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	work_n	7,291	5	5.7496	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57372	A sermon preached at the Parish-Church of S. Magnus the Martyr, in the city of London, on Sunday, December 24, 1693 by Edward Roberts.	Roberts, Edward, b. 1653 or 4.	1694 (1694)	Wing R1577; ESTC R6134	14,837	34

A SERMON Preached at The Parish-Church OF S. MAGNUS the Martyr In the CITY of LONDON ON Sunday December 24. 1693. By Edward Roberts M. A. then Lecturer Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Feb. 13. 1693 4. LONDON Printed for S. Smith and B. Walford at the Prince's Arms in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1694. A SERMON Preached at the Parish-Church of S. Magnus London c. S. JOHN Ep. III. Vers 2. Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayst prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth THESE are the Words of the Favourite-Apostle of Blessed Saviour who had the Courage and Fidelity to own Him in Extremities to endure the Scandal of the Cross and behold His shameful Crucifixion They are part of this short Epistle which was directed by him to Gaius as is manifest from the Inscription of it Verse 1. About whom the Conjectures of Learned Men are various when they would point him out with more particular Exactness as to his Abode or Residence But the undoubted Account of S. John in the Context makes out what is material to our purpose viz. That Gaius was not only a Proselyte to Christianity so made by him but a generous Assertor of it before an Infidel World a worthy Man who it seems was a Master of Wealth and of a Heart also to employ it aright who made his House the Sanctuary of distress'd Professors shewing a very remarkable Kindness and Hospitality both to the brethren and to strangers who bare witness of his charity before the Church Verse 5 6. In consideration therefore of his extraordinary Usefulness S. John sends him this Epistolary Letter to be a standing Expression of his Concern for his Welfare in the largest Extent of that Word to assure him that he now did and always should wish above all things that he might prosper and be in health even as his soul prospered The Words are so very plain in themselves that there is no need of a Paraphrase to make them plainer they contain an affectionate and devout Petition of the Apostle That God would prosper Gaius in his Body his Fortune and all his outward Concerns as he had already to a high degree improved his spiritual and better part And this is the properest and indeed the only proper Return I can make this Day as to Your worthy Pastor so to You and others the Friends of the Church and mine who without any Law but that of Kindness have continued Your Civilities and Encouragements for many Years This is the great End of our Holy Calling your Furtherance in the Ways of Piety our Prayers our Publick Discourses our private Admonitions all our Endeavours within these Gates and without center here in your Prosperity The Spiritual Part of it is that we most earnestly contend for without which the largest Temporal Portion we are sure must vex and oppress the Owners The Welfare of the Soul we may humbly ask with a well grounded Confidence of being heard for that is a Petition always agreeable to the Divine Will but Prayers for Bodily Satisfactions do often return empty and should be presented to the Throne of Grace with great Indifferency of Mind and an entire submission to Providence The Words of the Text will greatly direct and assist us in our pursuit of this Comprehensive Happiness and shew us the way to reap both the Blessings of God's Right Hand and Left In speaking of which I will insist on the following Heads of Discourse First Shew wherein the Prosperity of the Soul properly consists Secondly Add to this an Account of that Bodily and External Welfare the Desire of which is strongly rooted in human Nature and too often made the great the darling Consideration of our Lives Thirdly Comply with an essential and inseparable Duty of the Ministerial Function by falling in with the Apostle and fervently Wishing that You and all others the Inhabitants of these Two Parishes now united in Law I wish with all my Heart I could say united in Religion and met together in the same Congregation may prosper in both respects I begin with that which lies first in the Order of Nature and Religion tho placed last in the Order of the Text namely To consider Wherein the Prosperity of our Souls does consist And here as a necessary Introduction to all that follows as the Groundwork and Foundation of the whole Discourse I hope it may be taken for granted in a Christian Congregation that we all carry about us such immortal Beings this may fairly be thought the settled Persuasion of all who frequent the Assemblies of Publick Worship that they repair hither under the particular influence of it with a full entire Design to receive the End of their Common Faith even the Salvation of their Souls If indeed we look abroad into the World and view the Temper of the Age with a careless Eye there are to be found too many who decry the Doctrine of Spirits that Branch of it in particular which relates to the Immortality of the Soul But this Design most unworthy of the Reasonable Nature is carried on by such as are in their Practises degenerated into Brutes who stifle as much as they can all Intellectual Operations and maintain a strict Converse with things purely Corporeal And when the Subject of their Morning thoughts and coolest Recollections is no other than the Fulfilling of their Lusts it becomes their Interest to hope that the Higher Principle shall never awake to a future Account but utterly perish with the Body Whereas to the Pious and Unprejudiced the contrary is most apparent When the Mind lies fairly open to its own Notices and Deductions we are taught by it that there is in us a Principle distinct from the Body this is the common Dictate and Result of Reason but the Duration of it must be fetch'd from Divine Revelation This shews its Immortality with the greatest Evidence and Authority God who made our Souls expresly telling us that they are Essences which can never be destroyed by those who have power and malice sufficient to kill the Body and that upon the Dissolution of it they shall pass into a State in which Death shall have no more Dominion over them Wherefore acting consistently with our selves and maintaining a due Regard to the Principles of common Christianity we ought to secure to our Souls the Preeminence These Nobler Beings should be always the peculiar Objects of our Care whose Prosperity must be carried on and perfected by Ways agreeable to their spiritual Nature I will mention Three 1. By our judicious and deliberate Professing of the Truth by the assured Light of which our Souls may have a full view of and be conducted to the Regions of Bliss This was the leading Method by which the mighty Growth of Gaius was happily cultivated even by his Walking in the Truth and resolute Adherence to it stiled here by way of Eminency The Truth and called

our Borders of such as may not foster and invite New Injuries or present us with a Second and more perfect Edition of the Old The firm Possession of the Truth will in strictness compensate the Loss of it Eternal Slavery to Idolatry and Superstition is the greatest Misery which can befal any Nation which is not already enslaved so that to ward off that fatal Blow Wise and Good Men will calmly undergo lesser Hardships and Calamities slight Essays of Misery when compared with the Depredations Ravages and Military Executions of those Countries which are the Seat of War And God who orders nothing in vain much less for destructive Ends does certainly ordain the Suspension of Peace it self for our Good There are frequent Interruptions of it in all Kingdoms for wise Purposes the Peace of the Land of Israel was often shaken and destroyed when the Government of that Nation was Theocratical the longest Period of it which the Scripture mentions is that set down Judges 3. 30. The Land had rest Fourscore Years And without such Intermixtures of Publick Good and Evil Peace would scarce be thought a Blessing did not the Night succeed the Light of the Sun would annoy us and Constant Day would be an insupportable Burthen and were it not for Sicknesses and Poverty Health and Abundance would have no Relish in them This then is a wise Method in the Hands of God to make us sensible of His Favours and from caressing the World and the Body the meaner gratifications of Sense to exalt us to a more Christian Employment to render us more careful in the improving of our Souls which cannot exceptin Negatives be desined by us and must last for ever As long indeed as we are compounded of these different Principles the Animal and the Intellectual it will be an allowed necessary Duty to endeavour the Welfare of both But then abundant care is to be used by us that our Attendance be proportioned to the Dignity of the Object that we keep the worse part under the constant subjection of the better for it looks like a rank Infidelity to spend Six days in the week in providing for the Needs nay too often for the Sins of the One and to grudge God's own Day as too much to promote the Salvation of the other Both indeed are comprehended in the Prayer of the Apostle but still in a distinct Order the one in a perfect Subordination to the other For supposing Gaius to have already prospered in Virtue He thereupon prays for an agreeable external Prosperity And in the very same Order and animated by the like Hopes of You I proceed In the Third and last place To comply with an Essential Duty of the Ministerial Function which is positively express'd in these Words I wish above all things c. It is here most humbly acknowledg'd that God is the Author of all Success and Prosperity which is never to be obtained whilst he is neglected and left out of our counsels and consideration The expression of the Prayer is noble and high and shews it to have been the Language of the Heart and doubtless the Supplication it self was the more prevalent with God because presented by a supreme Officer of his Son Nor was this a strain of Devotion peculiar to S. John but a common pitch equall'd by all the Apostles nay visibly excell'd by S. Paul Rom. 9. 3. When he wished himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren his kinsmen according to the flesh A strange expression of Love An overflowing Charity To be content himself to turn out of the Sheepfold and stand utterly excommunicated if by that means the Jews might come in and be saved And in the Church of Corinth no unkindness that was offered to his Person no disparagement that was cast upon his Doctrine could abate his Zeal for their Salvation and when constrained to execute the severest Censures upon the incestuous Corinthian he urgeth the charity of the End to justifie the severity of that Action by alledging That the flesh was destroyed or punished that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. These then are our Patterns and shew us how to demean our selves in the Church of the Living God We are sent out as so many Labourers into His Harvest and whatever be the Reward we shall not fail of Work enough Our Labours are thick and more abundant even such as may bow down the greatest strength and caused him who was divinely Inspired to complain of Insufficiency in the discharge and none of our manifold Labours can succeed well and prosper in our hands without the especial Grace of him that sent us For there is no ground so well prepared as to bring forth nothing but good Wheat Tares will more or less grow up with it and unless the Soil be kindly seasoned our Endeavours are lost The best Counsels must perish in the delivery without attentive Dispositions in the Hearers who are therefore to be weighed rather than numbred by the prudent Messenger of God And when instead of growing better they are but the more refractory and contumacious Sinners under Instructions we have no power to cut down and to destroy to use any force were to betray and abuse our Authority We do preach a Law which is enforced pon mankind with the highest Penalties even under pain of having their Souls and Bodies eternally Tormented but those invisible Terrors are slighted and the most real Torment declared Metaphorical Scandalous Offenders may indeed be debarr'd Communion and denied the Publick Comforts of Religion but that to them is no Punishment Nor are we appointed only to contend with the Infidelity of Mankind but with their Ignorant Mistakes and Prejudices things more to be pitied but often equally difficult to be removed The Profane are without Apology because they outface God Himself and despise His Threatnings And the Careless are never to be excused who expect Virtue should grow up in their Souls without their own Concurrence and be nourished there without Moral Reflections which is a Method of thriving as improper and preposterous in Religion as in Civil Business and yet gainful Opportunities and good Markets must be narrowly watched to drive on the One when no means are held necessary to the obtaining of the Other And among those who subscribe to the Use of Means and frequent the Sanctuary there is much Barrenness to be found also the main end of Publick Instruction is often defeated by the partiality of the Affections which are byass'd and brib'd beforehand so that all is rejected or swallowed in a Lump without the solemnity of Chewing and Examination and not the Doctrine that is recommended but the Person or his Character is chiefly regarded and the Holy Gospel is received as the Word of Men and not as it is really and in it self the Word of God who takes it for so High an Affront to be shut out of his own House and denied so much as a partial