Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	bless_a	lord_n	soul_n	6,252	5	5.0695	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52476	Three choice and profitable sermons upon severall texts of Scripture viz. Jer. 30. 17, John 14. 3, Heb. 8. 5 : the first of them being the last sermon which he preached at the court of election at Boston, the second was the last which he preached on the Lords-Day, the third was the last which he preached on his weekly-lecture-day : wherein (beside many other excellent and seasonable truths) is shewed, the Lords soveraignty over, and care for his church and people, in order to both their militant and triumphant condition, and their fidelity and good affection towards himself / by that reverend servant of Christ, Mr. John Norton ...	Norton, John, 1606-1663.; Norton, John, 1606-1663. Copy of the letter returned by the ministers of New-England to Mr. John Dury about his pacification.	1664 (1664)	Wing N1324; ESTC R40050	44,511	76

look after his Out-casts and care for us being Out-casts for the Truth Let it appear that we are such Out-casts to whom the calamity and temptations of Out-casts are sanctified Out-casts healed Out-casts that care for the truth and then Out-casts on which God will bring the blessing of his own people If this plaister findeth acceptance with you you shall finde esteem and acceptance and favour from God and man Let us all labour so to carry it as that we may have this Rejoycing of a good Conscience to sweeten that bottle full of tears shed in your Out-cast condition in this wilderness viz. That we came into it not onely with a Spirit testifying according to the Scriptures against the Inventions of men but also that we do come up unto the Institutions of Christ that as we have departed from Inventions Humane so we may not be found to be or here continue opposers against Institutions Divine that we are not negligent of but faithful to that Order of the Gospel which we are Out-casts for THE BELIEVERS CONSOLATION In the Remembrance of his Heavenly Mansion prepared for him by CHRIST BEING THE SECOND SERMON AND Preached on the LORDS-DAY MARCH XXIX 1663. John 14.3 And if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there you may be also THis Verse and the former holds forth a double Consolation to support the Disciples against the suffering which they were to conflict with either In the way of Truth or For the way of Truth This Verse holds forth the second Argument of Consolation the former you have in the second Verse it is taken from the Place they were to be taken to after Death And this Argument in this Verse is taken from the Company they shall have in that place and that is his Personal Presence his full and clear Presence Where I am there you shall be also Now this Argument of Consolation is described 1. From the Scope of Christ in preparing such a place for them and it was that he and they might be there together I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also 2. It is declared from the Time when they must expect their being taken to Christ and that is when he comes again I will come again and receive you to my self 3. It is declared from the Efficient of it the Undertaker of this and that is Himself I will come again and receive you to my self To open the words thus resolved 1. Touching the Presence of Christ and Believers together That where I am there you may be also you must understand this of his Presence emphatically so called of his Presence in the place of Blessedness In thy Presence is fulness of joy Psal 16.11 There is a double Presence of Christ but he means here his Presence in Glory where we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 I said this Argument of their Consolation was declared from the Scope of it I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also it was one great end of his being a Fore-runner Secondly he should fail of his Fidelity and Ability if there should be a disappointment 2. From the Time When I come again Christs coming is either his last Coming or his coming by Death Of his last coming you reade 1 Thess 4.18 Of his coming by Death you reade Luke 23.43 To day thou shalt be with me in Paradice Now the Soul goes to Christ when He comes to us by Death at his last coming both Soul and Body shall be together with him 3. This Argument of Consolation is described by the Efficient of it or Undertaker I will receive you to my self We may doubt how our Souls when we dye shall come to Heaven why saith Christ I will come and receive you to my self They therefore say properly when they dye that say Into thy hands I commend my Spirit Psal 31.5 it is a proper saying so to speaks Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit It is a blessed thing to commit our Souls by Faith to Christ when they go out of the Body He comes by the ministry of his Angels or otherwise as he please I will come again and receive you to my self You may remember the words of Steven he dying called upon God and said Lord Jesus receive my Spirit we receive Christ and we receive the Spirit of Christ Now to as many as received him to them gave he power c. Joh. 1.12 Christ receives our Spirits then If we receive his Spirit now he will receive our Spirits then I will receive you to my self Doct. That the effectual Remembrance that at Death Christ will receive our Souls unto Himself is a Soveraign Preservative to quiet our Souls throughout all the Sufferings we meet with either In the way of Truth and For the way of Truth during this life You shall finde in Iob 19.25 saith he I know that my Redeemer liveth He might say I know my Estate is gone and I see that my Friends are gone and my Children be gone and my Health and Strength is gone and the Grave is ready for me but what stayes Iobs heart now I know that my Redeemer lives This is a living truth for a dying man I know that my Redeemer lives and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth and I shall see him c. This was now In the way of Truth for you cannot say that Iob was persecuted For the way of Truth But you shall finde in a way of suffering for the way of Truth Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Having passed through many troubles I would be out of the body and freed from the body of death I desire to depart and to be with Christ 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. You must either be absent from the body or absent from the Lord it is an hard thing to be absent from the body but not comparatively We desire rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord We shall meet the Lord and shall ever be with the Lord. What is the use of this 1 Thess 4 18. Comfort one another with these words what are these Comforts They are nothing but Promises Promises rightly applied these are the Comforts of the holy Ghost they hold forth more good then the affliction doth evil If you would comfort one another bring out the Promise that is comfortable and seasonable Comfort one another with what with these words for in them the Comforter doth come and apply comfort Reas 1. Because hereby we are made fit for this rest fit to be with Christ that is by our trouble by this remembrance Mixing this remembrance with our trouble doth fit us for this place 2 Cor. 5.5 He that worketh us

much As unto him his honour due malignantly to grutch Yet this will adde unto the weight of his most glorious Crown And both in sight of God and men increase his high renown T is true he was a man and none himself abhorred more But none did more the Lords free grace in Jesus Christ adore Nothing but this to know or preach or share in did he wish This was on Earth as 't is in Heav'n his blessed Paradice To Honour Christ he was content as well by Sea as Land His Life to venture yea his ALL was All at Christ's Command The care of all His Churches-dear lay heavy on his heart As he did ever but at last most fully it impart His life was nothing but of death a daily meditation And to his happy end at last a solemn preparation He was a man if any were that loved truth and peace Which to promote in every kinde he ne're at all did cease An Orthodox Divine he was his writings all do show Both Englands Holland all the World or do or may it know His Books do Antichrist confute with all his viperous brood Especially where they eclipse the merits of Christs blood Church-holy-order he maintain'd against Morellianisme Decrying every sect but most abhorring Quakerisme His last both words and works like Davids were the best And as his death more neer approach'd more lively then the rest Nothing but things at Gods right hand and heavenly Mansions Was in his thoughts at home abroad breath'd in 's expressions Ipswich was happy Boston more if it we had but known Whom two such Johns successively God gave to be their own But John and Paul so much admir'd and most deservedly Must be content to be abas'd by some before they dy And being dead it will appeare such Prophets once we had When God hath once abased us with changes very sad The Lord if his good pleasure be our miseries prevent And of our great unthankfulness grant that we may repent Then will the Lord this Widow-Church that widows house relieve And make us all rejoyce again whom now he makes to grieve We griev'd him first and just it was that he should grieve our hearts Though when at low'st we are t is far beneath our just deserts I speak of all New-England but chiefly of Boston Church Oh! let us all impartially our wayes and spirits search And say as the Disciples did Lord is it I is' t I And thou my soule beyond the rest It to thy self applie T is thou hast sinned were there none but thy unworthiness Well might the Lord both thee and all because of thee distress When such green trees as were those Johns Gods hand thus spareth not Of such a dry and withered one Lord what will be the lot However we must bless thy name what ere of us become That thou takes up such fruitful ones to thine eternal home Oh! that their rare Examples wee to follow had the grace That thou may'st count us worthy once of that most glorious place As for his Mary let her say Rabboni unto him Who calls her Mary by her Name and did her Soul redeem Iohn Wilson Sen. SION the Out-cast healed of her Wounds BEING THE FIRST SERMON AND Preached at the COURT of ELECTION MAY XXII 1661. Jerem. 30.17 For I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord because they called thee an Out-cast saying This is Sion whom no man seeketh after THis Text may be called A Divine Plaister for a Sin-sick Out-cast in other words it is Gods Cure of Sion when incurably Wounded You have here the Patient described from divers Adjuncts some Inherent abiding in the Patient some Extrinsecal relating to the Patient That which is Abiding is that she is an Out-cast Wounded and Sick That which is Extrinsecal relateth either to the Spectators or to the Physician To the Beholders and there you have their disaffection viz. They called thee an Out-cast saying c. To the Physician and there you have his affection viz. I will restore health to thee and will heal thee of thy wounds which Affection is amplified 1. From the Cause Because they called thee an Out-cast therefore will I heal thee 2. From the Infallibility of it upon the testimony of this Physician Thus saith the Lord. They say Thou art an Out-cast the Lord saith He will restore her To open the words briefly The Patient Here you finde 1. An Out-cast It doth immediately look to the good Figs that were in Babylon and they were in a manner voluntary Exiles they yielded themselves to go and such an Out-cast is here meant as is not onely cast out of the Country but out of the hearts and affections of others Several Comparisons there are that set forth this Out-cast as that of a menstruous woman Lam. 1.17 of the person cast out of the Synagogue Ezra 10 8. Ioh. 9 22. and that of the Leper 2 Chron. 26.21 he dwells in an house apart and as Iephthah thrust and expelled out of his Fathers house cast out of doors and out of hearts and esteem 2. But not onely is Sion an Out-cast but an Out-cast Wounded and it is Laesio ad mortem a deadly wound and an incurable wound Ier. 30.12 i. e. according to man And not a green Wound but an Ulcer a festered Wound and Sore and no wonder then she is also sick And if we look to the Extrinsecal Adjunct which accompany this Patient there is that which relates unto 1. The Beholders They say This is Sion whom no man seeketh after They did reproach her and there was no denial of it Is not this Sion 't is spoken in way of derision the sarcasm of an Enemy Sion was a word of honour but they here relate to the Notation of the Hebrew word from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Siccitas as being a day withered sapless thing a barren and forsaken and undesirable place and society And further Whom no man seeketh after Neither this sort of men nor that sort of men none hath any care of her welfare 2. A second kinde of Extrinsecal Adjuncts relate unto the Physician Therefore I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee Now God will apply a sanative Cataplasm an healing Pla ster This is Repentance and Restitution Ier. 31.9 Repentance and their Return make up the sanative Plaister In respect of her self there was need of Repentance in respect of the adversary there was need of Reduction And the Cause of it viz. Because they called thee an Out-cast as who should say I am sensible of all thy case and the opprobrie thou hast suffered therefore will I restore thee But shall not this fail No Jehovah's word is engaged for it Thus saith the Lord. Doct. When Sion for its sin is become an Out-cast a subject of contempt God takes occasion from her Calamity to give her Repentance that so he may bring upon her the Blessing of his own

to the self-same thing is God For what thing for our heavenly house our house not made with hands he that fits us for these things is God And thus doth he fit us by trouble by these matters of groaning that do pass over us from day to day This should be a great incouragement There is a place prepared for you but remember you must be fit for your place you are not fit for your place in that you are meerly Regenerate but you must pass through such a measure of Obedience both active and passive that is appointed for you that by this means you may be meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light The place is fit for us already but we are not fit for it as soon as we are Regenerate 2 Cor. 5. he doth there instance in the troubles of the body the grief of the outward man we are burthened with our body but all this while a fitting for our place If you belong to God he is working you to the self-same thing be your trouble this or that the Cholick Palsie Stone or whatever he is working us for the self-same thing This is a great matter in our troubles to consider that God by them is fitting us for our place in Heaven Reas 2. From the Quality of the Undertaker that hath undertaken the reception of our Souls to himself I will come and receive you to my self If it be so let us that suffer according to the will of God 1 Pet. 4.19 commit the keeping of our Souls to him you may boldly do it he sends a fiery Chariot for Elijah likely it was an Angel He makes his Angels spirits his Ministers a flame of fire Heb. 1.7 Christ hath his way to carry your Souls to Heaven you do not believe what a condition your Souls will be in as soon as ever they are out of the body do but think what a meeting here is but we believe not these things As Christ when he sent to his Disciples to comfort them Luke 24.11 they thought they were tale tales so when we hear of these things we look at them but as idle tale but saith Christ I will come and receive you to my self Reas 3. Taken from the Person we shall be with namely Christ Phil. 1.23 You shall be with Christ which is best of all or which is farre better There is no better House then this Mansion there is no better Presence then his Presence therefore well might he say It is best of all or farre better Instruction 1. Learn from hence that the most and the greatest Communion that we have with Christ in this life still leaves us in a condition of absence from Christ compared with that Communion we shall have with him after death So faith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.8 We are willing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord ver 6. for while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord It is a place of absence from the Lord that is compared with what we shall have after death If you think of Paul Who did enjoy Christ more then Paul did Did not Paul enjoy Church-communion Yes but notwithstanding this was a place of absence from the Lord compared with the society that by death he should be in Was not Paul acquainted with any godly men you know what he saith of Timothy but yet saith he I am absent from mine own people The word that is here translated Absent signifies Absence from his own people he loved Timothy well but he thinks the Spirits of just men made perfect exceed the Spirit of Timothy Here is no Companion that is like the Company there here is no Communion will satisfie here Where most of Christ is it is best but yet it is absence comparatively We are absent from the Lord. Instr 2. The New man the Believer is never at rest till he is with Christ in his Mansion-house If you never finde any such thing in you but that if you might have your desire you would be here alwayes believe it you have not this New man in you this New man never is at rest till it comes to Christ It is true there is weakness in the best and unbelief-may prevail too-too much but I speak of this new Nature that is in these and reigns in these that are Regenerate You know how it is with those that love one another after that Jacob knew what was become of Joseph there was no staying of Jacob Let me go and see him before I dye Gen. 45.28 What was the reason of it there was an intire love one unto another You know how it is with those that do indeed love one another that have been long absent one from another they cannot rest until they meet Was there any did ever love another as the New man loves Christ The New man loves him with a divine love the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame Cant. 8.6 There are some on earth that do long after Christ there are those on earth that do desire after Heaven and do any love another as Jesus Christ loves the New man There must be a meeting between these two Lovers I will come and receive you to my self Mark how John concludes the Revelations Chap. 22. ver 21. Behold I come saith Christ He that-testifieth of these things saith I come Amen even so come Lord Iesus Here is a longing to be with Christ In any of your quaeries concerning Christ you are never at rest rill you come to Heaven it is the proper Being of the Sun to be in motion this New man is a divine man and his motion is still unto and after Christ Instruction 3. The death of the Believer it is a reception of the Soul by Christ Jesus Christ receiving of our Soules at Death is an incouragement to strengthen us against the fear of Death Are you affraid of going to your Mansion house are you affraid of going to Christ Mark what the Apostle saith Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Christ The Greek word is a Marriners Phrase and signifies as much as to set sayle from the shore I desire my time were come to be loosed that I might go to my Mansion There are three Cords or Bonds that do Intangle us the loosing from which doth sweeten Death to us 1. The Bond of the Cross I desire to be dissolved and loosed from the afflictions and miseries of this present life This is in it's place a lawful thing to desire in Gods time 2. There is a Bond of Corruption the body of Death this I desire to be loosed from O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death Rom. 7.24 There are pangs in the Best But if you have the new man in you you cannot bear them There is Vain-glory there and there is Impatience there and there is Envy there and Unspiritualness which

you know not Perfect Holiness now but then you shall know it more and we shall see the Trinity He that hath seen me Iohn 14.9 hath seen the Father And we shall see Christ that Person that is God and Man And for the Counsell of God we shall see it it shall be an open Book so far as concerns our happiness Now when the Soul comes to this you will have no further need of enquiry What God is or What Christ is you will never be satisfied till then you will never love God perfectly till then and you will never rest in him here as you will then you shall come to understand that then Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Exhort 1. It is abundantly to incourage every Christian to constancy in the profession of the truth notwithstanding all the suffering we may meet with either in the way of truth or for the way of truth This is that which John makes use of 1 Iohn 3.2 We shall see him as he is and He that hath this hope to see God purifieth himself even as he is pure ver 3. Do you say you have hope to see God this is a very purifying meditation Can you endure any impurity and yet maintain this hope in you to see Christ Acts 24.15 16. mark there how it did work with him And have hope towards God which themselves also allow I have hope that I shall see God and that there is such a truth as the resurrection herein do I exercise my self to have alwayes a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards Man they that are false to his truth they shall not see him that dye without Repentance of it herein do I labour to keep alwayes a Conscience clear both towards God and man that this may not hinder me from a sight of this Mansion 2 Cor. 5.8 9. speaking to the same purpose We desire to be with the Lord wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him Thus you see what this meditation doth call for this makes a man or woman of a labouring spirit it calls for adherence to the truth And more particularly consider then what it is to be a Christian in earnest to be such a Christian as walks in that way wherein they walk that have the Promise to go to Christ when their Soules go out of the body these are such as the eleven were not such as Iudas was he went the other way he went to his own place You must be such Christians as the Apostles were that is such as do continue with Christ in the profession of his truth that you may be Conquerours in holding on in your Profession 2. Consider what you must expect while you are in your way you must expect such troubles as nothing will quiet you but the exercise of Faith in Chirst Jesus Your hearts they will be assaulted but let not your hearts be troubled the Truth it will cause trouble to you though you think of carrying of it never so inoffensively and amiably among men Christ by all his good carriage could not reconcile those that hated the truth Hence those that profess the truth let them not think strange if they meet with trouble Then Acts 9.31 had the Churches rest Other places have rest very frequently but for the Churches those that profess the Truth to have rest is a special favour of God 3. Your troubles here while you carry it with a Christian Spirit they shall fit you for this blessed estate as it is said 2 Cor. 5.5 He that worketh us to the self-same thing You may think God means evil to you when you meet with affliction and trouble but provided you are In the way of Truth or be it For the way of Truth that which God ayms at is to fit you for your Mansion-place Christ would fit us to be in the body and he would fit us to go out of the body He works us to the self-same thing If you have a strong body he would fit you for that body to walk with him in that body Saith Caleb Josh 14.11 I have as strong a body as in the day that Moses sent me Now as it is a great matter to have such a body so it is a great matter to walk with God in such a body if you have an healthful body he would sit you to walk with him in that body that you may know how to possess your vessel in sanctification and honour not that your body should be the slave of filthy lusts Suppose you have a sickly body 2 Cor. 4.16 Our outward man decayes but our inward man is renewed day by day and he worketh us to the self-same thing by fitting us to go out of the body Acts 20.24 that I may finish my course with joy and the Ministry that I have received 4. Concurre with God in this scope of his Providence to you he is fitting of you to walk with God If he fit you to go out of the body or to be in the body close with him as the Patient closeth with the Physician interpret the Changes that are upon you of one nature or of another interpret them as dispensations whereby God works to fit you to be with him in the body or to go to him when you go out of the body Let us work together with him I did it to humble them Deut. 8.16 then close with him and say This is his end and for that end joyn with him You shall finde more trouble then rest while you are In the way you shall finde more rest then trouble when you are at the end of your way You that are lovers of truth more then of the pleasures of Sin you shall finde more trouble then rest while you are in the way but when you are out of the body you shall have full rest without any trouble you shall have Truth enough and Peace enough That which is hard to gain now is Union in the Truth but then you shall have Union enough and Truth enough you shall finde Christ making good that truth to you that He will come and receive you to himself When Noah put forth his hand and received the Dove into the Ark it was a welcome ease so will it be to your Souls when they have been wearied with so many troubles and Christ Jesus shall come and receive you to himself when your Souls go out of the body for otherwise the Devil will be ready to receive them and to carry them to Hell Whither went Dives Soul when it went out of his body you that are now in Pleasures whither went Dives Soul it is not said he was an Adulterer or a Drunkard but he was a man of Pleasures In thy life time thou hadst thy good things Luke 16.25 But what became of his Soul when it went out of the body And being in Hell he lift up his eyes in torments c.