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
A71231	Enter into thy closet, or A method and order for private devotion A treatise endeavouring a plain discovery of the most spiritual and edifying course of reading, meditation, and prayer; and so, of self examination, humiliation, mortification, and such most necessary Christian duties, by which we sue out the pardon of our sins from Heaven, and maintain an holy converse with God. Together with particular perswasives thereunto, and helps therein.	Wettenhall, Edward, 1636-1713.	1666 (1666)	Wing W1495B; ESTC R217163	97,436	340

who was ever with God and ever God heir of all things by whom aell things were made he was made slesh O ths depth of the love of God and Christ Whose soul can well hold to contemplate it Besides this admiration and dissolution of soul the thoughts hereof cannot but be thus further useful to me First seeing from what an infinite glory to what a mean nature and condition the Son of God himself the infinite God stooped for the help and saving of men I cannot but see my self in duty bound to the like humility meekness and condescension not to stand upon mine own petty interests and consult nothing but self when I have opportunity to do good to any infcriour that wants my succour Had Christ done so he had never been made flesh for me Now let the same mind be in me which was also in Christ Jesus And again seeing to what an height of excellency the nature of mankind is now advanced it should prevail with me to put a due price upon it and never willingly to dishonour by any unworthy action what God himself hath so honoured Did God stoop to vindicate my nature from the contempt and tyranny of the devil and shall I notwithstanding all the condescensions of his grace still wilfully enslave and destroy my self Further God having united the nature of which I am a partner to him I should be ambitious of all meanes of uniting my self to him that is of doing all that may be on my part to further this union And especially the thoughts hereof should quicken me this day to a zealous participating his body and bloud Can I consider God made flesh for me God debasing himself to be one with me and is it possible that I can neglect what is so much for my honour and interest as the means of sealing my particular union with him How can I esteem my self doly to have celebrated the memory of his being made flesh if having means of partaking of that flesh which he took I neglect it And how much ingratitude must such neglect have in it Lastly seeing that one great end of our Saviours being incarnate was to be the true light to man in the pur suit of his happiness let me account it a noble degree of assimilation or being like my Saviour if I can in any measure be a light to any herein And if God have by office made me such let me prize and honour my imployment and manifest my value of it by my diligence in it The more light I give the nearer do I in my office come unto my Saviour Thus much then of incitement have I hence to my duty My other rules are not here so applicable Wherefore in the conclusion of my Maditations I consider what of new all that I have meditated doth suggest See Part. 11 ch 5. unto this dayes prayers And that I shall find to be matter of As to the first Praise Petition 1. The infinite goodness of God that he would at all think of restoring that nature which was now an enemy to him having wilfully fallen from him cannot if duly considered but melt my heart into thankful praise of him 2. That yet greater commendation of his goodness his infinite condescension his redeeming our nature in a way so glorious to it as was the assumption of it unto his own nature methinks should overcome my soul and wrap it into an extasie of praise and admiration In all likelihood infinite Wisdome might have thought of a course which would have been less honourable to man and would nor so much if I may so speak have humbled the Deity But he would not bring us to glory ingloriously The meer consideration therefore of the honour which our Lords Incarnation puts upon our ill deserving nature will not suffer me to be silent this day in his praises And as to matter of petition surely it cannot but be right seasonable to beseech 1. That all this may not be in vain unto me And 2. That to that end I may transcribe these Copies of goodness humility and purity which shone in our Saviours incarnation and walk in the light as well of his example as doctrine And all this I may do in some such words as these A Prayer to be added to my other daily Prayers on Christmas-day O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who out of thy meer goodness and pitty having promised thy Son to redeem faln mankind didst in the fulness of time faithfully performe with thine hand what thou hadst spoken with thy mouth and send him into the world made and about this time born of a woman I one of that redeemed though vile nature humbly adore this thy Grace and faithfulness Eternity Lord is too little to bless thee for it But Eternal praise is the greatest that I can wish thee and maist thou to eternity receive due glory for this thine infinite Goodness and Mercy O Thou the onely begotten Son by whom thine eternal Father made the Worlds who wast ever with God and ever God the brightness of his Glory and express Image of his Person yet wast pleased in time to be made flesh and pitch thy Tabernacle in our nature I part of the purchase of thy bloud poor dust and ashes but such as thine infinite Glory was pleased for my sake once to wear and now to glorifie and set above Angels most humbly bless thee as well for this thy condeseension as for the honour done to man Thou tookest not upon thee the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham thou did'st take Even so O Saviour for so it hath seemed good to thee Thou thoughtest not the Angelical nature low enough for thine Infinity to stoop to Most dear Jesus thou hast overcome me I would praise thee but I cannot further Accept my silent ravishment admiration and faith I believe Lord help my unbelief O holy Spirit the power of the most High who after an unconceiveable sort overshadowing the Virgin Mother did'st frame in her sacred Womb that Holy Thing which * That is was the Son of God For in Scripture many times being called and being word and thing are one and the same was called the Son of God For this thy most wonderful and fearful but to man most happy operation I unworthy man bless thee beseeching thee to inspire my heart that I may from this blessed Copy transcribe these Virtues of Goodness Humility Love Purity and what soever mine holy Saviour either by his Life or Doctrine hath caught me that so I walking in his light he may be to me life ever lasting to the praise of thee O Father Son and holy Spirit one undivided God Eternally Amen Chap. IV. An Exemplification of the former Rules in St. Stephen ' s day's With a Prayer which may be used on any Saints day FOr the Epistle Acts 7. 2. 55. to the end Which having read I find to be a narrative or relation of St.

and such mercies as we want c. according as we shall see occasion and either use the ground-work and substance of those our usual prayers with such amplifications as we shall judge meetest or for that time in stead of them use such other prayers as we shall find best to suit with our temper and occasions for the preparation of which prayers directions will hereafter be given In the mean time for better understanding and comprehending the precepts given as also for the supply of such who may haply be scarce able to frame to themselves such a form it may not be amiss to subjoyn one for morning and another for evening framed according to the former rules Chap. IX A Form of Prayer made according to the former accommodation which may be used in our morning Privacy THe Christian then having read and meditated as before directed let him reverently kneel down lifting up his hands and eyes but most surely his heart to Heaven say O Almighty and most Blessed God Lord of heaven and earth who makest the outgoings both of morning and evening and by whose good hand upon me thy creature I am awaked out of my last nights sleep and being risen here present my self before thee I humbly bow to thee my knees and therewith my heart and soul and desire with all that is within me to adore thy blessed Majesty But most unworthy and of my self most unsufficient am I to perform unto thee any worship or service What is dust and ashes and such am I if I were innocent to take upon it to speak unto the Lord But I O God am a guilty wretch one whom i● becommeth to stand a farre and shame covering my face to cry Vnclean Vnclean My soul is naturally overrun with lusts as with an universal Leprofie there is no free part of me My childhood and youth have not onely been vanity but sin I have done nothing else therein but fulfilled the desires of my flesh and mind My corruptions have onely grown with me and my sins since become so much the more sinful by how much the more knowledge I have had of thy will and strength and engagements to have performed it To this very day as indeed I ever have done I daily break thy holy Laws in thought word and actions by choosing what thou hast forbidden and neglecting what thou hast commanded ** * Here confess any particular or fresh sin committed or duty neglected which in thy examination of thy self thou hast found In all my ways I most miserably transgress My very a sleep it self O Lord is not innocent Nor is it thus onely in the common and more ordinary actions of my life Those few good deeds which I do have many not onely † Remember in the use of these or any such words to reflect in thy thoughts upon any particulars which thy conscience tels thee they may fitly represent to God touching thee infirmities but sins in them and I have need to repent of my very righteousness of my † *** I therefore so desire to do and am here come before thee as thou hast commanded me to confess my sin unto thee with hopes according to thy promise that I shall find mercy I have O God confessed to thee as I am able Now Mercy Mercy let me find with thee through Christ Jesus my Saviour Remember that atonement which he made by the bloud of his Cross In those streames throughly wash away my filth By those Wounds let me be healed and by his Death let me atttain a blessed immortality * * Particularly let me obtain the pardon of * And send down thine holy Spirit abundantly into mine heart which may renew me throughout according to thine Image healing all the naughty inclinations of my soul and begetting in me an hearty love unto holiness and a constant fear of thee my God that I may have respect unto all thy Commandments and walk before thee all my dayes with a perfect heart Quicken me also by the same thy good Spirit to give all diligence in every duty and especially in ** that I may grow in grace and in thy favour and daily come nearer unto salvation and thee And forasmuch as I my self am unstable as water preserve me by thy power through Faith that I fall not from my integrity nor depart wickedly from thee my God Especially keep thy servant from his iniquity or his iniquites of *** and make me most watchful against all those * Here thou maist have many private and proper reslexions and so generally wheresoever the same mark is set occasions and wiles of sin by which I have been formerly insnared My outward condition during all the dayes of my pilgrimage here on earth do thou order to thy glory and my own good and if it may be thy holy Will grant that it may be so far quiet and prosperous as that I may serve thee chearfully and without distraction Be gracious also O Lord unto thine Holy Church and to this Church especially Watch over us daily for good and be pleased to bless and preserve the Kings Majesty his Queen and all the Royall Family Grant that all Magistrates may be faithful both to thee and to their Prince and Country in their trust and that all Ministers of what degree soever may be sober watchful servent and successful in thy work Let the whole Nation and especially this neighbourhood grow in the true knowledge and fear of thee Visit with thy grace and blessing all my † Relations my † Friends and † Benefactors Forgive and reconcile both to thy self and me all mine † enemies Comfort relieve and in thine own good time deliver all thy servants † who are in any distress inward or outward and sanctifie both to them and me all thy dealings causing all things in the end to work together for good according to thine infinite Power and Wisdome whereby thou over-rulest all events For which thy gracious administration of the whole course of nature and the multitude of blessings appertaining both to this life and that which is to come which thy providence incessantly heapes upon all mankind and particularly upon me thy most undeserving servant for ever blessed be thy holy Name Especially may Heaven and Earth ever praise thee for the redemption of the world by thy Son and the knowledge of thee through him revealed in thy Word and the mighty workings of thy Spirit thereby And be thou pleased to accept of that praise which thy servant hereby returnes thee as great as he can for them all and particularly for this last nights refreshings together with the comfortable restoring him to the enjoyment of day Grant me thy special Grace that I may spend my time to thy Glory and may be all the day long in thy fear Keep me that I fall into no sin nor run into any danger And accept thou this my morning service and to gather me who here devote my self to

keep all his life as a perpetual Sabbatism Hebr. 4. 10. or holy rest unto God it must needs be an argument of a very profane worldly and unchristian spirit not to afford God this day free from sensual pleasures and worldly cares or labours Wherefore I say the keeping holy of the Lords day I put out of all question and would have no man flatter himself that he is a devout Christian who useth either by idleness or pleasures or unnecessary worldly business to profane what the Church and being that the Church hath done it by good warrant and power transmitted to her by Christ God himself hath allowed Profanation I call it for if the spending it to holy purposes be to sanctifie it then the spending it contrarily upon ordinary or unworthy practices is to profane it And if we may not give that which is holy unto dogs it is then surely most intolerable to take that time which by divine Law ought to be holy unto God and give it to his enemies the devil this world and our own lusts which we do when we spend the Lords day either in idleness pleasures or needless worldly matters Works of charity or mercy are acts of holiness and works of necessity so far forth as they are works of necessity are acts of mercy and consequently the doing of either of these that is works of Charity or Necessity when due occasion calls me thereto is rather sanctifying than unhallowing the Lords day especially if I do them out of duty towards God and in his fear and for this I have his warrant who tels Mat. 9. 13. me that he better accepts Mercy than Sacrifice Chap. VII Of Preparation for the Lords day A preparatory Prayer thereto SEeing then that the Lords day is to be kept holy that is to be spent in the worship and service of God for which it is set apart it concerns me to consider how I may spend it in a way most complying with this its design or intendment And I shall easily upon the very consideration of the nature of Gods worship be convinced that it is in a manner impossible for me duely to sanctifie it if I come unto it hot and wreaking from my worldly business For being I am to worship God in spirit and in truth with all my mind soul and strength and in a word with my whole man evident it is that I am unable so to do while my heart yet remains unemptied of the world and being unfit to worship God I am not while so in a due state to sanctifie this day Wherefore the right sanctification of the Lords day is to begin with Preparation And it is a right wholsome institution that upon the Evening before it there should be Prayers in every Parish Church which is grown now too much into disuse by reason onely that I can imagine of the degeneracy of the age If there be such custome kept up in my Parish I would not but upon necessity be absent from those preparatory prayers At which though I should be supposed to have been present yet would I not content my self therewith but whether I have been imployed publickly in preparations or not in my course of devotion on Saturday night take so much more time than I do ordinarily as might serve for some preparatory Meditations and Prayers The least which I can do to this purpose in my Meditations is First To examine whether there be not some sin or sad miscarriage of the week past which lies unrepented of and so may blast my next daies performances And if any there be secondly to consider of it more particularly its aggravations its nature whether it be not such an one part of the Repentance for which must be Reconciliation Restitution or somewhat like and accordingly to apply my self to what I in my conscience and in the fear of God do judge due repentance Thirdly to endeavour the emptying my head of worldly at least distracting cares to bid them be gone now till a day for them return And lastly so to contrive as neer as I can all my affairs for the next day that both I and my family may have as little avocations or matters to call away our minds from holy duties as may be This by way of Meditation My Prayers must be suitable to my condition If any such sin as before mentioned be found that must be confessed bewailed and pardon craved together with grace for the future against it which may be done by putting in the mention of that sin in the proper space left for such purpose But besides this it will be necessary to add some particular petitions for due preparation or disposition of heart for the duties of the next day First for a quiet setled and composed mind so that I may attend with all my soul my holy concerns or business Secondly for enlivened affections that I may not be dull and heartless but of a tender and melting spirit Thirdly for a pliable ductile yielding and easie mind that I may mix the word with faith and render the obedience of faith Lastly because both my own and the Congregations benefit and edification much depends upon the Ministers due and affectionate discharge of his office it is therefore fit I forget not him but commend him to the assistance of the Spirit To which purpose the following prayer may be either inserted in some fit place towards the end of my prayers or added to them O Lord from whom the preparations of the heart are The day now approacheth which being holy unto thee I am to spend in thy more solemn worship Many sins there are by me not duely repented of which may justly bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing Especially my * Here insert the mention of such particular sinnes which thou hast found thy self guilty of c. may make my very prayers an abomination to thee But accept thou I beseech thee of this my confession of them and at least desired sorrow for them Turn my heart from them for the future and through the bloud of my Saviour so remove the guilt of them that they may not hinder good things from me Let the effusions of thy grace both upon me and all the Congregations of thy people be plentifull Let my heart be fixed and none either vain or worldly thoughts lodge within me this night Quicken me by thy Holy Spirit that I may draw neer unto thee with a true heart and be fervent in Spirit in thy service and with a good and honest heart receiving thy word may understand and keep it and bring forth fruit with patience and unto perfection Remember thou thy servants who are to dispense thy Mysteries unto thy people and especially him upon whose teaching I am to wait Pardon their sins and frailties Open their mouths guide their minds and tongues that they may deliver thy truths in the demonstration of thy Spirit and let thy work so prosper