Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	word_n	work_n	write_v	1,189	4	5.3922	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66558	The vanity of mans present state proved and applyed in a sermon on Psalm 39.5. With divers sermons of the saints communion with God, and safety under his protection, in order to their future glory, on Psalm 73. 23, 24, 25, 26. By the late able and faithful minister of the Word John Wilson	Wilson, John, minister of the Word.; Golborne, J.	1676 (1676)	Wing W2905; ESTC R218560	137,734	239

faces and dolefull complaints attend the sons of men They spend their daies in sorrow and after go to the grave 2. Sometimes their souls fail them There lies their chief strength yet Psal. 143. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My spirit faileth the same word with that in the Text. As their bodies have their infirmities so their souls have theirs by vertue whereof they are sometimes brought very low Now their souls fail them three waies 1. By sorrow Sometimes they are so affected with their afflictions that they are even overwhelmed with sorrow Psal. 40. 12. Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of mine head therefore mine heart faileth me Or my heart hath left and forsaken me that prae dolore as Uatablus notes so Cant. 5. 6. My soul failed when he spake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anima mea Egressa est My soul went out of me She fell into a sad delquium or fainting fit and what is the reason Why it was her sorrow upon the account of her former security As if she had said Oh how have I played the beast What noble importunate constant love have I neglected and abused Oh how shall I ever look my Lord in the face or restore my self into his favour 2. By fear They see there are dangers before them and therewith they are so aff●cted that their souls fail within them Thus as one of Jacobs sons opens his sack he finds his money in the mouth of the sack tells his brethren and their hearts failed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their heart went out of them and they were afraid They knew not what this might work what might be the issue of things and fearing the worst their hearts over-ran them This effect of fear is expressed by the melting of the heart thus the hearts of the Canaanites melted with fear Josh. 5. 1. Your terror saith Rahab to the spies Josh. 2. 9. 10. is fallen upon us and all the inhabitants of the Land faint because of you vers 11. Our hearts did melt neither did there remain any more courage in any man in many other places Isa 13. 7. Nahum 2. 10. Ezek. 21. 7. Whether it be by grief as Psal. 119. 28. And so the heart melts in tears or fear which as it were causeth colliquation or melting 3. By distrust judging of the issue of things by causes they sometimes despair of deliverance and give up themselves for gone so 1 Sam. 22. 1. David said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul His heart sinks through distrust and he thinks to take an unwarrantable course for his security Notwithstanding his brave and heroick mind at other times and upon other occasions which made him to attempt difficulties slight discouragements notwithstanding the experience of Gods goodness and the promises God had made him of the Kingdom yet his heart failing and his spirit being sunk down into a fit of despondency he thus saith in his heart and resolves on a course to the great offence of his friends triumph of his enemies and dishonour of true religion 3. Why God suffers it to be thus with people that their bodies and souls should fail 1. That he may shew them their frailty and weakness teach them humility and make them base and vile in their own eyes When a man finds both body and soul shrinking him and failing him he is ready to cry out Lord what a poor Creature am I What am I that I should glory in my self or behold my self with any complacency or delight When Jobs body and soul had failed him what opinion had he of himself or how did he stand affected towards himself Did he admire himself or was he inamoured of himself No Job 42. 6. Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes 2. That he may thereby excite them to look up to him and exercise dependance on him As long as we find a sufficiency in our selves we seldom have any great regard to God but when we see our selves unable to provide for our own welfare then we begin to look up to him And for this cause 1 Cor. 1. 9. He sends thorns into our beds that he should have little ease there he brings afflictions that threatens death that we may look up We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raised the dead When as to natural helps and hopes they are lost that they may look up and throw the arms of faith about him he deprives us of all stayes and refuges that we may exercise dependance on him and stay our selves upon our God 3. That he may thereby provoke us to look after a state wherein we may be free from these Deliquiums or failings both of body and soul which here we are liable to When a man meets with inconveniencies in his journey he begins to wish himself at home So when a good man is exercised with decay in his sences strength health on the one hand and with sorrow fear distrust on the other then he begins to grow weary of the world he thinks of God and heaven with great longing to be with God to be in heaven Then he cries out Oh what should I do here Where shall I have relief Oh that I were with my God! So Job 14. 13. desires that God would hide him in the grave that he would keep him secret until his wrath was past Not that he desired the grave it self or thought it pleasant to lye in putrefaction and rottenness but as an occasion of being conveied into a better state and place Use. Is it so that both body and soul of good men do fail them in affliction then it is useful by way of Information to shew us what a poor vain thing man is How unable is he to stand before his Makers displeasure In his prosperity how doth he vaunt himself How goodly is he in his own eyes and what confidence doth he put in his own abilities But when his maker takes him in hand what a trivial thing is he Job 4. 19. He is crushed before the moth that is sooner then a moth is crushed betwixt a mans fingers he is ground to powder if God lay his hand upon him or he is such a trivial thing that he is not able to stand in the presence of such a despicable creature as the moth this contemptible creature prevails upon him and conquers him 2. Use of Exhortation 1. Let us beware what stress we lay either upon body or soul. Alas what are they that we should confide in them If God do but lay his finger on them they droop and languish What is the bravest spirit in the world when God comes and takes him by the arm and leads him away to judgment What work did two or three words writ upon the wall

his doubts and scruples resolved 3. There is the counsel of his Spirit whom he sends to them to acquaint them with the meaning of his word and to help them to accommodate it and apply it to their present case and condition The word through our weakness not being sufficient he sends his Spirit in to our assistance not to make any new revelations to us or to acquaint us with any more than the word contains but to enlighten our understandings that we may see the meaning of it and bow our wills to a compliance with it God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book that shall add to these things Rev. 22. 18. Joh. 16. 13. He shall guide you into all truth The Holy Ghost doth guide us into all those necessary truths contained in the word of God 4. There is the Counsel of his Providences God doth many times discover his will to his servants in them thereby declaring what he likes and what he dislikes what he would have them to do and what to decline Psalm 32. 8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go I will guide thee with mine eye The Master when he is in Company sometimes directs his servant by his eye what to do and so God There is an eye in his Providence he doth sometimes look upon his people when backsliden as Christ did upon Peter when he had deny'd him which makes them remember what they have done and weep bitterly The eye of this Providence saith a gracious soul is upon me I must do this and the other Duty Sometimes Gods Providences carry in them so much light and evidence and such plain intimations of his mind and will that there is no room for contradiction or doubting as Gen. 24. 50. The Providence mentioned by and afforded to Abrahams servant was so pat and evident that Laban and Bethuel answered The thing proceedeth from the Lord. We cannot speak unto thee bad or good that is either one thing or other against it It is as Munster and Fagius note a Synecdoche expressing both parts but intending only one Good they could not speak against it evil they would not The like Proverbial speech we have Gen. 31. 24. God chargeth Laban as he was pursuing Jacob that he should not speak to Jacob neither good nor bad by no means direct or indirect to do him violence by flatteries or threats to detain him Why doth God doth thus guide his people by his Counsel Réason 1. Is taken from their necessity of it And that proceeds partly from the difficulties attending our present condition partly from our inability to manage them and get through them As for the difficulties attending us they are many and great Psal. 34. 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of them all Acts 14. 22. That we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God And then for the due management and getting through them we are not of our selves able to do it Were we furnished with natural light and wisdom sufficient to direct us upon all occasions and help us through all our troubles the Counsel of God might be spared But alas still our abilities are so weak natural or acquired and we are surrounded with temptations to lead us as ignes fatui do many out of ●he way and into danger if not destruction And have such deceitful hearts that entertain the enemy many times pollute and profane Gods Ordinances we have need of Gods deliverance and guidance The best of Gods servants are not without their sins Deut. 32. 28. We are void of Counsel neither is there understanding in us How ignorant blind and dull were Israel an holy people in the matters of Religion How were their neighbours ever and anon drawing them to Idolatry or rather they like wantons gadding abroad to learn the fashions of the heathenish abominations When Moses their guide was in the Mount how do they run mad upon their Idolatry How much more should we lye open to all wickedness had we not God for our guide God sees our frailty and weakness and therefore complies with our necessities and conveys his guidance to us 2. From their prayers to him for his guidance and Counsel being sensible both of their difficulties they must encounter and inabilities to overcome them and get through them of themselves they betake themselves to him and crave his help Psal. 31. 3. Thou art my rock and my fortress therefore for thy names sake lead me and guide me David was wiser than his teachers had made great progress in Religion yet with what argument and importunitie With what sense and affection begs he the guidance of Gods spirit For thy name sake lead me as if he had said such are my straits and infirmities that except thou guide me by thy Counsel I shall perish I shall be lost and undone What influence their earnest and believing prayers have on God appears from Gen. 32. 26. saith the Angel to Jacob Let me go Jacob would not let him go unless he blessed him Thus as a Prince he hath power with God and prevails for a blessing So Moses wrestles with God Exod. 32. 10. till God says Let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them God speaks as one that is held back from beating his child Oh the mighty power that poor praying believing Jacobs and Moseses have with God to hold as it were his hand striking not that there is any impotency in God but to give a greater lustre to his Ordinance 3. From the mercy and goodness of his own nature which puts him upon helping his people in their Distress When the father sees his child faln into distress he runs and helps So God when his servants are perplexed and fallen into doubts he resolves them by his Counsel when they are dangerouslly wandring amongst pits and snares of temptation he runs in to their preservation or rescue and leads them in a safe way He will not stand over them and see them perish but when they are sinking he puts forth his hand as Christ to Peter and saves them Whence doth this proceed From his mercy to them that will pull them out of danger as the Angels did Lot his wife and daughters taking them by the hand So Isa. 49. 10. Hunger or thirst heat or Sun shall not hurt them For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them Which is mentioned not only as a description of his nature but likewise as the reason wherefore he would do it He hath mercy on them therefore he will do it upon the account of that mercy that is in his own bosom 4. From his promise whereby he hath engaged himself as they stand in need to administer advice to them to furnish them with matter of hope and confidence Psal. 32.

greatest straits and perplexities and though all may say these things make against them yet all are for their benefit who are the called according to his purpose 3. He is a faithful guide one that will not betray or ensnare them his guidance is ever such as tends to their good As he knows which is the best way so he leads them therein Psal. 25. 10. His paths are truth He may deal severely with his servants but he cannot he will not deal falsly Isa. 54. 10. The mountains shall depart the hills shall be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Convenant of my peace be removed Sooner shall heaven and earth cease than he will prove unfaithfull his people have his Word his Oath his Being and Nature in security for their faith and confident dependance on him This promise is worth mountains of Gold How great a matter is it to have a faithful a skilful guide that we may put confidence in one that will not fail his people that is faithful in his promise and in his proceedings Prov. 13. 17. A faithful Embassadour is health 4. He is his peoples only guide so far is he above all other guides that there is none fit to bear that name with him Deut. 32. 12. The Lord alone did lead him that is the children of Israel There was indeed the Ministry of Moses but that was such a subservient inconsiderable thing that Moses himself declines the mention of it ascribing the conduct of Israel to God only And hence it is that his servants depend only on him Psal. 65. 2. Oh thou that hearest prayers and workest deliverance And ascribe their welfare only to him Psal. 4. 8. Thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety 5. He is a continual guide He is ready upon all occasions to conduct and lead them He do's it not for a day or two but during their whole lives Psal. 48. 14. This God is our God for ever he will be our guide even unto death Isa. 58. 11. And the Lord shall guide thee continually He never ceases guiding them till he have brought them through all danger till he hath received them up to glory 6. God is an effectual guide to his servants and that in two respects 1. He makes them close with his guidance when he sees them goe astray he constrains them to close with his counsel and to be obsequious to his conduct When he sees them wandring he calls to them saying Isa. 30. 21. This is the way walk in it When they are going astray turning to the right hand or to the left either in prosperity or adversity God takes them as it were by the hand and makes them to go along with him He delivers to them his advice and causes them to close with it Jer. 18. 2. Go down to the potters house and there I will cause thee to hear my words Ezek. 32. He caused me to eat the roll What a Magnetism was there in the words of Christ when he spoke to Simon and Andrew what an attractive and drawing power had they Mark 1. 18. For they straitway forsook their nets and followed him It was a strange thing that the words of a stranger and one that had no outward splendor nor authority and power no glory and lustre should so prevail upon men that were busie upon their imployments to throw all away and immediately follow him There went power from Christ to engage them secretly to yield to his commands 2. He is an effectual guide because he blesses his guidance to them insomuch that they attain the end which they propose to themselves in following him Mat. 19. 28 29. You that have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Those that follow him shall not do it for nought they shall not be losers though they leave father mother wife children lands for his names sake but shall receive an hundred fold and inherit everlasting life 2. What kind of counsel God guides his people with and there is a fourfold counsel that he guides them with 1. There is the counsel of his purpose The Holy Ghost useth to call the purpose of God his counsel Psal. 33. 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever The thoughts of his heart to all generations This is the purpose and councell that shall stand Prov. 19. 21. When the devices in mens hearts and their subtil and secret thoughts shall be cut off God can bring about his purpose that all things shall fall out according to the counsel of his will Let mountains lie in the way God can remove them if rocks God can divide them if waters he can dry them up if fire God can quench it God doth guide his people by his counsel inasmuch as he fulfils it upon them and conforms their condition to it As if a father take up such purposes concerning the government of his children and then manage all things towards them in a way agreeable thereunto he may be said to govern them by those purposes so it is in this case God doth rule and governe guide and direct his people according to his purpose and counsel set down with himself that nothing shall happen to them but what he hath designed and for very good purposes to them So Rom. 9. 11. That the purpose of God according to election may stand Jacob have I loved Rom. 11. 7. The Election hath obtained mercy in Christ. So strict herein is God that in all his proceedings with his children he still keeps close unto his purpose not departing so much as an hairs breadth therefrom So that we see though his purposes be no rule to us it is to him the perfection of his nature requiring that what he purposes he should perform 2. There is the counsel of his word that the Holy Ghost stiles his counsel Luke 7. 30. But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves This is the revelation of his counsel and eternal purpose and contains omne quod a nobis vult fieri multum quod ipse vult facere All that he would have us do and that much he himself will do but not all for it is enough and abundantly sufficient that God hath revealed what is our duty and what we should do This is that fixed and standing rule God hath delivered to us to walk by Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path It is the Lanthorn that God hath hanged out of heaven to guide us thither Hereby he directs us what to do in order to our comfort here and happiness hereafter this word we are to have recourseto upon all occasions We must have an eye to the Law and to the Testimony Asaph went to the Temple heard the word of God then his questions were dispelled