Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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B03557
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The sacred diary: Or, select meditations for every part of the day, and the employments thereof: With directions to persons of all ranks, for the holy spending every ordinary day of the Week. Propounded as means to facilitate a pious life, and for the spiritual improvement of every Christian.
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Gearing, William.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing G438; ESTC R177551
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109,549
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305
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shews and needless Superstitions and yet have not one spark of Fire from above to set their Offerings on fire It is not a body of Sin that will make a pleasing Sacrifice unto God but a Body and Soul washed by the Blood of Christ Therefore you to whom God hath thus given you must offer up your selves to him as our Saviour saith to his Disciples To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given So I say To you it is given to pray to you it is given to reade the Scriptures and to hear the Word of God To you it is given to meditate on the Word To you it is given to see and conceive aright of Heavenly Things Ye have tasted of Love and Mercy and therefore to you it is given to shew Love and Mercy Think ye of your Talents and of your Receipts unto whom God hath given much look what ye have received mind your Account tender his Glory whose Love in all Eternity was so tender to your Souls above many thousand others SECT XXX Of the Improvement of all Means Gifts and Abilities inward and outward bestowed upon us LEt every one labour to improve all inward Gifts Means and Abilities bestowed upon them 1. Whosoever hath a larger Understanding and a more searching Head than others God requires the more of such an one his Brains should not be busied in hatching crafty and mischievous Plots against God and his Service against the Church of God or against his Neighbour God did not allow that great Politician Achitophel to use that wit he had given him to invent nor his Tongue which was an as Oracle to deliver a pestilent Counsel against his Anointed a Man after God's own Heart not to teach the Son how to kill his Father This is the height of Satan's wickedness that whereas the Lord made him a glorious Angel of Light and endued him with an admirable understanding and knowledg he on the other side abuseth it most wickedly to the Dishonour of God his Maker to oppose his Glory to ensnare his Servants and weaken his Kingdom Some Men have notable Heads and great Apprehensions but they fill them meerly with Earth the World possesseth them altogether they are wholly busied in laying plots for Gain or in compassing and grasping more of the World than they can well rule when they have it as if God had given them more Wit than others that they may be greater Drudges and Slaves to Mammon than others Some again do abuse their Wits in frothy Jesting and Scoffing at others in wanton and licentious Rhimes and Poems A witty Poem of one Licentius a young Noble Man coming into the hands of St. August Epist 39. ad Licen Augustine whose Scholar he had sometime been the said Father perceiving he had wickedly abused his Wit therein writes to him in this manner I have read this Poem of thine and I know not with what Verses to lament and mourn over it because I see a pregnant Wit in every Line but such an one as I cannot dedicate unto God Then he exhorteth him Da te Domino meo c. Give thy self unto my Lord who hath given thee this excellent Wit If thou hadst found a Golden Cup wouldst thou not have given it to some publique use God hath given thee a Golden Wit thy Vnderstanding is a Golden Cup and wilt thou let thy Lusts drink out of it Or wilt thou drink thy self to the Devil in it Know thou that Satan seeks to make thy Wit an ornament to him and thy Parts the credit of his Court and Cause The best Wits are fittest for the best and highest Employments It is pity that Men of excellent understandings should be set to dig in the mines of base Employments They should use them in searching the Scriptures and in gathering Knowledg out of the Word of God who doth not require of the unreasonable Creature that it should know his Will in his Word but of Man to whom he hath given a more excellent Spirit But this is to be lamented that Men that naturally have notable Understandings quick Wits and solid Judgments are very blind and shallow in the knowledg of God's Word How will these stand before the Lord at the last Day when he shall say unto them I gave thee a great Understanding but thou knewest any thing rather than me whom thou shouldst have laboured to know above all things How hast thou busied thy Wits Didst thou not think me worth thy knowledg and acquaintance Thou knewest the way to thrive and get Wealth to please and get the good will of Men but didst not care to know the way to please Me to find out the way which I had ordained for thee to walk in Thou knewest how to speak unto Men but didst not care how to call upon my Name Then wilt thou cry out Oh! that I had had a saving knowledg of God and his Will although all that had known Me had derided me for a Fool and contemned me for want of Worldly Wisdom Oh that I had known Jesus Christ and him Crucified though I had known nothing else Oh that I had throughly and spiritually known the Scriptures which would have made me wise unto Salvation though I had not known my right Hand from my left Wo is me that I busied my Head about Trifles and cared not to know the Way of Life and everlasting Peace Alas all my Wit my Craft my Policy now faileth me it will not serve to help me with one excuse whereby to shift off the Wrath and Justice of God it doth me no good now that I am to appear before my Judg. Labour then for such knowledg as may tend some way or other to your furtherance in Godliness and use your Understandings also to bring things about as well as ye can for the promoting of God's Glory For as the Lord doth by his infinite Wisdom defeat and bring to nought the crafty malicious plots of Satan so also he would have his Children to whom he hath given better Understandings and more Wisdom than to others to oppose their Wits against the Craft of wicked Men and use their best skill to uphold Religion and to overthrow the strong-holds of Satan Thus was Hushai among all David's followers chosen out to match Achitophel and to be a means to defeat his crafty Counsel and turn it into Foolishness And as for those that have not so good Natural Understandings as these yet according to their measure they must use their Talent for which they are accountable to the Lord Even weak natural Parts may be excellently perfected and bettered by Grace and raised to an higher degree than could be expected therefore none must give over exercising their Gifts although they cannot match some that are more excellent II. In the second place as to the Memory some Men have a great Gift this way They can remember things even
then cannot a Man forget God Who lives under a continual sence of the want of God his Soul is still breathing and panting after God Love causeth an emission of the Thoughts it will not suffer him to dwell at home but to be where it is best of all to be There 's a Necessity a Man should mind what he most affecteth and a Man that loveth God cannot live in a Course of Forgetfulness of God either as an holy Man noteth Want brings him or Love constrains him or Christ draws him and Christ will not be long from his if their Hearts come not up to him he will come into them and if he be there all is taken up with attending upon him SECT II. A Soliloquy at Waking HOw pretious are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the Sum of them c. When I awake I am still with thee Psal 139.17 18. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my Flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no Water is To see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Because thy Loving-kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy Name My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips when I remember thee upon my Bed and meditate on thee in the Night-watches Because thou hast been my Help therefore in the shadow of thy Wings will I rejoice My Soul followeth hard after thee thy right hand upholdeth me Psal 63.1 to 9. O God my Heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my Glory Awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early or in the Morning I will be up first and raise the Morning out of its Bed that I may come to the Celebration of thy Praises Psal 108.1 2. My Soul waiteth for thee O Lord more than they that watch for the Morning I say more than they that watch for the Morning Psal 130 6. He waited for the Lord more than they that watch for the Morning either as one Expositor saith more than they who in the Sanctuary of the Lord heedfully observ'd the Morning watch that they might offer the Morning Sacrifice in due season or more than they that are appointed to keep watch all Night do watch and long for the Morning as another Expositor hath it SECT III. Directions how to begin the Day GIve GOD your first waking Thoughts Suffer no Wordly Thought to enter till God first come in The First-fruits of the Mouth and of the Heart are to be offered unto God Primitiae oris cordis Deo offerendae Ambros in Psal 119. saith St. Ambrose So all evil and vain thoughts either will not dare to intrude or shall more easily be kept out The Mind of Man is never idle it will be always active either about God or the World Christ or Vanity Good or Evil. It is always busied in thinking devising pondering on somewhat or other Therefore it is necessary that first of all in the Morning we set our Minds to the Meditation of Divine and Heavenly Objects How will the Devil busy himself in injecting Multitudes of other thoughts into your Minds to divert your Minds from the sweet Meditation of God if you give not God your waking thoughts Multitudes of thoughts will run into your Minds like People running to a Bull-baiting or to see some strange Sight but you must watch against them and drive them away as Ahraham did the Fowls from his Sacrifice 2. Lift up your Hearts to God in a reverent manner and give him thanks for the rest of the Night past that his Compassions have not failed you but are renued every Morning that even in the Night you have received an apparent Evidence of his Love and whereas for your Sins committed the day before God might even in the dead of Sleep have taken your Souls from you and so have suddenly brought you to your account bless him that it hath been his good pleasure yet to spare you 3. If God's Glory be dear unto you you will or ought to begin every Day in this manner before you do any thing by offering to God's Glory what ye are about to do setting before him premeditately the Actions of the ensuing Day in this or the like manner My God whatsoever I shall this day speak or do yea whatsoever I shall think I offer wholly to thee these Prayers these Meditations these Alms these Devotions this Fasting these Works these Businesses these Actions these my Affairs I dedicate and consecrate unto thee nor desire I any thing else than what I shall perform this day may turn to thine Honour How sweet is it in the beginning of the day before a Man takes any new Matter in hand to lift up his Heart to God and to say thus within himself Lord I will undertake this or that Action by thy help and for thee this day for thee will I labour I will think this for thee for thee now will I hold my peace and now I will speak for thy Honour and Glory I will cast my self on thee for the following Day Use your selves constantly to this Course that your Consciences may check you when you neglect it Such a constant Course will keep off divers Temptations that may otherwise surprize you and engage your Hearts to God for all the day following SECT IV. At the Dawning of the Day and Rising of the Day-Star MEditate how the Gospel is tanquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Day-Star and the Work of the Spirit enlightning the Mind is as the dawning of the Day or rising of the Day-star in the Heart of a Christian So St. Peter commends those to whom he writeth for making use of the Old Testament of the Truth whereof they were assured in the mean time 2 Pet. 1.19 until by a further Work of the Spirit of Illumination their Hearts and Minds are more effectually instructed and more strongly assured of the Truth of the Gospel of Christ The Old Testament is as a Torch-light in a dark Room the New Testament revealed by the Spirit is as the Dawning of the Day or Rising of the Day-Star in comparison of that Light which shall appear at Christ's second Coming which shall be as the bright Rising of the Sun of Righteousness Consider that as the Dawning of the Day is in respect of the Night so is a Soul enlightned with the saving Knowledg of the Gospel to one in his natural Blindness And First If we compare such a Soul to those poor Creatures that want the outward Means of Knowledg it is manifest for these have no Light offered them whereby to come to know God in a saving way therefore in respect of this Knowledg there is a meer Night of Ignorance among them The