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	heart_n	love_n	8,204	5	5.2375	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49406	A sermon preacht at the funeral of Mr. Thomas Lamb July 23, 1686 by Richard Lucas ...	Lucas, Richard, 1648-1715.	1686 (1686)	Wing L3417; ESTC R5563	11,776	31

you two Rules which he thought necessary for the Christian Conduct of Trade First That Traders should carefully avoid the grasping at and embracing so much business as should make their Trade encroach and intrench upon their Religion that they should not suffer their time and their hearts to be engros'd by the love and pursuit of Worldly gain to the neglect and ruin of their Eternal Interest Secondly That they should propose and design an Increase of their Charity in proportion to the Increase of their Wealth And now I proceed to the Life of our departed Friend with regard to the general Obligations he lay under as Man and Christian wherein we meet with these two things considerable His Religion towards God and his Charity towards Man These two divided and shared his whole Life between them there being very few Actions of it which might not be referred to the one or other as the source and Principle of them First Of his Religion towards God This was that to which he dedicated and devoted himself betimes He remembred his Creator in the days of his Youth Nor was he more early than constant in this for he persisted stedfast in it to the end his Religion had no Interruption no Intermission I could never find that there was any the least period of his Life which he abandon'd and gave up to an Indulgence of sin and folly 'T is true as you all know he was sometime misled in point of Judgment but 't is as true that under all the changes of Times and Opinions he retain'd his Sincerity and his Zeal An Opinion of greater strictness of Life and a more lively relish and savour of spiritual things amongst those of the separation first tempted him out of the bosom of our Church and a deep sense of the manifold Impieties and dreadful mischiefs which attended separation first mov'd him to return to us for this rais'd many scruples and perplexities in him and made him reasonably doubt that God could not be the Author of that way The method he afterwards took for a full and just Information of himself namely impartial Examination of our best writings conference with our Ablest men together with incessant prayers to God for the Illumination of his Spirit the time and manner of his Return his open acknowledgment of his errour his publick profession of Repentance his solemn and earnest Invitation of others to return to the paths of Truth and Peace and his successful Industry in recovering those whom he had been Instrumental to pervert sufficiently demonstrate the Sincerity and Integrity of his heart And those two excellent Treatises he has writ for the disabusing those of the separation have made an abundant Compensation for the Errours he was betray'd into through frailty weakness of Judgment But I come now to his Religion such as it was since I knew him and so I 'le say something of his own personal behaviour towards God and of his zeal to propagate the fear of God among others As to his own behaviour the Character of the Godly man in the Psalmist was truly his Blessed is the man that walketh not in the Counsel of the Vngodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Psal 1.1 2. He was a man that did abominate all Company wherein any thing was either said or done to the disparagement of Vertue or Dishonour of Religion He was so far from partaking in the guilt of any such thing that he never wanted the courage to reprove and rebuke it And as all filthy and sinful Communication was an Abomination so all trifling and unprofitable Communication was a burden to his Soul And therefore it was that his Conversation was reduc'd within so narrow a compass that he had very few Confidents and Intimates and very little Company besides that of his near Relations and the Poor this he was with regard to Negative Righteousness As to positive Righteousness it may be truly said of him that his delight was in the Law of the Lord whether this be to be inferred from meditation or practice this could not but appear to every one that convers'd with him for he was richly furnisht with Scripture Knowledge he had treasured up the richest Portions of Divine Writ he had digested them into nourishment and strength and he was grown so familiarly acquainted with them that there was no Doctrine of Faith or Duty of Practice for which he could not readily urge several the most pertinent Texts of Scripture and not only cite the words the Chapter the verse but give a very Rational account of the Spirit and design of them and of their coherence with the Context But his Religion though it was as it ought begun and founded in Knowledge yet it did not like that of many men terminate end in it too but was perfected and finished in Practice He was wont to place all Religion in three things Contemplation Adoration and Imitation As to the first that of Contemplation which is to the other two like Oyl to Flame that nourishes and supports it You may ghess by his Knowledge in Divine things that he was no stranger to it However one thing there is which deserves to be recommended to your Imitation which is this after long experience his Soul was grown weary of fruitless Speculations and Barren Controversies and his Meditations were of late wisely confined to these Excellent Subjects the purity and holiness of God the riches of his Love and goodness to mankind manifested in Jesus and the blessedness of a future state into which last he was very lately more particularly and Industriously inquisitive beginning several discourses with me on that Subject and carrying 'em on with no little Pleasure and Satisfaction As to Adoration he complained I confess to me that of late he could not put up his Petitions with that Vigour and Importunity with that close Application and Intention of Spirit which he had formerly done but withall he added that as to one part of Adoration that of Praise and Thanksgiving his Soul did abound in that and he ever found himself exalted and lifted up in that Exercise This part of Adoration he was wont to account as a maintaining Communion with the Heavenly Inhabitants and a joyning with the Church triumphant in their Hallelujahs Upon which ground as also because the purpose and devotion of his heart towards God in respect of his Faith Love and Obedience continued stedfast and unmoveable I was inclin'd to impute the Alteration he complain'd of not to any abatement of his sincerity or zeal but to the heaviness of his Age and the Decay of his Spirits As to Imitation of God he conceived that to consist mainly in doing good of which I shall say somthing presently under the head of Charity having first according to the Order I

constant and sincere practice of these we adorn the Gospel of Christ promote the Honour of God and shew forth the praises of him who called us out of Darkness into his Marvellous Light for nothing does more convincingly manifest and publish to the World the Honourable Notions we entertain of God the Purity and Power of our Christian Faith than a Life imploy'd and spent in these works for by this we openly proclaim to the World that we do not believe that a Holy and good God can be pleas'd with any thing but Holiness and Goodness or that any Sacrifice can be so acceptable to him as the Imitation according to our power of his Divine Perfections Besides these Duties common to all Christians there are others which flow from our distinct Professions and Callings Every man's Calling whether he be a Pastor in the Church or a Ruler or Officer in the State whether he be a Trader Physician c. doth more peculiarly exact some distinct kind of Vertue As Watchfulness in Pastors Integrity in Rulers Justice in Traders Tenderness in Physicians and such like and in all Industry and Diligence Nor doth it a little import the Honour of our Religion and the welfare of human Society that every man do faithfully discharge the particular and distinct Duty of his Calling nor can he neglect it without involving himself in the guilt of trampling underfoot the most powerful obligations for this the abilities God endow's him with this the trust God commits to him this the Dependencies others have reasonably fixt upon him this the general Covenant suppos'd entred into by every Member of a Community that he will be useful and helpful in his place this the Interest of the publick and the glory of God loudly calls and presses every man to it being impossible that Decency and Order in human Affairs should be preserv'd that the Beauty and Harmony of Divine Providence should be maintain'd that the mutual wants and necessities of Mankind should be ministred to and supplied or the Honour of God supported and upheld in the World unless men be faithful in the discharge of the Duties of their several Callings and Professions This is that the Apostle exhorts to Rom. 12.6 7 8. Having then gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us whether Prophecy let us Prophesie according to the Proportion of Faith or Ministry let us wait on our Ministring or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on Exhortation He that ruleth let him do it with diligence The same Faithfulness and Diligence men are elsewhere in Scripture exhorted to in their secular and Prophane Callings You see then what the works are which God prescribes us to walk in namely the works of our general Callings as we are Men and Christians and the works of our distinct Professions as we are dedicated to different imployments in Church or State You discern in the next place the natural Bent and Tendency of these works towards the glorifying God on the Earth This then is the Post which you are to make good this is the station you are to fill this is the Province you are to adorn you cannot otherwise acquit your selves with a good Conscience towards God or Man And hence it follows § 2dly That the Faithful discharge of our Duty is the only Rational ground of our Assurance towards God 'T is true and confessed on all hands that the Death and Merits of Christ is the great cause of our Peace and Reconciliation with God that through him through him alone all Christians are to expect the pardon of their sins and the acceptance of their performances That when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants And that the most unblameable and pious Life that ever was yet led upon Earth except that of Christ's himself could never be able to undergo the Test the Tryal of God's strict Judgment And therefore our Deceased Friend notwithstanding the nature and number of his good works not easily to be parallel'd though I wish they were by many Instances in this Age gave us this short account of his Faith and Hope the day before his Death I trust in the mercy of God But though all this be true 't is all nothing to the point in hand for though Christ dyed for all yet all have not a like or equal ground of Hope Tho the Death of Jesus be sufficient to attone for the sins of all yet all are not actually pardoned The Question therefore is what gives men a good Claim and a just Title to the Benefits of Christ's passion and what is the clearest proof of the goodness of our Claim and then nothing is more evident than that this is a faithful discharge of the Duties of Life a finishing the works God gives us to do These are the proper effects of saving Knowledge and a saving Faith These are the very Essentials of Repentance towards God These are the kindly Operations of Love unfeigned These are the proper tokens of the Divine presence and the Residence of God's Spirit within us These lastly are the natural and genuine fruits of an enligthned understanding and renew'd mind These therefore are the best proofs and evidences of our claim to all the Benefits of Christ's Death and Merits and consequently the most Rational Foundation of our Peace and Comfort in our Latter end This is evident from the Examples of all Righteous and good men whose Comfort in Death is wont to be proportiond to the Piety and Sincerity of their Lives hence not to multiply Instances that of Saint Paul 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finisht my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to them also that love his appearing Here we have the confident expectation of a Crown but 't is a Crown of Righteousness and if we examine the ground of this confidence of St Paul it is that War which he prosperously waged those conflicts which he had successfully maintain'd against the World the Flesh and the Devil his Indefatigable Perseverance in the Race of Vertue and Goodness set before him And finally his stedfast and unshaken adherence to the Faith of Christ in despight of all the malice and fury with which he was assaulted Thus have I briefly insisted on the words of my Text as reserving room for that which is a more fair and lively Comment on it the Life of our deceas'd Friend And here in pursuance of my method I should be obliged to begin with an account of his behaviour in his particular profession but having resolv'd to say nothing but what I either personally know or have full and unquestionable proof of I will pass over this part of his Life as that to which I am in a great measure a stranger though I cannot forbear recommending to