Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	pray_v	prayer_n	supplication_n	6,912	5	11.1562	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B02144	Seasonable thoughts of divine providence affording comfort to those who are in danger. Instruction to all that are delivered from the late sad visitation. Wherein we are inform'd whether our preservation be a fruit of God's special love, or of his common providence.	Chishull, John.	1666 (1666)	Wing C3903B; ESTC R176572	27,160	97

preserved from the destruction which God was bringing upon the City We find also that Cain was marked that he might not be slain the first was doubtless in mercy but most Interpreters agree in this That Cain's was a Judgment upon him a trembling of his heart and head which imply'd his guilt and was a terror to others as well as to himself Here then may arise a great and weighty Question worthy of the serious consideration of those whom the late Judgment of Pestilence hath spared Quest How shall I know whether my preservation from this Judgment be a special Mercy or a fruit of Common Providence Or whether it be not worse a reservation unto evil Ans You shall know three ways First By some things which go before such a preservation Secondly By some things which accompany it Thirdly By some things which follow it First Some things go before such Deliverances as these when they are in Mercy and they are such as these First A sense of the danger that we are in that so we may be taken off from all self-confidence and fitted for the observing and honouring of Divine Goodness Thus it was with Paul 2 Cor. 1.9 We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead He was as a dead man in his own apprehensions and was taken off from all hopes and dependencies upon creatures and had nothing to hold by but this That God was able to raise the dead This sense of danger ushered in a great deliverance and made way for the magnifying of the Mercy of God and indeed when God intends to bless and sanctifie any deliverance to a man he prepares him by the sense of his danger for a thankful reception of the Mercy Secondly As there is commonly a sense of the danger so there is also of our own unworthiness of that mercy which we desire and of that which we enjoy already and of our ill deserving in respect of the evil that we fear Thus it was with Jacob when he was in danger of falling into his Brothers hands Gen. 32.10 11. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my Brother A sense of our unworthiness of what we have already received of the Lord is a great argument that God intends us more Thirdly A Spirit of Prayer to be earnest and strive with God for the mercy God seldom gives any thing to his people in mercy but he sends a Spirit of Prayer to usher it in When God would deliver Jacob from the hands of Esau he pours out a mighty Spirit of Prayer and he wrestled with God all the night Gen. 32.24 Now what was his wrestling the Prophet Hosea expounds it Hos 12.4 He had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication to him And what did Jacob pray for this night he told us before Gen. 32.11 Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my Brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the Mother with the Children Jacob saw that his whole Family lay at stake now there was but a step betwixt them and death therefore he bestirs himself and will not give over till he gets the victory and prevail with God he will not leave praying till he carry away a perswasion that his prayers are answered Fourthly An humble Spirit to submit to the hand of God under that affliction and danger which we pray to be delivered from It is no contradiction to pray against an affliction and yet submit to the will of God A man may pray against the evil and yet submit to the will of God and this is very acceptable unto God it is a fore-runner of deliverance from trouble already come and may well be a sign of preservation from danger approaching Lev. 26.41 42. If their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity then will I remember my Covenant with Israel This frame of Spirit was found in David when that heavy affliction befel him that his own Son rebelled against him 2 Sam. 16.11 12. Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him David stooped under God's hand in this affliction and this was an argument that God would deliver him out of that trouble as we see he did Fifthly Mourning for those evils which we see God is about to punish When God finds us mourning for our own and other mens sins whether he spare us or take us away in the judgment that is coming either is in mercy If he spare us it is to see better days and to enjoy better things if he take us away it is from the evil that is to come but commonly God hath a care of such to preserve them from the evil as we see he did the Mourners in Jerusalem when a general judgment was come upon the City Ezek. 9.4 5 6. Now it is our work to reflect upon our hearts and consider how we have found them under the apprehensions of this judgment of the Pestilence approaching if we have found such impressions as these we may conclude that our lives have been given us in mercy and that they are the fruits of Gods special providence and goodness Secondly You shall know by some things which did accompany this preservation While this judgment from which you are preserved did hang over your heads you had some such impressions as these upon your spirits First A resolution to depend upon God in the mid'st of trouble untill the calamity be over-past When God intends to give in a mercy of this kind he commonly draws forth Faith to act for it at least a Faith of dependance though not a Faith of assurance and though there may be many fears yet these may serve to quicken and stir up Faith of adherence to depend upon God This is the meaning of entring into thy chambers Isa 26.20 Which doth not deny a prudent use of means to prevent evil and danger but imply a trusting more to God to preserve us then to the means we use Prov. 3.5 6. Trust to the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths A man is not forbidden to use his own understanding but to lean to it There may be not only a care to prevent danger but a fear of it when we have used means and yet a dependance upon God a casting of our selves upon him for help with a resolution to rely upon him and particularly in this case of the Pestilence preservation is promised only upon condition of a Faith of reliance and dependance upon God As we may see in