Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A51226
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Of the vvisdom and goodness of Providence two sermons preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, on August 17, 24, MDCXC / by John Moore ...
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Moore, John, 1646-1714.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing M2551; ESTC R20154
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24,694
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71
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live godly in Christ Jesus should suffer affliction so also all good men may to their unspeakable joy observe That their Religion does mightily thrive when the wicked most endeavour to suppress it and that nothing more refines the Lives of Christians and makes them come up to the Purity in the Gospel required than Persecution Of that part of Providence which extracts Good out of Evil the Ancient Father discourses well It is saith he the greatest Argument of Divine Providence that it not only altogether destroys the hurtful quality of the Evil which proceeds from the Apostacy of Human Will but also does not suffer it to abide useless and unprofitable for it is the business of the Divine Wisdom Virtue and Power not only to do good for that is the Nature of God to say it once for all as much as it is of Fire to burn and of Light to shine but especially to order and direct that the Devices of the Wicked should serve to good and useful Purposes As therefore it is in the nature of Unbelievers and of the Prophane to hate the People of God and to deal cruelly by them so it is God's Will to suffer it that thereby his own may be improved in that Piety and Virtue which will prepare them for his Presence and incline him to take them out of all their Troubles the sooner unto himself And tho it be a great crime in naughty men to persecute the Servants of God yet they have the less reason to complain of it or to be very uneasie when afflicted because their sufferings do tend so much to their Perfection Nay on the contrary they ought to esteem it as a mark and token of God's Kindness that he is pleased to better and advance their Nature even by Adversity And it is no less than a demonstration of Infinite Wisdom that the Plots which are laid to ruin the Saints should make them more perfect and that to the astonishment of all men the Spight and Cruelty of Persecutors should make Religion take deeper root to grow the faster and in the shorter time to spread it self over the face of the Earth If indeed we regard the Malice and Rage of men certainly enough has been attempted to banish the Gospel and Name of Jesus Christ out of the World had not God appeared on its side and maintained his own Cause and People And while God is with us and does support the Interest of the Religion wherein we are engaged we may remain confident that Captivity Imprisonment Bonds and Scourges how much soever at present they may terrifie and grieve us yet they shall never overthrow the Christian Church or reduce to a state of Desparation the sincere Believers but God's special Grace will help and carry them through troubles of every kind and degree and make all conclude in their Salvation Let us then not hope either that the Wicked should alter the Perverseness of their Natures or that for our sakes God should change the Wise Methods of his Providence Let us not think we shall have kinder usage from the World than Christ and his Apostles had and than the Army of Martyrs and Confessors and all the Primitive Christians did meet with But as we are baptized into the Name of Christ so never let us be asham'd openly to profess it or afraid to bear the Cross of our dear Master If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you And let us steddily look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy which was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds Heb. 12.23 4. We must acknowledg the Goodness of God whether in Sickness Pain or Trouble when we place our Meditations on the inestimable Rewards of the next Life which he has provided to recompence the Sufferings of Holy Men in this Our deep ignorance of the Joys of the other Life will make all things said of them to be with great disadvantage The Philosophers and Men of refined Reason were generally possest with the Belief of a Future State of which yet their Discourses are obscure and full of uncertainty and when they handle this Argument they are often inconsistent with themselves Neither need this be a wonder since it is not to be imagined that by Natural Light we should be able to make any large discovery of the Pleasures of Heaven For they do so vastly differ from Worldly Enjoyments and so infinitely surpass all the Pleasures of Sense that our present Experience will not at all enable us to frame a Conception of them So that the best Information we are to expect in this matter must be from the Holy Scripture neither doth that it self descend into a particular description of the nature of Heavenly Joys The Spirit thought it sufficient for the support of our Faith to give a general account of the uncounceivable Happiness of the Future Life and to let us have full assurance that it should be the Portion of all those who shall to the end persevere in a sincere obedience to the Laws of the Gospel And notwithstanding the best Progress we can make in our enquiry after the Delights of the Glorious World above will be chiefly by Negatives for eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him yet the consideration of them will be mighty comfortable and enough to make us bear up under all the Pressures and Troubles which shall attend the Cross of Christ In Heaven we shall be free from all Sins and from every Temptation to do evil which now proceeds from so huge a number of causes and occasions We shall be placed above the reach of the Malice and Power of the Devil whose perpetual work it is to lay Plots to corrupt our Innocence to take and ensnare our Souls by his cunning Devices We shall be removed from the sight and company of bad men who by their ill example and restless importunity are ever inticing us to sin We now converse among the dangerous Enemies of our Souls who have a constant eye upon us so that if we do but forbear to watch never so little they will surprize us if we do not walk circumspectly we presently shall be made to fall if we do not pray continually the wicked will prove too strong for us and deceive us with the gaudy appearance of their tempting baits O what a perpetual struggle have we with our Lusts and how much pains does it cost to overcome them when they violently press upon us What a Vexation and Grief is it to our Minds that we find it so hard to subdue the Motions to almost every sin Nay that those Lusts which