Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	faith_n	grace_n	receive_v	7,604	5	5.6899	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41124	The riches of grace a treatise shewing the value and excellency of a gracious spirit by comparing it with the nature and spirits of wicked and ungodly men, which desire not the wayes of the Lord Jesus / by that reverend and faithfull minister of Gods word, William Fenner ...	Fenner, William, 1600-1640.	1641 (1641)	Wing F697; ESTC R6526	27,782	148

desire is not true grace Object You will say men come to Church they pray they come to the Sacraments for grace they professe they would have grace and will you say that they doe not desire it Answ I answer with Solomon The soule of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing but the soule of the diligent shall be made fat As it is with a sluggish man that desires his ground should be tilled but yet will take no paines to plough it who desires that his busines should goe forward that hee might have the harvest yet will not be at the cost and charges needfull for it he may wish and desire a harvest but shall have nothing So the soule of a sluggish Christian of a lukewarme professor desires faith and repentance but gets neither but the soule of a diligent Christian shall have enough to justifie him grace enough eternally to save him But the soule of a carnall Christian desires faith but gets but a lazie faith a faith that will not justifie him a leane or perhaps a lazie repentance that will not save him a dead performance and profession together Rom. 11. 7. Israel saith the Apostle hath not obtained that which he sought for but the Election hath obtained it first carnall Israel sought for the promises of Christ but they got it not but the Election hath obtained it Object 2 O but our Saviour saith Seeke and yee shall finde Answ 2 I answere true if you seeke well this word is of few letters but of great force it is the very forme of all Arts for Rhetoricke is the Art of pleading well and Logicke of disputing well so is Divinity the Art of seeking well of living well it is nothing to desire grace unlesse you seeke it well the truth is a wicked man desires not true grace but something that seemes to him to bee true grace Now suppose a man were sicke and five pills would cure him he thinketh foure will doe it and therefore neglects the fifth and dyes for want of it So a man having his conscience convinced from the Word of God that unlesse hee have such and such faith such and such graces of the spirit of God such knowledge such holinesse he shall be damned Hee thinkes if I can bee but thus and thus if I can doe but thus much I shall bee saved whereupon hee will heare the Word of God he will pray he will keepe the Sabbath give over this and that sinne leave his drunkennesse his swearing and yet when all comes to all he goes to hell Why because true grace which was commanded and which he should have had hee accounted and called Puritanisme and precisnesse and rejected as a superfluous thing hee thinkes if he can attaine to such a pitch as to live justly and quietly and to be well governed and to follow his particular calling and keepe the Church and performe some good duties though he bee not zealous for God nor in the worship of God will not endure reproach for Christ and for his strict profession Such a one shall be damned though he have all the grace he lookes for A crimson shooe cannot cure the Goute so fine comelinesse of carriage in a naturall man cannot heale the infection and poyson of corrupt nature An Asse is an Asse still though he be never so well trapped so a naturall man is a naturall man still though never so well qualified Hath he love hath hee knowledge meekenesse gentlenesse and a kind of humility and liberality comes hee to the Church heares the Word receives the Sacraments yet unlesse he be mortified and converted changed and renewed by the Spirit of God it is impossible he should bee saved Tit. 2. 11. 12. The grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men and teacheth us that we should deny ungodlines c. as if the Apostle would give us to understand that there is a grace that bringeth not Salvation but that which bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world if then that grace thou desirest and hast attained to teach not thee to cast away all sinfull corruptions and doe not make thee live holily it cannot bring thee to heaven This grace which saith the Apostle teacheth us to deny ungodly lusts as if he had sayd I know it hath appeared to all all the world hath it offered to them it hath appeared to them but they will not learne of it to deny ungodlinesse worldly lusts and therefore in stead of Salvation it bringeth damnation to them but it teacheth us and brings Salvation to us But now because men are apt to say every one boasting that they desire grace therefore for the third Use Vse 3 Come examine thy selfe or thy soule and we will lay it bare before the Lord that if thou hast grace thou mayst know of it if not thou mayest bee convinced of it and so perswaded in time to seeke truely for it Now if thou hast a true desire of grace than it purifieth the conscience from all dead workes If thy Conscience now tell thee that thou hast any sinne and corruption that thou art not willing to lay off it is an evident demonstration that thou hast no true desire of grace A man that hath his hands full of base luggage if a pearle should bee at his feete unlesse he empty his hands hee cannot take it up and therefore if he will not cast away that base stuffe we would say hee hath no minde to the Pearle Now thy hands and thy heart are full of corruptiō so that though grace lye even at thy feete yet thou canst not receive it up unlesse thou empty thy hands and thy heart Mark 1 1. Wherefore if there be any lust though never so deare any bosome sinne which thou wilt not part with it is an evident signe that thou hast not a true desire of grace Heb. 3. 18. Willingnesse and desire to live honestly and a good conscience are joyned together noting that so a man cannot have a desire to live piously according to Gods will but hee must have a good conscience in all things If then thy conscience tell thee that thou wilt sweare now and then thou wilt tell a lye upon occasion and bee scandalous to others now and then and wilt reserve some passage for thy lusts know that thou canst not thou dost not desire grace For true grace animates the soule to lay off all hinderances of the grace desired Mark 2 2. It is a vehement desire if true a lukewarme desire is not true desire As a man hath a desire to a peece of cloth and goes to the Drapers shop to buy it he judgeth it to bee worth twenty or forty shillings now if the Draper should hold it at three or foure pound he scornes the motion and slings away with detestation of it he desired it but his desire was stinted upon such

miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupt your garments moath-eaten your gold and your silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you Weepe and howle yee great men Knights Lords and rich men if you have no other treasure your portion shall be damnation and destruction in the day of Gods wrath It is grace alone that is true good inward substantiall good and the last good of the soule all other goods they are but finite but grace inestates a man into the Lord Jesus Christ an infinite full and perfect good riches honour and wisedome these things are good but thou must give account for them and if thy account bee not good thou shalt bee damned for the unprofitable use of them those things are not like fat Parsonages which it may be bring 100. or 200. pound into the Parsons purse yearely and yet may be they are but 10. or 20. pound in the Kings bookes it is not so with grace but every pound is a pound every shilling is a shilling yea every farthing is a farthing in Gods booke so that if God hath given thee wisedome knowledge riches houses honours or any other talent know that God hath set it downe to a farthing and thy account shall bee as strictly demaunded of thee if thou hast not grace Grace would discharge a man of all these when all other goods are but as burthens to men to sinke them to hell Object I hope I desire grace may some say I pray I reade I heare I meditate and conferre of good things Answ When a man is at a banquet doth hee desire the dishes or the meate in the dishes indeede hee may pull at the dishes but reacheth thereby to the meate Prayer and Preaching Sacraments c. they are but as it were the dishes God disheth up his graces in his Ordinances now should guests when they are at a banquet sit cutting the dishes they might cut them and yet rise a hungry and starve for all the nourishment they would give So men cut the meate and when that is eaten they cast away the dishes Prayer Preaching Sacraments they must cease if therefore thou hast not gotten meate out of those dishes if thou hast not received the grace offered unto thee by them thou art never the better thou hast heard the word but hast thou received the spirit thou hast prayed but hast thou gotten grace thou hast received the Sacraments but hast thou received Christ and his graces also otherwise thou hast nothing O what a strange thing is it that men should feede upon dishes and not seeke after the meate in them and so starve their soules Did the Prodigall Luk. 15. feede upon his fathers dishes No but on his fat calfe What though I have a golden key if it will not open the doore What good is it for a man to have brave gally pots about him if there be no physicke in them to heale his sicknesse A boate a boate cryes the passenger when he would goe over the water what is it the boate he desireth No but that hee may passe over the water We cry out a Sermon a Sermon a prayer a Sacrament but to what end wee should desire them as a meanes wherby God conveyeth grace using them as boates carrying us unto holinesse to faith love meekenesse humility c. otherwise thou wilt bee never the better for if a man have a hundred boates yet if they cannot carry him over the water what is he the nearer for them if a man have heard an hundred Sermons and have as many prayers and Sacraments yet if thereby hee have not grace nor be carried to holinesse and Sanctification at the day of Judgement he shall be at the farthest part of the River of the Haven of blessednesse No good can satisfie but onely grace Eccles. 1. 8. All things are full of labour the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare filled with hearing suppose the eye should see all the brave and beautifull things in the world yet the eye is not satisfied with seeing of them suppose a man should heare all the melodious musique yet would not the eare be satisfied The woman that came to draw water at Jacobs Well John 4. 13. our Saviour tells her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst againe these things may allay for a time but not quench a mans thirst For give a covetous man never so much wealth and riches yet his thirst is not quenched but there is roome for him to covet againe Give Alexander one world and he will aske for another Thou art sick and desirest health thou hast health yet thou desirest something else thou art in Prison thou desirest liberty when thou hast it doest thou leave off desiring No but thou wouldst have some other thing Suppose a man were worth ten pound he desireth to be worth twenty and when be hath that hee desireth an hundred and so a thousand pound All the goods in the world is like Ale-house Beere which the travailor drinketh of but it doth not quench his thirst a man can never satisfie his desire with any worldly good If thou wouldst have that which will satisfie thee then desire grace for grace is the proper object of the soule Suppose thou hadst all the brave sights in the world yet thou couldst not see them with thine eyes suppose thou hadst all the sweete Musique in the world yet thou couldst not heare it for the sights are the objects of the eyes and Musique of the eares So all the good things of the world are but for the body not for the soule riches honours pleasures and the like are the objects of the body and not of the soule and therefore the soule can never be satisfied with them A father in his meditations speakes thus Lord thou hast made my soule for thy selfe and it can never be at rest till it can find rest in thee The soule is like Noahs Dove which could finde no rest the waters overflowing the earth till she returned to Noah in the Arke againe so unlesse thy heart hath found God and bee drawne up to him the center of it thou mayst wander up and downe the whole world and yet never have content Couldest thou get wealth honour wisedome learning health and the like yet without grace the soule is empty and hath not satisfaction They are all transitory and therefore cannot give content Suppose a man could have the world and yet lose it againe it would more vexe him and disquiet him than if he had never had it Hence it is that a poore begger that hath alwayes endured want can beare it better than a broken Gentleman that hath lived in wealth and pleasures in former time want and necessity is a hundred times more grievous to him Wilt thou saith Solomon Prov. 23. 5. cast thine eye upon that which is nothing for riches taketh her to her wings as an Eagle that flyeth