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	holy_a	jesus_n	7,332	5	5.7358	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79909	Agapai aspiloi, or The innocent love-feast. Being a sermon preached at S. Lawrence Jury in London, the sixth day of September, Anno Domini 1655. On the publick festival of the county of Hertford; and published this present May 1656. / By William Clarke.	Clarke, William, d. 1679.	1656 (1656)	Wing C4566; ESTC R206588	32,538	47

solitary act but it consists in returnes and mutual commerces Let us love one another 1 John 4.7 Bee kindly affectioned one to another Rom. 12.10 This is the message that we heard from the beginning that we should love one another 1 John 3.11 and so again v. 23. and indeed where is not reciprocation required where ever the holy Ghost treats upon this subject of Love The Apostle calls it Col. 3.14 The Bond of perfection even such a bond that knits the whole world together and the world to God with whom wee cannot say wherein a reciprocation is allowable but only in Love If hee chastiseth us we are humbled and reformed if he loads us with his blessings we prayse and give thanks if hee Threatens wee tremble if he commands we obey But if he loves us he desires nothing more then that we should love him again And as is our love to God even such should bee our love to our neighbours ever answered and cherished with gratefull reciprocal returnes God hath not placed us in Societies like stones in a heap where there is nothing but reservedness and confusion but like coals upon a well-built Fire not that we should retain a churlish stupid and reserved morosity to our brethren and be no more communicative then senseless stones but the fervency of our Charity should help to enkindle the same affection in our brethren and so conspire into one glorious flame of divine love Never say that some men are not combustible by this holy fire through the churlishness of their dispositions and the uncompliance of their natures whom no kindness can win nor courtesies oblige but follow Seneca's counsell and try the event cinge ingratum Beneficiis ut quocunque se vertit memoriam tui fugiens ibi te videat besiege such a one round with favours and instances of Love if one courtesy wil not gain him try a Second and a Third and fourth till thou hast so beset him with the testimonies of thy love that hee shall bee able to turn himself no wayes from thee but even there hee shall find thee Et vincit malos pertinax bonitas and thou shalt find that a resolute obstinate goodness wil at last overcome the most perverse disposition Methinks the holy Apostle gives us the very same encouragement under the same allusion Rom. 12.20 If thy enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head that is in the sence of some Expositors by multiplying acts of kindness upon thy adversary thou shalt at the last enkindle in him the same kind affection towards thee as thou hast towards him and so mutually conspire in this holy flame of love But stay a while methinks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks more then a bare reciprocation and rather exhorts us to an Especial and Appropriate reciprocation Before to wit in the 3. verse the Apostle spake of their conversation in times past among the Gentiles when they walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of Wine c. but here hee speaks of them as received in to the faith of Christ and admitted into the Church of God and now bee sure you have Charity among your selves Sons of the same Father members of the same Church sprinkled with the same Baptisme nurs'd by the same M nistery sucking the milke of the same Word sanctified by the same Spirit saved by the same IESUS Bee sure have Charity among your selves With the world Rom. 12.18 It comes in with an If it bee possible and as much as in you lies but as to the holy Church of God without any If 's at all bee sure and Above all things have Charity among your selves Gods Church and People next and immediately under God himself are the highest and most precious interest in the world And as for the preservation and good of the common beeing of nature the God of nature hath ordered that every single b●ing shall upon occasion forsake its own proper inclination for the benefit of the natural Universe so in a higher degree to shew the prerogative of the sacred body of Saints in the region of Religion God hath made even the Lawes of common Nature to bee superseded for their behoof and service Thus did hee when hee made the Rock flow the Sun return The Sea divide the fire not to burn the Lions not to devour the Viper not to sting and many instances of the like nature to shew us how even by the institution and secret instinct from God the mere sensitive and inanimate Creatures do with all readiness forsake their own natures and inclinations to love and serve the more sacred Interest of Gods Church and People And shall the Rock give water to Israel and shall wee more obdurate then Rocks deny a cup of cold water to one of Christs Disciples Shall the raging Seas bee a wall and Bulwark of protection to Gods People and shall Torrentes Belial the flood of wicked men betray overwhelm them Shal the savage Lions be a guard to Gods Daniels and shal more cruel man devour them what a strange wild savage Creature is this Beast call'd man that is less concern'd in the good and welfare of Gods Church and People then either Rocks or Seas or Lions I find St. Paul Philem. 12. call Onesimus Pbilemons servant his own Bowels and even such is every Christian to his Christian Brother in the womb of Gods Church and therefore uncharitable divisions among such brethren are no better then spiritual convulsions in our own Bowels which many times prove as mortall as painful Diseases even to the ruine of that Church that endures them I am not come hither to bee an unwelcom Prophet in a day of gladness I shall only tell you what I find in the Gospel Matt. 24.12 where one great signe of the destruction of the Temple is the coldness of Charity The love of many shall wax cold and truly I know not a more sad fatall presage of the danger of Religion and downfall of a Church then the unnatulal fomenting of Schismes Factions and animosities between Brethren of the same faith and profession when these things come to pass then down goes the Temple The sincere profession of Godliness troden under-foot and Religion made no other use of but to engage Parties and give names to factions Wherefore to conclude all if wee bear good will to Sion if wee tender the honor of God or welfare of Religion or the Peace and quiet of our own souls let us pursue with all holy and devout Zeal after this grace of Christian Charity if it bee possible with all men but above all things amongst our selves And then what ever our corporal provisions shall this day bee it is this holy Love that will bee our good Cheer Whereby our Feast wil deserve the same Encomium which Hugo de Sancto Victore gives of the Feast of a good Conscience It wil bee Titulus Religionis Templum Solomonis Ager Benedictionis Hortus deliciarum gaudium Angelorum Arca foederis Aula Dei Habitaculum Spiritus Sancti Hugo Victor de Anima lib. 3. cap. 11. It will bee as the Title and prospect of Religion the Temple of Solomon the Field of Blessing the Garden of Delights the joy of Angels the Ark of the Covenant the Court of God and the habitation of the holy Spirit unto whom with the Father and the Son bee ascribed all honor glory and Praise Obedience and adoration now and for evermore Amen FINIS Errata P. 2. l. 18. for fifth r. first Ib. l. 22. for of r. in p. 11. l. 12. for precedent r. precedence p. 14. l. 32. for when r. where p. 15. l. ult for charge r. change p. 32. l. 2. for but r. yet