Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A28214
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The god-father's advice to his son shewing the necessity of performing the baptismal vow and the danger of neglecting it : with general instructions to young persons to lead a religious life and prepare them for their confirmation and worthy receiving of the blessed sacrament : very necessary for parents, &c. to give their children or others committed to their care / by John Birket ...
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Birket, John.
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Wing B2975; ESTC R16106
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33,239
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enormities which may be more peculiarly call'd the works of the Devil as pride malice and envy revenge lying and cruelty with such like which are his daily practice Those truly Christian graces of humility charity speaking the truth from the heart love meekness and the like which are plainly visible in the lives of many Christians are evident proofs of this matter it being utterly impossible that they should be so zealous as they are in the practices of these virtues if they did not renounce and utterly abhor those devilish practices which are contrary thereunto From hence also we may infer the possibility of renouncing the pomps and vanities of this wicked world and the sinful lusts of the flesh For as God has commanded us by St. Paul Rom. 12. 2. not to be conformed to this world but to be transform'd by the renewing of our minds proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God So St. John 1 Ep. 5. 4. plainly supposes the possibility of doing this for says he this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith And then as to our ronouncing all the sinful lusts of the flesh as we find St. Peter supposing the possibility of doing this when he exhorts us 1 Ep. 2. 11. as strangers and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul so we find St. Paul making it necessary in order to our attainment of everlasting Salvation telling us Rom. 8. 13. that if we live after the flesh we shall dye but if we through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body we shall live Finally 't is either possible for us to keep this part of our Baptismal Vow or else Christ has no true Disciples in the world for St. Paul has plainly told us Gal. 5. 24. they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with their affections and lusts Now it 's not to be doubted but there are a great many sincere Christians in the world and consequently 't is possible for us if we be of that number to mortifie our earthly members and to crucifie our fleshly lusts Whatever therefore some people may pretend as to the impossibility of performing this part of our Baptismal Vow 't is certain they are under a great mistake since it is not possible either for sin or Satan to prevail over us but only so far as we yield unto them they may indeed allure and entice but they cannot hurt us unless we wilfully deliver over our strength into the hands of these our enemies Would we but arm our selves with the mind of Christ firmly resolving to serve the will and pleasure of the Almighty we need not fear what sin and all the powers of Hell can do against us 'T is true in our selves we are weak but that which gives us the surest grounds for our hopes of Victory over these our Enemies is the powerful assistance of God himself for if he be for us who can be against us and we may be sure that he will not be wanting to us if we earnestly seek after him for he never fails to help those that are engag'd against his Enemies but will certainly derive that strength and power into his People which will at length make them more than Conquerors through his beloved Son Let me therefore advise you my Son to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might do but use your best endeavours to mortifie the old man and to crucifie the Flesh with its affections and lusts to subdue all those outward vices of Luxury and Wantonness Revenge Injustice c. and to abstain from all appearance of evil withdrawing the fuel of any vice which you are in danger of and constantly applying your self unto God by prayer and then you need not question but you shall break Satans head however he may be able to bruise your heel tho' you may suffer a little by him yet at last you shall be victorious over him In the second place whereas we also promis'd in your name that you should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith I shall not need to insist upon proving the possibility of your believing them there being nothing that I know of contained in that Creed but what all Christians of what perswasion soever do consent unto I shall therefore now pass to the third and last part of your Baptismal Vow which is to keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of your Life Now that there is no more impossibility in the performance of this than the other parts of this solemn vow we have the plain Testimony of our blessed Saviour who for our greater encouragement has told us Mat. 11. 28 29. that his commands are so far from being intolerable that they are easy and full of Comfort for says he take my yoke upon you and learn of me and ye shall find rest unto your Souls for my yoke is easy and my burthen is light And St. John the beloved disciple in like manner assures us that as our keeping the Commandments of God is the best evidence of our love to him so they are all reasonable and every way suitable to the nature of mankind as 1 Ep. 5. 3. this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous And now altho these Texts of Scripture might be sufficient one would think to put the matter beyond all dispute yet because it is possible you may meet with some unreasonable men who will be ready to ask you as they have done me whether there was ever any man in the World that was able to do these things I shall now give some few examples of good and pious men who as we may conclude from what is said of them found it possible through the grace of God to renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh and to walk before God in purity and holiness of Life yielding such an uniform obedience to all his Commands as he was pleased to accept of In the first place therefore may we not reasonably suppose that Noah did this it being said of him Gen. 6. 9. that he was a just man and perfect in his generation and that he walked with God And what reason have we to doubt of Abraham's doing the same thing who as he was the father of the faithful so he manifested the sincerity of his faith by the uniformity of his obedience for as St. James tells us ch 2. v. 22. Faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect In like manner may we not conclude the same thing of Job of whom the Lord himself was pleased to give this character ch 1. 8. that there was none like him in all the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil And tho Satan moved God against him as it is said ch 2. 3. to destroy him without a cause yet
the Lord would not do it for he saw that notwithstanding all those afflictions which were befallen him he still held fast his Integrity And what shall we say of David unto whom as we read Acts 13. 22. the Lord himself gave testimony and said I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after my own heart 'T is true he grievously offended God more than once but then it is to be considered that the sincerity of his repentance made amends for all And we have no reason to doubt but that God was pleased to accept of his hearty sorrow instead of innocency Now if these and many other holy men under the Law were able through the Divine assistance so to walk before God as to be approved of him how little reason have we to doubt of the possibility of the same things being done by Christians now under the more glorious light and gracious dispensation of the Gospel Why may not we now as St Paul tells us he did exercise our selves in keeping a good Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man It must be confess'd that we are far from being able of our selves to do these things but as St Paul declared of himself Phil. 4. 13. So we may assure our selves that we may be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us and we need not in the least doubt of his assistance upon our humble request at the Throne of Grace for the same So that now my Son you see how reasonably those people argue against our Baptismal Vow which contains nothing in it but what God has commanded and good men have practic'd Let no man therefore deceive you and say that we have promis'd more in your name than it 's possible for you to perform for if you will but in good earnest oppose these enemies of your Soul the World the Flesh and the Devil you 'll find the blessing of God concurring with your holy resolutions he that hath planted these things in your heart will also water and make them abundantly fruitful to the confusion of Satan the glory of God and the eternal Salvation of your immortal Soul And now having prov'd unto you the possibility of keeping your Baptismal Vow I shall in the 3d place shew you how great an obligation you lye under to observe it And to this purpose I might produce many arguments and sundry Texts of Scripture but because I rather desire to inform your judgment than burthen your memory I shall comprehend what I have to say upon this head in as few words as I can You must therefore know and be convinc'd of this that your eternal happiness depends upon your conscientious observation of this vow 'T is impossible for you to be made partakers of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus our Lord without repentance faith and new obedience For as our Saviour has told us Mat. 19. 17. that if we will enter into life we must keep the Commandments so St Paul has told us Heb. 11. 6. that without Faith it is impossible to please God And the same Apostle has also declar'd Rom. 8. 13. That if we live after the flesh we shall dye but if through the spirit we do mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live For these are the terms of the Covenant of grace between God and us that he will be graciously pleas'd to bestow upon us the pardon of our sins and everlasting life but it is upon this condition that we perform our part of the Covenant which iâ— to believe and to do those things that we have promiâ—'d in our Baptism And this is so plain that I do not think there is any need of insisting upon the proof of it because in all Covenants the party promising any benefits or priviledges is no farther oblig'd to make them good than the other party performs the duties promis'd and required on his part So that as you love your own Soul and desire to be for ever happy in the life to come it highly concerns you to be very mindful of your Baptismal Vow and careful to observe it But withal I would entreat you seriously to consider this one thing that Jesus Christ came into the World and suffered the cursed death of the Cross on purpose to purifie us and therefore shall we still continue in our filthiness and impurities he gave himself for us at it 's said Titus 2. 14. that he might redâ—em us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works and how then can we haâ—e the face to delight in sin why then should we thus prejudiee our own Souls why should we destroy our selves after all the care and pains that our Blessed Lord has been at to save us Have we more love for Satan than we have for God that we should make a scruple of renouncing the Devil both in our words and works have we more affection for sin that will ruin us than for holiness that will be a means to save us through Christ we are made the Children of God by Adoption and heirs through Grace of his Everlasting Kingdom and shall we be such fools as to sell our Birth-right like Esau for one sinful morsel and to destroy both Souls and Bodies for evermore Let me entreat you my Son to lay these things seriously to heart and be perswaded so to lead your life here that you may be for ever happy in the life to come for as you may learn from the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. last if you â—e stedfast and immoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord you may be assured that your labour shall nâ—â— be in vain in the Lord. So that altho it be certain thâ—â—â— is no other Sacrifice now under the Gospel bâ—â— that of Christ upon the Cross which can be â—ufâ—icient to satisfy Gods justice expiate our sin and obtain Eternal Redemption for us yet St. Paul teaches us Rom. 12. 1. that the preâ—enâ—â—ng our Bâ—diâ—s a â—iving Sacrâ—fice holy acceptable unto God is our râ—â—sonable â—â— vice So that altho the sacrifice of our selves whâ—ch we ought to offer up to God in keeping our Baptismal Vow cannot procure Salvation yet it is absolutely necessary for our reception of it And therefore instead of listning to those persons who are wont to argue against the possibility of their duty and like the faint-hearted Israelites when they return'd from taking a view of the promised Land cry out who shall be able to stand before these mighty Gyants how is it possible for any man to keep this Vow instead of giving an ear to such people I say if you will give up your self in earnest to the practice of holiness and heartily pray to the Lord for the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit tho you may probably find some difficulty in your first onset yet it 's certain that when once you are got into the way of it you 'll find