Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	believe_v	faith_n	grace_n	8,077	5	5.8830	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29333	Faith in the just victorious over the world a sermon preached at the Savoy in the French Church, on Sunday Octob. 10, 1669 / by D. Brevall ... ; translated into English by Dr. Du-Moulin ...; Foy victorieuse du monde dans les justes. English	Bréval, Monsieur de (François Durant), d. 1707.; Du Moulin, Peter, 1601-1684.	1670 (1670)	Wing B4402; ESTC R2130	23,314	40

ought to live it is not then this kind of Faith that our Text so highly praiseth as to say It is the victory that overcometh the World it must be a generous and warlike Faith and not a base cowardly dejected Faith which hath no courage neither to undertake nor to maintain any thing Scripture and Divinity tell us of another kind of Faith quite opposite they call it a lively Faith perfect or formed which besides that it at first convinceth the understanding by the Authorities of revealed Truths perswades the will to approve them by Sentiments conformable to such holy motions it is what JESUS CHRIST said of St. John Baptist A burning and a shining Lamp shining because it brings light and knowledge to the mind burning because it brings fire and piety to the heart Of that the Prophet Habakkuk saith The just shall live by Faith that is by reason of his Faith as St. Paul expounds it Rom. 1.17 and the same Apostle speaks again of it in the Chapters following and particularly in Chap 3. ver 28. where he saith It is the sense of all Christians that man is justified by Faith without the works of Moses his Law He sayes as much of it almost in the same words in the beginning of the fifth Chapter and in divers other places of the same Epistle and in all his other Epistles St. Peter sayes no less of it when he assures the Gentiles Acts 19. that God had purified their hearts by Faith And in his 1 Epist 1.8 You are preserved saith he by the means of Faith to be heirs of Salvation which is the reward of Faith as he sayes presently after ver 9. and certainly it is that which the Apostle St. Jude in his Catholique Epistle ver 20. calls most holy not only because it is the formal holiness of the Soul but because that as Divines expound it it fulfilleth all duties of holiness by an entire obedience to the Ordinances and Commands of God which gives occasion to Divines to call it sometimes an obedient Faith and certainly it is of this Faith that our Text speaketh when it saith that the victory that overcometh the World is Faith It is not therefore enough Christians to shew you that all that is born of God overcometh the World and that it is by Faith it overcometh it is needful that I tell you moreover by what Faith for we are not without enemies that accuse us of giving to Faith alone without joining it with other vertues this victorious power And indeed there are too many souls among us either libertine enough or ill enough instructed to perswade themselves that there needs nothing but believing to overcome all and to be saved if they had not such thoughts assuredly we should see them live better for it is impossible to lead so ill a life if they did believe that they must lead a better if they will be saved Let our Enemies and our Libertines and our Ignorants learn then this day what we think and what we ought to think of Faith which justifies or as our Text speaks which overcometh the World The true Sentiment of all Reformed Churches is that this Faith is not only a naked and barren belief which acknowledgeth and confesseth only the truth of our mysteries without troubling ones self to practise that piety which these mysteries require but they all teach us that this Faith is accompanied with all the holiness which the Gospel enjoyns us so that Faith according to our Doctrine is uncapable to justifie us and to overcome the World if Charity be not with it and it is in vain that I believe in JESUS CHRIST if I love him not and if I do not that which his Gospel ordaineth me to do Thus when we say with the Scripture That Faith justifies that it cleanseth the hearts that it overcometh the World we speak not but of a Faith that is loving patient humble and holy in all respects it is after this manner that all the Fathers speak of it and St. John himself in the Text as it is evident in the verses that go before and that follow For though he saith absolutely That those who believe that JESUS CHRIST is the Son of God overcome the World yet he speaks before and after of Charity and of keeping Gods Commandments as things inseparably linked with this victorious Faith You see then Christians what that Faith is which overcometh the World in the just it is that impenetrable Buckler that St. Paul speaketh of that beats back all the blows which the Enemy aims at us A man armed with this Faith may say with the Apostle That what temptation soever he shall endure no assaults shall separate him from the love of JESUS CHRIST Nothing shall debauch him from his duty nothing shall make him the slave of sin let the World come with all its Forces with all the sweets of Pleasure with all the corruptions of Interest with all the pom●s of Ambition it will make but vain Enterprises unsuccessful Assaults upon a man armed with this warlike and generous Faith for what can pleasure say to him able to corrupt him if she promiseth to his body all she hath of tender and sweet what will the Just do in this rough assault where he hath all pleasures to fight against He will oppose his Faith I believe in that God will he say who would not live but in pennance while he lived amongst us alwayes severe to his flesh alwayes mortified in his mind never in pleasure and almost continually in grief who found in the bitterness of his death nothing but Gall and Vinegar to sweeten it What! shall I believe these things and in the mean time abandon my self to those guilty pleasures No I will not The assaults of Interest need no less resolution and resistance they sollicit the faithful Soul with all the perswasions that Gold and Silver are able to make in this World being pressed by this assault what doth he He takes his ordinary shield he opposeth his Faith O! saith he I believe that God made himself poor to make me rich that he would not possess any thing on earth that at his birth he had nothing but straw to lie upon that during his life he had nothing whereon to lay his head that at his death he was naked And shall I to make my self rich do this injustice shall I suffer my self to be corrupted by my Interest No I will not Neither shall Ambition have any more advantage over the faithful Soul how violently soever it assaults him Methinks I see Ambition with her glistering and her pomps tempting the heart of the Just flattering him with all her splendor and grandeur which use to dazle others what will he do in this assault that which he did in the former He will take Faith and oppose it against this Enemy that presseth him What! saith he that God in whom I believe who abased himself so far as to become man did humble himself to the meanest things ev'n to death to the most shameful and infamous death And shall I advance my self by the diminution of his glory shall I drive on my fortune as far as vanity will entice me No I will not it shall never be said that my life hath bely'd my Faith I believe there are eternal Rewards to crown all my fidelity if I sink not under these Temptations that the World leads me in o I believe there are everlasting pains to punish my baseness if I do sink under them What then should I be so far out of my wits and besides my senses as to resolve to do it No the World must stay till I believe these things no more Thus it is Brethren that Faith speaks thus it is that she fights thus it is that she triumphs when she is right when Faith is as it ought to be animated with the Spirit of all vertues and when we are satisfied by the effects that we have this Faith We have it not Christians when we yield so easily to the first sollicitations of Pleasure of Interest and of Ambition Alas how can your Faith be victorious over the World while you are still Slaves to Passion which is the World it self and whil'st you observe the Laws and Maxims of the World more religiously than those of God The Faith that is victorious over the World confesseth JESUS CHRIST on all occasions loves him at all times and serves and follows him through all things in good earnest Christians do you do so Alas how easily may it be seen with never so little reflection on our selves that we have not this Faith since within us all is full of Revolts Ingratitudes and Infidelities towards CHRIST whom we crucifie and defame daily as St. Paul reproacheth in the sixth of the Epistle to the Hebrews Is that believing in JESUS Christ with a victorious Faith when we believe in him to crucifie him and disgrace him by the disorders of our shameful lives Take my Brethren take other courses more worthy of him and of your selves live conformably to the belief of his Gospel let his love and his will reign in your hearts as well as his Truths in your minds in a word let your works and your life be sutable to the holiness of your Faith and then you will have a victorious Faith and you shall be in the number of the just ones of whom St. John saith in our Text That they are born of God that they triumph over the World and that they triumph by Faith God give you that Grace in this life that he may crown you in the next with GLORY Unto this Great GOD Immortal Invisible Adorable FATHER SON and HOLY GHOST who gives us these glorious Hopes be Honour Blessing and Eternal Magnificence AMEN THE END

alone that we will or can acquit our selves O Lord then look on thy Christ and seek in him all thou wilt have of us as we seek in him and by him all that we would have of thee it is in that frame of heart that we lie prostrate at thy feet and say unto thee what himself hath taught us to say Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. THE TEXT Is in the First Epistle of Saint JOHN Chap. V. Ver. IV. For whatsoever is born of GOD overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith PRovidence which is admirable in all things is so especially in the Oeconomy of the Scripture where that which is sometimes but occasional is nevertheless of infinite use and consequence which made St. John Chrysostome say so well in his Homily on Gen. 18. That the Scripture saith nothing save wise and holy Design Of this we have in the Text a very Authentick Instance since the whole verse seems to have been written only upon the occasion of that which went before where St. John having said that the Commandments of God are not grievous and foreseeing the objections of an infinite number of people to whom they are without doubt very difficult found himself insensibly engaged to render this reason That all which is born of God overcometh the World and that this is the victory which hath overcome the World even our faith Now you see Christians that there was nothing more necessary to be taught then that which at first sight seem'd to be taught us here by chance only In effect where can be found in one or the other Testament more instruction or more mysteries then in these few words must not one have leaned on the bosome of JESUS as this Apostle did must not one have drunk as St. Austin speaks in this source of wisdom to comprehend so many marvels in so few words I dare say that not only the Law and the Prophets but that all the Gospel it self all its spirit all its perfection is divinely inclosed in this Text for if they are born of God if they have overcome the world and if the triumph be obtained by faith which is wanting to the consummation of the vertue and the accomplishment of the design of Jesus Christ in the sanctification of men This divine Birth this illustrious triumph and this victorious faith being then as it is evident the last effort of grace and the most glorious work of the Spirit in the soul of a Christian shall I not this day competently fulfil the dispensation of my Ministery if in one verse of Scripture which I endeavor to expound I clear unto you these three great Mysteries that comprehend all holiness letting you see 1. Who are those which are born of God 2. What victory they obtain over the World 3. What this Faith is which makes them obtain this Victory Christians here is all that seems to me necessary for the explaining of my Text which says plainly that Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and that this is the victory which hath overcome the world even our Faith We will begin with clearing the first part My Brethren Give such attention as it deserves and Thou O my God give the blessing which I crave THE FIRST PART One of the greatest Questions that ever puzled the Philosophers before the knowledge of the Gospel was to finde whether any thing could be born of God by any sort of Generation the greatest number and the most subtil believed that it was impossible First said they because God is a Spirit and Spirits ingender not having no power proper or appointed for that use Secondly because he is God and in that quality he ought necessarily to be One which he should no more be if he were capable of generation because a God can beget none but a God for then he should introduce a multitude contrary to his Essence from whence they concluded in the end an impossibility that any thing should be born or begotten of God But the Gospel having better enlightned us by the obscurities of faith then the Philosophers had done by the light of Science we know infallibly that this birth or generation is not impossible and this text of S. John is enough to teach it since by saying All that is born of God overcometh the world it supposeth either divers persons or divers things to be born of him but the better to discern of what this Apostle speaks here we ought to take notice that generally the Scripture gives this illustrious praise to be born of God to all that he hath produced with some resemblance of himself and it is a doctrine conformable enough to Philosophy which teaches that all that is born of a principle receives from it not only being but resemblance besides Now as God doth diversly communicate the resemblance of himself to the things that he produceth from thence it comes that all possess not by the same title the honour to be born of him A great man and one of the most learned the world ever had in Philosophy or Divinity observes subtilly and solidly five different manners wherein the things that God hath produced have some resemblance with him Similitudo Natura● Ves●ig●● Imaginis G●ari● Gloriae for this resemblance saith he may be either of Nature or of Trace or of Image or of Grace or of Glory whence he concludeth that the advantage to be born of God that is to have God for Father belongeth 1. To the Word 2. To Creatures meerly material 3. To Creatures Intelligent and Reasonable 4. To the Just 5. To the Glorified To the Word by resemblance or rather by Identity of Nature To Creatures meerly material by some imperfect traces or by some obscure marks of the Excellency of God To Creatures intelligent and reasonable that is to Men and Angels by their understanding and reason which are the illustrious Images of God himself To the Just by communication of grace and holiness To the Glorified by the imitation of his Glory These resemblances that all things have with God being as you see so different make us easily conceive that God is diversly the Father of them and that the advantage to be born of him is more or less noble according as the resemblance is more or less persect That which is without comparison above all others is the resemblance of Nature which belongs only to the Verbe and which belongs not to him specifically as Philosophers and Divines speak but individually that is The Word is not only like his Father as we are to ours having the same nature with him for since it is impossible there should be more then one God it cannot be possible that his Nature should multiply so when the Father produceth his Essential Word he gives him not another Nature like his but the same as his own from whence it is that the Title

perswades us to the contrary but when we have triumphed over these three passions which are properly that which St Paul 1 Cor. 2.12 calleth The Spirit of the World and St. John in our Text the World it self then whatever God commands is so far from painful that we find pleasure in it and the reason of this relish and this easiness is no other but what we say as our Apostle doth so evidently justifie when after he had said The Commandments of God are easie he presently brings the proof For saith he all that is born of God overcometh the World letting us see manifestly that there is nothing but the World that is its Spirit and its Maxims that makes our obedience uneasie and the infallible mark of overcoming the World is the easiness we find in obeying the Commandments of God But alas how few then are there that have overcome the World since there are so few that do not find the Commandments of God grievous it seems to them an insupportable yoke even so much that sometimes they will say that Gods Commandments are of an impossible performance You have not then overcome the World you who yet complain of their difficulty who groan under the weight of the yoke and express so much grief to submit your selves to the orders and commands that he gives you No no you have not yet triumphed over the World you that are yet Slaves to your Pleasures to your Interest and your Pride since it is that which is properly call'd the World this illustrious Victory belongs to none but the children of God whom he hath as it were transformed into himself by a resemblance of holiness of spirit and life hope not then for the glory of this triumph without being first entred into this noble Alliance with God but as soon as you are become his children by a mending of your courses and by a new birth of piety and grace be you assured that you shall triumph over the World because the Oracle of Divine Truth hath said it that all which is born of God overcometh the World And since it is by Faith that we get this Victory as the Text tells us let us examine in the last Part of this Discourse what that Faith is The Third Part. IT is with the spiritual Combats much as with the temporal it doth not suffice in ordinary Combats to be strong and to be valiant to overcome all the World knows that besides that one must have Arms and make use of them Likewise to overcome the World it is not enough to be born of God Lib. 22. cap. 25. Victoria de hoc mundo non nostris viribus adscribetur we must take Arms to oppose the violence of this formidable Enemy for as St. Austin saith in his Book of the City of God The victory over the World is not attributed to our Forces it is not by them we gain it but what Arms must we make use of nothing can triumph over the World as a principal cause or as an instrument of victory which is not born of God since St. John doth not attribute this honour but to those that are so born Our Arms then ought to be some of those Vertues which they call Theological or Divine not only because God is the chief object of them but for that he is their immediate principle to distinguish them from other Vertues which they call Moral that may spring from elsewhere Yanta est charitas quae si adsit habentur omnia si desit frustra habentur caetera Aug. Then of necessity it must be either Faith or Hope or Charity that must serve us for Arms in this Combat but why rather Faith than the other two Is not Hope admirably well fitted for this great imployment since it doth promise us eternal rewards there are no temptations nor assaults that it enableth us not to overcome or at least why should it not be Charity which is the Queen and the most noble of all vertues as the Apostle assures us and whereof St. Austin sayes That having it alone one hath all and not having it it is useless to have the rest which he learned of St. Paul who saith That neither Martyrdom nor the most holy things nor even Faith it self is any thing without Charity Nevertheless we must believe our Text which saith plainly It is by Faith that we overcome the world And St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews agrees well with this sentiment when he saith That it is by Faith that so many just persons have done such wonders and that They have vanquished Kingdoms what Kingdoms but those of the World the Flesh and the Devil and that They have conquered Eternity Is it not of Faith that our Lord himself hath said That nothing shall be impossible to it and that there needs but little of it to work wonders even to remove Mountains But whereas there are Christians that have Faith and in the mean time are rather Slaves of the World than Masters and Conquerors of it what kind of Faith is that which may be the instrument of so glorious a victory It seems the Apostle in the Verse that follows the Text would spare us the pains of this search Who is he saith he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that JESUS is the Son of God Yet there being an infinite number of people that believe so much who notwithstanding are rather overcome by the World than Conquerors of it we are still to seek and have need to repair to Divinity and to other Texts of Scripture for the clearing of so great and so important a difficulty Divinity distinguisheth two sorts of Faith the one dead the other living The dead Faith which is otherwise called unperfect or unformed is no more than a conviction we have of a truth upon Divine testimony without any bettering of our will by that conviction of our understanding some call this Faith Speculative or Historical because it makes one believe only the fact of things without leading him to other Acts worthy of such a belief It was of this Faith that St. James spake Chap. 2.14 when he said What can it profit my Brethren though a man say I have Faith and hath not Works Can Faith save him In this sense St. Paul speaks of it 1 Cor. 13.2 If I have Faith enough to remove Mountains saith he and have not Charity I am nothing There are some also which call this Faith the Faith of Devils for an Apostle speaking to a man that had Faith without works Thou believest saith he that there is a God thou dost well to believe it but the Devils believe it too and therefore they tremble The Devils for that kind of believing are no less Devils and no less wicked This barren Faith is good for nothing unless it be to make us more guilty since having believed as we ought to believe we have no excuse why we have not lived as we