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	john_n	17,081	5	6.2026	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91366	The way step by step to sound and saving conversion, with a clear discovery of the two states, viz: nature, & grace: and how to know in which state one is, and the way to come out of the one into the other. Or, The ready and right path-way for the first Adams posterity to get out of their fallen estate accompanied with sin and misery, into the relation and family of the last Adam, which estate is attended with grace and glory, &c. With many weighty questions answered, and cases of conscience resolved, for the clearing and confirming the truths asserted. / By Robert Purnell.	Purnell, Robert, d. 1666.	1659 (1659)	Wing P4241; Thomason E1800_1; ESTC R209703	66,581	144

Unbelief is the greatest sin in the world because it is a sin against the greatest love Iohn 3. 16. compared with Rom. 5. 8. it is a sin against the only remedy the sentence of the Law may be repealed by the Gospel but the sin against Gospel remedy there is no repeal of it is a sin that makes void and vain all the covenant of grace turning all the sweetnesse thereof into bitternesse and all the truth of it into a lye 1 John 5. 10. Therefore God is more severe against Unbelief than any sinne because Unbelief is most severeto God God hath no greater Enemi●s in the world than Unbelievers 7. Let us consider that a man without Faith is like a naked man in a storm or like an una●med man in a Battel like a ship unanchored and unballanced in a storm he is like a Sea without Banks a world without a Sun or a ship without a Pilot he is under the command of all his passions and enemies c. Qu. In what way are we to conceive of God when we pray to him Answ We are not to conceive of him under any shape or resemblance Deut. 4. 12 15. we are not to think that the Godhead can be resembled to any thing Acts 17. 27 29. compared together for unless we should equal God to any thing how can he be likened to it Isay 40. 18. 25. Who can by searching find out the Almighty to perfection Iob 11. 7 8 12. We are to conceive of him as one not to be fully conceived by us and so pray to him with such apprehensions of him yet we are to believe that he is and that he is a rewa●der of those that seek him Heb. 11. 6. namely that he to whom we pray is such a God which seeth and knoweth all the secrets of our hearts and all our thoughts that he is present with us where-ever we are comprehendeth us though we cannot comprehend him he is most holy most wise most mighty who is ready to do for us above what we are able to ask or think Ephe. 3 18 19 20. This is to conceive of him in the glorious and precious dimensions of his love so shall we comprehend with all Saints the heighth and breadth length and depth and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge in this sence may we see him that is invisible Heb. 11. 27. For the true God is invisible as appears by these Scriptures Coll. 1. 15. 1 Tim. 1. 17. Tim. 6 16. The divine essence is not visible to bodily eyes in this life the essence simply considered cannot be seen by the Soul in this Life Exod. 33. 20. In the life to come though it be seen apprehensively so far as the spirits of just men made perfect are capable yet not comprehensively and fully Job 1. 1. 7 8 9 10. Q. How or in what order are we to direct our prayers to the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity namely to Father Son and Holy Ghost A. In our Prayers we ought not to fix our ey● or minds so upon one in the Trinity as not thereby to be led to the other the Father being in the Son and the Son in the Father and the holy Ghost in them both Iohn 14. 10. we cannot look at one but we must eye the other they that look on Christ as their Mediator must see and eye the Father as giving of him so to be yea and at the holy Ghost as one with the Father sent and consented to his designment to that office as the Lord Christ himself sayeth Isay 48. 16. and now the Lord God and his spirit hath sent me c. we cannot look aright to the Father but we must look to him through the Son neither can we look upon the Son but by the Spirit It is true that in order we are first to direct our Prayers to God the Father yet not as first or chief in honour above the other two for even the Son who albeit as man and as Mediator he be inferiour to the Father Iohn 14. 28. yet as God as the Son of God he is equal with him Iohn 5. 18. Phill. 2. 6. and the Son is to be honored as equal with the same honor as the father Iohn 5 23. Albeit as was said the holy Ghost be not excluded but included so are we to pray unto God through Christ by the help of the holy Ghost Iohn 16. 23. we are to ask the Father in the name of the Son by the help and assistance of the holy Ghost Rom. 8. 26. Again we are baptized in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost and therefore we are to pray unto and worship Father Son and holy Ghost we are to believe in the Father Son and holy Ghost and therefore we are to pray to the Father Son and holy Ghost so that in all external worship of God one in the Trinity being named the other are understood and are not to be excluded Q. How can there be three and yet but one God Answ God is one in essence one Jehovah one God and no more and therefore God calleth himself I am Exod. 3. 14. all besides himself are but created results of God bits of dependances upon him all Nations are before him as a drop of a Bucket as the small dust of the Ballance as a very little thing as nothing as lesse than nothing as vanity Isay 40. 15 17. This one God in essence saith Mr. Thomas Cobbert in his Treatise of Prayer pag. 542 to which I assent viz. is in personal properties three subsistences really distinct yet we are not so to let our thoughts feed themselves in musing upon the blessed persons as distinct in personal properties but with an apprehension of thē as one in essence one Jehovah one God and no more the property of begetting is applyed to God the Father and not to the Son or the holy Ghost he to whom the Scripture giveth the property of the only begotten Son of God he is Jehovah God the Son and no other and so he to whom the Scripture applyeth the property of proceeding he and only he is God the holy Ghost the Scripture applying to none other that property of proceeding or being as it were breathed forth from the Father therfore is called his Spirit Nū 8. 11. from the Son therfore is called the Sons Spirit Gal. 49. yet the holy Scriptures never mention but one Jehovah even when it mentions him in personal distinction three yet essentially but one 1 John 5. 7. There be three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one the Dvine essence subsisting in three relative properties Father Son and holy Ghost The personal property of the Father is to beget Ps 2. 7. The personal property of the Son is to be begotten John 1. 14 18. The personal property of the holy Ghost is to proceed from the Father and the Son John 14. 26. 15. 26. What shall Isay more As God for the helping of us to understand his essence is pleased to take unto himself certain names and attributes by the help of which we may the better understand his essence so also is he pleased to take unto himself certain names appellations to help us to the better understanding of his subsistance c. yet there is but only one living true God who is infinite in being perfection a most pure Spirit invisibly without body parts or passions immutable eternal incomprehensible working all things according to the counsel of his own will he is the alone Fountain of all beings of whom through whom and to whom are all things in his sight all things are made manifest his knowledge is infinite infallible and independent he is most holy in all his Counsels in all his Works in all his Commands c. But if any demand farther How can there be three and yet but one God I answer great is the mystery the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son and the Spirit of truth which is by the Father and the Son John 14. 11. John 15. 26. 14. 26. So that in this mystery a Christian is to believe what reason cannot comprehend the Father sent forth his Son the Son sent forth the holy Ghost yet Father Son and holy Ghost was never separated one from another Take a candle burning and there is substance light and heat and yet not three candles but one candle Look upon the good man of a House and you shall find that he is a Husband to his Wife a Father to his Children a Master to his Servants and yet not three men but one man so in the unity of the God head there be three of one substance power and eternity God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost the Father is of none neither begotten nor proceeding the Son is eternally begotten of the Father the holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son c. FINIS

it self to God that made it and Christ that bought it and so his soul is carried forth to a secret resting relying leaning staying and hanging upon the mercy of God in Christ alone for life and happinesse Now he looks after and endeavours to be found in walking in the way of sanctification he reads and finds 1 Pet. 1. 2. that if he be elected to life it is through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and 2 Thes 2. 13. God hath chosen a people from the beginning to salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth He labours for holiness as well as happiness he reads and findeth that the word of God hath a purifying faculty in it John 15. 3. Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you Ps 119. 9. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way but by taking heed thereto according to thy word Ps 119. 11. Thy word-have I bid in mine heart that I might not sinne against thee Of Grace-begetting and Soul-converting means for all heedfully to attend upon that hope to enter into Heaven THere are springs of Grace or pipes of conveyance which if cut off or neglected we may live in sinne and die in sinne and at last go to hell but if we heedfully and frequently make use of them we may live in the fear of the Lord and die in his favour and enter into heaven these means are for the increasing holiness as well as for the attaining it and therefore we are not to satisfie our selves with making use of them now and then but frequently and willingly for the same meanes that doth work the work of Illumination doth also work the work of Conversion Vocation Regeneration Faith and Repentance c. And not only work and beget these in us but increase it and cause it to flourish and grow up from one degree of grace to another untill we come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ the means follow 1. Keep close to Grace-begetting and Soul-converting Ordinances 2. Dwell much upon the meditation of Grace-begetting Promises 3. Frequent the company of Grace-begetting and Soul-converting companions 4. Be frequent in the cherishing of Grace-begetting Considerations 5. Gather and treasure up Grace-begetting and Soul-converting Experiences 1. Keep close to Grace-begetting and Soul-converting Ordinances and they are these three 1. The hearing of the word preached 2. Reading of the Scriptures 3. Frequent and earnest Prayer First of the First 1. Hearing of the Word preached Acts 2. 37 41. it was by hearing Peter preach that the Jews were pricked at the heart and converted and three thousand added to the Church at once So Acts 26. 17 18. God sent Paul to preach for the opening of mens eyes and turning them from darkness to light by teaching sinners the way of God David assured himself they shall be converted to him Psal 51. 13. the word of god is the seed of life which is sown and takes root in th● hearts of them that God will save 1 Pet. 1. 23 25. It is the word of God which is the incorruptible seed by which we are born again it was those that had ears and heard not that were not converted and born again Mark 4. 12. c. as we should hear the word preached in order to conversion so for the begetting of faith in our hearts Luke 10. 17. Faith cometh by hearing Ephes 1. 13. in whom also ye trusted after ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of our salvation Isai 55. 3. hear and your soules shall live Now in the use of this blessed meanes observe these four rules and thou shalt never miscarry but get something by every Sermon thou hearest 1. Try the doctrines preached by the Scritures Act. 17. 11. they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so 2. Receive what thou findest agreeable to the word as from the Lord 1 Thess 2. 13. for this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God 3. Keep in memory as much of it as may be James 1. 25. Being not a forgetful hearer but a doer Heb. 2. 1 2. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest beed to the things which we have heard le●t at any time we should let them slip vers 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation 4. Indeavour to practise it thy self and communicate it to others Mat. 7. 26. Every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not is like unto a foolish man that built his house upon the sand James 1. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed therefore be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own souls 2. The next Faith-begetting and Soul-converting Ordinance is reading the Scriptures many a soul hath had happy experience of the benefit of reading the Word Psal 19. 7. for the Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Acts 8. 28. The Eunuch was reading in Isaiah and in the 37th verse we read he was converted and baptised 1 Tim. 4. 13. Till I come give attendance to reading Rev. 1. 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this Prophesie Acts 17. 11 12. They searched the Seriptures daily whether those things were so and many of them believed 3. The next Grace-begetting and Soul-converting Ordinance is frequent and ●arnest prayer prayer is a fruit of faith and yet prayer is a means for the begetting of faith as the Spirit is the fruit of prayer so prayer is the fruit of the Spirit Luke 11. 13. Compared with Rom. 8. 15. In the former place the Spirit is said to be the fruit of prayer in the latter place prayer is said to be the fruit of the Spirit whereby we cry Abba Father c. Isa 55. 6 7. Seek the Lord whilst he may be found call upon him while he is neer let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts c. James 1. 5. If any of you lack wisdome let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and ●pbraideth not and it shall be given him Joh. 4. 10. Jesus said unto her if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water 2. Dwell much upon Grace-breeding and soul converting promises there are promises of direction and supportation and promises of protection and promises of justification and sanctification and promises of

of Gods own will James 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth Faith is also the free gift of God Philip. 1. 29. Justification is freely by grace Rom. 3. 24. Forgiveness of sinnes is according to the riches of his grace Eph 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of his grace Eternal life also is the gift of God Rom. 6. 23. Qu If these and the like precious things be only of grace without works then in what respect are good works necessary An. Good works are necessary 1. in respect of God 2. in respect of our selves 3. in respect of others 1. Works are good in respect of God 1. to shew our obedience 2. to glorifie his name 3. to testifie our thankfulness 4. to beautifie his gospel 1. To shew our obedience Rom. 6. 16. To whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness See John 8. 34. compared with 2 Pet. 2. 19. 2. To glorifie his name Mat. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven 1 Pet. 2. 12. Having your conversation honest among the gentils that when as they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation See Thess 1. 12. 3. To testifie our thankfulness when we consider that we our selves together with the residue of mankind lay equally in the guilt and pollution of Adams sin he freely gave unto us so excellent a being after his own Image leaving our fellow sinners unto misery from all eternity he appointed his son to descend as low as hell to fetch us from thence and to ascend up as high as heaven to carry us up thither this is the great and glorious cause of thanksgiving saying in these or the like words Psal 116. 12. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me Whatsoever we are we are by him whatsoever we have we have received from him whatsoever we are or have we owe to him Rom. 11. 36. Of him and through him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen 4. Good works are necessary to beautifie the Gospel Philip. 1. 27. Let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ And in the 2 Col. 9. 13. there were a people commended fortheir professed sibjection to the gospel surely unless we maintain and keep up good works in our conversation we walk unworthy of God Col. 1 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruit failin every good work c. Nay farther if we are negligent in obeying we walk unworthy of our calling Eph. 4. 1. I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called Tit. 2. 10. that we might adorn the doctrin of God out Saviour in all things for indeed an holy conversation is the end of our election Eph. 1 4. compared with John 15. 16. Again it is the end of our redemption 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. compared with 2 Cor. 5. 15. Nay farther it is the end of our vocation 1 Pet. 1. 15. compared with 1 Thess 4. 7. Lastly a holy conversation is the end of our new creation Eph. 2. 10. We are created in christ Jesus unto good works which God hath ordained before that we should walk in them So much for the first of these Good works are necessary in respect of God to shew our obedience to glorifie his name to testifie our thankfulness and to beautifie his gospel c. 2. Good works are necessary in respect of our selves 1. As it is the way of conveyance of mercy to us 2. To declare and manifest our sincerity 3. This is the way to have a being and a well-being 4. This is the way to make our calling and election sure 1. They are necessary in respect of our selves as they are the pipes of conveyance of both the apprehension and application of mercy to us See these Scriptures Psal 50. 23. To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God Psal 107. 43. Who so is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. John 14 21. He that hath my commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him 2 Cor. 1. 12. For this is our rejoycing that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation among you 2. They are necessary to clear and manifest our sincerity both to ourselves and others to our selves as they spring from a right principle and are regulated by a pure rule and done to a good end 1 Tim. 1. 5. compared with 1 Cor. 10. 31 to others they know a t●ee by its fruits they know where faith is by its works and where love is by its effects 1 John 1. 6. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth so 2 Cor. 8. 7. 8. 3. They are necessary as to our being and well being Psal 37. 3. Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed Mat. 16. 27. He will reward every man according to his works 4. This is the way to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 5. 6 7 8 9 10 11. For if ye do these things ye shall never fall for so an entrance shall be administred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 3. Good works are necessary in respect of others Titus 3. 8. they that have believed in Christ must be carefull to doe good works for these things are good and profitable to men in these four-sold respects 1. To stop the mouths of wicked men 2. To increase the joy of the Lords people 3. To win others to the embracing of the Gospel 4. For an example of vertue 1. To stop the mouthes of wicked men who will condemn sin in a Professor although they will approve of it in themselves 1 Pet. 217. For so is the will of God that with well-doing we may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men this made wicked Saul say to David 1 Sam. 24. 17. Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good for evil 2. To increase the joy of the Lords people Col. 2. 5. for though I am absent in the flesh yet am I with you in the spirit joying and beholding your order and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ So again the second Epistle of John vers 4. I rejoyced greatly saith John that I found of thy children walking in truth Surely