Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	law_n	life_n	sin_n	22,698	5	5.7840	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46725	Peace and love, recommended and perswaded in two sermons, preached at Bristol, January the 31, 1674/5 / by Tho. Jekyll ...	Jekyll, Thomas, 1646-1698.	1675 (1675)	Wing J533; ESTC R1429	32,018	39

a Consuming Fire Let therefore the time past of our Lives suffice that we have liv'd so directly contrary to our Interest and Duty Let the Wicked for sake his way and the Vnrighteous man his thoughts Let all sin and wickedness be banish'd both our hearts and lives Let us lay aside our former corrupt Conversations and let those Vices that do at this day rule and reign in our Nation for the future not be so much as once named amongst us as becometh Saints since whoever Indulges himself in the least sin shall never whilst he does so Inherit the Kingdom of Christ or of God and may the God of all Grace so sanctifie our hearts and lives in the ways of his Laws and in the works of his Commandements that we being cleansed from all filthiness and pollution both of Flesh and Spirit may so perfect Holiness in the fear of God that at last we may enjoy the happiness of his fight and presence for ever 1 John 4.20 21. If a Man say I Love God and Hateth his Brother he is a Lyar for he that Loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he Love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from him that he who Loveth God Loves his Brother also WHoever considers the Nature of that New Commandment which our Saviour gave of Loving one another shall find it to be a Duty so rational and convenient that there cannot be any thing more becomming the Nature of a Man and more likely to win upon and prevail with him and therefore the Prophet calls the Cords of Love the Bands of a Man Hos 11.4 This Law of Love being so naturally fitted to the tempers and constitutions of men who will sooner be allur'd and drawn then forc'd and driven that even the most rude and savage tempers will be calm'd and mollified by it and made fit for Society and good Order But now when we come to consider it in its highest abstraction and take a prospect of it from that Influence it has not only upon all the actions of our Lives one towards another but even those towards God too we shall find the excellency of it to be far greater For if before it made us men it now makes us Christians and teacheth us to love our Brethren not for their own but Gods sake too since it has this excellent qualification also that hereby we are assur'd of the Truth of our Religion and the sincerity of our hearts towards God our Love to our Brethren being the mark and sigh of our love to him without which all our Religious pretences are but vain and foolish and at the best but Hypocritical and a Lye For if a Man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar c. In which words we have a Proposition laid down and two Arguments to prove that Proposition 1. A proposition which consists of a supposition If a man say I love God and hateth his Brother and a conclusion deduc'd from thence he is a Lyar the very thing it self carrying a contradiction in its terms for he that says he loves God with all his heart and with all his soul as every Good man ought to do and yet in the mean time hates his Brother or doth not love him so well as he should however he may perswade himself to the contrary yet all his Love is but false and counterfeit and he himself without mincing the matter is no better than a Lyar which the Apostle does not only say but prove from the two following Arguments the one drawn from the Nature of Love it self the other from the effects and consequences of it 1. From the Nature of Love it self For if he doth not Love his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen It being more Natural to us to love those things we see and converse with then those things we only hear of and believe in that Nature is before Grace and takes the first place in us and we are more apt to love those things that are visible and affect our senses than those things that are invisible and affect only our understandings And therefore if to men with whom we converse every day and meet with such opportunities we do not express any Love what reason is there to imagine we sincerely love God when of our love to him and the sincerity of it we were never able to make those Tryals because we never saw him nor had any opportunities offer'd us of shewing any real acts of love to him Besides something may be judged from the difficulty of the thing for he that will not do a thing that 's easie will hardly be suppos'd to do a thing that 's more difficult Now it s harder to love one we never saw than one that we see every day in that fight and conversation is one Motive of Love Now we see our Brethren daily but we never saw God at any time and therefore where there is one advantage to allure our love to our Brethren which there is not to invite and oblige us to the love of God if a man fail in the one that is so Natural how can it be imagin'd that he will perform the other which is less Natural But 2. The Apostles second Argument is drawn from the effects and consequence of Love which is Obedience to the commands and will of any person whom we Love And this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loves his Brother also So that its evident by the command of God that we are as really oblig'd to love one another as to love him himself and therefore if we would shew any love to him we cannot do it any better way then by Obedience to his commands And thus the notion of loving God in Scripture but more especially in the New Testament seems to be taken most fitly for one most eminent act of love amongst all men viz. that of doing those things that are most acceptable and well-pleasing to the Beloved either as tending most to his good or any other way desirable unto him for this indeed is the only way of expressing our love to another all others being but the effects of love unto our selves But because God wants no Contribution of ours either to the promoting of his good or the advancing of his glory and so our only way of doing grateful things to him is our performing what he commands It necessarily follows that our Obedience to the mind and will of God in the highest and most perfect manner is styl'd the loving of him this being indeed the prime if not the only way of demonstrating our Love to him and therefore it s the greatest contradiction and absurdity in the world for a man to say he loves God when he contemns and despises his Will and Commands and is as if a man should pretend to be a Loving and Loyal Subject

such excellent Council and Advice especially too since the enjoyments of this life and our hopes of happiness in another do so necessarily depend upon it All which since I have I hope clearly and fully prov'd that which remains is to excite you to and direct you in the practice of this Duty First Then see here the excellency of the Christian Religion in general it requires nothing at our hands but what tends to the improving of our natures into an absolute Perfection all its Laws are wholesome and good and such as a wise man would choose to be guided by Deut. 4.6 Moses tells the Children of Israel that the Observation of those Laws that he taught them would be their Wisdome and their understanding in the sight of the Nations who would be ready to give this Character of them that they were above all others a wise and understanding People And if the Law of God were so excellent then what is it now since it has been improv'd by the Gospel and illustrated by our Saviours admirable exposition upon on it in the Mount Certainly there is nothing in the World more sweet and taking nothing that comes so near the Reason and the Interest of Mankind nay even the severest duties of it which seem the most contrary to our natural Tempers and Constitutions such as are Meekness and Humility Repentance and self-denyal Mortification of our Lusts and passions and the like yet even this if we look well into them will appear not only reasonable in themselves but upon several accounts very much for our interest and advantage tending all along to the perfect quiet and settlement of our minds here and to our everlasting happiness and peace hereafter And as for that peculiar Law of Christianity which forbids Revenge and commands us to love our Enemies and to forgive Injuries though it may seem harsh and grievous at the first yet no man can think it so that compares the restless Torment and continual slavery of a malicious and revengeful Spirit with the delights and sweetness of Love and the glorious victory of overcoming evil with good whereby a man conquers both his Enemy and himself 2. See here the necessity of these two excellent Duties in particular viz. peace and holiness 1. For that of peace which the Apostle requires should be universal follow peace with all men which precept of his doth very well agree with the New Testament notion of a Brother which is indeed every man in the World as appears from the parable of the man that fell among Thieves whereby not only our kindred and acquaintance but even strangers and our very Enemies too are brought into that Relation upon which account this becomes as necessary a duty as it is an excellent grace and commends us unto God beyond all other duties of Religion nay it 's that which gives being to Religion it self and is the very Life and Soul of all true Devotion For indeed what is Christianity it self but the highest Demonstration of the greatest love that ever was And why is it so cleerly Revealed unto us but only to excite us to the like practices one towards another And therefore at the last day this is the main thing that we shall be accountable for so that if there be any thing more necessary than other in order to the obtaining of everlasting Salvation it must certainly be this hatred and malice being of all other things the most odious in the sight of God as being so directly contrary to the daily methods of his providence yea to his very nature and commands tearing in pieces not only his seamless Coat but his Body and rendering frustrate the very expence of his blood in so much that he will sooner pass by all our other Immortalities than this which therefore that we may avoid there be three things which if they were Reduc'd into our practice would very much contribute to our peace 1. Bearing with one anothers Infirmities 2. Dealing by others as we would have others deal by us 3. A sincere and earnest endeavour after holiness all which if they were but laid to heart and practic'd would certainly restore our peace as at the first and our prosperity as at the beginning 1. Bearing with one anothers Infirmities Though it be the design of the Christian Religion to make us holier than others and to improve our minds and practices beyond the common Rate of Men yet it was never intended to make us therefore keep our distance and to stand off from all that are not arriv'd to as high a pitch as our selves no the higher the true Christian is in Gods account the lower he is always in his own The more experience he has had of Gods goodness unto him the more pitiful and courteous he is to others It was this that made St. Paul become all things to all men that is so far to condescend to the weakness but not the wickedness of any as to deny himself that Christian liberty which otherwise he might have taken which was doutless that holy guile wherewith he caught so many upon which account he recommends the same practice unto us Rom. 15.1 we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves which advice of his is as necessary as it is excellent and would well become all Christians in general but more especially the Ministers of the Gospel who should be men of gentle and peaceable Dispositions rather composing differences than fomenting of them Therefore says the Apostle 2 Tim. 2.24 25. The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves by which proceedings he shall obtain that which the same Apostle requires in a good Bishop 1 Tim. 4.7 A good report of them that are without by which means not only more Credit and Reputation but more Proselytes and Converts too are to be gain'd than by all the unnatural Methods of force and violence For I know not what it is in mens natures that so inclines them but certainly most have this principle in them that they hate to be forc'd though it be even to goodness and vertue and will discard piety it self and Heaven too rather than be threatned thither whereas on the other hand the most refractory and stubborn Spirits whom force cannot prevail upon will be supple and pliant when reproofs and zeal come cloathed with love when they see Tears shed for them and their own interest more look'd after by others than themselves when they see they are rather pittied than hated and are notwithstanding all their obstinacy and wilfulness woo'd both by God and Men to accept of happiness and an Heaven Besides let us remember the best of men whilst they are here on Earth need a great many Grains of allowance The Education Tempers and Constitutions of men are to be consider'd from whence the greatest part both of