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	life_n	quicken_v	5,491	5	10.4511	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41445	The penitent pardoned, or, A discourse of the nature of sin, and the efficacy of repentance under the parable of the prodigal son / by J. Goodman ...	Goodman, John, 1625 or 6-1690.	1679 (1679)	Wing G1115; ESTC R1956	246,322	428

address of the Holy Spirit which we are considering of these are only the motions or visits which he vouchsafes to make pendente lite or whilst it is yet undetermined to whom men will ultimately belong That therefore which we are concerned about is the peculiar priviledge of very good men such as have cherished the motions entertained the visits and complied with the intimations of the Holy Spirit and when it is come to that from thenceforth he doth not visit them in transitu only or call upon them but resides and inhabits with them and becomes as it were a constant principle a Soul of their Souls in short they are the temples of the Holy Ghost THIS I take to be that which our Saviour means Jo. 14. 23. If any man love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him and that also of St. John in the name of our Saviour Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock which phrase signifies the previous and more ordinary motions of his grace And if any man open to me i. e. if men attend to my admonitions and invitations and break off their custom of sin which barrs the door of their Souls against me then I will come in and sup with him c. i. e. then I will be a familiar guest or inhabitant with him and this is both interpreted and confirmed by St. Paul 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you i. e. being sanctified and made fit for the residence of that heavenly Guest he hath taken possession of you as his house and temple and more expresly yet by St. John 1 Ep. 3 24. He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth with us by his Spirit which he hath given us § II. NOW this inhabitation or residence of the Holy Spirit is called a Seal and men are said to be sealed by the Holy Spirit because as seals use to denote propriety so God hereby marks out as it were such men for his own i. e. as those that he hath a peculiar concern about those that have an interest in him and he in them and this is of wonderfull comfort and advantage especially in these four respects 1. THE Spirit thus inhabiting men gives them a title not only to God's care and providence but to an inheritance of Sons to a participation of that unspeakable felicity wherewith himself is eternally happy and glorious So the Apostle concludes in the forementioned place Eph. 1. 13 14. After ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance untill the time of the purchased possession q. d. We are hereby assured of Heaven and glory hereafter though we are not yet in possession of it or this is the pledge of our adoption upon which the inheritance is intailed Hence it is that the same Apostle Rom. 8. 11. makes this an assured argument of our resurrection But if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you q. d. You cannot lie under the power of death and the bonds of the grave but God will assert you to life and immortality because you have a principle of life the Holy Spirit in you which will as surely revive you as it raised Jesus from the dead for by his residence in you you are marked out as belonging to God and thereby he hath taken possession of you for himself WHEN God owned the Tabernacle amongst the Jews built by Moses and after that the Temple built by Solomon and solemnly dedicated to him for his House or Palace wherein to dwell amongst that people it pleased him as it were to take livery and seisin by the cloud which on the behalf of the Divine Majesty hovered over them and was therefore not improperly called by the Jews the Shekinah or dwelling presence and God was said to dwell between the Cherubims because there this symbol of the divine presence subsisted And as in the Christian Church all those miracles which the primitive Christians were inabled to perform were principally to assure their minds that God owned them and although they were destitute of humane help and persecuted both by Jews and Gentiles yet God was with them in which respect the Holy Ghost is called the Comforter so often by our Saviour I say in those miraculous effusions of the Holy Spirit the cloud as it were sate over the mercy-seat in the Christian Church which was now departed from the Temple of the Jews and denoted the collection of believers both of Jews and Gentiles united under Christ Jesus to be now God's peculiar houshold and family So also to all holy men in all Ages God is present by his Spirit by which they become Temples of the Holy Ghost upon which the Apostle pronounces peremptorily Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Which I understand in this sense q. d. He is not arrived at the excellent state of Christianity that hath not experience of the residence of God's Holy Spirit in him ONLY this is to be remembred that this residence of the Holy Spirit in good men which we speak of is not to be judged of by miraculous effects nor are such to be expected now because those were proper only for the first Ages when whilst the Church was under persecuting Emperors and in its infancy God thought fit by such prodigious displays of his power and presence to make all the world see his concern for it and that as I said before he had taken possession of it but ordinarily and especially in the case of private Christians the presence of the Spirit with them discovers it self by such effects as these following For 2. THE Spirit of God though he doth not work miracles now yet doth he not meerly take up his residence in the hearts of holy men but actuates them prompts them forward in all good actions helps and strengthens them in their duty and inflames their resolution and zeal in all brave and generous enterprizes in respect of which we are said to be lead by the Spirit to live and walk in the Spirit Which is not so to be understood as if what good was done the Spirit did it for men nor much less as if he hurried men on whensoever they did well and so for defect of such motion were liable to bear the blame of their irregularities when they did evil for as on the one side he never moves but to that which is certainly good and agreeable to the standing rules of Scripture and natural reason so neither on the other hand when he incites to any such thing doth he overpower

yet when we say and that truely of him that he made all things for himself and his own glory the meaning is that he takes delight in the reflection of his own image and feels his own perfections reverberated upon him from his Creatures BUT there is no necessity we should goe so far since all I am concerned in at present is sufficiently manifest namely that the happiness of men in the Kingdom of Heaven could not be compleat and full without the advantage of that blessed society which there they shall enjoy and that added to the forementioned ingredients raises it to the highest pitch of felicity that we can apprehend or imagine FOR in the first place there we shall enjoy the glorious presence of the Divine Majesty without consternation or affrightment whilst men are in this world it is not only impossible for weak eyes to behold so bright a glory but every approach of him strikes them with terrour When God had appeared to Jacob in a vision only it filled him with great apprehensions of so august a Majesty and he breaks out Gen. 28. 17. How dreadfull is this place c. And the Prophet I saiah when he saw a stately scene of the Divine Glory cries out Woe is me I am undone for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Isa 6. 5. For besides that the very glory of such displays of the Divinity were wont to be very wonderfull and surprizing the consideration also of what men had deserved at God's hands and the reflection upon their own miscarriages made all such appearances very formidable and suspicious to them But now in Heaven we shall see him and live he will not oppress us with his Majesty nor confound us with his Glory there shall be no guilt to affright us nor object to amaze us he will either fortify and sharpen our sight or submit himself to our capacity and shine out in all sweetness delight and complacency towards us NOW this must needs afford unspeakable felicity for in enjoying him we enjoy all things forasmuch as all that is any where good and delectable did flow from him and is to be found in him as in its source and original All that can charess our powers that can ravish our hearts all that is good all that is lovely and desirable are here in their greatest perfection and compendiously to be enjoyed So the Psalmist Psal 16. 11. In thy presence there is fullness of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore AGAIN we shall there also enjoy the society of the blessed Jesus we shall see him as he is and behold his glory and be with him for ever What a ravishment was it to the Disciples and what an ecstasy did it put them into when he appeared again to them after his Resurrection he had promised them he would do so and they had reason to believe him having seen the miracles he had wrought already and the wonderfull attestations to his divine power notwithstanding when they saw with what malice the Jews persecuted him and with what success that they stigmatized his reputation insulted over his person derided his doctrine and put him to death which he had now for some time lien under the power of their hearts mis-gave them and they began now to mistrust they should never see him again who they had hoped should have redeemed Israel However they resolve to see what is become of him and between hopes and fears they come to his Sepulchre on the third day but with more of the latter then the former as appears by the spices they brought with them to imbalm him as if they resolved his memorial should be precious with them though they never saw him more Thither being come they find the Watch dismayed and fled the Sepulchre open the Grave-cloaths laid in order all which somewhat revived them and besides they see an Angel standing at the door telling them that he was indeed risen from the dead this more incourages them but when himself appears to them as they were going pensive into Galilee and convinces them that it was indeed he by entertaining them with the same discourses he used to have with them by eating with them and by shewing to Thomas especially his Hands and his Feet and all the Characters of the same person THEN what joy were they in Lord how were they transported how do they wonder at their own stupidity and incredulity hitherto and admire their own felicity now But when at the last day after many hundred years interruption of his bodily appearance nay when those good men that have not seen but have believed that have lived to him denied themselves been persecuted have died for him shall see him in glory shall behold that image of perfect goodness and loveliness shall injoy him that died for them that purchased them by his bloud that opened Heaven to them shall hear him say Come ye blessed of my Father receive a Kingdom prepared for you c. You who have imitated me in holiness and followed me in my sufferings you who have not been discouraged by the meanness of my first appearance nor the long expectation of my second coming whose love and resolution for me was not baffled by the contempt of the world debauched by the examples of men nor abated by the pretended difficulty of my institutions you shall now see my glory be like me rejoice with me live with me and never be separated from me more It is in vain for me to goe about to express the transcendency of this joy which no tongue can utter nor any pen can describe we can think a great deal more then we can speak but we shall then feel what we cannot now conceive when every face shall shine with chearfullness every eye sparkle with joy every heart overflow with gladness and every mouth be filled with Allelujah and the whole Quire sing together the new song the song of Moses and of the Lamb. BUT this is not all yet for in Heaven holy men shall not only enjoy the presence of their Lord but the comfortable society of all his train the glorious host of Angels these as they have condescended to minister to men in this world and diligently to imploy themselves for the protection of good men and for the recovering of evil men to God and for the raising them from the dead and presenting them before God in Heaven so having now successfully finished all that ministry shall now wellcome them to glory rejoice with them and entertain them in friendly and familiar conversation those great and wise and holy Spirits shall recount to them all the wonders of divine providence past which they have been imployed in discover to them all the secrets of the other world and as Praecentors goe before and guide them in all the joys and triumphs of that blessed Kingdom AND lastly holy men shall rejoice in the happy society of one