Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	jesus_n	15,155	5	6.0417	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48500	A sermon preached before the King and Queen at Whitehall, Jan. 19, 1689 by J. Lambe ...	Lambe, John, 1648 or 9-1708.	1690 (1690)	Wing L222; ESTC R3372	12,296	33

which irresistably gain the good-will of all Every one will be his Friend ready to assist him advise him inform him of any design that is upon him or of any good that may be in his way And indeed a stock in the favour and good-will of our Neighbour may prove the best estate in this uncertain World 3. And lastly By an efficacy Divine and Spiritual The Blessing of God will attend the humble and so dispose and order second Causes that they shall live in Plenty Peace and Honour to a good old Age. An humble compliance with the will of God Content in our Station Gratitude for Benefits received Patience and Self-denial under cross Events dispose in their nature to the Favour and Love of God the Governour of the World He cannot but be pleas'd with those that comply with his Providence and promote his own Designs And therefore upon whom shall I rest says God but upon him that is of an humble and a contrite spirit Humility is a Bed of Repose and Pleasure to God himself is St. Augustine's Note upon the place And though the Lord be high yet he hath respect to the lowly but beholdeth the proud afar off Ps 138.6 The Proud are in a manner out of his sight but the humble are under his particular care and providence And therefore the meek shall inherit the Earth Matth. 5. They shall have wisdom and counsel Prov. 11.2 They shall be exalted Luk. 1.52 They shall have rest and tranquillity in all conditions Matt. 11. ult But pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall Prov. 16.18 Tollitur altissimè ut majori casu ruat And thus By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life as well in the Nature and Reason of the thing as by the special Promises of God Use It now remains that we earnestly endeavour to accomplish our Souls with this so useful so advantagious a Vertue You see it is every way your Interest as well as it is your Duty Pride is a vain and empty Satisfaction a continual Disappointment but Humility is a sure Foundation of Riches and Honour and Life Pride would fain be great but cannot but Humility is indifferent and is therefore courted by the World it follows it and offers it self unto it If you say that Pride is so natural to us that it is impossible to be rooted out that it has so obtained in the World that no Man with any Decency or Reputation can lay it now aside The Answer is this that if it were impossible it could not be made a Duty the truth is the Desire of a more perfect State to strive after greater Excellencies than we have the Emulation of vertuous and lovely Qualities These are the true dispositions and genuine Inclinations of humane Nature but the Vice of Pride is unnatural and wholly foreign to us it would be esteem'd for that which it has not it would be rewarded for that which it deserves not it is a Complication of Immoralities Rebellion against the Providence of God Detraction Envy Malice and vain Imagination This to be sure is a Disease we have brought upon our Selves we love the Vice we nourish the Distemper we force our Nature to it and vainly hope to come off at last by pleading a Necessity But did you ever endeavour to cure this Malady in earnest did you ever use the proper Means did you ever consider how little reason you had to be proud or haughty what a miserable imperfect Being the best of us is how insufficient how dependent St. James perswades to Humility from hence That we are all subject to God c. 4. v. 7. And what have you says St. Paul that you have not received If you receiv'd it why do ye glory Nay even that that we have received and is so precarious so intirely at the will of another is so little in it self so fading and imperfect that it is no Foundation of Conceit or Haughtiness For we are nothing but soreness and corruption says the Prophet Sordet in conspectu Judicis S. August quod fulget in conspectu operantis says the Father It is well that there remains a more perfect State hereafter for us who never attain to so great a Perfection of our Nature here as other Beings do in theirs What is our Beauty it is commonly mistaken especially by our Selves but where indeed it is the Shades do so hide the Light that it generally spoils the Picture The Flowers of the Field excel us and what we have is fading and inconstant there is no security in it no propriety and therefore the value of it is not great Is it his Wisdom that a Man may value himself upon Which Wisdom That of Yesterday or his present Sentiments For alas a Man is so unstable so inconsistent with himself that his Principles Opinions and Institution of Life are seldom the same many years together There is always some byass or other that obstructs his Judgment and hinders the free and proper motions of his Mind which at the best are but imperfect What is it then Is it Wealth and Power that puff us up But Power without Reason and Goodness is a Whirlwind a Tempest Belluine Ferocity the degeneracy of humane nature and as for the Power that is justly exercised it is equally beneficial to the Subject with the Prince it equally secures them both in their Rights and Properties The Power and Dominion of one Man over another is at the best but a necessary evil brought into the World to restrain the exorbitant tempers of Men and indeed most evil to those that exercise it Does it not oblige them to a tedious attendance are they not subject to distracting Cares opprobrious Censures dangerous Envy treacherous Conspiracies and frequent Dissolutions Upon the matter then there is nothing in a Man's Possession that is sufficient to elate his Mind That that really commends him is an humble sense of what he has attained and an earnest endeavour to proceed and improve this at the same time will both prevent the assuming Glory and make you really deserving of it Finally Set the Example of our blessed Saviour before your Eyes who humbled himself to death upon the Cross for us Let us blush says the Father to be proud S. August for whom our Saviour is thus humbled We must needs be very undeserving Wretches who so provoked the Almighty Justice that nothing but the Blood of his Son could atone our guilt These things if well considered would be sufficient to keep down all the ebullitions of a haughty Spirit especially if we add to this our constant Prayers to God for his assistance who will be always ready to support our weakness prevent temptation facilitate our Victory and bring us at last to that Happy State where we shall all be as great and glorious as we can desire Matt. 5.3 For blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven To which God of his Mercy bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake the Righteous to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory Praise Dominion and Obedience now and for Evermore Amen ERRATA PAge 3. line 4. for leaves read leads p. 6. l. 11. for devoted r. and rooted p. 12. l. 6. r. Doc. FINIS