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	trinity_n	9,904	5	10.2376	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70248	A sermon preached at the triennial visitation of the right reverend father in God, Richard, L. Bishop of Bath and Wells held at Bridgewater, on the 19th day of August, 1695 / by Matthew Hole ...	Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730.; Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.	1696 (1696)	Wing H2413; ESTC R212962	17,819	31

A SERMON Preached at the Triennial Visitation OF THE Right Reverend Father in GOD RICHARD L. Bishop of Bath and Wells HELD AT BRIDGEWATER on the 19th Day of August 1695. By MATTHEW HOLE B. D. Vicar of Stokegursey in Somersetshire LONDON Printed for Mat. Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet near the Inner-Temple-Gate 1696. TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD RICHARD Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells My Lord THis Sermon which was Preached at Your Lordships Command and Printed at the Request of Your Clergy naturally flyes to the Altar for Protection and if it may be allowed to take Sanctuary there it will not fear the Censure or Assaults of any Adversaries The subject matter of it being concerning Spiritual Gifts 't is in a manner intituled to the Care and Patronage of Spiritual Persons and especially of Your Lordship who is deservedly placed in the highest Rank and Order of them If any Evil Spirits shall arise and oppose these Gifts of the Holy Ghost as Jannes and Jambres of old withstood Moses and Simon Magus and others resisted the Apostles we need not doubt but the Author of them will help us to defend the Argument and the Finger of God will elude the Magical Enchantments both of Atheism and Enthusiasme If this Discourse may any ways help forward the right use of these Spiritual Gifts if it may serve to correct the Abuse of them in some or to discountenance the vain Pretences to them in others it may perhaps prove one of the Best Gifts that could be Presented to the Church by one of the meanest Well-wishers to it My Lord I have Obeyed Your Lordships Command which the Obligations of Duty and Gratitude must ever make me willing and ready to do That all Your Clergy may Reverence and Obey Your Lordship as their Spiritual Father and that Your Lordship may long continue to be a Blessing and Support to Your Clergy is the Hearty Prayer of My Lord Your Lordships most Obedient and Devoted Servant MATTHEW HOLE A SERMON Preached at the Triennial Visitation c. 1 COR. xii Last Verse But covet earnestly the best gifts And yet I shew unto you a more excellent way THE great Subject of this Chapter is concerning Spiritual Gifts which the Apostle in his entrance upon it declares to be so useful and necessary a piece of Knowledge Ver. 1. that he would by no means have us ignorant of it And to the end that the Christian Church might be rightly instructed in so Divine and Excellent a Subject he here treats at large concerning the Author the number the use and the distribution of these Spiritual Gifts For the Author he declares it to be no other than the Holy Spirit of God the Third Person in the ever Blessed and Adorable Trinity whose peculiar Office in the Oeconomy of Mans Salvation is to edifie and instruct the Church of Christ for which we are so entirely beholding to this Holy Spirit Ver. 3. that no Man can say that Jesus Christ is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost And they are called therefore Spiritual Gifts not because they are seated in the Spiritual part or Soul of Man but because they proceed from the Spirit of God From the Author he goes on to the number and variety of these Spiritual Gifts reckoning up in the 4th and following Verses The Word of Wisdom the Word of Knowledge the Gift of Prophecy the Gift of Healing the gift of Tongues and the Interpretation of Tongues and the like All which diversity of Gifts he tells us flow from the same Spirit and their different operations from the same Lord who worketh all in all that is who worketh all these Gifts in all that have them And least we should mistake the design of the Holy Ghost in bestowing these Gifts he proceeds to direct us in the right end and use of them telling us That the manifestation of the Spirit was given to every one to profit withal Ver. 7. that is not barely to procure some private profit to themselves but for the publick good and benefit of others They were not given for vanity and ostentation to set forth our selves by our Eloquence or any Elaborate Arts of Speech much less to raise Schisms and Factions but to advance the Peace Unity and Edification of the Church Then lastly for the distribution of these Gifts he tells us that they are not all given to one nor are the same given to all but they are scattered with an admirable variety and in different measures on the sons of Men that like the various Members of the Natural Body they might be all helpful and serviceable to one another Ver. 28 29 30. Are all apostles saith he are all prophets are all teachers do all speak with tongues do all interpret Eph. 4.11 12. No He hath given some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and some teachers and all this for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ And having thus discoursed at large of the nature end and use of these Spiritual Gifts he closes the Chapter with this excellent advice of our Text Covet earnestly the best gifts And for an introduction to the following Chapter adds And yet I shew unto you a more excellent way The words will require a little Explication before I can sum up the sense or speak clearly to them First Then by gifts here there can be no doubt but the Apostle chiefly intended those supernatural and extraordinary gifts of Tongues Miracles Prophecy and the like which were rife and common in those days and were indeed necessary in the Infancy of the Church for the confirmation of the Gospel and to gain Proselites to the belief of it But those extraordinary and miraculous Gifts having long since ceased together with the reason of them may not now be the object of our Ambition and therefore the Apostles advice here may be and usually is extended likewise to the natural and acquired gifts of the Spirit which are necessary still to propagate the Doctrine of the Gospel as it now stands confirmed and derived down to us Of this kind are those intellectual habits and endowments of the Mind by the improvement whereof some attain to a greater skill in the Tongues others excel in the knowledge of Arts and Sciences by which means Men come to have different Talents and are diversly qualified for publick service All which gifts together with the improvement of them proceed still from the same Spirit and are given for the same use even the good and benefit of Mankind and these will be continued to the end of the World only with this difference that whereas the former were conferred on the Apostles and others by Inspiration and sudden Infusion and so they needed only to be directed to the right use of them these latter are now conveyed to us by the ordinary Methods of Study

therefore when the Apostle adviseth us to covet earnestly the best gifis he thereby puts us upon using the best means of becoming Masters of them And because it may be asked what they are I shall briefly mind you of these four 1. Diligent Study 2. Frequent Exercise 3. Hearty Prayer And 4. A good Life Of each of which a word or two distinctly And 1. We must covet these Gifts by our diligent Study and earnest search after them for this is now the ordinary way and means of acquiring them Indeed in the days of the Apostles the Spirit was poured out and came upon them not by Study but by sudden Infusion The mighty wind in which the Holy Spirit descended was a Symbol of Inspiration and betokened the breathing into them the Gifts of the Holy Ghost The Fire that sate upon their Heads represented that fervency of Spirit which enabled them with courage to go through all the difficulties of their Office The Cloven-Tongues bespake the diversity of Languages with which they were endow'd by which means Illiterate Persons excelled the greatest Rabbies and Fishermen spake more Languages than the most studied Linguists But now we are to seek that by Industry which they had by Inspiration and the Church being arrived at the Stature of a Man in Christ Jesus God Almighty hath laid aside those extraordinary helps and supports of Infancy So that Diligence now keeps the Key of Knowledge and 't is Study alone that opens to us the Treasures of Wisdom 2 Tim. 2.15 Study saith the Apostle to shew thy self a workman that needeth not to be ashamed To be an Able Divine is a work of Study and a serious intention of Mind is necessary to the expert and faithful discharge of our Office We may not now pretend to or look for Inspiration nor hope by Dreams and Visions to know the Will of God No Ignorance and Folly are the effects of Sloth whilst Learning and Knowledge are only the Rewards of Industry Rom. 1● 8. The word is nigh thee saith the Apostle even in thy mouth and in thy hand oh let it be in thy Heart too and make it the daily object of thy Study and Meditation 2 Pet. 19. We have a sure word of prophesie saith St. Peter whereunto we do well to take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place Solomon that great Master of Wisdom exhorts us to seek for Knowledge and to search diligently for Understanding yea he wills us to search for it as for silver and to dig for it as for hid treasure Prov. 4. for though there be some truths that seem to float at top and to lye open to a careless eye yet there are others that lye deep and require a profounder search here we are to imploy our most composed thoughts giving our selves to Reading and Meditation as the first and great means of attaining them 2. Our study for these Gifts must be accompanied with the frequent use and exercise of them This will whet our Parts and set an edge on our Faculties and thereby enable us rightly to divide the Word of Truth St. Paul exhorts Timothy Tim. ● 6. to stir up the gift of God that was in him signifying that 't is Exercise that puts Life and Vigour into our Parts that blows up those Sparks within us and quickens them in o a bright and useful Flame Thus to imploy is to improve our Talent which will daily increase by Exercise and like the Widows Cruise of Oyl multiply by being used A lazy neglect of Mens Gifts makes them do the work of the Lord negligently and for want of a due exercise of their own Parts they do but too much exercise the Patience of them that hear them He that buryed his Talent in the Earth and he that wrapped it in a Napkin were both deprived of them and doom'd as wicked and unprofitable servants to outer darkness whereas he that used his Talent to his Masters Honour was commended for a good and faithful Servant and enter'd into his Masters Joy which makes it evident that Exercise is a good means of improving our Gifts and procuring to us the Reward of them 3. To the Exercise of our Gifts we must add hearty and fervent Prayer for a Blessing upon them for though Paul may plant ●or 3. and Apollo may water yet 't is God alone that gives the increase 〈◊〉 1.5 If any lack wisdom saith St. James let him ask it of God Thither our recourse must be if ever we hope to obtain it and indeed whither else should we go 〈◊〉 6.68 He only hath the words of eternal life To seek for Wisdom only in Books and Writings is but to seek the living among the dead 't is the Blessing of God that enlivens our indeavours and makes us rich both in Grace and Knowledge and he that leaves out this in his search after them will never arrive to more than what will betray his own Ignorance ●es 1. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights And therefore we must look upward and make our requests known unto him in whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and for our encouragement the same Apostle tells us that he giveth to all men liberally Jam. 1.5 and upbraideth not And our Blessed Saviour hath assured us that Earthly Parents are not more willing to give good Gifts to their Children Mat. 7.11 than our Heavenly Father is to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it Our desires then of these Gifts must be carried on with uncessant Petitions to God for them and if we would attain to any measure of them we must seek them upon our Knees● for 't is the Blessing of God that gives the Talent and the Improvement too and the Fruits of the Spirit owe all their increase to the Dew of his Heavenly Benediction Lastly To our Prayers we must joyn the exercises of Vertue and a Holy Life for Wisdom enters not into a polluted Soul nor can so refin'd a perfection inhabit an impure or corrupt Heart The carnal mind is enmity against God 1 Cor. 2.14 It receives not the things of the spirit of God neither can it know them because they are spiritually discerned And therefore our Hearts must be purged from the corruptions of Sin and Errour to make way for the entrance of Divine Truths and our Souls must be consecrated to holy uses before they can be fit to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost A good Life will best dispose us to a good Understanding and sincere desires of pleasing God will make us useful and profitable unto Men. So that if we mean to arrive at any proficiency or growth in Knowledge we must live up to that whereunto we have already attain'd for he that doth the will of my father saith our Saviour John ● 17. he shall know the