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	love_n	6,945	5	5.0558	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67047	A word in season. Or Three great duties of Christians in the worst of times viz. abiding in Christ, thirsting after his institutions, and submission to his providences. The first opened, from 1 John 2.28. The second from Psal. 42.1,2. The third from Jer. 14.19. By a servant of Christs in the work of his Gospel. To which is added, by way of appendix, the advice of some ministers to their people for the reviving the power and practice of godliness in their families.	Servant of Christ in the work of his Gospel.	1668 (1668)	Wing W3548A; ESTC R204145	100,163	272

suffer him the far to prosper Hath God since that ti●● blest you in your estate in your children in your trade c Or hath he blas●● you If the latter Have you not 〈◊〉 cured this unto your selves in that ye 〈◊〉 forsaken the Lord your God when he led you by the way But it may be you cannot yet see divine vengeance thus pursuing you there is a time when poenalis nutritur impunitas God fatteth up some with the Maist of the world to the great day of slaughter though ordinarily these be such as never made any profession Judas that had been a Disciple quickly disgorged his thirty pleces you know That which I would have you principally enquire is how it hath been with your inward man as to your spiritual concerns St. John in his Epistle to his Host Gaius wisheth above all things that he might prosper and be in health even as his soul prospereth If there should be a Doeg that hath got anything by his treachery to Christ and the interest of his Gospel I would ●eg of him to consider whether his ●oul also prospereth and be in health as his outward man is You have pretended formerly to know what belongs to an inward serenity of mind to peace of conscience c. Have you at any time since your change found leisure to speak ●o your own souls and say Is it peace If you have not you have been very careless of Eternity If you have what hath it answered Have you gone to bed with as much satisfaction in your spirit after a day spent at a play or aprofane meeting as you did heretofore after a day spent in a religious meeting or at a fast Have you had no more melancholick thoughts no more sad reflections no more terrours than before Hath not the evil spirit sometimes so troubled you that you have been forced to send for a Minstrel to play it off Have not the images of those righteous servants of God whom you have been reviling whom you have been accusers of and instruments to hale into prisons ruine and as much as in you lay to make an end of sometimes appeared to you in your dreams and disquieted you in your sleep Have you not heard though not a voice from heaven God will not so much honour you who have so much spit in his face yet a voice from your own conscience Soul soul why persecutest thou Christ What evil hast thou formerly seen in that way wherein thy self did walk worthy of this death or these barbarous bonds Do you see what servants what home-born slaves you have made your selves How the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken your head O return into the right wayes of the Lord return to your first Husband speak sincerely Was it not then every way better with you than now 6. Consider seriously with yourselves if a day of trouble should come as certainly thou art not the only person exempted from the incurnt ances and accidents to which mortality is exposed and subjected would any of those things or persons help you to which you are turned and whom you have gratified in your departing from the right ways of God The Professor not abiding in Christ usually makes choice 1. Of New Principles 2. New Practices in his conversation 3. New Friends and a New Society 1. New Principles he must have a seared conscience that upon strict Principles can build a loose practice and retain the truths of God in unrighteousness Therefore the Backslider hath ordinarily an Almanack faith calculated for the Meridian of his present practice For example it was the old faith of Professors that all men and Women are by nature children of wrath Ephes 2.3 That they remain in this state of wrath till by the hearing of the word the holy Spirit working with it faith be wrought in them and they be brought to Receive the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe in him John 3.18.36 Till they be regenerated and born again by the Spirit of God John 3.3 5. that is till old things be passed away and all things become n●w with them for he that is in Christ is a new creature That true faith where ever it is purifieth the heart worketh by love to God to his people in a strict universal obedience to all the commandments of God As to which they must have a presence to will though they may in many things want stength to perform That who so thus believeth and is thus regenerated is justified by the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone and being justified sinneth not wilfully and presumptuously or doth not lye and abide in sin but though he sometimes falleth by sin yet he by and by purifieth himself and riseth again by repentance And it is the business of his life in all things to make the word of God a light to his feet and a lanthorn to his paths Thou hast possibly collected another system of practical principles That every one who is baptized is justified and regenerated That to believe is nothing else but to be perswaded of the truth of the Scriptures That indeed a man may fall away from his justified estate in Baptism by actual sins but a slighty acknowledgement of his sins in a formal confession or when he comes to dye will make up all again And if a man lives in Obedience to what he calls the Church making the dictates of men the rule of his practice without any particular enquiry whether they be according to the Scriptures or no he shall not need fear salvation I confess this sheweth an easie way to Heaven if it were as sure But suppose a day of trouble now to thy soul suppose now thy conscience awakened either whiles thou art in thy full career in thy prosperity or when thou comest to dye and some such Texts as these fall into thy thoughts at that day John 3.18 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and be that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed on the Name of the only begotten Son of God Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ wh● walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit v. 5. They that are after the flesh 〈◊〉 mind the things of the flesh they that 〈◊〉 after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit ver 6. To be carnally minded i● death ver 8. They that are in the flesh cannot please God ver 13. If you live after the flesh you shall dye Neither ●●cumcision availeth any thing ●●uncircumcision but a new creature Suppose these or other such like Scriptures should stick fast to thy thoughts in an evil day what should relieve thee Will it relieve thee when tho● comest to dye to remember tho● wer 't baptized in thy infancy Will no● thy thoughts reflect There are thousands that were baptized will be damoned Simon Magus was baptized ye●● the gall of bitterness and in the bands of

to Christ walking in your uprightness in an exact obedience to his blessed will both in matters of Worship and Homage towards God and in matters of Holiness Justice equity and Mercy towards men 1. 1. Br. Abide in the faith of Christ that is in a firm and fixed perswasion of the truth of those propositions of truth which Christ hath in his Gospel revealed This is the least of a Christian and that which distinguisheth him from a Jew wh●● believeth the Old Testament but not th● New and from a Pagan who believeth neither A man may go to he● who hath it for the devils also believe and tremble they could say Thou an● Christ the Son of the living God but n● man can go to heaven without it It is ●he foundation of justifying faith it hath an influence upon all our practice How shall men call on him on whom they ●ave not believed Therefore the Apostle ●eaking of some Apostates joyns both ●hese phrases together Having made ●ipwrack of faith and of a good conscience Without reliance on Christ none can ●e saved who will trust and rely and ●dhere to a Saviour who doth not ●now him or is not perswaded of him ●● his circumstances of sufficiency Think not therefore light of this The propositions of the Gospel are various the Scriptures are as full of them ●s the Heavens are of Stars but as one ●ar differeth from another in glory ●● it is with these Propositions All are ●ot of equal weight glory and influence Divines have usually distinguished ●hem into Fundamentals and such as ●e no Fundamentals But what are Fun●amentals is not yet agreed nor I think ●er will I shall not undertake to de●●de the controversie But in short I think Propositions of truth may be illed Fundamental 1. With reference to others So those truths are Fundamental which are the bases and foundations of all others from whence the● flow by way of just consequence o● inference 2. With reference to our salvation and so those are fundamental upon which our salvation depends And 〈◊〉 these 1. There are some that must be explicitly known and assented to or we can not be saved I think truly the number of these is not great though I durst n●● undertake to define them 2. Others there are of which 〈◊〉 cannot say that an explicit disting knowledge of them is necessary to salvation but some knowledge of the● and assent to them is necessary especially to persons living under the light of the Gospel I shall not pretend ●●give you a strict account of all that f●● under either notion but some I shall more especially commend to you 1. That the holy Scriptures are 〈◊〉 Word of God and the only rule of fai●● and life This is the principle of 〈◊〉 Christian Religion and the proof of from Scripture is not to be expected Take heed you fail not in this yea and take heed upon what argument you receive the Scripture as such The Socinian will tell you there are arguments enough from reason but the greater is not blessed by the less The Papists will tell you the Tradition of the Church is enough If you take the Scriptures upon either of these evidences as sufficient the devil hath a fair advantage to tell you That both these are but humane testimonies and humane testimony can beget but an humane faith and if an humane faith be sufficient for the Scriptures in general It is sufficient for every proposition of faith revealed in them Our Saviour ●lessed Peter for believing what flesh and ●loud revealed not to him The old Doctrine of Protestants was That nothing ●ut the impression of the holy Spirit work●●g by and with reason and the self-●vidence of those holy books can be enough ●old there or you lose all Do the ●apists bid you Prove the Spirit you pre●nd to perswade to Bid them prove their Church whose traditions they obtrude upon you and you are even with them They must certainly prove it by the Scriptures or not all and i● so I hope the Scriptures may as we●● be allowed to shine in their own light as in the light of the Church which hath no light but what it must borrow from the Scriptures 2. That the Lord Jesus Christ th● Eternal Son of God prophesied and prefigured of old in the fulness of time assume our nature and as God-Man died ●● our sins and rose again for our justification being our only Saviour Mediator and Intercessor and he whom God hath appointed to judge the world The Socinian or Vnitarians as they call themselves deny the eternal existence of the Son God and so call you to believe in a insufficient Saviour they deny his M●rits or the Satisfaction of them The Papists tell you of other Mediators and Intercessors hence their invocation 〈◊〉 Saints they teach you to trust in you● own merits take heed of these the shake the foundations The Apost calls Christ God over all blessed for ev●● It tells you Rom. 9 5.4.25 Rom. 4.25 He was ●● livered for our offences 1 Tim. 2.5 and rose again for our justification It tells you that there is but one Mediator between God and man even Christ That he liveth to make intercession for us Heb. 9. Acts 4.12 That there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved neither is there salvation in any other Let this be a second 3. That there is none righteous no not one No Infant Rom. 3.10.5.15 17 18 19. The Scripture tells you Ephes 2.3 We are all by nature children of wrath Psal 51.4 That our mother hath conceived us in sin That by one mans disobedience many were made sinners No grown person either legally righteous 1 King 8.46 For there is none who liveth and sinneth not Jam. 3.2 Ja. 2.10 Eccles 7.20 There is not a just man that liveth and sinneth not Nor yet Evangelically righteous from any righteousness of his own But of this more by and by 4. That the righteous Lord loveth righteousness And without righteousness no man can stand before God but will certainly be accursed to all eternity The Psalmist tells you The righteous Lord lovth righteousness The Law is Gal. 3.10 Cursed be he that continueth not in every little of the Law to do it The Gospel dispenseth not with that curse it only allows of our Sureties fulfilling the Law for us and our fulfilling of it in him according to that of the Apostle In him you a●● complete 5. That there is no righteousness when in any poor creature in the great day 〈◊〉 the Lord can stand before a righteous God but the alone righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that is his active and pass●● obedienee imputed and made over unto ●● Nor is there any deliverance from wrath but by this righteousness of Christ imputed This point is the very hinge of the Gospel Luther called it The Article of banding or falling Church it is the Article of a

standing or falling soul How this and you will not easily be seduced in other points The Scripture tells you P. cts 4.12 There is no other name give under heaven by which men can be save● Neither is there salvation in any other It is the whole business of St. Paul almo●● throughout the Epistle to the Roman and that to the Galathians to pro●● his St. Paul desires to be found ●● Christ alone Phil. 3.9 10. not having his own righteousness which is of the Law but the righteousness of God the righteousness of faith Hence Christ is called The Lord our righteousness And he is said to have been made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him And to be made of God for us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 6. That every soul thus justified is effectually called He is not only as many are called called out of the Pagan world to believe and receive the Doctrine of the Gospel but by the Spirit of God powerfully joyning with the Word he is made to see and be sensible of his lost condition out of Christ and enabled by a true and lively faith to receive and lay hold upon and trust in Christs righteousness he is also regenerated that is made a new man by a thange wrought by Gods Spirit in his heart affections whole man And without this none is justified none can be saved Joh. ● 5 Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit he can never enter into the Kingdom of God Ro. 8.13 If you live after the flesh you shall die Ro. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit If a man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And in many other Texts Let men talk what they please of Baptismal Regeneration who so lives to years of discretion and hath no more shall never see the face of God I know the most learned assertors of it conclude it of little value ponentibus obicem as they say that is if men after Baptism wilfully sin against God who lives and doth not So as that limitation makes their novel Doctrine but a security to baptized persons dying in infancy They have a fancy to merit the name of Blandi instead of Duripatres infantum as Augustine was called All that is to be feared of the imbibing in that new Doctrine is lest people should be lu●led asleep with that notion of being justified in Baptism and think that i● afterward they run to all excess of riot they need only to wash their feet by a● slighty repentance and never look after a true sight of sin or an actual believing in the Lord Jesus Christ 7. That Christs Righteousness is not imputed to any soul without the exercise of faith eying receiving resting upon Christ and Christ alone for salvation Nor can any true act of sanctification flow from any other principle So as one who never in the fight of his sin and lost condition fled to Christ and laid hold upon his righteousness be he under what other circumstances of birth breeding Church-membership moral righteousness formal and constant performance of religious duties is in a state of damnation and so dying perisheth for ever John 3.18 Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Ver. 36. He that believeth on the Son bath everlasting life he that believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God And again Without faith it is impossible to please God 8. That regeneration and faith and every other habit that is truly spiritual cometh from the special distinguishing grace of God and is wrought in the soul by his alone power and by him drawn out into exercise and we have no power of our selves so much as to think one good thought Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit Joh. 3.5 John 3.5 Born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of man but of God Phil. 1.29 Phil. 1.29 It is given you on the behalf of Christ to believe Faith is not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 Eph. 2.8 Every good and perfect gift cometh from above Jam. 1.17 James 1.17 Without me you can do nothing John 15. John 15. We have no sufficiency of our selves to think one good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 2 Cor. 3.5 Abide in this Christians Christ doth not say Without me you can do no great things nor without me you can do little but without me you can do just nothing 9. That whosoever is thus justified and regenerated sinneth often but yet in some sense sinneth not Not as others do not making a trade nor taking a pleasure in sinning not with plenary acts and consent of his will He cannot be an habitual constant Drunkard Unclean person Swearer Curser Lyar Blasphemer Prophaner of Sabbaths or the ho●y Name of God he cannot live in a known course of cheating and defrauding but though he falls seven times a day yet it is by sins of infirmity and if he be overcome by temptations to greater sins as Noah Abraham Job Peter David c. yet he lyes ●ot in them but with Peter weeps bitterly 10. That although a child of God may ●n many things be ignorant of his duty and wherein he knows it may sometimes ●ant strength to perform it and he who ●oth most is not perfect yet no true child of God will live in the wilful and instant omission of any known duty ●or in the wilful ignorance of any part ●f his duty but striveth to grow in ●race and knowledge and for what he knoweth To will is present with him though he hath no strength to perform and as to his inward man he will delight in the Law of God and though he ●e not perfect yet he striveth after peraction Phil. 3.12 Phil. 3.12 He followeth after that he may apprehend that for which he is also apprehended of Jesus Christ counteth not himself to have app●● hended But doth this one thing forgting those things which are behind reacheth forth to those things that are fore and presseth toward the mark for● price of the high calling of God Christ 11. That in order to this he who ●● would see the face of God must make Word of God his rule Isa 8.20 Mat. 15.9 Joh. 4.23 Deut. 12.32 both of faith 〈◊〉 life Believing no Divine Truth but upon credit of the revelation of it in the S●●ptures indeed otherwise it can be●● Divine faith taking his Rule for W●●ip from the Scriptures Col. 2.23 Psal 119.109 both for 〈◊〉 Acts and for the manner and direct●● all the actions of his life