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	true_a	work_n	6,989	5	6.0140	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02030	The bread of life, or Foode of the regenerate A sermon preached at Botterwike in Holland, neere Boston, in Lincolnshire. By Thomas Granger, preacher of Gods word there.	Granger, Thomas, b. 1578.	1616 (1616)	STC 12177; ESTC S121351	21,732	40

iustice mercy Heere is matter for the reasonable soule to worke and feede vpon but this is animall bread enduring but to temporall life not quickning or reuiuing the soule to eternall life Therefore there can no bread of life bee gathered out of this world but the liuing bread must come downe from heauen that must quicken and sustaine the soule to eternall life It is liuing bread not onely because it hath life in it selfe but also because it giueth life vnto vs which are dead which worldly bread cannot doe For other bread must come to a liuing stomacke as the matter to the workeman but this liuing bread commeth to a dead stomacke to giue not onely foode but life also to the same which it doth by the spirit which quickneth whom hee will And hee that hath the spirit hath life from whence proceedeth spirituall hungar and thirst and consequently spirituall digestion of Christ the liuing bread but hee that hath not the spirit hath not life therefore though Christ be offered to him yet is hee not quickned nor fedde therewith for the word of God is to him but a dead letter euen as restoratiues and nourishing meates are to a liuelesse corps Therefore let vs not labour for bodily meate pampering and fulfilling too much the brutish appetites of those corruptible carkasses which are a burthen and wearisomnesse to the sanctified soule Let vs rather labour to suppresse the intemperate and inordinate desires and lusts thereof least that obeying them in the lusts thereof wee be transformed into the nature of euill beasts or ciuill Epicures as very many are in these latter euill dayes wherein there are not so many conuerted from Popery to Protestancy as doe reuolt from true Christianity to manifest Pharisaisme to Ethnicall ciuility Epicurisme and flat Atheisme the Deuill catching more this way then escape out of his hands the other way Labour not for the preferments promotions pompes and vaine flourishes of this transitory world all which things are but momentary and being persecuted with enuy and accompanied with inseperable griefe and sorrow affoord no true felicity nor yet hearty reioycing to the possessours thereof Let vs rather labour to curbe these high aspiring thoughts moderating these flying and groundlesse imaginations with sobriety and sad wisedome Labour not for worldly wisedome and knowledge For the wisedome of God in his workes is vnsearchable neither can the ground of his workes be found out So that when wee haue done all this is all that wee haue learned namely that wee now know nothing whereas beeing vnlearned wee thought we knew or might know something and haue onely gotten some discerning of our ignorance and want of knowledge Moreouer whatsoeuer it is it dyeth and perisheth together with the braine not helping forward the soule one haire bredth towards the attainment of eternall blisse for otherwise Satan might haue cause of hope at least some mitigation of endlesse despaire But let vs labour for the meate that indureth for euer whereby our soules and bodies are preserued eternally Let vs labour that we may attaine to the knowledge of God in the saluation of our soules by faith in Christ This is true wisedome Let vs labour for the spirit of Regeneration that wee may bee deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God This is true liberty Let vs labour for the assured hope of our eternall inheritance in the kingdome of heauen This is an euerlasting and true kingdome Let vs labour that wee may bee truely perswaded of the forgiuenes of our sinnes and that we are in the fauour of God This is true comfort ioy delight and pleasures Let vs labour to know God to be our God and protectour which is our safety both from our temporall and spirituall enemies Let vs labour to be partaker of all spirituall blessings from aboue which proeeed from the Father of lights Let vs labour for this meate that is able to make our soules and bodies immortall not like vnto Manna which our Fathers haue eaten and are dead but he that eateth this meate shall liue for euer It is the precious balme that will preserue our soules and bodyes from corruption that they shall neuer see death Which meate the Sonne of man Iesus Christ hath giuen vnto vs euen the Sonne of God incarnate and made man hee is the spence and store-house out of which wee must receiue this euerlasting foode for all the treasures of the Father are hid in him of whose fulnesse we shall receiue and our soules shall bee satisfied with God The Law affords no meat vnto vs it is a destroyer not a Sauiour the Leauen of the Pharisees euen Popery which is a masse and the head of all heresies and Satanicall policies is no meate but poyson And as for bodily meate and drinke which passeth by the mouth into the belly it is of short continuance Neither the Law nor the prudent nor the wise nor the Scribe nor the disputer of this world can affoord any part of this euerlasting food vnto vs. These are drye barren hungry and fainty deserts But Christ is the true Manna that came downe from heauen which who so eateth shall not hunger any more He is the rocke out of which doe flow the waters of life and hee that drinketh thereof shall neuer thirst any more For thus hath God the Father decreed in his euerlasting counsell and called him from all eternity that through the assumption and mediation of the man-hood hee should conuey this immortall meate and spirituall treasures vnto vs. Therefore the bread of life can wee haue from none but from the Sonne for the decree of the Father cannot be altered neither can the calling of the sonne be in vaine There is no wisedome knowledge saluation else-where to be found saue onely in the Sonne the truth of all which things may appeare outwardly vnto vs by his miracles which no man could worke but hee that was sent of God who heereby testified of his Sonne that by beleeuing in the Sonne wee might haue life through him not through our selues nor any other FINIS Mark 7. 21. 22. Heb. 4. 12. Ephes 6. 4. Psalm 119. 96. Psalm 146. 2. 3. Iob. 5. 13. Mat. 5. 16. Eph. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 2. 9. Rom. 6. 13. 1 Cor. 6. 13. 1. Tim. 6. 8. Esay 55. Prou. 8. 3. Hest 5. 11. 12. Psalm 146. 2. 3. 1 Pet. 1. 23. Math. 9. 6. Iohn 3. 13.

his owne conceit for his owne wisedome and prouidence Ezech. 28. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. He that is thus alienated in his heart from the Lord is a fornicator diuorcing himselfe from the Lord adulterating and polluting all the creatures and gifts of God In which kind of vsage both he and they are accursed euen as the Serpent was accursed whom Satan abused to tempt our first parents to sinne Gen. 3. 14. and as the brazen serpent was broken in peeces being abused by the Israelites 2 King 18. 4. In which sence and for which cause they are called wicked Mammon But the body is for the Lord. Euen for God and Christ who in him and by him and through him hath reconciled begotten and married vs his Church to himselfe that being separated from our selues from the world Psal 45. 10. 11. we should onely beleeue in him onely hope in him onely loue him and all things for him yea that we should be so rauished with the loue of his presence as that we should neglect all worldly things and euen forget to eate our bread Hereby we are taught to bridle our inordinate desires and to moderate our cares labouring for worldly things which are fraile vncertaine and corruptible and to busie our selues not so much in the getting of aboundance with continuall vexation disquietnesse feares and sorrowes as to seeke continually to the Lord to sanctifie and establish our hearts with his good spirit to grant vs patience and contentation with that which commeth to vs from his hand and to giue vs wisedome and discretion to order our affaires and so to dispose of the same as may be most for his glory the good of vs and ours and of others especially the godly the care of whose things pertaine to vs also To this purpose let vs alway beare in minde the words of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6. 8. When wee haue foode and raiment let vs be therewith content Vers 9. For they that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and into many foolish and noisome lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction Vers 10. For the desire of money is the root of all euill which while some haue lusted after they haue erred from the faith and pierced themselues through with many sorrowes Vers 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded and that they trust not in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God which giueth vs abundantly all things to enioy Vers 18 that they doe good and be rich in good works c. Secondly seeing that our bodies are but the vessels and houses of our soules 2 Cor. 5. 1. And that all things serue onely for the sustentation and maintenance thereof wee are heereby taught to make a separation of the spirituall soule from the earthly body and to bee ioyned in spirit to the Lord not liuing to and for the body nor hauing any care to please and satisfie it in the lusts thereof but liuing in to and for the Lord subduing and beating downe the rebellious flesh crucifying euery thought imagination and lust bringing them into bondage and homage to the Lord that the vertues and graces of his spirit may shine forth in our words workes and euen in our persons as the light appeared out of darkenesse and gaue shine vnto the world 1 Cor. 9. 24. 25. 26. 27. Math. 5. 14. Phil. 2. 15. Prou. 4. 18. But alas how short wee come of those duties and how neerely and deerely we are addicted lincked and bound to the body may easily appeare if wee enter into vnpartiall iudgement with our selues examining our daily practice and the continuall course of our liues And comparing our selues as wee are with our selues as we should be wee shall easily see that wee are flesh and not spirit that our soules are the drudges of our bodies and our bodies the drudges of our meate seeing that for the large possessions and plenty of outward things many haue no regard to the body to the safety or health thereof Eccles 4. 8. In the practice of this multitude that followed Christ wee may behold as in a glasse the nature and condition of all earthly men For wee are all of one earth or clay descended of earthly Adam our mindes are full of darkenesse our wills froward our affections sensuall there is none righteous none vnderstandeth none seeeketh after God Rom. 3. 10. 11. All our labour trauel is to satisfie the flesh in the lusts thereof And therein are our paines endlesse and our desires boundlesse But when wee come to take view of our inner man the spirituall and regenerate part wee can see nothing our foules are dead or sicke and feeble for there is no spirituall hunger and thirst in vs after the bread of life the word of God there is no appetite desire care labouring for that because the sensuall body hath brought the soule into captiuity and subdued it to the flesh that with the powers and faculties thereof it should serue the flesh In the tillage and sowing of our ground what paines doe wee willingly take How readily doe wee plow and roote vp briers thistles and other weedes least they ouer-grow and sucke vp the fatte of the earth wherewith our corne should be fed How patiently can wee endure the cold of Winter the stormy blasts of the Spring and the broyling heat of Summer in doing our necessary businesses And when we haue done all what haue we got saue only a little perishing meat for our mortall bodyes But contrarily how little paines doe wee take in breaking vp the fallowes of our hearts in rooting out the thornes and briars of sinne which our nature doth as plentifully and willingly bring forth as the earth doth weedes Wee can well enough endure that the strength of soule and body should be eaten vp and deuoured of the canker-worme of sinne which should bring and shew forth the fruits of the Spirit A corrupt and weedy soile wee are and therefore wee are apt to receiue Satans tares and to cherish the same in vs but the word of life can make little or no impression in vs our cold waterish and heartlesse foules can not nourish the seede of God to bring forth any fruit for his vse In the time of haruest with what ioy doe we reape the fruits of the earth the very sight of our commodities so glads our hearts that hunger thirst sweat ache want of sleepe nothing troubles vs. We loue to be alwaies in the fields redeeming the faire season with losse of our pleasures and ease which otherwise wee know we should want afterward But how carelesse are wee in reaping the spirituall foode of our soules How little pleasure haue we therein We thinke we stand in no neede thereof therefore we goe dully and heauily to that field where the same is to be gathered as though wee came thither by compulsion of law rather than of a willing minde Many exeuses and