Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	eternal_a	holy_a	son_n	7,025	5	5.5036	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29681	An arke for all Gods Noahs in a gloomy stormy day, or, The best wine reserved till last, or, The transcendent excellency of a believers portion above all earthly portions whatsoever discovered in several sermons ... / by Thomas Brooks ...	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1662 (1662)	Wing B4929; ESTC R6208	184,660	523

mans comforts it gives a sting to all a mans troubles it proclaims Satan a Conquerour it raises a hell in the conscience it makes a man a Magor-missabib a terrour to himself and an astonishment to others In that 7 of Daniel there is mention made of four Beasts the first a Lion the second a Bear the third a Leopard but the fourth without distinction either of kind or sex or name is said to be very fearful and terrible and strong and such a thing as this fourth beast was is Desperation as all have found that ever have been under it desperation is a complicated sin 't is a mother-sin 't is a breeding sin 't is the complement of all sins and therefore above all take heed of this sin O Sirs as you love your souls and as you would be happy to all eternity do not despair nor do not be peremptory in your conclusions that God will never be your portion because for the present he is not your portion remember the gracious invitations of God and remember the glorious riches of mercy and remember the overflowings of infinite grace and then despond and despair if thou canst The sixt and last Position is this Sixth Position that such is the love care goodnesse kindness of God to his people that few or none of them die without some assurance that God is their portion that they have an interest propriety in him That here and there a particular Christian in cases not ordinary may die doubting and ascend to heaven in a cloud as Christ did will Acts 1.9 I suppose be readily granted and that the generality of Christians shall first or last more or less mediately or immediately have some comfortable assurance that God is their God and that he is their portion and that they have a real interest and propriety in him may I suppose be thus evinced First Several precious promises that are scattered up and down in the Scripture seems to speak out such a thing as this is take these for a taste Psal 9.18 For the needy shall not alwayes be forgotten the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever Psal 22.26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever Psal 84.11 For the Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Hos 2.23 And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy Ponder upon that of Ezek 34 30 31. and I will say to them which were not my people thou art my people and they shall say Thou art my God Psal 5.12 For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compasse him as a shield John 14.21 23. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Secondly The common experiences of the Saints both in the Old and New Testament doth evidence as much Solomons Song 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his Chap. 6.3 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine And Chap. 7.10 I am my beloveds and his desire is towards me Isa 63.16 Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer thy Name is from everlasting Isa 64.8 9. But now O Lord thou art our Father behold see we beseech thee we are all thy people Jer. 3.22 23. Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Isa 25.9 And it shall be said in that day Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us I might produce a cloud of witnesses from among the Patriarchs and Prophets further to evince this truth but enough is as good as a Feast And as the Church of God in the Old Testament so the Church of God in the New Testament attained to the same assurance The believers in Corinth were sealed and had the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts And Chap. 5.1 5. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit And so the believing Ephesians had the like Ephes 1.13 In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise which is the earnest of our inheritance And so Chap. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption And the believing Thessalonians had the same 1 Thess 1.4 5. Knowing brethren beloved your election of God For our Gospel came not unto you in word onely but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance I might give you many particular instances out of the New Testament to confirm this truth but these general Instances are more convincing and satisfying Thirdly If God should not first or last sooner or later mediately or immediately give his people some comfortable assurance that he is their portion and that they have a real interest and propriety in him the spirits the souls of his people would certainly faint and fail but this God will never suffer this God by promise hath engaged himself to prevent as you may see in that Isa 57. 16 18 19. For I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wrath for the Spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made I have seen his wayes and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is afar off and to him that is neer saith the Lord and I will heal him Now seeing that God hath so graciously undertaken for his people that their spirits shall not faint nor fail there is no doubt but that sooner or later more or lesse God will assure his people that he is their portion and that they have a real interest and propriety in him Fourthly The Lords Supper is a sealing Ordinance and was ordained Matth. 26.26 27 28. 1 Cor. 11.23 24. Rom. 4.11 instituted and appointed for that very purpose and to that very end viz. to seal up the believers propriety in God and to assure him of his interest in God in Christ in the everlasting Covenant and in all the benefits of Christs

Gen. 41.4 so all inordinate ill-favoured cares will eat up all those fat and noble cares for God for his glory for heaven for holinesse for grace for glory for power against corruptions for strength to resist temptations and for support and comfort under afflictions c. with which the soul should be filled and delighted Oh that you would for ever remember these few things to prevent all inordinate distrustful and distracting cares First That they are a dishonour and a reproach to the all sufficiency of God as if he were not able to supply all your wants and to answer all your desires and to succour you in all your distresses and to deliver you out of all your calamities and miseries c. Secondly Inordinate cares are a dishonour and a reproach to the omnisciency of God Psal 139. Psal 40.5 Job 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 16.9 c. as if your wants were not as well known to him as his own works and as if he had not a fixed eye upon all the straights and trials that lies upon you and as if he did not know every burthen that makes you to groan and did not behold every affliction that makes you to sigh and did not observe every tear that drops from your eyes c. whereas his eye is still upon you Deut. 11.11 12. But the Land whither ye go to possesse it is a land of hils and valleys and drinketh water of the rain of heaven a land which the Lord thy God careth for the eyes of the Lord thy God are alwayes upon it from the beginning of the year unto the end of the year And do you think that he will not have as great a care and as tender a regard of you who are his jewels his treasure his joy yea who are the delight of his soul and the price of his Sons blood Thirdly Inordinate cares are a dishonour and a reproach to the authority of God Psal 24.1 Psal 50.10 as if the earth were not the Lords and the fulnesse thereof and as if all creatures were not at his command and at his dispose whenas he is the great proprietary and all is his by primitive right and all the creatures are at his service and are ready at a word of command to serve where he pleaseth and when he pleaseth and as he pleaseth and whom he pleaseth Fourthly Inordinate cares are a dishonour and a reproach to the mercy bounty and liberality of God they proclaim God to be a hard Master and not to be of so free so noble and so generous a spirit as Scripture and the experiences of many thousands speaks him to be I have read of a Duke of Millain that marrying his daughter to a son of England he made a Dinner of thirty Courses and at every Course he gave so many gifts to every guest at the Table as there were Dishes in the Course Here was rich and royal entertainment here was noble bounty indeed but this bounty is not to be named in the day wherein the bounty and liberality of God to his people is spoken of Princes treasures have been often exhausted and drawn dry Mercy bounty is as essential to God as light is to the Sun or as heat is to the fire but the treasures of Gods bounty and liberality were never nor never shall be exhausted or drawn dry O Sirs you are as well able to tell the Stars of heaven and to number the sands of the Sea as you are able to number up the mercies and favours of God that attends his people in one day yea that attends them in one hour of the day or in one minute of an hour such is his liberality and bounty towards them God is alwayes best when he is most in the exercise of his bounty and liberality towards his people his favours and mercies seldome come single there is a Series a concatenation of them and every former draws on a future yea such is the bounty and liberality of God that he never takes away one mercy but he hath another ready to lay in the room of it as Joshuah began to shine before Moses his candle was put out and before Joshuah went to bed C●hniel the son of Kenaz was risen up to judge Eli was not gathered to his Fathers before Samuel appeared hopeful nor Sarah was not taken away till Rebeckah was ready to come in her stead The Jews have a saying that never doth there die any illustrious man but there is another born as bright on the same day But Fifthly Inordinate cares are a reproach and a dishonour to the fidelity of God as if he were not the faithful witnesse Rev. 1.5 Ch. 3.14 Isa 49.7 1 Cor. 1.9 Ch. 10.13 2 Thes 3.3 Heb. 10.23 Rev. 19.11 Heb. 6 13-19 the faithful God that hath bound himself by promise by covenant and by oath to take care of his people and to provide for his people and to look after the welfare of his people God is that Ocean and Fountain from whence all that faithfulnesse that is in Angels and men do issue and flow and his faithfulnesse is the rule and measure of all that faithfulnesse that is in all created beings and his faithfulnesse is unchangeable and perfect though the Angels fell from their faithfulnesse and Adam fell from his yet it is impossible that ever God should fall from his Gods faithfulnesse is a foundation-faithfulnesse it is that foundation upon which all our faith hope prayers praises and obedience stands and therefore whoever is unfaithful God will be sure to shew himself a faithful God in making good all that he hath spoken concerning them that fear him I had rather said Plutarch that men should say there was never any such person in the world as Plutarch rather than say that Plutarch is unfaithful men were better say that there is no God than to say that God is an unfaithful God and yet this is the constant language of inordinate cares O Sirs Gods goodnesse inclines him to make good promises 2 Pet. 1 4. precious promises and his faithfulnesse engages him to make those promises good if the word be once gone out of his mouth Mat. 5.18 heaven and earth shall sooner passe away than one jot of that Word shall fail Men say and unsay what they have said they often eat their words as soon as they have spoke them but so will not God This faithfulnesse of God Joshna stoutly asserts to the heighth he throws down the Gantler Josh 23.14 15. and doth as it were challenge all Israel to shew but that one thing that God had failed them in of all the good things that he had promised If God in very faithfulnesse afflicts his people to make good his threatnings Psa 119.75 O how much more in faithfulnesse will he preserve and provide for his people to make good his promises God hath never broke his word nor crack't his credit by deceiving or by compounding

faith of assurance to a blush as he will put the faith of expectance to a blush Psal 22.26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever First or last such as seek him shall have such an answer of their prayers as shall turn their prayers into praises and their petitions into thanksgivings Psal 84.11 The Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly God will be an universal all-sufficient and satisfactory good to them that walk uprightly the Lord is as full of goodness as the Sun is full of light and he will as freely and as fully and as impartially communicate his goodnesse to them that walk uprightly Matth. 5.45 as the Sun doth her light both to the just and the unjust As under the name of no good thing will he with-hold all temporal good things are to be understood so under the name of grace all spiritual good things are to be understood and under the name of glory all eternal good things are to be understood And now if God will give all spiritual and all eternal good things to his people how can he then but sooner or later give a cleer and satisfactory evidence into his peoples bosomes that he is their portion And not onely express promises but also the graces of the Spirit and the testimony of the Spirit confirms the same thing the language of every saving grace is this The Lord is thy portion O thou believing soul and the language and testimony of the Spirit is the same Rom. 8.15 Ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Vers 16. The Spirit it self beareth witnesse with our spirits that we are the children of God Shall an instinct in nature teach young ones to know their Damms and shall not the Spirit of God by a divine instinct teach the Saints to know God to be their God and to be their portion also Surely yes though this or that particular Christian may go to his grave without a satisfactory evidence in his own bosome that God is his portion yet in an ordinary course at first or last God doth give his people some assurance that he is their portion yea rather than they shall always live or die without assurance of their salvation and that he is their portion he will work a miracle to assure them of his love I have both heard and read of a rare story of Mrs. Honywood a famous professor of the Gospel and one that for many years together lay under the burthen of a wounded spirit and was much troubled in mind for want of assurance that God was her portion and that she should be saved from wrath to come at length there came a godly Minister to her who indeavoured to settle her faith and hope in Christ and pressing many Gospel-promises upon her she took it with a kinde of indignation and anger that he should offer to present any promises to her to whom as she thought they did not belong and having a Venice-glasse in her hand she held it up and said Speak no more to me of salvation for I shall as surely be damn'd as this poor brittle glasse shall be broke against the wall throwing it with all her force to break it but it so pleased God that by a miraculous providence the glasse was preserved whole the Minister beholding the miracle took up the glasse and said unto her Behold God must work a miracle for you before you will believe and for ever after that day she had very strong assurance of her salvation and that God was her portion and so lived and died in a sweet and comfortable sense of the love and favour of God Now to provoke you to labour with all your might to attain to a clear personal satisfactory evidence in your own bosomes that God is your portion do but seriously consider and lay to heart the rare and singular advantages that will redound to your souls by this meanes I shall onely touch upon some by which your selves may guesse at others First By this means your hearts will come to be fixed setled and established A mans soul never comes to be fixed and setled by knowing in the general that God is the Saints portion but by a personal evidence and certainty of knowledge that he is his particular portions whil'st a mans particular propriety is unsetled all is unsetled in his soul but when a mans particular propriety is setled when he can say Psa 57.7 Ps 108 1. Psal 112.7 this God is my God and the Lord is my portion then all is setled then all is at peace in the soul A man that hath God for his portion if he do not know it will still be like a Ship at sea in the midst of a storm tost here and there and now rowling on one side and then on the other and never quiet never lying still but a man that hath God for his portion and knows it he is like a Ship in a good Harbour that lies quiet and still yea he is like Mount Zion that cannot be removed But Secondly A clear personal evidence that God is a mans portion will rid his soul of all sinful doubts O Christians Luke 24.14 15. now your hearts are as full of doubts as hell is full of darknesse one day you doubt whether your graces are true and another day you doubt whether your comforts are true now you doubt of your Saintship and anon of your Sonship and then of your Heirship sometimes you doubt of your communion with God sometimes you doubt of your acquaintance with God and sometimes you doubt of your acceptance with God one hour you doubt of the favour of God and the next hour you doubt of your accesse to God And as it is thus with you so it will be thus with you till you come to have some clear satisfaction in your own spirits that God is your portion O Christians had you but once a personal evidence in your own bosomes that God is your portion all those doubts that are bred and fed by ignorance and unbelief and that rob the soul of all joy comfort and content and that render men Babes in Christianity and that cast reproach upon God Christ and the Promises c. and that do most gratifie and advantage Satan to tempt and try your souls would vanish and disperse as the Clouds do before the Sun when it shines in its brightnesse till a Christians eyes be opened to see God to be his portion his heart will be full of doubts and perplexities John 20.13 14 15 16. Though Mary Magdalen was very neer to Christ yet she stands sighing mourning and complaining That they had stollen away her Lord. A Christian may have God for his portion yet till he comes to see God to be his portion he will spend his dayes in sighing