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	life_n	sin_n	7,768	5	4.3216	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51811	A comparison between a sincere penitent and a just person in a sermon before the Queen at Whitehall, March 8, 1692/3 / by Tho. Manningham ...	Manningham, Thomas, 1651?-1722.	1693 (1693)	Wing M492; ESTC R3513	10,364	29

filthiness of the Spirit 2. There are others who tho' they do not rise unto that degree of Spiritual Pride as those I now mentioned yet because they are not observ'd to run into the notorious Riots and Excesses of the Age are inclin'd to think That the Doctrine of Repentance does but little concern them They are not so open and publick in their Sins as others the noise of their Sinful Actions does not furnish the Discourse of People and the Scene of their Vices lies more inward and retired but yet all the while their Hearts may be full of Covetousness Vain-glory and bitter Zeal they may never yet have had any spiritual Change and Renovation within them and they may be very remote from true Godliness and a sincere love of Vertue And if there be such as these they stand in as much need of Repentance as any of the Prodigal and Licentious part of Mankind But then 3ly There are some such just Persons as need no such Repentance as the Prodigal Son is represented to have made They do not need a whole change of their Hearts and Lives because they are such as thro' a good Education and an early Piety have been kept under the Grace and Providence of God from breaking out into any Notorious Sins and from living in any Habitual filthiness either of Flesh or Spirit But yet even these stand in need of such a Repentance as ought to run parallel with all their Vertuous Actions to the end of their Days which is to accompany them in their highest Attainments and to send them humbly to the Blood of Christ for the expiating the Defects of their most perfect Lives When we talk of Innocent and Just Persons we always mean in a comparative way of speaking as they excell the generality of Mankind and are more Constant and Zealous in Holy Duties than others When we speak of Perfection we take that word in an Evangelical sence not according to the rigour and absoluteness of the Term but in such a qualified meaning as is consistent with Surprizes and Infirmities We mean such a perfection as includes many defects in it but yet is still carrying us on to farther degrees of Holiness That leaves us continual matter for our Humiliation and for our farther endeavours after Righteousness but does not suffer any Sin to Reign and have Dominion over us Now there were some in our Saviour's time even in that most degenerate State of Judaism who were so just and perfect as to need no such Repentance as John the Baptist preached to the Pharisees and Sadducees and our Saviour himself to the Publicans and Sinners There were some true Israelites who had lived without Guile and had kept a good Conscience both towards God and Man And as to such it was sufficient that they received Christ as the Messiah whom the Prophets had foretold without condemning themselves for their former opinions or for their former Lives they being already Believers and Virtuous according to the light and knowledge and means they were under were only to be instructed farther in the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to be more confirm'd in the Comfortable Doctrine of the forgiveness of Sins and to be improv'd and raised unto more perfection to higher Instances of Duty and greater degrees of Love But they had no need of those astonishing Sermons and those terrible denunciations of present Wrath and Destruction which were to awake the Grosser Sinners nor were they oblig'd to enter into those difficult and bitter parts of Repentance which were design'd for the Recovery of those who were Dead in Trespasses and Sins So likewise under the setled profession of the Gospel there are those who by the preventing Grace of God have been preserved from the Corruptions of the World and by the means of a pious Education and a governable Temper have maintain'd an even and constant course of Piety Now it cannot be suppos'd that such Persons as these need any such Repentance as signifies a Total Change of their Hearts and Manners The Holy Spirit has already wrought that change which was necessary for them in an insensible way and by such undiscernible degrees that they cannot assign the particular time of their Conversion The Baptismal Efficacy unfolded itself into sanctification and holiness as they were capable and fit and their Christianity and Reason improv'd together But still there is a Repentance for such as these to be imploy'd in while they sojourn in this World for tho' they avoid all known and willful Sins and discharge their duties in such a manner that their Consciences cannot accuse them of any gross neglect or of any Insincerity of Heart yet evil Thoughts irregular Desires disorderly Passions upon sudden Provocations and an omission of the due execution of good Purposes and of the improvement of good Affections are breaches of God's Holy Law and need his Pardon They must be resisted and watch'd against and they must be cleans'd by such a Repentance as makes Men truly sorrowful for such impure Adherencies tho' perhaps they shall never be perfectly free from them by such a Repentance as makes them groan and mourn under them as burdensome Infirmitites and ready to comply with the best methods of removing them in some measure and degree for tho' we cannot be perfectly Holy in this Life yet we don't know to what a heighth of Piety we may arrive unless we try and contend after it and tho' we miss of some of those degrees of Perfection which we labour'd to attain yet we shall find such Advantages in our spiritual Life by our hearty Endeavours to be quit of all Infirmities that we shall be more confirm'd in Goodness perceive our Hearts and Affections more and more purify'd and we shall be prepared for a higher state of Glory Thus we see that there is a Repentance for the most Just and Righteous Persons continually to be exercis'd in but then this Repentance is not so much a separate Duty or an entrance upon Religion as a continuance in it or a walking humbly with God 'T is not a passing from a course of Sin to an habit of Righteousness but a proficiency in Holiness under a fear of God and a mournful sense of our Infirmities and Defects And tho' this be continually carried on in some degree all the time of our Lives yet it must be increas'd as solemn Occasions shall require And tho' the Repentance of great Sinners may cause more Joy in Heaven yet I doubt not but this Repentance of the Just is of exceeding Esteem with God and his Holy Angels Which leads to the Second thing to be explain'd viz. How we are to understand that Joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine Just Persons which need no Repentance Now 't is evident that this expression of Joy in Heaven is suited to the plain matter of the Parable for if it be natural for a Shepherd to rejoyce more

A Comparison between A Sincere Penitent and a Just Person IN A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN At Whitehall March 8 1692 3. By THO. MANNINGHAM D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their MAJESTIES Published by Her Majesty's special Command LONDON Printed for W. Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple-Barr and S. Smith at the Princes-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIII Dr. MANNINGHAM 's COMPARISON BETWEEN A Sincere Penitent and a Just Person St. LUKE Chap. XV. Vers 7. I say unto you That likewise Joy shall be in Heaven over one Sinner that Repenteth more than over ninety and nine just Persons which need no Repentance THis being the most solemn Time of the Year wherein the Doctrine of Repentance ought to be more abundantly preach'd and more frequently inculcated and wherein all the variety of Motives and Arguments is to be made use of to bring Men to a serious Consideration of their Ways and Lives to a just Abhorrence of their Sins and to a spiritual Recovery of Themselves I shall endeavour at present to explain this Portion of Scripture and to enlarge on its Particulars in such a manner as may give encouragement to the greatest of Sinners to repent and yet secure the Dignity and Preference of those just and vertuous Persons who need no such extraordinary Repentance That the most Vicious and Extravagant may be invited to turn to God and the Devout and Humble to go on more cheerfully in their progress to Perfection That Conversion and Repentance may be duly magnified and yet without any Derogation from the greater Excellency of an habitual Innocence of an early and constant course in Piety And in order to this I shall proceed in this following method I. I shall consider what is meant by those Just Persons who need no Repentance II. How we are to understand that Joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth c. III. I shall make some comparison between a True Penitent and a Just Person and shew on which side the Advantage lies I. What is meant by those Just Persons who need no Repentance In the beginning of this Chapter it is said That the Publicans and Sinners drew near to hear our Saviour and that the Pharisees and Scribes murmured saying This Man receiveth Sinners and eateth with them And upon this account some are of Opinion that the three following Parables were spoken with a particular reflection on those conceited and presumptuous Persons who thought none were Just and Holy or had any Title to Heaven but themselves and who plac'd a main part of their Sanctimoniousness in a separation from others and in despising of poor Publicans and Sinners But tho' the Pride and Hypocrisie of those Persons were most vile and abominable and fully merited all the Severity of our Saviour's Reproofs and tho' he took many occasions of discovering to the People the Falseness Covetousness Censoriousness and Malice of that pretending Sect yet he does not seem in these Parables to have reflected on Them For here the principal Design of our Saviour was to set forth the Goodness of GOD and his readiness to forgive the greatest Sinners upon their timely and sincere Repentance and to declare the Pleasure which His Heavenly Father took in the Conversion of Men tho' they had been very extravagantly sinful But now what sort of Expression had it been of God's Delight in true Penitents if this had been the proper signification of the Text That there was Joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repented more than over ninety and nine hypocritical Pharisees who were so proud as to think they needed no Repentance To be sure this could not be the sence intended by our Saviour because the design of the Parables which he then deliver'd was to magnifie the Graciousness and Mercy of God towards hearty Penitents but nothing surely could be a more improper way of doing that than by preferring of them barely before the worst of Hyprocrites As to the number of Ninety nine Just Persons that runs upon a supposition that should we conceive so many Just Persons who lived sober and regular Lives and that but one in an hundred should prove Extravagant the reducing of that one would be the cause of more Joy than the continuance of Ninety nine in their wonted Obedience and Duty But tho' the number of Ninety nine Just Persons in an Hundred be a Supposition yet it may be further enquir'd Whether there be any Persons so Just as to need no Repentance And to this it may be answer'd 1st That there is a Spirit of Delusion gone into the World whereby some are fill'd with such presumptuous Conceits of themselves that they dare pretend to an absolute unsinning Perfection And this makes them despise the solemn Confessions of Sin and the Sacraments of the Church and is so dangerous a piece of spiritual Pride that it delivers Men up to blasphemous Opinions and such distractions of Mind that look very like unto real Possessions When the Devil cannot prevail with some to run into the Disorders of a sensual Life then he endeavours to raise them up into his own Nature If they cannot be prevail'd upon to be grosly sinful then he perswades them that they have no Sin at all that they are wholly pure and perfect and stand in no need of those Cleansings and Expiations which others look upon as necessary and constant Duties That Confession Humiliation Repentance and applying to the Sacrifice of Christ are but mean Ordinances and Beggarly Elements fit only to constitute the Religion of great Sinners And that they are already advanc'd to such a near conformity with God that they want none of those helps and supplies which are suited only to an imperfect State This may look like a strange Description to those who are not acquainted with the Wiles and Depths of Satan and with that Mystery of Ungodliness which works in the Children of Pride But 't is a sad Truth that there have been many who have been wrought up into Spiritual Phrenzies by entertaining unusual confidences of their own perfection by neglecting the humble way of Walking with God in constant Piety and Fear in a mean opinion of their own good Actions in the Prayers and Praises of the Church and under the wise and sober Conduct of those who are appointed by God to watch over the Souls of Men. It is a Melancholy reflexion to think how many of those poor Creatures who talk of nothing but Spirit and Light and Communion with God are at the same time in the very Gall of Bitterness and in the height of Spiritual Pride Now such as these are so far from needing no Repentance that they want it as much as the most Debauch'd and Profligate Sinner and nothing is more proper for such than to spend the whole remainder of their days in mourning and debasing of themselves and in using the best methods of cleansing themselves from the abominable pollutions of Pride and from the