Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	holy_a	jesus_n	13,652	5	5.8822	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60134	A funeral sermon preached upon the death of Mr. Nathaniel Oldfield who deceased Decemb. 31, 1696, ætat. 32 : with some account of his exemplary character / by John Shower.	Shower, John, 1657-1715.	1697 (1697)	Wing S3669; ESTC R37551	32,128	104

A Funeral Sermon PREACHED Upon the DEATH of The Reverend Mr. Nathaniel Oldfield Who Deceased Decemb. 31. 1696. Aetat 32. With some Account of his Exemplary Character By JOHN SHOWER LONDON Printed by J. Astwood for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1697. TO His Worthy Friend and Brother Mr. Joshua Oldfield SIR THE Honour which it pleased God to bestow on Your Deceased Brother to be so much a Blessing and Beloved while Living ought to qualifie your Sorrow for his Death and make you the more softly to lament your Loss therein If the reading of this Sermon do any way renew your Grief you must thank your self and those who join'd with you in desiring to have it published 'T WAS his Serious Godliness that made him so valuable and in some respects You and I are more obliged than others to Follow his Faith or Christian Piety in * 2 Tim. I. 5. Chap. IV. 6. that sense you know the word is sometimes used The Integrity of his Heart towards God joyn'd with a true Zeal for his Glory qualified him for great Service as a Minister WILL you suffer me to mind my Self and You who I am perswaded need it less than I do that it was his solicitous Care and Concern about the Salvation of his own Soul that made him so Diligent and Successfull for the Souls of others He had very much Help herein by the frequent and Attentive Perusal of the close Warnings and Directions given Ministers in * Mr. B's Gildas Selvianus The Reformed Pastor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 1. §. 9. Chap. V. §. 5 6 7 c. The Reformed Pastor To take heed lest we be Preachers and no Christians dedicated to the Altar as God's Priests and not sanctified by dedication to Christ as his Disciples and so worship an unknown God and preach an unknown Saviour an unknown Spirit an unknown state of Holiness and Communion with God and a Glory that is unknown and like to he unknown for ever If we soundly believe and are affected with the Truth we study and preach we shall preach it more heartily Experience will direct us to the fittest Subjects and furnish us with Matter and quicken us to set it home Whereas he is like to be but an Heartless Preacher who is a Stranger to that Christ and Grace he preacheth of to others And so if he do not first preach to himself what he teacheth them for if our own Hearts be cold our Preaching will be so And if we have but an affected Fervency we cann't expect a Blessing should attend it THERE are many Passages in that Book of the like Tendency which we can hardly read without Fear and Trembling some of 'em as I remember he own'd did most deeply affect his Soul and I have sometimes thought they had some good impression on mine I desire to be more under the Awe and Influence of such Considerations It may be the Recital of a few more of 'em may be of use to some of the Younger Ministers tho' I know your Character so well that I do not add them for your sake but my own and others As Face answers to Face in a Glass so doth the Heart of Man one to another What was of use to him and me may reach more HOW many have preach'd Christ and perisht for want of a saving Interest in him Many may be now in Hell who have told their Hearers of the Torments of Hell and warn'd them to avoid it Who have preach'd of the Wrath of God against sinners and are now feeling of it O what sadder Case can there be in the World than for a Man whose Business and Calling it was to proclaim Salvation and help others to obtain it yet after all himself to be shut out That we should have so many Books in our Libraries that tell us the way to Heaven that we should spend so much time in reading those Books and studying the Doctrine of Eternal Life and after all to miss of it That we should preach so many Sermons of Eternal Salvation and yet fall short of it And this because we preached of Christ but neglected him of the Spirit but resisted him of Faith but did not heartily believe of Repentance and Conversion but continued in a state of Sin of an Heavenly Heart and Life but remained Carnal and Earthly our selves Do we not know that God is no Respecter of Persons and that an Holy Calling will never save an Unholy Man That the Preachers of the Gospel must be judged by the Gospel stand at the same Bar be sentenc'd on the same Terms and dealt with as severely as other Men It is a fearful thing to be an unsanctified Professor but much more so to be an Unholy Preacher When we open our Bibles should we not tremble lest we read our own Condemnation When we pen our Sermons little do we think we are drawing up Indictments against our own Souls When we are arguing against sin that we are but aggravating our own When we magnifie the Riches of Christ and his Grace and declare it to others we publish our own Iniquity in rejecting him and our own Misery in being Strangers to him O Miserable Life that a Man should study and preach from year to year against himself and spend his dayes in a Course of Self-condemning What aggravated Misery will it be to perish in the midst of Plenty to famish with the Bread of Life in our Hands while we offer it to others and urge them to receive it but we our selves will not NEXT to His Piety or as a part of it his Peaceableness and Charity in opposition to Bitterness and Dividing Zeal and a Narrow Spirit was very Commendable and Exemplary He could unite with all Christians in Things Necessary and was not for making more Fundamentals and Necessaries than Christ hath made or for other Terms of Church-Communion than the Terms of our Common Christianity And therefore was ready to receive All whom he believ'd Christ would receive He was of one Church with All those whom he hop'd to meet in Heaven Endeavouring to hold the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace because he acknowledged that there is but One Body one Spirit one Lord Jesus Christ one Hope one Faith one Baptism and consequently but one Holy Table one God and Father of all from whom and by whom and for whom are all Things 'T IS from this Principle as esteeming the Piety Learning and Usefulness of Men of all Perswasions that I cannot be unaffected at the Death of the Reverend Dr. Horneck of the Savoy this Week His Devotion Zeal and Diligence in Preaching Writing and otherways endeavouring to do good to the Souls of Men makes him to be deservedly and generally lamented tho' I had no particular Acquaintance with him I reckon my self bound to value and love every Man who endeavours to promote Reformation and Practical Religion and spends his Time as he did