Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A60149
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Seasonable advice to youth A funeral sermon on Psal. 119. 9. Preach'd upon the death of Mr. Richard Walter, jun. In the eighteenth year of his age. January 13th, 1691/2. By John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing S3685; ESTC R220294
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25,103
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44
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Holy Scriptures While the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading in the Prophet Isaiah Acts 8.26 though he understood it not God did so far reward and bless him that he sent Philip to instruct him farther and his Conversion to the Faith was the Issue of it When ever you hear the Word Preached remember in whose Name and upon what Arrand the Message comes Therefore lay aside every Prejudice Jam. 1.21 Luk. 8.18 Act. 10.33 and place your selves as under the Eye of your All-seeing Judge We that speak to you in the name of the Lord have very much to blame our selves for God knows that we are not Serious enough and Compassionate enough to the Souls of Men not adapting our selves to the Capacities and Necessities of the Younger and more Ignorant sort Alas we see and know but little and feel less of the great important things we speak of And though we hope we find Mercy to be Faithful yet how short do we come of that Affection and Vigor and serious Importunity which the case of Sinful Perishing Souls doth need How unlike those that know the Terrors of the Lord the value of an Immortal Soul and the nearness of Eternity How unbecoming those who speak every Lord's Day unto Men and Women unto whom we may never speak more And it may be such and such of you shall never hear a Sermon more take heed therefore how you hear Fourthly Be most Importunate with God for the Spirit of Holiness and Sanctification He alone can restore Life to thy Dead Soul and conquer the Enmity of thy Heart against Holiness For we are Saved by the Washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost 3 Tit. 5. Beg the Holy Spirit with an Earnestness answerable to your Necessity of what you ask that he may be a Living Principle to cause you to walk in his Statutes and keep his Commandments Ezek. 36.26 27. Forgiveness of Sin is not all that you need you are Diseased and Defiled and need to be Cured and Cleansed If you ask the Holy Spirit with an apprehension and feeling of your need of his powerful Influence you may supplicate and plead the Promise in Hope that God will more readily grant you than any Father upon Earth gives Bread to his Children Mat. 5.6 Chap. 7.11 They that seek him early and earnestly shall find him Our Lord is exalted to give Repentance and Saving Faith his Powerful Grace can subdue the most Impetuous Lusts of Youth You may be earnest and importunate with God for these things he does not require or expect you should be contented to perish in your Filthiness and Unbelief despairing of Helo as if the case of Man were like that of Devils He requires you to Hope and is pleased with it See Mr. How 's Redeemer's Tears p. 118. And if you find any Motions and Strivings of this Blessed Spirit in answer to Prayer cherish every Beginning of it as an Earnest of more Be thankful for every Beam of Heavenly Light from the God of all Grace it may prove the dawning of a more perfect Day Beg that this mighty Spirit would open your Eyes and Hearts that being convinced of the certainty and reality of the Gospel Revelation by the view of its suitableness to your case and the many glorious advantages that are offered by it you may be brought to love it as Amiable and yield up your selves entirely in compliance with it Fifthly Take heed of Declining after good and hopeful Beginnings How many Young Persons have begun in the Spirit and ended in the Flesh Light hath shone in upon their Minds they have been under awakning Convictions by the Word strong Affections have been excited by it they delighted to hear and read it they kept up a course of secret Prayer for some time c. and yet have afterwards fallen away to a Vicious Life It may be they had not considered and counted the cost of being Resolved Christians what they must abandon and forsake what pleasing Temptations they must avoid and resist what instances of Self-denial they must consent to c. And therefore by the Sollicitation or Sophistry or Jears of their Old Companions through the Subtilty of Satan and the Power of Youthful Lusts they have been intangled again with the Pollutions of the World and the Strong Man hath re-enter'd the House with Seven Evil-Spirits worse than himself How Miserable is the case of such after they have been enlightned and in part delivered 2 Tim. 2.26 who return to their former Bondage and are led Captive by the Devil at his Will They were not far from the Kingdom of God they seemed to consent to be the Lord's they were almost perswaded to take the Yoke of Christ upon them as his resolved Followers but now have taken leave of him and are at the Command of Satan his Will is theirs If he bid them think as little of God as they can despise the Holy Scripture make light of Sabbaths and Sermons and all good Counsel they do it If he bid them gratifie their Carnal Appetites indulge their Sensual Inclinations and frequent such and such ensnaring Company they do it They are led Captive by him at his Will With what Hearty Compassion should we think and speak of the case of such and many such there be But if you are not harden'd through the deceitfulness of sin past all feeling I would feign ask you whether you are not yet willing to return If Mercy may be had and you may yet be recovered out of the Snare of the Devil Dare you solemnly and expresly in so many Words take leave of Christ and bid him farewel for ever Are you content to forfeit his Favour and throw up all hopes of it and venture his Eternal Displeasure Would you not yet return if God would receive you If there be Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that you may be healed May I not tell you in the Name of Christ that there is and that if you return with your whole Heart you especially who are the Children of Holy Parents he will yet receive you He will meet you half-way and bid you welcom Hos 14.1 2 3. Isa 55.6 7 8. He will heal your Backslidings and blot out your Transgressions and remember your Iniquities no more He pawns the Authority of his own great Name for this Three several times in one Verse to assure you of it Zach. 1.3 Prov. 1.23 Turn ye at my Reproof and I will pour out my Spirit upon you is the Voice of Wisdom I might likewise direct you in your Addresses to God for his Purifying Grace to Eye the Blood of * Christ as the procuring cause of your Sanctification and the Holy Spirit the Purchase of that Blood as the great Sanctifier of Souls I might urge you farther * that with an hearty abhorrence of every Sin you would penitently and thankfully renew the Covenant you made with God in
your Baptism yielding your Selves to the Lord as the most solemn and Important Transaction of your whole Lives And be sure * keep out of the way of Temptation as much as you can endeavouring to avoid those particular Snares by which you are most easily overcome Pretend not a Resolution against the Sin if you are willing to look upon the Temptation to walk upon the brink of the River and to come near the door of that House into which you know you must not enter It is impossible a Man should love to abide by a Temptation for a good end or without unspeakable Hazard It is vain Confidence on your own Strength to come as near Sin as you durst and the Event does commonly prove it so Especially * see that you well imploy your Time upon the Lords Day and take heed to your * Company all the Week Few of the Younger sort Miscarry but date their Sin and Ruin from the neglect of this Counsel * Begin with God every Morning by serious Prayer and Reading some part of the Holy Scriptures with some Practical Affectionate Book if but for a quarter of an Hour it would leave a serious Tincture on the Mind and a good Savour on the Heart and be of use to antidote you against Temptation and to preserve a Holy frame all the Day But * never desist your diligent Endeavours till you come to walk with God in his Love and Fear and as under his Eye all the Day long That the pleasing of God may become the Business and Pleasure of your Lives Lastly Do not delay Compliance with these Counsels but presently set about it can you begin too soon to cleanse your Hearts and Ways Is it too soon to be reconciled to God and delivered from the danger of Damnation Can you attain Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost and a well grounded Hope of Eternal Life too soon If you languish'd under a noisom Distemper that threatned your Life would you imagin you could be healed too soon And how much Sin and Mischief Shame and Sorrow and bitter Repentance may you prevent by taking heed unto the Word of God betimes How much larger Opportunities for the glorifying of God have Young Converts than late Penitents though they be Sincere What Advantages never to be retrieved have they lost who have out-sinned their Youth because their Time is gone and can never be recalled What Honour may you bring to God who remember your Creator in the days of your Youth What Ornaments to your Profession may you prove Of what usefulness unto others in this World being filled with the Spirit of God What attainments in Grace and the knowledge of Christ See Mr. Charnock Vol. 2. p. 57 58. and what additional degrees of Glory may you reach You may grow to a greater Stature being new born in Youth and bring forth more and better Fruit in Old Age You will have a longer time of Peace of Conscience and of the Comforts of the Spirit much sweeter fore-tastes of Heaven and improved meetness for it You may lay up Treasures of Experience to confute the Devil if he assault you on a Death-Bed c. And is it nothing to despise all these advantages of an Early Piety to secure the comfort and usefulness for the future part of your Lives Is it nothing to be prepared for a sudden Death and to provide against the Pangs and Sorrowful Reflections of a Death-bed Is it nothing when you come to Die to review your former Life with Joy saying Lord remember how I have served thee the God of my Fathers from my Childhood and Youth Is it nothing to bring God greater Glory in this World and receive a more weighty and sparkling Crown of Glory in the next Have you not been often told how much more difficult your Repentance and Conversion to God will hereafter be than now if you should be spared some Years longer Are your Hearts like to be better by longer continuance in Sin Will the Justice of God be less provoked will it not be more Will the Devil have less advantage against you when he hath had so much longer Possession To Day while it is called to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts It is some hardning of your Hearts not to hearken to his Voice this day It is one step more towards final Impenitence and Unbelief against which there is no Remedy provided in the Gospel How hardly was that Man Cured Mark 9.29 who was possessed with a Devil from his Childhood The more you are alienated from the Life of God the harder will be your Recovery And how much greater is the provocation against God by every such Delay How aggravated and displeasing is your base ingratitude against the Blessed God and a Merciful Redeemer You reject his present Call slight his Kindness and refuse his Love and in effect tell him that though you have no mind to perish but that one time or other before you die you will accept it that yet you have other Business for the present to mind it will be time enough for that when you are more at leisure Your Youthful Lusts now call you your Secular Affairs and Settlement in the World now call you to other Thoughts and these shal l be first minded and served Your Compassionate Physician offers his Help and promises a Cure if you will but hearken and submit to him You tell him in effect that you like your Leprosie and are in love with your Disease You care not to be recovered to Health you will not as yet be Purged and Healed though one time or other you intend to call for his Assistance May he not most justly say unto you Let him that is filthy be filthy still You would not be purged from your filthiness therefore you shall not till you die How bitter will be the Thoughts of these repeated Calls neglected What cold Horror and Shivering Dread shall seize thee on a Bed of Languishing which some may take for true Repentance But Oh how little of that which by a large Charity we hope is so may the Righteous God accept and who can tell whether he does or no For such Men see themselves upon the brink of the Grave and stepping into Hell and know it is as much as their Souls are worth presently to make Peace with God by unfeigned Repentance No wonder then if they let fall some little Drops of a beginning Sorrow if they have some extorted Resolutions of Living better some sudden Remorse and Regret for those Sins that they are now like to be Damned for some quick and rash Vows of an Awaken'd Conscience with some Confusion of Face under the Fears of Death and Judgment But at such a time it is hard to distinguish between Religious Sighs and Natural Groans or separate their Repenting Cries for Mercy from their Howlings on their Beds through Bodily Pain 'T is true God