Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	beget_v	father_n	son_n	11,645	5	6.8465	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44438	The fourth (and last) volume of discourses, or sermons, on several scriptures by Exekiel Hopkins ...	Hopkins, Ezekiel, 1634-1690.	1696 (1696)	Wing H2734; ESTC R43261	196,621	503

Slave unto God And such Slaves are all convinced Sinners that have not yet arrived to the free and filial Spirit of Adoption but are kept under Bondage under the Wrath of God and manacled in the Fetters of their own Fears So saith the Apostle Heb. 2.15 To deliver them who through fear of Death and of Hell that follows after it were all their Life-time subject unto Bondage Thirdly 3. Slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit This slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit of God though it be slavish for it is his Office to convince as well as to comfort and to cast down by the Terrors of the Law as well as to raise up by the Promises of the Gospel In John 16.8 He shall convince the World of Sin and therefore it is said in this place Rom. 8.15 We have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear Rom. 8.15 implying that those Terrors that seize upon the Conscience are the Work of the Holy Ghost We bring our selves into Bondage under Sin and he brings us into Bondage under Fear If therefore at any time thou who art a secure Sinner art suddenly surprized with fearful and trembling Thoughts concerning thy present state of Sin and thy future state of Wrath beware thou listen not to any that would persuade thee it is nothing but a Fit of Melancholy or a Temptation of Satan to drive thee to Despair but know assuredly thy Conscience is now under the Hand of the Holy Ghost himself he raiseth those Tempests of Fear in thee and as usually it is fatal to divert and hush them so is it no less than ignorant Blasphemy to impute his Works to Melancholy or to the Temptations of Satan Fourthly When the Soul is prepared for the Work of Grace by the Work of Conviction 4. When the Spirit hath been a Spirit of Bondage it becomes a Spirit of Adoption when it is prepared for Comfort by the Work of Humiliation the same Spirit that was before a Spirit of Bondage becomes now a Spirit of Adoption that is the Holy Ghost persuades and assures us of the love and favour of God and enables us through divine Light beaming in upon our Consciences to behold him as a gracious and a reconciled Father whom before we trembled at as a stern and terrible Judge The same Wind that in a raging Storm tosseth the Sea too and fro in restless Heaps in a Calm doth only gently move and fan it with pleasing Purles So is it here that Spirit of God that in Conviction raiseth a Tempest in the Conscience afterwards the same Spirit breaths forth a sweet Calm of Peace and Comfort upon it The same Spirit that before was a Spirit of Bondage when the Soul is sufficiently thereby prepared for Grace becomes a Spirit of Adoption This is that Spirit of Adoption that is here spoken of and is called so because it witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God by Adoption God hath but one Son by eternal Generation and that is Jesus Christ called therefore The only begotten of the Father John 1.14 He hath many Sons by Creation even all Mankind so Adam is called The Son of God Luke 3.38 He hath many Sons also by Adoption even all that are effectually called according to the purpose of his Grace all that are sanctified who are of Strangers made Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself who is the natural Son of God as it is Rom. 8.17 Now because it is the Work of the Holy Ghost to testifie to us this our great Privilege that we are enrolled in the Family of Heaven and become the Children of God therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption that is the Spirit that witnesseth to us our Adoption Fifthly To whom the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption 5. Where the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption it never more becomes a Spirit of Bondage it never more becomes to them a Spirit of Bondage and Fear That is it never again proclaims War after it hath spoken Peace it never represents God as an inraged Enemy after it hath represented him as a reconciled Father It is true the Spirit of God always keeps up his convincing Office in the Soul of the most assured Saint it convinceth them of Sin and of Wrath due to them for Sin A twofold Conviction of Sin But now there is a twofold Conviction there is a Conviction of the Evil of particular Actions and there is a Conviction of the Evil of our State and Condition Why now though upon particular Miscarriages of Gods Children the Holy Ghost secretly smited their Consciences shewing them the Guilt and Evil of their Sins thereby bringing them to Repentance and a godly Sorrow yet the Holy Ghost never again testified to them that they are in a graceless unregenerate and sinful Estate and Condition and in a State of Wrath and Condemnation it brings them to a deep Humiliation by convincing them of the Evil of their Actions but it never brings them into legal Terrors by convincing them of a sinful State neither indeed can it be so for the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Truth and to witness that we are yet Children of Wrath who are indeed the adopted Children of God this were a false Testimony and therefore utterly abhorred by the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Truth Doth the same Fountain send forth sweet Water and bitter Doth there proceed from one and the same Mouth Blessings and Curses Certainly the same Spirit that hath once pronounced us to be in the Love and Favour of God never after pronounceth us to be Cursed and under the Wrath of God Object But you will say Have not the best of God's Children sometimes concluded themselves to be reprobated and cast away Have they not lain under sad and fearful apprehensions of God's Wrath Have not some of them who formerly walked in the Light of God's Countenance and flourished in their Assurance yet afterwards have been so dejected that they would not entertain any comfort or hopes of Mercy and Salvation Answ To this I Answer It is true it may indeed so happen that those Saints whose Joys and Comforts are at one time fresh and verdent at another time wither and drop off so that they look upon themselves as rotten Trees destinated to make Fuel for Hell Whence proceeds this It is not from the Spirit of God but as carnal Men are apt to mistake the first Work of Conviction for Melancholy or for Temptation so this really proceeds from one of these two Causes When the Children of God after full assurance come again not only to entertain Doubts of their Condition but also to despair of themselves looking on themselves as Persons that God hath singled out to Destruction this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost but from Melancholy or Temptation Sometimes natural Melancholy obstructs

the sense of divine Comfort As it is in clear Water when it is still and transparent the Sun shines to the very bottom but if you stir the Mud presently it grows so thick that no Light can pierce into it So is it with the Children of God though their apprehensions of God's Love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very Air that the Angels and glorified Saints breath in in Heaven yet if once the muddy Humor of Melancholy stirs they become dark so that no Light or Ray of Comfort can break in to the deserted Soul And then sometimes the Devil causeth these Tragedies by his Temptations that so if it were possible he might drive them to Dispair he hated their Graces he envies their Comforts and therefore he would persuade them that all their former Joys were but Delusions proud Dreams and presumptuous Fansies and that they are still in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity and by such Suggestions as these are when he cannot hinder the Work of Grace he strives what he can to hinder the Sense of Comfort When therefore those that have once rejoyced under the comfortable Persuasions of God's Love to them the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a Spirit of Adoption by being in them a Spirit of Sanctification if they now find themselves under the Bondage of legal Fears and Terrors and slavish Dejections looking upon themselves as under the revenging Wrath of God and as Persons devoted to Destruction let them know such Fears proceed not from the Convictions of the Spirit of God who hath been a Spirit of Adoption but it proceeds from the Delusions of Satan for those that once receive the Spirit of Adoption never receive the Spirit of Bondage again to fear that is to fear with a slavish tormenting Fear Sixthly 6. We ought to fear God tho' we know him to be our God A reverential filial Fear of God may and ought to possess our Souls while the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Adoption is by the clearest Evidences actually witnessing our Son-ship to us Let Men boast what they will of their high Gospel-attainments yet certainly they have not the genuine Disposition of God's Children whose Love to him is not mingled with Fear and whose Fear of him is not encreased by their Love Love it is the Gage and Measure of all our Affections and according to the proportion of our Love to God such will be our Fear that is the more we love God the more we shall fear his Displeasure and the Loss of his Favour It is in vain for us to pretend love to God as our Father unless we fear him also as our Lord and Master Christ who was his only begotten Son and certainly had much more clear assurance of the love and favour of God than any adopted Sons can possibly have yet the Scripture ascribes an holy awful reverential Fear of God even unto him Heb. 5.7 When he offered up Prayers with strong Cries and Tears and was heard in that he feared it may be render'd he was heard because of his godly Fear So in Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord speaking of Christ If therefore he feared God who was himself to be feared as God equal to him and his eternal Son how much more ought we to fear the great God who are as it were but Up-starts in the Family of Heaven we wretched and forlorn Out-casts that were but lately raked out of the Dunghil and by meer Pity taken up into the Bosom of God and nurtured as his Children And thus you see the Fear of God is not in the least contrary to the free Spirit of Adoption Fourthly 4. A Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing in God An awful Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing Indeed slavish Fear damps all true Joy Those that Fear and expect the Revengings of God cannot have any true Joy they may have a kind of mad Jollity that spends it self in Noise and Tumults that may roar out Songs of Mirth only to drown the loud Roarings of their own Consciences Such as these are like your new Liquor that works over into Foam and Froth when the bottom is thick and troubl'd So in this false Joy the Countenance runs over with Laughter when yet the Heart is brim full of the Wrath of God of such the wise Man speaks Prov. 14.13 Prov. 14.13 Even in Laughter the Heart is sorrowful But now a filial fear of God puts no check at all upon our holy Rejoycing in him spiritual Joy is not of that flashy Nature but it is a sober and a severe Grace it is Joy mixed with Fear and because of the mixture of these two together the fear of God with joy in the Lord therefore we find these two are promiscuously ascribed each to other so in Isa 60.5 Their Hearts shall fear and be enlarged You know it is the property of Joy to extend and enlarge the Heart Fear contracts and draws it together but here Fear is said to dilate the Heart to denote to us that a Christians Fear is always conjoyned and mingled together with his Joy And so on the other Hand it is said Psal 2.11 Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoyce with Trembling Fear with Trembling is more proper and natural but because of the mixture of these two Graces in the Heart of a Christian therefore the Holy Ghost thus expresseth it Rejoyce with Trembling for great Joys as well as great Fears cause a kind of trembling and fluttering in the Heart As it was with the two Women whom the Angels assured of Christ's Resurrection Mat. 28.8 Mat. 28.8 They departed from the Sepulchre with Fear and great Joy So is it with those Christians who by the Eye of Faith looking upon the Death and into the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ are assured that he is risen for their Justification cannot but have their Hearts filled with a quaking and a fearful Joy Even a Christians strong Praises are breathed out with a shaking and a trembling Voice so that godly Fear is no Impediment to a holy and a severe Rejoycing in God as our Saviour Fifthly 5. Godly fear lays no check on our freedom and boldness with God Godly Fear lays no check upon our holy freedom and boldness with God God hath established a Throne of Grace whereon he sets and unto which he invites his People to approach with a becoming Confidence Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace As that Emperor counted his Clemency disparaged when any delivered a Petition to him with a shaking Hand as though he doubted of his Favour so God loves when we make our Addresses to him that we should do it with full assurance of Faith nothing doubting of acceptance with him and of an Answer