Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	apostle_n	receive_v	zion_n	33	3	8.6144	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33971	Par nobile two treatises, the one concerning the excellent woman, evincing a person fearing the Lord to be the most excellent person, discoursed more privately upon occasion of the death of the Right Honourable the Lady Frances Hobart late of Norwich, from Pro. 31, 29, 30, 31 : the other discovering a fountain of comfort and satisfaction to persons walking with God, yet living and dying without sensible consolations , discovered from Psal. 17, 15 at the funerals of the Right Honourable the Lady Katherine Courten, preached at Blicklin in the county of Norfolk, March 27, 1652 : with the narratives of the holy lives and deaths of those two noble sisters / by J.C.	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.; Collinges, John, 1623-1690. Excellent woman.; Collinges, John, 1623-1690. Light in darkness.	1669 (1669)	Wing C5329; ESTC R26441	164,919	320

he foreknew such a day he believed it he hoped for it and rejoyced So Hearing in Scripture often indeed most ordinarily signifieth much more than bare hearing viz. hearkening attentive hearing believing obeying So for words signifying Passion Thus the wrath and anger of God in Scripture when it is threatned doth not only signifie Gods just will to punish but also his acts of vindicative justice I will bear the indignation of the Lord saith the Prophet because I have sinned against him That is I will bear those punishments which the wrath of the Lord hath brought upon me So here The fear of the Lord doth not only signifie an inward awe and dread of God caused by the Spirit of God in the hearts of creatures upon the apprehension of Gods Majesty Greatness Power Glory Goodness or other Attributes but it also importeth all those external acts all that outward deportment and behaviour which naturally flow or which according to the divine rule should flow from that principle So that the woman fearing Jehovah is not only she who in the contemplation of the Majesty Power Greatness Glory Justice and Goodness of God reverenceth and dreadeth him carrying in her heart a continual awe of the great God of Heaven and Earth which makes her heart and thoughts stoop and bow at the meditation or hearing of him in consideration of that infinite Majesty Glory Greatness and Power which naturally require that homage from every reasonable nature but also in the whole of her conversation in all her actions both before and towards God and men in obedience to that principle of Religion Fear exerciseth her self in all things to keep a good conscience void of offence not daring to do any thing which may provoke this God to displeasure whom she thus dreadeth and being exactly careful to do all things which and as he commandeth This is the woman fearing Jehovah so far as we have yet discovered her But this is not all which this term importeth Once more 3. It is very ordinary as in other Writings so in holy Writ by a figure called Synechdoche to express a part of a thing for the whole Look as the Philosopher saith of moral virtues Virtutes sunt concatenatae the Virtue like beads are all strung in a chain and none can properly be denominated virtuous who in some degree or other hath not all habits of virtue So I may say in matters of grace The graces of Gods Spirit are in a chain too Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of the chains about thy neck Cant. 4. 9. A man cannot have one but he must have all of them nor from a single habit can any be denominated a gracious person in regard of this concatenation of grace It is ordinary in Scripture to find a gracious person expressed Synechdochically under the notion of one singular special habit of grace especially some one more principal operative habit Now of all habits there are none more operative than those of Fear and Love None that take more hold on the souls or whose influence upon it is more evident Hence in Scripture it is very ordinary to find an holy gracious person expressed under the notion of one fearing God or one that loveth God Divines have observed that the former is more common to the Old Testament which gives account to the Church of God under its Paedagogical estate when the dispensation of the Covenant of Grace was more terrible and the latter to the New Testament where it is more sweet Thus the grace and godly conversation of Obadiah 1 King 18. 5. of Job Job 1. 8. of the whole body of severer professors Mal. 3. 16. is expressed and so very frequently and in the New Testament where the dispensation is more sweet and gentle it is more ordinary to express the same things under the notion of believing and loving 1 John 4. 21. He that loveth God John 21. 15. Simon Son of Jonas James 2. 5. lovest thou me Jam. 1. 12. To them that love him 2 Tim. 4. 8. Those that love his appearance So Rom. 8. 28. and in many other places But yet though as the Apostle speaketh we be come now to Mount Sion and we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but the spirit of Adoption teaching us to cry Abba Father And as the Apostle saith Perfect love casteth out fear Yet those texts must not be understood of an awfull reverential fear and dread of God such as even the holy Angels have Nor yet of that filial fear of God which every child of God hath and must carry with him even to the gates of Heaven but only of servile slavish fear for even under the New Testament we shall find the servants of God expressed under this Notion A godly man in Thesi is thus described One that feareth God and worketh Act. 10. 35. Act. 10. 22. Righteousness So also Act. 13. 26. Cornelius in particular is thus described A man that feareth God and we shall find that the fear of God is so eminently necessary to the constitution of a godly man that any wickedness by warrant of Scripture may be presumed of those that want it Abraham thus excused himself to Abimelech for his not trusting his people with his life and the honour of Sarah I said the fear of God was not in this Gen. 20. ●1 place And on the other side Joseph gives this as a sufficient security to his brethren that whatever they feared he would do them no wrong This do and live For I fear God Gen. 42. 18 So that you see it is but a reasonable figurative way to express the whole of inherent grace under the notion of The fear of the Lord and to express the whole course practice and exercise of godliness under this single habit or act as a common head and this I think enough to have spoken for the explication of the subject in the Proposition and to give you the true notion of a woman or a person fearing the Lord or as the Hebrew phrase in the Text is The fear of the Lord. It is in short An eminently gracious godly woman Or if you will you may take it more largely thus A woman or a person who being possessed of all the graces of the holy Spirit of God communicated in regeneration and being grown up to some degree of perfection in those spiritual habits eminently lives in a diligent caution and taking heed of whatsoever is contrary to the holy will of God and a diligent and exact performance of all those duties of an holy life and conversation which those sacred principles command and produce in obedience to the whole revealed will of God This is the woman of whom this text speaketh The Woman the fear of Jehovah Let me now come to the second thing to inquire what is said of this person That which in short is said of

There is a bundle of Principles some of which have grown too fast too in these evil times which are calculated for the very Meridian of Atheism and devised as if it had been on purpose to banish all dread of God out of mens hearts That things are not ordered by Providence but come in a meer series and succession of necessary natural causes That there are no spirits no such things as indications of divine wrath That there is no Judgement to be made from Providences If we should see the Earth open and swallow up Corah Dathan and Abiram yet there is nothing to be concluded but these may be as honest men as those that do not go down quick into the pit These and such like Principles are Doctrines devised on purpose to make men faces of Brass that they might not blush and necks of Iron that they might not bow at any divine rebukes but might out-face God to the utmost until he tear them in pieces and there be none to deliver 2. Secondly Take heed of customary sinning against God Frequency in sin taketh away the sense of it and a custom of daring God makes men to forget all kind of fear and dread of the Divine Majesty Sin naturally hardens the heart and takes away all natural modesty 4. Fourthly Nothing so contributes to fear as faith Both faith of assent and faith of adherence Faith of assent is that habit by which we give assent to the Proposition of the word Faith of Reliance is a gracious habit by which we rest upon the person of the Mediatour Either of these hath an influence upon us to beget this fear and dread of God in our souls The one as it perswades us of the truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning the Glory and Majesty of God concerning his Purity and Holiness concerning his Justice and Severity all which represent God unto us as the true and proper object of our fear The other as it uniteth us to Christ and endeareth him to our so●ls and so layeth us under a sacred awe of sinning against him as we naturally fear to offend any person whom we dearly and intirely love and honour It is true the Apostle saith Rom. 8. We have not received the spirit for bondage again to fear And again Perfect love casteth out fear But those texts must be understood not of a filial reverential fear but of a slavish servile fear our daily experience teacheth us that the more intirely we love any person the more we fear to offend and grieve them and to do any thing which we think they will take ill at our hands Faith therefore as it is the root of hope and love so it is the kindest root of filial and ingenuous fear 5. Lastly Beg this Grace of God It is a plant of our heavenly Fathers it is a part of Gods Covenant I will put my fear into their heart that they shall never depart from me O beg of God that he would bestow his fear upon you The fear of God is prima gratia saith Bernard torius Religionis exordium radix est custos omnium bonorum i. e. The fear of the Lord is the first grace the very beginning of all Religion the root and the keeper of all good things therefore pray that above all things God would bestow this grace upon your souls But I shall add no more to the first branch of the Exhortation Let me in the next place speak to you in whom God hath created this fear of his great and glorious Name Two things this Doctrine calleth to you for 1. To grow in this excellent habit 2. To live like excellent persons 1. Labour to grow in this excellent habit There is a fear of God in which the more perfect a Christian is the more he decreaseth in it This is that servile and slavish fear which I mentioned dreading God as a Judge an Enemy one that can cast both body and soul into Hell fire The more a soul grows up into communion with God and into an assurance of union with him the more this fear dieth and weareth out of his soul It is a dread of God which attendeth the spirit of bondage and much possesseth the soul in the moment of its conversion and wears off as the soul comes to receive the spirit of Adoption touching it to cry Abba Father and groweth mo●● perfect in Love But there is another fear which as the soul groweth more perfect in love and in the exercise of grace the more this groweth up and increaseth in the soul this is that fearing of the Lord and his goodness of which the Scripture speaks Such a fear as the tender wife fears her husband with and the dutiful child its Parent who he knows int●rely loves him he feareth not his Fathers rod but he fears his frown he fears the change of his countenance towards him This is that habit of fear in which I would have you to grow 2. And as in this habit so in the performance of all acts and exercises by which you may testifiethis your reverencing of the great God of Heaven and Earth The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom saith Solomon it is both the beginning and the perfection of it The fear of the Lord is a grace necessary at all times especially in evil times Cyril saith that the soul that is full of the fear of the Lord velut n●uro obsepta fortis est is strong as a City guarded with a wall and in a manner invincible 2. This Doctrine calleth to you to live like excellent persons I hinted the reason of this before every one should live ratably to his honour and dignity Persons fearing God are the most excellent persons they should therefore live like the excellent of the Earth distinguishing themselves from others by their lives as God hath distinguished them by his favour But I have hinted this before and therefore shall not here inlarge upon that discourse I have but one word more to add That is to the men of the world in general To them I shall speak from the advantage of what you have heard for three things 1. To undervalue other excellencies in comparison with this Learn to speak after Solomon Favour is deceitful Beauty is vain Riches commend not a soul to God they profit not in the day of wrath Why should you set your eyes upon things that are not and admire things that have nothing of worth in them proportioned to your affection to them admiration of them pursuit after them Knowledge is a fine thing by it a man differs from a beast Wisdom and Moral Vertues are excellent things by these things men out-shine men and excel each other as light excelleth darkness But what are all these to the fear of the Lord O then let these things ride but in the second Chariot let the fear of God in the throne of your estimation be greater than they are Remember nothing so much

with her Ladiship and perceiving the stone upon which she stumbled indeavoured her assistance partly remembring her 1. Of what Solomon saith That none can judge of love or hate by all that is before him Eccles 9. 1. For it may fall out alike to him that is spiritually wise and to him that is spiritually a fool 2. Partly by minding her of what the Apostle tells us That God chasteneth whom he Heb. 12. 6. loveth and scourgeth every one whom he receiveth 3. Partly arguing thus with her If afflictions be tokens of divine wrath then health and prosperity are signs of divine love which is evidently salfe 4. Par●ly by remembring her of the many examples of Gods children in Scripture to whom God had wrung out bitter waters in a full cup who yet at that time when they were so afflicted were undoubtedly beloved of God and exceeding precious in his eyes Such were Joseph David Job Daniel and many others recorded in Scripture With these and such like Arguments I had satisfied her sanctified reason and judgement and thought I should have heard no more of this temptation But soon after it was inforced Two things she had to say 1. The greatness of her affliction spake more than a chastisement with a rod she was scourged with Scorpions 2. The Lords multiplying afflictions and repeating sad Providences to her seemed to argue that he had a quarrel against her Why else should he return upon her body when he had served an execution upon all she had besides To this I replied 1. That the afflictions of Gods people are not called cha●●isements because they are l●ght or little but because they come from the hand of a gracious Father not as legal demands of satisfaction to divine Justice offended because they flow from a principle of love not of wrath and are designed to a gracious end 2. That for the multitude of them Job had as many yet was a person singularly beloved of God and one of whom God gave testimony that there was not one like him in all the East 3. That as the afflictions of Job were of divers hands and exceeding heavy so the succession of them was much like to hers God first took away his children then his estate and last of all let loose Satan upon his person and gave him a liberty to tempt him With these and such like considerations I endeavoured to arm her against this fiery dart at last it pleased him who was therefore tempted that he might be able to succour those that were tempted by his mighty power to lift her over this stone of stumbling and she became fully satisfied that she could neither from the greatness nor multitude of her trials conclude any thing against the love of God to her 2. Tempt If during her afflictions she did not also want the inward consolations of the holy Spirit but alas saith she I have no inward assurance of Gods love no sensible consolations c. Perceiving that her adversary had betaken himself to a new battery I endeavoured to direct her in the use of the Armour of God for the rep●lling of his darts thrown from hence by offering to her consideration 1. That even Gods dearest children have often wanted these influences of the Spirit What else made David cry out When wilt thou comfort me and vestor● unto me the joy of thy salvation What else made the Spouse Cant. 3 1. at such a loss for him whom her soul loved What else caused those sad complaints of the Psalmist Psal 77. To this she replied That it was true but surely if she indeed had any interest in God he would not hide himself from one so pressed with affl●ctions as she was God indeed might thus try his children in health and at liberty but would a tender Father so hide himself from so distressed and a dying child This was hard to imagine of God who is Love I replied to this purpose That sensible consolations were not the necessaries of salvation 2. That the love of God to his children is far more seen in giving the soul necessaries than accommodating it with superfluities 3. That God is no where in Scripture tyed by his promise to Saints for the comforts of assurance to be given them in at this or that hour 4. That it is a very great mistake in Christians to judge they want the manifestations of the Spirit because they want these consolatory reflections for the Spirit manifesteth it self in the soul as well by the influences of strengthening and quickening as comforting grace and the witnessings of it That David was become like a bottle in the smoke that his eyes failed for Gods Word saying When wilt thou comfort me Psal 119. 82 83. yet he was at that time Gods child yea the man according to his heart That Job also as might be gathered from several passages in his Book often wanted these sensible manifestations at last I commended a Sermon upon that subject to her after the reading of which her Spirit was more composed and she satisfied that if she could but find the strengthening and quickening influences of divine grace she had no reason for want of sensible consolations to conclude against her self 3 Tempt Satan perceiving this fiery dart well nigh quenched betakes him again to his quiver for another arrow his next device was to perswade her that she wanted also the strengthening grace of God soon after I heard her speaking to this sense 'T is true Sir if I could but find the grace of God strengthening me unto duty against sin I think I ought not to cast away my hope though I do want assurance that I am my Beloveds and my Beloved mine but alas I want this Sir I am now at such a pass I cannot pray c. God hath laid his hand upon my mouth and I cannot open it so much as to say unto him Abba Father Observing the subtilty of this crafty adversary to perswade her from some partial weaknesses and those also much occasioned from bodily distempers that she wholly wanted the workings of the Spirit of Grace I accordingly applied my self to her She tells me it was true she had learned from the Apostle Rom. 8. 11. That if she had the Spirit of Christ she was his which way soever the Spirit as the author of special and distinguishing grace pleased to work in her and she did believe That if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwelt in Rom. 8. 11. 15. Gal. 4. 6. Rom. 8. 26. her he that raised up Christ from the dead should also one day quicken her mortal body by his Spirit dwelling in her But Sir said she this spirit is a spirit of supplication a spirit of adoption teaching to cry Abba Father a spirit helping our infirmities in prayer To which I replied 1. That this was no more than the lot of Gods children Asaph or whoever was the author of that 77 Psalm complained

those who in this noon-day of the Gospel are in Protestant Countries proselyted to that kind of devotion will find that their temptation to it hath been advantaged 1. From some carnal conceits of God and his Worship thinking him such a one as themselves to be pleased with musick and gay pompous shews of devotion or at least some Jewish conceits for the continuance of what the Apostle calls worldly Ordinances and a carnal Sanctuary not regarding that God is a Spirit and under the Gospel to be worshipped in spirit and in truth but pleasing themselves with what the Apostle calls the rudiments of the world and such Ordinances as touch not taste not handle not which are things perishing with the using after the Commandments and Doctrines of men which things Col. 2● 20 21 22 23. indeed have a shew of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh Some such temptation as this might easily help to Proselite a Vane a Crashaw a Nonnanton c. 2. Or else secondly an ignorance in the things of God Ignorance we know is avowed the Mother of their devotion for Laicks and indeed an ignorant soul as to devotion is White-Paper upon which a Mahumetan or a Papist may write any thing And of knowing persons we rarely find any proselited unless some rare persons whom the Lord picks out to make examples of his vengeance who as the Apostle speaks 2 Thes 2. 10 11 12. Having 2 Thes 2. 10 11 12. received the truth and not the love of the truth that they might be saved God gives up to strong delusions that they should believe a lye That they all be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 3. Or else Thirdly They are such persons who are tempted to it from their dependancies as servants to their Masters or Mistresses or Relations the Wife to please her Husband or an Husband to humour his Wife or from their hopes to gain such relations and carnal advantages as their necessities or covetousness or a●●●ition betrayes them to thirst after and pu●●hase though at the price of their immortal souls 4. Or Lastly Such for whose loose and wanton feet the waies of the Gospel are too strait They must have more sensual pleasure than a Gospel Rule will allow them and are no● able to endure the rebukes of a conscience smiting them for such vanities and fain would have a pardon at a cheaper rate than the Gospel will afford it and that with a license to sin again and be upon the same terms of peace again upon the slight terms of a little mony or an auricular confession or a slight penance or a short Pilgrimage c. Those who wistly cast their eyes upon those few Proselites which the Papists have in England will find that some or more of these things have been and are their temptations Now who so knew this eminent Lady knew her far enough from the impressions of such temptations No person lived a more severe and strict conversation nor was more fearful of deceiving her self with false hopes nor wary in giving her self grounds of hope as to the remission of sins and the favour of God No person living was more an enemy to a pompous vain Pageantry in the Worship of God nor more affected to a simplicity plainness and spirituality in her devotions she was an exceeding knowing judicious person in the waies of God and one who truly received the truth in a most ardent love of it nor had she any temptation from any dependancyor relation from any carnal enjoyment or hope of any Her fear for her dear Husband lest the temptation of the place where he was which was Italy should have any influences on him as to Religion was a great affliction to her her joy as much when by Letters received from him she understood his constancy she was earnest with every Christian that came near her to beg of God to keep him in that Country from the Idolatries and superstitions of it Her acquaintance and delight was not only in and with Protestant Ministers but with those of them whose principles were at greatest distance from any thing of Popery I dare say that in the two last years of her life she never saw the face of a Popish Priest All which things considered I leave it to an indifferent Reader to determine with what disadvantage to their own honour and repuration as well as impudence as to matter of justice and common honesty towards a noble person who hath now these sixteen years been in Heaven any persons evulge such impudent slanders but their boldness to rake in the ashes of a person dead is the more evident from the imputation with which they are not ashamed to brand the only male-branch of this excellent root who blessed be God yet lives and that not only rotted in the Protestant Faith but able to justifie it against such as oppose it FINIS