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	receive_v	7,630	5	5.5906	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31997	The Godly mans ark, or, City of refuge, in the day of his distresse discovered in divers sermons, the first of which was preached at the funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore : the other four were afterwards preached, and are all of them now made publick, for the supportation and consolation of the saints of God in the hour of tribulation : hereunto are annexed Mris. [sic] Moores evidences for heaven, composed and collected by her in the time of her health, for her comfort in the time of sickness / by Ed. Calamy ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1658 (1658)	Wing C248; ESTC R22111	99,589	306

of death Pray unto Christ to anoint thine eyes with his Spiritual eye-salve And to cause thee to hope in his word of Promise according to that excellent prayer of David Remember the Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused mee to hope It is God must cause us to hope and trust in his Promises or else wee shall never bee able God hath given thee eyes to see thy misery O pray for eyes to see his mercy The Church of Laodicea wanted eyes to see her misery Shee was miserable and naked and knew it not Thou hast eyes to see thy undone condition out of Christ. Pray for eyes to behold the riches of mercy that are in Christ and his willingness to receive all that come to him Rule 12. Pray unto God not onely to give thee Spiritual eyes to see thy interest in the Promises but a Spiritual hand to inable thee to apply them to thine own soul in particular By this spiritual hand I mean A Christ-appropriating Faith Justifying Faith is as it were the hand of the soul by which wee appropriate Christ and all the Promises as belonging to us in particular Now Faith is the gift of God Pray for the Spirit of Faith And for your incouragement consider that the Spirit is called The Promise of the Father and that holy Spirit of Promise And God hath promised to give the Spirit to those who ask for it If yee then being evill know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him The office of the holy Spirit is first to seal grace and then to seal to grace First the Spirit sanctifieth us then it witnesseth to our spirits that wee are sanctified Pray therefore unto God that hee would not only work grace in you but witness unto the grace which hee hath wrought Pray for the sanctifying and sealing work of the Spirit That hee would not onely fit you to have an interest in the promises but assure you of your interest in them Rule 13. Study thy interest in the promises in the time of health and outward prosperity For I find by experience that a childe of God under outward affliction or divine desertion or extream melancholy is many times like a man in the dark A man in the dark cannot though never so learned read in a book of the clearest print or fairest character hee cannot though never so active undertake any thing of weight No more can a childe of God in the hour of distress read his evidences for heaven much less study to finde out evidences hee looks upon all the promises with a black pair of spectacles and wants light to see his interest in them When Sion was in distress shee said God had forsaken her and her Lord had forgotten her When David was persecuted by Saul hee said in his haste All men were liars even Samuel himselfe who had told him that God would bestow the Kingdome on him Hee said in his haste hee was cut off from before Gods eyes Thus did Heman Christ himselfe cryed out when hee was upon the Cross with a loud voyce My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee As men in Ag●es and Feavers are not fit judges of meats and drinks whether they bee good or bad because their pallats are out of taste So a distressed Christian when under extream melancholy divine desertion or some great affliction is no fit judge at such a time of his interest in the Promises And therefore my advice is Make out thy interest in time of prosperity and live upon it in time of adversity Make and read over thy Evidences for Heaven in time of health and learn then by heart that when thou comest into a dark condition thou mayest neither have them to make or to read Do as Tamar did Gen. 38. 18. 25. When Iudah her Father in law lay with her shee took as a pledge his signet bracelets and staffe And afterward when shee was in great distress and ready to bee burnt as a Harlot shee then brought her staffe and signet and bracelets and said By the man whose these are am I with childe and thereby shee saved her life So must you do In time of health study thy interest in the promises and in time of sickness live upon what thou hast studied then bring forth thy staffe and bracelets c. then produce thy evidences and make use of them as spiritual butteresses to keep thee from falling into despair I knew a very godly woman not unknown to many here who in her life time had taken a great deal of pains to compose and write down her evidences for heaven and who also kept a Diary of her life and wrote down how shee spent every day when shee lay upon her death-bed it pleased God to with-draw himself from her for a while and to let the Devil loose who tempted her to despair told her shee was an Hypocrite a Formalist and that shee had no true grace in her Shee sent for mee made her bitter complaint to mee and sadly bewayled her condition Then shee told mee which before I knew not how shee had spent her life how carefull shee had been in searching her wayes in observing how shee spent every day and how exact in collecting Evidences for Heaven the book was sent for I read a great part of it to her and tooke much delight and content in what I read And it pleased God to come to her with comfort in the reading of it Shee shewed her Staffe and her Bracelets and thereby quenched the fiery darts of the Devil Thus I have in three Sermons taught you how to make use of Scripture-promises as Conduits of soul-supportation and soul-consolation in the day of distress When you hereafter read the Bible remember the promising-word as well as the commanding and threatning word make a Catalogue of the Promises meditate upon the pretiousness freeness usefulness latitude richness and immutability of them They are as certain as God himselfe they have the strength of God the comforts of God and assistance of God in them Above all labour to make application of them to your own soul. For this purpose study these thirteen Rules and Directions Pray unto God to give thee spiritual eyes to see thy interest in them and spiritual hands to reach out after them Pray to God to give thee spiritual ability to act faith upon the promises to draw vertue from them as the woman who had the bloody issue did from Christ to suck out all the sweetness that is in them to hang upon them as the woman did upon the Prophet and as a Bee doth upon a flower and by application of them to thy soul to live in God and on God here till thou comest to enjoy the blessings promised with God for ever in heaven There is one

made It is said of Iob James 5. 11. Yee have heard of the patience of Iob and have seen the end of the Lord c. This our Christian Sister did in a great measure partake both of Iobs pains and Iobs patience and made as happy an end as hee did though in another kinde In the morning of that day in which shee dyed shee fell into a slumber in which shee heard as shee thought one saying to her This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise Immediately shee awaked full of joy and though hardly able to speak yet shee uttered it to those who stood by and was much comforted with it Now though I am far from putting any confidence in dreams and doubt not that a man may dream hee shall go to Heaven and yet bee cast into Hell Though I do not think that comfortable dreams are sufficient evidences of salvation Nay when they are brought as proofs of erronious opinions I account them Diabolical delusions and when wicked men have them pleasant presumptions Yet notwithstanding when a woman who hath spent many years in the service of God and is visited by God for above a year with great and most grievous pains shall at the close of her life when shee is upon the very brink of eternity have such a sweet refreshing and heart-chearing impression upon her spirit when heart fails and flesh fails When shee can hardly speak to express the greatnesse of her joy then to hear a voice as it were saying to her This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise This in all probability was the voice of God and not of man This was the Lords doing and it is marveilous in our eyes I forbear saying any more Shee is gone from a Prison to a Palace from a Purgatory to a Paradise Shee is at rest with God where all tears are wiped away from her eyes The Lord fit us by his grace to follow her in due time into the Kingdome of glory Amen Mrs. Elizabeth Moores EVIDENCES FOR HEAVEN Collected by her self in the time of her health in such manner and method as they are here presented to Publick view 1 Her Design in this Collection IN the Examination of my self I finde that my Aims and Ends why I desire to gather together and clear up my Evidences for heaven if my deceitful heart doth not deceive mee are these following 1 THat hereby as a means I may bee inabled to glorifie God in the great work of beleeving that hereby with Gods blessing the dimme eye of my Faith may more clearly see the Lord Jesus Christ to bee a Peace-maker and Reconciler and Surety for mee even for mee who am by nature a fire-brand of Hell The time was I am sure when I was the Devils picture and had the black brand of Reprobation upon mee and therefore it doth neerly concern mee to search and trye what Evidences I have to prove that God fetching Arguments out of his own bowels and the riches of his free grace hath redeemed mee out of this lost estate 2 MY Aime is to strengthen that longed for grace of Assurance A grace which though it bee not of absolute necessity for the being and salvation yet it is of absolute necessity for the well being and consolation of a Christian without this grace I can neither live nor dye comfortably and I have been often exhorted by Gods faithful Ambassadors to gather together my Scripture Evidences and to have the approbation of some godly and experienced Minister or Christian and this by Gods blessing may bee a means to strengthen Assurance Yea I finde in Scripture that the Lord saith that the Priests lips shall preserve knowledge and thou shalt seek the Law at his mouth for hee is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts 3 MY Aime is to obey God in his Word who hath commanded mee by his Apostle to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make my calling and election sure And I am exhorted to examine my self and prove my self whether I bee in the faith or no Know yee not saith the Apostle that Christ is in you except you bee reprobates And if any man bee in Christ hee is a new Creature old things are passed away and all things are become new Now then to prove whether I bee indeed and in truth born again is my desire at this time the Lord help mee and give mee a sincere and upright heart and guide mee herein by his holy Spirit for the honour of his holy Name 2 A brief Collection of her Evidences for Heaven Blessed bee God who hath through his free mercy begotten mee to a hope that I am regenerated and born from above and converted unto God Reason Because the Lord hath gone the same usual way with mee as with those he● pleaseth to convert to himself and this I shall make to appear in five or six particulars 1 The Lord by his Spirit accompanying the preaching of his Word caused the scales to fall from my eyes and opened them and set up a clear light in my understanding and made mee to see sin to bee exceeding sinful out of measure sinful and to look on it as the loathsomest thing in the world and on my self as a loathsome creature in Gods sight and in my own sight by reason of the Leprosie of sin wherewith I was over-run 2 The Lord brought mee to see the misery that I was in by reason of my sins I thought I was utterly forsaken of God and I thought that God would never accept of such a wretch as I saw my self to bee I could not think otherwise but that hell was my portion and that I by reason of my sins must go thither expecting every day when the Lord would glorifie himself in my damnation I saw my self in more misery because of my sins than I could then or now expresse to any body I looked upon God as a consuming fire and on my self as stubble ready to bee consumed by him c. 3 The Lord brought mee to a spiritual astonishment that I cried out What shall I do to bee saved and said with Paul Lord what wouldest thou have mee to do Do but make known to thy poor creature what thy will is and I thought I could do any thing or suffer any thing for the Lord. But since I have had some more knowledge of the holy Will of God woe is mee what a barren and unfruitful heart have I a heart that can neither do nor suffer any thing for the Lord as I ought to do But this I can say that the astonishment I was in by the sight of my sins and the misery I was plunged into put mee on the performance of holy duties especially prayer 4 The Lord took mee off my own bottome off my own righteousness and made mee to see that that was but a sandy foundation and would not

Gal. 1. 8 9. Use 2. Let us prize the word of God above gold yea above fine gold Let us read it diligently reverently praying to God to give us the same spirit that wrote it to inable us to understand it and conscientiously to practise it Let us make it the joy and rejoycing of our heart and as it is in the Text Let us make it our Delights but of this I spake in the former point The onely motive I shall now use to perswade you to make the Word your Delights shall bee this in the Text. Because it will keep you from perishing in the time of your greatest affliction It will comfort you when you have most need of it that is under heart-sinking-afflictions and at the hour of death and it will comfort you when all outward comforts and creatures fail It wil bee food to strengthen your weake Faith Physick to cure the remainders of corruptions it will bee a Cordial to revive your drooping spirits and fainting souls It will make you more than Conquerors over all temptations and distresses Quest. But now the great Question is How a childe of God ought to manage and make use of the word of God so as to make it a Conduit of support and comfort in the day of his greatest Afflictions Answ. To bee able to do this there is a great deal of spiritual wisdom and understanding required For the word to many people is like Sauls Armour to David which was so cumbersome to him that hee could not wear it There are many know not how to use the Word so as to bee comforted by it As the woman of Samaria told Christ Ioh. 4. 11. The Well is deep and thou hast nothing to draw with So may ●I say The word of God is a deep Well it is a Well of salvation but it is deep and the deeper the sweeter but most people want Buckets to draw with they want a spiritual Art to fetch out of these Wells of salvation divine supportation and consolation and therefore to help you in this great work you must know That the word of God may bee divided into three parts Into Commandements Threatnings and Promises And though a Christian must not neglect the commanding and threatning word yet if ever hee would make the word a Channel of Divine comfort hee must study the promising-word for the Promises are a Christians Magna Charta for Heaven All comfort must bee built upon a Scripture promise else it is presumption not true comfort The Promises are pabulum fidei anima fidei the food of faith and the soul of faith As faith is the life of a Christian so the promises are the life of Faith Faith is a dead Faith if it hath no promise to quicken it As the Promises are of no use without Faith to apply them so Faith is of no use without a Promise to lay hold on And the great reason why the people of God walk uncomfortably in their afflictions is because they do not chew the Promises they are rare Cordials but as a man cannot taste the sweetness of a Cordial unless hee chew it no more can wee receive any spiritual refreshment from the Promises unless wee meditate on them The promises are as a Mine full of rich treasure but as Mines unless wee digge deep into them wee can never get the gold and silver hid in them no more can wee injoy the soul-ravishing comfort of the promises unlesse we digge into them by a serious consideration of them They are as a garden full of rare flowers able to sweeten any condition But because wee doe not walk in this garden and pick out these flowers hence it is that wee live so disconsolately and dejectedly under our afflictions There are many rare stories declaring the comfort that some of Gods Saints have received from the promises in the day of their distresse Mr. Bilney that blessed Martyr was much wounded in Conscience by reason of the great ●n hee committed in subscribing to the Popish errors but hee was much comforted by reading those words 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the VVorld to save sinners of which I am the chief Beza was supported under his troubles by the words of Christ Iohn 10. 27 28 29. Mr. Bolton tells us of one that was upheld under great affliction and comforted from Isa. 26. 3. Of another from Isa. 57. 15. I knew a young maid that went triumphantly to Heaven by the refreshing shee found in that well known Text Matth. 11. 28. and many that have been wonderfully cheared by reading the eight Chapter of the Romans and by that Text 1 Ioh. 3. 14. VVee know that wee have passed from death unto life because wee love the Brethren The truth is there is no promise but if God bee pleased to illighten it and shew us our interest in it will afford a Harvest of joy It is with Promises as it is with Sermons That Sermon which once heard did not at all work upon us the same Sermon heard at another time may exceedingly affect us And the same Text of Scripture which sometimes doth not at all comfort us may at another time convey much comfort to us Two men troubled in conscience may both of them read the same chapter and hear the same Sermon and one of them may have his troubled minde pacified and the other continue troubled and the reason is because the Spirit of God makes the Word effectual to one and not to the other How often hath a distressed Saint read Mat. 11. 28. 1 Tim. 1. 15. Ioh. 10. 27 28. Isa. 26. 3. Isa. 57 15. 1 Ioh. 3. 14. and found no comfort in reading of them But if the Spirit of God did come in and open his eyes to behold the rich mercies wrapt up in these promises and his interest in them they would fill him with comfort above expression And therefore if ever you would make the Word of God Gods instrument to conveigh support and comfort to you in the time of soul-sinking afflictions you must study the promises and pray unto God that his Spirit may irradiate them and shew you the fulness of them and your interest in them Quest. How must wee improve the promises so as to make them spiritual bladders to keep us from being drowned in the deep waters of Affliction Ans. You must doe three things 1 You must make a Catalogue of the Promises 2 You must seriously ponder and meditate on them 3 You must apply them to your own souls as belonging to you in particular 1 You must make a Catalogue of the Promises you must gather them up as they lye scattered in the Word into a spiritual Nose-gay and binde them together You must doe as they that gather up ends of Gold and Silver you must lose none Every promise is as a ray of gold as a Star in the firmament And

make the VVord of God a Conduit of comfort in the day of your distresse you must not only meditate on the commanding and th●eating word but on the premising VVord The Commandements and threatnings must drive you to the Promises you must not only study your corruptions to humble you but also the Promises to comfort you I doe not say you must not study your corruptions but you must joyn the study of the Promises together with them If Abraham had minded only the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe and of his own body hee had never beleeved c. but hee was strong in Faith and staggered not because hee considered not his owne body now dead when hee was about an hundred years old nor the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but was fully perswaded that what God had promised hee was able to performe If Sarah had considered only that shee was past age shee would never have beleeved that shee should have a Childe but she eyed the Promise and judged him faithful who had promised and that made her beleeve If a Saint of God looks only downwards upon the deadnesse of his heart and meditates only upon his sins and infirmities hee will never bee comforted in the day of his distresse But hee must also look upwards unto the Promises seriously ponder and fixedly study them which will bee as strong Pillars to support him and keep him from falling into despair in the hour of tribulation Q. What are the Meditations which we must have in reference and relation to the Promises in the day of our distress Ans. I will rank them into nine particulars 1 You must meditate upon the three great truths already mentioned 1 That God commands nothing as our duty which he hath not promised as his gift 2 That God in the Covenant of grace will accept of less than hee requires in the Covenant of works 3 That if wee truly beleeve in Christ God will accept of his righteousnesse as a satisfaction for our unrighteousnesse 2 You must meditate upon the excellency and preciousnesse of the Promises they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding great and precious Promises They are precious in five respects 1 Because they cost a great price even the bloud of Christ to purchase them They are all made to us in Christ and for Christ they are in him yea and in him Amen The Covenant which is the Pandecta and Cabinet of all the Promises was sealed with his Bloud 2 Because they assure us of great and precious things they assure us of our interest in God of our justification reconciliation adoption sanctification and glorification Heaven it self is nothing else but the injoyment of the Promises Heb. 6. 12. The Promises are Heaven folded up Heaven is the Promise unfolded For the Promises are nothing else but the eternal purposes of God towards his Children made manifest The purposes of God are his concealed Promises and the Promises are his revealed purposes The Promises are the kisses of Iesus Christ they discover his dear love and when hee discovers to us our interest in them then hee kisses us with the kisses of his mouth and fills us with joy unspeakable and glorious They are made by God and they make over God to us as our portion and Christ as our Saviour and the Spirit as our Sanctifier and all good things both here and hereafter as our inheritance and therefore may well bee called exceeding great and precious Promises 3 Because they put a price upon the New Testament for wherein doth the New Testament exceed the Old unless it be in this because it is founded upon better Promises Heb. 8. 6. and bringeth in a better hope Hebrews 7. 19. 4 Because they put a price upon all the blessings of God A little mercy reached out to us as a fruit of a Promise is more worth than a world of blessings comming to us meerly by way of providence A man may receive blessings from God upon a double account either ex largitate or ex promisso either by way of providence or by way of Promise 1 By way of Providence Thus God gives the earth to the sons of men Psal. 115. 16. Thus hee gave one hundred twenty and seven Provinces to Ahashuerus Thus he sets up the basest of men to rule over Nations Dan. 4. 17. 2 By way of Promise Thus hee gives health wealth and all outward comforts unto his children For godlinesse hath the Promise of this life and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. Now you must know that a little blessing coming to us as a fruit of the Promise is more worth than a thousand blessings comming to us only by way of Providence And therefore David saith A little that the righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked Psalm 37. 16. And the reason is 1 Because blessings given by vertue of a Promise are signes of Gods special love and come flowing to us from the same love with which God gives us Christ they are the fruit of Covenant-love 2 Because wee have them as blessings A man may have a blessing and yet not have it as a blessing The Israelites had Quails sent them immediately from God which was a blessing in it self but was not sent to them as a blessing For while the meat was in their mouthes the wrath of God came upon them The wicked have blessings but not as blessings but as the Cup in Benjamins Sack which proved a snare to him rather than a mercy But the godly have blessings as blessings They have grace with them to improve them for Gods glory they have not only the blessings but a thankful heart for them and a fruitful heart under them which is a certaine signe that they have them as blessings 3 Because they are pledges to them of better mercies and beginnings of better They are not merces but arrha not their wages but an earnest of Heaven Now a farthing given as an earnest of a thousand a year is more worth than many pounds given as a reward A wicked man hath outward blessings as his portion his Heaven his All but a godly man that hath them by vertue of a Promise hath them as a pledge of Heaven and as a beginning of eternal mercies 5 The Promises are precious because they produc● great and precious effects They are not only excellent in themselves but are also very powerful and operative upon all beleevers The Promises as one saith sealed by the Bloud of Christ ratified by the Oath of God testified by the Spirit of truth delivered by the hand of mercy and received by the hand of Faith are operative words and produce rare effects in the soul. They have Power 1 A Sanctifying 2 A Comforting 1 A soul-sanctifying Power Therefore they are said to make us partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. I say of the Divine Nature not by the communication of the Divine Essence but