Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	keep_v	peace_n	unity_n	7,015	5	8.9407	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13119	A receite for grace in a sermon preached in the parish church of Westminster / by Christopher Styles.	Styles, Christopher.	1620 (1620)	STC 23412.5; ESTC S1008	11,697	24

A RECEITE FOR GRACE IN A SERMON PREACHED in the Parish Church of Westminster By CHRISTOPHER STYLES PSALM 84.12 The Lord will giue grace and worship and no good thing shall he with-hold from them that liue a godly life ●EACE PLENTY 〈◊〉 WISDOM 〈◊〉 AT LONDON Imprinted by FELIX KYNGSTON 1620. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LADY FRANCES BARONESSE OF BVRGH Dowager of Thomas Lord Burgh Knight of the Honourable order of the Garter and somtime Lord Deputie of Ireland and Gouernour of Brill grace and peace bee multiplied MAdam as euer since my first cōming to Westminster I haue liberally tasted of your Honourable bounty so now your daily charity vnto mee hath made my life so much more comfortable Many who haue receiued great and speciall fauours done by your Honour for their good haue confessed themselues bound in all thankfulnesse of duty and seruice as debtors vnto you Amongst the which my selfe most deeply ingaged haue thought it meete to shew some token of this my duty and thankfulnesse to your Ladyship And that is this booke an vnworthy present which I beseech you to accept of as you shall bee pleased to iudge of the matter not of the bringer So it is that God being the spiritual Physicion for the soule and Mankind his Patients the Prophets and Preachers of Gods Church are if I may so tearme them his Apothecaries to apply the spirituall Physicke prescribed vnto them in the sacred bills of Gods Booke the holy Bible Of which number my selfe being one though the most vnworthy of all men hauing receiued this sacred bill my text as a receit for grace which I haue applied vnto this Congregation And now by experience finding it probatum part of the best physicke that can be ministred to such an vngracious world as this wherein wee liue I haue therefore committed the same vnto the Presse for the publike benefit so farre as may be of Gods holy Church and doe commend the same vnto your Honourable protection For which I shall euer acknowledge my selfe bound to remaine Your Honours daily Orator CHRISTOPHER STYLES TO THE READER GEntle Reader I confesse the Presse is oppressed and there is no end in making of bookes and euery Preacher is not fit to be a Writer I doe also humbly acknowledge my defect in both what bold presumption then doth spurre me forwards to so dangerous aduentures Onely these weake reasons First a diligent desire not to bee idle as also to vse it for a better meanes whereby to shun idle and euill company Secondly writing maketh our knowledge more certaine and our speech more ready and perfect Thirdly because we are called to teach the Word of God as well by writing as by word by pen as by voice therefore the Prophets wrote hidden mysteries the Apostles profound doctrines and Iohn the Euangelist a whole booke of Diuine Reuelations and not without command What if my plainnesse be not well taken of the enuious let them that are gald kicke my faithfull meaning heerein is for the common good of the multitude and yet I know the most good will redound vnto my selfe Therefore good Christian though I write not excellently pleasing things to delight thee and to profit all yet if I write honestly plaine truth which no doubt will comfort many especially my friends and all such as feare God without dissembling Straine not thy conscience to cauill at words and to wrest them contrary to good meaning if any small fault hath escaped me consider thy selfe in another or the like kind maist commit a worse for Humanum est errare It were beyond humane nature not to erre therefore let thy charity couer that which thy enuie would disclose for Diuinum est amare it makes vs like vnto God to loue for God is loue Vse thy discretion and so farewell C. S. A RECEITE FOR GRACE 2. COR. 6.1 Wee therefore as workers together doe beseech you that you receiue not the grace of God in vaine IT is wittily obserued that all the Epistles of Paul stand on two legs that is Doctrine and Exhortation therefore to trouble you with no further circumstances this Scripture my Text is nothing else but an exhortation to reduce the wandring Corinthians from their disobedience and ignorance to the carefull practice of religious holinesse And for as much as they haue heard the voices of Christs spirituall Trumpetters now a good space threatning the iudgements and fierce wrath of God against the obstinate and impenitent sinner and proclaiming the free pardon of Gods rich mercy to all that truly repent and vnfainedly beleeue his holy Gospell that therefore they would no longer dis-hearten their teachers and despise the Grace that is brought vnto them by our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ and so forsake their owne mercy but humbly to submit themselues in all obedience vnto those holy counsels and walke worthy of their vocation in newnesse of life that others may glorifie God for their gracious conuersion and holy conuersation Now for our better ease in proceeding to handle these words let vs obserue these circumstances following First the Apostles vnity and consent with the other teachers in these words Wee are workers together Secondly his humility in these words doe therefore beseech you Thirdly his fidelity in these words that you receiue not the grace of God in vaine Now repeat all the Text. First to speake of vnity we reade that vnity is said to be vnderstood three waies first it must be within vs touching our selues by an absolute assent consent of al our vnderstanding parts that the mind may be settled Psal 108.1 as Dauids was who said O God my heart is ready c. that is that we may be firme and stable in all our counsels and resolutions Iam. 1.8 for the Apostle saith A wauering minded man is vnstable in all his wayes Secondly it must bee in vs touching God by faith and loue for faith vniteth our vnderstanding and loue our affection vnto God while we endeuour to keepe the vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 Thirdly it must be in vs touching our neighbour by brotherly loue for it is meet that he which is vnited vnto God should bee in vnity with all the world as the Apostle speaketh elsewhere Aboue all things put on loue Col. 3.14 which is the bond of perfectnesse and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you are called in one body and this is the vnity heere meant Psal 3 3. Behold how good and ioyfull a thing it is brethren to dwell together in vnity The Apostle Paul not presuming to build the faith of the Church vpon the foundation of his owne doctrines onely confesseth himselfe to be but a fellow-labourer saying 1. Cor. 3.9 Wee together are Gods labourers ye are Gods building and Gods husbandry Our Sauiour Christ chose twelue Disciples whom he sent forth to minister comfort to the Elect of God as well

euermore to cleaue stedfastly vnto his gracious promises and without this grace of God it is vnpossible to please God or to doe good Grace is said to bee in a man that hath receiued it as Arte is in the workman that is skilfull in his trade alwayes present but not alwayes working therefore be not high-minded but feare and if thou feelest grace present with thee yet feare lest thou be slacke and negligent to performe those good workes which she exciteth thee vnto if thou feelest a defect of grace in thee the rather feare because the strength of thy soule is departed and thy best guide seemeth quite to forsake thee if the sense of grace returne to thee againe yet feare lest thy sinnes bereaue thee againe of this sweet comfort whatsoeuer we haue wee receiue by grace from God through Iesus Christ and it is therefore called grace because it is giuen gratis Now in a full fountaine wee may take vp as much water as our vessell will containe and if it takes vp but a little the defect is not in the fountaine but in the vessell so in Iesus Christ who is the fountaine of life full of grace truth Thus you see beloued grace is the comlinesse of all things the ioy of all things and the perfection of all things and this grace is thus distinguished to be Infusa Diffusa Effusa powred in spred abroad and spreading foorth First 1. Insusa it is said to be infused distilled into the heart soule and conscience of man whereby he is restrained from euill thoughts for as the small drops of raine doe pierce the hardest stones that lie vnder their droppings and a little water will bring the clay to an excellent temperature which otherwise is hardened by the Sunne In like manner euen by the sweet gentle operation of Gods holy grace that hart which so long was hardened like a stone by sinfull actions and the continuance of wicked practices as we read of Nabal it is now by the spirituall infusion of grace 1. Sam. 25. easily pierced and pricked with compunction as the Iewes at Peters preaching Act. 2.37 so likewise the droping dew of grace being once infused into the hart now hardened against the glorious sun-shine of the Gospell as Sauls Act. 9.1 2. doth easily mollifie and become like Dauids heart which was euen like melting waxe And whereas before all such made no conscience in practising all hainous sinnes now Gods grace is infused into them it will not admit so much as an euill thought to tarry with them Lord euermore giue vs this grace Secondly it is said to be scattered 2. Diffusa sild out as it were to bee spred abroad in the heart And as the good wine which Iesus made of the water Ioh. 2. ● was fild out of the stony pots to bee serued vnto the ghests at the marriage table So the ioyful gift of grace being once infused into the heart of earth and stone is fild out as it were and proceedeth by the mouth into words that are alwayes gracious Ephes 4.29 to edifie all those that shall bee ghests at the Supper of the Lambes marriage Reuel 19.9 As the sweet Singer of Israel sweetly prophesied of Christ Diffusa est gratia in labijs tuis Psal 45.3 Grace is powred out by thy lips for so S. Ierome reades it and thus expoundeth it Because saith he the law came by Moses Ioh. 1.17 but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ Full of grace are thy lips for so the common translation beares it for with a word thou healedst euery disease with a word thou madest the sea to bee calme with a word thou didst cōmand the winds to be silent with a word thou calledst Lazarus and he came forth of the graue when he had lien dead there foure dayes before Finally with a word whatsoeuer and whensoeuer thou speakest the word the grace of thy lips hath brought it to passe as when thou diddest send the Holy Ghost to sit vpon the Apostles in the likenesse of clouen tongues of fire Act. 2.3 thou didst thereby teach them to speake learnedly effectually graciously Heere obserue that into whomsoeuer grace is once infused it wil suffer no euil thoughts to remaine there any longer so likewise it being scattered in the heart it spreads further of it selfe and fills the mouth with the praises of God according to that sweet saying of the Royall Prophet Psal 115.17 18. The dead praise not thee O Lord neither all they that goe downe into the silence but wee will praise the Lord from this time forth for euermore And most true it is for how can they praise God whose harts are dead by sinne But such as are quickened by the life of grace doe doubtlesse praise the Lord with ioyfull lippes Thirdly 3. Effusa Grace is said to be powred out in great abundance ouerflowing as it were streaming forth vnto all our actions Gen. 2. For as out of Eden there went a riuer to water the garden and from thence it was diuided became into foure heads so by the Holy Ghost from Iesus Christ our spirituall Eden of pleasure the riuer of grace goeth forth to water the spirituall Paradise mans heart Gods garden of delight Psalm 147.11 and from thence it is diuided into so many heads as wee haue actions that so all our thoughts our words our workes may begin continue and bee finished by grace Rom. 6.14 and therefore saith the Apostle Sin shall now haue no more dominion ouer you for you are not vnder the law but vnder grace By which grace we are taught first what to desire and that is to doe well all the dayes of our liues euen to do the will of God our heauenly Father for euermore Also it teacheth vs what to auoid that is all vngodlinesse which corrupteth our vnderstanding and all wordlines which corrupteth our affections that with pure hearts and cleane hands we may truly serue God in holinesse and righteousnesse for euermore Finally it teacheth vs how to liue and that is soberly and not lasciuiously touching our selues iustly not deceitfully towards our neighbours faithfully and deuoutly in our religion to God Thus you haue heard beloued at large what grace is and what be the powers and vertuous effects of the same And now I will conclude in a word to shew you who they be and how it is that so many receiue the grace of God in vaine Hee receiueth the grace of God in vaine that is not exercised in the practices of obedience euen good works as holy Dauid speaking of the blessed man Psalm 1.2 saith In Gods Law he will exercise himselfe both day and night therefore if we desire to haue the grace of God to abide with vs continually of necessity we must keepe our selues from vices and nourish this holy Spirit of grace with the vertuous exercises of a