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	pray_v	prayer_n	6,987	5	6.6304	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42350	The Christians labour and reward, or, A sermon, part of which was preached at the funeral of the Right Honourable the Lady Mary Vere, relict of Sir Horace Vere, Baron of Tilbury, on the 10th of January, 1671, at Castle Heviningham in Essex by William Gurnall ...	Gurnall, William, 1617-1679.	1672 (1672)	Wing G2258; ESTC R10932	62,221	185

work without this help 't is heavy indeed yea too heavy for him to stand under but Gods helping hand put to it makes this heavy work light The Ship which when lying on ground all the Teams in the Country could not draw off how easily is it set a float when the Tide comes in Thus the Heart which the Christian by no pains and industry of his own can raise out of its dullness and indisposition to Duty Oh how soon is it elevated and inspirited when God flows in with his secret Aspirations and Exuscitations of his Blessed Spirit and Grace he who confessed that he could do nothing of himself not so much as think a good thought tells us also he is able to do all things through Christ who strengthneth him now this help from the Lord is promised but it comes not till the Christians hand is put to the work let him be up and doing and then God will not fail to be with him 'T is cheap travelling we say for a Child in his Fathers company to be sure God will pay the charge the Christian is at in his whole journey to Heaven it is easie working while God holds our hand yea puts strength into it Art thou to pray his Spirit will lift with thee for so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies art thou tempted whilst thou art fighting in the Valley below Christs hands are lift up in Heaven above for thy Victory I have prayed that thy Faith fail not yea he doth not only pray above for thee but will be in the Field with thee and in thee by the secret succours of his Spirit My Grace is sufficient for thee which is not meant of Grace Inherent in us that indeed is unsufficient of it self but the auxiliary Grace which he sends in to assist and excite that in a time of need Thirdly Though Christianity be a labour and many troubles and perils attend it yet 't is not alike to all every Christian hath not Hemans Faith Jobs Patience or Pauls Courage neither shall all have Hemans Disertions Jobs Losses nor Pauls Persecutions the stoutest Souldiers are put upon the hottest service the heaviest burden upon the strongest back he knows every Saints ability and so he rates them he will not suffer any to be tempted above that they are able When the Israelites came first out of Egypt he knew they were raw Souldiers and therefore led them about that they might not be put to fight before he had hardned and heartned them more to bear such a work While Christ was upon Earth he interposed his own body between his weak Disciples and the fury of the wicked world but when he went to Heaven then he ventured them into the storm but careful first to re-inforce them with power from above before he let them take the Field Acts 1.4 Being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father Fourthly The merciful indulgence which the Lord gives them as to their failings hard work indeed God calls them to but the harder the work is the more his pity is expressed towards them in pardoning those invincible infirmities which notwithstanding their faithful endeavour will be found in their doing it It was hard for the Apostles to keep their eyes wakeful in the dead of the night Christ considereth this and Apologizeth for them even while he chides them the Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak It is hard when Afflictions are strong and long not to fall into some indecencies of speech and behaviour we have heard of Jobs Impatience as well as Patience yet the Lord was graciously pleased to to take his part against his accusing Friends ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath Job 42.7 It is hard to act Faith when sense and reason are non-plust the Lord therefore is pleased to overlook the weaknesses of his Childrens faith which in such deep plunges they bewray so they strive against them and be humbled for them in magnis tentasse aliquid non parvum in great and difficult enterprizes an essay and endeavour is not little Peter shewed great Faith in venturing to go upon the Sea but discovered infirmity when he began to sink therefore Christ pitieth and succoureth his weakness Davids strait was in a manner as great at Land as Peters was at Sea When at Gath amongst his Enemies whose Champion he had slain much fear and unbelief he borrowed in this his strait yet some secret actings of Faith were mingled with these his fears as appeared by the Prayer he then lift up to God and even this Prayer attended with so many distrustful fears found acceptance with God which made the good man bring this forth as an encouragement for others This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his Troubles Psalm 34.6 A poor man indeed he was at this time not only in his outward state but his inward poor and low in the actings of his Faith O what encouragement is here to come into the service of God hard work thou mayst meet with but not an hard Master do but thou thy best and God will forgive thy worst Beware of wickedness in not doing what thou canst and God will not reject thee for thy weakness Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Psalm 103.13 I come now to the Second Part of the Text which presents us with the reward that attends the Christians labour it is not in vain in the Lord they shall not be put off with their labour for their pains no there is a reward laid up in Heaven which will abundantly compensate all the pain and pains they were put to on Earth but we must not understand this as if the Christian received no gain or advantage in this life from the service of God while he is labouring in it Godliness hath the promise of this life as well as the other There are promises of which payment is made here and though these be inferiour to what the Christian shall receive hereafter yet be they so pretious as prove Religion even in this life no hospes asymbolus No guest that lodgeth on free cost but such as pays well and that in present Coin for its entertainment It affords Bread to the eater as well as Seed to the sower there is fruit unto Holiness which the Christian may now feed on to his comfort as well as an hope of Eternal life to be received at the end of this The very vales which the Christian hath given him while at his work afford him enough for his present expence to maintain him in a port becoming his high hopes for afterwards First His conscionable labour in the Lords work will gain him more ability and holy skill to do his work still better by exercising of himself daily unto Godliness he becomes more

say of this Gracious Lady what Nehemiah said of another Noble Person in his time She was a Faithful Woman and feared God above many Some are so prodigiously wicked that they seem to have wedded the Vices of many others But this good Lady may be said to have collected the Excellencies of many other Christians In her you might have seen these various Graces which grow to an eminency but severally in others met altogether in one knot I shall speak of a few First The fear of the Great God was very great in her wonderful tender she was of offending him She hath been often heard to say and that solemnly Oh I would not sin against my God She professed that she dreaded Hell most as a place where God was Blasphemed Oh pretious Saint to dread Hells sin more than Hells fire Secondly Her Zeal to the Worship of God was eminent First To the Publick this was evidenced many ways First By her Zeal to get able and faithful Ministers for those Livings she had in her dispose and by improving her utmost interest to procure the like for this Parish where she resided in its several vacancies And herein the Noble Patron did most kindly gratifie her with the choice deeply obliging not only her Honour but the whole Town thereby so that you in this place have lived in a Goshen of Gospel light for a long season and are able also to tell how comfortably she spake to those that taught the good Word of the Lord amongst you What countenance and real encouragement she gave them in the Lords Work without sparing her purse to do it Secondly By her constant attendance on the Publick Worship so long as the Lord vouchsafed her any health yea she did not only attend on it her self but was careful that her Family should do the same with her They that would not serve God with her were no Servants for her Thirdly She was no less devout in than constant at the Publick Worship She durst not trifle with Holy things which made one in this respect say of her That this Lady by her Solemn and Reverent Deportment in Divine Worship would make one believe that there is a God indeed As for the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which is so dismally neglected by many her desires were most Ardent to partake of it frequently saying as the Minister of the place informed me that she durst not neglect no not any one opportunity that was offered for the enjoying this Sacred Ordinance And oh how intent was she in Preparation for it the whole preceding week was taken up by her for that work in which she would always have a private Fast with her Family or a secret one in her Closet Was not this one that meant to go to Heaven in good earnest Secondly The Private Worship of God Let us follow her from the Church to her own House and we shall find that she brought her Religion and Devotion home with her and did not leave them in her Pue behind her till she returned to it again the next Sabbath Some can complement God Almighty before their Neighbours on the Sabbath but care not to acquaint with God at home all the week after But if ever any privite dwelling might be called a Chappel or little Sanctuary her house was such There you might find her and her Family twice every day upon their knees solemnly Worshipping the Great God there you might see them humbly sitting at his feet to hear his most Holy Word read unto them concluding constantly their Evening Service with Singing one of Davids Psalms What Strangers soever were present there was no putting by or adjoyning the Worship of God to a more convenient season On the Lords day you might hear the Sermons Preached in Publick repeated to the Family the Servants called to give an account before her or what they remembred the high Praises of God sounded forth by the whole Family together After Supper again you might hear the Servants in their room exercising themselves in the same Heavenly Duty of Singing Psalms And no sooner did the good Lady hear them strike up but away she would go to joyn with them in that duty Follow her up the stairs there you should be sure to find her twice every day shut up some hours in her Closet which was excellently furnished with Pious Books of Practical Divinity Here she redeemed much pretious time in reading the holy Scriptures and other good Books that might give her further light into them and help to put more heat into that light she had obtained Here she poured out her devout Soul with such fervours of Spirit in Prayer as could not be hid sometimes from those her Maidens whose occasions drew them at any time near her Closet dore and yet are we not at an end of this good Ladies Devotions for every night she would her self pray with her Maidens before she went to bed And now is it any wonder she grew so rich in Grace who drove so great and constant a Trade in the means of Grace and had so many ways to bring her in Spiritual gains Thirdly Her Love to God besides what already hath been said did many ways make it self evident to be of an high degree First The mournful complaints she would make that she could love God no more the reason of which indeed was because she loved him so much Therefore she thought she loved him so little because she knew she could never love him enough The truth is she had such raised apprehensions of Gods Glorious Excellency as caused her to think her highest affections unworthy of him None indeed that have such high apprehensions of the Divine greatness and goodness can love him little or think their love when most to be great Secondly The vehement desires and longings she had to be gone hence that she might be with Christ She was one of those very few Christians which stood in need of old Mr. Dods use of Exhortation which I have heard he would make to the Saints in his Preaching That they would he content and patient though they were not taken up to Heaven so soon as they desired This good man who was one of the most Heavenly Souls that this Age knew finding to do this was something difficult in his own Soul thought it was ordinary for others to do the like whereas God knows most Christians are of a lower form in Christs School prone rather to linger too much here than to be too hasty of going hence so that they need rather Spur than Bridle and Ministers have more reason to take hold of them with the strongest Arguments they can find to draw them out of the love of this world as the Angels did Lot out of Sodom than to make them willing to continue here But this Gracious Lady knew so much of Heaven as made her stay here tedious to her the earnest option of her Soul was Come Lord Jesus come

ready she was to be dejected from an over deep sence of her unworthiness will find reason to believe that this Man of God gave this Testimony of her to her as a Cordial to revive her Humble Spirit and therefore brings it in with And this to your comfort I add But I am too troublesom I fear to your Honour my hearty Prayers are that as you have begun so you may go on in living your Mothers Holy Life and that then yon may in a good Old Age dye her happy death with much Peace and Honour And that so long as you shall have a Posterity live on Earth your good Mother may never be Dead but may from Generation to Generation have those descending from her that will keep her Name and Pretious Example alive by a due Veneration of the one and Pious imitation of the other Madam I am your Honours most Humble Servant W. GVRNALL Evenham March 13. 1671. ERRATA PAge 51. Line 25. read Bewrayed pag. 87 l. 2O r. on p. 97. l. 22. r. sloughs p. 110 l. 11. r. Sin 1 Cor. 15.58 For as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. WHAT Luther said of Justification by Faith that may we concerning the Resurrection of the dead Articulus est Ecclesiae stantis aut cadentis it is an Article with which the Church standeth or falleth Yet so foul an errour had taken the head of some Members in the Church of Corinth as to deny this grand Truth which S t Paul calls in another place one of the principles of the Doctrine of Christ how say some among you there is no Resurrection of the dead v. 12. And is it not strange that such who professed to believe the Resurrection of Christ should deny their own but much more that any in the Church of Corinth especially in those early days should have such a darkness found upon their minds who stood so near the rising Sun and that while S t Paul himself was yet alive who had planted this Church by this we see though Truth is errours elder yet errour is not much Truths younger Though the Gospel-Church was purest in the Primitive times yet it soon began to corrupt in its Members Not unapt therefore was his saying who compared in this respect the gathering of Churches to the gathering of Apples which when first gathered may appear all fair and sound but then within a while some amongst them begin to speak and others to discover their rottinness No doubt this Church of Corinth and so others gathered by the rest of the Apostles appeared in their Members very sound in the faith and fair in their lives at their first embraceing of the Gospel yet some we see did thus soon discover corruption in both Now to recover the tainted and especially to preserve the sound from this dangerous infection the Apostle sets himself to defend this Article of our Faith well knowing that this was a blow made at the root of Christianity which must needs fall to the ground if this cannot be maintained and he doth it with such invincible arguments that if any Heretick shall now deny it the reason cannot be deficiency in the proof here given but rather a criminous conscience in himself which makes him on his own defence deny a Resurrection for fear of the Judgment which attends it Now the Apostle having done this and withal shewn the glorious array in which the Saints shall arise out of their beds of dust he then v. 55. sings his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or triumphant song over Death and out-braves this King of Terrours to his face that is wont to keep the hearts of poor Mortals in the miserable bondage of a slavish fear O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory As if he had said Death do now thy worst we fear thee not thou mayest indeed get us into thy hands but thou canst not long keep us in thy power fall we shall into the Grave but we fall to rise again and when we arise out of our Graves then shalt thou Death fall into thy Grave never to arise again Then v. 57. he sings with an holy ravishment of joy the praises of God and Christ our Redeemer by whose atchievement this glorious victory over death is won The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ This indeed is our David who cut off the head of this Goliah with his own sword killed Death by falling dead upon it he unstung this Serpent by receiving its sting into his own blesed body He overcame this great Conquerour by submitting himself for a time to be conquered by it when Christ lost his life then his whole Army of Saints won the day Death now to them is no death that which was their punishment as Sinners is now their priviledge as Saints That which stood amongst the threatnings of the Law and was the most formidable of them all hath now changed its place and is got amongst the promises of the Gospel All things are yours or Life or Death 1 Cor. 3.21 So pretious an oyl doth our Apostle extract from this slain Scorpion so sweet an honey comb doth he find in this dead Lyons breast and gives it into the hand of the Saints to go eating of it to their unspeakable joy and comfort but is this victory over Death only matter of joy and comfort unto Believers Oh no Blessed art thou O Land when thy Princes eat for strength and not for drunkenness and blessed art thou O Emanuels Land when thy Saints feed on the priviledges and promises of the Gospel not to make them drunk with Pride nor to lay them asleepin Sloth but to rèfresh them to run the Race set before them and the Joy of the Lord becomes their strength the Apostle therefore goes on to improve and close up his discourse on this subject with an Exhortation to Duty Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast always abounding in the work of the Lord that is be stedfast in the faith of the Gospel and especially in the belief of this particular Article of our Christian faith the Resurrection of the dead and then live up unto this belief walk and work as for God while you live as believing you shall when dead rise again Now my Text hath the nature of a powerful Argument to inforce this Exhortation upon them for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. In which words these two things are observable First the Nature and Quality of the service or work of God it is a Labour the Apostle changeth the the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Work which he had used in the Exhortation immediately preceding into this of Labour and that not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies any ordinary labour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉