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	paul_n	7,516	5	6.4255	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66816	Eremicus theologus, or, A sequestred divine his aphorisms, or, breviats of speculations, in two centuries / by Theophilus Wodenote ...	Wodenote, Theophilus, d. 1662.	1654 (1654)	Wing W3241; ESTC R39130	60,438	192

Eremicus theologus OR A Sequestred Divine HIS APHORISMS OR BREVIATS of Speculations IN TWO CENTURIES By Theophilus Wodenote B. D. sometimes fellow of Kings College in Cambridge Cantic chap. 4. ver 16. Awake O Northwinde and come thou South blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out LONDON Printed by T. W. for Andrew Crook at the Green Dragon in S. Paul's Churchyard 1654. TO THE HIGHLY BORN HONORABLY MINDED AND WORTHY OF HONORABLE AND HIGH RESPECT MATTHEW HALSE of Efford in the County of Devon Esquire THEOPHILUS WODENOTE one of his obliged Oratours dedicates these his Aphorisms or Breviats of Speculations And daily beseecheth God for him that both he and all his issue so specious already by affinitie with so many Noble Progenies and still growing more and more eminent by their own sincere and abundant piety and charity may by divine mercy be preserved thorough faith unto salvation APHORISMS OR BREVIATS of Speculations The first Centurie 1. BEfore and after and in all businesses and at all times remember Prayer how canst thou hope to speed in any thing thou do'st if thou do'st it not in Gods fear and with his favour which is the very soule of thy soule and life of thy life so profitable so necessary that by it thy souls salvation and life it self liveth Let not thy unworthiness deterr thee though thou art subject to many passions and canst not pray as thou oughtest Elias was subject to the like and yet prayed and was heard (a) James 5.17 18. Upon a crie made the thief seeks to flie and neighbours come to help upon a prayer made the Devill shifts away and God comes to succour 2. IN petitioning Almighty God Ask and it shall be given you seek yee shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you (b) Matth. 7.17 Not alone ask and it shall be given you ther 's not a full point but seek and knock as well as ask our Saviour useth a threefold phrase and urgeth the duty from one degree to another with interposition of proportionable promises to signifie that we must pray often be earnest and zealous for cold suters proove cold speeders Cold and superficial requests can never pierce the clouds nor find any manner of access to the Throne of Grace The prayer of the righteous availeth much but with this condition if it be fervent (c) James 5.16 but put not ferventness in copiousness of syllables but of sense not in lip-labour but in heart-labour God esteemeth not the loudness or the length but the strength of prayer nor weighes he the ready words but the radicall devotion of him that praeth Thou mayest pray and cry and outcrie others even without crying out Moses prayer could not be heard on earth (d) Exod. 14.15 and yet the cry of it came up to heaven when the tongue cannot speak to God if with heart we can sigh to him he understandeth that language and we shall be sure of help A sigh sometimes will serve if truly from the soul 3. TRust not with the Papists to scale the high fort of Heaven by the broken and rotten ladder of the merits of Saints or thy own works or worthyness but place all thy hopes and moove all thy sutes in the Name of Jesus Christ without whom neither thou nor any of the Saints have any thing to do with God but pray God for thy right in Jesus Christ not to enter into judgment with thee but claime all thy right to blessedness by thy right in Jesus Christ without whom no man hath right in any thing saving in Gods indignation and his own destruction 4. PRay that thy faith may be scientious and unfeigned that thy lise may be conscientious and unspotted Mans life and religion are for the most part like A sound faith a sweet behaviour A false faith a debauched demeanour The fountaine being fowle and noysome can the water be faire and wholesome Can a bad tree bring forth good fruit Do men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles [e] Matth. 7.16 Neither can their outward conversation be pure whose inward perswasion is not perfect 5. WHat books soever other men admire and make their Jewels Let the Scriptures be dearer unto thee than all other books together Let them be a lampe to thy feet and a light unto thy paths [f] Psal 119.105 Set and settle thy continuall considerations upon them Wherein nothing is superfluous nor any thing wanting wherein whatsoever is taught is truth whatsoever is commanded is goodness whatsoever is promised is perfect happiness yea which not onely for pure and perfect matter but for high and heavenly expressions so farr excell that they are not to be mentioned with any other writings by way of comparison 6. HOw ragged are mens expressions How poor the pithiness of their discourses In sight of the sacred Scriptures their most accomplished Treatises are not so much as the light of a candle to the glorious brightness of the Sun in his chiefest splendour In Gods book every particle hath his poize every tittle is usefull every syllable is sententious every word is wonderfull He that once truly knows it cannot chuse but love it He that truly loves it cannot chuse but with all the veines of his heart commend it to others 7. TAke not upon thee to justify whatsoever any the most learned men without speciall inspiration hath published but whatsoever any pen-man of Scripture to whom the Holy Ghost did dictate hath set down defend to thy death and with thy death Men may erre not knowing the Scriptures [g] Matth. 22.29 not attaining to the perfect sense of them Apollo's a learned Doctour fervent in the Spirit and mighty in the Scriptures yet was he ignorant in divers things and received instruction from Aquila and Priscilla [h] Acts 18.26 We know in part and we prophesy in part said S. Paul [i] 1 Cor. 13.9 after long study and many wonderfull revelations after God had exalted him to the third heaven and there shewed him more than a man might conceive In sundry things as men we are many times much mistaken but not a word in all the sacred volumes that can be either false or faulty the Scriptures of God cannot erre 8. TAke not advantages but advertisements by Scripture read it not to feed a faction but to find a truth look both forward and backward and diligently ponder the circumstances that thou mayest the more clearely perceive the substance catch not at the words or phrases but consider what the will of the Lord is Think not when Christ saith that all that ever came before him were thieves robbers [k] John 10.8 that therefore Moses Elias Elisha Isaiah Jeremiah and the rest of the Prophets were no better than thieves and robbers because they went before Christ in time but that such only were thieves as professed themselves to be the door of the sheep or received or

of thy conscience or destroying of thy soul 86. WHat though the common conceit presume that if a man thrive in the world then God loves him and if he be crossed in outward things then God hates him yet measure not the favour and love of God towards thy self or others by prosperity or adversity If thou wouldst find comfort in thy heart and unfeigned testimonies of Gods speciall respect towards thee seek not for them in outward benefits or in want of outward benefits both which are common to the godly and ungodly but in joy in the holy Ghost in remission of sins in repentance from dead works in the Spirit of adoption in faith in Christ in peace of conscience which passeth all understanding As for other things place not thy heaven or happiness in them for they afford no such assurance If blessings come receive them thankfully If crosses happen indure them cheerfully 87. COnform thy fashions to thy fare thy manners to thy means our severall conditions require feverall carriages If thou be tryed with adversity bear it without stubborness or impatiency If thou be called to prosperity use it without insolency or ingratitude Debase thy self in the one as God hath debased thee and take no more stare upon thee in the other than he hath given thee Let not thy mind be so reflective upon thy degree in the world as upon thy conscience but especially remember always the Judge of thy conscience who as in his mercy he hath lifted thee up so in his wisedom can bring thee down or as in his wisedom he hath brought thee down so in his mercy can lift thee up 88. DIsable not thy self from being in the state of blessedness for the life to come because thou art in great misery in this life yea though thou be justly punished for thy sins for the which thou art not yet sufficiently penitent Thou shalt but add to thy sorrows and needlesly increase the weight of thy burden if thou condemn thy state of election because the Lord hath elected thee to chastise thee for thy faults if thou relinquish thy hope of happiness in heaven because thou art recompensed with judgments on earth yea therefore are not Gods Children free from all manner of temporall plagues that they may be free from everlasting perdition A man may be sealed by the holy Spirit of God unto the day of redemption [c] Ephes 4.30 A man may be as secure from hell as Sathan is secluded from heaven and yet his calamities may make him groan and cry and roar all the day long and yet day and night Gods hand may be heavy upon him [d] Psal 32.3 4. 89. BY deliverance from troubles past assure thy self of deliverance from dangers present and by former benefits never doubt of future favour in Gods good time so far forth as it may stand with thy spirituall good God loveth not as men do for a day or two and so farewell but it was it is and it will be alwayes true God is the Lord he changeth not whom he once loveth he loveth to the end and where he hath once shewed mercy he will persevere in kindness being yesterday to day and the same for ever [e] Heb. 13.8 Idem Objectivè Subjectivè Effectivè When Saul told David that he was but a youth and therefore too weak to combat with that strong Goliah the champion of the Philistins who had been a man of warr from his youth How soundly and comfortably did David reason from the experience he had in times past of Gods helping hand that he who had delivered him from the paw of the Bear and the jaw of the Lyon would also save him in that duell which he was to undertake with an uncircumcised Philistin that defied and oppressed the people of God [f] 1 Sam. 17.34 35 36. And how cheerfully did Saint Paul make the same argument that God did deliver him doth deliver him and hereafter will deliver him assuredly [g] 2 Tim. 4.17 18. 90. TAke up and bear the yoak of poverty with patience poverty is no sin nor alwayes onely the punishment of sin Even Christ the Lord of heaven and earth even the Lord of all hast lead of all and could say [h] Matth. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head shewing that as he was the Son of Man the beasts fowls were richer than he he was poorer than the beasts the birds Art thou without this worlds goods yet be not without Christian courage God oftentimes recompenseth compenseth the want of earthly blessings with great abundance of heavenly graces such gifts in the day of trouble and in the hour of temptation shall minister more comfort and more true peace unto thee than all things which begin with pleasure and end with corruption 91. HOwsoever thou canst chalenge nothing at Gods hands as due debt unto thee but calamities and sorrowes which are the fruit of thy sins yet know this that God often protecteth thee from much harm which thou knowest not of Cōsider often with all humbleness thankfulness that God not only foreseeth thy dangers before they can come neer thee but preserveth thee from many a mischief and much affliction which through blindness and ignorance thou neither do'st nor can'st perceive How much more then will he support thee when thou knowest thy self to be in trouble and powrest out thy earnest prayers unto him for deliverance out of trouble He that performeth the greater will alwayes be ready to accomplish the less He that keepeth thee back from the pit that was hidden will help thee to escape from that which lieth open He that is so forward to help thee when he is not requested will not be backward to succour thee when he is intreated 92. IN thy greatest affliction and most grievous extremity be thy wants never so great thy means of ease never so small be thy hopes in respect of outward helps never so few the difficulties through which thou must pass never so many Regard not so greatly the things that are seen which may work deadly discouragement and anguish as that which is not seeen with mortall ey namely Gods omnipotence Look not so much to the danger of death before thee as to the power of God above thee which is never at a stand never at a loss which then begins to shew it self when human help ends [i] ubi desinit humanum auxilium ibi incipit divinum when mens cases seem most desperate and help is thought to be furthest of then is Gods mercy greatest and his presence neerest then is his power made perfect through our weakness When doth the Devill and his children more insult than when they have men under but when men are most miserable then doth God shew most mercy when faith was enfeebled by long looking and hope began to faint with much

and their roomes rather than their company who have forsaken God and whom God hath forsaken with the which loathsom and despicable men more virulent and contagious than the breath of a Basilisk we may neither eat nor drink that is not familiarly converse Evill words corrupt good manners [w] 1 Cor. 15.33 and what then doth evill company do Oh what dangerous infection hath evill conversation often brought and wrought in those who had made no small progress in Christianity conversation breedeth that in continuance that is not beaten off in any continuance 69. ARe they onely now adayes held complete and furnished cap-a-pe that can sort themselves to all companies that can indifferently converse with all manner of persons yea though they know their ill qualities as well as if they were stamped in their foreheads yet consider with all diligence whom thou admittest into thy house or in whose house thou betakest thy self to dwell avoid all private and customary conversation with the wicked though not publick commerce [x] Malorum consortia fugere debemus quoad privatam consuetudinem non quo ad publicam conversationem Ambrosius offic lib. 1. cap. 18. Decline their very presence as much as thou mayest except thou be to discerne their diseases and minister medicines to cure them or necessity of some duty of religion or of thy vocation or love or humanity command thee to be with them What man in his right wits would wittingly and wilfully thrust himself into the hands of thieves having no less charge than the precious graces of Gods Spirit about him Enter not into the path of the wicked saith Salomon and go not in the way of evill men avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away [y] Prov. 4.14 15. what an heap of words doth he use and to what serve so many repetitions but to shew the exceeding danger of communicating with the wicked and how hardly we are drawn to leave them 70. BEtter others by thy company or by thy company better thy self Either alwayes learn some good of others or be teaching some good thing to others Hath thy neighbour any resplendent grace make it thine Hast thou any rare gift make it his what rather should be the center of all our conversation and conference than to help and further one another in knowledge and the practice thereof than to make those that are bad good and those which are good better 71. FLatter not thy self that any sin is the less the more commit it walk not on the bolder in any sin because thou seest a multitude of fellowes in it For what is an unregenerate and unsanctified company but a rout of Rebells and an heap of confederates conspiring together against God Even the learnedst heathen thought it not the least part of their glory to steer a course like the Antipodes clean opposite to the liking of the vulgar How much more though thou hast multitudes wilfully to go before thee shouldst thou know whom they follow before thou willingly follow and joyn thy self with them If thou offend with others thou shalt be punished with others and if thou sin with great troupes thou shalt suffer with great troupes canst thou think it will be any consolation unto thee in the end that as thou hast not sinned alone so thou shalt not be punished alone what profit hath the thief that is going to the place of execution to see a train of many others bear him company Is his judgment any whit the soster or is his comfort any whit the sounder 72. PUll up thy spirits and excite thy self not onely to do good but to be chief in doing good but to labour like S. Paul more abundantly than others (z) 1 Cor. 15.10 Hasten and strive in any good course to run before others to lead them the way that thou mayest have the greater and better reward in that great day The chief and principall in any good work that draw on and encourage others in the way of godlyness by their earnest example their reward no doubt shall be exceeding great they shall have a chief and principall compensation the wages shall be sure to be according to the works 73. ADmire not all the fayings and doings of worshipfull wealthy men Neither think that all that have power and titles are surely wise but rather more especially pray for them that they may be wise for it is good yea necessary for them who have gotten the greatest inheritances to get the greatest wisdom that will make their possessions yet better and that will bring them to a better use of their possessions that will incite them to prayer and thankfulness that will moove them to compassion and mercy and make them able and ready to exercise every good duty in their calling As on the other side their wealthyness without wisdom will be a ginne and temptation to lewdness and but as a sword in a madd mans hand 74. LEt not the dew of Heaven and the store of the Earth become snares unto thee and occasions of falling If thou be hedged about with outward blessings and God have given thee great abundance to enjoy If riches increase though by never so honest means though never so well gotten or well saved or well imployed yet trust not in them boast not of them set not thy heart upon them set thy eyes and hands and marks and seals upon them but not thy heart at least settle not thy heart upon them settle that wholy and soly upon God settle not the least piece of it upon any other delight whatsoever God loveth indeed a broken heart as the Psalmist saith (a) Psal 51.17 but not broken into pieces between him and the world but a wounded heart he meanes lanced and torn with anguish for sins because it is guilty of much undutifull and offensive carriage towards God 75. SEarch not so much after pedegrees as after piety which is the chiefest ornament of a Christian Neither respect so much first and noble birth in the world as second and new birth in Christ what is the best bloud worth without the best belief what boots it to be well descended if thou be ill disposed to be before others in greatness if thou be behind them in grace what avail ancient progenitors without answerable duties and goodness according what shall it profit thee to come of nobles according to the flesh if thou nothing resemble them in the Spirit He is Noble who is the Child of God who is born from above he is honorable being son to a King brother to a King Heb. 2.11 heire to a King Rom. 8.17 yea to the King of glory Psal 24.7 to the King of all Kings higher than the highest Ecclesiast 5.7 If thou esteem true nobility labour by faith to be engraffed into Christ and to be invested into the vertues of a Christian to have thy name written in the book of life and to be reckoned in the