Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	heart_n	holy_a	let_v	7,137	5	4.4451	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56406	The faithful and diligent Christian described and exemplified, or, A sermon (with some additions) preached at the funeral of the Lady Elizabeth Brooke, the relict of Sir Robert Brooke, to which is annexed ... an account of the life and death of that eminent lady : with an appendix containing some observations, experiences, and rules for practice, found written with Her Ladiship's own hand / by Nath. Parkhurst ...	Parkhurst, Nathaniel, 1643-1707.	1684 (1684)	Wing P489; ESTC R14746	35,723	168

to our Probation State And thus Death is ours LV. Formality in Holy Things must be avoided Every Real Christian hates to act in Divine Things out of Custom and Formality and the least mixture of a By-end is to him troublesome and afflicting His Actions are with Consideration and good Design He will not only pray but consider to whom and why And doth it either in obedience to a Command or as the paying of Homage to God or as an Instance of Trust Dependance and Love or as a Means of obtaining some Blessing or as an Ordinance that brings him near into the Presence of God And when he waits upon the Publick Worship it is that thereby he may make open Profession of Faith and Holiness and that he may draw nigh to God LVI The Government of our Thoughts is necessary It is no little Self-denial to manage our Thoughts strictly yet it is the most reasonable part of Religion and not properly the Heighth of Piety but the Foundation of it without which it cannot stand He that can blush at his Thoughts and endeavours to suppress them who dares not entertain the least Sin no not so much as in his Imagination looking upon God and Conscience as more than a thousand Witnesses This Man is Religious indeed This manage of the Thoughts is of great Service to a Christian it is a vast Security against many Temptations For Thoughts breed Desires and Desires increase into Passion and Passions will grow strong and being grown strong they abuse Reason and throw the Soul headlong and render it exposed to divers Temptations LVII The End of our Actions must be good Great Care must be had concerning the End of our Actions for this like the Altar sanctifies the Gift A Man's End hath a mighty Influence upon him as is the End such is the Man He whose End is worldly is himself earthly But if God be a Man's End it makes him God-like LVIII We must beware of Spiritual Sloth Spiritual Sloth brings Spiritual Poverty To have Affections in Holy Duties requires much force to which Nature is averse Corrupt Nature doth not always discover its opposition to that which is good by passionate contradicting but oftentimes effectually enough by Sloth and sluggishness LIX Detraction must be avoided We are naturally prone to speak evil of others with delight and to aggravate their Faults This Sin persisted in will shut out of Heaven as well as Murder or Theft And there is a secret Plague attending it in this Life for the way of Divine Providence is frequently Retaliation LX. The Promises are full of Support and Comfort but God must illuminate our Minds to discern what is treasured up in them The Promises which are the Covenant of Grace display'd are most precious in the matter of them and most necessary and useful to the Christian's Spiritual Life they help and support when all other things fail The Satisfaction they bring is a real true Pleasure yet their Glory and Excellency is not to be seen till God opens the Christian's Eyes and gives him a new Light There is a Vail upon the Promises or rather a Film upon the Eye of the Soul and until that is removed the Promises are dark and they have no Form or Comliness in them And though they be great and precious in themselves yet they cannot be so to us unless God and the Promise come in together The Spirit must move upon the face of the Waters before they become refreshing Streams to make glad the Heart The Christian's own Arm will not reach Comfort from them For this God must be sought and the Promise must be our Meditation LXI The Holy Ghost proceeds in his Operations gradually The Spirit of God operates gradually He teaches first one Truth and then another He brings us first to make Conscience of a Duty and then of the manner of performing it The Holy Spirit lays a Foundation in the Heart for the whole of Religion and then draws us on gradually to more and more Rules for Practice I. LET Love and Charity be Universal For no pretence whatever no not of Religion and Zeal for God can justifie your not loving any Person in the World Treat all Men with Kindness and wish them well Do them good according to their Necessity and your Power and Opportunity If Persons be above you express your Love to them by paying them the Honour and Observance their Place and Authority call for If they are in Worldly Respects beneath you manifest your Love by Kindness Affability and vouchsafing an easy Address to you If they excel in Natural or Acquired Endowments of Mind express your Love to them by a due esteem of them If they be rather wanting than excelling shew your Love by pitying them and despise not their weakness If any be in Misery compassionate them pray for them comfort them with your Presence if you can reach them relieve them according to your power If any be defamed shew your Love by stopping and rebuking the Defamation II. Be very careful not to harbour any evil Affection in your Heart against any one what-ever For though you are far from intending any actual Mischief yet you tempt God to let loose your Corruption and his Providence to permit you an Opportunity and so before you are aware you may be drawn to an Act you never thought of before Moreover by an evil Affection harboured in your Mind you will prevent the blessed Illapses of the Spirit of God and open a wide Door for the Devil to enter into you And indeed an unkind disposition towards any Man is so much akin to Satan that if you admit the one you cannot exclude the other III. Despise none for Love never rides in Triumph over Inferiours IV. Look upon all unavoidable Temptations as Opportunities for an high exercise of Grace Are you injured be sorry for him that hath done it and bless God for the opportunity of shewing your self hereby a Christian by patient bearing forgiving doing Good against Evil treating him with Meekness and breaking his Heart with Love Every Provocation is a Price in your Hand get an Heart to improve it V. Put a due value upon your Name and Reputation But be not over solicitous about it for that discovers some unmortified Lust at the bottom VI. Pursue Piety under the notion of an Imitation of God and then so great a Pleasure will result from it that neither Men nor Devils shall be able to make you question God's Being and Attributes This will raise an Esteem of it and render it lovely and make the several Duties of Religion more facile and easie and it will gradually wear out the Remains of Unbelief and unkind Jealousies of God VII Let Humility be the constant covering of your Soul and let Repentance follow all your Performances This will demonstrate your Religion is inward For if Religion be suffered to enter deep into the Heart it will always find Work for Repentance

more profitable and pleasant than their own Studies and that they themselves did learn as well as teach This perhaps may seem incredible to them that were not acquainted with her But something of the Wonder will be abated by shewing how she attained her Excellent Knowledg She was an Indefatigable Reader of Books of the Scriptures especially and various Commentators upon them the best that our Language affords which perhaps are not exceeded by any other She had turned over a Multitude not only of Practical Treatises but also of Learned Books and amongst many others some of those of the Antient Philosophers translated into English gathering much from those great Lights among the Heathens so that she could interpose wisely in a Discourse purely Philosophical She was also a most diligent Inquirer and made use of all Learned Men of her Acquaintance to increase her Knowledg by moving Questions concerning the most material things as Cases of Conscience and hard Texts of Scripture and the Accomplishment of the Divine Prophecies She generally also took Notes out of the many Books she read that she might with the less Labour recover the Notions again without reading them a second time And She used a mighty Industry to preserve what either instructed her Mind or affected her Heart in the Sermons she had heard To these she gave great Attention in the Assembly and heard them repeated in her Family After this she would discourse of them in the Evening And in the following Weeks she had them again repeated and discoursed the matter of them to some of her Family in her Chamber And besides all this she wrote the Substance of them and then digested many of them into Questions and Answers or under Heads of common Places and then they became to her Matter for repeated Meditation And by these Methods she was always increasing her Knowledg or confirming the things that were known And having a great Treasure of Knowledg she improved it through Divine Assistance which she was most ready to acknowledg into a suitable Practice working out her Salvation with Fear and Trembling and was zealous of good Works Her Piety was exact putting Rules upon her self in all things and universal having respect to all God's Commands equally regarding the two Tables of the Law It was also constant and affectionate her whole Heart was given up to it and a holy Zeal attended it which Zeal was guided by much Wisdom and Prudence the Prudence never degenerating into Craft nothing appearing in all her Converse contrary to Sincerity It was also serious solid and substantial not touched with Enthusiasm yet she had a great regard to the Spirit of God as speaking in the Scriptures and by them guiding the Understanding and operating upon the Heart And as her own Practice was holy so she endeavoured also that her Family might walk in the same Steps providing for them the daily help of Prayer Morning and Evening with the reading of the Scriptures and on the Lord's-day the Repetition of what was preached in the Publick Congregation And for their further Benefit she many Years together procured a Grave Divine to perform the Office of a Catechist in her House who came constantly every Fortnight and expounded methodically the Principles of Religion and examined the Servants which was formerly done by her Chaplains till the Service of God in her Family and the Care of the Parish were committed to the same Person Thus with Joshua she resolved that She and her House should serve the Lord. With her Piety and Godliness there was joyned much Christian Love which was universal extending to all Mankind never suffering her self to hate or despise or over-look unless in the way of Censure for a Crime any Person in the World abhorring only what was vicious and evil in them But this Universal Charity admitted a Difference so as that the more Christian and Holy any were the more They had of Her Regard That Image of God that shined in a good Conversation she could not overlook in any though in some respects they were less acceptable to her valuing Grace above all the Accomplishments of Parts Breeding and Accord in lesser things And besides that all were dear to her in whom appeared the Fear of God she had also a most peculiar value for his Ambassadours and Ministers the Guides of Souls receiving them in their Ministrations as Angels of God fearing the Lord and obeying the Voice of his Servants esteeming what they delivered in consent with the holy Scriptures as his Message and Word She was very exact in matters of Justice and in rendring to all their Dues not suffering any Blot to cleave to her Hand and could not endure to have any thing without a Title in Conscience as well as in Law and was particularly tender in reference to Tithes and gave away all that she held by that * The Impropriations of Blithburgh and Walderswick in Sussex Title to him that took the Care of the Souls reserving only a little Portion yearly for repairing the ‖ The two great Chancels of the Churches there Edifices Her Charity and Alms-giving was very great and much admired by all that observed it though they knew only some part of it Every one that needed it had it in proportion to their Necessities and in the kind that was most suitable to their particular Wants She esteemed her self but as a Steward of her Estate and therefore gave away a great part of it to encourage the Ministry and to relieve the Indigent She dispersed abroad and gave to the Poor and Her Righteousness remains for ever She did most frequently cast her Bread upon the Waters and gave a Portion to seven and to eight and lent much to the Lord. And this she did willingly and chearfully and was ready to these good Works so that when there was any occasion that solicited her Charity it was never any Question with her whether she should give or not give but only in what Proportion she should extend her Bounty And for that she would many times most frankly refer her self to others saying I will give what ever you think is fit and meet in this Case having in this respect an Heart as large as the Sand on the Sea-shore and a most open Hand And as the Poor had her Charity in abundance so her Friends who needed not that kind of Bounty were yet Witnesses of her great Liberality and Generosity by which she adorned Religion and gained many to speak well of it Her Generosity was such That one would have imagined there was no room for Alms and her Charity such that it was wondered how she could so plentifully entertain her Friends But a provident Frugality and Management with the Divine Blessing enabled her to both to Admiration And her Charity was not only extended to the Bodies of others but she also most readily afforded Counsel and Comfort to them that repaired to her for Assistance in the