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
B36555	The spouses carriage in the wildernesse, in her leaning upon her welbeloved, opening the temper of the beleeving-soule in her severall wildernesses ... in a sermon formerly preacht in Andrewes Parish in Norwich, now reprinted, being corrected by the author / by John Collings ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1650 (1650)		43,153	109

doore he will come into him and sup with him and he shall sup with him O let me intreat you to pittie the yerning of your Saviours bowels toward you pittie the groaning of his tender heart for you pittie your selves if not your Christ and O come come out of the wildernesse of sinne into this wildernesse of sorrow that of a drunken profane creature thou mayest be a mourning pious soule of a proud carelesse sinner become a poore humbled paenitent that the world may admire Saul amongst the Prophets and Paul amongst the Apostles and thee amongst the Saints of Christ and say of thee who art now a profane Swearer and Blasephemer Behold he Prayeth Of thee that wert a filthy Wanton Behold he Mournes Of thee that wert a filthy Drunkard and Glutton Behold he fasts And may in time say of thee Who is this that commeth up from the wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved But Secondly Is there any before the Lord this day that is in any other wildernesse of Sorrow Affliction Temption Desertion c O leane Come out of your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved First Is there any one here to whom the Lord hath shewne their owne sad condition too and yet hath not revealed the fulnesse of his free grace to them O leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ and leaning come out of thy wildernesse Beleeve and thou shalt be saved But here 's the hard taske to perswade such a soule to beleeve Consider but these few things 1 That now thou art in a capacitie of beleeving Povertie of spirit is the nearest capacitie of faith Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse Now thou art weary Christ hath promised to ease thee now thou art heavy laden he hath promised to help thee Secondly Consider that thou hast ground enough to build thy faith upon Christs power and love are two Pillars able to hold up the weakest faith First Beleeve leane upon Christ for he is able to pardon thy sinnes thou shouldest blaspheme in thy thoughts if thou shouldest not thinke this Can infinite mercy be fadomed thinkest thou Can any one plead his underservings against free grace Were thy burthen farre heavier then it is cast it upon Christ for he is able to beare it Art thou thick darknesse he is infinite light Art thou all sinne he is all pardon Art thou altogether lovely why Christ is altogether lovely Secondly Beleeve because Christ is as much love as he is power he is not only able but he is willing to pardon thee free grace thirsts after thee Nay beleeve me thou canst give Christ no greater satisfaction then to receive his mercies Christ is with child of free grace to speake it with reverence and he desires nothing more then to be delivered in thine heart He is a Sea of mercy and he would rejoyce to empty himselfe by drops into his peoples hearts But why did I say empty Can the Sun lose any light by communicating his light to others When the creature speaks of God he must speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would fill thee and yet continue full himselfe He is satisfied when thou art full He shall see of the travell of his soule and shall be satisfied Thou art not so willing to receive as he is to bestow free grace O then lean upon him Thirdly Consider that canst not dishonour thy God more then when thou art humbled by him for thy sins and cast downe in thine owne thoughts and cal'd to beleeve in his mercies and secured upon his word if thou wilt but trust him If thou wilt not then beleeve in him Surely then thou art of a little faith if not an Infidell Thou couldst not beleeve when thou wert an impaenitent hard-hearted creature Why because thou knewest no need thou hadst of faith Neither couldst thou hear Christs invitation because thou wert not weary and heavie loaden but now that the Lord hath humbled thee now the promises belong unto thee what darest thou not take Christs word Suppose a Traytour were condemned to dye and the King should send a Pardon by the hand of h●s owne Son to this forlorne wretch and he should refuse it saying The King cannot pardon me what hath he to do to send me a Pardon I know he doth but mock me he meanes nothing lesse c. Were not this a peice of unworthinesse by which he should dishonour his Prince as much as with his Treason before O take heed of provoking the Lord still it is enough that thou hast provoked him once yet he will pardon thee And on the contrary thou canst not honour Christ more then in beleeving for thou acknowledgest the unfadomable depth of his free love and mercy Thou proclamest God to be a God gracious long-suffering a God that may be trusted by the creature which hath deserved nothing at his hand that he is so pure an Essence of love that he will create himself a cause of love where is none And though he coould find nothing in thee to pardon thee for thy sake yet he would pardon thee for his owne Name sake So likewise you that are in any wildernesse or shall be of Affliction Desertion Temptation c. O leane leane T is that which God requires at your hand 't is that which will ease you when you are weary help you when you are heavie laden Beleeving will ease you when complaining will not 't is that which honours God and honours Christ It gives him the glory of his Power and Providence Dominion and free Grace and mercy Christ beleeve me will take it kindly at your hands that you will try him in need and trust him even in despaire though he kills you yet you will trust in him Those that venture upon Death with such a faith cannot dye Those that have such a Spirit must live eternally The way to live is to dye beleeving and the way to stand is to leane falling O come all yee that love the Lord trust in his mercies I have done only I conclude with my Text. O you that are falling as you think into the pit of despaire that are lost in the wildernesse of sorrow Beleeve beleeve and you shall be saved Come out trusting upon God resting upon the fulnesse of his mercy and the freenesse of his grace come out come out leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in a wildernesse of afflictions lean upon Gods staffe let his rod comfort you beleeve that he smileth while he smiteth thee beleeve in affliction you shall have no more then you are able to beare he will let his grace be sufficient for you and all shall worke for your good And come you out of your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in the wildernesse of temptation in the snare of the Devill beleeve and leane your Christ was tempted and he knowes how to succour those that are tempted leane upon him to beare you up in and to give you an happy issue out of your temptations in which you are in for the triall of your faith and come you out likewise leaning upon your Beloved You that are in the wildernes of Desertion cry My God though you be forsaken keep your faith retaine your Interest O leane lose not your hold you have upon the Almighty leane in and come out of this your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved Finally All you that are in the wildernesse of sin the worst wildernesse of all Let me conclude with you And once more as the Embassadour of Jesus Christ in my Masters name as if he himselfe were here I beseech you by the many and tender mercies of him whose bowels yerne towards you by his precious bloud which was powred out upon the Crosse for sinners and who knowes whether not for you as well as others as you tender the life happines of your own souls the joy of your faithfull Pastors nay which is most of all as you tender the honour of God come out O come out of your sad wildernesse be humbled and mourne sit downe in dust and ashes that you may rise up adorned with grace and be crowned with glory that you may leane upon your Beloved and O that my first or last words might prevaile with some great sinner this day for whom we might all rejoyce concerning whom we might all say who is this that comes out of the wildernesse leaning upon her beloved FINIS

grace without any saving grace performe many previous actions that are required of men to faith and repentance she may by vertue of Gods generall grace his exciting grace goe to Church hear the word of God meditate of God peccata propria considerare sēsu eorum expavescere saith Davenant Ay and she may beg deliverance from that wofull condition which she apprehends her selfe in but she stirrs not one of these stepps after a spirituall but after a naturall manner till the quickning grace of God come A man may in a wildernesse conceive himselfe lost look about for the way out call for help be willing to be out yet not be one step in the way that will lead him out and this the soule must doe so farr as it can Negamus etenim hanc gratiam regen●rantem infundi hominibus inertibus sed animis per verbum Dei erectis subact is per praedict as actiones quodammodo dispositis viz. We deny that regenerating grace is infused into sloathfull men but into soules subdued by Gods word and law and after a manner disposed by the foregoing actions yet we say that even these foregoing actions have their first motions from God and the question is whether God doth not first work a sight and sense of sinne and an humiliation for it by his exciting grace before he comes with his regenerating quickning and saving grace into the soule we say he doth in his ordinary course of his dispensations Only I must bee here safely understood that I speak according to mans apprehension for in respect of God nothing is first or last he works all in an instant all graces together in the soule but the question lies not whether God works the habit of Repentance before the habit of Faith or no for without question he works together all his works but whether God makes humiliation act before faith which we say he doth Esau and Jacob may be in their mothers womb together but Esau may come out and be seen in the world before Jacob yet not tying up the Almighty to this method who can and will work any way even which way it pleaseth him Nor doe we say any such previous action can be performed by the Creature ut de merito congrui teneatur Gratiam dare That God is bound for the desert of any such privious action to give his inward and regenerating quickning grace But yet this we say Dave ibid. that in the Church of God where men are dayly stirr'd up by the word and spirit to repent and beleeve savingly God will give though not for any of these previous or dispository actions yet freely regenerating grace to all such as are capable of it unlesse they have resisted the spirit of God in the preceding operations and rejected his quickning grace but yet we deny that any man can performe these actions so but he will offend and resist the Spirit of God in them Now why when as all resist God should reject some as they have rejected him and leave them to the hardnesse of their own hearts and work irresistibly on others who have resisted their God as much and break open their hearts though lock'd and barr'd against him and fill them with quickning grace and pull a Lot out of Sodom by force and draw a soule out of the wildernesse by head and shoulders I say why he should doe it when two are grinding at the same mill take one and leave the other when two are in the same field why-the one should be taken the other left when two soules are equall in duties fasting mourning in the way that God hath appointed why he should baulke this and take the other when perhaps that which is taken hath been the least penitent too I will conclude with Dr. Davenant is Sacrum Misterium divinae voluntati reliquendum A sacred and secret mistery to be left to the divine pleasure and the reason lies in the agents own breast It is because he will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy and whom he wills he hardeneth God is his owne reason and his free grace it s owne cause So then we conclude that the soule cannot move one foot to a spirituall action spiritually not by any common grace it must be only by Gods regenerating and saving grace So that to answer yet more distinctly to the Question In respect of Gods exciting and preventing grace if we looke so farre we cannot come but that preventeth us We are as clay in the hands of the Potter we are all dead in sinnes But when the Lord hath changed the soule then it commeth The first motion upon the will is from God before there is any motion of the will unto God but when the will is healed of God then the soule commeth then the soule which was meerly passive before is active and will endeavour to doe somthing for that God that hath done so much for her It followes the drawing of Gods most holy Spirit Draw me saith the Spouse and I will run after thee First I must be drawne but then I will run In the same moment God makes us to will and we will yet all the efficacy of the Action comes from Gods most holy Spirit Certum est nos velle quum volumus sed ille facit ut velimus qui operatur in nobis velle It is certaine saith Augustine that wee are willing when wee are willing but he makes us willing that workes in us to will and to perform Phil. 2.13 And so he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God drawes but he drawes the soule that is willing Ay but first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he makes it willing So I have shewed what proprietie the soul hath in the Action how she commeth and how willing she is to the motion She is drawne but she is willing to be drawne to Jesus Christ But first she is made willing before she is willing ay and in her life after she is come to Christ in her walking with Christ Non suis confidit viribus she trusts not her owne strength she even then commeth leaning which is the next Branch of the Doctrine I have to handle Though she comes up from the wildernesse she comes up not of her owne strength but leaning First Let us enquire what the expression holds out to us Secondly What is the soules hand Thirdly Who is it she leanes upon Fourthly What in him she hath to trust to and how in every wildernesse she leans and out of every wildernesse comes up leaning I conceive here are foure things hinted in this expression leaning which I may tearme the foure fingers of the Spouses hand which she layes upon her Saviours shoulders First It doth argue that the soule is weary otherwise she would not leane Secondly It is a willing posture I am not forced to leane I do it willingly The soule that comes up with Christ is willing Thirdly It is a posture of love

of nature 3. Driven from this he would maintaine that the faculties of the soule and their naturall Actions was the grace of God understood by the Apostle Yet here is no leaning upon our Beloved Afterwards he would maintaine * Si quaeratur an ex suis Naturalibus viribus anima aliquid afferat ad suam conversion̄e vel renovationem vel aliquam facultat̄e vel action̄e quae vel partiat is causa vel quocunque alio modo appelletur vere respondetur quod habet se merè passivè Chemni in loc de lib. Arbitr 4. That the grace of God was necessary for sinnes past but it was in the power of mans free-will to avoid or commit sinnes for the time to come and to resist rebellious corruptions 5. After this he would maintaine That some men indeed were weake and must doe all by the grace of God others that were stronger might act good by their owne will But still only some Spouses leane Lastly he would maintaine and the Arminians still from him That grace did indeed helpe a good worke but it had its first motion from our wils or at least might have and the will had a negative voice and might resist and crosse grace which did not work irresistably in the soule to force the soule to him * Quae de gratia Dei praeveniente praeparente operante traduntur hunc babent sensum quod non nostrae partes priores sunt in conversione sed quod Deus per afflatum divinum praeveniat post hunc autem motum voluntatis divinae factum voluntas humana non habet se mere passivè sed mota adjuta à spiritu sancto non repugnat sed assentitur Ib. (a) Cassianus Monachus Pelagii Doctrinam amplexus est Faustus Hormisda Ben. I would not rake up these graves did not these ghosts walke in these our dayes when every grave of Heresie is unbowelled and no one takes care to throw the dirt upon them againe Nay and the Papists having beene tainted with this Leven the Sententiaries now tell us (b) Hominis est preparare cor Aqui. in Sum. Theo. Acquiescre assentiri est nostrûm That a man without grace meerly by the strength of his free will may avoid any mortall sinne and prepare himselfe for Gods free grace and fulfill the Commandements of God Quoad substantiam actus for the substance of the Act (c) Quibus de congruo mereatur gratiam facientem Scotus And another more impudently maintains That a man without any grace of God by the meere strength of nature may doe workes morally good yea even such as God shall be bound to concur with and give his speciall grace for Even thus going back from their owne great Rabbies one of which was pleased to confesse (d) Homo sine gratiâ Dei non potest non peccare mortaliter venialiter Lom That a man without the grace of God could not but sinne both mortally and venially What is become here of the Beloveds leaning but no more of these only if you heare such Doctrines as you may heare any thing in these dayes beleeve them not 5. Spirities Sactus praevenit movel impellit voluntatem in conversione non otiosam sed attendentem verbo Chemnit Vel per speculationem somniorum vel per simulationem oration is ill abi efficaciam Spiritus Sancti Vid. D. Featly Dippers dipt Doth God move the will attendding him in duties first secondly when the will is thus moved doth it then come when it is drawne doth it runne Then this reproves the Enthusiasts of old the Anabaptists Antinomians Seekers of our dayes that hold first there is no need of duties Enthusiasts of old affirmed That for the receiving of the Spirit of Promise and saving grace the Spirit of God was either infused to them in a dreame Vel per simulationem orationis Ay and the motions of the Spirit were as sensible in their flesh as the beating of the pulse so blasphemous were they growne and thence they would lye and gape for Revelations and so indeed they may have a suggestion from the Devill but scarse a Revelation from God Oh! How in these dayes are men tainted with these lazie Opinions slighting duties vilifying Sabbaths neglecting Ordinances that if poore people would truely now give account of their growth in grace and of their learning godlinesse many of them might truly As the child that ye have heard a story in the learning of its Primmer boasted to the father that it had learned past grace Is not this the miserable learning of our dayes that men are grown past grace past Prayer past Ordinances past all duties 6. Againe what you have heard that after the soule is drawne then it comes may shew us the falsenesse of another Doctrine of Enthusiasme too briefe even in these dayes also that the soule is meerly passive even after the worke of conversion also and is even then a meere stone See the Booke set out from the Ministers of New-England of the Hereticks c. Post conversionem concurrit voluntas non tamen quasi suis viribus adjuvet spirituales actiones Semper addendum est non esse plenam libertatem in sancto renato sed virtutem in infirmitate perfici Chemnit Intelligant si filii Dei sint spiritu Dei se agi ut quod agendum est agant cum egerint ●lli à quo aguntur gratias agant Aguntur enim ut agant non ut ipsi nihil agant Aug. Draw me saith the Spouse and then I will runne after thee Indeed after our conversion the will is but in part sanctified and the Image of God in us will want of his first integrity after it is renewed but Christs strength is perfected in our weaknesse we must understand if we be the children of God that God hath therefore wrought in us that we might also worke something and when we have wrought it give thankes to God who hath made us to worke for God hath wrought in us that we might worke not that we should be idle Thus I have laboured to you to divide the Truth from Errour Now you have heard of the leaven of these Pharisees take heed of it In the next place what you have heard that the soule that comes to the Lord Jesus Christ leanes upon a new Beloved not upon her old beloveds may serve to reprove those that would faine plead a title to Christ and have a portion in Christ but they will not take Christ alone two sorts there are of these The one cannot leave their old beloveds and the other cannot trust this Beloved O the wicked man would have his portion in Christ if he might but have his lusts too his pleasures his profit but to take Christ alone O this is such a hard saying that they cannot beare by any meanes If Christ and his lusts would lye both in one bed Christ at the feet