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	people_n	zion_n	36	3	8.6912	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53699	The glory and interest of nations professing the Gospel preached at a private fast, to the Commons assembled in Parliament / published by their command, by J. Owen.	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1659 (1659)	Wing O756; ESTC R36623	17,858	32

man it waiteth not for the sons of man it will be a blessing let men do what they will it depends not on their uncertain and unstable Counsel on their weak and feeble strength This Remnant is as the Ark in the house of Obed Edom as Joseph in the house of Potiphar all is blessed and prospered for their sakes It is not the glorious battlements the painted windows the crouching Anticks that support a building but the stones that lie unseen in or upon the earth It is often those who are despised and trampled on that bear up the weight of an whole nation All the fresh springs of our blessings are in Sion It were easy to manifest that in all our late Revolutions we have turned on this hinge According as the presence of Christ with his people in the power of his spirit hath received entertainment in these nations so hath our state and condition been For many yeers before the begining of these troubles the Land had been full of oppression I mean in respect to the people of God Poverty imprisonment dangers banishment reproaches were their portion God was long patient at length the heighth of their Adversaries came to this that they set not themselves so much against their persons or wayes as against the spirit of Christ in and with them that was made their reproach that the by-word wherwith they were despised in the mouthes of their adversaries and the prophane multitude when things were come to this that the very presence of Christ with his people was made the direct object of the hatred of men the Lord could bear it no longer but sware by himself that time should be given them no more in this very house he raised up Saviours and deliverers on mount Sion to judge the mount of Edom and how did he carry on his work not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord of hosts as Zac. 4. 6. Even by that very spirit which had been reviled and despised Give me leave to say the work of judging this nation was carried on by the presence of the spirit of Christ with his in faith and prayer it was not by prudence of counsels or strength of Armies above that of our enemies that we prevailed but by faith and prayer and if any one be otherwise minded I leave him for his resolution to the judgement of the great day when all transactions shall be called over again The Adversaries themselves I am sure acknowledged it when they openly professed that there was nothing left for them to overcome or to overcome them but the prayers of the fanatick Crew After some years contending when the Lord had begun to give us deliverance by breaking the power of the enemy at least in this nation besides those bitter divisions that fell out among the people of God themselves and the backsliding of some to the cause and principles they had opposed this evil was also found rising again amongst us slighting blaspheming contemning under several pretences of the Spirit and presence of Christ in and with his Saints You know what ensued what shakings what revolutions with new wars bloodshed and desolation over the three Nations And give me leave to remember you as one that had opportunity to make observations of the passages of providence in those dayes in all the three Nations in the times of our greatest hazards give me leave I say to remember you that the publick declarations of those imployed in the affaires of this Nation in the face of the enemies their addresses unto God among themselves their prayers night and day their private discourses one with another were that the preservation of the interest of Christ in and with his people was the great thing that lay in their eyes and that if it were not so they desired that God would stop them in their way yea rather cause their carcases to fall in the high places of the field then to prosper them in that which should be contrary thereunto and we know what ensued How we have used our mercies is another matter this was the Principle that prevailed with God and man Vse 1. If you desire the Glory of these Nations labour to promote the interest of Christ in these nations I am not speaking unto you about disputable things differences among the people of God themselves nor am I interposing my advise in your civil affaires but I speak in general about those with whom Christ is present by his spirit his chosen ones against whom there is an old enmity in Sathan and the world The glory of these nations is that there is a people in them that have Christ in the midst of them let it be your businesse to take care for that Glory But how shall we do it 1. Labour personally every one of you to get Christ in your own hearts I am very far from thinking that a man may not be lawfully called to magistracy if he be not a believer or that being called he should be impeded in the execution of his trust and place becanse he is not so I shall not suspend my obedience whilst I enquire after my Lawful Governors conversion but yet this I say considering that I cannot much value any good but what comes in by the way of promise I confesse I can have no great expectation from them whom God loves not delights not in if any be otherwise minded I shall not contend with him but for this I will contend with all the world that it is your duty to labour to assure Christ in your own hearts even that you may be the better fitted for the work of God in the world It is the promise of God to Sion that her officers shal be peace and her exactours righteousnesse Isa. 60. 17. and then shall she call her walls salvation and her gates praise v. 18. It will be little advantage to any to have the work of God raised in the world and not to have the foundation stone laid in their hearts If there should be in any of you an enmity unto Christ and the power of Godlinesse and hatred and contempt of the people of God an evil heart of unbelief an evil course of life worldlinesse oppression vanity of minde c. would it advantage you to be entrusted with power in these nations Would it not hasten your destruction and increase your account It is a noble promise that we have Isai. 32. 17. And the work of righteousnesse shall be peace and the effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for ever It is a Gospel righteousnesse that is spoken of and that not of the cause as such onely but of the Persons the Persons being righteous and that with the righteousnesse of Christ the effects mentioned shall follow their righteous undertakings we have peace now outward peace but alasse we have not quietnesse and if any thing may be done that may give us quietnesse yet perhaps we may not have assurance