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	soul_n	word_n	7,065	5	4.2672	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64073	A sermon preach'd before the Queen, at White-Hall March xxiii, 1693/4 / by John Tyler ...	Tyler, John, d. 1724.	1694 (1694)	Wing T3560; ESTC R20921	8,947	26

so much to delight Men what will be their Blessedness that are admitted to the Ocean of Infinite Goodness If shadows give so much content what will the substance and truth it self do Then must all our inquiries and pursuits after good be at an end when we see or which is the same possess closely the Soveraign good for why should they search after any thing else when God hides none of his Beauty and Goodness but shews i. e. communicates himself and his Glory to Souls Sanctified and prepared before hand for them This then that is call'd seeing God's Face or seeing Him as he is is the consummation of all Blessedness without which though we were Immortal and had all the adjuncts of Immortality there would be too much still wanting to our Blessedness and we should remain unsatisfied like Absalom who though recall'd from Banishment and permitted to dwell in Jerusalem was still restless and uneasie because he saw not the King's Face This then is the Glory of Angels in Heaven That they always behold the Face of our Father and this is Glory promised to the faithful on Earth That they shall herein be made like to the Angels becoming Righteous themselves they shall see him that is Love and Light and Purity and seeing him in his fathomless Glory shall be by so ravishing a Sight and Fruition rendred themselves Glorious This is what God does design and promise all his obedient Servants what they long and pray and wait for The Apostle next teaches in the Text The excellent Effect which the Prospect and Hope of seeing God does work in men And every man that hath this hope purifieth himself even as He is pure The Effect of this Hope is Self-Purification In Relation to this Effect we have Two Things laid down I. First The Certainty of it And II. Next The Nature thereof explained I. We have the Certainty of it explained in the Universality of the Subject Every man that hath this hope no one excepted doth purifie himself this Cause never fails of producing this Effect II. The Nature and Explanation of this Effect Even as he is pure This Self-purification is an Imitation of God's Holiness practising after the most excellent Copy Some indeed will have the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendered causally because he is pure But our Translatours have render'd the Word in its common Sence as a term of Proportion or Similitude importing That such as hope to see God as he is do begin on Earth to be holy as he is holy as the assured and only Method to attain the Supreme Glory they look for My Meaning is 1. To explain the Purifying spoken of in the Text. 2. To shew that this does certainly attend a Divine Hope 3. To deduce some Inferences I have already insisted on the Hope mentioned in the Text on occasion of the Verse foregoing to which it refers To purifie ones self is to cleanse ones self from ones former sinful Courses Sin has Two pernicious Effects on him that is abandoned to it First It makes him appear a Criminal before God subject to his Wrath for Transgression of his Laws Next It dishonours and defiles the Soul destroying that Force and Beauty wherein consist its Excellency and the Image of God Some Sins indeed as Adultery Fornication Sensuality and Intemperance are more especially termed Uncleanness filthy and reproachful Lusts directly contrary to that Honour and Sanctification wherewith every Man ought to possess his Vessel or Body These Sins are the Pollution of that which should be the Temple of the Holy Ghost by his Designment who hath not called us to Vncleanness but unto Holiness But there is not only a Filthiness of the Flesh but of the Spirit too such as Pride Faction Envy Malice and the like which pollute the Soul All these evil Deeds and Affections are as spots and films in the eye which incapacitate men for the Sight and Injoyment of God And that Change which the Christian Faith and Hope makes in men when they cleanse themselves from all this Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit is our Purification Nor are we to take any Offence at these words of purifying ones self as if more were attributed to men than is fit for sometimes the same effect is ascribed to God and sometimes to man subordinate to God's Grace 'T is by the efficacy of God's Spirit the Faith and Hope the Word works in Men of seeing God that such as before were Slaves of the World the Flesh and the Devil do purge themselves from their former Defilements and being redeemed from their vain Conversation live no longer to themselves and their former Lusts but to him who has wrought in them this happy Change They do all which God requires on their part to purifie themselves ceasing to do evil and learning to do well employing their utmost and effectual endeavours to live soberly righteously and godly Lastly The Purity effected by the force of this Divine Hope is not external ritual or imputative only but a real Sanctity like that of God's 'T is true in this as in all other Perfections God is infinite and peerless nevertheless by his Almighty Power and Grace operating on Men they may resemble him in his Purity having their Hearts and Hands cleansed by his Word and Spirit And that appears 2. By what is affirm'd in the Text. Every man that hath this hope c. Whosoever is endow'd with this Hope does make and keep himself clean from all voluntary defilement and endeavours by the Grace of Christ to wash away the corruption of his imperfect and sinful nature This Christian Hope of the Blessed sight or enjoyment of God and Self-Purification are not to be divided asunder In the Verse before the Text the Apostle said That it does not yet appear what we shall be Whence some body might inferr That the study of true though imperfect Sanctity would be cold whilst our Happiness appears not No saith St. John Our Hope of so happy a State sufficeth for this effect Though we see not God if we Hope to do it 't is not possible but this must stir us up to follow Holiness without which we are assured we can never see him And hereof I offer three Reasons 1. He that really hopes to attain any end is of necessity disposed to take those legitimate and proper methods and courses without which he sees his end is not possible to be obtained He that hopes to see Jerusalem must bend his course Eastward and put himself into the way he believes will bring him thither otherwise he does but trifle and can never be said truly to hope it In like manner he that hopes to see God because he is well assur'd this can never be effected by any course but by making God his Pattern and his Word the measure of his Actions he hates all false ways and puts himself chearfully in that which will bring him to the accomplishment of his hope and