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	lust_n	sin_n	7,244	5	5.0237	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01303	The vvoman of Canaan A comfortable sermon of faith in temptations and afflictions. Preached at Saint Buttolphes without Aldersgate in London, the 15. of February. 1573. By Maister William Fulke Doctor of Diuinity and Maister of Pembrooke Hall in Cambridge.; Comfortable sermon of faith, in temptations and afflictions	Fulke, William, 1538-1589.	1611 (1611)	STC 11425; ESTC S102776	25,978	93

humility But heere wee may well doubt how the faith of this woman should bee so highly commended when it seemeth to presume against the word of God whereas true faith is alway grounded vpon the word of God And secondly seeing all the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ and be stedfast and established in Christ only when shee heareth by Christs owne mouth that the promised redemption pertaineth not to her how can shee continue her confidence in him I answer that first her faith was grounded vpon the word of God which because she knew most certainly to be an vndoubted truth she will not be brought from that by any thing that may seeme contrary vnto it And whatsoeuer shee heareth of Christ although shee doe acknowledge it to bee true yet shee is perswaded that it is so true that it taketh not away the truth of Gods former promises And seeing Gods general promises did appertaine to her that did beleeue them she retaineth hope against al hope And as Abraham beleeued that God would raise vp Isaac from death to life to fulfill his promise and therefore doubted not to obay the commandement of God in sacrificing him so this woman doubted not but God must needs find a meanes whereby his promises might be verified to her howsoeuer Christ was not sent but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israell And therefore as she doth not reason nor dispute against the word of God so she doth still simply continue her sute and faith Lord helpe me All which importeth as much as if she had said Although thou art not sent to offer thy grace vnto the Gentiles but vnto the Iewes onely yet in as much as God hath promised that whosoeuer putteth his trust in thee shall not bee confounded and I am one of those that put my trust in thee thou canst not send mee away confounded and therefore helpe mee for Gods promise must needs bee true Let vs learne heere so firmely to hould the generall principles of our saluation that wee admit nothing that may seeme contrary vnto them for of this we may bee assured that howsoeuer any thing may seeme contrary vnto them yet from God proceedeth nothing either in word or deed that is contrary And as for all the creatures of the world beside if they should oppose and set them-selues against them they are not able to preuaile Therefore Saint Paul saith with great confidence I am perswaded that neither death nor life neither Angels nor principallities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nether height nor depth nor any creature can seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. For if God be on our side who can be against vs or if any be against vs how can they be able to hurt vs But if God himselfe seeme to be against vs whome haue wee then to comfort vs For the Iustice of God pronounceth Damnation to all that transgres his law But for asmuch as God of his infinite mercy hath promised saluation to all penitent sinners he hath found a meane by which both his Iustice is satisfied and yet no penitent sinner that beleeueth his promise shall be damned This onely meane is Christ our Sauiour who by his obedience hath throughly satisfied for all our disobedience and transgression as many as beleeue to haue remission of our sinnes by him Seeing therefore wee haue not onely the generall promises of God contayned in the ould Testament but also the full execution performance and establishment of them in Christ what shame is it for vs to bee found inferior in faith to this Cananitish woman which had no more but the first where-vnto neuerthelesse she cleaued so fast that by no meanes she would be drawne from them And surely euen the very generall promises of God are sufficient that our faith being builded vpon them should neuer be remooued for by them God hath so bound him-selfe vnto vs that by no meanes he can reuoke his promised saluation And yet for more confirmation and to take a way all scruple of doubt and wauering as the Apostle saith to the Hebrewes he hath established them with an oth that by two things immutable in which it is imposible that God should lie wee might haue consolation and comfort as many as flee for refuge to take hold of the hope that is propounded set forth vnto vs. Therfore the anker of our faith hath two most vnchangeable holds namely the promise of God and the oth of God in both which it is impossible that God should lye For as it is impossible that God should lye when he simply affirmeth so is it more impossible if there may be degrees in impossibilities that God should lye when hee sweareth And as it is impossible that God should lye or bee forsworne so is it impossible that any man or woman which taketh hold of Gods promises by faith should misse the performance of them whatsoeuer seemeth to bee lets or impediments vnto them For there can bee no lette or impediment so great as should bee able to compell God to lying or periurie which bee as great impossibilities as can be thought of For if the generall or vniuersall promises of God should not bee granted to any one person that embraceth them by faith God should bee no more true of his word and his oth which is as impossible as that God should be no more God For example seeing God hath said Whosoeuer calleth vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued If I poore wretch embracing this promise of God by faith doe call vpon the name of the Lord whatsoeuer lets or impediments be in the way it is impossible but that I shall bee saued Therefore if all the Angels in heauen should tell me on their owne credit or as it were by Gods cōmandement that I should be damned I must hold them all accursed rather then to grant that God should be a lyar or periured person And forasmuch as Christ hath said Whosoeuer beleeueth and is baptised shall be saued if I being Baptised into the name of Christ repose my whole trust confidence in him whatsoeuer can be obiected against me I must of necessity be saued For neither the iustice of the law nor the guiltines of my sin nor the accusation of the Diuell nor witnes of myne owne conscience shal bee able to condemne me so long as I depend vpon the promise of God For there is now no condemnation to them that are in Chrst Iesu For whatsoeuer can bee obiected out of the word of God howsoeuer contrary at the first sight it may seeme to be yet it is not indeed directly contrary to these and such like generall promises As these saying They that are in Christ walke not after the flesh but after the spirit If Christ be in you the body is dead vnto sinne they that are Christs haue crusified the flesh with the lusts

and Concupiscences thereof It is manifest that these and such like places are not to be vnderstood of perfect innocency free from all sinne but only of such innocency as is but inchoated and begun in this life and made perfect in the life to come Therfore if thou feelest in thy selfe with thy faith in God an hatred of sinne and a desire of righteousnesse which refraineth thee from much wickednesse and stirreth thee vp to some workes of vertue although there remaine in thee the relicks of sinne yea a lust vnto sinne contrary to the spirit of God which also breaketh out some-times into actuall sinne yet by the spirit of Christ that dwelleth in thee thy body is dead vnto sinne thou hast crucified the flesh with the lusts and concupiscences thereof thou walkest in the spirit and not in the flesh and therefore according to Gods promise thou shalt bee saued through thy faith For thy sinnes and infirmities shall not be imputed vnto thee but the righteousnesse of Christ shall be imputed to thee by faith Let vs threfore admitte nothing that may seeme contrary to our assured confidece which is grounded vpon the word of God for in the word of God there is nothing contrary to it and whatsoeuer else doth withstand it is of no force to ouercome it For Heauen and Earth shall passe but the word of God shall not passe But let vs follow the faith of this woman which though she had neuer so many repulses yet would she neuer bee driuen away vntill she had obtayned her request still crying Lord helpe me as though she would say Thou maist well defer thy helpe but thou canst not deny it me yet see what answer Christ maketh vnto her It is not good saith hee to take the childrens bread and cast it to the whelps what an hard and vncurteous answer is this not only to deny her humble request but also to accompt her no better then a dog and to tell her that it is no more reason that shee should obtayne her sute then that bread should be taken from childrens mouthes and giuen to a dog What a great temptation was this that he which onely hath the bread of life to bestow vpon all that hee will doth count her no more worthy to haue part of it then a Dogge to eate that which is prouided for the Sonnes of God for seeing that God made a couenant with Abraham and his seed they onely were the sonnes of God and therefore those speciall graces and gifts of God that were appointed for them were so proper vnto them as whosoeuer should make them common to the Gentiles should abollish the couenant of God Christ therefore with all his benifits was the bread appointed to feed the holy children of God which at that time were the Iewes onely All other Nations of the world were but profane dogs and therefore not worthy to bee fed with that holy bread which was ordayned for Gods owne children Therefore this Heathen woman presuming to leape vpon the table of Gods children like an vnmannerly cur deserued euen like a cur-dogge to bee beaten downe and whipped out of the house rather then that the childrens bread should be taken from them and cast vnto her for so much is implyed in the words of Christ for at it were not meete for him to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs so she like an importunate dog ready to pull it out of their mouthes deserued great punishment Alas poore woman how should shee avoide this temptation And yet by force of faith she found meanes how to withstand this most eger assault and in the end to obtaine the victory But here to beate downe the pride of the flesh we are taught what wee are all by nature and without Christ euen no better then cur-dogges For this which Christ saith of dogs is ment of all the Gentiles and heathen people as we are all Emperours Kings Noblemen Gentlemen Wisemen Valiant-men Rich-men Poore-men all dogs without Christ for although man by his first creation was the most excellent of all creatures in the world and indeed the sonne of God yet by his fall and transgression hee is become the basest and the vilest and no better then a dogge except hee bee raised vp and restored by the benifit of our onely Sauiour Iesus Christ. By this we see what merit or worthinesse we haue to plead before God and likewise what cause we haue to be proud among men which thing if all men would consider that by kind without Christ they are no better then dogs they would learne to make lesse of their painted sheathes and more to esteeme the benifit of Christ by which they excell if they finde themselues to bee better by grace then they are by nature But to returne to this poore woman although she bee called and accompted of Christ no better then a dog and that she willingly confesseth yet shee will not therefore giue ouer her sute because her faith could not bee ouerthrowne by this assault for of faith proceedeth inuocatiand earnest calling for Gods helpe and saluation For although the aunswer of Christ seemeth to take away all hope from the Gentiles yet because shee knew that hee was promised also to the Gentiles she is certainly perswaded that this promise must take effect and that doth Christ himselfe partly signifie by these words which are rehearsed by S. Marke Let the Children be first satisfied Whereby hee sheweth that the first place was for the Iewes which then were the children of God but this helpeth not her because the time was not yet come in which the Gentiles also should bee made the children of God And therefore shee fleeth to another refuge and thus shee answereth Ye Lord but yet the whelpes eate of the Crums that fall from their Lords table First by this answeare it appeareth how much the certainty of faith doth differ from vaine foolish importunity of ignorant persons which will be answered by no reason and yet haue no reason to continue their sute for this woman doth not here directly contrary the words of Christ but sheweth how the word of Christ may be true and yet she obtained her request also Therefore whereas he had first said she was a dog she willingly confesseth it that she was no better then a dog it is true Lord saith shee I am no better Secondly whereas hee had said It is not good to take the Childrens bread and cast it to dogs she confesseth that also saying yea Lord it is true neither will I presume further then the place of a dog and that is vnder the table For although it is not conuenient that dogs should bee equall with their Maister at the table yet they are allowed to waite vnder the table and to licke vp some few crummes that fall from their maisters I know Gods children are so liberally and plentifully feasted at Gods table that some litle crums may fal