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	sin_n	soul_n	13,963	5	5.3517	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68828	The holie exercise of a true fast, described out of Gods word Seene and allowed.; Very godly and learned treatise, of the exercise of fastyng.	Wilkinson, William, d. 1613.; Cartwright, Thomas, 1535-1603, attributed name.	1580 (1580)	STC 24251.5; ESTC S120024	22,313	96

to call for the performance of them And first we humbly desire thee to forgiue vs all our sinnes Thou hast saide that if we confesse our sinnes thou art faithfull to forgiue vs them We acknowledge the debte cancell therefore the obligation let not the multitude of them preuaile against vs but where our sinne hath aboūded let thy grace more abounde and as we haue multiplyed our sinnes so we pray thee to multiply thy mercies and although wee haue by continuaunce in them so soked our selues that thereby we are not onely lightly stained but also haue gottē as it were the scarlet purple die of them yet let them all we pray thee being washed in the blod of thy deare sonne be made as whyte as the snowe in Salmon and as the wolle of the sheep which come from washing And ●o conclude as our sinnes haue magnified themselues in an infinit length ●readth depth and height so let thy ●ercies which passe all vnderstan●ing of all sides and all assayes out ●eache them Therefore also we most ●umbly desire thee O Lord that the ●inne being pardoned thy wrath whiche is alreadie declared may be appeased towardes all the Churches of our profession and especially towards vs that the manifolde breaches of the Churches and common wealthes may be made vp that those being receyued into the bosome of the Church which belong to thy election the rest of the Papistes and heretikes may be vtterly rooted out that the enemies in religion being slaine we may to the vttermost think all one thing in the honeste and peaceable gouernment of the common wealth Vpon which vniting of vs in all trueth and honestie the curses of the plague and barrennesse being remoued a way may be made to thy blessinges which as the hills do the valleis may make our land holesomely fruitfull And that not onely the wrath which is alreadie kindled may be quenched but that which hath beene lately threatned may be caused to retyre For the graunt whereof vnto vs we beseech thee to remember that howe vnworthy soeuer yet are wee thy people and the Sheepe of thy pasture whome thou hast redemed with thy most pretious ●lood watched ouer with a carefull ●ye defended with a mightie hand ●espise not therfore O Lord the wor●es of thy hands And seing thou hast ●●ued vs when we hated thee visited vs when we desired thee not then acknowledged vs when we knewe not thee now that there be a nūber of vs which loue thee desire thine aboade acknowledge thee hold on thy loue still depart not from vs deny vs not O thou God of trueth which art the God that chaungest not And if thou wouldest or couldest forget vs calling vpon thee yet what should become of thy great name which is called vpon by vs And therefore for thy glories sake and for thy blessed names sake which in our destruction shoulde b● rent and runne through spare v●spare vs good Lord according to the vsuall dealing which thou hast euer kept with those which in prayer haue had recourse vnto thee and according to the olde and vnchangeable nature of a merciful kind sparing long suffering God Which mercie we do not O Lord desire to the end that we shoulde tumble and wallowe our selues in our accustomed neglect and contempt of thy holy worde but together with mercie for our sinnes and the rewarde of them we moste humbly craue vppon the knees of our heartes that for the time to come howe long or howe short soeuer we with deniall and detestation of our selues and of our wicked lustes may ●●er vp vnto thee in Iesus Christe ●●r selues our bodies and soules to ●●e seruauntes at thy holy commaun●ement in that reasonable seruice ●hich the high reason of thy holy ●orde doth prescribe and to be wea●ons or instruments of righteousnes ●nd holinesse as they haue bene here●ofore of the contrarie All which ●hinges as whatsoeuer thou knowest ●o be further needefull for vs or for any of the Churches we pray thee as our sauiour hath taught c. A CONFESSION OF sinnes with fayth and repentaunce O Mercifull and heauenly Father we thy seruāts doe humbly prostrate our selues before thy Ma●estie acknowledging here in thy ●ight our hainous offences committed against thy Maiestie seeing and beholding thy heauie wrath against them we feele our selues laden O Lord our God with a huge company of horrible sinnes whereof euen the very least beeing but conceiued in thought is sufficient in iudgemēt to throwe vs downe to the euerlastinge burning Lake Our owne consciences O Lorde doe beare witnesse against vs of our manifolde transgressions of thy blessed lawe of our securitie and sencelesse blindenesse running headlong to destruction cōmitting sinne after sinne although not notorious to the worlde yet horrible before thine eye The thoughts of our heartes rise vp in iudgement against vs the vanitie of our talk before thy maiestie condemneth vs the wickednesse of our deedes from thy sight reiecteth vs all our wicked thoughts wordes and deeds with the inwarde corruption of our nature do altogether as it were a whole lumpe and loade of sinne lie heauie vppon vs with their intollerable weight doe euen presse vs downe to Hell Wee doe dayly grone vnder the burthen of them inwardly lamenting our owne follie so greedily running into them In heauen earth or hel we see none able to sustaine the weight of them but euen thy dearly beloued sonne Iesus Christ who in mercy infinite and compassion endlesse hath sustained and ouercome that endlesse punishment due vnto them in him therefore in him most mercifull Father and through him we come to thee being fully assured according to thy promise that thou wilt accept take that full recompence which he thy deare sonne hath made for vs as a iust ransome for all the sinnes of all those who with a true faith take hold on him In him therfore we see thine anger towards vs appesed thy wrath satisfied and our debts paide Increase in vs good Lord we beseech thee this liuely and feeling faith for we feele it oftentimes in vs very weake and troubled with many doubtes increase it in vs O Lorde that we may through thy holy spirite be assured that the punishment of our sinnes is fully in thy sonne discharged Make vs O Lord our God to feele this same in our soules and consciences that Iesus Christe is ours and al that he hath done that we are grafted into his body and made one with him and therefore fellow heires with him of euerlasting life Let vs not onely haue these wordes in our mouthes good Lord but through thy holy spirite let vs feele the comfort of them in our heartes fully sealed and setled in vs that we feeling our selues inwardly before thy iudgement seate discharged and our consciences towardes thee appeased may be swallowed vp with an vnfaigned loue toward thy heauenly Maiestie and towardes our brethren for thy sake Make sinne to dye in vs daily more

time extending this exercise at the least to som part of the night Where notwithstanding it is to be noted that as well in the former abstinence from meate as in this withdrawing of some part of sleepe that neither is so streightly required of the Lord but that those whose either disease or other infirmitie will not beare this abstinence without hazard of their health may vse so much libertie as shall serue for the preseruation of their health so they take heed they vse not this gentle dealing of the Lord as a cloake to hide the lustes of their flesh withall A third kinde of abstinence is in the apparell that albeit they put not on sackcloth and ashes as the holy fathers did in times past yet that they content them selues with a common kinde of attire auoyding all such costlinesse and curiositie wherby in tricking and trimming vp them selues the flesh may take occasion of being proud Thus the lord when he would haue the children of Israel to humble Exod. 33. ● them selues before him spake to Moses saying speake vnto the children of Israel that for the present time they lay aside their iewels and ornaments that I may knowe what I shall do with them And thus farre hath it bene spoken of the outward exercises which are generall and to be don of al which make this solemne profession of repentance There is one yet which is more speciall belonging vnto married persons alone which is that they for the time should with consent abstaine from the mutuall felowship 1. Cor. 7. 5. one of an other which is so straitly required that euen the bridgrome Ioel. 2. 16. and the bride which of all other ought to haue the greatest priuiledge in that point are bidden at such times to come out of their chābers But for as much as the kingdome Rom. 14. 17 of heauen standeth not in these thinges and the Lorde being a spirit will be worshipped in spirite and trueth either these exercises must lead vs to some farther thing or else the same accusation will lye against vs wherewith the Prophet charged the Israelites who contenting themselues with the outwarde ceremony of Esay 58. 30 abstinence were sent home as emptie as they came And in deede vnlesse we bring more with vs thē this our abstinency our fastes may bee matched with the beastes fast of Niniuie for they also both eate nothing Ionas 3. 7. and were couered with sackcloth yea the beastes fast may be so much better then ours as there be some kinds of beastes that can longer endure without meate and sleepe then wee Where the Papistes fast which was shewed before to be childishe may here be proued to be beastly and brutish For if they did onely abstaine from meate they iudged themselues to haue bolden a good fast vnto the Lorde There followe the inwarde vertues helped forward by the bodily exercise which in the number * two ●sdra 6. 21. The one is the humbling and casting downe of our selues before the high maiestie of God with sorrow for our sinnes the other is the assurance that we haue that with forgiuenesse of them we shall obtaine the thinge that we stande in need of and make sute for Here therefore first commeth to be considered our humbling and casting downe which is a vile esteeming of our selues aunswering to the outward exercise For therefore doe we abstaine for a time that we might therby haue a quicker feeling of our owne vnworthinesse Therefore we bring downe the bodie that the minde may be likewise brought downe Therefore we crucifie the flesh that the deserued death of the spirite may be the better knowen Therfore we abstaine from our pleasures Mark 2. 20. Luk. 5. 35. Math. 9. 15. and commodities that through conscience of sinne and feeling of the wrath of God either present or to come for the same we might drawe our selues to a greater sorrowe In which respect the exercise which the other Euangelistes call fasting Saint Mathew calleth mourning Here-vppon Ioel. 2. 17. 1. Sam. 7. 6. it cometh that weeping which is a witnesse of our sorrowe is annexed vnto the fast which the children of God haue don so plentifully in this exercise that they haue bene sayde 1. Sam. 7. 6. to haue drawne whole bucketes of water which the depth of the sorowe for their sinnes the anger of God against them hath ministred And as these outwarde exercises are commaunded to drawe vs to a feeling of our vnworthinesse so in the feeling thereof by them we make a solempne confession of the same For the Children of God in time past by their abstinence from meate and drinke confessed themselues vnworthy so much as of a crumme of bread or droppe of water by putting on sackcloth vnworthie of the worst ragge to couer their shame with So that if common honestie and health would haue suffered they woulde haue stripped them selues starke naked The same is to be vnderstanded of the benefite of sleepe and company of mariage as also of all other the commodities of this life whereof they did not onely confesse themselues vnworthie but in that they put dust ashes vpon their heads they gaue to vnderstand that they were vnworthy of the life it self and that they deserued to be as farre vnderneath the ground as they were aboue it yea if there had beene any thing apter to haue set foorth their euerlasting condemnation in hell of that also woulde they haue borne the marke thereby to declare their guilt and desert of the same So that hereby they doe iustifie the Lorde in that vengeaunce against them whereof by this humbling of themselues they seeke redresse If then we keepe a holy fast vnto the Lord we must thereby be humbled in our selues before the Lorde but if vppon confidence of our fasting wee waxe bolder to sinne in a persuation that through Luk. 5. 33. Luk. 18. 11. obedience giuen vnto him in this one point wee may be bolder to be disobedient in others or if the vse hereof doe make vs swell against our brethren and after the example of the Pharisees despise them which do not fast as we doe then is the fast appointed of the Lord for our medicine become our bane and poyson And therefore here nowe wee giue a newe charge vppon the Popish fast a great deale more hot then the former For seeing that they with the proude Pharisee boast of the merite of their fastes setting these fastes as other workes in the place of the bloode of Christ It is manifest that their fastes are so farre frō humbling them that through the opinion of them they rise vp againste the Lorde and doe their best to set themselues euen in the throne of God so that vnto the childishnesse brutishnes of their fast aboue mentioned here they haue added an horrible blasphemous sacriledge To the cōpassing of this true humbling of our sinnes is annexed necessarily an information

and meditation of the filthinesse of our sinnes and of the iuste vengeance of the Lord against them declared in the threateninges of the law and execution of the iudgementes of God against the wicked and namely against our Sauiour Christ who putting vppon himselfe our wickednesse suffered hell paines for it and specially an information and meditation of those both sinnes and punishmentes which the present time and persons doe giue occasion of And thus farre touching the first part of the inwarde vertues in fasting standing in the casting downe of our selues before the Lord. There followeth the other part which is a profession of our faith that we shall be lifted vp as high through the grace of the Lord our God in Iesus Christ as the conscience of our sinnes doth cast vs downe and that we shall obtaine the remouing of the euills tending to our destruction through the worthinesse of our Sauiour Christ which either presently presse vs or hange ouer our heads through our owne vnworthinesse For as true repentance casting vs downe with one hand both in sorrowe for our sinnes and confession of the same leaueth vs not in our downefall but through faith reacheth vs the other hand to lift vs vp againe so this solemne profession of our repentance carying vs first to the valley of trouble afterward bringeth vs backe againe to the gate of hope In which respest we alwayes finde in the holy Scriptures * Ezra 9. 5. Nehem. 1. 4. Dan. 9. 3. Iudg. 20. 26 Luke 5. 33. 1. Cor. 7. 7. that fasting is ioyned with praier * 2. Chron. 20. 6. Iames. 1. 6. Iohn 16. 23. which cā neuer be truly made without hope of obtaining the grace that is prayed for But for as much as prayer is a daily and ordinarie exercise of Gods children it is manifest * Ionas 3. 8. Esay 58. 4. that by the prayer which is coupled with fasting there is vnderstanded a speciall or peerelesse kinde of prayer both in zeale and strength of prayer as also in continuance of the same Whereby appeareth that here is an other vse of the outward abstinence that it might be as it were a wing wherewith the praier that otherwise through earthly affections creepeth vpon the grounde might the easilier flee vp into heauē and that it might be a grindestone to make a point of it that it may pearce and to set an edge that it may cut both the visible and inuisible enimies which we pray against And therefore the outwarde abstinence that pulleth downe the body helpeth to lift vp the minde and crucifying the flesh it quickneth the spirite and maketh it more liuely to this exercise Where yet againe the Popish fast is found insufficient which vpon the dayes of their fastes had no extraordinarie exercises of prayer more then other dayes which were not fasted To the better performance also of this part is annexed an informatiō and meditation of the gracious promises of GOD especially such as may serue for reliefe of the present occasions Wherin the better to correct our dulnesse and heauinesse to this so holy an exercise let vs remember that it is to obtaine some speciall grace at the hand of the Lord. Whereby it is giuen vs to vnderstand that vpon due holding of this fast vnto the Lord there be excellent promises a most singular reward Whereof the place of Ioel as it spake before for the commaundement of all the fastes ●oel 2. 13. ● 19. 20. which the people of God vsed so will it vndertake for the promises which the Lorde hath made to all those which submit them selues to the obedience thereof The truth of which promises is so manifest in the Scriptures as the Sunne at noone dayes can be no clearer For let all the fastes of the holy Churches and of godly men laid out in Scripture both of the olde and newe Testament be * Iudg. 20. 23. Ezra 19. 6 Hest 4. 16. 2. Chron. 20. 3. turned ouer and it shall be seene that the end of their fast which kept it in any measure of trueth and simplicitie was a feast and the issue of their mourning great reioysing For Dan. 9. 20. Ionah ● 10 albeit the ordinarie prayers of the faithfull returne not emptie vnto them againe yet hauing regarde vnto these which are ioyned with this exercise they may worthily seem to be barren which are otherwise Act. 12. 5. Act. 13. 2. fruitfull and to be blasted which otherwise seeme ful eared Yea the fast of the wicked king Achab ioined with 1. Regum 21 27. no true repentance nor so much as with any true knowledge how to serue the Lord but performed in some sort onely in keeping of the outward and bodily ceremonte went not vnrewarded from the Lorde For euen by the very shadowe of his exercise the execution of that iudgement which was awarded against him touching his vtter rasing from the kingdome of Israel was differred vntill his sonnes dayes Nowe if the comming within the shadowe of this exercise doeth heale some diseases what will it doe if wee come to touche the bodye thereof and if the leaues of it haue some vertue to preserue men from the vengeance of God howe soueraigne is the fruit to deliuer vs from the wrath to come And if the ordinarie obedience of the children of GOD goeth not emptie and vnrewarded from the presence of GOD this extraordinarie obedience and exercise in the worshippe of GOD must needes receiue speciall and extraordinarie blessinges from his hande When Benhadab 1. Regum 20. 29. the Syrian king ouercome by Achab king of Israel was out of hope of any safetie at the length by the aduice of his seruaunts he put him 1. Reg. 20. 31. to 35. selfe and his companie in sackcloth with ropes about their neckes thinking by humbling them selues before the king to obtaine pardon which came to passe accordingly If therefore men in hope of obtaining pardon will humble them selues to them of whome they haue no promise that they shal obtaine any thing howe much more ought we to doe it which haue so sure promises of good successe and if mercy was obtained of men in whom there is scanta drop of that pitie and compassion which is seafull in the Lorde we may be well assured that we shall not misse of it at his hande And if one enimie can looke for it at the hande of an other we may with greater assurance looke for it at the hande of the Lorde to whome we are already reconciled by the bloud of his sonne T●erefore if the authoritie of the Lorde should not compell vs yet the most liberall and certaine promises should allure vs to this exercise Which if we doe not what remaineth but that such as will not fast with the ch●●dren of GOD must eate and drink● of the furious wrath of GOD with the wicked they that will not weepe with the one must ●owle with the other And finally they