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	prayer_n	son_n	6,000	5	5.5465	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12982	The doctrine and vse of repentance necessarie to be practised and vsed of all who looke to sing the song of Moses, and the song of the lambe beyond the glassie sea: Reuel.15.23. Preached in sundrie sermons in the parish church of Alhallowes Bredstreete in London: by Rich. Stock; Doctrine and use of repentance.	Stock, Richard, 1569?-1626.	1610 (1610)	STC 23275; ESTC S106168	171,388	390

vntamed calfe conuert thou me and I shall be conuerted c. And Ieremie prayeth in his Lamentation for himselfe and his people thus Lament 5.21 Turne thou vs vnto thee O Lord and we shall bee turned renew our daies as of old By all which places it is apparent that prayer is a meanes by which repentance is obtained from God and that men of old haue sought it from him And reason they had to doe so Reason 1. First because it is Gods gift now his gifts hee giueth to men who desire them and so seeke for them by feruent prayer for defire will make them aske and that with earnestnes For most commonly where the heart affecteth there as one saith the hand toucheth and the tongue talketh yea and that with earnestnes and intention Seeing then God giues repentance but not vndesired desire and prayer must needs be a special means to come by it Reason 2. Secondly because God workes this in men by his spirit it affecting mouing and changing mens hearts and therefore it is called the spirit of regeneration and sanctification by S. Paul to Titus Titus 3.5 He saued vs by the washing of the new birth and the renuing of the holie Ghost Now this is to be obtained by prayer as our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell of S. Luke saith Luke 11.13 If ye that are euill can giue good gifts vnto your ohildren how much more shall your heaueuly father giue the holy Ghost to them that desire him Hence is that prayer of Dauid Psalm 51.12 Restore to me the ioy of thy saluation and stablish me with thy free spirit The spirit then is Gods finger to work repentance the meanes to obtaine the spirit is prayer therefore is inuocation of God a special meanes to obtaine repentance Obiect Here may some obiect If prayer be a meanes by which men come to repentance how should an impenitent sinner pray or pray that he may be accepted and so at all or any time be conuerted Answ I answere that an impenitent man is either such as neuer repented or such as hauing repented is relapsed and fallen into some sin This latter though he haue diminished his graces hath not vtterly lost them by his fall and so hauing them though in smaller measure hee may pray for the renewing thereof The other sort of impenitents is double either the Heathen and Infidels who indeed cannot pray in faith knowing not the Gospel of whom is that spoken by S. Paul to the Romans Rom. 10.14 How shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeued and how shall they beleeue in him of whom they haue not heard c. Or they are young and new borne Christrans who may be indued with some knowledge and may pray though not as they ought nor as the faithfull of better vnderstanding doe I say they may haue some generall faith though not a speciall expresse distinct faith by which they may be able to pray as Carnelius did who prayed and so had faith as Augustine saith Cuius acceptae sunt eleemosynae exanditae orationes antequam credidisset in Christum nec tamen sine aliqua side donabat orabat Nam quomodo inuocabat in quem nō crediderat August de praedest Sanct. lib. 1. cap. 7. His almes were receiued and his prayers heard before he beleeued in Christ yet did he not giue and pray without some faith For saith he else how did be call vpon him on whom he had not beleeued Meaning that hee had a faith though not a distinct faith as afterward he had by the preaching of Peter Now prayer from these or the first kind of men who neede repentance may obtaine and preuaile with God for this gift And now I passe to the vses of this point Vse 1. The first whereof is That if prayer bee a meanes to beget repentance then may we see hereby whence it is in part that many men neuer repent nor turne to God but goe on still in their wicked and wandring courses namelie because they neuer once pray for it As therefore S. Iames saith Iames 4.2 Yee get nothing because yee aske not fo may be said of these men they obtaine not because they aske not nor seeke it Many other things they may be heard asking of God and sometimes a little coldlie the remission of their sins and more earnestlie the remoouing of a punishment or iudgement but they neuer desire or pray heartilie for repentance Which ariseth either from the blindnes of their minds or the corruption of their affections sometime from the one and sometime from the other Some men happilie thinke so well of themselues that they need it not and where there is no need or no neede felt and discerned there will bee no seeking not desiring No man desireth that which he alreadie inioyeth Now to haue and not to want Nemo appetit quod habet differ not much and what is prayer but a desire and seeking to haue that we want which want they not discerning they pray not and praying not it prooues they discerne not their need Whosoeuer saith Bernard Quisquis non ardenter desideret poenitentiam videtur operibus dicere non indigere se poenitentia Bernard in Vigil natiu Dom. serm 2. doth not earnestly desire repentance hee seemeth to say by his practise that hee hath no need of it Some againe though they discerne they need it yet they thinke they can repent when they list and that it is a thing in their owne power Now he that hath need of any thing and can supplie his owne want or is so perswaded hee can doe it when it shal be fitting for him he will neuer aske it or seeke it elsewhere And this is that conceit which possesseth most men and so maketh them neuer seeke nor pray for repentance Some againe are so corrupted in their affections and in such loue with their sinne that they aske not this because they are loth to part with that or if they pray it is coldly and careleslie to teach God to denie As a little before we heard Augustine confesse of himselfe that whilest he was in his sinnes being loth to part with them hee prayed God to giue him chastitie but desired it not in his heart but was affraid lest God would heare him too soone because hee would liue in sinne still to fulfil the lusts of his flesh So these men haue many sins of pleasure profit or delight and they pray to God to giue them repentance but they desire it not in their harts because they are loth to part with their sinnes Or admit they goe about to make a change yet as Augustine saith of himselfe Non placet ire per istas angustias August Confess lib. 8. cap. 1. They are loth to goe such a strait narrow and painefull way by crucifying the flesh and mortifying the members And so they pray not or they

and sometime for loue of vertue may leaue their sinnes And there is a serious repentāce of the wicked but it is but temporarie as that of Ahab which is but worldly sorrow that brings forth death And there is a repentance of hypocrites which is fained and Pharisaicall onely in the outward act But of none of these doe I speake but of true repentance such as is described before touching which this is the point to be obserued Only the elect can truly repent That true sincere and sauing repentance is onlie of the elect and that none can repent and truely turne to God from their sin but they who are elected of him And this is a book case prooued thus First in Isaiah Isa 59.20 where the Lord promiseth the Redeemer vnto them that turne from iniquite in Iacob So that onely they for whom Christ died can repent So the Apostle Peter saith Acts 5.31 God hath made him a Prince and a Sauiour to giue repentance to Israel That is to the true people of God Hence it is that the Apostle Paul to the Romanes Rom. 2.5 speaketh of some that cannot repent through the hardnes of their hearts Likewise the Author to the Hebrewes excludeth manie from repentance and saith Heb. 6.4 That it is not possible that they should be renewed by repentance This further hath a probatum est as we say for it is neuer found in the Scriptures that any truly repented but such as were Gods by election and grace and such were Dauid Peter Manasses Mary and such like who truely repented because they were his whereas others neuer could because they were not elected of him Therefore this is a thing onely proper to the children and elect of God which truth standeth with reasons also out of the word of truth Reason 1. The first is because repentance and remission of sinnes goe together and to whom one belongeth to them both appertaine therefore are they ioyned together by the Apostle Peter Acts 5.31 Hee shall giue repentance to Israel and remission of sinnes But remission of sinnes is proper to the elect of God and is onely a benefit bestowed vpon his owne As in the Apostles creed wee beleeue it to bee a priulledge onely belonging to the Church and her members Therefore repentance is likewise onelie theirs Reason 2. The second is because true repentance the spirit of regeneration and true faith euer goe together and are inseparable for from these it ariseth and commeth as hath been shewed now onlie the elect can haue these and those who are Gods As saith the Apostle to the Romans Rom. 8.9 They that haue the spirit of Christ they are his And none can haue faith but those that haue Gods spirit And S. Iohn saith Iohn 1.12 To as many as receined him and beleeued in his name hee gaue power to be the sonnes of God Then if faith and the spirit of sanctification be proper onely to the elect none but they are likewise capable of this benefit of repentance Reason 3. The third is because repentance in this life and saluation in that which is to come are necessarie consequents one of another whosoeuer repenteth shall be saued and whosoeuer is saued did repent but saluation is onely of the elect therefore repentance is proper to them also Question Why then is repentance preached to all Answ Because the Lord onely knoweth who are his and who belongeth to his election and not man and therefore though there bee many wolues within the Church as sheep without yet must as Augustine saith the Minister preach to al because often wolues are made sheep and for ought that he knoweth one may be called as well as another For as Augustine speaketh of faith so may I of repentance Posse habere fidem sicut posse habere charitatem naturae est hominum habere autem fidem vt habere charitatem gratiae est fidelium August de praedest Sanct. lib. 1. cap. 5. The nature of man may haue and is capable of faith as it is of charitie I ad of repentance but it is a proper grace of the faithful to haue faith charity I adde here also repentance And sometime men most vnlikely are wont to haue faith and brought to repent and others whom men would thinke God had chosen are reiected As Dauid in the eies of Samuel was farthest off from the kingdome of all the sons of Ishai yet he only was anointed so oftentimes hee that is most likely in the eies of man by reason of a ciuil course of life is farthest from repentance Who would haue thought that Saul a persecuting Pharisie should haue bin conuerted and many other ciuill and slie Pharisies and Scribes been left in their sins yet so it was By which it appeareth that many more vnlikely are called and conuerted when others more likely are left in their corruption And thus the question being resolued I come to the vses of this point Vse 1. And first this is but cold newes for many men liuing in the Church and lying in their sins in their hardnes of hart and impenitencie yea when they are such as by the means which draw others to a consideration and search of their waies and to a reformation of their liues they are more hardned and further from returning as namely by the iudgements of God and the preaching of the word This may be cold at their hearts they can haue no assurance that they are Gods I doe not say that they are not his at all for not simple impenitencie but finall obstinacie is a proofe of that but they can haue no assurance that they are his while they are in that condition yea rather they haue iust cause to suspect they are not his Such men especially as when they are perswaded to this dutie answer some in words and some by their cariage what needs this or to what end is it our sinnes are now past neither can wee effect that we should not haue fallen that that is done cannot be vndone why then should we mourne or afflict our selues These persons consider not that though the action bee ceased yet the guilt remaineth which is an obligation binding them to eternall destruction and leauing in them the corruption and deformity of the soule and all the faculties of it But if they would reason rightlie they should conclude the contrary to that they imagine One comforting a certaine Philosopher mourning for the death of his son vsed this argument to perswade him that by al his lamentation he could not remedie that which was done and reuiue his sonne to whom hee answered Yea this especially I grieue for that it cannot be otherwise So should they mourne that they haue offended and that it cannot be otherwise compassed but that they haue offended and transgressed the law of God Others there are who seeing their sin prosper with them and God vsing it well and