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	life_n	reap_v	6,710	5	11.2413	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27062	Two treatises tending to awaken secure sinners viz., 1. The terror of the day of judgment, from 2 Cor. 5. 10, 2. The danger of slighting Christ and his Gospel, from Matth. 22. 5 / by Richard Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Terror of the day of judgment.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Danger of slighting Christ and his gospel.	1696 (1696)	Wing B1443; ESTC R16419	109,733	266

and he that is foun unrighteous as having not fulfilled them shall perish at that Day Qu. Who are those Answ I will tell you them in a few Words lest you should forget because it is a Matter that your Salvation or Damnation dependeth upon 1. The Soul that unfeignedly repenteth of his former sinful Course and turneth from it in Heart and Life and loveth the Way of godliness which he hated and hateth the Way of Sin which he loved and is become throughly a new Creature being born again and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ shall be justified but all others shall certainly be condemned Good News to repenting converted Sinners but sad to impenitent and him that knows not what this means 2. That Soul that feeling his Misery under Sin and the Power of Satan and the Wrath of God doth believe what Christ hath done and suffered for Man's Res●auration and Salvation and thankfully accepteth him as his only Saviour and Lord on the Terms that he is offered in the Gospel and to those Ends event to justify him and sanctify and guide him and bring him at last to everlasting Glory that Soul shall be justified at Judgment and he that doth not shall be condemned Or in short in Scripture-phrase He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemmd Mar. 16. 16. 3. The Soul that hath had so much Knowledg of the Goodness of God and his Love to Man in Creation Redemption and the following Mercies and hath had so much Conviction of the Vanity of all Creatures as thereupon to love God more than all things below so that he haththe chiefest room in the Hearts and is preferred before all Creatures ordinarily in a time of trial that Soul shall be justified at Judgment and all others shall be condemned 4. That Soul that is so apprehensive of the absolute Soveraignty of God as Creator and Redeemer and of the Righteousness of his Law and the Goodness of his holy Way as that he is firmly resolved to obey him before all others and doth accordingly give up himself to study his Will of purpose that he may obey it and doth walk in these holy Ways and hath so far mortified the Flesh and subdued the World and the Devil that the Authority and Word of God can do more with him than any other and doth ordinarily prevail against all the Perwasion and Interest of the Flesh so that the main Scope and Bent of the Heart and Life is still for God and when he sinneth he riseth again by true Repentance I say that Soul and the only shall be justified in Judgment and be saved 5. That Soul that hath such believing Thoughts of the life to come that he taketh the promised Blessedness for his Portion and is resolved to venture all else upon it and in hope of this Glory doth set light comparatively by all things in this World and waiteth for it as the End of the Life choosing any suffering that God shall call him to rather than to lose his hopes of the Felicity and tus perservereth to the End I say that Soul and none but that shall be justified in Judgand escape Damnation In these five Marks I have told you truly and briefly who shall be justified and saved and who shall be condemned at the Day of Judgment And if you would have them all in five Words they are but the Description of these five Graces Repentance Faith Love Obedience Hope But though I have laid these close together for your use you left you should think that in so weighty a Case I am too short in the Proof of what I so determine of I will tell you in the express Words of many Scripture-Texts who shall be justified and who shall be condemned John 3. 3. Except a Man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Heb. 12. 14. Without Holiness none shall see God Luke 13. 3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 26. 18. I send thee to open their Eyes and turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of Sins and an Inheritance among the sanctified by Faith that is in me John 3. 15 16 17 18 19. Whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life he that believeth on him is not condemned he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men loved Darkness rather than Light because their deeds were evil John 5. 28 29. The Hout is coming in which that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Mar. 25. 30. Cast the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Luke 19. 27. But those mine Enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me Mat. 22. 12 13. Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a Wedding-Gar●ent And he was speechless Then said the King to the Se●●ants bind him Hand and Foot and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness c. Mat. 5. 20. For I say unto you that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Heb. 5. 6. He is become the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in by the Gate into the City Rom. 8. 1 13. There is then no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For if ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Gal. 5. 18. But if ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the Law Gal. 6. 7 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting Mat. 6. 21. For where your Treasure is there will your Heart be also Read Psal 1. and many other Texts to this purpose of which some are cited in my Directions for Peace of Conscience Dir. 11. p. 115 116. And thus I have told you from God's Word how you may

did and the merry Hours that he had but then when Sinners are come to themselves a little more they will remember and tell one another of these things with another Heart O that they did but know now how these things will then affect them 4. Another Witness that will then rise up against them will be the very Devils that tempted them They that did purposely draw them to Sin that they might draw them to Torment for Sin They can witness that you hearkned to their Temptations when you would not hearken to God's Exhortations They can witness that you obeyed them in working Iniquity But because you may think the Accuser's Testimony is not to be taken I will not stand on this Though it is not nothing where God knoweth it to be true 5. The very Angels of God also may be Witnesses against the Wicked therefore are we advised in Scripture not to sin before them Eccl. 5. 6. 1 Cor. 11. 10. 1 Tim. 5. 21. I charge thee before the Elect Angels c. They can testify that they would have been ministring Spirits for their good when the Wicked rather chose to be Slaves to the Spirit of Maliciousness The holy Angels of God do many a time stand by you when you are sinning They see you when you see not them they are imployed by God in some sort for your good as well as we And as it is the Grief of Ministers that their Labours succeed not so may we suppose that according to their State and Nature it is theirs For they that rejoice in Heaven at the Conversion of one Sinner may be said to sorrow or to lose those Joys when you refuse to be converted These noble Spirits these holy and glorious Attendants of Christ that shall wait upon him to Judgment will be Witnesses against rebellious Sinners to their Confusion Sirs you have all in you naturally a Fear of Spirits and invisible Powers Fear them aright lest hearkning to the deceiving Spirits and refusing the Help of the Angels of God and wilfully sinning before their Faces you should cause them at that Day to the Terror of your Souls to stand forth as Witnesses against you to your Condemnation 6. Conscience it self will be a most effectual Witness against the Wicked at that Day I before told you it will be a Discerner and force them to a Confession But a farther Office it hath even to witness against them If none else in the World had known of their secret Sins Conscience will say I was acquainted with them 7. The Spirit of Christ can witness against the Ungodly that he oft moved them to repent and return and they rejected his Motions that he spoke to their Hearts in secret and oft set in with the Minister and often minded them of their Case and perswaded them to God but they resisted quenched and grieved the Spirit Acts 7. 51. As the Spirit witnesseth with the Spirits of the Righteous that they are the Children of God Rom. 8. 16. so doth he witness with the Conscience of the Wicked that they were Children of Rebellion and therefore are justly Children of Wrath. This Spirit will not alway st●ive with Men at last being vexed it will prove their Enemy and rise up against them Gen. 6. 3. Isa 63. 10. If you will needs grieve it now it will grieve you then Were it not a Spirit of Grace and were it not free Mercy that it came to offer you the Repulse would not have been so condemning nor the Witness of this Spirit so heavy at the last But it was the Spirit of Jesu● that came with recovering Grace which you resisted And though the Wages of every Sin is Death yet you will find that it will cost you somewhat more to reject this Salvation than to break the Creator's Law of Works Kindness such Kindness will not be rejected at easy Rates Many a good Motion is now made by the Spirit to the Heart of a Sinner which he doth not so much as once observe and therefore doth not now remember them But then they shall be brought to his Remembrance with a witness Many a thousand secret Motions to Repentance to Faith to a holy Life will be then set before the Eyes of the poor unpardoned trembling Sinner which he had quite forgotten And the Spirit of God shall testify to his Confusion At such a Sermon I perswaded thy Heart to repent and thou wouldst not at soch a time I shewed thee the Evil of thy Sin and perswaded thee to have forsaken it but thou wouldst not I minded thee in thy secret Thoughts of the nearness of Judgment and the certai●ty and weight of everlasting things the need of Christ and Faith and Holiness and of the danger of Sinning but thou didst drown all my Motions in the Cares and Pleasures of the World Thou harkenedst rather to the Devil than to me the sensual Incl●nations of thy Flesh did prevail against the strongest Arguments that I used Though I shewed Reasons undeniable Reasons from thy Creator from thy Redeemer from Nature from Grace from Heaven and from Hell yet all would not so much as stop thee much less turn thee but thou wouldest go on thou wouldest follow thy Flesh and now let it pay thee the Wages of thy Folly thou wouldest be thy own Guide and take thine own Course and now take what thou gettest by it Poor Sinners I beseech you in the Fear of God the next time you have any such Motions from the Spirit of God to repent and believe and break off your Sins and the Occasions of them consider then what a Mercy is set before you and how it will confound you at the Day of Judgment to have all these Motions brought in against you and that the Spirit of Grace it self should be your Condemner Alas that Men should choose their own Destruction and wilfully choose it and that the Foreknowledg of these things should not move them to relent So much concerning the Witness that will be brought in against the Sinner 5. The fifth Evidence that will be given against the Sinner will be The Instruments and Effects You know among Men if a Man be found murdered by the high-way and you are found standing by with a bloody Sword in your Hand especially if there were a former Dissension between you it will be an Evidence that will prove a strong Presumption that you were the Murderer but if the Fact be certain by other Evidence then many such things may be brought for aggravation of the Fault So a twofold Evidence will be brought against the Sinner from these things One to prove him guilty of the Fact the other to aggravate the Fault and prove that his Sin was very great For the former 1. The very Creatures which Sinners abused to sin may be brought in against them to their Conviction and Condemnation For though these Creatures shall be consumed with the last destroying Fire which shall consume all the

For Mat. 7. 22 23. Christ telleth us that Many will say to me in that Day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name have ●lone many wonderful Works And then will I profess to them I never knew you Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And in Mat. 25. 11. the foolish Virgins cry Lord Lord open to us And ver 44. Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when ●aw we thee an hungred or thirst or a Stranger or Naked or Sick or in Prison and did not minister unto thee And vers 24 25. they fear not to cast some of the Causes of their neglect on God himself Then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord I knew thou art an hard Man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed and I was afraid and went and hid thy Talent in the Earth lo there thou hast that is thine It is clear then that Excuses they will be ready to make and their full Conviction will be in order after these Excuses at least as in their Minds if not in Words but what the particular Excuses will be we may partly know by these Scriptures which recite them and partly by hearing what the Ungodly do now say for themselves And because it is for their present Benefit that I now make mention of them that they may see the Vanity of all such Excuses I will mention them as I now meet with them in the Mouths of Sinners in our ordinary Discourse and these Excuses are of several sorts some by which they would justify their Estate some Excuses of particular Actions and that either in whole or in part some by which they would put by the Penalty though they confess the Sin some by which they lay the blame on other Men and in ●ome they would cast it upon God himself I must touch but some of them very briefly The first Excuse I am not guilty of these things which I am accused of I did love God above all and my Neighbour as my self I did use the World but for Necessity but God had my Heart Answ The All-seeing Judg doth know the contrary and he will make thy Conscience know it Look back Man upon thy Heart and Life How seldom and how neglectfully didst thou think of God how coldly didst thou worship him or make any mention of him how carelesly didst thou serve him and think much of all that thou didst therein Thou rather thoughtest that his Service was making more ado than needs and didst grudg at those that were more diligent than thy self but for the World how heartily and how constantly didst thou seek and serve it and yet wouldst thou now perswade the Judg that thou didst love God above all He will shew thee thy naked Heart and the Course of thy former Life which shall convince thee of the contrary The Second Excuse I lived not in any gross Sin but only in small Infirmities I was no Murderer or Adulterer or Fornicator or Thief nor did I deceive or wrong any or take any thing by violence Answ Was it not a gross Sin to love the World above God and to neglect Christ that died for thee and never to do him one Hour's hearty Service but meerly to seek thy carnal self and to live to thy Flesh God will open thine Eyes then and shew thee a thousand gross Sins which thou now forgettest or makest light of and it is not only gross Sin but all Sin great or small that deserveth the Wrath of God and will certainly bring thee under it for ever if thou have not part in Christ to relieve thee Wo to the Man that ever he was born that must answer in his own Name for his smallest Offences The third Excuse I did it ignorantly I knew not that there was so much required to my Salvation I thought less ado might have served the turn and that if I look'd to my Body God would take care of my Soul and that it was better to trust him what would become of me hereafter than to trouble my Mind so much about it Had I known better I would have done better Answ If you knew not better who was it long of but your self Did God hide these things from you Did he not tell them you in his Word as plainly as the Tongue of Man can speak That except you were regenerate and born again you should not enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3 5. That without Holiness none should see God Heb. 12. 14. That you must strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. That if you lived after the Flesh you should die and if by the Spirit you mortified the Deeds of the Body you should live Rom. 8. 13. That if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. And to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Rom. 8. 9. That you must not lay up for your selves a Treasure on Earth where Rust and Moths do corrupt and Thieves break through and steal but must lay up for your selves a Treasure in Heaven where Rust and Moths do not corrupt nor Thieves break through and steal Mat. 6. 19 20. That you must seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Mat. 6. 23. and not labour for the Food that perisheth but for the Food that endureth to everlasting Life which Christ would have given you John 6. 27. That if you be risen with Christ you must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and not the things that are on Earth Col. 3. 1 2 3. Yea your very Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3. 19 20 21. What say you Did not God tell you all this and much more and plainly tell it you Turn to your Bibles and see the Words and let them witness against you 2. And could you think with any Reason that your Souls being so much more precious than your Bodies you should yet do so much more for your Bodies than your Souls could you think all the Labour of your Lives little enough for a frail Body that must lie shortly in the Dirt and that your Immortal Souls should be no more regarded Could you think with any Reason that your Souls should do so much for a Life of a few Years continuance and do no more for a Life that shall have no end 3. And whereas you talk of trusting God with your Souls you did not trust him You did but on that Pretence carelesly disregard them If you trust God shew any Word of Promise that ever he gave you to trust upon that ever an impenitent carnal careless Person shall be saved No he hath told you enough to the contrary And could you think

Soul and thou be truly broken off from thy former sinsul Course and from all things in this World and art dedicated devoted and resigned unto God Seeing this Change must be made and these Graces must be had or thou must certainly perish in the Fear of God see that thou give no ease to thy Mind till thou art thus changed Be content with nothing till this be done Delay not another Day How canst thou live merrily or sleep quietly in such a Condition as if thou shouldst die in it thou shouldst perish for ever Especially when thou art every Hour uncertain whether thou shalt see another Hour and not be presently snatch'd away by Death Methinks while thou art in so sad a Case which way ever thou art going or whatever thou art doing it should still come into thy Thoughts O what if I should die before I be regenerate and have part in Christ The ninth Direction Let it be the daily Care of thy Soul to mortify thy fleshly Desires and overcome this World and live as in a continual Conflict with Satan which will not be ended till thy Life do end If any thing destroy thee by drawing away thy Heart from God it will be thy carnal Self thy fleshly Desires and the Allurements of this World which is the Matter that they feed upon This therefore must be the earnest Work of thy Life to subdue this Flesh and set light by this World and resist the Devil that by these would destroy thee It is the common Case of miserable Hypocrites that at first they list themselves under Christ as for a Fight but they presently forget their State and Work and when they are once in their own Conceit regenerate they think themselves so safe that there is no farther Danger and thereupon they do lay down their Arms and take that which they miscall their Christian Liberty and indulge and please that Flesh whch they promised to mortify and close with the World which they promised to contemn and so give up themselves to the Devil whom they promised to fight against If once you apprehend that all your Religion lieth in meer Believing that all shall go well with you and that the Bitterness of Death is past and in a forbearance of some disgraceful Sins and being much in the Exercise of your Gifts and in external Ways of Duty and giving God a cheap and plausible Obedience in those things only which the Flesh can spare you are then faln into that deceitful Hypocrisy which will as surely condemn you as open Profaneness if you get not out of it You must live as in a Fight or you cannot overcome You must live loose from all things in this World if you will be ready for another You must not live after the Flesh but mortify it by the Spirit if you would not die but live for ever Rom. 8. 13. These things are not indifferent but of flat Necessity The tenth Direction Do all your Works as Men that must be judged for them It is not enough at least in point of Duty and Comfort that you judg this Preparation in general to be the main Business of your Lives but you should also order your particular Actions by these Thoughts and measure them by their Respects to this approaching Day Before you venture on them enquire whether they will bear weight in Judgment and be sweet or bitter when they are brought to Trial both for Matter and Manner this must be observed O that you would remember this when Temptations are upon you when you are tempted to give up your Minds to the World and drown your selves in earthly Cares Will you bethink you soberly whether you would hear of this at Judgment and whether the World will be then as sweet as now and whether this be the best Preparation for your Trial When you are tempted to be drunk or to spend your precious time in Ale-houses or vain unprofitable Company or at Cards or Dice or any sinful or needless Sports bethink you then whether this will be comfortable at the reckoning and whether time be no more worth to one that is so near Eternity and must make so strict an Account of his Hours and whether there be not many better Works before you in which you might spend your time to your greater Advantage and to your greater Comfort when it comes to a review When you are tempted to Wantonness Fernication or any other fleshly Intemperance bethink you soberly with what Face these Actions will appear at Judgment and whether they will be then pleasant or displeasant to you So when you are tempted to neglect the daily Worshipping of God in your Families and the catechising and teaching of your Children or Servants especially on the Lord's Day bethink your selves then what account you will give of this to Christ when he that entrusted you with the Care of your Children and Servants shall call you to a reckoning for the Performance of that Trust The like must be remembred in the very manner of our Duties How diligently should a Minister study how earnestly should he perswade how unweariedly should he bear all Oppositions and ungrateful Returns and how carefully should he watch over each particular Soul of his Charge as far as is possible when he remember that he must shortly be accountable for all in Judgment and how importunate should we all be with Sinners for their Conversion when we consider that we our selves also must shortly be judged Can a Man be cold and dead in Prayer that hath any true Apprehension of that Judgment upon his Mind where he must be accountable for all his Prayers and Performances O remember and seriously remember when you stand before the Minister to hear the Word and when you are on your Knees to God in Prayer in what a manner that same Person even your selves must shortly stand at the Bar of the dreadful God! Did these Thoughts get throughly to Mens Hearts they would awaken them out of their sleepy Devotions and acquaint them that it is a serious Business to be a Christian How careful should we be of our Thoughts and Words if we believingly remembred that we must be accountable for them all How carefully should we consider what we do with our Riches and with all that God giveth us and how much more largely should we expend it for his Service in Works of Piety and Charity if we believingly remembred that we must be judged according to what we have done and give account of every Talent that we receive Certainly the believing Consideration of Judgment might make us all better Christians than we are and keep our Lives in a more innocent and profitable Frame The eleventh Direction As you will certainly renew your Failings in this Life so be sure that you daily renew your Repentance and fly daily to Christ for a renewed Pardon that no Sin may leave its sting in your Souls It is not your first Pardon that