Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	life_n	live_v	soul_n	13,623	5	5.6183	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30925	The faithful and wise servant discovered in a sermon preached to the Parliament of the commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, at their late private fast in the Parliament House, Jan. 9, 1656 / by Matthew Barker ...	Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1657 (1657)	Wing B773; ESTC R20191	33,385	52

of the several vanities that he had observed under the Sun and one is this which he mentions chap. 6. vers 7. All the labour of man is for his mouth and yet the belly is not filled Man labours and toyls and yet he hath not out of all his labour that which can fill his appetite His appetite is capable of more then his labour can bring him in which was a vanity he observed But now he that is in sincerity serving the Lord when he comes to enjoy the fruit and the reward of his service he shall find that which will be satisfa●tion to his soul for he shall find God himself both in that service and especially at the end of the service As the good servant in the Gospel that had faithfully served the Lord was bid to enter into his Masters joy Other servants that are serving the World and serving their Lusts may enter into the joy of the creature and the joy and pleasure of sin but not into the joy of the Lord which is only that joy that can satisfie the heart of man Lastly consider this If a man doth not serve the Lord he doth not Live I say again he doth not live It is true take life in a large sense so it is the whole activity of the Reasonable Soul displaying it self in the several actions of man in the world But take life in a stricter and Theological sense and so it is the activity of the soul displaying it self by the power of the holy Ghost in the service of God So that when the service of God is the Sphaere and the Spirit the Principle of the souls activity this is most truly and properly life The Apostle saith of the Widdow that liveth in pleasure She is dead while she liveth The Widdow indeed She serveth God day and night as he 1 Tim. 5. 6. said before But she that liveth in pleasure not serving God is dead whiles she liveth I suppose you have heard the story of him that was converted in the latter end of his days and therefore would have this Inscription upon his Tomb after his death Diu fui in Mundo parum vixi I have been long in the world but I have lived but a little For that life which man lives whiles he is serving himself and acting his lusts and promoting his own carnall interests is so far differing from that life which he at first reveived from God in innocency that it is quite another and not that life as if he that had lived the life of a man should come to live the life of a beast as Nebuchadnezar did you would say this is another and not the same life So that when a man is in sincerity serving the Lord this is his original life and his only true life Thus I have spoken to you as men and the ingagements you see that lie upon you on that lowest account are very strong to be serving the Lord but those that follow are yet stronger wherein I shall speak to you 2. Secondly as Christians Christians I mean not in the largest sence as Baptized only into the name of Christ but in a stricter sence as Baptized into his Spirit for I believe I speak to many such at this time and as such you are peculiarly ingaged to serve the Lord. For 1. First you are those that the Lord hath bought peculiarly bought for though Christ in a more general sence hath purchased all men yea the whole creation for his Lordship and dominion over all creatures comes in upon him upon the account of his death yet his death and the purchase of it doth more peculiarly relate to his people Being the Saviour of all men yet especially of those that believe Now the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 5. last concerning the believing Corinthians Ye are not your own why For ye are bought with a price What then Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are the Lords As a servant that is but hired is ingaged to serve his Master how much more if bought with his money as those servants under the Law So that the Lord hath a stronger title to you then others as being not only his by the more common right of Creation but the more peculiar right of purchase And the price that purchased you is not Silver and Gold which yet are accounted the most precious things in nature but the blood of Christ the blood of God which is indeed the greatest that Heaven or Earth could yeeld So that Gods expectation cannot but be greater upon his people then upon any others that whoever deny him service yet that they should yeild it to him And so saith the same Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. If one died for all then were all dead c. that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died and rose again As if he should say we were indeed all dead but we are purchased from death into life by Jesus Christ and this life now we are not to live it to our selves but unto him by whose death we come to live 2. As Christians you are Married to the Lord. He hath divorced you from your first Husband which is the Flesh which you were in League with and obedient to and he hath married you to himself Now why are you thus married the Apostle tels you Rom. 7. 4. We are married to him that is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit to God We are married to Christ Crucified that we might be dead to sin and to Christ raised from the dead that we might live a new life which is to bring forth fruit to God As we know in Marriage a man marries a wife that she might bring forth her fruit as by himself and not by another so to himself and not to another also Now this is to serve the Lord when the fruit we bring forth we bring it forth not to our selves but unto him And we know also by the Law of marriage the wife is not her own but her Husbands and hath not power over her own body but the Husband as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 7. 4. So is the case here ye that are married to the Lord the Law of that spiritual Relation doth take you off from being your own or having a power over your selves so as to be serving your selves and doth ingage you to be the Lords and to be serving him 3. As Christians and Saints he hath bestowed more cost and workmanship upon you then upon others he hath formed you for himself He hath Created you again So saith St. Paul Eph. 2. 10. We are his workmanship why So are all Creatures but he adds Created in Christ Jesus we have a new creation in him but to what are we created To good works that we should walk in them and what is that but to be serving the Lord Why was it that the Lord did so expect fruit

intentional serving God there are three things necessary that it find acceptance 1. That mans principle be right 2. That his rule be right 3. That his end be right 1. That his Principle be right It is somthing of God in man that can alone aright serve God So saith the Apostle Heb. 12. 28. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably Now grace is a divine principle and it is only this whereby a man can serve acceptably The Apostle speaks in Heb. 11. of many Heroick acts of service done by these ancient Worthies as Abel Noah Abraham Isaac Moses c. But that which gave them their acceptance was the Principle they did them by Faith saith the Text and tells us in verse 6. that without faith it is impossible to please God There must be the out-going of the soul toward God in that service which finds acceptance Now no principle can act the soul towards God but that which is divine and springs from him 2. As his Principle so his Rule must be right for God must be served according to his own rule which is his revealed Will and where the rule is dark we must either forbear until God doth clear it up or else act up to it as near as the light we have will lead us And this is the praerogative of man above the creatures below us though they all act by a rule and to an end which their Creator hath set them yet they are not capable of understanding either their rule or their end but man is and therefore if he would be accepted he must have respect to his rule As Saul he offered Sacrifice which in it self was a good thing and the case was somwhat urgent for Samuel came not and the people began 1 Sam 13. to scatter from him and the Philistims to gather together against him but because he walked not by rule in that action he was rejected of God Mans righteousness lies especially in his conformity to the Rule as the Schoolmen speak of a Lex aeterna in Deo an eternal Law according to which God doth all his works both in Heaven and Earth which is the righteousness of God So there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lex scripta a Law written either inwardly in mans heart or without in the Scriptures which is the rule of mans walking and conformity thereunto is the righteousness of man His End must also be right For God is not served when he is not our end A man may be praying and fasting and yet not serve God doing justice giving alms punishing sin rewarding vertue and yet not at all serve God Men indeed look most to other matter and substance of their actions because they lie more open to the view of men but that which God especially looks at in man and which is the most material thing in his actions is his end Somtimes when a man through ignorance mistakes his rule yet if hi● end be upright he may be accepted notwithstanding As the Apostle in Rom. 14. tells us of two sorts of Christians in that Church some that understood their Gospel liberty and Gospel rule of walking and therefore did not observe days nor confine themselves to eat herbs as others did but yet because in what the one and the other did they had respect to God they did both serve him as he saith verse 6. He that regardeth a day regardeth it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it And they were both living to the Lord and so both living and dying they were both the Lord's as he also speaks And now these few things being premised I shall proceed to draw forth such inferences from the Point as may most naturally spring from it and be most sutable to the present day and this honourable Assembly And what may be needful by way of Argument to confirm it I shall present in the Application that so I may make the best improvement I can of a little time and speak to your judgements and affections both together Vse 1 And first I shall infer hence somthing for Instruction If this be to serve God as you have heard Then no man can serve God without the spirit of God So that the generation of men that are indeed serving God in the world are alone those that have received the spirit God is a spirit and must be served in spirit and no man can serve in spirit but he that hath received the spirit The Apostle in Rom. 7. 4. speaks of Believers that they were dead to their first husband the Law that they might be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead And why must they be thus married That we might bring forth fruit unto God By marrying with Christ by our union with him we come to partake of his Spirit and so to bring forth fruit unto God The Spirit is that divine sap which is shed from Christ the root into those souls that are in union with him whereby they bring forth fruit unto God And there is a threefold work of the Spirit that must pass upon man before he can be made a true servant 1. A work of Conviction He must be convinc'd of that absolute dependance he hath upon God that he cannot subsist and live of himself without God For until a man doth see his dependance he will not serve A man will not willingly subject himself to the will of one upon whom he hath no dependance Now a man without the spirit his heart speaks that he can subsist of himself by his own wit wisdom providence industry and creature Interest and therefore he regards not God he serves not God but himself or the creature as thinking he depends more upon these then upon the Lord. And this is the reason that when men are to transact any work they are careful about the means but they look not at God or very slightly it is because they think they depend more upon the means then God which is a piece of Atheism that grows in all our hearts and those have found it that are come to know their own hearts and must be rooted up by the convictions of the Spirit before man will indeed become the Lord's servant Yea again He must also be convinc'd that in serving God there is the best reward Every man before he enters upon work is looking what his reward and wages shall be As those in the Gospel that we read of in Matth. 20. 6 7. being asked why they stood all the day long idle they answered because no man hath hired us they would not work till they had some promise of wages now when man is throughly convinc'd that Gods work will have a reward and the best reward this inclines him and draws him to his service now the Reward that God gives it excels 1. In the greatness of it no reward can match it what ever the Devil or

the World may offer yet God doth infinitely out-bid them what they offer is but a piece of light and fading vanity but what God offers is a weight an eternal weight of glory The Reward must needs be great because God rewards not only according to mans work but according to the riches of his own grace and bounty A great King accounts it his shame to give a mean reward he must do all things like himself It is said Heb. 11. 16. of those believing Patriarchs God was not ashamed to be called their God why for saith the Text he hath prepared for them a City that is if God had not well provided for them if he had not prepared a glorious habitation for them somewhat like himself he might have been ashamed to be called their God so This Reward excels in the sureness of it It will certainly come Though we may fail of success in our work yet we shall not misse the reward of it as the Prophet Isaiah speaks Isai 49. 4. I have laboured in vain there he mist his success yet my judgment is with the Lord and my works with my God there he finds the reward And it is the Apostles argument 1 Cor. 15. ult let us abound in the work of the Lord and the Argument is not only because there is a reward but the reward is sure as knowing that our labour is never in vain in the Lord. It is true God doth defer it at least the greatest part of it but why is it that he might learn us to live upon Trust He having given us such a sure promise he may presume that we have enough to support and encourage us though the reward be for a season deferred Therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 10. 35 Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward Oh but we do not see the recompence we possess it not therefore he adds yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry and the just shall live by faith 2. The second work of the spirit is a work of mortification Mans selfish nature must be mortified else he will be serving himself and not the Lord. That life in a believer that serves the Lord springs out of the death of his carnal life as man ceaseth to be his own so doth he come to serve the Lord and live to him The message that Moses carried to Pharaoh from the Lord was this Let my people go that they may serve me they must go out of the Land of Egypt and from under the power of Pharaoh that they might serve the Lord. So must man go out of that selfish nature that keeps him in bondage and out of the power of the infernal Pharaoh before he can be capable of serving God And this is done in us by the Spirit that smites those enemies that held us in bondage that we might go forth into the liberty of serving God pride must be smitten and self-love must be smitten and unbelief must be smitten c. before any man doth indeed enter into the Lords service No man saith Christ can serve two Masters especially two Masters whose commands are contradictory now every lust is a Master which man is serving and till the Spirit crucifie them man cannot be serving Jesus Christ 3. The third work is a work of renovation The faculties of the soul must pass under a spiritual renovation before they can be fit to serve the Lord. For I am not of their opinion who think that if lust be mortified the soul would of it self return into its primitive course as a river that is stopt if you remove the dam it runs of it self or a stone that hangs in the ayr by a string if you cut the string of it self it falls to the centre but there must be aliquid divinitus infusum a principle infused from above to act it towards the Lord and in his service Lust it is a confining thing it makes man dwell at home and serve himself but grace is enlarging it lets man out of himself and brings him home to the Lord and to the service of the Lord. He that is a fit servant for a Prince must have many accomplishments to fit him for it And so would I dwell here I might shew you how many things are necessary to accomplish a man for the Lords service as Faith Love Hope Humility Self denyal c. are all necessary that he may be a vessel of honour prepared for his Masters 2 Tim. 2. 21. use For natural accomplishments may fit a man for the service of man but man must be accomplisht from Heaven to fit him for the Lords service But I passe Use 2 That which I infer next from the Doctrine as more suitable to the day is matter of Lamentation Ah may we not mourn over our selves mourn over the City mourn over the Nation yea mourn over the world that that which is mans great work is laid aside as if it was none of his work at least other work hath the praeeminence Oh that the Devil that hath no true right to us for he neither made us nor bought us and that payes no wages but death and misery and that the lusts of the flesh to which as the Apostle saith we are no debtors yet these should have more real more free more chearful service then God then Christ to whom we are indebted by so manifold ingagements and obligations This is true but ah is it not sad Hath not Christ think you better deserved of the World Hath he not Might not Jesus Christ promise himself that after he had manifested such stupendious love as to lay down his life for an undone world that they should be so amazed so ravisht with this love as to be ambitious who should love him most and honour him most and serve him most that the very naming the name of Christ should be argument enough to provoke them to ingage in any service for him Yea and after he had laid down the price of his blood the greatest price that Heaven or Earth could give to purchase us might he not promise himself that the Sons of men would no longer be their own but his wholly his But alasse we see nothing lesse then this in the world Men after all this are their own live to themselves serve themselves and Christ and his service both are despised and rejected of men may not Heaven and Earth even tremble and be astonisht at this Or when men are serving Christ do they serve him with the best do they serve him with such life and vigour as they serve themselves and the world do not they bring him the lame the blind the torn the maymed as if any thing was good enough for Christ as Jeroboam made Priests of the lowest of the People so do men think the lowest of their affections the very dreg of their time and strength good enough for God Was there ever