Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A30282
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Mans whole duty and Gods wonderful intreaty of him thereunto set forth from 2 Cor. 5, 20, and published at the request of some hearers / by Daniel Burgess.
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Burgess, Daniel, 1645-1713.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing B5709; ESTC R23833
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54,814
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178
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do refer to our good and are framed as plainly to Delight as to Direct us Reader this is so plain in it self and from very much that has been foresaid that I crave thy regards but to these few words Sinners generally are full of the opinion that Godliness has all its worth but in reversion That let Glory be what it will Grace is a very poor comfortless state And Saints do very commonly and most faultily give them but too much occasion so to imagine They walk not on in the way to Zion with Joy and Singing They demonstrate their very Hope but little and their Joy less From whence 't is inferred their Possession of Joy is none and their hope of reversion it self is next to none Thus prevails the evil report upon our present and our promised Canaan And that so much that the best Believers are profited as well as pleased greatly by the Hope and Joy of those few in whom both are conspicuous But how presently must that ill report dye were it duly considered that follows Grace and Glory differ but in degree They do not speak congruously that make Glory the End and Grace but the Means They are so much one thing that the Holy Spirit calleth them by each others names Glory is called Grace 1 Pet. 1.13 Hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ Grace is called Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 We are changed into the same image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And what think we Is it a Friendship with himself through our Redeemer that we have on earth or no None do or can doubt it Is there a Reward sweeter then of Friendship I can hear of none Is there a Friendship more honourable or beneficial then Gods Friendship is It were equal blasphemy and absurdity to dream so Finally if God be the best Object and all goodness as sure as any and if Friendship be the best Enjoyment of him that Creatures can have Wherein save in degree doth Glory exceed Grace And if indeed Grace and Glory be for nature and kind the same thing if one be Friendship with God begun the other be Friendship with God perfected How is it possible the same Man should like the one and not the other I am very certain Men stand alike affected towards them whatever they speak And were they that here cannot be perswaded to seek Gods Friendship of Grace took up too unto Heaven and had the door set wide open and were ever so importunately intreated to enter in they would not enter no but fly back and be of the two far more unwilling to take Glory above then they are to accept of Grace here As believing that Gods perfected Friendship there would be more against them then his initial Friendship here 'T is equally plain Fishes are most against dryest places and Sinners most against the holiest ones As sure as Heaven is more Holy it is also more Hateful to a Sinner then the Church state below is In a word Heavenly Glory is not Reward if Grace be not Reward Gradus speciem non variat A handful of water is as truly water as all that which the Sea contains Glorification above is no more truly a royalty then Reconciliation here below is Reconciliation unto God I mean which is of all the works of God if any be so the most wonderful For his taking Enemies and Rebels into Heaven when they be reconciled is nothing so marvellous as his taking us into Reconciliation with him when we are Enemies and Rebels Reader what is thy Mind what thy Will after all this said The Assent of thy Mind and Consent of thy Will are thy greatest acts and most consequential All thy others be but superstructures thereon Speak Man hast thou verily Assented to the truth of the Gospel in my Doctrine and hast thou heartily Consented to its becoming the governing Principle of thy Life I hope thou art not yet ignorant and thy Head empty of the things proposed Nor yet obstinate with thy Heart full of antipathies unto them If I may so speak some Devils have been cast out by this very Word and Prayer Are those that possess thee of a sort that goeth not forth so Know thou then I will not presently give thee over if it be so I will carry thee in further Prayers unto him that is able to east out the most pertinacious of Devils Nor will I leave thee without these parting Exhortations Yea and I will as for my own Life beg and pray thee to have care of thine Importunately or impudently be it stiled I will beseech thee to hear and to come and let thee and me be Friends with God Blessed presently and blessed eternally Despise not my despicable appearance My Office is honourable I sustain the very person of God and supply the place of Jesus Christ My Text warrants me to say it And I must give thee to know 't is God beseeches thee 't is Christ prays thee by these my Lines to Turn and Live Divine Authority here puts off its Terror and for Loves sake intreats thee In the Law it thunders commands on pain of Death and Hell Here in the Gospel it uses a voice soft to a miracle I never heard of a King knocking at the door of a dungeon all night long and calling and crying to a Traytor to come accept a Peace and Pardon especially when he might cut off his Head without the loss of a Hair unto his own But at thy door God and Christ knock To thee they have called for many a long year it may be Earthly Kings put out Statutes and look that every Subject should look to himself They do not send a stated Officer to every Town and House to put them in mind of it to explain it to resolve cases about it to excite and pray them to keep it But God puts forth the Gospel and sends out Ministers to do all this Of his Love and Mercy this he doth as hath been foresaid And that charging them with a woe denounced on their failure to do what they can with Sheep and Lambs And in and out of season attending continually on this very thing Withal declaring that he will take contempt of us as contempt of himself and of his Christ Luke 10.16 Thou art a stone and not a man if thou needest more Motives For God to come down from the Throne of his Soveraignty and speak Supplications is a wonder not small For Men to make light of him and his Grace is one truly great Nahal slighted Davids kind Message thou shalt not I hope slight this that I deliver thee from thy King and Judge No methinks I hear thee taking up Hazaels words Is thy Reader a Dog that I should do this thing I proceed therefore E. 1. Reject not this doctrine of Reconciliation though thou shouldst not yet Believe it If thou hast read
they receive additional strength to walk more serviceably Now as more is given to them proportionably more is required from them more than from other Converts that are not yet assured of their Peace with God Luk. 12.48 Every Israelite owed God much but the Nazarite owed him much more If I were asked Who of all the living were deepest Debtors unto God and had most work set them to do I would say assured Christians Yea and I verily think that next unto Saints Glorified none are so painful and so humble as the assured True it is in many things they themselves do offend And 't is not in Perfection attained but expected that the best of them dare to glory Wherefore their Eye is at least it ought to be ever kept upon the last particular concerning our Reconciliation unto God And that is 7. The Judgment days publication and perfection of it Acts. 3.19 Sins shall be in open Court blotted out when that day of refreshment cometh from the presence of the Lord. Reconciliation shall be published to purpose when in the audience of Men and Angels God the Judge of all shall pronounce it with his Mouth And so that he will be admired in his Saints and all that believe To wit for the heights whereto he exalteth them 2 Thess 1.10 Hear but one Apostle more 1 Joh. 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him That is when God displays his own Glory in the Son of his Love who comes at the last day in the Glory of his Father we shall be as like him as shall be fit for Children to be like a Father There shall be no sign of any variance ever being betwixt us But all the Blessedness possible shall speak his perfect Reconciliation to us and all the Holiness possible shall speak our like Reconciliation unto him Whether the sins of Believers shall be all of them published in the general Judgment is a Question Learned Alting brings five Reasons for the Affirmative and as many for the Negative But it is most undoubted that the blessed Friendship betwixt God and them shall be then shewn abroad through the whole Creation and be exalted beyond the reach of our present words or thoughts St. Austins Mother hearing a Sermon of Heaven is reported to have cryed out O what do I here in this World Methinks Reader thou shouldst imitate her And here exclaim O what have I to do all my days but provide for this Judgment-day Wouldst thou know what course to take for this provision I beseech thee attend unto the fifth and last Position that I offer for explicating my Doctrine Pos 5. Mans business touching his Reconciliation unto God falls into three particular exercises Attention Reader Attention give here thy best Attention and the greatest thou ever gavest to the things that best deserve it These Exercises must be thine if ever the war between God and thee do come to an end The war lies in this which of you shall have their will Fain thou wouldst have thy own will as bad an one as it is As mad a Mind as 't is led by I mean as void as 't is of Truth and as possessed as 't is with Error Self-will is the sin of sin It lives longest and dyes last in every sinner Fain wouldst thou live as thou listest Think speak and act as thou pleasest have thy Thoughts and Works also free Fain wouldst thou be thy own Man yea and God too Making to thy self no God but thy self and observing no Law but thy Lust I and after this done thou wouldst not be undone Thou wouldst gain this in the World and not lose thy Soul take the Hell in sin and miss the Hell prepared for it Thou wouldst Temporally and Eternally disjoyn the evil of Suffering from the evil of Doing And escape that though thy Life be spent to the last breath of it in this But God saith thee nay and sends forth Proclamations to the contrary From him I have Commission to tell thee and I do by these Presents give thee to know God will tear Heaven and Earth in pieces and if it could be he would himself dye in the fight rather than thou shouldst have that will of thine Rather then thou thy self shouldst escape the misery of Divels if thou wilt hold their enmity and keep unreconciled as they Yea and rather than he will ever afford thee Reconciliation in any way but that of his Gospel-Revelation If therefore thou learn'st not and fallest not unto these Gospel-Exercises that I am commending thou plainly thus speakest To Hell my Soul get thee going to Hell O extremity of torment I will venture thee O eternity of anguish I fear thee not O Worm that ever livest and O Fire that never dyest I will bear you both And O you exercises that are the Chariots of Grace and Eternal Glory I tell you all three I scorn you Frightful words and not to be heard without amazement and a quaking Heart Reader were I to beg but one Blessing for my own Soul and for those that are dearest unto me it should be this That we might happily begin and hold on these three Exercises Whereof I shall treat as plainly and fully though as briefly as I am able Take them together first thus They are 1. Of Believing and Considering Reconciliation in respect to the three first particulars That is as purposed as purchased and as proved to be so 2. Of praying and labouring for Reconciliation in respect to the three next particulars That is as possessed as perswaded or assured of and as practically improved 3. Of hoping for Reconciliation and rejoycing in it in respect to the last particular That is as published and perfected And here observe thou well how far it is from brick and bondage whereto thou art called Idleness is of the worst wracks that an Humane Soul can be set on and thou art called to employment right honourable Thy Labour is not desired till admirable encouragements unto it are known and well considered first by thee No nor till superabundant aids from Heaven are invoked Thou art not set to Labour but in Hope and for or with Joy unspeakable and full of glory The World deals quite contrary with its Vassals In the ways of sin Men know not whither they go and are not suffered to consider what they are like to have for their Labour And indeed their Labour is to sow in much pain what they reap in Eternal Torment In their Lives and Labours as in their Deaths they have no Hope or what is worse than none They are far from Joy the Spirit of God assures us there is no Peace to them And their Mirth is nothing in the world but light-headedness Their going to Play-houses is but sending themselves to Bedlam Come on then and learn the way and enter into the joy of the Lord. The Lord that sends me to invite thee and thus direct thee First Thou must believe and