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
of Damnation Never was inward Purity so pressed by any Law before or the universal Sanctification of our Nature advanced to such a pitch No other Law pretends to reach to the inward Thoughts of the Heart as those in the Word which forbids us to Covet to Lust or hate our Brother in our Heart This ransacks every filthy Corner and pierceth into the Secrets and Recesses of every Man's Breast speaking with absolute Authority to the very Grounds Principles and Ends of every Action dissecting the whole Body of Sin uncovering the inward Ulcers of the Soul manifesting that a Lustful Desire impure Mouth or an unclean Hand will make a Man polluted before God and stand guilty of the Breach of his Commandment This Law is exceeding Broad it forbids not only the sinful Acts but the Instruments of 'em what would begin or promote 'em or is chosen for the Sin 's sake with relation or in order to it This shews us whence our Infection did first arise tracing it unto its Spring-head the first Apostacy from God manifesting the spotless Holiness of the Divine Majesty and his perfect abhorrence of every Sin so as to judge and condemn the invisible risings of Disobedience and Contrariety to it in our very Thoughts Yea by the measures of the Gospel we are unclean unless we have active Purities If we are not crucified to the World we are covetous we are malicious and hate our Brother if we do him not all the Good we can tho he have treated us injuriously we dishonour the Name of Christ if we do not to our utmost advance his Glory Eph. 5.13 This is that Light which maketh manifest discovering that Deformity in Sin which we never saw before and so much of it in the Heart as we never before believed with the aggravating Spots of many plausible Duties and the provoking circumstances of our particular Faults For when we thought our selves very Absolons for Beauty by looking into this Glass we appear as vile and loathsom as Lepers and all our Secret Sins which are always in the Light of God's Countenance are by the Word set in order before us What is said of the Sun in the Heavens is true of this Word its Circuit is to the Ends of the Earth and there is nothing hid from the Light and Heat thereof Psal 19.6 2. This may be also consider'd as the ordinary Means which God hath appointed for the cleansing of our Hearts and Ways And therefore the Sanctification of the Spirit 1 Pet 1.22 2 Thess 2.13 Acts 15.9 and believing of the Truth are joyned together The Sense of some particular more notorious Sin is commonly the first means to humble the Soul When the Charge is brought home by the Word to this or that Person Thou art the Man or Thou art the Woman who hast scorned and slighted the Authority of thy Maker in this or the other Instance Thou art the Fool-hardy Rebellious Creature who hast affronted thy Sovereign who hast despised that Goodness which should have led thee to Repentance abused that Patience which hath a tendency to thy Salvation rejected that Grace that would have helped thee and contemned that Redeemer who shed his Blood for thee This Voice of the Lord is powerful to shake the stoutest Cedars and make a Felix on the Bench to tremble when preached but by a Prisoner at the Bar. They that Crucified the Redeemer and scorned his Doctrin were pierced to the Heart and cry out Men and Brethren 1 Cor. 14.26 2 Acts. what shall we do be saved By this the Chains of the Devil are knock'd off and his Captives recovered into the Liberty of God's Service You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free John 8.32 In this Jordan the most polluted Creatures have been washed and Hearts full of loathsom Filth have been changed into Vessels of Purity Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are justified but ye are sanctified 1 Cor. 6.9 3. This therefore is the most likely fit and proper Means For besides the Encouragement of these Examples to seek for cleansing we have others propounded as our Patterns to imitate Sometimes the Blessed God himself and our Lord Jesus Christ that we may not rest in low Attainments and sometimes the Examples of the Saints that we might not despair of being healed For the same powerful Grace that hath sanctified others is able to do the like for us Therefore while our Impotency and Impurity is declared in this Word we are directed by it to a Fountain open for sin and for uncleanness We have Promises and Precepts most graciously connected What God commands us in one Place as our Duty he promiseth to do for us by his Spirit or enable us to do in another or at least gives us ground to hope he will Let us then consider the exceeding great and precious Promises which are the Motives and Means of our being cleansed from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit 2. Cor. 7.1 For by them we are made Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 It 's by this means Divine Impressions are made upon the Soul Mr. Howe 's Blessedness of the Righteous p. 268. the obdurate Heart of a Sinner melted and overcome and transform'd into the Image of God Compare this Means God works by with the Subject to be wrought upon and the Effect to be wrought and none can be conceived fitter It is the Office of the Word by Precepts Promises and Rewards to inform the Judgment and awaken Conscience and persuade the Will It is some Encouragement to expect the Influence of the Spirit in the use of this means because it is so excellently fitted to this End to heal our Impotency which is not Natural but Moral And God would not appoint us Means which should be altogether in vain Dr. O. of the Dominion of Sin and Grace p. 14. Grace is tender'd unto Men in the preaching of the Gospel to enable them to perform and comply with that which God requires For altho we know not the Way and Means of the effectual Communications of Grace unto the Souls of Men This is certain That Grace is so tender'd in the Preaching of the Gospel that none go without it none are destitute of its Aids and Assistance but those alone who by a Free Act of their own Wills See to the like purpose Mr. Howe 's Blessedness of the Righteous ch 17. do refuse and reject it Ye will not come unto me that you may have Life And all Unbelievers have or may have Experience of this in themselves that they do voluntarily refuse the Assistance of Grace which is offer'd for their Deliverance Therefore is their Destruction of themselves The common Grace * Redeemers Tears p. 53. Append p. 192. which is generally afforded to them who live under the Gospel extends so far as that they have thereby a Day allow'd them to provide for their