Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	adoption_n	cry_v	father_n	9,732	5	5.0154	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19499	A mirrour of mercie or The prodigals conuersion briefely, and learnedly expounded, and full of comfortable consolations for all penitent sinners. By William Cooper, minister of Gods word, and B. of Galloway.	Cowper, William, 1568-1619.	1615 (1615)	STC 5928; ESTC S119161	51,916	283

vs eat and be merry Vers. 24. For this my sonne was dead and is aliue againe and hee was lost but he is found and they beegan to be meery My helpe is in the name of the Lord. THis Parable may properlie bee called A mirrour of Mercy for in it the Lord laieth opē vnto vs the bowels of his fatherly loue and compassion toward penitent sinners hee proclaimed once by word his name to Moses The Lord strong mercifull and gracious slow to anger aboundant in mercy and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquity transgressions and sins By many proofes sensiue hath hee declared it heere most clearly he shadowes it Setting downe to vs one a most miserable sinner worthy to bee condemned yet vpon his repentance gratiously pardoned for an example of the like mercy to bee shewed vnto all who after this manner repenting of their sins shall returne vnto the Lord their God To this purpose hath our Sauior deliliuered before two Parables One of the wandring sheepe an other of the lost peece of mony and now hee adioynes the third of the Prodigall child It is not without great cause that our Sauior takes such paines to confirme vs in this point For it is a difficill thing yea a supernaturall worke to perswade a guilty sinner of Gods mercy the reason is because the law which threatens a curse against the transgressors of her commandements is naturally written in euery mans heart and the sentence of death due to sinne by capital letters is grauen in the conscience so that it is true of all sinners which the Apostle speaketh of one sort that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as haue within themselues against themselues pronounced a ditty of damnation and euery man may feele in himselfe a conscience armed not vn like that Cherubin with a sword of wrath shaking against him and telling him that his sinne hath made him vnworthy to enter in the paradise of God Whereof it comes to passe that miserable man abiding vnder the bondage of sinful nature perisheth in one of these two fearfull sickenesses of the soule atheisme or desperation The first is a most dangerous and deadly disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and opens a dore to all kind of impiety for what wickednesse will not that man commit who beeing blinded by the deceit of sinne is brought to thinke there is no God nor iudgement to come But against this dangerous and deuouring poison the Lord hath prouided most effectuall Antidots for besides the works and the word of God w ch cry out that there is a God hee preserueth euen in the most corrupt conscience such a light as forces the deepest contemner to feare that same God-head which he denies and so proues it true in all Atheists which Cicero spake of one Metrodorus Nec quenqnam vidi qui magis ea timeret quae timenda esse negaret I neuer saw any more feared for which he said was not to be feared at all And thus the Atheist being wakened out of the sound sleep of Atheisme and brought to some sense and feare of a Diuinitie is incontiuent sore oppressed with the other euill of desperation for the first thing that a guilty soule apprehends in God is iudgement and wrath the conscience sending out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accusing cogitatiōs which conclude within thē against themselues a condemnatory sentence and in this hee that hath escaped the first shall not faile to perish if ● doore of mercy be not opened vnto him And heere againe many are deceiued by presumption who thinke the way of mercy plaine easie well enough known and that they are sure they haue it But alas they flatter themselues with a conceit of it who had neuer the certainty of it All haue no faith who speake of it Many are called few are chosen The kingdome of heauen suffers violence If Adam after one transgression ran away from the Lord afraid at his voice and presēce in whō he delighted before what maruel his sinful children guilty of so many transgressions like perturbed and confounded men fearing his iudgements runne from him and fall into the gulfe of despaire And if Ioseph and Mary hauing lost the cōpany of Christ but for one day not regarding him as they should were three daies in seeking before they could finde him againe shal men who so long a time liued strangers from the life of God bee so foolish as to thinke it requires no paines no labour to seeke him to finde and to bee reconciled with him But if they can get onely in their ending day one word to cry for mercy they are sure to obtaine it Let vs not be so farre deceiued it is no wisdome to hazard so great a matter as is our eternall saluation vpon so small an aduenture To cure therefore these great euils specially the last two of desperation and presumption by many waies doth the Lord draw vs to an experience and sense of his mercy and then to a conscience of our dutie towards him for where before the Cherubin an Angell was set at the entry of Paradise with a shaking sword to hold out man wee haue now the Christ the Lord of Angels with the keies of Dauids house to open Paradise vnto vs and as conscience within vs cries condemnation to vs for sinne so the spirit of adoption sent into our hearts from the Father cries with a stronger voice absolution from sinne No condemnation to thē which are in Christ. And against the terrour of the Law and curses thereof wee haue the grace of the Gospell full of sweet b●essings both promised and practised toward penitent sinners And for this one purpose it is that our Sauiour here triples the Parable to make vp vnto vs the stronger preseruatiue against our naturall disease of distrust and desperation For so as Ioseph spake to Pbaroah of his doubled visiō The dreme is doubled to Pharao the secōd time because the thing is established by God God hastes to performe it May we also speake of this tripled parable Iesus hath done it to shew the heires of promise the stability of his Counsell for it is a decree established with God to shew mercie to the penitent and he will hasten to performe it Now as it is a great worke to make the soule guilty of sinne conceiue any sense of of mercy so the soule once hauing conceiued it is easily moued through the sense of mercy to return vnto the Lord as we may see in this example Many are the arguments whereby wee are mooued to repentance but among thē all none goes so neere the hearts of his kindly children to pricke them with a godly sorrow for their sins as the sense of Gods mercie when they consider how good the Lord was vnto them before they sinned Haue I

ho it is enough No though thou couldst liue Methusalems daies hadst the strength of all bodies into one bodie the more thou serue the pleasures of sinne the lesse shalt thou bee satiate by them O miserable seruitude wherein doe what thou wilt an insatiable hunger still oppresseth thee Euery wicked man by vnhappy experience shall at length prooue in himself that which now he heares in this Prodigall Vers. 17. Then hee came to himselfe againe Now followeth the second most comfortable part of the Prodigall wherein is set downe how this Prodigall sonne returneth home againe to his Father we haue all beene like him in wandring happy are they who are also like him in returning The word whereby his repentance is expressed is worthy obseruation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee came to himselfe What was he then before when hee was in his sinnes Nought else but a man out of himselfe out of his wits as repentance in the Scriptures is frequently described to bee a returning vnto God so also a returning to our selues returne to your minde O transgressors in true repentance Electorum corda ad ●eredeunt the hearts of the elect returne to themselues for a man going from the Lord goeth also from himselfe if hee grieues the Lord hee hurts himselfe in forgetting and forsaking the Lord hee forgets and forsakes himselfe also and is but like a mad man a phrentike a possessed man with vncouth furies with vncleane spirits hee is not as our prouerb is his owne man this should waken in vs a pitty and commiseration of men walking in their sinnes euen to pray to God for them as our Sauiour and Saint Stephen did for the persecuting Iewes Father forgiue them for they know not what they are doing The Lord open their eies to see it And he said Before his resolution the motiues of his resolution are set down and these are two First the sense of his owne misery next the hope and trust of mercy in his father These are the two eies of a penitent sinner one whereby he seeth his miserie and that chaseth him out of himselfe another whereby hee seeth Gods mercy and that maketh him bold to come to the Lord hee can not taste the sweetnesse of Gods mercy who in some measure is not first touched with the sense of his misery indeed miserie may bee felt without mercy but not mercy without some sense of misery some thinke themselus ●●re of mercy th●t were neuer humbled with the sense of misery these are deceiued by presumption others againe feeles their misery and see no mercy and these if they abide so fall in desperation This esperance of mercy is nourished in his heart by consideration of his fathers liberall dealing euen towards hired seruants which maketh him confident to looke for goodnesse toward himselfe that was his sonne How many hired seruants in my fathers house hath bread enough This house of his father represents the Church of God this is The family of God distinguished in two houses in the vpper house there are none but the sonnes of God in the lower house besides sonnes there are also hired seruants which shall not abid in the house foreuer and euer vnto these the Lord is good and gratious how much more vnto his owne children He that maketh his Sunne to shine and the raine to fall on the vniust he that cloatheth the Lillies of the field and feedeth the foules of heauen will he not be fauourable to his owne Are not ye much better then they But to goe further the mercy of God which hee sheweth to his children is not onely to comfort them who receiue it but to conuert and confirme others also It is true of all his mercies which Saint Paul speakes of the mercies shewed himselfe they are exemplar mercies euery time that Gods shewes mercie there is a boxe of precious ointment powred out not only for the good of him vpon whom it descends but that the sweet smell thereof may allure others to come and get the like Thy name is as an ointment powred out therefore the Virgins loue thee Let vs goe then to the Poole of Bethesda there wee shall see a great multitude of all sorts of diseased men made whol by the waters of Siloā all of thē allure vs assure vs that if wee will doe as they haue done wee shall be healed as they were whatsoeuer be our di●ease Looke all the hystory of the Gospel we shall not finde one touched with a sense of their misery that came to Christ and went away comfortlesse The lepers the lunaticks the Adulterers the Demoniacks the Paraliticks the Publicans and all sort of miserable sinners stand vp as a clowde of witnesses to confirme thee that if thou wilt also returne to the Lord and seeke mercy thou shalt finde it The other motiue of his repentance is the sense of his present miserie in these words And I die of hunger It is the wisdome of God by crosses to correct our corruption feare or trouble shall make you to vnderstand the hearing What they cannot learne by the word he causeth them to learne it by affliction When all these things shall come vpon thee then shalt thou turne in thy heart and returne vnto the Lord thy God It is a great blessing of God when his crosses beecome corrections Corrigunt maketh a man better then he was and chaseth him homeward towards the Lord. It is needfull it is profitable for vs to drinke of this cup. I neuer knew any that learned true religion without some grieuous affliction inward or outward A sore famine sent the Lord vpon Canaan in the daies of Iacob was it because hee loued not Iacob No but that he might chase him to Ioseph Sore affliction laid he on Iacobs children in Aegypt by the hands of Phar●● was it because he loued them not No but that he might make them weary of Aegypt and draw thē to Canaan againe Manasse his bonds M●riam her leprosse Pauls blindnesse the Prodigall his pouerty among many moe may witnesse what great good GOD workes by his crosse in the hearts of his children Therefore the Prophet Dauid said It was good for me that I haue beene afflicted And good were it for impenitent wanton ones that God would make them beare the yoake in their youth and would doe to them as hee promiseth to doe to his Church that is by his rods bring her home againe to himselfe I will stop thy way with thorn●s and make an hedge that she shall not finde her pathes though shee follow after her louers yet shall shee not come neere them then shee shall say I will goe and returne to my first husband for I was better then then now The felicity of men prospering in their sinnes is great infelicity Nihil infaelicius faelicitate peccantium therefore said Nazianzen peccatum