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	power_n	soul_n	6,944	5	4.6487	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43652	A discourse to prove that the strongest temptations are conquerable by Christians, or, A sober defence of nature and grace against the cavils and excuses of loose inconsiderate men in a sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London, and court of aldermen, the 14th of January, 1676/7 / by George Hickes ...	Hickes, George, 1642-1715.	1677 (1677)	Wing H1846; ESTC R34459	17,275	42

assisting Grace concur to the aid and relief of all those that need and sincerely desire it and like the good and faithful Servant in the Gospel improve it as fast as it is bestowed To all which let me add the Precepts of Mortification Patience and Self-denial the Exhortations to keep our selves Pure Temperate Sober Chast to be stedfast and unmoveable to be stedfast to the end to resist the Devil to resist him unto Blood Of all which and the like Exhortations if we consider God as the Original Author it must needs follow that Men in Covenant with him have ordinarily power to resist the World the Flesh and the Devil nay to resist them all to Martyrdom and to Blood And therefore none but Fools and Atheists can be so absurd and impious as to imagin that God with Reverence be it spoken can so transgress the Rules of common sense as to advise his Creatures to the practice of those Duties which he knew bofore were impossible to be done Nay this damnable assertion of the Libertines of this Age who like that filthy Goat Nero think all the World as lascivious as themselves robs God of his Goodness by imagining he can delude his reasonable Creatures so far as to put them upon the Practice of those Duties which he knew were impracticable and above their Power to do But God that is better acquainted with our Nature than we our selves can put us upon nothing but what he knows is either absolutely in our power or at least as to conquer Temptations is within the power of our Nature assisted by Grace to perform For this very reason it is that God and the Church bind every Christian at his first admission into Covenant by such a solemn Oath to resist Temptations as I mention'd in the beginning of this Discourse the substance of which solemn obligation amounts to thus much I do here in the presence of God my Saviour and all the Heavenly Host devote my self to the service of God I call Heaven and Earth the Church Militant and Triumphant to bear witness that I renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and that I 'le resist their Temptations to my last breath This I avow to be my resolution and upon this condition and this alone I now desire to enter into Covenant with my God and be admitted into his Church and I call my Conscience to Record this day that I will never repent of this Promise nor revoke it but continue Christs faithful Souldier to the end of my Life So help me O my God 'T is impossible for the Conscience of Man or Angel to be bound by a stronger Obligation than this but unless the Matter of it be practicable 't is a solemn piece of Nonsense and Delusion and God and his Church for above 1600 Years have mock'd and abus'd the World The second Reason by which I undertake to prove my Assertion shall be taken from the consideration of the nature of Repentance which consists in an unfeigned sorrow for our Sins past and a sincere Resolution by Gods assistance to lead an Holy Life for the time to come But if Men be conscious to themselves that the Sins they committed they could by no means resist why should they sorrow and repent for what is past or so contradict themselves and mock God as to promise amendment for the time to come Why instead of confessing their Sins to him do they not rather expostulate with him and say 'T is true O Lord I have done many things which Men that pretend to be thy Ministers and trouble the World by thy Authority declare to be grievous Sins but if they be I protest I could not help it Thou knowest I could not resist them and if Thou wouldst have me do better for the time to come thou must give me more Grace than hitherto I have had Which horrible Expostulation shews how inconsistent this damnable Doctrin I oppose is to the Duty of Repentance how ridiculous it renders Confession and Contrition for Sin nay how it makes the greatest Sins we are tempted to commit no Sins at all And many more such dreadful consequences flow from it as may justly make the Blades or licentious Wits that talk it about the Town if they have any Sense or Conscience left to abhor it and recant My third Reason is taken from the consideration of the Nature of Laws which commonly besides the things they command or forbid contain either general or special Threatnings and Promises as most proper and suitable motives to engage us to perform the Duties we ought to do and abstain from the Sins we ought not to commit But if the free and rational Nature of Man neither simply in it self nor with the assistance of God if Reason with no more than without Grace have power to overcome Temptations to wilful Sin it would be transcendent Folly and Cruelty for Princes and States to make Temporal Laws for their Subjects and much more for God to make Spiritual Laws for his Church He might with as much Wisdom and Justice have charged Men not to be Hungry or Sick not to be Hot or Cold as not to commit Adultery not to Steal not to Murther not to bear False Witness c. unless by some means or other it be in their power to resist the strongest Temptations that the Wit of Men or Devils can invent to induce them to commit the foresaid Sins My fourth Reason I ground on the 10th of St. Matthew v. 33. where our Saviour declares that Whosoever shall deny him before Men that him will he deny before his Father whith is in Heaven But were any Suffering so intolerably sharp were any persecutions so dismal and grievous that it were impossible for supported Humane Nature to bear them were all the Torments of a Roman Inquisition and all the Artifices of Cruelty which Wit and Malice could invent above the Courage and Resolution of a Christian and insuperable by Reason strengthened with Grace The Blessed Jesus who took our Infirmities upon him and knew by experience what Humane Nature was He I say that was made like unto his Brethren that he might be a Merciful and Faithful High-Priest would never deny any Man a share in his Atonement for doing that which extremity of Torment must force him to commit To conclude with such another Reason You may remember that our Saviour in the Description he gives of Hell in the 9th of St. Mark hath this ingenious Hebrew Phrase Where their Worm dyeth not which Worm according to the sense both of the Jewish and Christian Church signifies nothing here and in the 66th of Isaiah but that Stinging remorse of Conscience or continual Fret or Vexation of Soul in Damned Spirits caused by the remembrance and consideration of the wilfull Treachery and Baseness of their own Hearts in committing those Sins and yielding to those Temptations which they knew they had power sufficient to resist But were the

endure the most painful sorts of death rather than Worship a Cake of Bread Invoke their Fellow-creatures admit any Advocate in Heaven but Jesus or make the Gospel depend upon the dictates of the Pope how illiterate and wicked soever he may be But were there no other Histories extant but the Bible the number of the Saints recorded there that have embraced the most bitter Ignominious Deaths and despised the Torments and Shame thereof are more than enough to prove that there is no Temptation so dreadful but what may be born by Man and that 't is neither impossible nor so exceeding difficult for Christians to conquer the fear of Death as the profane and sensual part of the World to the dishonour of our Religion pretend it to be The second instance under which I shall bring examples to prove that no Temptation is irresistible shall be taken from the Sin of Uncleanness or fornication a Sin which the World is so apt to excuse and pretend a kind of necessity to commit because it is so natural to Flesh and Blood And yet as natural and hereditary as the Advocates of Uncleanness represent in to be 't is so far from being an irresistible Temptation that Joseph resisted the frequent importunities of his own Lady or Mistress although besides the quality of her Person and the danger of denying his own Youth and all other circumstances concurr'd to make him consent and Yield And were the dread of the Majesty of the Pure and Holy God impress'd upon the heart of the most lustsul Satyr but half as deep as it was upon his that Grace alone would be sufficient to check his sinful propensions and make him cry out as he did in the critical moment of Tryal How shall I do this damnable act and sin against my God But lest you should object that Joseph was an extraordinary person and had more than common assistance from God let us suppose the most ordinary unexperienc'd Christian surrounded with the strongest Temptations imaginable to commit this natural and therefore concluded unconquerable Sin Let us suppose him to have the most charming Beauty to entice him together with opportunity and all other Circumstances to heighten the Temptation and make it as outrageous as it can be imagin'd to be yet for all this if this Man should say that he were not able to rosist this violent Temptation he would lye against his Conscience and contradict the universal experience of the World For if at that instant God should say unto him as unto the Rich Man in the Gospel Thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee That dreadful Summons to appear so soon in the next World would make this mighty Temptation become none at all and presently drive out that unclean Spirit of Lust which possest his Soul before But much more if at the same time should come forth the Fingers of a Mans hand and write upon the Wall Mene Mene Tekel Upharzin Do this and thou shalt be immediately damned I desire any one of you to Answer in his heart for this Man what you think he would do You cannot but confess that his Amorous intentions and Countenance would be chang'd his jovial Thoughts troubled his Joints loos'd and his Knees like King Belshazzar's knock one against another Or lastly let us suppose at the same instant that an unexpected Message should come from his Prince threatning the Gibbet or the Ax if he proceeded to gratifie his sinful Desires such a terrible Message would undoubtedly be sufficient to extinguish his present Flames and restrain him from the Sin he intended to commit Or not to take the advantage of such frightful Enemies to his Pleasure as Damnation or Death let us rather suppose That a little Child much more a Grave and Reverend Person should unexpectedly come into the Room before he proceeded to execute his filthy Lust certainly instead of finding it impossible to resist the Damnable Sin he would find it impossible for him to commit it in their prefence unless he had made an utter shipwrack both of his Conscience and Honour and were become as shameless as a Beast Or let us suppose that a mighty reward imagin a Kingdom or some vast Sum of Money were offer'd him upon condition he would resist this pretended irresistible Temptation what do you think would find Strength and Resolution enough to overcome the unconquerable Temptation upon these terms and be glad to be hired by such a Reward to abstain from his Damnable Lust And therefore if all this be true Why should not the remembrance of our own Mortality as effectually Mortifie our Lusts and keep us from daring to commit a presumptuous Sin as if God himself should tell us we should shortly dye Why should not the consideration of Eternal Torments threatned in the Gospel be as perswasive against Sin as the consideration of them written by a Spirit upon a Wall Or why should not the Message of Eternal Death which we deliver from God prevail as much upon Men as the Message of temporal Death from a King Lastly why should not the presence of the Omnipresent God over-awe Men more than the presence of a Man Or why should not the Infallible Promise of Heaven and Infinite Happiness be a more powerful motive to Self-denyal than the Promise of a Kingdom or Treasure here below The shameful inconsideration stupidity and carnality of Mens hearts is the cause why Temporal expectations and proposals have more force upon their Souls than the hopes of Eternal Glory and that present or approaching sensible Pain or Loss fills their earthy Minds with more dreadful apprehensions than the prospect of Infinite Misery to come But to conclude this Instance with a more familiar Argument If the Temptations to this Sin be so very difficult to be resisted as Debauch'd Men pretend it is how comes it to pass that careful and Religious Parents suffer their Children to Sojorn in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar I mean to go abroad and converse in this wicked World How dare they expose their Souls which they tender next to their own to such certain dangers in an Adulterous Generation if to deny ones self and resist the Temptations of the Flesh be either impossible or next to impossible as the injurious Discourses of the unclean Spirits of this licencious Age upon all occasions represent it to be My third Instance to prove how capable the nature of Man by Gods Grace is to resist or overcome the most dangerous Temptations shall be taken from a Temptation to commit some Sin upon a certain proposal of gaining or loosing a Crown Among all the Trials or Temptations the World the Devil or our own Hearts can present unto us none can be more powerful or unconquetable than this For a Crown is the highest secular Interest the possession of it is both Government and Riches and by consequence the hopes of getting or fear of loosing that supreme degree

Damn'd Souls in Hell of this opinion that it were impossible or next to impossible for Men to resist Temptations were they conscious to themselves that they were overcome by all Temptations to which they yielded because they wanted power sufficient to conquer them what outward Tortures soever they may endure they must needs be free from inward Pangs and Torments from that intolerable horror and remorse of Conscience which our Saviour calls the Worm because like a Moth or Worm it constantly frets and gnaws upon the tenderest part of the Soul that breeds it and increases the Torments of Hell more than all the Rivers of Fire and Brimstone that constantly flow therein And thus I hope I have said enough to confirm and illustrate this great Truth having prov'd it both by Authority and Reason and charg'd the contrary error or Blaspemy shall I say with such absur'd and damnable Consequences as may justly make any Man that is not desperate both asham'd and afraid to assert it in the presence of God and reasonable Men. But we live God knows in a Nation and Age wherein Sin and Nonsense are Presumptuous and wherein 't is long since become fashionable and gentile to question Principles and deny all those fundamental Truths of natural and revealed Divinity which neither Heathens nor Christians ever Questioned before This is the reason why Divines whom God hath set for the service and defence of the Gospel have of late been fain to lay the Foundations again and Preach up such Doctrins as sober Men not acquainted enough with the iniquity of the Time have judged at first hearing to need no proof Such as the being and providence of God the immortality of the Soul and the necessity of good works to which I may add the Subject of this Discourse which hath been to prove that no Temptations which God suffers to fall upon Christians are irresistible or that no thinking circumspect vigilant Man that 's true to his own Reason and careful to make use of the promised assistance of God can be over-matched by any Trial though never so sharp nor meet with any Temptation too strong to be withstood how delightful or charming soever it be And this Doctrin being proved by so many undeniable experiments and reasons I hope may be sufficient to demonstrate the Folly and chastise the Insolence and Impiety of those Prophane Men who because they have enslaved themselves to their own Passions affect to make Man like a Beast that is like themselves all Sense and Appetite and represent him as determin'd in all his actions by outward objects and unable to moderate his Lusts and Fears But had these Men but common Reverence for God or man they would not so Libel the Nature of the latter which is the workmanship of the former they would be more modest and civil than to define Humane Nature by their own Corruptions or pretend to judge of the Thoughts Actions and Inclinations of all other Men by their own they would be more considerate and reserv'd and not take a Pride to maintain and propagate an Opinion which is chargeable with such foul and absurd conclusions and which shews them to be an inconsiderate sort of Men that Think little and Talk much and makes them obnoxious to that dreadful curse pronounced by the Prophet against those that call good evil and evil good that put light for darkness and darkness for light that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter 'T would be very seasonable for these Licentious Times that such Blasphemers Tongues were restrained by severe Laws that they might only discourse these and their other pernicious Doctrins in their own Cabals and not dare to divulge them and corrupt and trouble the company of civil and sober Men wich such damnable confident talk But since these Mens Tongues are their own and in this great defect of Civil and Ecclesiastical Censures they take the liberty to speak of God and Man as they please 't is more necessary that they should be rebuk'd and their horrid Opinions expos'd and confuted in the Pulpit lest their Devilish Doctrin should spread and corrupt the World like a Canker while the Ministers of the Gospel hold their Peace As for this Opinion it devests Man as you have heard of his better part viz. his free and rational Nature wherein the Image of God consists it proves all Laws and Orders of Societies to be useless insignificant and unnatural Institutions and so makes the Legislative Power whether invested in God or the King to be Tyranny and Violence and Men that live under Government to be worse Slaves than the Children of Israel in AEgypt where they were commanded to make Brick when they had no Straw It contradicts the Doctrinal and Historical parts of Scripture and with unparallel'd Impudence gives the Lye to the Martyrologies both of the Jewish and Christian Church It contradicts the Definition of Virtue and Grace in particular it makes Fortitude Temperance Self-denial Patience Sobriety Chastity and all other infus'd and acquir'd Habits of resisting Sin to be idle Fictitious notions and so makes all the Divines and Philosophers that have ever been to have been Impostors or Fools Furthermore it is inconsistent with the Doctrin of Repentance and destroys the Goodness and Wisdom of God who upon the supposition that the Scriptures are true hath exhorted his People to the practice of such Duties which he knew before they could not do To conclude it overthrows the Catholick Hypothesis of assisting Grace dissolves the Obligation of our Sacramental Vows disarms Hell of the most exquisit part of its Torments and confounds the notion of Good and Evil by making it Lawful in supposing it sometimes necessary for Men to commit the most heinous Sins All which absurd and detestable Consequences I hope you now hear with Christian Indignation and will remember hereafter with horrour and disdain when ever you shall hear these sensual Men like those that were sent to spy out the Holy Land represent themselves and their Brethren as Grashoppers but their Spiritual Adversaries the Temptors and Temptations with which they ought to conflict as insuperable Anakims as enemies of a prodigious stature greater and taller and stronger than themselves But these are usually Men that have turn'd the grace of God into lasciviousness whose glory is their shame whose God is their belly who mind earthly things And because they have debauch'd themselves into Brute Beasts or at least have a mind to do so therefore as St. Jude Speaks they foam out their shame and infidelity in slandering the rational nature of Man exploding the Doctrin of assisting Grace Drolling upon Godly Men and discrediting as much as they can the Authority of the Gospel because it thwarts their Lusts and disturbs their sensual repose by Teaching that Men by the grace of God have power to overcome the World resist the Devil and deny all ungodliness and wordly Lusts and because it exhorts Men in Gods name to be patient vigilant and stedfast to be sober temperate and chast to fight the good fight to finish the course and persevere unto the end Lastly because it assures us that God assists us in all our Spiritual Combats supports us in all our Trials and will make us more than Conquerours through Christ that loveth us nay that Christ himself who hath suffered and been tempted is able to succour them that are tempted and that no Temptation hath taken us but such as is moderate and common to Man because God is faithful to his Promises and will not suffer us to be Tempted above our strength but will with the Temptation make a gracious way to escape that we may be able to bear it A Letter to a Deist in Answer to several Objections against the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures Sold by Moses Pitt at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard FINIS