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	know_v	soul_n	7,408	5	4.7811	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46713	A sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich, March 8th, 1695/6 being the second Sunday in Lent / by John Jeffery ...	Jeffery, John, 1647-1720.	1696 (1696)	Wing J521; ESTC R1811	12,473	30

Duty he has violated But in vain and to their Torment do wicked Men Wish they might Obtain that Happiness or Avoid that Misery That they had Forsaken their Sin or Performed their Duty 3ly The Desires which wicked Men shall have at last of the Portion of the Righteous has then respect to what is present for They shall then Wish 1. That they were not the Sinners they are And 2. That they were the Righteous persons they are not 1. They shall Wish at last that they were not the Sinners they are The meaning of this Wish is That they were not under such Guilt as they have contracted and that they were not so Viciously inclined as they are By their past Sins which they have not Repented of they are consigned to the Misery they fear and by their prevailing sinfull Disposition they are uncapable of the Happiness which the Righteous enjoy Under that Guilt and with that Temper Sinners appear before God who knows what they are and what they have done And the same Appearance every Sinner at certain Seasons hath unto Himself When a Sinner has as Balaam when he spake the words of the Text had a distinct Prospect and affecting Representation of the last things then his Conscience awakens and shows him to himself in all the odious Characters that a Sinner shall appear at the Judgment-Seat of God He then considers what He is and that God does and will account him such an one as he is But the Sinner who considers this knows that Wickedness is abominable in the sight of God and that He who has committed Wickedness and not Repented of it is abominable unto God for it How shall I says the Sinner when he becomes sensible what it is to be such a Sinner How shall I appear before God Psal 1.5 How shall I stand in Judgment And what can such an One as I expect from Him Hab. 1.13 1 Pet. 4.18 who is a God of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity Where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear And such a frighted Conscience will be apt to suggest That 't is altogether uncertain whether the Person shall have Time or Heart to Repent and That for ought he knows He must in the same Condition that his Soul now is receive his final Doom What Perplexity must a wicked Man be in when he has these Thoughts abiding vigorously upon his Spirit and what manner of person shall he then wish he were Sure he will Wish he were such an one as God will forgive That he were not guilty of such heinous Sins That he were freed from that vicious Disposition That he had the Character and Heart of a Penitent that so he might hope for Mercy But if a Sinner can be thus Distressed by his guilty Conscience when he is in Health and Safety and Confidence of Life What must be his Case What the Workings of his Mind when he is upon a Bed of Sickness and Death When he is Departed into the other World and when he shall be Awakened out of the Sleep of the Grave by the Voice of the Arch-Angel and the Trump of God Then he will Wish with all the Vehemency that is possible and with such Confusions as no man can now imagine that he were not the Sinner he is He shall wish this and wish it in vain for he cannot by all the Wishes that are possible become other than he is Those Wishes can make no alteration in the State of his Soul and those Means which were provided in order to the Conversion of a Sinner now are not The Time in which that Change should have been made is gone is gone for ever The despairing Soul of a wicked Man shall cry out in Agonies more violent and insupportable than those of Death O that I were not among the Enemies of God! this accursed and forlorn Society to which I belong O that I could now be changed into another Man and that I were as contrary to what I am as is possible But he that shall utter such Wishes shall know that he must be judged according to what has been done by him in the Body in time past 2 Cor. 5.10 and that he is now such an one as his past wicked Life has made him to be What he now is does depend upon what he has formerly done And the Character of a wicked Man is That he is one who has lived wickedly and never so repented as to live otherwise This is the Quality of a Sinner and this is no more to be put off by any Wishes that can be made or any Action that can be done by him at last than he can make that not to have been done which was done or make that to have been done which was not done All the Consternation and Exclamation that a Man is capable of can make no Alteration in the State of his Accounts which is drawn up according to what is past Yet cannot Sinners see what the final condition of such will be without wishing in the most passionate manner that they were not what they are that they were not the Sinners they are 2. Wicked Men shall at last wish they were those Righteous Persons they are not When Sinners appear to themselves what they are and appear unto the Judge who knows them more perfectly than they can know themselves they do also see others 1 Joh. 3.20 who are contrary to them in their Lives and Characters They know who they are and what manner of Persons they are whom they scorned and hated whom they maligned and persecuted and they know what the Reason was of their Ill-will against them and their Contempt of them They lived among such as were Righteous such as minded the things of a better World and sought their Satisfaction from the Hopes of Heaven and their Communion with God they employed the greatest part of their Care and Time in impressing upon their Souls and Lives the Image of God that so they might be fitted by the Likeness of God for the Enjoyment of him They chose the exercise and the Company of those who studied divine Wisdom and practised divine Vertue They kept themselves unspotted of the World Jam. 1.27 1 Joh. 2.16.1 Pet. 4.4 and would not for the sake of carnal Pleasure or earthly Riches or secular Honour adventure upon those wicked Courses that others took By this the Righteous were distinguished from the wicked and became contrary to them For this they were hated by the Wicked and shut out of their Friendships and Affections The characters of Holiness that appeared upon their Speech and Conversation did manifest what manner of Persons they were and fuch Persons Sinners had in Abomination By the same Marks which formerly Sinners knew and distinguished the Righteous as the Objects of their Malice they shall at last remember them with Emulation wishing themselves were such as these once despised and persecuted righteous Men are Sinners shall wish