Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A58125
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The Christian monitor containing an earnest exhortation to an holy life, with some directions in order thereto : written in a plain and easie style, for all sorts of people.
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Rawlet, John, 1642-1686.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing R347A; ESTC R32275
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44,028
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60
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follow his wholsom Counsel and desire his Prayers to God for you I know in large Parishes Ministers are not able to have a particular knowledge of every Person but yet all that know the worth of Souls and the price that was paid for them will be ready to give attendance to the meanest of their People that shall apply themselves to them for Advice and Comfort and will be glad of all opportunities to promote the Honour and Interest of their Saviour and the good of precious Souls committed to their Care And thus have I as plainly and as fully as I well could in so little room directed you in that holy way which leads to eternal Glory and have shewn you what great Reason you have to walk in that way and to continue therein to the end As to those who desire larger Directions next to the holy Scriptures which I beseeeh you to read frequently with humility and seriousness especially the New Testament next to them I shall referr you only to that pious and most useful Book The whole Duty of Man And heartily I wish that every poor Family in the Kingdom was furnished with one of those Books together with a Bible and Common Prayer Book which might all be purchased for much less than five Shillings and therefore it 's great pity they should be any where wanting Though alas I know there are many Families of poor People where none of them can read and so Books to them are useless Great Charity therefore it would be for rich Landlords and Gentlemen to see that the Children of their poor Tenants and Neighbours be put out to School and then to bestow at least Bibles upon them that the knowledge of God and Religion may be promoted amongst them which would make greatly for the good and welfare both of Church and State For though Brain-sick Opinions and false Principles may make Men proud and head-strong and troublesome to their Governours yet solid Knowledge and sincere Godliness will make Men humble and meek quiet and peaceable obedient to Magistrates and Ministers full of Charity to their Neighbours and ready to every good Work And I am sure an increase of this truly Religious Temper would be one of the greatest Blessings that can be bestow'd upon this Earth and would settle Kingdoms and Churches Towns and Families in Peace and Concord which almost every where are divided amongst themselves as well as against one another And by such blessed effects of true Religion something of Heaven would be brought down upon Earth and our Souls would be well fitted for Heaven when we are called off from this Earth into those happy Regions above where there is nothing else but Peace and Holiness and Love and Joy And may it please God to bless these plain and short Instructions for the enlightning of any minds with that Wisdom from above which is thus pure and peaceable then shall I obtain my Design and have great cause to be thankful And that the Reader may joyn with me in these Wishes I have annexed hereto a Prayer for Grace to lead an Holy Life And if he will but add diligent endeavours to frequent and servent Prayers neither his Labour nor mine will be in vain through the Grace and Blessing of Almighty God from whom comes every good and perfect Gift to whom be given all Honour and Glory both now and for ever Amen A PRAYER Chiefly for the assistance of God's grace in order to the leading an Holy Life O Most holy and ever blessed Lord God I do humbly cast down my self before thee acknowledging and lamenting my own sinfulness and earnestly begging thy grace and mercy through the Lord Jesus our only Mediatour and Advocate I confess O God I am a vile sinner polluted from the very Womb but since I came to the use of my Reason I have defiled my self with many wilful and hainous transgressions I have sadly neglected thy Service and dishonoured thy Name and have been greatly wanting in those Duties which I owe to thee my God to my Neighbour and to my own Soul and have not lived in such a godly righteous charitable and sober manner as I ought to have done But have often acted contrary to my own Reason and Conscience and to the plain Precepts of thy Word and contrary to my own Promises and Vows for better Obedience O Lord give me a clear sight of my sins and such a deep sense of the evil of my ways that my Heart may be truly humbled and broken in the remembrance thereof And for the Lord Jesus sake who died for Sinners be merciful to me O Father of Mercies pardon all my Iniquities and let them not be remembred against me to my Condemnation either in this World or that to come Nor is it only Pardon that I beg but most earnestly I beseech thee by thy Holy Spirit to sanctifie me both in Body and Soul that being made pure and holy on Heart and Life I may serve thee diligently all my days on Earth and so may enjoy thee for ever in Heaven I am fully convinced that it is both my duty and my happiness to fear and serve thee the great and glorious God who hast made me and redeemed me and hitherto graciously preserved me I acknowledge thy Service to be perfect freedom and all thy Laws to be holy just and good Wherefore I desire utterly to renounce and forsake every evil way and most entirely devote my self to serve and please thee in newness of Life But thou O Lord knowest the weakness and corruption of my Nature and how by evil customs I have made my self more prone to sin more backward to that which is good O do thou throughly change my Nature by thy Grace that I may hate and abhor all wickedness and take delight in the ways of Piety and Holiness Let no unmortified just remain in my Soul but do thou purifie and cleanse me from Pride and Covetousness from Envy and Malice and from all impure and sensual affections and desires and enrich me with all the Graces of thy holy Spirit Give me such a clear knowledge of thy infinite goodness and of all thy glorious perfections that I may ever humbly admire and adore thee and love thee with all my Heart and Soul and cleave to thee as my only portion preferring thy favour before all the enjoyments of this World Help me always firmly to trust in thee and freely to leave all my Affairs to thy wise and gracious Providence absolutely resigning my Will to thy holy Will in all things Make me truly thankful for all thy mercies and patient under afflictions By thy teaching let me learn to be content in all Estates and Conditions And good God suffer me not in the greatest difficulties and dangers to distrust thy mercies or take any unlawful course for my Relief I beg from thee my daily Bread and beseech thee to give me an Heart well satisfied with what thou seest
and inspired by the Holy Ghost to be a light to our feet and a lantern to our path to direct us in the plain way to everlasting life 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. And the holy Sacraments were appointed for the encrease of grace to all that make a right use of them And our Blessed Saviour did at fâ—rst send abroad his Apostles to Preach the Gospel to all the World and hath ever since continued a successâ—on of Ministers in his Church whose standing office it is to administer the word and Sacraments to watch over the Souls of the people to instruct and admonish them both in publick and private and to use their utmost diligence to bring them to the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus And God is ever ready to accompany their endeavours with his blessing Do you not often find his good Spirit putting good thoughts and motions into your mind inclining you to that which is holy and good checking and restraining you when you are running into evil But on the other hand it 's the evil Spirit even the Devil himself that tempts you to sin and would hinder you from your Duty It 's the Devil that tempts Men to pride and malice and to all manner of wickedness For he being a proud malicious and most wicked Spirit would have Men to be like himself that so they may be for ever miserable with him Will you not then resist the Devil the great enemy of your Souls and be led and guided by Gods good Spirit and follow his Motions and the directions of his word which lead to happiness O do not grieve this Blessed Spirit who alone can give us true comfort do not resist and quench his motions nor provoke him to depart from you and leave you to your own lusts and to the power of Satan who seeks your ruin Moreover as the Devil has his instruments to draw Men to wickedness one ill man tempting another so Ministers are sent from God to draw you to righteousness and holiness They are the Embassadors and Messengers of Christ and do in his name bescech you to be reconciled to God who is most willing to be reconciled to you if you will but cast away those wicked works which provoke him to anger 2 Cor. 5. 20. O how will it rejoyce the hearts of your Ministers that truly love your Souls to see the success of their labours to have you come to them enquiring what you must do to be saved declaring your repentance for your former evil Courses and your resolution henceforth to become new Creatures Certainly we exhort you to nothing but what is highly reasonable and for your own benefit whilst we perswade you to return to the favour of God Why then will you not hearken to us If a message of mercy should be sent you from the King when you were in danger of death for Rebellion would you not most gladly and thankfully receive it And will you not be as thankful and obedient to the King of kings and as wife to save your Souls as to preserve your Bodies And beside his Word and Ministers God also pleads with you by his providences to bring you to repentance Sometimes he sends afflictions to correct you for your faults to shew you the evil of sin and draw you home to himself and at other times he sends many mercies as I have told you to soften your hearts to engage and allure you to his service And such good use we ought to make of all Gods dealings with us 4. Consider further what engagements you ly under to an holy life by your own profession promises and vows You profess and call your selves Christians the Disciples and followers of Christ Ought you not then to follow his example and obey his Commands if you will make good that name You would think it a great disgrace not to be taken for a Christian but for a Turk or Jew Beware then lest you bring this disgrace upon your selves by an unchristian temper of mind and ill course of life If you are false or cruel Covetous or Lustful like a Turk or Jew it matters little what you call your selves He is not a Christian that 's one outwardly but he that has the same mind and spirit that was in Christ Jesus God will not at the last day judge of men by their names and titles but by their hearts and lives Only it will go much worse with a man that calls himself a Christian and yet lives like an Heathen or Infidel And pray consider how by your Baptism you are solemnly listed under Christs banner to fight against the Devil the World and the Flesh and by the keeping this vow you shew your selves to be Christians indeed But if you are led away by the temptations of Satan and do his works and are ensnared by the vanities of the World the lusts and pleasures of the Flesh you do in effect renounce your Baptism Besides this have you not renewed this same vow at the Holy Communion there openly professing your belief in Christ crucified and promising obedience to him If you have not received this Holy Sacrament though you have long been at years of discretion you then shew your selves by this neglect to be no obedient Disciples of Christ since you do not obey his plain command to do this in remembrance of him Luk. 22. 19. And indeed I fear that many careless people will not come to the Communion because they think it would bind them to lead such a strict and holy life as they have no mind to But do not they cast off Jesus Christ from being their Master who look upon his commands as too strict and severe and will not promise to obey him Yea do they not thereby even disown their Baptism by which they were bound to this obedience So that the same reason which keeps them from the Communion it 's like would keep them from being Baptized if it were yet to be done And what sort of Christians are they that would reject Christian Baptism because it engages them to an holy life If you are not guilty of this neglect but do sometimes come to the Lords Supper to keep up the remembrance of his death and sufferings Then pray consider that by receiving this holy Sacrament you do solemnly renew your vows to be Christ's faithful Servants and Disciples and to walk in sincere obedience to all his holy Laws as you hope for Salvation by his death Wherefore may I not well beseech you to use all due care to live according to this your promise and engagement What a shame is it for a Man to be false to his word much more to his Oath O do not then break that Oath which you have made to God himself by taking this holy Sacrament And call to mind if you have not sometimes on a Sick-bed or in some great danger made the same promise and vow And has not God spared you