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	see_v	sin_n	6,644	5	4.5266	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44168	A sermon preached in the parish church of St. Magnus the Martyr, by London-Bridge, on Sunday February 11th, 1699/700 at the baptizing of some persons of riper years, brought up by Quakers and anabaptists, but now conform'd to the Church of England / by Richard Holland ...	Holland, Richard, 1679-1706.	1700 (1700)	Wing H2436A; ESTC R804	17,510	35

God That is except a Man be Born again by the effectual working of Gods Spirit as by the Author of this New Birth and in the ordinary course of Gods Proceedings in his Church by the Water of Baptism as the Sign appointed by God in the Sacrament of our Regeneration he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Therefore he says again v. 7. Let not this seem so strange a thing Marvel not that I said unto you You must thus be Born again And I think that Christs own words with such a Condition that without it they shall not obtain Heaven is enough to urge the Necessity of this Holy Sacrament What then do they do What have they to answer who with hardned Confidence and willful Obstinacy and scornful Ignorance keep themselves and their Children out of the Pale of the Church refuse and slight this Great Grace and shut themselves out of Heavens Gate They are indeed in a most dreadful Condition who tho' Light be come into the World will Love Darkness rather than Light and bereave both themselves and off-spring of that Happiness and those mighty favours of God What Value have these Men for Gods Command to take the Sign and Seal of his Covenant of Grace to his People and their Seed throughout all Generations What Value have they for Jesus Christ confirming the same when he sent forth his Apostles and appointed them to make all the Nations Disciples and to Baptize them all in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Which they did thro' all the World where they came But more dreadfull still is it that the Men of this Perswasion are generally so Stubborn and Resolute as to be in Danger of never Repenting and Returning to the Church Some indeed by the blessing of God and a good Disposition have led the way may the rest of them Speedily follow and let not that Fate and Doom of a Reprobate which is to be of strong Delusion and to Believe a Lye the worst of all Judgments let not that or its Imputation any longer rest upon them I am thirdly to speak to the qualification for this Holy Sacrament which is Repentance Repent and be Baptized Repentance is that that re-enstates us in Gods Favour assures our Happiness and makes Joy in Heaven We all know our selves to be Fools and Vile Sinners and when ever we shall be brought to our Senses to acknowledge our Sin and Folly we shall Act like Men and make our selves of the Number of those that God will accept that Christ came to Save and Dyed for and most certainly will Receive into his Everlasting Arms when he shall come again to make up his Jewels But our Repentance must be made up of these Parts 1. There must be a Sense of Sin 2. An Hearty Sorrow for it 3. A free Acknowledgement and Confession of it 4. An utter Abhorrence and forsaking of it 1. There must be a Sense of Sin if we would Heartily Repent of it That it is Abominable the Bratt of the Devil that that God Hates the thing that he never can or will Endure to behold with the least Approbation That it really grieves the blessed Spirit that it Crucifies the Lord of Life afresh and puts Him to an open Shame and that it made Him who is the same Yesterday to Day and for ever to alter his Decrees concerning Man and Cancel that Covenant of Uninterrupted Happiness Of so Mischievous Nature it is that it turn'd Angels into Devils Men into Beasts and Tumbled them down from Life to the Grave from a Throne to a Prison from Heaven and a Title to never-ceasing Joys to Hell and the assurance of Eternal Torments This is Sin and thus we must acknowledge it to be exceeding Sinful And then 2. We must proceed to Godly Sorrow for it We must Heartily bewail it express sensibly our Dissatisfaction in and Dislike of it and that from a true Apprehension of its own Vileness and that most wretched Folly that betray'd us into it And this Sorrow must be not only because we have brought our selves into great Danger contracted Guilt and wrought our own Ruin But because also we have dealt so Unkindly and Ungratefully with so good a God Because we have provoked so Compassionate a Father slighted so Gracious a Redeemer and quench'd the Motions of and grieved so Blessed a Sanctifier Thus should we abound in Holy Sorrow with respect both to our God and our selves for our God that we have thus Basely Treacherously and Ungratefully done as much as in us lay to the very Dethroning of Him as well as for our selves whom this filthy Sin has sunk into so wretched a Condition 3. If we would perfect our Repentance we must truly acknowledge and confess our Sins not Hide them not Palliate and Excuse them not Stifle and Endeavour to put them out of our Minds but to own them and our selves for Sinners When ever we desire to enter the Temple when ever we prepare to return to our Fathers House and there hope to be Receiv'd and Wellcom'd we cannot do better then take to our selves the Words of the old repenting Prodigal and say Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called Thy Son St. Luke 15. 21. Thus freely should we expose our Vileness acknowledge our Transgressions and that we have worthily deserv'd Gods Wrath that we have added Sin to Sin Treasured our Vices and Aggravated them with the most heightening Circumstances And who knows then but at our Meeting as the tender Father in the Gospel receiv'd his Rebellious Son so our Heavenly Father will receive us also forgive us and Enthrone us in his Kingdom And here that I be not Misunderstood let me hint to you the Excellency of our Church in this particular We are not obliged to an exact Discovery of every Secret of our Hearts to Men of Cunning and Art and yet of like Passions with our selves which is the Arbitrary management of other Churches and Sects by which the poor People are lyable to be Ruin'd on Earth their Secrets being extorted and they thereby exposed to the shock and prey of Cruel and Unreasonable Men. But our Church requires General Confessions only such as she has provided as We have Erred and Strayed from thy ways like lost Sheep we have followed two much the Devices and Desires of our own Hearts we have offended against thy Holy Laws c. Save in the matter of Scruples and then also it is order'd with that Ease and Security for the quieting of the Conscience and relieving the troubled Mind as to Demonstrate the Divinity of the Constitution and that Holy Spirit which conferr'd the Directions All this I have said is of our Church and Publick Confessions but for our Private ones those in our Closets we must be sure there to ransack every corner of our Hearts to Confess and Bewail every Particular of our Sins to our God so

he that seeth he that heareth in Secret will reward openly we shall not fail then of Pardon and Forgiveness if we add that that 's next to be Consider'd to make up our Repentance and that is 4. A Forsaking of all our Sins and an utter abhorrence of them for the future He that Confesseth and Forsaketh it is that shall find Mercy Would we then perfect our Repentance and be truly Welcome to our Lord and Saviour in His House and Family Thus we must do Confess and Forsake own our former Follies and resolve upon a new and better Life promise to our Lord more Faithful Obedience and then take Care to perform it resign up our selves intirely to the Will of God and then indeavour to walk with him all the Days of our Lives So shall we be truly Wellcome to our Lord now in this Sacrament and ever afterwards in his House so shall we Enjoy the Comfortable Presence of the blessed Spirit here and even the Lord of Life in that Spiritual Banquet the other Sacrament And when these Earthly Services and Mercies shall fail us we shall receive Eternal Comforts be possest of Blessings Unspeakable and full of Glory so shall none of our former sinful Actions ever rise against us to Accuse or Condemn us or our Consciences to affright us but in Peace and Quietness in a Sedate and Calm Composure of Spirit we shall at last resign our Souls into the hands of God in sure and certain hope of a joyful Resurrection I am now in the 4. Place to consider the several Duties we are Engaged in by our Baptism and these are exactly set down in our Catechism when we Vow and Promise 1. To Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World with all the Sinful Lusts of the Flesh This Vow is of three parts The 1. To Renounce the Devil and all his Works By this the Church generally understands Renouncing of all false Gods and false Worship The World at the coming of our Saviour was full of Idolatry and therefore it was very proper that all those that were willing to engage in and be happy by the benefits of the true Religion should be obliged to Renounce absolutely all the false And this not only in Tongue but in Heart also not only in Profession but in Action As we are not to believe in pay Devotion to an Idol so nor are we to act any of those bruitish Villanies which took up the Lives of those Idolatrous Heathens As we are not to consult Witches and Devils so nor must we have such low and mean apprehensions of God and His wise Providence as to sink our Hearts and suffer them to be betrayed to any base and unlawful Compliances And therefore more especially by the Works of the Devil here was meant those abominable Villanies the Apostle says not to be Named among Christians which was the usual practise of those Heathen Idolators and for which the greatest of Gods Judgments have formerly been brought upon the Earth even fire and Brimstone upon particular Cities famous for those Brutalities Nay even that Deluge of Water upon the whole Earth But besides those there are others that may properly be called the Works of the Devil being such he delights in and is very diligent in Tempting us to Amongst these is Pride that Usurping and Ambitious Desire that made the first Devil and Dethroned him from an Empire in Heaven to the infernal Abyss of Hell such also is Lying for he is called a Lyar and the Father of it St. John 8. 44. Such also is Slandering for he is famously also called the Accuser of the Brethren such also is Malice and Envy being hateful and hating one another These are the proper Practises of him whom the Scripture calls a Murderer from the Beginning And such also is all Pleasure Contentedness and Delight in Sin and Encouraging and Tempting others to commit it all these are truly and properly called the Works of the Devil The second part of the Vow is To Renounce the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World By these were meant formerly some Villanous and Unlawful Sports of the Heathens which we now thanks be to God know nothing of and as it respects us may be understood by them mostly all undue and sinful Compliances with any of the things of the World whether they be Riches or Pleasures or Honours whether it be Meat or Drink or Apparel whether it be Rest or Sport or Imployment or indeed any inordinate Enjoyment of any of these Earthly things Now many of all these things as they are Blessings when well used so when abused they become Curses Pomps and Vanities of this World and to be Renounced The third part of the Vow is to Renounce all the Sinful Lusts of the Flesh that is all Vile Affections and Beastly Humours and Greedy Cravings the Conquering of which is true Self Denyal and Mortification the great Duty of the approaching Season which I have endeavour'd to inculcate to you and which you will have many opportunities of improving in the knowledge of during Lent And so I come to the Second part of the Vow and Promise which is To Believe all the Articles of our Christian Faith which consists not only in the being rightly inform'd in the Articles of our Faith in Learning Endeavouring to Vnderstand and giving full Consent unto them but which perfects and compleats our Faith in Living accordingly in doing those things that will prove and well Demonstrate our Faith And particularly to explain this in the Apostles Creed When I say I Believe in God the Father Almighty I must Honour and Reverence Him as my God Love and Obey Him as a tender Father Fear and Own Him as he is Almighty Maker off Heaven and Earth Here I must attribute the Glory of all the Works of the Creation to Him admire his great Love in Communicating Being to us and all his Creatures give him only the Honour and Glory of Preserving and Blessing us and Love Admire and Praise his Universal Providence over the World At the same rate we must reduce to Practise all the rest of the Articles of our Faith and so doing is truly Believing of them The third part of our Vow and Obligation in Baptism is That we Keep Gods Holy Will and Commands and walk in the same all the Days of our Lives By which is meant that we will make it our Business as much as in us lies to walk according to the Direction of Gods ways that we will use our best Endeavours to work his Righteousness and apply our selves with all Diligence and Care to the discharge of all the several Duties of our Lives That we will not Practise Holiness by Fits and Starts only allow time for Devotions and Holy Duties when we have nothing else to do as is too much the Practise of some But that our whole Life shall be one continued Act of Honesty and