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	temple_n	7,031	5	7.9574	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43824	The strength of the saints to make Jesvs Christ their strength which heavenly skill was briefly commended and prescribed in a morning exercise in Westminster Abbey, the 19th of April, 1648 / by Thomas Hill ...	Hill, Thomas, d. 1653.	1648 (1648)	Wing H2030; ESTC R25713	22,258	28

Caution and these are four friendly Items under it First I beseech you beware that you do not rest upon your own preparations for Ordinances It is a very commendable thing I would have you pray that you may pray and I would have you draw nigh and make use of secret Communion with God before you are to come to a Communion and when you come to seek Communion with Him in a Sermon let that be your great care but take heed you do not rest upon your own preparation when you have prepared for if you advance them into the Throne of Jesus Christ and rest upon them when you should rest only upon Him truly it is the way to make all your preparations miscarry and in stead of fruit you 'l have dry breasts and a miscarrying womb you 'l have nothing at all come to any perfection let the Saints that are acquainted with such trading at the Throne of grace as I hope divers of you are reflect and consult sometimes with their own experience if it hath not bin so Have not you when you have prayed very much before a Sermon it may be got little by the Sermon though it was a very wholsome one Have not you many times when you thought you had bin prepar'd and having kept a secret day of humiliation if there were no publique opportunities before a Communion have not you found that somtimes you have had even then lesser comfort at communion what is the reason of this Though God doth ordinarily dispense mercy according to our care to prepare yet sometimes he will not do it and then especially when there is any little carnal dependance upon what we have done for we may be carnally dependant upon Spiritual preparations for Spiritual duties when there is the least degree of carnal dependance upon our preparations he will not bear any thing to be a Corrival with Jesus Christ and therefore he will let us see that we shall fall short for that time of what we expected and so do us good and make us more fit another time Secondly As I would have you beware of resting in your preparations for an Ordinance so do not rest upon your enlargments in an Ordinance It may be you have a Spring-tide of assistance comes in a Minister preaches with great presence of the Spirit of God and a Saint prayes as we find it in the holy-Ghost finds the holy Spirit of God leading him from Petition to Petition and melting him with brokenness when he is confessing sin and filling him with rejoycing when he is remembring mercy and raising him with a high wing as it were of importunity when he is begging of favour as it was an admirable temper in holy Bradford that he was not content till he found God coming in to his spirit with several dispensations according to the several parts of his Prayer Sometimes a Minister and a Saint finds it thus And so in other holy Ordinances if you go away assoon as ever Duty is done and stroke your selves Oh! what an admirable prayer was here and surely I shall do well this day now and I shall be able to wrestle with all temptations I have prayed well in the morning and I have felt God with me this is the way to miscarry thousands have found it and I am sure some of us can seal to it when they have thought they have prayed with most assistance from God and have bin warmed in the morning but the weeds spring up even when the weather is dry you that converse with gardens know it you need never sow weeds no more need you in your hearts they wil come up fast enough an evil weed called Pride comes up which grieves the Spirit of God that when we come to pray next it may be we pray most dully and flatly and can say little or nothing and when we come to preach next yea somtimes when we come to preach the same Sermon again this is certain Ministers find they have preached such a Sermon in such a place with very much enlargment it may be God gave in some soul and quickn'd some others by it and they hearing of it do grow proud of it come to preach the same Sermon and think this will do as much again no such matter they draw it out so heavily and so dully as if it were not the same Sermon As I could name you a most famous man as any of his time in England no dishonor to him who having preached the same Sermon at his own Church with very much assistance and going abroad one of his neighbors with him hearing from him the same Sermon saw him at some loss coming home talked together Sir saith he did you find Gods assistance this day as you were wont I never heard you in my poor conceit so much out as to day O it 's true brother saith he yet I hope though it were one of the worst Sermons I ever preached for others God may make it one of the best Sermons that ever I preached for my self and truly God doth so often there is a wonderful wisdom in it let every one of us take heed of resting upon any enlargements in Duties Thirdly Do not rest upon the Comforts you have in a Duty or after a Duty It may be when you have bin at a Duty and have had soule Ravishments O now you think my nest is built very high and my rock is firm and I shall go on vigorously Chrysostome hath a good saying Me thinks saith he a Saint when he comes from a Sacrament should be able to flie in the face of the Devil and in every Temptation and though he walk in the midst of snares he will be able to encounter with them all Comforts are very sweet things and indeed strengthenning things The joy of the Lord is our strength saith Nehemiah nothing more animates souls than joy and when they are in the most cheerful frame then in the most praying frame only here is the danger If we rest upon those joyes and comforts we provoke God to withdraw them for delicatissima I 'le not say only dilicata but delicatissima res est Spiritus sanctus the most choice and tender thing in the world you must deal most tenderly with it it is the holy Spirit the holy Ghost and it delights to dwell in none but a clean pure Temple most cleanly swept Christians should not only have neat houses but neat hearts if they will delight to have the Spirit of God dwel in them and therefore not any pride spring up even when they have most ravishing comforts Fourthly If we would have much strength of grace from Christ the Lord set it upon us all I desire to preach to my selfe in it as well as to you As we should not rest upon Preparations for Ordinances Enlargements in Ordinances nor Comforts by Ordinances so not in Grace received from Ordinance