Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	old_a	young_a	zeal_n	39	3	7.5534	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01344	Ioseph's partie-colored coat containing, a comment on part of the 11. chapter of the 1. epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians : together with severall sermons, namely, [brace] 1. Growth in grace, 2. How farre examples may be followed, 3. An ill match well broken off, 4. Good from bad friends, 5. A glasse for gluttons, 6. How farre grace may be entayled, 7. A christning sermon, 8. Faction confuted / by T.F.	Fuller, Thomas, 1608-1661.	1640 (1640)	STC 11466.3; ESTC S4310	83,852	200

Most heavie therefore will be our account if wee yeeld not some proportionable growth in grace to these great means God affords us 11 Now in examining themselves I find three sorts of men to be deceived Some account themselves to be growne in grace when they are not others esteeme themselves to be not growne when they are Of the former some account themselves to bee improved in goodnesse when God takes from them the ability to commit sinne they had formerly An old man saith I thanke God I am growne in grace well how shall this appeare Thus saith the old man Twenty yeares agoe I was given to lust and wantonnesse now I have left it Alas hee puts a fallacy on his owne soule for the sinne hath left him his moysture is spent his heate abated and hee disabled from performing the taske of wickednesse So the Prodigall who hath spent his estate hugs himselfe in his owne happinesse that now hee is growne in grace because hee hath left Vanity in clothes Curiosity in dyet Excessivenesse in gaming when alas needs must the fire goe out when the fuell is taken away he is not growne in grace but decreased in estate Others construe it to be growth of grace in themselves when only God takes away from them the temptations to sinne Hee that living in a populous place was given to drunkennesse who now being retyred to a private Village takes himselfe to bee turned very sober Alas it is not hee that is altered but his place he wanteth now a want with gain a crue of bad good fellowes to solicite him to the taverne but had he the same temptation let him examine himselfe whether he would not be as bad as ever hee was before A third sort count themselves growne in grace when they have not left but onely exchanged their sin and perchance a lesse for a greater Thou that abhorrest Idols committest thou sacriledge Rom. 2. Some thinke themselves improved in piety because they left prodigality and reele into Covetousnesse left Profanenesse and fallen into spirituall Pride or peevish affecting of out-side holinesse Thus like the Sea what they loose in one place they gaine in another and are no whit growne in Grace 12. Others conceive themselves not to bee growne in grace when they are growne and that in these foure cases First sometimes they thinke that they have lesse grace now than they had seven yeares agoe because they are more sensible of their badnesse They daily see and grieve to see how spirituall the Law of God is and how carnall they are how they sinne both against Gods will and their owne and sorrow after their sinne and sinne after their sorrow This makes many mistake themselves to be worse than they have beene formerly whereas indeed the sick-man begins to amend when hee begins to feele his paine 13. Many thinke themselves to have lesse saving Knowledge now than they had at their first conversion both because as we said before of Grace they are now more sensible of their ignorance and because their knowledge at their first conversion seemed a great deale which since seemeth not increast because increast insensibly and by unappearing degrees One that hath lived all his life time in a most darke Dungeon and at last is brought out but into the twi-light more admires at the clearnesse and brightnesse thereof than hee will wonder a moneth after at the sun at noon-day So a Christian newly regenerated and brought out of the darke state of nature into the life of grace is more apprehensive at the first illumination of the knowledge hee receives than of farre greater degrees of knowledge which hee receiveth afterwards 14. Some thinke they have lesse grace now than they had some yeares since because a great measure of grace seemes but little to him that desires more As in worldly wealth Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit So is there an holy heavenly and laudable covetousnesse of grace which deceives the eye of the soule and makes a great deale of goodnesse seeme but a little 15 Many thinke they are growne lesse and weaker in grace when indeed they are assaulted with stronger temptations One saith seven years since I vanquished such temptations as at this day foyle me therefore surely I am decreased in grace Non sequitur for though it be the same temptation in kind it may not be the same in degree and strength thou mayest still be as valiant yet thy enemies may conquer thee as assaulting thee with more force and fury when thou wert newly converted God proportioned the weight to the weaknesse of thy souldiers bound up the Devill that hee should set upon thee with no more force than thou couldest resist and subdue Now thou hast gotten a greater stock of grace God suffers the devil to buffet thee with greater blows 16 Some thinke grace is lesse in them now than it was at their first conversion because they find not in their souls such violent flashes such strong impetuous I had almost said furious raptures of goodnesse and flashes of grace and heavenly illumination But let them seriously consider that these raptures which they then had and now complaine they want were but fits short and sudden Nimbus erat cito preterijt not setled and constant but such as quickly spent themselves with their own violence Whereas grace in them now may bee more solid reduced digested and concocted Bos lassus fortius figit pedem more slow but more sure lesse violent but more constant though grace be not so thicke at one time yet now it is beaten and hammered out to bee broader and longer yea I might adde also it is more pure and refined This we may see in Saint Peter when hee was a young man in a bravery he would walk on the water yea and so daring was hee in his promises Though all forsake thee yet will not I But afterwards in his old age hee was not so bold and daring experience had not only corrected the ranknesse of his Spirit but also in some sort quenched surely tempered the flashes of his zeale for the adventurousnesse of it yet was he never a whit the worse but the better Christian though he was not so quick to run into danger yet hee vvould answer the spur when need required and not flinch for persecution when just occasion vvas offered as at last hee suffered martyrdome gloriously for Christ 17 To conclude Grace in the good Thiefe on the Crosse like Ionah's Gourd grew up presently for hee was an extraordinary example but in us it is like the growth of an Oak slow and insensible so that wee may sooner find it crevisse then crescere it must therefore bee our daily taske all the dayes of our lives to which end let us remember to pray to God for his blessing on us our Saviour saith Matth. 6.27 Which of you by taking care is able to adde one cubit unto his stature in the corporall growth