Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	call_v	pray_v	prayer_n	5,229	5	6.4890	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17324	Dauids thanksgiuing for the arraignement of the man of earth, set forth in two sermons by W.B. The first sermon sheweth the manner of Dauids thanksgining, and containeth many comfortable points necessarie for afflicted consciences. The second sermon setteth forth the matter it selfe, for Dauid giueth thanks and that is, The arraignement of the man of earth ...	Burton, William, d. 1616.	1598 (1598)	STC 4172; ESTC S109549	26,720	100

but the other saith Lord thou hast heard the desire of thy poore seruants blessed be thy name for that fauour the desire He doth not say their cryings or their sententious and eloquent praiers or the voice of their lips although the desires of the heart be counted cryings with the Lord but he saith That the Lord hath heard the desire of the poore Which are the cries and praiers and voices of the inwarde man though not alwaies vttered by the tongue to shewe that the Lord of his goodnes is so readie to heare the afflicted that he doth not alwaies expect the cryings and voyces of the outwarde man or the orderly and set praiers of the lips for before they cry he heareth them according to the testimonie of the Prophet Esay who speaking in the person of God saith thus Before they call I will aunswere and while they speake I will heare And Saint Paule sayeth The spirit it selfe likewise helpeth our infirmities for wee know not what to praye as wee ought but the spirit maketh request for vs with groaninges which cannot be expressed that is the spirite helpeth our weake prayers which want strength to come forth and accepteth the verie sighes and groanes of the heartes of Gods children in stead of prayers as the tender nurse doth the monefull lookes of the babe that lyeth in the cradle full of payne and cannot speake And these inwarde desires and groanes of GODS children are to the children of God as an earnest-pennie of the spirit and as the first fruites of the spiritituall haruest now an earnest-pennie is but a pledge or assurance of a thousande pounde to be payed in time and the first fruits of the corne are but a sheafe or handfull as it were of the whole haruest which afterwards is to be reaped And this may serue to comfort the afflicted conisciences which cannot pray as they would sometime and therfore thinke they are not regarded of God it serueth onely to comfort the afflicted soule I say but no way to confirme vs in our sluggish slouthfull drousie and sleepie praiers Of the poore The state of Gods children in this life is not alwaies of the best neither in outward account with the world nor yet in their owne feeling And therfore they are called sometime The afflicted ones as in Pro. 15. 15. All the daies of the afflicted are euill Sometime the hungry and thirstie as in Mat. 5. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousnes Sometime little wormes as in Esay Little worme Iacob And in the Psalmes I am a worme and no man saith Dauid And sometime The little flocke As in Luke 12. And in this place they are called The poore For whosoeuer will liue godly in Christ Iesus must suffer affliction And they doe still hunger thirst after Christ their righteousnes As the Hart doth after the riuers of water Like little wormes they are contemned and trodden vpon by euerie one And like poore and miserable persons they are alwaies in need of Gods grace and helpe And yet they in that account with God that he heareth their desires The afficted haue a continualfeast The hungry shal be filled with good things when the rich shal be sent emptie away The little worme Iacob is written vpon the palmes of the Lords hands and is euer in his sight The little flocke neede not feare for their littlenes for they haue the kingdome And the poore seruants of God which are alwaies in need and want of Gods grace and fauour and alwaies bewailing their owne pouertie and want are heard of the Lord and therefore are both rich and happye This may teach vs to iudge wisely of the poore children of GOD that are in contempt and tribulation in the worlde and louingly to embrace them as members of our bodie though in shewe vnderlinges to all like the feete or rather like the footstooles of the wicked and not to despise them For the Lorde heareth the desires euen of the poore Yea and they may pleasure vs more with their praiers then we can hurt them with our persecutions There is not the best nor learnedest Doctor in the Church nor the greatest or wealthiest man in the commonwealth but may and doth receiue helpe and benefit by the praiers of the poorest man that liueth if he be a godlie man Thou preparest c. Heere Dauid acknowledgeth a double grace or fauour of God First that he vpholdeth his children that they fainte not vnder their burthens for he armeth them with courage and patience putting vpon their heades the helmet of good hope and stirring them vp thereby to dispatch their prayers as speedie postes and messengers vnto the hilles from whence commeth their helpe A singular benefite surelie to haue our senses and thoughtes setled in Gods prouidence and not caried awaie to worldlie deuises and desperate attempts Secondly God hauing thus prepared setled their harts for praier he doth also prepare settle himselfe to heare their praiers yea because their praiers be but weake and feeble that scarce haue any perfect voice but make a soft and still noise in the secret corners of their hearts the Lord doth bend his eare vnto them and laie it close vnto their mouth in most fatherly friendly and tender sort that so he might know what it is that they whisper so inwardly so faintly from hence we learne First that to direct our desires to God in affliction is a speciall worke and fauour of God in our hearts for otherwise affliction of it selfe doth breede rather impatience and dispaire then any comfortable hope and heart to praier And therfore let vs be admonished when in any kind of affliction crosse and temptation we feele any comfort in God or desire to goe vnto his Maiestie by praier to giue him the whole glorie and take it as a token of his loue vnto vs. Let vs also acknowledge our owne weaknesse and inabilitie to prepare our hearts our selues to Godward And most false and insolent is that popish assertion of freewill in man to praie when he will and to beleeue when he will and repent when he will for it is God saith the Apostle that worketh both the will and the deede Lastly let vs hereby be encouraged to goe to God although it be with broken praiers and fainting desires we shall not loose our labour no the godly doe not in vaine direct their desires to God nor in hope and patience want vpon him because the eares of the Lord are open and bent ready in most gracious manner to heare the groanes of his poore afflicted seruants And thus much of the manner and matter in generall of Dauids thanksgiuing The second Sermon VVherein is handled in particular the matter it selfe for which Dauid giueth thanks and that is the arraignement of the man of earth PSAL. 10. 18. To iudge the fatherlesse and the poore that the man of earth cause to feare no

and that was but onely during the tempest but when they in the ship were afraid of sinking they cried Saue vs Master we perish else and then he awaked and rebuked the winds so Christ may seeme to sleep in thee during the time of tempestuous temptations but whensoeuer thou art in any danger he is awake to saue thee and in the end will rebuke Sathan and tread him vnder thy feete that Christs spirit is in thee thou maiest perceiue by the voyce of the Church that is in thy case In my bed by night saith the Church I sought him whom my soule loueth but could not finde him so thou seeekest him whom thy soule loueth but canst not finde him that is thou seekest him whom thou hast with thee for there is in thee the loue of Christ which cannot come but from Christ himselfe now the very loue of Christ in thy heart though it be but weake yet is a certaine argument of Christs sanctifying spirit in thee for though the reprobate may in some sort slauishly tremble at the iudgements of God and for some carnall respect ioye in the things of God for a time yet there is not in them a loue of God in Christ Iesus but with their seruile feare is ioyned also a deadly hatred of the Lord as of their mortall enemie Againe if thou feele not as yet the gracious presence of Gods spirit in thee as thou wouldest yet vse the holy means that God hath appointed for the conuersion confirmation of his children frequent the word preached read in the scriptures labours of the godly learned vse praier conference and meditatiō so wait on God who is thy present helpe and thy God but thou saist thou canst not heare with delight thou canst take no pleasure in reading of good books nor hearing of them redd vnto thee thou canst not brooke conference and praier thou doest distast them all yet I say vse them still as a good man taketh meate and drinke and phisicke though it be against the stomacke and cast vp all againe yet he desireth to digest it and so by often taking at last doth gather strength and take that willingly with hope which before hee receiued against his will with a kind of loathing So thy sicke soule by often vsing the holy meanes that God hath appointed at last through his blessing will strengthen thee and make thee to vse them of loue desire which now thou doest but vnchearfully and with a certaine kind of loathing There is a defect in the stomacke or some other part of the body which will not suffer wholsome meate to be digested So in the inward man the defect may be in the vnderstanding which may be darke or in the memory which may be brittle or in the vtterance which may be slowe or in thy faith which may be weak or in thy repentance which may be imperfect or in thy loue which may be small or in thy zeale which may be bitter or colde or in thy minde which may be earthly or in thy affections which may be vnrulie or in thy whole man which may be lumpish heauie and vntoward to good things yet in all these remaine a double comfort First these graces are not counterfet but in trueth are such as they seeme to be thou vnderstandest aright thou vtterest the trueth though but slowly thou remembrest the best things and beleeuest the word and repentest in trueth with hatred of thy sins and thou louest God and his word for themselues sake againe so much as thou vnderstandest and knowest and remembrest beleeuest louest thou also affectest embracest in heart desirest to grow in them to practise them to the praise of God and therfore still hope and wait on God for though God seeme now to thy soule as if he had no care of thee yet he doth care for thee and thou shalt one day ioyfully sing as Dauid doth heere Lord thou hast heard the desire of the poore c. Lord thou hast heard c. The Lord doth heare all mens desires and knoweth all their thoughtes long before but he is said to heare the desires of his children after a more speciall and gracious manner because he doth in mercy both fauour their sutes and grant their requests so this word of hearing is to be vnderstood somtime in the scripture as where Dauid saith If I regard wickednes in my heart the Lord will not heare me that is the Lord will not grant me my desire And so is it taken also sometime amongest vs in our common manner of speaking as when we doe not fauour a mans suite we use to say I heare you not This is that which the children of God doe most groane and long for in praier namely to pray so that the Lord may heare them that is may afford them a gracions hearing which if they may be assured of then are their hearts filled with ioy whatsoeuer happeneth to them in the world And al their feare is least their sins and sinful praiers should stop the eares not of the Lord simplie but of his grace and fauour against them To that end doe they come before the Lord in all humilitie feare and reuerence striuing sighing and groaning and troubled in spirit And to this end the Lord oftentimes seemeth vnto his children as one that is deafe he maketh them no answere but takes away from them for the time all feeling of comfort in praier to that ende that when he doth speake peace vnto their harts they may know what a mercy they haue receiued from his Maiestie But wicked hypocrites regard not so much whether the Lord doth heare thē or no but whether men do heare them that is all their care they pray to be seene of men and to be heard of men onelie labouring with their lips but without anie strife of the heart They pompe it they chant it they howle it and throate it to please themselues and others but whether all that paines of theirs be accepted with God they neuer so much as once thinke So that when they haue done their stint and taske they may saie as the harlot said of whom Salomon speaketh To daie I had peace-offerings I haue payed my vowes and so leaue for that matter it is no matter whether they be receiued or no she hath paid them so saith the Hipocrit I haue said all my praiers to day I haue done al my deuotion there leaue for that matter but the poore child of God whose soule groaneth vnder the buthen of his sins doth not so much boast of the saying of his praiers as he doth of Gods mercy in hearing his praiers Lord I thank thee saith the Pharisie that I fast and praie so often in a weeke but Lord be mercifull to me saith the Publican Lord I praied in thy temple saith the one as the wicked in the Gospell Lord we haue heard thee preach in our streets