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	jesus_n	lord_n	17,123	5	3.7490	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76372	Jesus Christ the mysticall or Gospell sun, sometimes seemingly eclipsed, yet never going down from his people: or, Eclipses spiritualized. Opened in a sermon at Paul's before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen, &c. March 28. 1652. The day before the late solar eclipse. By Fulk Bellers, Master of Arts, and preacher of the Gospel in the city of London.	Bellers, Fulk, b. 1605 or 6.	1652 (1652)	Wing B1827; Thomason E665_15; ESTC R206852	31,076	41

Father and was anointed by the Spirit to bind up the broken heart to proclaim liberty to the captives Isa 61.1 2. the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and to comfort all that mourn It is he that gives commission to his Ambassadors to go about comforting work Comfort ye Isa 40.1 2. comfort ye my people saith the Lord speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem and preach saying Her warfare is accomplished and her iniquities are pardoned c. We may say of all other comforters if this Sun be absent as Job of his friends Miserable comforters are ye all But if Christ be present and all worldly comforts be absent we may then say as Jacob I have enough I have all He is able to make our hearts to be brimfull and run over by the comforting influence of his own Spirit Mr Ro. Glover as he did the heart of that Martyr being full of comfort upon the sight of the stake He is come Augustine he is come he is come 6 It bringeth purity and healing We see by ordinary experience how the Sun will as it were purge and heal the aire that was infected with pestilentiall breathings and how it clarifieth it that was overrun with fogs and mists things that are unwholsom to the body of man And is there any thing that will so purge the heart as Jesus Christ will When he is as Refiners fire and Fullers Sope when he sitteth to purifie the hearts of the house of Levi whom he doth intend to make spirituall Priests unto his Father How doth he cry to his Spirit as Hezekiah in another case 2 Chron. 29.5 have out the filthinesse out of the holy place When once he begins to sprinkle clean Covenant-water upon us Ezek. 36.26 from all our filthinesse he will cleanse us Isa 1.25 It is he that is able to purge away all our drosse and take away all our tin and to purifie us to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 When this Sun of righteousnesse doth arise Mal. 4.2 he doth arise with healing in his wings Whereby he regenerateth us and reneweth us after the Image of God and beginneth here the cure of our corruptions though the perfecting of the cure be reserved for heaven Thus we see the mysticall Sun Jesus Christ to be the same to beleevers as the Sun in the firmament to the world upon point of benefit giving to them 1 Light 2 Heat 3 Life 4 Fruitfulnesse 5 Comfort 6 Healing Qu. But how may I know whether I have a right of propriety in this Sun or not that so I may be able to judge whether this cordiall passage doth belong unto me or not Thy Sun shall no more go down Sol. For answer hereof I shall onely offer to your considerations some hints from these six properties whereby you may be able to judge of your interest in this Sun And let conscience briefly answer to these interrogations viz. Hath Christ 1 Come in with enlightening influence to my soul There was a time when I sate in the region of the valley of the shadow of death when I was in another Egypt for darknesse but light is now risen unto me and I am removed into another Goshen Col. 1.13 He hath brought me out of the kingdome of darknesse and translated me into the kingdome of his dear Son He hath communicated of those treasures of wisdome and knowledge unto me Col. 2.3 whereby though he have not made me politickly craftily cunningly worldly wise in the things of this life to over-reach or circumvent others or to enrich my self by indirect ways yet he hath made me savingly wise or wise unto salvation He hath discovered himself in the face of Jesus Christ unto me Yea he hath shewen me my self in the glasse of his Word how miserable I was by nature how happy by my interest in Jesus Christ And all this light filleth me with love to Jesus Christ and maketh me more humble in mine own eyes because the little that I know is not the thousand part of what I know not He hath made me with Mary thus wise as to choose the better part that one thing necessary and with Moses deliberately to choose to suffer afflictions with the people of God rather then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season And with David to take his word to be a lamp to my feet Psal 119. and a light to my paths I can now say experimentally Whereas I was born blinde now I see 2 Warmed my heart with divinest love which like the fire of the Sanctuary is alwaies burning within me breaking forth in flames of piety towards God in Christ and of humanity courtesie kindnesse towards men especially toward Saints Exod. 2. Do I finde it to be as the fire in the bush that consumed it not though it continued burning Yea that all the waters of affliction or persecution cannotslack much lesse extinguish my love unto Jesus Christ He hath so shed abroad his love in my soul Acts 21 13. that makes me willing to do and dye for Christ Now how your pulses beat this way as Christians let conscience judg And for you Right Hon. that are intrusted with the government of this great city there is expected from you not onely warmth of love but a peculiar fire of zeal to promote the glory of God Psal 69.9 as you see in David The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up When observing the Ordinances to be contemned the Name of God blasphemed Sabbaths profaned Religion trampled under feet zeale then inforceth him yea even consumeth him for the promoting of the glory of God You that are the Magistrates in this renowned City consult your own consciences in this particular 3 Come in with life 'T was my condition when I was in my naturall estate as it was with Lazarus some way when buried I did once lie in the grave of my sins as he in the grave of the earth Hath Christ enlivened and enquickned me to newnesse of life Can I say truly as Paul I live yet not I Gal. 2.20 but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God that hath given himself for me Doth this life from Christ make me lively in all duties for Christ that so I may serve God in my generation either in a way of Magistracy Ministry or in a private orbe or station 4 Made me any way fruitfull Doth the spring of grace come as fast forward in my soul as the spring of nature now on the earth doth he make me fruitfull as a good 1 Magistrate Exod. 18.21 to bring forth the fruits of the feare of my God of truth righteousnesse of courage and judgement causing me to hate covetuousnesse and reject bribes Exod. 23.8 which do blinde the wise and

us in that possessive particle thy 2 The Priviledge belonging to these persons viz. That this Sun shall no more go down unto them Something here needeth unfolding Q. 1 What is meant by this Sun Q. 2 What by the going down of the Sun Q. 3 Who are meant by the persons involved in the affix thy Q. 4 What by going down any more Q. 5. When is the whole of this promise to be verified I shall satisfie these succinctly Sol. 1 By Sun in this place we are not to understand 1. The firmamentary sun which is the greater light destinated by God to rule the day and which daily riseth and setteth as is obvious to experience But we are to understand 2 A metaphoricall Sun not the creature sun but the Creator Sun twice stiled Jehovah is here onely aimed at even Jesus Christ who is the mysticall a Mal. 4.2 Alsted Paratitla Calv. Deus erit Sol tuus Quod Propheta loquatur de Christo certissimum est c Heshusius Brētius in locum Christus est lux aeterna fidelium Bullinger Sun of righteousnesse I know some understand by Sun 1 The streams of the grace of God and his favour in the comfortable influences and offers of it 2 But others look to the fountain of all this favour viz. Jesus Christ And therefore most do unanimously expound it of him And he it is that is appointed by his Father to rise in a spirituall way to his people and never to set more upon them Sol. 2 The b Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. venit Cum de Sole dicitur Hebraicè idem quodoccidereest ut Gen. 26. quia ingressus erat Sol. Tunc enim videtur ingredi Terras vel Oceanum ut loquuntur Poëtae Forerius in locum going down of the Sun in the proper notion of it is nothing else but the departing of it out of our Horizon And here the going down of Jesus Christ if possible should be his finall departure away from his people Christ will never so set but however he may be eclipsed yet he will still continue in their Hemisphere i. e. He will abide with them for ever Sol. 3 The persons related unto by the particle thy are expressed in the verse after the Text Thy people shall be all righteous by profession at least and by separation at the last when it shall be wholly purged and only the righteous shall dwell in it Jesus Christ hath been about this purging work even from the dayes of his coming into the flesh yea some way from the beginning of the world in separating the tares from the corn n Matth. 3.12 the chaffe from the wheat and he stil goes on to purge his floor and will go on to the day of harvest To those that have righteousness imputed or imparted this promise doth actually belong while they are here of which more anon Sol. 4 By going down any more There might indeed seemingly be the going down of Christ when he went into the lower parts of the earth But that was meerly in regard of his humanity For * Heb. 9.28 Christ was once only offered to bear the sins of many He went down once and no more not a second time But in regard of his Deity by his Spirit once arising in our souls he will never any more go down to us Sol. 5 This Promise in regard of the inchoation of it is to be begun here where our God freeth his people many times from mourning and gives unto them beauty for ashes the garment of joy for the spirit of heavinesse Where Saints are truly stiled a Isa 61.3 trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified where they have the spirituall b Luke 17.21 kingdome of Christ begun within them But For the perfect consummation of it that is reserved for heaven hereafter yet the first fruits we do enjoy here Saints they have in the Church Militant this promise begun to them onely the full complement of it is reserved for them in the Church triumphant It is now to the beginnings of Christ here that I shall labour in my ensuing discourse to apply this promise which being thus expounded doth resolve it self into these two Observations 1 Doct. That Jesus Christ is the same to Believers as the Sun is to the world 2 Doct. Quamvis obnubiletur c. Oeculampadius That however Jesus Christ the supercelestiall Sun may be eclipsed or beclouded yet he will never go down from his people Thy Sun shall no more go down i. e. however it may have a curtain drawn between thee and him as the firmamentary Sun hath by clouds or by the Moon in its eclipse yet go down i.e. depart he will not Now for the profitable prosecution of these observations I shall follow this method 1 I shall demonstrate the grounds why Christ is shadowed out under this notion of the Sun 2 I shall cleare Christ to be the same to beleevers as the Sun is to the world Both these in reference to the former proposition And then 3 That however this mysticall Sun may sometimes be eclipsed yet he will never go down from his people 4 I shall give the improvement of all For the first There are few that haesitate about the application of this metaphoricall title to Jesus Christ that are not utterly unacquainted with the word of God because we read that a Psal 84.11 Jehovah the Lord God is a Sun to his people the giver both of grace and glory to them And the Prophet b Mal. 4.2 Malachi is very plain that he is the Sun of righteousnesse that doth arise with healing in his wings c Placaei Disputat p. 175. this Sun being twice stiled Jehovah in this Chapter If any doubt be it is touching the accommodation of this to Jesus Christ And for the resolving of that I shal lay down these two things viz. that he may be justly so stiled in a way of 1 Opposition 2 Allusion 1 If you look upon him in a way of opposition to 1 Leviticall shadows or ceremonies which yet were typicall prefigurations of him Christ was as the Sun in respect of those candles torches stars or lesser lights at most He did as far surpasse them in regard of splendor as the firmamentary Sun doth the signe of the Sun painted upon any Table They are indeed but dull a Heb. 10.1 Colos 2.17 shadows of him that was the glory to come 2 That innate or naturall darknesse that is to be found in all men by nature For by nature b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.8 we were not onely darke but darknesse not in the concrete but in the abstract which carrieth abundance of emphasis in it And when Jesus Christ comes he fills us with light as the Sun doth the body of the hemisphere overrun with darknesse And thus he becomes c John 1.9 the light of every one that

and n Psal 19.8 maketh his word to be an enlightning word to the mentall eyes of his people 2 He it is that filleth the souls of his elect with light not onely with the light of naturall reason wherewithall a John 1.9 He fils all that come into this world But with the light of grace He that did command light to shine out of darknesse b 2 Cor. 4.6 'T is he that shineth into our souls He sets up a light there viz. the light of saving knowledge and justifying faith yea and the c John 8.12 light of life too in the beginnings or it The Sun naturall is as the Father of light naturall and the Sun spirituall of light spirituall Wherefore he saith d Ephes 5.14 A wake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light e Isai 60.2 Placaei disp 17. Pag. 179. A passage cited out of this Chapter of Isaiah The Lord shall rise upon thee and his glory shal be seen upon thee The Apostle changeth only the title Jehovah into Christ 2 It produceth heat Hence the Psalmist tels us that f Psal 195. there is nothing hid from the heat thereof It is the heat of the sun that warms the seeds and roots of flowers and many herbs in spring that are in the womb of the earth and draweth them out by his shinings It 's his heat that doth produce Minerals within as well as vegetables upon the surface of the earth Now what the Sun is in the Kingdom of nature that is Christ in the Kingdome of grace It is he that by his word warmes the hearts within of his people 1 Sometimes making them to yeild As the hard Adamant by soking of it in the warm blood of a Goat which as some say is rendred thereby apt to be worked upon so the hard heart of a sinner steeped in the warme blood of Christ Zach. 12.10 fals presently relenting that it may be wrought upon 2 Sometimes to melt as wax before the fire As David found by experience Psal 22.14 My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels It is this that turneth an heart of stone into an heart of flesh according to that g Ezek. 36.26 covenant-promise I will take from them an heart of stone and I will give unto them an heart of flesh A melting heart by reason of fear is a great judgement as we see in the h Exod. 15.15 Josh 2.11 Canaanites and i Isai 19.1 Egyptians But to have an heart melted by reason of sin seen through the glasse of the Gospel and the piercings of Jesus Christ is a transcendent mercy As we see in k 2 Kin. 22.19 Josiah Of whom we read that his heart was tender and therfore penitentially he humbleth himself before the Lord. It is the heat under the Limbeck that maketh the water drop out of the head of the Limbeck and it is the inward heat which we find from Jesus Christ that makes many times tears trickle down our eyes because men keep not God's laws It was this that made David wash his bed and water his couch with tears 3 Sometimes it inflames them and setteth their hearts a burning within them That warmth that Christ put into his word did so far transcendently warm Jeremiah's heart that he professeth l Jer. 20.9 his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay Fire will out It was that which made the hearts of those Disciples so hot within them that they brake out Did not our hearts burn within us Luke 24.32 while he spake unto us by the way and opened unto us the Scriptures It is Christ that filleth us so with the fire of love that all the waters of affliction cannot quench it 3 Sometimes it causeth life How doth it draw out that plasticall or formative power which is to be found in seeds making them to sprout while they are under the clod and thereby enquickning them How doth it as it were every Spring call back roots and trees out of their swoone or seeming deadnesse in which they lay all Winter long The Sun by his beams carrieth down life unto them yea to us also in some respect It is the sun that concurreth as an universall cause to the generation of man Sol homo generant hominem and to his supporting in the estate of nature Did not the Sun so qualifie the aire with it's beams it would be utterly unfit to generate or maintaine the vitall spirits in us We owe indeed the life of nature some way to the sun in nature But sure I am we owe the life of grace totally unto Jesus Christ this spirituall Sun Jesus Christ is our m Col. 34. life as well as our light It is he that is a n 1 Cor. 15.45 quickning Spirit As no creature can possibly live without the benefit of the sun so neither can any Christian live the life of grace without Jesus Christ 4 It makes the earth very fruitful it is the sun that makes the trees to sprout and the grasse to spring corne to grow and in a word that crowneth the earth with fruitfulnesse Our God gives o Acts 14.17 fruitfull seasons in their season filling our hearts with food and gladnesse chiefly though not onely by the Suns means whereby he doth renew the face of the earth and bringeth precious things out of it And is there any thing that makes a Christian more p Philip. 1.11 fruitfull in the fruits of righteousnesse then Jesus Christ Without Christ it is certain we can do nothing z Philip. 2.13 till he worketh in us both the will and the deed of his own good pleasure But when his blessing comes to our soules the command of Christ is operative as in the creation when he said q Gen. 1.22 Be fruitfull And it is he that by commanding maketh us to be r Col. 1.10 fruitfull in every good work and doth increase the fruits of righteousnesse in us As all our wel-springs are in Christ so all our fruitfulnesse is from him 5 It bringeth comfort How doth the sight of the Sun in the open air cheer and revive the heart of a man newly drawn out of a dungeon or that hath been a long time confined to his bed of sickness How Å¿ Eccles 11.7 pleasant then is it to behold the light of the Sun It s light and warmth and all its influences are refreshing unto us It is not the promises though never so cordiall that can bring in comfort to our souls unless they do receive a command from Jesus Christ for this end and purpose It is he that comforteth them that are cast down It is he that is the t Luk. 2.25 consolation of Israel and he comes furnished with a commission from his