Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	body_n	lord_n	soul_n	15,609	5	5.1843	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93738	The doctrine of the cross, or, The duty of Christian suffering as it is necessary and subservient in order to the obtaining eternal salvation, delivered in a sermon on Matth. 13. 20, 21 / by Richard Stafford.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5118; ESTC R42710	24,789	39

to much more than Vanity with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak Psal 12. 2. in the Margent there for a double heart is an heart and an heart That is one heart in one sort of Company and another in another But what doth all this tend unto Or what will be the hurt and ill consequent of it It is so much Sin in the mean while and will be punishment hereafter according to what the Spirit of Truth saith The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things Ver. 3. As it was said the more any one knows of God and the more like any one is unto God the less regard he hath to Man So this stands upon Reason for the Less must give way unto and be swallowed up by the Greater One that is afraid of the roaring and devouring of a Lion is not altogether so much afraid of the humming of a Stinging Bee And so one who is afraid to stand in the Mouth of and then to hear the Report of a Cannon loaden with Powder and deadly Bullet yet he is not altogether so much afraid of a Popgun Even so it is here should not his Excellency make us afraid Should not the infinitely exceeding Greatness of God over Man make us much more fear God than Man and so accordingly all they do as much fear him proportionably who know and apprehend him by Faith But say what thou wilt on this Subject here is one Objection against it still for it is evident that the Generality of People fear Man more than God because the Punishment of Man is present and sensible but the wrath of God is future and invisible Indeed the wrath of God in this Life is intelligible and a little sensible and perceivable but people do make a shift to harden and render themselves insensate against it Nevertheless consider the thing throughly take the wrath of God as it will be in the length severity and duration thereof and then it is as much more to be feared than the Wrath and Displeasure of Man whose Fury soon vanisheth into nothing and the utmost he can do is to kill the Body which is only to break the Husk or Shell but not to touch the Man himself as the vast Fabrick of the World doth exceed in Dimension the Bulk of one single Man When the Soul shall depart from the Body then the judgment written Psal 149. 9. to be executed the vials of wrath will be then poured out Then is it that the Souls of the Sinners and of the Guilty will have a more terrible and lasting apprehension of the dreadful Majesty and Presence of God in coming near to them in judgment Mal. 3. 5. and Punishment than the Israelites had of the appearance of his Angel on Mount Sinai or as the consternation and fear we are now in amidst the most dreadful Thunder and Lightining in an horrible Tempest or Earthquake For then the Soul will be Magor missabib Terrour round about all shivering and exceeding trembling and quaking when also the tormenting Passions shall be stretched out to the utmost and she will fear as much as is posible to fear What shall I say more Even this The more we fear God in this Life the less we shall slavishly fear him in that which is to come with that kind of fear which gendreth Bondage which only will be the Portion of the Sinners Wicked and Ungodly Vpon whom he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest This shall be the portion of their Cup. Psal 12 6. And we cannot fear God greatly in this Life as Obadiah did That is above and more than all things besides unless we know and apprehend him by Faith And this is the victory that overcometh the World even your faith 1 John 5. 4. This is the very Reason why some Elect People The Lord add unto them how few soever they be an hundred fold do fear God more than Man even their Faith for such believe that he is the Great Law-giver able to save and to destroy that as he doth good so he can punish That he can and also will where he hath threatned so inflict worse and more terrible and evil things than what Man now doth in his utmost rage and malice But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell Yea I say unto you fear him So I say again and testify the same over and over fear God more and fear Man less and then ye will not be of that kind of Hearers who when Affliction on Persecution ariseth for the Words sake immediately they are offended Which Temper and Disposition the Lord having shewed unto me by his Spirit that most People are of accordingly he hath directed and put the foregoing Words into my Mouth to fill and make up what is yet lacking and wanting in them even the inward qualifications of Boldness and Trust on God the Spirit of Knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Let therefore the Spirit of the Lord rest upon us and let himself give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding whereby we shall be enabled to trust on him the Spirit of Counsel and of might therein is included Courage and Boldness the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Repent and do the first Works that none of those things afore-spoken of be found wanting in ye lest your Souls be not set in order before ye die and they go out of these Bodies as to which the time approacheth near and is just at hand As for my part rather than go out all my Days in a course of Perfunctory outward Worship or Worldly Prosperity I had rather be ranked among the number of those to whom Christ shall say at the last Day Ye are they which have continued with me in my Temptations and I appoint to you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed to me Luke 22. 28 29. And I would to God that your Minds have been worked into such a good and resolved frame by the things that have been spoken unto you out of the Book of the Lord that ye will also avouch your selves unto Christ who is the word so that he who doth it for the Words sake doth it for Christ's sake Lord I am ready to go with thee both into Prison and to Death Ver. 33. And then there is assured and well-grounded Hope if this firm constant mind be in you for Peter who said and boasted this his Faith did fail and himself did flag and deny when it came to an upshot and Trial that such Men and Women who are willing to continue with Christ in his Temptations it is said in the Plural Number for the manifold kind of them will inherit the Kingdom which he hath appointed It is better if the will of God be to suffer it so far to die in a Prison upon a Bed of Straw and from thence go to Heaven than to be cloathed in Purple and Fine Linnen and to fare sumptuously every day Luke 16. 19. or to die on a Damask Bed in a Palace and to go to Hell FINIS

to be an especial mark of the favour of God But truly herein the people of the world do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the manner of God's dealing towards the Children of Men For indeed if we look into the glass of the Word we shall there see and find that present Impunity and Prosperity are rather signs that such who have them are Bastards than the Children of God That they are men of the world who have their portion in this Life Psal 17. 14. from whom David prays by the Spirit that his Soul may be delivered and not be with them Which is also the desire of those who have Faith and true Understanding in the Things and Dispensations of God Better is afflicted Innocency than prosperous Iniquity and a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked Psal 37. ●6 As for my part when I see or hear of any who have the Name or Character of very religious and honest People and yet they never did nor do lie under Persecution or Reproach if they be not afflicted one way or another nor yet spoken against by some or other verily I do suppose and conclude such to be either Hypocrites or rather partial Christians such as keep some of the Commandments of God and neglect others The reason whereof is this because I know not how to reconcile the State of such People unto the Scriptures of Truth For if any be without Persecution or Reproach Affliction or Chastisement whereof all the Servants of God in all Generations and Countries have been Partakers Either the Scriptures are not true which speak universally of some kind of Affliction or Hatred to all God's people which would be horrid blasphemy to affirm for Heaven and Earth shall pass away rather than one tittle or jota thereof shall fail until all be fulfilled or rather which is the very Truth such people who thus escape scotfree from any Trouble or Vexation from the World are none of the People Saints and Servants of God although they outwardly seem or pretend never so much to be so After that our Saviour Jesus Christ who had the Character from God that he was his beloved Son had with excellent Arguing shewed the unreasonableness thereof that the World should hate Him or his Disciples in John 15. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24. He sums up and concludes that whole Discourse with this observable Truth But this cometh to pass that the Word might be fulfilled which is written in their Law they hated me without a cause Ver. 25. And so it comes to pass even now for the Scriptures hold alike true as to all Persons Times and Places That there is no going to Heaven or entring into the Kingdom of God without some tribulation or other Yea it must be of that kind of tribulation also which arises from matters of Duty and from true Serving of and obedience to God For if it were not or should not be so the Scriptures would not be fulfilled and found true Good God! what a strange kind of ignorant and corrupt World do we live in Many of my Countrey Men and Neighbours I was a reproach among all mine Enemies but especially among my Neighbours and a Fear to mine Acquaintance Psal 31. 11. have been and are offended at him who writeth this meerly because he hath gone through a consideraable deal of Trouble as if he was therefore an Hypocrite a Deceiver or deceived in his Religion Which was the very same Surmise and Reproach that those his two called Friends had of and fastened on Job As to which God himself witnesseth on his behalf They have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath Job 42. 5. And so it is as to the aforementioned Imagination and Saying That such an one is an Hypocrite or Deceived or silly and foolish as to the Management of his Religion because his Religion hath occasioned Suffering and Trouble unto him Whereas in deed and in truth this Reproach turns upon themselves For if judgment be made hereof by the sure Word of God This argues yea and demonstrates themselves to be Hypocrites or deceived as certainly all those are who obey but a part thereof and not the whole Law of God Yea and fools in that they lose the future Recompence promised unto Suffering for Well-doing Who so order their Religion that it costs them nothing of Expence Trouble or Inconveniency Whose Religion sits so lose upon them that they fashion and turn and change it according to every wind of Temptation and Trial that they may have it always in their back and to blow with them Who love to swim with the stream although it tends to the bottomless Pit Who are for walking all along or for the most part according to the course of this World and to do as most do altho' as sure as Scripture is true this is the ready way to be condemned with the World True indeed that many times it is most for the present safety and ease of the Flesh To walk in the way of the Multitude and according to the course of this World but only this is not the right way to Heaven Of which they will not be counted worthy by God or by Christ now nor will they be admitted by them hereafter who are afraid or certainly those will not who refuse to Suffer for his Name and for the Testimony of his Word or for the Hearing or Receiving thereof 2dly In that kind of People who when Tribulation or Persecution ariseth for the Word either before or immediately afterwards they are offended there is another wanting in them and so their Souls are not set in order as yet before the time draws nigh that they must die and go out of these Bodies That is they want the Trust on God Now this Word Trust is a relative Term and presupposes some Danger or Difficulty For as the Apostle proves that the Object of Hopes is unseen things by this kind of Arguing For what a man sees what doth he hope for Intimating thereby as if seeing was a kind of Knowledge and Certainty of such things which is somewhat more and another distinct thing from Hope So here in like manner it may be Reasoned if there was no Danger or Difficulty in such a thing How could we trust on God concerning it For the trust on God is not altogether so much to be exercised when we are walking in a Room or when we are at Ease in our House at a full Table or in the midst of Health Plenty and Prosperity or when we are in a whole Skin and have the World at will I wist that most yea all People can trust on God then But herein is the true Excellency and Benefit for only thus the present and future Good thereof are to be had of trusting on God When the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vine the labour of the Olive