Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A84372
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Christianity in short or The way to be a good Christian· Recommended to the use of such as want either time or capacity for reading longer and learneder discourses. By C. Ellis author of the Gentile-sinner.
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Ellis, Clement, 1630-1700.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing E552aA; ESTC R229363
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19,559
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74
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Father our prevailing advocate making intercession for us and thee I comfortably expect to be our Judge at the last day Thou O Glorious Jesus hast Established an Everlasting Covenant of peace and sealed it with thy blood and with all my Soul I praise thee for this thine inestimable love not doubting keeping of that pardon and grace and glory which thou therein hast assured unto us if I unfeignedly accept of thy mercy and enter in this Holy Covenant O JESUS CHRIST in all sincerity of heart and with all thankful love and joy I do accept of thee my only Saviour I do most humbly submit my self to be taught by thee and will make thy Gospel my dayly study I trust in thy merits only and give my self to be governed by thy Laws and denying my self I am ready to take up thy Cross and bid open War to all thine enemies and take thy easie Yoke and light burden upon me Lord the unfeigned desire of my Soul is that thou mayest be formed in me and take full possession of me that I may henceforth live by the Faith of thee the Son of God I resolve thy will shall be my will thy life my pattern thy Law my Rule I will set my self to resist the temptations of the devil despise the vanities of the world and mortifie the carnal desires of my flesh all afflictions shall seem light to me and death it self better than life that I may obey thee and live with thee I consecrate my self unto thee to dye daily unto sin to Crucifie the flesh to rise again unto Righteousness to have my Conversation in Heaven my heart and affections with thee my only treasure My confidence is in thy merits my Prayers sent to God in thy name and intercession my practice to be conformable to thy example the longings of my Soul to be with thee for ever I will do my endeavour that my thoughts words and actions may be such as thou wilt approve of in the day of Judgment I will not envy the present happiness of the wicked nor be dis-heartned by my suffering but referr all to thy Righteous Judgment I will watch over my heart and life and daily examine my Conscience and keep it tender and good and labour that the accuser may have nothing to lay to my charge before thy Judgment Seat I do heartily accept of thee O Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son for my Sanctifier my Guide and Comforter I embrace the Holy Scriptures given by thy inspiration as the infallible truth of God I own the Ministry as thine Ordinance and every good motion of my heart as thy work To thee O Holy Spirit do I give up my self in a constant attendance on the Word and Ordinances and secret workings longing to be quickned enlightned renewed and cleansed strengthned against all temptations carried on towards perfection confirmed in the hopes of Eternal Life and sealed unto the day of Redemption I look upon my self as a member of the common body of all Christians and own thee O Blessed Jesus the only head of this thy Body the Church I acknowledge it my Eternal Interest and Duty in the Holy Communion of all Believers to Worship thee O Glorious God in the Assemblies of thy Saints I look upon all Christians and my self amongst them as men separated from the wicked world enlivened by one Spirit professing one Faith of the Holy Trinity all Covenanted together with God in one Baptism bound to hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace loving God above all and each other as our selves with a fellow feeling of one another's sufferings a free Communicating to one another's necessities Temporal and Spiritual and a mutual rejoycing in one another's happiness Continuing in this Holy Society whereinto I have been graciously called by thy Word and Holy Spirit I will endeavour to solace and comfort my self in a joyful sense of the blessed priviledges thou therein affordest us Especially in the pardon of my sins by thy free mercy through the merits of Christ my Saviour and Sanctification of thy Holy Spirit tendered unto me in the Ministry of thy word and sealed in the Sacraments I should deserve a thousand Hells should I go on any longer in sin under so much mercy I resolve therefore to attend on the Ministry of reconciliation all the daies of my life and to strive against all sin for ever To this end my death shall be much in my thoughts and my life a continual preparation for it I will look upon every day as if it were my last and every day renew my Covenant So shall I be ready with joy when thou callest O Lord to bid farewel to all below and come to thee I doubt not but my body shall at the last day be raised again a glorious body no longer a burden or temptation to my Soul I will no longer wast my time in immoderate caring for it feeding adorning and pampering of that which must shortly be loathsome rottenness Stench and Worms meat which now loads and tempts my Soul to sin and hinders its Ascensions towards God but I will mortifie it and keep it low that thou mayest exalt it to glory O thy wonderful goodness who hast provided for us poor sinners a Life Everlasting who deserve not one single moment of this Life Lord grant me grace to be pure as thou art pure that I may see thee and rejoyce in thee for ever in thy Heavenly Kingdom O when shall I come and appear before God Lord it is certain that a worldly carnal heart unconverted unrenewed is not capable of taking any pleasure or delight in thee nor can it find any happiness in Heaven it self nor any relish in those Heavenly pleasures which are at thy Right-hand for evermore Cleanse me O Lord and renew me daily by thy Spirit then shall I cheerfully bid adieu to a vain world empty pleasures frail life and a 〈◊〉 self and feed only on the hopes of Eternal Life and enjoying loving praising thee my God my All for evermore This O Lord thou hast promised in thy word this thou hast assured us of and sealed unto us in the blood of thy Son This thou confirmest unto all the Sanctified Members of thy Church by thy Holy Spirit To all this I here most heartily say Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS
CHRISTIANITY in Short OR The way to be a good CHRISTIAN Recommended To the use of such as want either time or capacity for reading longer and Learneder discourses Mat. VII 13.14 Enter ye in at the strait Gate for wide is the Gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Because strait is the Gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it Ver. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven By C. Ellis Author of the Gentile-sinner LONDON Printed for Tho. Guy at the Oxford Armes on the West side of the Royal Exchange 1682. To my Beloved Neighbours for whose Use this little Book is written My Dear Friends I Hope some of you need not much the help this little Book can afford and indeed it is a shame either for you or me that any of you should need it except Children Yet I fear it is too needful I pray God it may prove as useful to many of you I have often told you that neither an Ignorant nor a Carnal nor a Worldly nor a Formally Religious course of Life can ever bring you to Heaven I now â—ell it you again and at you love your Souls let me intreat you to believe me except you become other men than some of you yea than the most of you yet are you cannot be saved You have God's Word to read you may hear Sermons when you will you may be instructed privately when you will you have many good Books to instruct you you have so much sense as to know you are a dying you have understandings to consider what 's like to become of you you have sure the wit to know that all things here will have an end and that nothing can concern you so much as the Salvation of your Souls to all Eternity I am confident were you dying you would say so Can it be any thing then but a brutish inconsideration that keeps you in the state you are in Awake awake and see here in short what you have to do 'T is short that you may not plead you want time to read and learn it 'T is plain that you may not plead 't is above your capacity 't is cheap it shall cost you nothing but the pains of reading it for your instruction in the way of Life You will in a little room see what it is to be a Christian Practice then what here you read and then dye in Peace But if you slight these easie helps and will go on your old way I must leave you to God and comfort my self in this that I have not dealt deceitfully with you The good God make us all wise unto Salvation Amen Consider seriously Learn industriously Pray devoutly Believe firmly Repent sincerely Love unfeignedly Resolve deliberately Practice constantly Hope Patiently Receive Thankfully And Enjoy Eternally The Entrance into CHRISTIANITY I Must shortly dye and after death I must for ever be either endlesly happy or endlesly miserable It concerneth me therefore above all things in this short time of my Life so to prepare for Death that after Death I may be Eternally happy To this end two things are altogether necessary a sound Knowledge and a sincere Practice Two things are needful to be well known the End which I am to aim at and the Way which will lead me to it My daily practice must be to walk in the way in hopes of attaining the End What both these are JESVS CHRIST hath abundantly taught us in his Gospel which it therefore highly concerneth me diligently to read and learn Christ hath instituted two Sacraments the one for our entrance into the other for our confirmation and strengthning in the way of Life Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. In both these the whole substance of Christian Religion which is the way to happiness is summarily comprehended and represented Christ JESVS commanded his Apostles to go up and down in the World and by Preaching the Gospel to perswade men to be his Disciples and learn of him the way to Life He commanded them to admit men into his Church or the Society of his Disciples by Baptism or washing them with Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost This Ceremony of Washing with water did signifie and assure them that as many as continued Christ's faithful followers were washed from the guilt of their past sins and should be daily more and more Sanctified and prepared for Eternal Glory Persons of years to understand were thus in Baptism to give up themselves in an Holy Bond or Covenant to God and thus my Parents when I was an Infant did give and dedicate me to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost In this Baptismal Covenant God the Father doth give himself to be our reconciled Father and God the Son Jesus Christ to be our Saviour and God the Holy Ghost to be our Sanctifier In the same Covenant we do accept of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be our only God submitting to him as our Owner and Governour and chusing him as our chief good and portion and heartily consenting to be taught and ruled made Holy and â—saved by him in a firm belief of his word and humble Obedience to his Lawes We do also promise and resolve not to follow nor be led by the Devil the World nor the Flesh but to watch against and resist all their temptations and to persevere so doing unto our lives end Every one that keepeth this Covenant sincerely is a good Christian and hath the pardon of his sins and Eternal Life sealed and assured unto him by God in this Sacrament of Baptism As I therefore desire to be Eternally happy and would avoid Everlasting Torments it concerneth me to see that I keep Covenant with God which I cannot do without learning and knowing what I am to believe and do If I have not already learn'd this it is no time now any longer to delay it seeing my Eternal happiness depends upon it And I know not how soon no not whether this night God may call me out of this world by death when if I be either ignorant or wicked I am undone Soul and Body for ever The Christian Faith THere is a GOD and but one God the FATHER SON and HOLY GHOST God is an infinite and most glorious SPIRIT a most pure and living substance without body parts or passions God is invisible cannot be seen or perceived by sense God is incomprehensible cannot be perfectly known by any but himself God is Immortal cannot dye Impassible and cannot suffer God is Immense not limited to place but is every where God is Eternal not limited by time but without beginning or end God is Independent not caused or governed by any other God is Immutable not subject to change but necessarily