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	scripture_n	10,125	5	6.0328	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29182	A cry for labourers in Gods harvest being a sermon preached upon the sad occasion of the late funeral of that eminent servant of Christ, Mr. Ralph Venning, who departed this life, March 10, 1673/4 / by Robert Bragge ...	Bragge, Robert, 1627-1704.	1674 (1674)	Wing B4202; ESTC R20229	19,240	42

the whole world would Rot and Perish without it All the Hearts of men and women in the World that live without the Gospel they are to God as rotten and stinking meat as filthy carrion is to you Indeed when once the hearts and minds of People are seasoned with the Gospel now they become sweet and savoury to God so Vers 14. What would this World be without the Sun in the Firmament shining upon it but a dark Dungeon Such my Brethren and no other are all the Kingdoms Nations Cities Countries Parishes Villages in the World where the light of the Gospel doth not shine Where they have not had the Ministry of the Word neither Prophets nor Apostles nor faithful Ministers of Christ to preach the Gospel and to make known the mind and will of God to them they are but as so many dark dungeons where the Prince of darkness reigns where unbelief Idolatry Superstition and all manner of wickedness and profaness reigns I say the state of nature is a state of darkness all the world doth but grope in darkness as the Egyptians did till they come to have the Gospel preached to them Alas they know little of God and nothing of Jesus Christ nor of the Gospel nor of the Covenant of Grace nor of the way to salvation by a Redeemer nor what the new Creature is and the work of Regeneration is How great a blessing and great gift therefore is it to have the Ministry of the Gospel You may see it by that promise God gives out in Jer. 3.15 And I will give you Pastors according to my heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding As if he had said Here is the Blessing the Blessing of Blessings I will bestow upon you for there is none comparable to it Suppose a man should have his habitation or dwelling in never so pure an Air and never so good a soil where he hath his Garden and his Fish-ponds and all outward Contentment his heart can desire but doth not the Sun of the Gospel shine there the Air and Wind of the Spirit breath there the clouds of Gods Ordinances drop there then I say it is but a dark and black place If the best things be not to be had there what is it for a man to be fatted to destruction what is a life without a life of Grace Again what a Blessing it is may appear in that it was the fruit of Christs prayer of his death blood and intercession Ephes 4.8 11. you read there of Christs ascending to Glory when he ascended up on high he gave gifts to men You know Kings and Emperours upon the day of their Coronation they use to scatter Money and let Conduits run with Wine give gifts to their friends this was the day Christ went up to Heaven and went to take his Crown of Glory now he gave gifts to men Vers 11. What did he give them for for the Perfecting Saints As if here was the greatest gifts the Son of God had to bestow on the Children of men here was the fruit of his Blood as well as Intercession Had it not been for the Blood of Christ there had never been any such thing as a Gospel-Ministry or Church or Ordinances In a word If you consider the great ends for which the Ministry is given it is for the bringing about the greatest good of the Children of men it is for the bringing you to the knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ whom to know is eternal life it is to reveal the great Counsels of God to the Children of men The Preaching of the Gospel it is not only to civilize men and women though that were good if it were no more and many times where it hath not its saving work it hath the Authority to make people civil but I say the Preaching of the Gospel it is not only to make you civil but to make you Saints new Creatures 2. Pray ye the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth more Labourers into his Harvest Why it belongs to the great Lord of the Harvest to give these Labourers The sending of Labourers into this Harvest is not only an Act of Grace and Mercy but of Power and greatest Authority Therefore Matth. 28. when Christ sends forth his Disciples to Preach mark the Preface Vers 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth Mark how Christ doth begin with the preamble of all power being given to him in Heaven and in Earth It is as if he had said I am sending you about the greatest work that ever any Creatures were imployed in the Angels in Heaven were not imployed in a greater work than this of Preaching the Gospel for your Incouragement know all power in Heaven and in Earth is given into my hands and I will be with you and second you Here I might shew you how the Lord of the Harvest doth send forth his Labourers 1. It is he that calls them he that gives them their Mission and Commission they have their Commission on from Christ from Father Son and holy Spirit all their names are in the Commission though it is more Immediately from the Son Indeed did not God send them they could never expect to do any good in the World to convert one soul were not Preaching Gods Ordinance 2. It is he must gift and qualifie these Labourers for the work As in Nehem. 9.10 saith Nehemiah there Thou gavest thy holy Spirit Vers 20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit The meaning is in the Prophets which he gave them whereby they were fitted for the Work they were set about So it is still under the Gospel 1 Cor. 12.4 5. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of Administrations but the same Lord. Whence are these diversities of gifts and ministerial Abilities they are from God This indeed my Brethren is very wonderful to be considered As you see a multitude of faces in the world yet every one differs from another so to consider that diversity that variety of gifts and spiritual Abilities God hath given to men in this work yet none hath the same gift To one the gift of Doctrine to another the gift of Exhortation One he is as a Son of Thunder to awaken another is a Son of Consolation to comfort I say variety of gifts and why to profit withall It is all for your profit that if you are not taken with one mans gifts you may be with anothers 3. It is the Lord of the Harvest that doth send forth and design every Labourer to his particular place and station wherein he is to labour it is he that appoints them the bounds of their habitation The Apostle he bids them feed the Church of God over which the H. Ghost had made them Overseers the holy Ghost placed them there If a Sparrow fall not to the ground without the power

spirits so that their life many times goeth out in their Labour And this is likewise held out to us by those many Metaphors that the Scripture doth apply to the Ministers of the Gospel They are compared here in the Text you see to Harvest men the Husbandmans work of Plowing and Harrowing Sowing and Reaping it is a laborious and painful work and the sweat of the Brain is no less than that of the Brow So sometimes they are called Builders as in 1 Cor. 3.9 We are Labourers together with God you are Gods husbandry you are Gods building Now the Building of Houses that is a laborious work for the House is not built of the Trees as they are standing in the Forest or of the Stones as they are in the Quarry but there must be hewing the Stones and squaring the Timber for the building the House What is the Ministers work but to build up an House for God an Habitation for Jesus Christ As the materials with which the Temple was built of old were first squared and fitted and prepared for the Building so must souls be for this spiritual House So that indeed Ministers are as Carpenters and Masons I have hewn them by my Prophets and that sheweth they have hard labour of it and many times meet with knotty pieces very hard hearts such as have made some of the best of Gods Labourers complain cry out and resolve with Jeremy they would Speak no more in the name of the Lord. So I might shew you likewise how they are compared to Shepherds and Watchmen whose calling you know have labour in them But to name no more their labour is compared to that which is the greatest labour of all What is that to the labour of a Woman in Travail Gal. 4.19 My little Children of whom I travail in Birth again until Christ be formed in you Thus it is with faithful Ministers they have many a Pang many a throw of heart before Christ be formed in them to whom they Preach So if you look upon the work of the Ministry in these Metaphors by which the Scripture doth express it you see their calling is a laborious calling So if you look upon it out of these Metaphors you may see there is much of labour in this work there is labour to Preach the word labour in Reading Studying Praying and Meditating as Paul bids Timothy give himself unto Prayer and reading the word c. and there is labour in dispensing the Word There is a double labour the labour of the Mind as well as the Body There is labour to instruct the ignorant to shew man his unrighteousness and to shew man his righteousness labour to exhort and quicken those that are sluggish labour in resolving those that doubt and in comforting those that are sad there is labour in bringing in Souls to Christ and labour in building up souls when they are brought in Do but see what is said of John the Baptist who you know was a Labourer in Gods Harvest Luke 3.5 what his work was Every Valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall be made streight and the rough ways shall be made smooth Now to level mountains and fill up Valleys to make crooked things streight and rough ways smooth this cannot be done without labour And yet my brethren there is greater labour that the faithful Ministers of Christ sometimes go through than all this they are forced oftentimes not only to sweat at the Plough but bleed at the Cross they labour in induring reproaches and Persecutions they meet with in the world for the truths sake Remember my brethren saith James the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an Example of suffering Affliction and of Patience Who would have thought they should meet with any hard usage for speaking to People in the name of the Lord What saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.3 Truly God hath made us a spectacle to the world Why so We are appointed to death every day and reckoned the off-scouring of the World They are the greatest enemies the Devil and his Kingdom hath in the world and therefore the Devil is so great an enemy to them The faithful Ministers of Christ stand in the front of opposition That is the Devils principle Smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered So that then you soe they are much mistaken who look upon a Ministers life as an easie if not an Idle life who think all their labours but a little Lip-labour I might tell you it is no easie thing for you to hear a Sermon well and then sure it cannot be such an easie thing to preach well it will cost you labour to hear aright I grant it is an easie thing to give the Minister the hearing but to give the ears to the Minister to give every truth a double hearing that is a hard matter I grant it is an easie thing to let in a Sermon at one ear and to let it out at the other but to let a Sermon in at the ear and to let it sink down in the heart and thence to spring up in the life this is a hard thing It is an easie thing to write down a Sermon in your Books and to repeat it at night in your Families and to discourse and talk of it but to get this Sermon written in your hearts and to repeat it over in your lives to be doers of it and not hearers only this will require pains and labour Thus we have shown you what this Harvest is here spoken of and who the Labourers are and now we come near to the point it self to shew that it is your duty to Pray the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth more Labourers into his Harvest Here are these three things offer themselves to be spoken to for the confirming of the point 1. That the Mininstry of the word it is a very great gift and blessing to a people 2. That God and God alone it belongs to him to send forth these Labourers into his Harvest 3. That our duty and work is to Pray and Pray earnestly to God that he would increase the number of his faithful Labourers And these may serve as the grounds and reasons of the Point for I shall name no other 1. Then do you ask me why we should pray to God to send forth more Labourers into his Harvest Because I say to have these faithful Labourers among you is one of the greatest gifts and blessings that God can bestow upon a People See what Christ himself saith of such Matth. 5.13 Ye are the salt of the Earth c. You know that salt savours every thing and that it is to preserve things from Rotting and Putrefaction so that salt is a very useful and necessary thing in the world you know not how to be without it Of such use and necessity is the Ministry of the word for