so much impenitencie and hardnes Were it so that God had set us hard conditions I should cease to wonder but the conditions are easie it is but Turn to me Were it that we were not sensible of these things and heard not these doctrines in our eares I should not wonder but we heare them and harden our heart It can be nothing but the Spirit of securitie and drowsinesse that Isaiah speakes of that possesseth us The Spirit of slumber is on them and they have closed the eyes of their understanding Wee sleepe and promise our selves good dayes when God pronounceth evill It were well if it were no more but a Spirit of slumber there might be hope that we should awake but it is as a Spirit of derision of scorne like Job's horse that laughs at destruction we laugh when our feare cometh and as his horse is described there so men goe on in sin they rush into the battell though they be to encounter with God as if they were able to meet with judgements I have oft wondred that upon all those inducements to seeke heaven and salvation that men should neglect it so much and I see the reason is because men love life temporall better then eternall earth is heaven this world is better then the other yet that is some reason because this life hath som what sensible and we are lead by sense it must be a heart of faith that lookes after the other life sensible men will looke to this life But this I wonder at that men should not only love temporall life better then eternall but that men should love sinne better then life There is nothing that a man hath in this world better then life he will part with skin for skin arme after arme thousands after thousands with eye and skin and arme and all to save his life shall we be willing to part with those and not with sinne after sinne were it once said and all that a man had committed would he give for his life it were something if we would part with sinne after sinne no but wee love sinne beter then life and that is the reason though wee be in danger we goe on in sinne Remember the voyce of him that calleth God could not propound to you a more gracious way turne by prayer and repentance There are many bonds that will put us upon it The bond of nature cals upon us all creatures turne to God the insensible creatures the Ravens and Lyons they turne to God and seeke their meat of him shall we be more insensible then they There is not only the bond of nature but of obedience God cals upon us to turne we owe so much obedience to his command we owe it in dutie it is a dutie God will make us come in by the lure of judgement whether we will or no. The bond of thankefulnesse cals upon us whatsoever we have is from God the blessings of this life and the hopes of a better our health and strength and meanes and countenance our wits and comforts the hope of salvation and the hope of the pardon of sinne all is from God by the bond of thankefulnesse let us turne to him that gives us all that is the fountaine of all blessings we have none but from him Further there is the bond of necessitie that if we turne not to God we can turne no where if he take away his countenance we are consumed into our first dust and it were well if wee were resolved into that but wee are turned into Hel when God takes away the light of his countenance Hell is where God is not O! whether shall I turne saith Bernard that I may turne to the Lord whither shall I goe but to thee say the Disciples Thou hast the words of eternall life whom have I in heaven but thee or what in earth in comparison of 〈◊〉 whether shall we flie from God if we cannot flie ●●rom him there is a bond of necessitie that we returne to him If there were no love necessitie should constraine us to turne to God Againe there is the bond of congruitie God turnes to us and he turnes first and he turnes woing and beseeching and intreating that we would returne to him and love our selves if wee will not love God yet let us love our selves and conform to Gods gracious affection that supreame Majestie that is pleased to descend from that high Throne to turne to sinfull man and to call upon him and he turnes to us now when he speakes to us and he turnes to us ever in granting our Prayers and in exercising his long-suffering daily that bond of congruitie should make us turne Yet that is not all There is the bond of experience in our selves that when we have turned to him heretofore he

companie blessed the wombe that bare him Lek 11.28 he presently replies Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it In like manner the Prophet David having first premised the inferiour part and outside of an happy condition fearing lest any should of purpose mistake his meaning and hearing the first proposition should either there set up their rest and not at all take in the second or if take it in yet do it preposterously and give it the precedence before the second according to the worlds order virtus post nummos In this respect he puts in the clause of revocation whereby he shews that these outward things though named first yet they are not to be reputed first The particle Yea removes them to the second place it tacitly transposeth the order and the path of piety which was locally after it placeth virtually before 'T is as if he had said Did I call them happy who are in such a case Nay miserable are they if they be onely in such a case The temporall part cannot make them so without the spirituall Admit the windows of the visible heaven were opened and all outward blessings powred down upon us admit we did perfectly enjoy whatsoever the vastnesse of the earth contains in it tell me What will it profit to gain all and to lose God If the earth be bestowed upon us and not heaven or the materiall heaven be opened and not the beatificall or the whole world made ours and God not ours we do not arrive at happinesse All that is in the first proposition is nothing unlesse this be added Yea happy are the people which have the LORD for their God You see in this part there is aliquid quod eminet something which is transcendent Therefore I will enquire into two particulars see both what it is that transcends and what is the manner of propounding of it The manner of propounding it is as I said corrective or by way of revocation the summe whereof is thus much That temporalls without spiritualls in what aboundance soever we possesse them cannot make us truly happy They cannot make happy because they cannot make good They may denominate a man to be rich or great or honourable but not to be virtuous Nay Seneca carrieth it a little further Non modò non faciunt bonum fed nec divitem They are so farre from making a man good that they make him not truly rich because they encrease desire and riches consist in contentation Not he that hath little but he that desires more is poor nor he that hath much but he that wants nothing is rich Yea and we may go further then Seneca They are so farre from making good that they often make evill if they be not sanctified they possesse the heart with vile affections fill it full of carnall and sinfull desires Wheras there are foure good mothers which bring forth ill daughters prosperitie is one Truth begets hatred securitie danger familiaritie contempt prosperitie pride and forgetfulnesse of God In this I might well make a stop but there is one degree more They are so farre from making good that they do not bring good but many evils and inconveniences They bring not the good of contentment but infinite distractions they are aureae compedes as S. Bernard speaks fetters or manicles which entangle the soul that it cannot attend upon better things Nor the good of freedome they do enthrall the soul to that which is worse then it self and it cannot be apprehended how a thing worse then our selves can make us happy Lastly not the good of safetie for they oftentimes expose us to dangers Multos sua felicitas stravit as Gregorie speaks Many men their lives had been longer if their riches had been lesse their happinesse made them miserable consolationes factae sunt desolationes as S. Bernard again Upon these grounds the Psalmist had very good reason to sequester them from true happinesse and by this corrective particle to reduce them to the second place though he set them in the first He knew very well that they are burdens shares impediments to piety as often as furtherances He knew them to be vain and transitory things Prov. 23.5 that we cannot hold They make themselves wings as Solomon speaks They are onely the moveables of happinesse Bractealis felicitas as Seneca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen What 's that S. Austin seems to translate it felicitas fallax a fabulous and personate felicitie Nay not onely fallax but falsa fictitious spurious deceitfull which leaves the soul empty when it most fills it that being most true which the same Father adds felicitas fallax major infelicitas falsa felicitas vera miseria Therefore that I may shut up this point let this be the use of it We must learn from hence to regulate our judgements according to the wisdome of the Spirit revealed in the word And that we may do if we keep to Gods method and set every thing in the due place where God hath seated it Now the Scripture constantly doth give the inferiour place to these temporall things If to come after be inferiour it sets them there Seek first the kingdome of God c. Matth. 6.33 If to be below be inferiour it placeth them there Set your affection on things above c. Coloss 3.2 Even gold and silver the best of these things they are seated under the feet of men and the whole world under the feet of a Christian Rev. 12.1 to teach us to despise it Lastly if to be on the left hand be inferiour the Scripture reckons them there too they are called the blessings of the left hand to teach us to give them the same place in our affections In one sense we may put them on the right by using them to God's glorie but in love and esteem they must be on the left S. Hierome illustrates it by this similitude As flax when it is on the distaffe it is on the left hand but when it is spunne into yarn and put on the spindle it is on the right so temporall things in themselves when first we receive them they are as flax on the distaffe all this while on the left hand but spinne them forth and use them to God's glorie they are as yarn on the spindle transposed to the right Thus we must learn to order them to the right hand onely for use to the left for valuation Otherwise if we pervert God's order and put them on the right it is to be feared they will set us on the left at the day of judgement if we elevate them above they will keep us below and make us come after if we set them before The highest place they can have is to be seconds to pietie here holy David placeth them though he mentions pietie last yet he giveth it the precedence in this word of revocation Yea happie that is Yea first yea more

that it assures it to us These two are still joyned in Scripture the cross and the blessing Tribulation and happiness Seeing the Scripture joynes them take heed that we doe not sever them There are two onely wayes whereby we may sever them First doe not sever Tribulation from blessednesse that is one take heed that we doe not that How is that A man then severs Tribulation from the blessing when he would faine be partaker of the beatitude but not indure the Tribulation As there be many men that are very good in their judgement of blessednesse and think beatitude is the best estate yet they are loath to have the Crosse along halfe their judgement is good and halfe naught Remember God hath joyned them he hath made Tribulation walke before If we will reigne with Christ we must suffer with him If we looke to live with Christ we must also endure with him if we will have the reward we must look to the condition Look over all the Scripture and you shall find that no Saint of God was ever exempted from Tribulation Et labor dolor c. as one sayth from the very first man that came into the World to the end godly men have still thornes in their way persecution and trouble and suffering The whole World is as a great Furnace or as a great Ship that carries a great many souls that are in jeopardie of the floud still So the World is to men it is more then so to a Christian the Marks at which the Arrows of Tribulation are shot are especially the whitest marks the fairest marks those that are pure and undefiled in the way The Scriptures doe no where promise the blessing without the Tribulation Nemo c. sayth a Father let no man flatter himselfe and promise himselfe that that the Scripture doth not promise The Scripture no where promiseth blessing to the course of the impenitent no where to them that decline the Crosse but to them that take it up If the blessing be joyned to Tribulation let us joine them and not sever them that is the first Secondly as we must not sever tribulation from blessednesse so we must not sever blessedness from Tribulation How is that done Men sever blessedness from Tribulation when they pronounce godly men miserable because they indure tribulation in the World The World accounts them miserable that God accounts happy those whom God hath made happy it is very vaine and rash judgement for men to pronounce them miserable Generally we think so we think them miserable men though they be holy and righteous if they be oppressed with Tribulation we measure all for the present We must not sever blessedness from tribulation It is just as people that are ignorant when they see the Sun Eclipsed they think the Sun hath no light because for the time it is darkened they think there is no Sun because it is cloudy or that the Sun is lost because he is so to sence Worldly men are Creatures of sence they cannot judge of spirituall things they see the discomforts of godly men they cannot see their comforts The discomforts are without the comforts are within the one is discerned by the carnall the other by the spirituall eye Therefore they conclude they are miserable because they see not their happinesse just as St. Austin sayth as if a man should conclude that the Sea were not deepe because there are shallows towards the shore or that the whole Earth were not fruitfull because there are some Desarts barren or that the frame of it were not round because there are Mountainous places so it is with these temporall afflictions The Mountaines and Hills carry no proportion to so great a body to hinder the perfect roundnesse of the Earth Blessednesse is that that belongs to godly men afflictions and Tribulations as mole●hills and un-even places cannot hinder their happinesse In their owne sight it may sometimes it may be there are shallows in Tribulation but glory the Sea is deepe for all that there is deepe glory and comfort reserved for them Heare the pronunciation of the Spirit of God ofter then once Behold we account them happy that suffer saith the Apostle you account them miserable but we account them happy and I think we have the spirit of God he might have said so the spirit of God taught them all these truths we account them happy blessed is the man that endureth temptation Well what is the summ and the use Seing that it is thus pronounced to those that endure Tribulation we all are in love with blessednesse we all desire that if we be desirers of happinesse let us doe wisely take that course that may bring us thither labour to be found in that number that it is promised to if we be found out of that number we must not looke for blessednesse Every man that shall inherit blessednesse must be in the compasse of those quallified persons that it is promised to labour to be of that number I tell you blessednesse is promised to holiness Blessed are the pure in heart He that gets purity of heart hath assurance of blessednesse blessedness is promised to the meek to the poor in spirit to those that feare God and trust in him let us be qualified according to the condition of these persons and we have assurance of blessedness Come to the Text here is a promise To whom is it To those that are at ease in Zion Or to those that Crowne themselves with Rose-buds That let no pleasures passe those that stretch themselves upon beds of Ivory that chant to the sound of the Organ Those that make their Heaven Earth and make their happiness pleasures is the promise to them No it is woe that is threatened to them those that eat Gods people as bread it is not blessing but a woe to them and the woe sleeps not To whom is the promise here Breifly besides all the other promises in Scripture here is one of the principall Blessed is the man that endureth temptation If we be of that number here is blessedness That is the first part the reward promised it is a great and full reward blessedness Now I come from the generall proposition of the reward to the particular That is to goe from good to better though there be nothing better then blessedness yet in our apprehension something may make it more lively in our apprehension to our capacity That is in the otherword the man that endures Tribulation shall receive the Crowne of life that is the particular reward Blessedness is the generall the Crowne of life is the particular And in these words as St. Crysostome sayth well there is great Emphasis they are both emphaticall for life is the best of all naturall things and a Crowne is the best of all things civill Here is the best and the best O then what a blessing and a good is a Crowne and life both joyned together and these in a spirituall