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	soul_n	think_v	5,441	5	4.8272	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14927	The cure of a hard-heart First preached in diuers sermons, by Master Welsthed, resident at Bloxford in Dorcetshire. Since digested into questions and answers for the hungrie. Shewing hardnes of hart what it is, with the causes, effect, and remedies.	Welstead, Robert, 1571 or 2-1651.; Hart, John, D.D.	1630 (1630)	STC 25236; ESTC S103299	22,921	94

THE CVRE OF A Hard-heart First Preached in diuers Sermons by Master WELSTHED Resident at Bloxford in Dorcetshire Since digested into Questions and Answers for the Hungrie Shewing Hardnes of Hart what it is with the Causes Effects and Remedies Vprightnesse hath boldnesse IEREM 8.22 Je there no Balme at Gilead is there no Phisitian there Why then is not the health of the Daughter of my people recouered LONDON Printed by Will. Stansby for Samuel Man dwelling at the Signe of the Swan in Paules Church-yard 1630. Collegium Emmanuelis Cantabrigiae TO ALL THOSE Who for the present are hard-hearted or heareafter may bee all softnes comfort and speedy deliuerance WHen I considered the multitude of Enemies which enuiron fight against our soules in this our Pilgrimage marching out of the Wildernesse of this world to our heauenly home me thinkes then that all aydes furtherances and armours which may helpe to conduct and guard vs this way in safetie couering our heads in the day of our spirituall Battell are too few bee they neuer so many in regard as the Apostle speakes we fight but not against flesh and bloud only against Principalities and Powers c. the Flesh the World and the Deuill who goes about continually like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may deuoure By reason of whose surpassing subtiltie varietie of shapes tentations inticements and the like sometimes transforming himselfe into an Angel of light doe what wee can it comes to passe whilest wee watch not gaze too much on outward things delight therein mistake abuse mis-apply some things delaye some either slacking omitting or slubbering ouer holy duties grow negligent dull weary of goodnesse venter on euill company and on small sins as being little ones that we are ouertaken with this most dangerous disease of Hardnesse of heart which if it continue vncured proues to be the forerunner of Everlasting Destruction Wherefore this being a disease whereof in one kind the whole Church hath formerly complained Isa 63.17 and yet may That I might both helpe my selfe who haue most need of all and others thus ouer-taken I haue for this cause sent forth this small Treatise vnto the light The Notes whereof by Gods Prouidence comming to my hands were digested thus into Questions and Answers for the more Perspicuitie and Distinctions sake and satisfaction of the meanest Capacitie Wherein if any of you shall find a word in due time to comfort and refresh your weary soules Giue God all the Glory and pray for those who had a hand herein that they may yet bee a further meanes of helpe to the distressed Thine in the Lord Iesus I. HART The Cure of a Hard-Heart S. GOod Sir you are well met if you are at leasure I should bee glad to haue little Conference with you M. With all my heart I can afford to bee at leisure at any time when my conference may doe any good But what is the matter that you look so heauily this euening is there any thing troubles you S. Yes truely I haue beene disquieted in my minde a long time but especially since this morning when I was at your Sermon wherein by occasion of Gods hardning of Pharoahs heart you discoursed of the nature kinds and consequents of hardnesse of heart Which I must confesse I vnderstood but confusedly yet that which I did vnderstand hath much troubled mee and therefore now I should thinke my selfe much beholden to you if you would informe my iudgement therein a little more distinctly M. Your desire is good and God forbid that I should bee wanting to you therein I could wish that all that vnderstand mee not at any time would take the same course in enquiring farther of me after this manner S. I pray God wee may bee thankfull for so great a benefit as wee enioy in your publike Ministery and as I perceiue by this your readinesse we might make better vse of it then we do in priuate Conference M. Well sir I pray what is the thing that you most sticke at in my mornings Sermon S. It is not one but many things and therefore if I shall not bee ouer-troublesome I would gladly be more distinctly informed by you touching the whole point that you then handled M. I am very well content it should be so neither shall I account it any trouble at all if thereby you may receiue any farther satisfaction Wherefore propose your doubts in order and I shall endeuour as God shall enable mee to resolue them S. First then I would intreat you to shew mee what is that same hardnes of heart that you spake of M. For you better vnderstanding hereof you must in the first place know that this phrase of speech is not proper and naturall but borrowed neither of the termes beeing taken in their originall and natiue signification but by a figuratiue translation pointing out other things then at first sight they seeme to offer to our view As first by the heart you may not vnderstand that fleshly substance in mans body which Philosophers obserue to be Primū viuens vltimum moriens although in that sense the word bee sometimes vsed in Scripture as 2. King 9.24 but that more spirituall part of man which is as it were the heart of that heart that is the soule with all the powers and faculties thereof the minde will and affections and that which is in a sort compounded of them all the Conscience which because it keeps its chiefest residence and exercises its most principall operations in and by the heart is vsually in Scirpture knowne by that name as Pro. 23.26 Ier. 17.9.1 Ioh. 3.20 S. But how can the Soule whch is a spirituall substance be hard or hardned M. That is it that I was about to shew you in the second place Whereas hardnesse and softnesse are qualities properly belonging to compounded bodies resulting from the different mixture of those first qualities drought and moysture they are likewise figuratiuely applied to the heart or soule of man which beeing a spirit is not capably of bodily qualities Now what is meant by this hardnes wee now speake of you shall the better conceiue if you consider first the comparison whence this appellation is originally deduced secondly the contrary by which it is yet farther illustrated S. Shew me then I pray you what the comparison is from which this appellation is drawne M. The soule of man confirmed in sinfull courses is compared in Scripture to a stone as in expresse termes to an Adamant Zach. 7.12 Which as it is the hardest of other bodies so it hath sundry properties arising from or ioyned with this hardnes which doe notably set forth the disposition of the soule in such a state wherein it is vsually said to bee hardned S. What are those properties wherein the heart of man is so fitly resembled to a stone M. A stone you know is a dead and senslesse bodie cold dry vncapable of moisture vnpliable vnyeelding nay resisting and beating

backe whatsoeuer lights on it S. True but how doe these properties expresse the disposition of mans heart is that also a dead and sensles body M. No but many times it is said to be dead in sin destitute of the life of grace euen whilest aliue to nature in as much as it is altogether vnactiue to the performance of any good nay insensible of any thing that may tend to the spirituall good therof And hence it is that men are said to bee blind deafe in a dead sleepe or slumber to haue grosse fat brawny hearts feared Consciences and as it were a thinke skinne drawne ouer their hearts such as is on the labourers hand and trauailers heele which though it be pinched or pierced scarce feeles any thing For men in such a case though they bee laden with a burden vnsupportable of their own sinnes and Gods wrath yet groane not vnder it nay being euery way most wretched and miserable perceiue it not let the iudgements of God as loud and terrible as thunder-clappes sound in their eares they start not nay beeing brought within view of Gods iudgements yea within the reach of them they neuer stirre or hasten to escape but lie still like Ionas in the tempest or the drunkard on the top of the Mast As for the sweet and gracious promises of God though sweeter then honey to the taste more delightfull then musicke to the eare more pleasant then the sweetest odours to the smell they neither taste nor relish reioyce nor delight in them they are not at all affected with them or moued to long after them Thus are they like Nabal when his heart died in him and he became as a stone altogether dead senslesse frozen in their dregs S. But suppose they are for the present dead and senslesse are they also as a stone vncapable of impression for the time to come M. Surely yes so long as they retaine this disposition of theirs vnchanged except the supernaturall power of Gods spirit in a manner miraculously change them The naturall man saith St. Paul perceiueth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can hee know them hee cannot so long as he continues in his naturall deadnesse and senslesnesse how quicke and apprehensiue soeuer hee bee in other things Neither is hee in himselfe apt to bee wrought vpon or farmed to any good by any means whatsoeuer In which respect hee is more fitly resembled to a stone as the learned obserue then to any other thing for though iron and steele be as hard as stones yet fire will so mollifie them as to make them pliable to any forme or fashion whatsoever onely a stone well it may bee broken or ground to powder it will neuer be softned or made to bough or bend Notable examples hereeof wee haue in Cain in Pharaoh in Ieroboam How little doth Caine relent either by beeing fairely forewarned or after more seuerely called or account How farre is hee from either shame or remorse reuerence of Gods glorious presence or feare of his terrible threatnings The like may be said of the other There is one propertie of a stone behinde which some men also come not short of and that is resisting whatsoeuer fals or is cast vpon it Hence men are compared to the deafe Adder wilfully stopping their eares and that which is vsually rendred the Spirit of slum●er is not vnfitly translated by some the Spirit of compunction implying a kind of fretting chafing and violent stirring against the Word rebuking as in those that brast for anger at the Apostles that gnashed with their teeth at Steuen S. Wee haue heard enough of the comparison let vs see now how this is farther illustrated by the contrary M. We shall find the contrary to a hard heart which by the rule of proportion must needs bee a soft and tender heart set forth in Scrpture by sundry properties as that it is a circumcised heart an honest good heart a broken and contrite a fleshy and relenting melting trembling humble and obedient heart sprinkled with the blood of Christ washed by his grace heated and inflamed by his holy spirit All which by the contrary shew what are the properties of an hard and stony heart S. Can you out of all that you haue said gather mee a briefe description of hardnesse of heart M. Yes and I thinke it may fitly bee described thus That it is an indispotion of the soule of man whereby his mind being blinded his wil-peruerted his affections enthrall'd to sin he is prone to commit any wickednesse without reluctance or remorse and to neglect or resist both admonitions from without and the motions of Gods spirit within which might withdraw him therefrom S. Well Sir now I vnderstand reasonably well what this hardnesse of heart is I would willingly learne of you in the next place to whom it is incident M. Before I shew you that I must first aquaint you with the seuerall kindes and degrees of it which as they are different in themselues haue likewise for their residence diuers and very different subiects S. Why are their more kinds of it then one how many I pray and how distinguished M. There are three kinds distinguished by their proper and immediate causes first Naturall secondly Voluntary thirdly Iudiciary or penall S. What hardnesse of heart is that which you terme Naturall M. It is that which men naturally bring with them into the world deriued from the corrupt loines of old Adam who by voluntary Apostasie from his allegiance first hardned his owne heart in sinne and then propagated the same hardnes of heart to all his posteritie making that vnto them hereditary and naturall which was first in him voluntary and personall S. Who are subiect to this natuturall hardnesse of heart M. Euen euery childe of Adam that is all men in the world that euer haue beene are or shall be Christ onely excepted who as hee was supernaturally made of a woman not begotten by the vertue of man after the ordinary course of naturall generation so was in all things like vnto vs sinne onely excepted so that herein both elect and reprobate share alike the one as well as the other being dead in trespasses and sinnes naturally hauing their vnderstandings darkned because of the hardnes of their hearts which being past feeling haue giuen themselues to wantonnesse Whence God makes that promise generally to his chosen who are to be renued by his spirit that hee will take out of their bodies the stonie hearts which they haue by nature and giue them an heart of flesh S. Why but doe we not see many good natures which euen vnrenued are of a milder and more ingenuous temper as if they were euen made of softer mettall me thinkes you should not account these naturally hard-hearted M. This is a common errour