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	part_n	5,261	5	4.5208	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12205	Tvvo sermons vpon the first words of Christs last sermon Iohn XIIII. I. Being also the last sermons of Richard Sibbs D.D. Preached to the honourable society of Grayes Inne, Iune the 21. and 28. 1635. Who the next Lords day follwing, died, and rested from all his labours	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.	1636 (1636)	STC 22515; ESTC S102407	24,191	77

much sorrow and griefe what a great deale of dishonour do we to God it proceeding from a mistake of his goodnesse and providence And with over much feare and sorrow there is alwayes ioyned murmuring and discontent and a spirit unsubdued to God and his Spirit There is a wronging as of his care in providence so of his gratiousnesse in his promises There is a grieving of his good Spirit a questioning of his government as if he did not dispose of things as he should when we will have it one way and God will have it another way There is likewise a great deale of pride in dejections and discontent The most discontented spirit in the world is the Devill and none prouder It argues a great deale of pride and sullennesse to be affectedly sad and deiected as if such worthy and excellent persons as we should not be so afflicted Or there were greater cause for us to be deiected then raised up Whereas if we ballance our grounds of comfort being Christians as we should do they would appeare incomparably above the grounds of our discouragements so it is a wrong to God and his truth and his gracious sweet government to yeeld to a dejected sullen disposition It is likewise a wrong to others for it maketh us unfit for any office of love to them when we plodde and pore so much upon our discontentments and drink up our spirits and eate up our hearts it disables the soule taking away not onely the strength but also the willingnesse of the soule Besides the scandal that it brings on Religion and the best wayes as if there were not enough in Religion to comfort the soule But you will say Religion breeds a great deale of trouble and pensivenesse It is indeed the speech of the shallow people of the world Religion makes men sad And it is true that as our Saviour Christ here had made his Disciples sad by telling them that they would leave him and that a great scandall would be taken at his Crosse and shamefull suffering but yet withall bids them not be troubled and gives you grounds of comfort so Religion will make men sadde For it discovers truths and sad truths I but the same Religion will cheare them up againe yea it casts them down that it may raise them up The uSnne in the morning raiseth clouds but when it hath strength it scatters them God intending solid and substantiall comfort doth first beget troubles and discovers true grounds of trouble he lets us see that all is not well but still as Religion brings any trouble so it brings with it greater remedies against thse troubles and that God that raiseth a soule to see just matter of griefe will by his spirit shew its due and right portion in comfort Thus to be sorrowfull and sad in some measure is from Religion but that which will prevent the excesse and over measure of it is from Religion likewise So that it is a scandall to Religion to be over much dejected Besides though we should be troubled for sinne yet to be over much troubled for sinne is a dishonour to Christ and to the love of God in Christ for it is as if we had not in him a sufficient remedy for that great maladie As be it griefe for the troubles of the Church as not to be troubled at the affliction of Ioseph is branded for a sinne So to be too much cast downe as if Christ had cast off the government from his shoulders or had not the name of the Church on his breast in heaven as the high Priest had the names of the 12 Tribes in his breast plate to be so cast downe as to be taken off from prayer and from the use of all good meanes to helpe the Church this is sinfull So also when griefe for sinne makes us forget the mercies of God in Christ to forget the healing vertue of him our brazen Serpent to neglect to search our grounds of comforts and to yeeld to Sathan to temptation Even over much sadnesse though it be for sinne or for the Church it is hurtfull and scandalous Iosuah was much cast downe when he saw it went not well with Israel but get thee up Iosuah saith God what doest thou lying here up and do thy duty consider what is amisse There is an Achan in the Campe and so when things go not well let not your thoughts be conversant about the matters of trouble so much as about your duty So we see it is incident to Gods people to be over much troubled and we see also the reasons why it should not be so because it is injurious to God to our selves and others every way And after all this there is much reason in this that Christ hath forbidden it let not your hearts be troubled But Christ could as well have cured it being God as easily as forbidden it It is true but he cures it by forbidding it with the words there went forth a spirit of comfort into their hearts an influence of grace accompanied his commands for the word and Spirit God together Christ deales with men by men The spirit of comfort is a spirit of truth and therefore God comforts by truths He gives us sanctified understandings and affections and then works on them by sanctified truths And sometimes Christ cures it by reall comforts for comforts are either rationall which are fetched frō grounds which faith ministers or reall from the presence of any thing which comforts as the sight of friends or the accommodating of us in any thing wherein we see the love of God conveighed how many reall comforts doth God bestow when he fitteth us with conveniencies in our way to heaven so that we may teade the love of God in them God doth not onely comfort us by his gracious promise by his Word and Sacraments administring heavenly comforts by them but also by the conveighing of himselfe and his love by outward comforts that we enjoy in the world howsoever carnall men abuse them making all things to work for the worst yet that love that intends heaven sweetens all things in the passage to heaven to his children because they see the love of God in the least comfort Againe observe from this here let not your hearts be troubled what is the seat of comfort the heart the seat of comfort is the fear of griese There must be an application of comfort suitable to the griefe and the heart must be comforted And therefore in Isa. 40. 1 2. Comfort ye comfort ye my people speake to the heart As the griefe sinks and soakes to the root of the heart so do Christs comforts like true cordials indeed that go as deepe as the grievance If the griefe goes to the heart the comfort must go as deepe Now God the Father of spirits and the holy Ghost the Comforter knows and searches our spirits they know all the corners of the heart they can banish feare and sorrow out of every cranny and bring light heat and influence into every part of

when it is purged and pacified then keep it cleane for a foule soule is alwayes a troubled soule and though it may be quiet yet it is sure to break out afterwards And because there can be no more comfort then there is care of duty therefore together with innocencie let us be carefull of all duties in all our severall relations let us consider in what relations we stand and what duties we owe and be carefull to satisfie them all Neglect of duty is a debt and debts are troublesome when the soule reflects upon the omission of a necessarie duty I owe such a duty to such a person I should have done such a thing in such a relation but I have omitted it it is a disquietment and that upon good grounds and if you have beene negligent there must be an actuall renewing of the Covenant and a setting upon the duty with fresh endeavours to make amends for former negligences or else the soule shall have no comfort nor will God suffer it to admit of comfort And therefore work out your salvation with feare and trembling The reason that men do still tremble and are troubled with this doubt and that feare is because their salvation is not wrought out something is left undone and their consciences tels them so But above all that we may receive comfort let us labour for a spirit of faith Therefore here it is said You beleeve in God beleeve also in me Christ brings them to faith for comfort And he sets downe a a double object of faith God that is the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and Christ considered as Mediator and Christ brings them to himselfe Beleeve also in me because he would fense them against the future scandal of his suffering As if he should say You will hereafter when you see me so handled and upon the Crosse doubt and call in question whether I am God and the Messiah of the world or no. But if you beleeve in God beleeve in me For howsoever in love to you and mankinde I tooke mans nature on me and am abased yet in my greatest abasement remember this that I am God And surely there is nothing can stay the soule more especially when it is deeply humbled then to consider God in the second person incarnate and abased and crucified and made a curse and sinne for us to see the great God of heaven and earth whose excellencies we cannot comprehend to take our nature and in our nature to suffer for us those things which he did endure This will establish the soule indeed Can the the soule thinke that this was done for any small or to little purpose Or can there be any griefe or sinne that should hinder comfort or perswasion of the possibilitie of pardon when the great God became man on purpose to dye for sinne We may set this against all discouragements whatsoever And therefore beleeve in God beleeve also in me Howsoever you see me abased yet you may have comfort in my abasement for it is for you And therefore saith Paul Irejoyce to know nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified That which proud and Atheisticall Heathens tooke scandall at that he rejoyceth in God forbid that I should glory in anything but in the Crosse of Christ Peace of conscience joy in the holy Ghost reconciliation and title to happinesse is all founded upon Christ crucified And then againe you see he joynes both together Ye beleeve in God beleeve also in me to shew the distinction of persons in the Trinitie God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost all our faith is resolved at length into one God but yet withall into three persons in that Divine nature because as there is God the Father offended so there must be a God to satisfie that God and there must be a God to reveale and apply that satisfaction The soule is so full of doubtings that nothing can set it downe but that which is above the soule and above the devill And therefore for our salvation and to give us comfort there is a necessitie of three persons in the Godhead The Father is offended God in the second person must satisfie offended justice and God in the third person must reveale and apply the Sonne for comfort And therefore he names them distinctly Ye beleeve in God c. And because we cannot beleeve in God the Father but by beleeving in Christ therefore he joynes them together ye beleeve in God ye beleeve also in me No man comes to the Father but by the Sonne God the Father dwels in the light that no mortall eye can approach unto onely he hath manifested himselfe in his Sonne who is the ingraven Image of his person God shines in the face of Christ and as he comes down and makes himselfe knowne to us in his Sonne so we must go up to him in his Sonne as he saith afterwards I am the way the truth and the life There is no going to the Father but by me nothing is more terrible then to conceive of God out of Christ for so he is a consuming fire therefore thinke of God as ours in Christ carry Christ our elder Brother with us and desire God to looke upon us in his Sonne Now now doth faith in Christ ease the soule in trouble Many wayes I will name a few Faith in Christ banisheth troubles and bringeth in comfort Because it is an emptying grace it emptieth us of our selves and so makes us cleane to another and thereby becomes a grace of union It is such a grace as brings the soule and Christ together Now Christ being the fountaine of comfort God having treasured all comfort in him for the fulnesse of the Godhead dwels in Christ and faith causeth Christ to dwell in us brings the soule and Christ together and so must needs make way for comfort for it makes us one with the fountain of comfort And by its repeated acts derives fresh comfort Again faith establisheth the heart Now to establish the soule there must be a solid Basis as in building there must be a foundation and a planting upon that foundation Now here is a foundation God and Christ and there must be a grace to found and bottome the soule thereupon and that is faith and so the soule is established The chaine and connexion of causes herein is this God the Father in Christ and by the holy Ghost conveighs comforts through the word laid hold upon by faith It is not the word alone for that is but as the veins and atteries that conveigh the bloud and spirits So the Spirit being conveighed by the promises helpeth the soule to lay it selfe upon Christ by faith which is a grace of union by which union with him the foule is established And then againe faith stirreth up such graces as do comfort the soule as hope in all good things promised And therefore in the next Verse he addes to comfort them In my Fathers house are many mansions and

with a perfect heart saith Hezekiah He stood then most in need of comfort and this comforted him this his reflection upon his former sinceritie So when a man can appeale unto God as Peter did Lord thou knowest I love thee so much sincerity so much boldnesse with God And therefore let us keep grace in exercise that we may be fruitfull in our lives and conversations and then we shal be alwaies comfortable And to adde a little there is no grace in a Christian but if it be exercised there is a suteable comfort upon it even here in this world There is a Praemium ante praemium A reward before a reward Nay the Heathen men Socrates and the best of them so farre as they exercised the naturall goodnesse that was in them their consciences reflected peace so farre as they were good and did good they had peace much more peace then bad men had God gave even them some rewards upon discharge of their duties he will not be beholden to any man that exerciseth any degree of goodnesse that is in him Much more therefore shall a childe of God enjoy it when he exerciseth his graces in any temptation when he overcomes any uncleane earthly vaine-glorious vindictive or any other base lust he shall finde peace of conscience suteable and the more he grows in strength and resolution for the time to come the more he groweth in inward peace Righteousnesse and peace go together not onely the righteousnesse of Christ and our reconciliation before God but also the righteousnesse of an holy life and peace in our own consciences The righteousnesse of Christ entitles to heaven and the righteousnesse of an holy life sheweth my title unto comfort As faith in Christs righteousnesse brings peace so sanctification also Christ is first King of righteousnesse and then King of peace And therfore where there is no righteousnesse there is no peace But on the contrary as heat followeth the fire and as the beames have an emanation from the Sunne so doth comfort arise from grace especially from grace exercised Therefore they that would have inward peace let them labour to be gratious and that not onely in the inward frame of the heart but in the exercise of grace upon all occasions For they that walke according to this rule that is of the new creature peace be to them and the whole Israel of God Gal. 15 16 an exact and carefull life will bring constant peace Therefore let us labour first for interest in Christs righteousnesse and then for the righteousnesse of an holy life for a conscience to justifie us that we have no purpose to live in any sinne and a not accusing conscience will be a justifying conscience What a blessed condition shall we be in to be in Christ and to know that we are so Oh the heaven on earth of such a man as is in that condition For which way soever he looks he finds matter of comfort If he looks backward to the government of the spirit that hath ruled him in the former part of his life he may say with Saint Paul I have fought a good fight I have runne the race that God hath set before me And what a sweet reflection is this he is not afraid to looke backe to his life past as other men If he looks forward he seeth a place prepared for him in heaven and there he sees himselfe already in Christ hence forth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the righteous judge shall give me at that day and all that love his appearing saith he there When there comes ill tydings of the Church abroad and at home it doth not much dismay him his heart is fixed he beleeveth in God and in Christ and that keepes him from being like a reed shaken with every winde For reproaches and disgraces that he meets withall in the world he weares them as his crowne if they be for Religion and goodnesse sake For his witnesse is in heaven and in his owne conscience And God in heaven and his conscience within do acquit him and if he suffer for his deserts yet in all afflictions God dealeth with him as a correcting father he knoweth he hath deserved them but he lookes on them as coming from a father in covenant with him And what can come from a father but what is sweet He sees it moderated and sweetened and in the issue tending to make him more holy The sting is taken out and a blessing is upon it to make him better And therefore what can make a Christian uncomfortable when he hath the Spirit of Christ and faith the root of grace These comforts being warmed with meditation will sticke close to the heart comforts that are digested are they that worke Let them therefore not onely enter into the braine and fleete there but let them sinke into the heart by often consideration of Gods love in Christ and the priviledges of Christians here and in heaven where our head is and where we shall be ere long Warme the heart with these and see if any petty thing can cast thee downe FINIS Psal. 90. Chap. 8. 10. Ob. Ans. Non durant in adversis quae non in pace quaesita Heb. 12. 5. Quest. Answ. Quest. Answ. 2. Pet. 1. Heb. 7. 1. 2. Tim. 4. 7.