Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	covenant_n	heart_n	new_a	6,959	5	6.8797	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78903	The godly mans ark or, City of refuge, in the day of his distresse. Discovered in divers sermons, the first of which was preached at the funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore. The other four were afterwards preached, and are all of them now made publick, for the supportation and consolation of the saints of God in the hour of tribulation. Hereunto are annexed Mris. Moores evidences for Heaven, composed and collected by her in the time of her health, for her comfort in the time of sickness. / By Ed. Calamy, B.D. and pastor of the church at Aldermanbury.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.; Moore, Elizabeth, d. 1656?	1657 (1657)	Wing C247; Thomason E1616_1; ESTC R209627	96,958	299

mee or I have relation to them in regard of outward obligations but because they bear the image of God upon them and manifest it in their holy conversation I love them whether rich or poor And though I did never know some of them but only hear of their holiness and piety yet I could not but exceedingly love such Therefore I hope that I am passed from death to life because I love the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 14. I do not only love God and the Evidence Twelfth children of God but I labour to keep his Commandements and they are not grievous to mee But I pray with 1 John 5. 3 David O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes Lord inlarge my Psal 119. 5. v. 32 34 heart and I will run the wayes of thy Commandements Give mee understanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart for therein do I delight I finde I am one that is very thirsty after Jesus Christ and the grace of E ∣ vidence Thir ∣ teenth Christ and I thirst to have his image more and more stamped upon mee and I would fain bee assured by Gods Spirit that I am transplanted into Christ and therefore I long and indeavour after a true and lively Faith because that Grace is a soul transplanting and uniting grace Now Christ hath promised to satisfie the thirsty Matth. 5. 6. and such Christ hath earnestly invited to come though they have nothing to bring but what may make against themselves yet to come empty and hee hath promised to fill them Isa 55. 1 2. I am willing to confesse and with all my heart to forsake all my sins I am E ∣ vidence Four ∣ teenth willing to give glory to God in taking shame unto my self I acknowledge my self a guilty malefactor and judge my self worthy of the just condemnation of the righteous Judge of all the earth And I do not only confess my sins but with all my heart I desire to forsake them and to turn to the Lord Now hee hath said he will have mercy on such and will abundantly pardon them For his thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his wayes as our wayes Isa 55. 7 8. It is my constant indeavour to dye to sin to live to newness of life And this is my comfort and hope that hee who hath begun a good work in mee will perfect it For it is hee that worketh all our works in us and for us Isa 26. 12. and hee that hath wrought in mee to will to do that which is pleasing in his fight will work in mee to do also and that of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. I hope I am one whom God hath taken into Covenant with himself because Evidence Fifteenth hee hath bestowed upon mee the fruits of the Covenant because hee hath circumcised my heart to love him and hath put his fear into mee and hath wrought an universal change in mee and hath given mee a new heart and a new spirit yea his own spirit which hee hath put within mee even the Spirit of Truth which will guide mee into all Truth It is his own promise to give his holy Spirit to them that ask it of him as I have done often Luk. 11. 13. and I hope that God will make it in his due time a witnessing and a comforting Spirit I will wait upon him for the accomplishment of all his promises both of grace and to grace Hee hath said hee will bee a sun and a shield hee will give grace and glory and no good thing will hee with-hold from them that walk uprightly And hee hath promised to subdue our sins for us and hath said that sin shall not have Dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. that hee will bee our God and wee shall bee his children and hee will save us from all our uncleannesses I hope I have a share in this blessed Covenant of free grace As for my Affliction that lieth upon Evidence Sixteenth mee though it bee in it self very heavy I much more desire the sanctification of it than the removal I earnestly labour to learn all those lessons which God teacheth mee by affliction I know I should not bee scourged nor bee in tribulation but that I have need of it it is for my profit to make mee partaker of his holinesse Afflictions are an evidence of Sonship Heb. 12. 6 7 8. God hath promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love and fear Rom. 8. 28. him And I have had much experience of his faithfulness who hath not suffered mee to bee tempted above what hee hath inabled mee to bear therefore I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Hee hath chastized mee less than mine iniquities deserve Hee chastizeth mee here that hee may not condemn mee hereafter Faith is the condition of salvation Beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and E ∣ vidence Seven ∣ teenth thou shalt bee saved And this is his Commandement that we should beleeve in his Act. 16.31 1 John 3. 23. Son Jesus Christ Now I finde nothing so hard to mee as to beleeve aright to cast away all my own Righteousness as dung in point of justification and to cast away all my unrighteousness so as that bee no bar to mee and to role and cast and venter my immortal soul upon Jesus Christ and his Righteousnesse for life and salvation by him alone and to see my self compleat in him this is supernatural Yet I must and will give glory to God and say Lord I beleeve help thou my unbeleef And by this I prove that this precious grace of Faith is wrought in mee because Jesus Christ is to mee very precious and I finde in the Word that to them that beleeve hee 1 Pet. 2.7 is precious and I am willing to take Christ upon his own termes as hee is tendred in the Gospel and am willing to give up my self soul and body wholly to him and my love to God and to the children of God is a fruit of my Faith as also my desire to bee made like unto him For hee that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as hee is pure 1 John 3. 3. And I trust that I am kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. I know whom I have beleeved and I am perswadad that hee is able and willing to keep that which I have committed unto him which is my immortal soul 2 Tim. 1. 12. Thus I have according to the Apostles exhortation indeavoured to give a reason of the hope that is in mee What have I but what I have received The desire of my soul is that God may have all the glory And if I bee deceived the Lord for Christs sake undeceive mee and grant that if I have not true grace I may not think I have and so bee in a fools Paradise And the Lord that is my heart-maker bee my heart-searcher and my heart-discoverer and my heart-reformer Amen FINIS

end and Faiths end But a Religious Christian lives upon Promises and not upon Creatures and therefore when Creatures fail hee hath the Promises to live on Hee labours to taste the sweetness that is in them Hee lives upon Promises when Providence seems to run cross to Promises They are his fiery Chariot to carry him up to Heaven If then these insuing Sermons inflame thy affections with a greater love to the Promises and a greater care to meditate on them and to get an interest in them thou hast cause to bless God and to pray for Thy unworthy Servant in Christ E. C MEDITATE ON THE Promises SERMON IV. PSAL. 119. 92. Unless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in mine Affliction HEe that would improve the Promises so as to make them spiritual bladders to keep him from being drowned in the deep waters of affliction must not only make a Catalogue of the Promises but hee must also 2 Fixedly and seriously meditate on them first hee must treasure up these We must not only make a Catalogue of the Promises but meditate on them Jewels in his heart and then unlock them by meditation first hee must make his Nose-gay and then smell of it The Word of God as I have said is as a Garden full of excellent Promises as so many choice flowers And it is our duty to walk often in this Garden to gather up all the flowers that lye scattered in it into several Nose-gayes to binde them together if I may so speak with the threed of Faith and then every day to smell of them The Promises are the Saints Legacies left them by Christ in his last will and Testament The Saints are called the heirs of the Promises Heb. 6. 17. And if they would bee filled full of joy in the day of their distress they must bee frequent in reading these Legacies The Promises are as it were the breasts of God full of the Milk of grace and comfort And it is our duty to bee sucking out by meditation the milk of grace and comfort contained in them That which the Prophet saith of the Church of Christ may as truly bee said of the Promises of Christ Rejoyce O yee people of God and bee glad all yee that have an interest in the Promises Rejoyce for Isa 66.10 11. joy all yee that are mourners in Sion that yee may suck and bee satisfied with the breasts of their consolations that yee may milk out and bee delighted with the abundance of joy and comfort contained in them The Promises are the Saints aqua vitae as one calls them the Saints cordials the Saints plank to swim to Heaven upon the Saints fiery Chariot to carry them up to Heaven And the great reason why they walk so uncomfortably so disconsolately and so unbeleevingly in the time of their tribulation is because they do not smell of these Nose-gayes they do not chew these cordials they do not read over these spiritual Legacies they do not by serious meditation and consideration suck out the comfort comprehended in them For as fire will not warm us unless wee tarry at it and a Bee cannot suck out the hony that is in a flower unless shee abide upon it no more can any child of God receive supportation and consolation from the Promises in the hour of temptation unless hee seriously and solemnly ponder and meditate on them There is a double difference between a presumptuous sinner and a poor humble distressed child of God 1 A Presumptuous sinner studieth The difference between a presumptuous sinner and a true child of God in relation to the Promises nothing but the promising Word Hee sleights the commanding and the threatning Word The Word commands him to keep holy the Sabbath day not to love the world not to lust but hee turns a deaf ear to it The Word threatneth to wound the hairy scalp of every one that goeth on in his wickednesse but because God is patient and long suffering therefore he regards it not But as for the Promising VVord hee snatcheth at it he doth not truly lay hold on it but snatcheth at it before it belongs to him and spider-like sucks the poison of sin out of it and makes of it a cradle to rock himself asleep in sinful courses Because God hath promised that whensoever a Sinner turns from his sins which hee hath committed hee shall surely live and not dye therefore hee delaies and prorogues his turning from sin But now a poor distressed humble Christian fails on the contrary part hee pores upon the commanding and threatning Word but never ponders the promising VVord God saith hee commands mee to love him with all my heart and soul to wash my heart from iniquity to love my enemies to cut off my right hand and pluck out my right eye c. But I cannot perform these commands therefore surely I shall never bee saved God saith hee hath threatned to curse every one that continueth not in every thing that is written in his Law to do it and therefore surely I am accursed But hee never studies nor ponders the promising Word for if hee did hee Three observeable things about the Promises would quickly know three things for his everlasting comfort 1 That there is nothing required by God in his VVord as our duty but God hath either promised to bestow it upon us as his gift or the Saints have prayed to God for it as his gift God commands us to love him but hee hath promised to circumcise our hearts to love him c. Deut. 30. 6. God commands us to fear him to turn our Ezek. 18. 31. selves from our transgressions and to make our selves a new heart and a new spirit But hee hath promised to give Ezek. 36. 26. Jer. 32.40 us a new heart and a new spirit to put his fear in our hearts that wee shall never depart from him and to turn us Mic. 7. 19 Rom. 6. 14. from our evil waies The Saints of God also have prayed unto God for this as the fruit of his free mercy Jer. 31. 18. Lam. 5. 21. There is nothing commanded in the Covenant of works but God hath promised in the Covenant of grace in some measure to work it in us for hee hath promised to work all our works in us and to write his Law Isa 26.12 not one Commandement of it only but the whole Law in our hearts and to put it in our inward parts and to cause Jer. 31. 33 Ezek. 36. 27. us to walk in his waies 2 That God under the Covenant of grace will for Christs sake accept of less than hee requires in the Covenant of works Hee requires perfection of degrees but hee will accept of perfection of parts hee requires us to live without sin but hee will accept of our sincere indeavours to do it If there bee a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and

not according to that hee hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. 3 That though hee cannot in his own person perform all that God commands yet Jesus Christ as his surety and in his stead hath fulfilled the Law for him and that God will accept of Christs perfect as a cover for his imperfect righteousnesse That Christ hath redeemed him from the curse of the Law being made a curse for him That the threatnings of the Law are Serpents without a sting and that Christ hath taken away the power and force of them Did a broken-hearted and wounded sinner ponder and meditate on these things they would fill him full of joy and comfort Hee would flye from the Covenant of works to the Covenant of grace from his own unrighteousness unto the righteousness of Christ and from the commanding and threatning word unto the promising word hee would say Lord Thou commandest mee to walk in thy statutes and to keep thy Laws This I cannot do of my self but thou hast promised to cause mee to walk in thy wayes and to write thy Law in my Domine da quod jubes jube quod vis Aust heart Lord give mee power to do what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt 2 A presumptuous sinner is alwaies The second difference studying the promising Word to bolster up himself in sin but hee never studies his sins and iniquities to repent for them and from them Hee meditates on the Promises to harden his heart in sin but not at all on his sins to humble himself for them and to turn from them But now on the contrary A poor distressed Christian pores upon his iniquities and corruptions but never mindes himself of the Promises and this makes him live so dejectedly and disconsolately A wicked man studieth his corruptions too little A distressed Christian too much If hee did study the Promises as much as hee doth his corruptions hee would not walk so uncomfortably Wherefore if ever you would make the Word of God a conduit of comfort in the day of your distress you must not only meditate on the commanding and threatning Word but on the promising Word The Commandements and threatnings must drive you to the Promises you must not only study your corruptions to humble you but also the Promises to comfort you I do not say you must not study your corruptions but you must joyn the study of the Promises together with them If Abraham had minded only the deadnesse of Sarahs womb and of his own body he had never beleeved c. but hee was strong in Faith and staggered not because hee considered not his own body now dead when hee was about an hundred years old nor the deadness of Sarahs wombe but was fully Rom. 4. 19 20 21 perswaded that what God had promised hee was able to perform If Sarah had considered only that shee was past age shee would never have beleeved that shee should have a childe but shee eyed the Promise and judged him faithful who had promised and that Heb. 11. 11 made her beleeve If a Saint of God looks only downwards upon the deadnesse of his heart and meditates only upon his sins and infirmities hee will never bee comforted in the day of his distresse But hee must also look upwards unto the Promises seriously ponder and fixedly study them which will bee as strong Pillars to support him and keep him from falling into despair in the hour of tribulation Q. What are the Meditations which wee must have in reference and relation to the Promises in the day of our distress Ans I will rank them into nine particulars 1 You must meditate upon the three great truths already mentioned The first meditation about the Promises 1 That God commands nothing as our duty which hee hath not promised as his gift 2 That God in the Covenant of grace will accept of lesse than hee requires in the Covenant of works 3 That if wee truly beleeve in Christ God will accept of his righteousness as a satisfaction for our unrighteousness 2 You must meditate upon the excellency and preciousness of the Promises The second Meditation meditate on the preciousness of the Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 The Promises are precious in five respects 2 Cor. 1. 20. they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding great and precious Promises They are precious in five respects 1 Because they cost a great price even the blood of Christ to purchase them They are all made to us in Christ and for Christ they are in him yea and in him Amen The Covenant which is the Pandecta and Cabinet of all the Promises was sealed with his blood 2 Because they assure us of great and precious things they assure us of our interest in God of our justification reconciliation adoption sanctification and glorification Heaven it self is nothing else but the injoyment of the Promises Heb. 6. 12. The Promises are Heaven folded up Heaven is the Promise unfolded For the Promises are nothing else but the eternal purposes of God towards his children made manifest The purposes of God are his concealed Promises and the Promises are his revealed purposes The Promises are the kisses of Jesus Christ they discover his dear love and when hee discovers to us our interest in them then hee kisses us with the kisses of his mouth and fills us with joy unspeakable and glorious They are made by God and they make over God to us as our portion and Christ as our Saviour and the Spirit as our Sanctifier and all good things both here and hereafter as our inheritance and therefore may well bee called exceeding great and precious Promises 3 Because they put a price upon the New Testament for wherein doth the New Testament exceed the Old unless it bee in this because it is founded upon better Promises Heb. 8. 6. and bringeth in a better hope Heb. 7. 19. 4 Because they put a price upon all the blessings of God A little mercy reached out to us as a fruit of a Promise is more worth than a world of blessings comming to us meerly by way of providence A man may receive blessings from God upon a double account either ex largitate or ex promisso either by way of providence or by way of Promise 1 By way of Providence Thus God gives the earth to the sons of men Psal 115. 16. Thus hee gave one hundred twenty and seven Provinces to Ahashuerosh Thus hee sets up the basest of men to rule over Nations Dan. 4. 17. 2 By way of Promise Thus hee gives health wealth and all outward comforts unto his children For godlinesse hath the Promise of this life and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. Now you must know that a little blessing comming to us as a fruit of the Promise is more worth than a thousand blessings comming to us only by way of Providence And therefore David saith A little that the righteous man hath is