Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A02180
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A most sweete and assured comfort for all those that are afflicted in consciscience [sic], or troubled in minde. Written by that godly & zealous preacher, M. Richard Greenham. With two comfortable letters to his especiall friends that way greeued.
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Greenham, Richard.
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1595
(1595)
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STC 12321; ESTC S117895
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37,612
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192
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praier the Sacrament of the supper the companie of gods children contrarie to hope vnder hope yea without any present feeling all this is a certaine argument that gods spirit is with such and therefore with you This estate although it bee verie grieuous yet it is neuer daÌ„ger us much lesse is it fearfull vnlesse anie bee so wilfull that they persevere and continue in desperate refusing al good means vnles they perseuere I say for through the subtill sleight of the spirituall aduersarie and his forceable power wherby God suffereth him sometime for a season to winnow them as wheate they are so bewitched and intoxicated that they are carried by violent force of temptation to wexe wearie of or to refuse all meanes of comfort by fittes yea almost to haue no desire at all vnto them yea sometimes to speake verie euill of them But all this is but temptation and therefore God will bee mercifull vnto them for Christ his sake Thus Iob cursed the daye of his birth wished to be straÌ„gled Ieremie almost repented that euer he preached in the name of the Lord both scarcely abstain from blasphemie Dauid moued with the spirit of ambition though dutifully admonished wilfully weÌ„t on in numbring the people Peter also vaingloriouslye presuming of his owne strength being most wisely effectualy admonished of his weaknes euen by our Lorde Iesus yet wittingly rusheth as the horse into the battel then verie cowardlye yeeldeth yea doubly denieth yea strengthneth his sinne with a threefold coard and fastneth it with banning and cursings yet all these obtained mercie most bountifully For why as Satan desired to winnowe them so our Lord Iesus praied for them that theyr fayth though it was vehemently assaulted it should not be ouercome although it was battered yet that if should not bee destroied and though it was oppressed yet it shuld not be extinguished And here bee you fully perswaded that albe it Luk. 22. 31. the wordes seeme to runne as belonging but to Peter vz. I haue praid for thee that thy faith should not faile yet he praied for the rest of the Apostles yea for all the faithfull For first he saith not Simon sathan hath desired to winow thee but you Why then saith hee I haue praied for thee Verely because hee should more greeuously offend than the rest although their offence was verie great therefore hys and our most blessed Sauior applyed to him the promise but not appropriated it vnto him onely and restrained it from the rest Compare with this place Iohn 17. 20. you shall see that the heauenlye verity affirmeth that he praied not only for the Apostles but for all those that shoulde beleeue through their word yea farther Our Lorde Iesu Christ was yesterdaye is to day shalbe for euer And as the fore-fathers were baptized vnto him and did eate his flesh and drink his blood so was his praier effectuall euen to them vnder the lawe then more to vs vnder grace And when you can find testimonie in your hart that wheÌ„ you would doo well euill is present with you and that ye doo the euil you would not then do not you it but sinne in you when it leadeth you captiue Rom. 7. much more when sataÌ„ works with al buffeting you assure you GOD hath pity on you that the vertue of his power shall be perfect in your weaknes If you beleeue according to your faith it shalbe done vnto you Bâ—â—â—ou will say you cannot beâ—â—â—â— that this vile crooked hardnes of your hart can be remitted and renued and eueÌ„ this was the second point which in the former part of my Letter I gaue you to vnderstaÌ„d was the cause of your excessiue distresse I beseech you and I charge you in the name of our Lord Iesus that you will not willingly lie nor offer iniurie to Gods spirite nor to your self who hath receiued it Tell me what is the reason why you thinke you haue no faith Verely because you haue no feeling nor any other fruites thereof as you thinke Well first then agree with me herein as you must if you will not disagree with the truth that feeling is but an effect and frute of faith therefore there may be faith without feeling aswell as the cause may be without the effect and the tree without anie appearance of frute yea of sap for a season And as a man sore wounded and diseased may for a season be depriued almost of all operations of the naturall life to the outward show of his owne indnment and feeling so may a spiritual man be fore wounded by satan and diseased by the present sight and feeling of his sinful corruptions speally in temptation that hee may think yea appeare to others that the life of the spirit is not in him Thus Peters faith did not wholly faile as you haue heard or else the praier of our Sauiour preuailed not Thus when Dauid in the one and fiftie Psal. the twelueth verse declared that his heart was vncleane and his spirite crooked or vnstable and in the fourteenth verse that he had lost the ioy of his saluation and the spirit of libertie or adoption yet in the thirteenth vearse hee prayeth that GOD would not take his holie spirit from him therefore hereby it appeared hee was not depriued of the spirite of sanctification Heere seemeth to bee repugnaunce but there is not anie hee was depriued indeed for a time of the graces of the sanctifiyng spirite but not of the holie Ghost wherwithall hee was sanctified which graces as God restored vnto him so I am perswaded he will do vnto you Yea and I doubt whether you are depriued of them but onely that partly melancholy partly Satan working therewith make you doo iniurie to your selfe and to the graces of the Spirite in you which I beseech you to take heed of But the messenger cannot staye and therefore I cannot write as I would either of this or of the remedie which you should vse which hereafter I will as God shall enable me and I pray you let me vnderstand as I requested in the beginning of your estate in perticular somwhat more and by this Bearer if you can becaus he is of your acquaintance and will bring it to me faithfully Onely I doo adde now vnto you that I haue written of hardnes of heart at large that you must diligently obserue the Woorde Create which Dauid vseth in the one and fiftie Psalme declaring that he had no feeling of his hearte To this ioyn that which the Prophet Esay speketh in the person of God 57. 23. I create the frute of the lips to be peace peace to him that is far off as to him that is nere Therfore in faith you may as well praye with hope to obtain as did Dauid therfore say with him often and with Gods people Esay 64. 12. O Lord thou art our Father we indeed are claye but thou art our maker wee are the worke of thy hands
Iesus Christ humbly to praise God for those meanes he offereth in mercie vnto you and to vse them in faith accordingly and so God shall blesse you by them And then by such conference as you may haue from hence wherein if I may stand you in any steede rather for the good opinion you haue of me then for any great matter I am able to performe I shalbe ready to offer any office of loue vnto you as God shall inable mee and so farre foorth as I shall bee at any time instructed in your perticular estate In some letters sent from you by conuenient messengers I perceiue that you ar afflicted with the blindenes of your minde and hardnes of your heart which cannot be mooued either with the promises of Gods mercies or feare of his iudgements nor affected with the loue and delight of the thinges which bee good nor with the hatred and loathing of the euill great cause you haue of griefe I confesse but no cause of dispaire dare I graunt because I am perswaded that your perswatioÌ„ is somewhat false partly for want of a sounde iudgement of your estate and partly for some defect of faith somwhat through your owne default First therefore know you for certainty that this is no other tentation than such as diuers of Gods children haue been humbled with afterward haue had a good issue out of it if it please God to moue ye to credit me my selfe haue known others as deeply this way plunged as you can be Remember therefore God is faithfull who wil not suffer you to be teÌ„pted aboue that you shalbe able to bear And farther yet to confirme you the holy scriptures do shew that this way god heretofore hath humbled his own people in whose person the prophet Esaye lamentably complaineth Esa. 3. 15. O Lorde looke downe from heauen behold from thy dwelling place of thy holines and of thy glorie VVhere is thy zeale thy strength the multitude of thy mercies and of thy compassions They are restrained from me And afterwards O Lord why hast thou made vs to erre from thy waies and hardened our hearts from thy feare And in the next chapt VVe haue been alas an vnclean thing all our righteousnes is as filthy cloutes and we all doo fade as a lease and our iniquities as the winde doth take vs away and there is none that calleth vpon thy name neither that stirreth vp himself to take hold on thee for thou hast hid thy face from vs consumed vs because of our iniquities And before 59 chap. 5. We grope for the wal like the blinde and we grope as one without eyes we rore like beares and mourne lyke doues So complaineth Ezechias in the bitternes of hys soule Like a crane or a swallowe so did I chatter I did mourn as a doue and when Dauid crieth Create in me O God a cleane hart renue in me a right spirit Restore to me the ioy of my saluatioÌ„ establish me with thy fre spirit doth he not couÌ„t his hart vnclean his spirit croked the ioy of his saluatioÌ„ lost himselfe subiect to the spirit of bondage so that waÌ„ting the spirit of libertie or adoption he could nether cry Abba Father nor haue anye power against sin Thus you see how Gods children maie be blinded in minde hardned in heart for a time so that they feel the grace of the holy spirit to be in theÌ„ nere perished and dead Farther to releeue the infirmitie of your iudgement in this case which may much distres you know that there bee two kindes of hardnes of heart the one not felt the other felt and of the former ther be two sorts the first which is most fearefull when any do purposely and wilfully resist the motions of Gods spirit means of their saluation of which the Prophet Zachary speaketh 7. 11. They refused to harkeÌ„ pulled away their sholder stopped their eares that they shuld not heare yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the ministery of the former Prophets The outragious sin of these men the Prophet Esay expresseth in their owne fearful termes 28. 15. VVe haue made a couenant with death and with hell we are at agreement though a scourge run ouer passe thorough it shall not come at vs for we haue made falshood our refuge vnder vanitie are we hidden This was a fearfull estate indeede yet for all that no man can saye but some of those might bee and were afterward conuerted The other kinde of hardnes of hart which is not felt nor perceyued or is perceiued yet not felt albeit it is lesse fearfull yet it is daungerous enough is in such as although they wilfully resist not Gods spirite in good means yet securely willingly they lye in sin without anie remorse of it or true taste of good things Such was Dauid his estate for the space of a yeare before Nathan the Prophet came to reproue him rouse him from his lulled sleepe Both these kindes I am perswaded you are free from otherwise thâ—n in temptation Sathan maye sometimes mooue ye therevnto the other kind of hardnesse of heart which is perceiued felt is of two sorts the one in them which are desirous of meanes whereby they may be releeued although they finde smal or no ease at all in themselues for a time Of this kinde the Prophet Esay in the name of some of Gods people complaineth Esa. 63. Such was Dauids state after NathaÌ„ reproued him gods spirit begaÌ„ to work with him that he crieth out as ye heard before of the losse of Gods graces when he saith that God will accept of no sacrifices nor petitions without a contrite hart broken spirit he sheweth that for a time euen after the prophet had reproued him he wÌ„ated both This is your case therfore you are in the state of saluation for Dauid was in this case euen after hee had confessed his sin as my trust is you doo was certainly perswaded of the pardonablenesse of it throgh gods mercie althogh he was farre off from the feeling it or applying to his wofull conscience his state was good and very wel to be hoped of and you must knowe and be perswaded that those things which are written of Gods saints namely of Dauid and Peter such others are examples for vs if we will stay our selues vpoÌ„ the word of God in the mysterie of his seruants and wait vppon the Lords good time til he come neerer vnto vs by his spirite nerer I say for he is come alreadie vnto you or it may be he neuer went from you because to be greued and humbled with blindnes of minde and hardnes of heart to beleeue certainly the trueth of God is promised in generall to reuerence the seruants of God which bring the glad tidings of the Gospel