Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	dead_a	dwell_v	quicken_v	6,316	5	11.0324	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66108	The peril of the times displayed. Or the danger of mens taking up with a form of godliness, but denying the power of it Being the substance of several sermons preached: by Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston, N.E·	Willard, Samuel, 1640-1707.	1700 (1700)	Wing W2289; ESTC R224076	64,870	172

more in ruin We are therefore told how the way of mans Salvation came to be known 2 Tim. 1 10. hath brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel God hath not seen meet to impart the Gospel unto all nay there are but a few in comparison to whom the clear light of it is revealed and this is the priviledge which they enjoy by it that Salvation is come to their doors and the things of their peace are offered to them whereas others that have it not remain in darkness and in the regions of the shadow of death according to that awful word 2 Cor. 4. 3. if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost This therefore is mentioned as Israels prerogative Psal 147. 19 20. he gave his laws to Jacob c he hath not dealt so with any Nation For though there are many other Religions in the world yet there is none of them will afford fallen man any help to escape eternal misery under which all are held by nature and to obtain eternal felicity which every one is grasping after this is the alone prerogative of the Christian Religion 2. That it is a great and singular kindness of God so to reveal this Religion unto men There needs no more to prove this then to consider the former head viz the singular priviledge which is enjoyed by it and the unavoidable misery of those that have it not But this will farther appear if we consider that God owed it to none The Salvation it self that is discovered by it is such as none of the race of fallen men deserved to be made to partake in it was Gods meer good will which provided it for them and if he had left all Adams Posterity to have been for ever without it he had therein declared his Justice and done them no wrong Besides that all those to whom he sends these glad tidings of peace and offers of Salvation were in themselves no better than others who are left without them nor could make a better claim to them than they he was under no greater obligations to these than to those from whom he hath with held them and so leaves them to dye without knowledge They were equally Children of wrath with the other Eph. 2. 3. they were not in themselves better disposed or enclined to give entertainment to this Salvation than the rest of mankind Nor could God foresee any better inclination in them to accept of this grace then what he purposed of himself to bestow upon them they were every way as bad thus the Apostle remarks Tit. 3. 3 4. we our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient c. but after the kindness and love of our God and Saviour toward man appeared c. 3. That the great business which the Gospel points to and calls for of man is Godliness What is intended by Godliness hath before been observed Now this summarily comprehends the aim of the Gospel taking it in the more large sense of it It is certain that the Christian Religion is not meerly Theoretical but Practical It is called a Rule and the use of a Rule is to guide to the practice of that which it is a Rule of Now that which the Gospel giveth us instruction and direction about is Godliness it teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly Insts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this world Tit. 2. 11 12. It calls upon all men to live a godly life and it shews them the things wherein they are to do so in all respects and points them whither to go that they may be enabled so to do who of themselves have no ability to do any thing as they ought Mic. 6. 8. he hath shewn thee Oh man what is good c. It was for this that God gave his Word and Ordinances to men and in this it is that he commands them thus to live When M●ses had given Gods Statutes and Laws unto Israel which were no other than a more dark and shaded Dispensa●ion of the Gospel he reduceth their duty upon it hither Deut. 10. 12 and now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his ways and to love him c. 4. That true Godliness is always accompanied with life and power It is true in the exercising of it there is not always the same force and efficacy of this life exerting it self and appearing in the prosecution of their Christian Conversation and the reason of it is because the grace which is in the children of God is too often overcome with the remaining corruption which is in them and hindereth them from doing that which they would But this notwithstanding true Godliness hath always in it a principle of Spiritual Life which shall never be extinguished Grace is the root of it and that is a living principle which is put into the man and where this life is there is power for life is a power of performing life acts When God infuseth a Spirit of Godliness into the Souls of any he is said to quicken them Eph. 2 1. You hath he quickned who were dead c. There is no man that is really Godly but such an one as hath received the Spirit of God who dwelling in him by his Grace efficaciously enableth him to serve and glorifie God by believing in Christ and following of Holiness where this great change hath not past upon the man he is not Godly but remains under the powerful dominion of sin and impiety 5. Hence where there is only a form without the power it contradicts the very end or design of the Gospel If by a form we only understand the order and method of outward Worship and Service of God and the practice of those several Duties which are required of Christians in the Gospel this is that which ought to be because God hath commanded it and if men allow themselves in the neglect thereof they do both despise Gods authority over them and do what in them lieth to hinder themselves of the power inasmuch as God hath made this the way in which we are to have communion with him who is the author of all saving influences it is therefore certain that God requires of all Christians that they live in outward conformity to his revealed will But if men rest here and look no farther they take up with an outside and content themselves with it much more if all their design be to make a shew in formalities and all their zeal expireth in that they come short of what God requireth and expecteth of them This therefore is that which our Saviour taxeth the Scribes and Pharisees withal Mat. 23. 23. ye tith mint anise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law God requireth inward sincerity in the Serving of him Psal 51. 6. thou desirest truth in the inward parts Whereas this is only a cover of falshood and deceit

weep in secret places for your pride and mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears thus good Lots integrity is expressed 2 Pet. 2. 8. this righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds and how acceptable this spirit is to God appears by the care that he takes of such in an evil day Ezek. 9. 4. And this mourning if it be right will drive you to importunate prayers unto God and hard wrestlings with him for such a people and for such persons that he would give them Repentance and spare them How is it then with you in this regard is it thus Are yon secretly affected with all the decays you see in the midst of us 7. Are we constant in maintaining close Communion with God in secret duties It is true an Hypocrite may do the matter of secret Duties as constantly as a godly person though usually when he doth them it is with a trumpet blown at the door but it is certain that there is more of Temptation either to neglect altogether or else to be very slight and perfunctory in the performance of such services as have no witness of them but God and our own Souls hence there is not a better proof of the power of Godliness to a mans own Conscience than what may be observed in the carriage of himself before God in secret If you are not only conscientious to do the duties themselves for that a natural enlightned conscience may prompt a man to and make him afraid to neglect it but if you are as careful of your hearts as if all the world stood by and were able to read them if you really seek God in these performances and are not satisfied but in the manifestation of himself to you and the experience of the fruits of his grace in you and do truly be moan your deadness and indisposedness in these duties and humbly seek to him for the pardon thereof and help against it you have then a witness within you that you are more than formalists and a testimony which is better than all the applause and commendation of the best most discerning Christians Let us not then be perfunctory but thorough in these enquiries as knowing that it is of unspeakable concernment that we be not mistaken in this affair USE III. Let this Doctrine serve for Exhortation And that 1. In general to us all for we are all concerned in it and there are several lessons of advice which it will afford us especially these 1. Beware that you do not reject the external part of Godliness on this pretence There is an unhappy Generation of men in the world who would fain perswade others to think that they have arrived at higher degrees of perfection than their neighbours and among other their egregious follies this is one because God condemns the form which is without the power they thereupon cast off all form and call all external Worship so and because God is a Spirit and requires of them that Worship him that they do it in spirit and in truth they upon this restrain all Worship to that which is internal and reject all that is bodily to the Old Testament and Legal Dispensation and that which is antiquated now in the days of the Gospel whereupon they pronounce all those to be carnal who plead for or practice it It is upon this score that they will acknowledge no such thing as a Sabbath or separated time that is made holy by Gods so separating of it for the holy Services of his people giving out that all time is now holy to the people of God and every day a Sabbath to those that are spiritual They will have no Humane Preaching because they are all taught of God and have the Spirit in them to lead them into all truth and that anointing whereby they need not that any should teach them They despise the Gospel Sacraments as carnal things and spare not to mock at them and plead they have already received that which is the spiritual design of them it would be a thing superfluous in such as them any further to make use thereof yea they endeavour to make a ridicule of the Ordinances themselves and of the Elements which are made use of in them Yea to that height of spiritual frenzy are they arrived that they cast contempt on the very written Word of God they call it a dead Letter paper Divinity and strenuousl● deny it to be a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners and say that all those that bind themselves to it take it for their directory are guilty of despising the spirit and his teachings This and a great deal more of such like stuff they seek to infect mens minds withal But these are so far from being truly spiritual that they are in truth enemies to the power of Godliness and it concerns us all to avoid them as felthy dreamers Here then to establish you in this point Consider 1. There is an external part of Religion required of us by God God indeed requires the heart and without it all the rest will not be accepted but he requires not that only but the body too Man consists of these two parts he is to glorify God with them both being both bought with a price for that very end 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. The body is the Souls Organ and it is to perform its Imperate acts in and with it and if the heart be right set the whole man will follow after it For this reason God hath prescribed in the Gospel external Duties to his people and requireth of them a Conformity thereunto he hath appointed the Dispensers of the Gospel for the benefit of men and in this respect they are reckoned among the Afcension Gifts of Christ Eph. 4. 10 c. these are to preach the word in season and out of season 2. Tim. 4. 2. what use would there be of these if there were none to be hearers Christ hath appointed Sacraments to be celebrated in remembrance of him till he cometh they are therefore to continue of use until then yea all the parts of Outward Worship are laid down in the Gospel and it is not for nothing and Christians are warned not to neglect the assembling themselves together Heb. 10. 25 and to exhort one another daily Chap. 3. 13. Surely then we cannot omit or neglect much more reject these Ordinances of Christ without bringing upon our selves the guilt of neglecting his Command 2. Hence true inward Godliness will make men to be Conscientious of attending on these Duties Godliness teacheth men to worship fear and reverence God and this fear if genuine will exert it self in Obedience to his precepts they are put together Eccle. 12. 13. Fear God and keep his Commandments If Godliness be rooted in the heart it will sanctify the Soul to the discharge of its work and that belongs to it