Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A78580
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The character of a believing Christian. Set forth in paradoxes, and seeming contradictions.
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1645
(1645)
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Wing C1962; Thomason E1182_2; ESTC R204910
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3,614
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13
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THE CHARACTER OF A believing Christian Set forth in Paradoxes and seeming Contradictions Imprimatur Joseph Caryl LONDON Printed for Richard Wodenothe at the Star under Peters Church in Cornhill 1645. THE CHARACTER OF A believing Christian A Christian is one that believeth things his reason cannot comprehend hee hopes for that which neither he nor any man alive ever saw he laboureth for that hee knoweth he shall never obtain yet in the issue his beliefe appears not to be false his hopes make him not ashamed his labour is not in vain He believeth three to be one and one to be three a Father not to be elder then his Sonne a Sonne to be equall with his Father and one proceeding from both to be equall with both he believing three persons in one nature and two natures in one person Hee believeth a Virgin to be a mother of a Sonne and that very Sonne of hers to be her maker He believeth him to be shut up in a narrow roome whom heaven and earth could not contain He believeth him to be borne in time who was and is from everlasting He believeth him to bee a weake childe carried in armes who is the Almighty and him once to have died who onely hath life and immortality in himselfe He believeth the God of Grace to have been angry with one that never offended him and that God that hates sin to be reconciled to him though sinning continually and never making or being able to make him satisfaction hee believeth a most just God to have punished a most just person to have iustified himself though a most ungodly sinner hee doth believe himselfe freely pardoned and yet sufficient satisfaction was made for him He believeth himselfe to be precious in Gods sight and yet loaths himselfe in his own hee dares not justifie himselfe even in those things wherein hee can finde no fault with himselfe and yet believeth God accepts him in those services wherein he is able to finde many faults He praiseth God for his justice and yet fears him for his mercie he is so ashamed that he dares not open his mouth before God and yet he comes with boldnesse to God and askes any thing he needs he is so humble as to acknowledge himselfe to deserve nothing but evill and yet believeth God meaneth him all good he is one that feareth always and yet is as bold as a lyon he is often sorrowfull yet always rejoyceing many times complaining yet always giving of thanks he is the most lowly minded yet the greatest aspirer most contented yet ever craving He beareth a lofty spirit in a mean condition when he is ablest he thinks meanest of himselfe he is rich in poverty and poore in the midst of riches he believeth all the world to be his yet he dares take nothing without leave from God he covenants with God for nothing yet looks for a great reward He loseth his life and gains by it and while he loseth it he saveth it he liveth not to himself yet of all others he is most wise for himselfe he denyeth himselfe often yet no man loves himselfe so well as hee he is most reproached yet most honoured he hath most afflictions and most comforts the more injury his enemies doe him the more advantages he gains by them the more he forsakes worldly things the more he enjoyeth them He is the most temperate of all men yet fairs most deliciously he lends and gives most freely yet is the greatest usurer he is meeke towards all men and yet is inexorable by men he is the best childe husband friend and yet he hates father and mother brother and sister he loves all men as himself yet hates men so with a perfect hatred He desireth to have more grace then any one hath in the world yet is truly sorowfull when he seeth any have lesse then himselfe hee knoweth no man after the flesh yet he giveth all men their due respect he knoweth if he please man he cannot be a servant of Christs yet for Christs sake he pleaseth all men in all things he is a peacemaker yet is continually a fighter He believeth him to be worse then an infidell that provides not for his family yet himselfe liveth and dyeth without care he counts all his superiours yet stands stifly on no authority he is severe to his children because he loveth them and by being favourable to his enemies hee avengeth himselfe upon them Hee believeth the Angels to bee more excellent creatures then himselfe and yet counteth them his servants he believeth he receiveth many good things by their means and yet neither prayeth for their assistance nor offers them thanks which he doth not disdain to doe to the meanest Christian He believeth himselfe to be a King how mean soever he be and how great soever he be yet he thinketh himselfe not too good to be a servant to the poorest Saint He is often in prison yet always at liberty hee is a free man though a servant he loveth not honour among men yet highly prizeth a good name He believeth that God hath bidden every man that doth him good to doe so he yet of any man is the most thankfull to them that doe ought for him hee would lay down his life to save the soule of his enemie yet will not venture on one sin to save the life of him that saved his he sweareth to his own hinderance and changeth not he knoweth his oath cannot tye him to sin He believeth Christ to have no need of any thing he doth yet makes account that he doth relieve Christ in all the acts of charity he knoweth he can doe nothing of himselfe yet laboureth to worke out his own salvation he professeth he can doe nothing yet as truly professeth he can doe all things he knoweth that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God yet believeth he shall go to heaven both body and soule He trembleth at Gods word and yet counts it sweeter to him then the honey and the honey combe and dearer then thousands of gold and silver he believeth that God will never damne him and yet feareth God for being able to cast him into hell he knoweth he shall not be saved by nor for his good works yet doth all the good works he can He knoweth Gods providence in all things yet is he diligent in his calling and businesse as if he were to cut out the threed of his hap he believeth before hand that God purposed what he shall be and that nothing can alter his purpose and yet prayeth and endeavoureth as if he would force God to save him for ever He prayeth and laboureth for that which he is confident God meaneth to give and the more assured he is the more earnest he prayeth for that which he knoweth he never shall obtain and yet gives not over he prayeth and laboureth for that which he knoweth hee shall not be lesse happy without he prayeth with all his heart not to be lead into temptation yet rejoyceth when he is fallen into it he believeth his prayers are heard even when they are denied and giveth thanks for that which he prayeth against He hath within both flesh and spirit and yet he is not a double-minded man hee is often led captive by the law of sin yet it never gets dominion over him hee cannot sin yet can doe nothing without sin hee doth nothing against his will yet maintains he doth what he would not he wavereth and doubteth yet obtaineth He is often tossed and shaken yet is as mount Zion hee is a Serpent and a Dove a Lambe and a Lion a Reed and a Cedar he is sometimes so troubled that hee thinketh nothing to be true in Religion yet if he did think so he could not at all be troubled hee thinks sometimes that God hath no mercie for him yet resolveth to die in the pursuite of it Hee believeth like Abraham against hope and though hee cannot answer Gods Logick yet with the woman of Canaan hee hopes to prevaile with the Rhetorick of importunitie He wrestleth yet prevaileth though yielding himselfe unworthy of the least blessing he enjoyeth yet Jacob like he will not let him go without a new blessing He sometimes thinketh himself to have no grace at all and yet how poore and afflicted soever he be besides hee would not change conditions with the most prosperous man under heaven that is a manifest worldling He thinketh sometimes the Ordinances of God do him no good yet he would rather part with his life then be deprived of them hee was borne dead yet so as it had been murther for any to have taken his life away After he began to live he was a dying and though he hath an eternall life begun in him yet he maketh account he hath a death to passe thorough He counts self-murther a hainons sinne yet is ever busied in crucifying the flesh and in putting to death his earthly members Hee believeth his soule and bodie to be as full of glorie as them that have more and no more full then theirs that have less Hee liveth invisible to those that see him and those that know him best doe but guesse at him yet those many times judge more truly of him then hee doth of himself the world will sometimes count him a Saint when God accounted him an Hypocrite and afterwards when the world branded him for an Hypocrite then God owned him for a Saint His death maketh not an end of him his soule which was put into his bodie is not to be perfected without his bodie yet his soule is more happy when it is separated from his bodie then when his bodie was joyned to it and his bodie though torn in pieces burnt in ashes ground to powder turned to rottennesse shall be no loser His Advocate his Suretie shall be his Judge his mortall shall become immortall and what was sowne in corruption and defilement shall be raised in incorruption and glorie and a finite creature shall possesse an infinite happinesse glorie be to God FINIS