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	lord_n	23,094	5	4.0162	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37077	A motion tending to the publick good of this age and of posteritie, or, The coppies of certain letters written by Mr. John Dury to a worthy Knight at his earnest desire shewing briefly vvhat a publik good is and how by the best means of reformation in learning and religion it may be advanced to some perfection / published by Samuel Hartlib ...	Dury, John, 1596-1680.; Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662.	1642 (1642)	Wing D2874; ESTC R18081	34,674	40

and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. Therefore the Spirit by which our faces are uncovered doth lead us unto him for to know the things of God he must be known and that he may be known he must be seen and lookt upon for in him all the treasures of life are to be seen and no where but in him Therefore the Prophet when he proposeth the greatest of blessings saith that our eyes shall see the King in his beauty intimating that in the sight of him and his beauty was our happinesse And verily those that once have had a true sight of him cannot but continually seeke to behold him We may see it in David how he stood affected towards him One thing saith he I desired and will feeks after to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple and Psal. 42 1. 2. As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soule after thee O God Oh when shall I come and appeare before God but chiefly Psal. 63. 1 2 8. early will I seeke thee my soule thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seene thee in the Sanctnary Because thy loving kindnesse is better than life If he had never seene him in the Sanctuary of the Spirit he could not have ●●●● carnestly desired him But having once seene him and tasted of his goodnesse he could not but long for the continuance and renewing of this sight and and taste This also may be gathered from the Apostle Peter who exhorteth us to desire the ●in●●re milke of the Word if so be we have tasted that the Lord is gracious The tasting of Gods graciousnesse will not be soone lost out of the sanctified minde but will leave a desire after it to looke after him Now this glory of the Lord is beheld as in a looking-glasse his outward actions which are regished in the Gospel are the looking-glasse wherein all the divine properties of his goodnesse and loving kindnesse do appeare to the full when they are spiritually considered Fourthly Those that behold this glory are changed into the same image This glory is so excellent in goodnesse and lovely to all that behold it that it subdues the soule and drawes it by a sympathy to become comfortable unto it selfe as it is said 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us to what to be conformable unto his death For when the soule seeth his great love to us it cannot possibly but it must needs love him again and where love is there is a Symbolizing of affections which is the change here mentioned for through love the thing beloved doth receive a being in him that loveth it and thus our Souls are transformed into the same image which we perceive to be in Christ See concerning this these places Phil. 3. 21. Ephes. 5. 1 2. and 1 Iohn 3. 2 3. and 4. 10 11. Fiftly This change is from glory to glory that is from one step or degree of glory to another For Christ is the ladder which Iacob saw Gen. 28. 12 13. wherein were steps reaching from earth unto heaven that is to say from the lowest estate of a temporall to the highest of an eternall being And upon these steps the Angels ascended and descended these Angels are our spirituall messengers sent up to God and his gracious answers sent down upon us The steps and degrees are in the life which we live in Christ Jesus the motions of spirituall growth wherby in the dayes of his flesh he was daily mortified in respect of the outward man and quickned by the Spirit in the inward to which mortification and quickning we become conformable by proceeding from one state of glory to another because he also in the dayes of his flesh went by the same progresse alwayes from earth to heaven till he came againe to his Father from whence he came forth Sixthly This change is wrought by the Spirit of the Lord in the soule that beholdeth Christ The Spirit of Christ is the Author of the change which is wrought in us for when we see and behold Christs glory the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given to us Rom. 5. 5. So the holy Ghost proceeding from Christ by the knowledge and faith which we have of him and of his life Ephes. ● 5. worketh love in us to him by which we Sympathi●e with him and are changed into the same state of life wherein he did live after the inward man for the spirit which commeth from him taking hold of our spirits draweth the same with it selfe up unto Christ to whom it goeth back again by the manifestation of the life of Christ in us For when it prevaileth over the powers of our soule to bring the same unto the obedience of Gods will then it bringeth us backe to Christ for this was the life of Christ not to do his own will but the will of his Father who who sent him into the world Iohn 6. 38. Thus then when our will is brought to yeeld it selfe by the spirit wholly unto the will of God in all things as Christ did then we are changed and by the Spirit led from one step of glorious conformity to another Then the soule being betrothed unto Christ through love doth desire to be drawn that she may run after him and then the mistery of the song of Solomon is begun in us that it may also in due time be fulfilled through all the degrees of love therein expressed which mistery is not to be understood by any but by such as proceed in the degrees of this change from glory to glory Thus then we see how the life of God is both made known and conveyed to us by the means of Christ from all which by way of Recapitulation we will gather these conclusions First that as the life of God is the only good to be sought for and procured unto all so Christ as he is a Spirituall man is the only meanes to purchase that life Secondly That that life is purchased in Christ by none other way but by the free gift of God through the illumination of our soules with knowledge Thirdly That this knowledge doth reflect immediately upon the glory of God as upon his proper object which is to be manifested in the heart of man Fourthly That to make this glory manifest in our heart the face of Jesuc Christ must be seen by us Fiftly That to behold the face of Christ we must have an open face free from the vaile and then we must looke upon the glorious excellencies of his spirituall life in the glasse of his outward conversation amongst men Sixthly That by this contemplation and apprehension of the life of Christ a new life is begotten in us conformable unto that which is in him by which we are changed into the same image of glory and are led from one degree thereof unto another

spirituall things as men do of their eyes in bodily matters And what matters do essentially concurre towards the apprehension of things in their bodily shape within the eye such like matters are intellectually also concurrent towards the Act of knowledge in the understanding Sixthly That the object of this knowledge is the glory of God The glory of God is the manifested excellencie and the evident appearance of his goodnesse and of his nature So when Moses Exod. 33. 18. desireth that God would shew him his glory God answereth verse 19. and saith I will make all my goodnesse passe before thee and I will preclaime the Name of the Lord before thee By which we see that the apparition of his goodnesse and the apprehension and knowledge of his name that is of his nature for the nature of every thing is knowne by the name thereof is the manifestation of his Glory Seventhly That this glory of God is to be seen in the face of Jesus Christ The face of Christ is the expresse appearance of his being and life by which he is distinguished from all other men for men are to be discerned by their faces one from another now Christ is to be difcerned from all other men in this that he is a spirituall man and did live in the flesh a spirituall life for the Apostle saith that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe And of his own knowledge of Christ he speaketh thus Though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Therefore if any man be in Christ let him be a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new The new Creature is the spirituall Creature for he that is in Christ is one spirit with him Because Christ is different from the old Adam in this that the old Adam was made to be a living Soule but the new was made a quickning Spirit Hence then we learn that the face of Christ which is the appearance of his life and being in the spirituall state wherein he walked in the flesh as God for he lived the life of God in the flesh 1 Ioh. 1. 2 3. is the proper Subject wherin all the goodnesse and the nature of God doth appeare So that if we can see and know the fare of Christ then we shall evidently also perceive the life of God in his glory because he that seeth Christ seeth the Father And Christ himselfe desireth us to beleeve him that he is in the Father and the Father in him nor will the Father be seene in any but in him in whom only he is well pleased and whom we should hear on his behalfe Matth. 17. and because he alone is the expresse image of his person and the brightnesse of his glory Heb. 1. 3. Therefore also he cannot be feene in any but in him for all which causes he is the only means to attaine unto the life of God for he only can give the light of life to such as come to him and follow him Ioh. 8. 12. and Ephes. 5. 14. And thus we have understood the manner how the life of the Father is to be known in the Son Now followeth the way how by that knowledge the life of the Father is conveyed through the Son unto us This is expressed 2 Cor. 3. 18. thus But we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord Where we must observe that the Apostle doth not speak here of himselfe alone but of all Christians to show the way and the maner how they become parrakors of the life of God in Christ which in all Christians is but one and the same although there be differences of degrees in the participation thereof But here the substance of the matter is declared in these particulars First That all Christians are participant of this life for he saith we all meaning himselfe as a Christian and all other beleevers for seeing there is but one faith and one hope and one spirit therefore the beleevers are said to have obtained like precious Faith with the Apostles and to be baptized with the same Spirit for he saith that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body Secondly That all beleevers have their faces uncovered for he saith that with an open face we behold That is to say that the face of our Soule which is our minde is not now covered with a vaile as the face of Moses and of the Iewes was least they should behold the end of that which was to be abolished for to this day the minds of the Iems are blinded and the vaile remaineth untaken away in the reading of the old Testament which vaile is done away in Christ For the Lord is the Spirit which causeth the vaile to vanish for where the spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty That is to say there is free accesse unto God to take notice of his whole life for the spirit searcheth even the deepe things of God and we have received the Spirit of God that we should know the things which are freely given to us of God For now is the Prophesie fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet I saiah chap. 25. 6 7. That God shall make in his holy mountaine which is his Church a feast of fat things unto all people a feast of wines on the Lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the Lees well refined And that he would destroy in his mountaine the face of the covering cafl over all people and the vail that is spread over all Nations This Prophesie I say is now fulfilled for in the Church of the Gospell the feast of all wisdome of all knowledge and understanding and of all promises and comforts unto the wearied soules is largely set before us in the writing of the Evangelists and Apostles and that we should be able to make use of this feast God hath also taken away the face of the covering and the vaile that was spread over all Nations which kept them in blindnesse so that now our faces are opened and uncovered before the Lord because he is well pleased with us in Christ whose Spirit he hath sent forth in our hearts to give us the liberty of Children that we should come to him and call upon him Abba Father Thirdly All that have their faces thus uncovered behold the glory of Lord as in a glasse The end wherefore God doth uncover the faces of Beleevers and giveth them his free Spirit is that they should know the things which God hath freely given to them as the Apostle faith now those things cannot be known but in the fountain and receptacle where they are which is Christ for in him is all fulnesse and the Father hath made him unto us Wisedom Righteousnesse Sanctification

Seventhly That this change is brought to passe by the Spirit of the Lord which worketh upon our spirits the manifestation of the life of God which is the only good thing and happinesse to be sought after and propagated unto posterity Thus having discovered the true aime of a publique good and the means by which we must attain thereunto let us proceed to the endeavours which may be used towards the propagating of this unto the men of this generation that by them it may be advanced unto posterity Of the third If we have tasted how gracious the Lord is and are truly come unto him as lively stones to be built up a spirituall house and a holy Priesthood to offer up spirituall Sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ then we shall be fit to propagate this life unto others and not else for the means by which it is propagated unto others is none other but to labour that the light which is made manifest unto our soules whereby we are become partakers of the life of God may shine also unto others that they by the grace of God may partake in like manner of the same This endeavour hath three chiefe parts The first is the care of avoyding offences The second of giving good example by going before others in godlinesse The third of making the Rule and doctrine by which we walke to avoyd the evill and do the good known to every one These three parts of this endeavour are expressed Phil. 2. 15 16. thus Be blamelesse and harmles as the Sons os God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation amongst whom shine ye as lights in the world holding forth the Word of life Except we study to be in all things without scandall and offence as it becometh the Sons of God amongst the Sons of men the good which we do shall be evill spoken of and become unprofitable See Rom. 14. 13 14 15 16. And if we give no good example by our life in the profession of the Gospell all our Doctrine shall be blasted and we justly suspected and not worthy to be heard or taken notice of for teachers of Truth See Math. 7. 16. 21. Iohn 10. 3 4 5. Thus then the endeavour to be without offence is a preparative to make way for the good which is to be intended towards others in our practise and the good which is to bee intended towards others by our practise is a preparative towards the proposall of the Doctrine of Truth by which the knowledge of Christ is advanced unto the World that so many as God shall be pleased to enlighten and call out of the world by that knowledge may be joyned to him and made participant of his life These three endeavours comprehend all the objects which in the profession and preaching of the Gospel are to be studied by our selves and insisted upon towards others For in a word it is by the means of the Gospel that Christ is to be made known unto the world For the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1. 16. And seeing that in the wisedome of God the world by wisedome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that beleeve 1 Cor. 1. 21. Now in the Gospel there be two things First there is the doing of the Truth for ourselves and then the publishing of the same for others The doing of the Truth is the profession of the Gospel and the publishing of it unto others is the preaching of the Doctrine by which the profession is regulated As for the profession we see it hath two parts The first is a care to be blamelesse and harmlesse without offence and rebuke towards all men The second is the practise of Piety to do good to all and goe before others to lead them on towards the life of God Whence we must gather that all manner of endeavours and undertakings which tend directly to advance and perfect any of these three objects should be counted truly good endeavours and fit to be supported in this Age and transmitted to Posterity And the more neere any endeavour or undertaking doth come to reach any of these ends the more compleat and perfect it is to be esteemed in goodnesse as comming neerest unto the life of God Here then the endeavours tending to the advancement of the Gospel should be sought out and ranked according to the subordination and relation which these matters have one towards another and all towards the manifestation of the life of God in us by the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the Gospell Unto the matter of harmlesnesse and blamelesse conversation belongeth the endeavour of peaceablenesse and of becoming all things unto all men in that which is lawfull as the Apostle telleth us he did 1 Cor. 9. 19. 24. The endeavour of Peaceablenesse is a study whereby we are directed how to avoyd the occasions of strife in respect of our selves and to bring others who are at variance unto a peaceable and harmlesse disposition These endeavours are proper Characters of the Sons of God for in the place forementioned the Apostle maketh the in-offensivenesse of our conversation to be the property of the Sons of God And Christ saith that the Peacemakers are blessed because they shall be called the Sons of God Math. 5. 9. Thus then we must conclude that the endeavours tending to take away offences and scandalls from amongst Christians and tending to cause them avoyd strife and debates and tending to make peace amongst them and to bring them to the unity of the Spirit by a reconcilement of differences in the Truth are undertakings and endeavours immediately conducing to the furtherance of the Gospel and consequently to the setling forward of the life of God amongst men For God is the God of peace and hath no fellowship with evill but is harmlesse and good unto all for even unto those that are unworthy of his goodnesse he causeth his Sun to shine Therefore Christ exhorteth all his Disciples to be like his and their heavenly Father in this That they should be peaceable innocent and do good unto all even unto their enemies and persecutors Math 5. 38. till the end Unto the second part of the profession which is the practise of Piety belongeth the zeal of advancing the Kingdom of God and setting forth the image of Christ unto the world in Righteousnesse and holinesse This is somewhat more then to be unblameable by avoyding scandalls and strife for it doth imply moreover a care tending to the edification of many by way of example to lead others to perfection in the duties belonging to our christian calling for we are bound to shew others the life of the Spirit by our walking so that they may be able to discerne in us the powers of another life then that is whereby this world is upheld for this world being led by lust and selfe-conceited greatnesse and