Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A13120
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The gaines of seeking God In two sermons, preached in the parish church of VVestminster: by Christopher Styles.
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Styles, Christopher.
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1620
(1620)
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STC 23412; ESTC S122483
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26,139
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54
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of the whole Word is not to be valued to the worth of the soule for what shall it profit a man to winne the whole World and lose his owne soule Wee reade that the holy Saints haue crucified their owne bodies and chastized themselues with hard penance and all that they might saue their soules Gal. 5.4 For they that are Christs haue crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts of it O you holy Saints and dearest friends of God tell vs O tell vs why with so many Watchings so many Prayers and so much Discipline you haue so cruelly mortified your flesh O most glorious Martyrs why haue you exposed your selues to such cruell torments that you haue not refused to die yea euen a violent death with cheerfulnesse embracing such a sentence O blessed Iesus why diddest thou suffer three and thirtie yeeres together hunger thirst labour sweat deepe wounds and finally death it selfe they answere all aloude it was for the soule therefore it is manifest the soule is more precious then all the other things of the world Seeing then all things are but vile in comparison of the soule why doe wee so vainly care for the preseruation of euery thing but the soule our bodies our riches our cattell our garments are curiously deckt and prouided for but alas few men haue any respect at all vnto their soules O vnhappie wretched men why are you so carefull about many things nay euery thing sauing this one thing for which all your care should be bestowed Remember Christs counsell to Maries complayning Sister Martha Martha thou carest and art troubled for many things but one thing only is necessarie O then beloued in the Lord let vs louingly care for this one thing our soule in the faithfull preseruation whereof consisteth all things else that pertaine to mans eternall happinesse which God giue vs grace truly to performe for euer more Amen The third circumstance to be considered whereby to know the dignitie of the soule is by the habitation being capeable of such a glorious Tenant as the Holy Ghost for God hath created the soule to no other end but for himselfe which is to be his habitation so that the soule is called the Temple of God As the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 3.16 Know yee not that yee are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you if you bee the holy seate of God thither our Sauiour comming to keepe perpetuall Holidayes hath ordayned all things necessarie for the honour of his entertaynment So long as God dwels in the soule of a iust man Psal 91.1 Hee hath commanded an Host of Angels to guard him Hee shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee in all thy wayes Psal 34.7 And the Angell of the Lord tarryeth round about them that feare him to deliuer them Behold the dignitie of the soule how God hath appointed the Angels that are so noble Creatures to bee their keepers Man made lower then the Angels yet lo attended by them Surely its great dignitie to the soule that euery man at his birth hath an Angell chosen to bee his keeper And this Angell is so employed about our businesse as a Messenger alwaies running betwixt the Beloued and her Loue offering our Desires and Prayers as an acceptable Sacrifice vnto God and bringing downe the Royall Present of Gods holy Gifts into the soule still stirring vp the soule to all good workes and labouring to appease Gods wrath that it should neuer bee kindled against vs this Royal prerogatiue of the soule to entertayne God as a Ghest truely describes the dignitie of the same which all this while is attended with an Armie of heauenly Souldiers 2. Kin. 6.17 Againe whilest God inhabiteth the righteous soule he makes it a continuall feast in the large open Chamber of a quiet conscience and giues them the Bread of Life to feed vpon euen by breaking his owne precious Bodie vnto them the effect of bread is to preserue life and to strenghten mans heart So Christ that is the true Bread come downe from Heauen giueth them spirituall Bread his Bodie thereby to preserue the life of the soule Labour not then for the meate that perisheth but for the meate that endureth to euerlasting life which the Sonne of man shall giue vnto you for him hath the Father sealed Againe yet whilest God in habiteth the righteous soule hee bringeth her a greater blessing then Caleb could bestow vpon his Danghter although hee gaue her the Springs aboue the Springs beneath a rich Dowrie Iosh 15.19 For whereas Man by nature and sinne is made barren of all Grace yet being bathed and washed in the euer-streaming Fountaine of Christs Bloud by Repentance and renewed by the Grace that is brought vnto her through our Lord Iesus Christ She is made fruitfull in euery good worke and to walke acceptably before God The Apostle shewing the Corinthians That the vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of GOD saith such were some of you but ye are washed but yee are sanctified behold the dignitie of the soule in the estimation of her price For saith the Apostle yee are bought with a price 1. Cor. 6.20 Great is the price of the soule whome nothing could redeeme but the bloud of Iesus Christ God make vs carefull of this dignitie for euermore through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen In the second place we are to consider the qualitie of the soule which may bee vnderstood in the three powers of the soule which I told you of before and is mentioned in this word your First Sapientiam docet It teacheth vs Wisedome Secondly Munditiam seruat It preserueth vs in Innocencie Thirdly Constantiam nutrit it nourisheth our Constancie who were else vtterly vnable to fight that great and tedious battaile betweene vs our spirituall enemies It teacheth vs wisedome three wayes intelligende praeterita by vnderstanding the things long since past Iudicanda praesentia in being able to discerne and iudge of those things that bee now present Expectando futura in expecting good things to bee receiued hereafter at the hands of God First Intelligendo praeterita bona Animae Sapientiae Wisedome is the treasure of the soule a good man knoweth all things which God hath made to be knowne aswell those things of the World which are past as the things that are to come euen the inuisible things of God that is his eternall Power and Godhead are seene by the Creation of the World being considered in the Creatures his Workes This made Dauid sing The Heauens declare the glorie of God and the Fi mament sheweth his handy-worke the soule is only capeable of Reason and therefore considering the worthinesse of her selfe the vilenesse of the bodie and the shortnesse of this life therefore she chuseth rather to prouide for the Life to come which is immortall then to regard at all this life which is so transitorie this makes vs to worship