Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	flesh_n	law_n	sin_n	20,113	5	5.9622	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20573	A sermon preached at Saint Marie Spittle April. 10. 1615. By Thomas Anyan Doctour of Divinity, and president of Corpus Christi College in Oxon	Anyan, Thomas, 1580 or 81-1632.	1615 (1615)	STC 698; ESTC S115864	24,159	48

peradventure Homini otioso to one that would spend all Eccles 2. 19. And let it not be your sole care to leaue All to your riotous Executors who peradventure in few yeares will consume that estate which with much care in many yeeres you haue gathered together You must purchase something Alteri seculo for the world to come you must make your eyes in this life the overseers of some good workes you must imitate Iacob who to pacifie his brother Esau sent a Present before Gen. 32. 20. and before Cornelius could haue Peter sent vnto him hee sent his Almes deeds to vsher him vp the way into heaven And therefore it is not said in my Text he who hath or hereafter will worke righteousnes but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that actually doth worke righteousnesse That new convert Zacheus did not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the halfe of my goods I wil giue vnto the poore whē I am dead but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I now presently giue Such as defer the performance of the workes of righteousnes till the end of their daies are like those that cary cādles in Lanthornes behind them in a darke night whereby they direct others and themselues in the meane time fall into the ditch It is not for men to bee like swine good for nothing till they be dead or like Christmas-boxes that will afford nothing till they be broken Let vs rather imitate the example of the forenamed Zacheus who gaue in the present tense and that no small driblet but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the halfe of his goods and substance and that not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to one poore man but to many yea and maketh proclamation that if by forged cavillation hee had wronged any man he would restore him fourefold Surely had Zacheus liu'd in these our daies hee had beene an honest Master of the Custome house For if this or the like proclamation should bee made among vs by all of his professiō how many are there in this City now in great reputation and esteeme that would haue scarce sufficient left them in this life to maintaine their families and being dead to defray the expense of an ordinary Funeral And yet these men too to sweeten the mouth of the poore and to stop the eares of the multitude will clad some few in frize when they die bequeath a solemne Potation to their adioyning friends thinking by these petty posthume workes of righteousnesse to make themselues acceptable with God Such men I can compare to nothing more fitly then to the Lion which Sampson killed which in his life time was ravenous and devoured all and being dead was found to haue some little hony in his mouth Iudg. 14. And as we are to worke righteousnes whilest we haue time or rather continually so we must worke our own not other mens we must not like Simon of Cyrene cary other mens crosses we must not be busie Bishops in other mens Diocesses but stand in that station wherevnto we are called and not thinke it sufficient in some respect to be good in other bad to bring forth with one branch sound fruit and with the other rotten but to worke righteousnes in every respect It is not sufficient for the inferiour to be a good man but to bee a good servingman for the superiour to bee a good Master but a good Magistrate It is not sufficient to be a good Preacher but a good Bishop and not only a learned Lawyer but an vpright Iudge For vnlesse in all respects we be quadrate and perfect we shall not bee accepted with God which is the end of my Text shall be the end of my speech Is accepted with God Not in strict legal rigour but in Evangelicall mitigation not because we can performe exact obedience to the Law of God or worke perfect righteousnes but because we loue purpose desire endeavour and in some measure perfourme obedience to the Law of God and where we are deficient we sigh and groane for our defects which at the Chauncery barre of Gods mercy is acceptable performance Acceptable not for our observing what the law requires but for our sincere desire to performe it because as Saint Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ready minde is accepted with God The benefits saith Aristotle lib. 1. Eth. c. 14. which men receiue from God their Parents are of that infinite worth and transcendent value that wee are not able to returne for them any correspondency of desert 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The reason is because the gifts of God and his acceptation is infinite but the actions of man finite and determinate the best whereof hath many staines and imperfections For the immediate and next causes of our workes are not altogither spirituall and totally regenerate because there dwels yet the Iebusite in Ierusalem with the Israelites the soule of man hath her inmates the Old man coinhabiting with the New the flesh with the spirit the law of sinne with the law of the mind Insomuch that the best of men cannot climbe vp to heaven without Iacobs ladder the merit of Christ and the gift of God I haue wearied my selfe am sure haue tyred you I will therefore ende all with that devout praier of Arch-bishop Anselme Recognosce Domine quod tuum est absterge quod meum ne per dat mea iniquit as quod fecit tua bonitas Accept O God of what is thine owne in vs and let not our iniquity eclipse thy gracious mercy Meritum no strum miseratio Domint our Merit is thy Mercy gracious acceptation in which we repose our whole assurance We acknowledge our selues to be naked of all righteousnes beseeching thee to cloath vs to be lame and impotent in the performance of any Good worke desiring thee to strengthen vs to be blind in our vnderstanding desiring thee to enlighten vs to be servants to sinne desiring thee to free vs and we ascribe all glory vnto thee in this world praying to be glorified of thee in the world to come FINIS * St Maries in Oxon. De Iust l. 1. c. 4. * S r Iohn Benet

are iustified And although it be true that sola fides iustificat faith onely iustifies yet fides quae est sola non iustificat that faith which is alone doth not iustifie And although it do iustify alone yet doth it not saue alone for it is one thing to be saved and another thing to be iustified They who expect to be the sons of God must be legitimate both by the Fathers the Mothers side and as they must be begotten of Abraham who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the father of the faithfull Rom. 4. 11. so they must haue Sarah the free woman to be their mother who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother of all that doe well 1. Pet. 3. 6. Besides the State in fide there must be an Ambulate in dilectione although the crowne of glory be not given bonis operibus yet is it given benè operantibus not for the worke yet to the workers for Christs sake in whose name the worke is done Aristotle l. 2. Eth. requires in his perfect Moralist besides knowledge and a will to worke an actuall practise wherein consists the life of vertue and in every scholer in Christs schoole besides the theory of faith speculation of theologicall verities or with these a desire to doe good there must be an actuall performance we must worke out our salvation and thereby make our election sure The fountaine of saving grace I know is set wide open vnto vs all by Christ and by the hallowed waters of Baptisme as by the waters of Iordan we are cleansed from the leprosie of sinne But yet this meanes alone without Workes and industrious labours without fights races crosses and strict examination of Talents will never present vs as amiable spectacles in the sight of God and heavenly spirits Wee must not thinke that it is the Churches office to absolue that the Spirit must cleanse Christ must suffer God must saue and that We must either sit stil or sinne still all the while relying vpon this I beleeue and therefore I shall liue It is a reason without reason to infer that sith God saues little ones because they cannot worke righteousnesse therefore also hee must saue great ones without workes because they will not worke But this must be our rule for direction that God hath proposed both himselfe and his kingdome vnto vs vnder a double title the one of Inheritance the other of Reward an inheritance to sons a reward to servants For to inherit it sufficeth to be sonnes but reward presupposeth service which must expect it Every man shall receiue his reward according to his labour The first yeares of man through the vnaptnesse of the reasonable powers of his soule for action allow him not to expect God or heauen as a reward which yet as his inheritance even Baptisme doth impart vnto him But when yeares increase and with yeares reason groweth actiue it will not suffice to plead for our inheritance as sonnes except we also endeavour for our reward as servants God will be Abrahams reward but Abraham must walke for it Ambula coram me Walke before me And it is not said Euge fili bone Well done good sonne though none but good sonnes shall enter but they must be good servants too Euge serve bone intra Well done good servant enter into thy masters ioy It is therefore a slanderous imputation cast by Bellarmine vpon the Reformed Churches that their Gospell is carnall and the high way to Epicurisme that they inveigh against Good Workes and by a bare and naked faith doe expect to soare vp to heauen To which my answere is that of S t Austins in another case Ep. 86. Nemo nos ita intelligit nisi qui seipsum non intelligit There is no man that vnderstands himselfe or any thing else that can so vnderstand vs. Wee make the one the tree the other the fruit and doe professe with the same Father in another place Inseparabilis est hona vita à fide imò ea ipsa est bona vita A good life is the inseparable companion of Faith nay a liuing Faith is it selfe a good life The preaching of which doctrine in our English Church warranted by the Word of God hath taken so deepe roote and brought forth so good fruit that since the first yeare of our late Soveraigne Queene of pious memory there haue beene more Hospitalls Publike Schooles Libraries Colleges and Places for learning built adorned and now in building then ever were before in any one 60. yeares Many of which publike Monuments of Religion haue receaued their first erection and chiefest endowments from the Heroicall liberality of those whose Successours divers here present are in Office and Dignitie Be not I beseech you R. H. their successours onely in Place but in Pietie passe not through this world like an arrowe in the ayre or ship in the sea that leaue no impression behind them As God hath given you meanes and handes to effect so should you haue hearts to affect that which is good if not to found yet to further finish Good works for publike benefit whereby your righteousnesse shall be recorded in heauen and your Names preserued from rottennes on earth And if your Charity wants a fit obiect for her practise then cast your eyes vpon the bare Habitations of the Muses harken after the SCHOOLES of sciences and learning which by the beneficency and prensation of many especially of that worthy Knight the Patron of the work whose name shall for ever be to vs as a sweet oyntment powred out haue crept out of the ground and now deserue to be covered by the Charitie of all that loue either learning or learned men This is a worke in which the Elephant may wade as wel as the Lambe the rich mans gift shal be welcome the meaner mite not refused a cōcurrency of so many founders to a work of that incōparable benefit wil doubtlesse make a glorious constellation of blessed starres whereof some shal be greater others lesse but al shining in the highest heavens And if that be true which the Wise mā saith Eccl. 40. 19. that the Building of a Citie will make a man immortall then much more the erection of a Work of this infinite benefit which shall remaine longer then any Citty For when the stones shall by time and long continuance be decayd yet Iustitia manet in aeternum the Founders Benefactors especially with vs of that Vniversitie shall be in everlasting remembrance Solaque non nôrunt haec monumenta mori Of this assured I am that neither the Plantation of Vlster in Ireland nor the Contribution to Prage in Bohemia may stand comparison with this Monument of all Arts and learning of whose benefit not only our owne nation but the remotest kingdomes of the Christian world shall haue a tast It disquieted the Wisest man that ever was to thinke that he should leaue his goods he knewe not to whom