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	nature_n	son_n	13,355	5	6.0279	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28519	A consolatory treatise of the four complexions, that is, an instruction in the time of temptation for a sad and assaulted heart shewing where-from sadness naturally ariseth, and how the assaulting happeneth : hereto are annexed some consolatory speeches exceeding profitable for the assaulted hearts & souls, written ... March 1621 / by the Teutonicall philosopher, Jacob Behmen.; Trost-Schrift von vier Complexionen. English	Böhme, Jakob, 1575-1624.; Hotham, Charles, 1615-1672?	1654 (1654)	Wing B3402; ESTC R19729	29,679	98

especially when she casts her imagination into the complexion by an anxious search and so feeds upon ♂ his poysonous breath blowes up her fire-life therewith then is she fill'd with a most bitter anguish and horible fear of the Devill and Gods wrath in her Then begins she to speculate and think that God hath not ordain'd her to eternall life in Jesus Christ whereupon she becomes so discontented that she cannot willingly lift up her eyes and countenance to God thinketh herself such a heinous sinner that the door of grace is wholly shut up against her But all this is nothing really but a fancy arising from the complexion disturbed by the starry influence wherewith the soul plagues herself For when the Macrocosmick Spirit hath in the Constellations vehicle insinuated it self into her it acts in her like a Hocus-Pocus fills her brain with strange fancies in so much that both the deluded soul is therewith much afflicted and the outward spirit enflames it self in the earthy origination whence the centrall wheel of Nature whirles fast about that the Spirit cannot fixedly lay hold upon and stay the thoughts which is properly madness with which we oft hear how melancholy men are infested Which when the Devill sees he injects likewise his imagination torments the soul yet worse but he hath no power to hurt her but by herself only the same principle which is the fountain of anguish in the soul is also the fountain of his life as Devil and therefore he is most delighted in such a lodging Except in this he hath a perfect abhorrency from the whole nature of mankind Therefore let no man thus tormented with anguish imagin within himself in the assaults of the complexion that it comes from Gods wrath and want of mercy in him which is a meer fancy of his own complexion in the starrs For we well see that the vilest fatted swine of the Devills herd that wallow and bath themselves day and night in the filth of sin are not so full of sadness not so assaulted with this kinde of temptation the reason is because they have an outward light in the complexion wherein they dance before the Devill in an Angells likeness So as long as there is but one little sparke of light glimmering in a mans heart which desires Gods grace and would gladly partake of salvation the door of Gods grace stands yet open For he who is given over by God whose sin is come to the full measure he is not at all sollicitous after God Man or Devill but is stone-blind runs on carelesly in a course of lightness without fear rests himself upon a customary practise of some outward service of God goes a beast into the sanctuary and comes again a beast out there is in him no true divine knowledge but all his religion is a meer outward custome and Chimaera of mans brain which he sets up to himself as an Idol and embraces it as his holiness Hereby may the Melancholy minde perceive that God doth not so thoroughly manifest his wrath in this life For however the ungodly be punish'd by God in this life he looks at the punishment not as coming from a divine hand but as a thing casually befallen him But that this troubled consc●ence is rather a subject of his pity than wrath that of the Prophet Esay doth sufficiently evidence A bruised read will he not break and smoking fl●x will he not quench Item Matth. 11. Come to me all yee that are sadned in spirit and I will refresh you Now his yoke is this that what in the course of Nature or by speciall providence befalls the soul be it temptation persecution weakness of body or spirit a man bear it with patience and cast himself with a resigned will into Gods free love and mercy The affliction then cannot hurt the soul at all but rather much profits it For while she sits contentedly in the house of mourning she is not in the house of sin viz. the worlds pride and voluptuousness for God holds her hereby fast chain'd from ranging abroad to immerse herself in the delights of sin She must be content to remain in sorrow for a little while but alas what is it how soon will she be at liberty from her sorrowfull prison and have the victorious Crown of everlasting joy set upon her head O Eternity thy duration is of a vast extent what is it for a soul to be a small moment of time in sadness and after that to rejoyce everlastingly for God will wipe all teares from their eyes As long as there is in the soul but one single sparke that breaths after God Gods spirit is it self present in that spark For that a man is desirous of God and earnestly labours after him with a longing thirst comes in no wise from the now corrupted nature of man but 't is the impulse of the Father in his Son Jesus Christ drawing the soul towards him The Holy Ghost is it self the divine desire No man can desire God without Gods Spirit which is alwayes in such desire and holds fast the will of the desire in God whereby the poor soul is preserv'd from falling away for S. Paul saith We know not what we should speak before God when we pray but the spirit of God intercedes for us with gronings which cannot be uttered according to the good pleasure of God Why should we then any longer rest in pusillanimous doubting of his grace and good will towards us he is far more willing at all time to receive us to mercy than we are to come to him See how he dealt with the lost Son which had wasted his Fathers inheritance among the Devills fatted swine and was now become a naked and filthy swineherd how as soon as he saw him returning to him he fell upon his neck and kissed him saying This is my dear Son whom I had once lost but is now come home again he was dead but is now again restor'd to life how he stirr'd up himself with his whole house neighbourhood to rejoyce over his once prodigall Son return'd again into his bosom according to what Christ in another place testifies more explicitely that there is joy in Heaven among the Angells of God over one sinner that repenteth more than over 99 just persons that need no repentance This lost Son is no other than the wretched sinfull man when he begins to be sensible how great a sinner he hath been and thinks of betaking himself to Gods mercy then doth our most gracious Father in Christ Jesus go out to meet him embraces him with the deepest joy and both the Angells and holy Souls in Heaven rejoyce exceedingly that a beloved Soul a dear brother is come up to them from out of the house of sin and death The sorrowfull soul troubles and torments herself because she cannot presently in the point of her desire exsuscitate dig up in herself the fountain of the greatest joy she sighs and bewailes

her sad condition thinks God will have none of her when she cannot palpably feel his presence She sees other men that walk along with her in the way of Gods fear that yet are cheerfull enough and supposing this cheerfulness of theirs proceeds only from a divine fountain of love and light in their souls is conceited that she is not accepted with God but rather rejected by him because she does not presently upon her conversion which she expected feel in her heart the like comfortable effects of the refreshing presence of God Before the time of my enlightning it went even thus with me I stood out a hard conflict before I obtain'd my precious Crown of victory and then did I first learn out this experimental knowledge that God dwells not in the outward fleshy heart but in the souls center in himself then was I also first aware of it that 't was God which had laid hold on me and drawn me to him in my first desire which before I was ignorant of thinking the good desire had been my own property and that God was indeed far from me But afterwards I saw him and rejoyc'd at the unspeakable grace and love of God and now write the same for a caveat that they by no meanes faint or despair when the comforter delayes his comming but rather think of that of David Heaviness may endure for a night but joy commeth in the morning Thus hath it far'd with many of the chiefest saints of God they were forc'd to strive a long time for their Crown of Victory nor indeed is any man crown'd therewith till he hath passed as a Conqueror through the combat T is indeed deposited neer the soul but in the second principle the soul stands fixt upon the first principle and therefore if she will have the Crown set upon her head in the time of this life she must earnestly fight and contend for it And then if she go not so far as to obtain it in this world yet she obtains it after this life in the laying down of this earthly tabernacle For Christ saith Be of a good comfort I have overcome the world and in the world you have sorrow but in me peace The precious pearl lies in many an assaulted and troubled spirit much neerer than in them that think they have already comprehended it but it hides it self for where it lies richest and most noble there will it not easily discover it self but rather wraps it self close up as if it would never be communicated therefore let no soul be hereby terrified or amazed She therefore hides herself that the desire of the soul being the more earnestly enflamed after her may in the comprehension drink deep to assuage her thirst and meanwhile knock unweariedly at her gates till it be opened unto him For sayes Christ Seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you And My Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that pray to him for it Have a certain assured confidence upon Gods promise and however thy misgiving heart say no yet let not this affright thee For to believe is not to be fill'd with joy in the fleshly heart and outward complexion that the fleshly mind and Spirit be so jocund that the very heart and reines leap for joy this is not faith but these are only some love emanations from the Holy Ghost within a divine lightning which hath no stability but after a short resplendence disappeares For God dwells not in the outward heart or complexion but in himself in the second center in the Jewell of the noble Image of Gods likeness which is hidden in this outward world But the true Faith is that the Spirit of the Soul with its will and desire goes into and thirsts after that it neither sees nor feeles here understand that of the soul in it self precisely considered stands not in this time yet she sends in the subtill spirit of the will which hath its original from her fire-life and in this spirit of the will is the pretious pearle received so that the souls-fire now remaines in the desire For so as the pearl remaines in the spirit of the will so long does the desire remain in the soul For this pearl is a spark of the Divine love t is the engin with which the Father drawes the soul unto him in his love the soul must therefore stand fast in her desire even when the outward reason out of the dark Complexion speaks a flat contradiction and denies Gods presence there Were not God present there could be no desire or will after him in the estranged soul For where God is not in the Spirit of the will the soul is as wholly blind and dead as to God desires not God at all nor hath any want or breathing after him but lives and disports himself in the heaven of his own natural light and self-pleasing imaginations only is a more subtil piercing understanding than the other beast of the field his souls natural essence being of a higher gradation than theirs Therefore by no means let any troubled soul suffer the complexion to fasten such an imagination as this upon his heart that God is not present with her will have none of her other wise the soul feeding upon such imagination becomes exceeding heavy It s a very great sin for the mind to shape out such a fancy in the heart for by this means the soul which is a noble creature out of Gods Nature falls into great anxiety and the Phantasy kindles the souls fire with this fewell and causes it to burn in the painfull principle Dear soul think no other when the anxious property of thy complexion thus kindled by the starrs begins to move but that thou then standest as a labourer in Gods vineyard thou must not stand idle but be working thou dost God herein a great and very considerable piece of service And thy labour is this that thou overcome the temptation by an unmoveable faith however no comfort in the outward heart appear to support it Be not deceived T is not faith to give assent to what I see and feel but this is faith to trust the hidden Spirit and believe the truth of its words maugre all the contradiction of blind nature and this so firmly that I chuse sooner to lose my natural life than distrust his promise this is a faith which wrastles rightly with God as old Jacob did the whole night which though it neither sees nor feels the least atome of the thing hop'd for yet rests firm upon the word of promise this faith does indeed overcome God as 't was said to Jacob thou hast wrastled with God and Man and half got the upper hand If thou ask what word of promise I mean I answer 't is this My Father will give the holy Spirit to them that humbly and fervently beg it of him And this is that which the mouth of Christ it self hath further delivered When he