Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	work_n	worship_n	wrought_v	86	3	7.6055	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09977	Life eternall or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.	1631 (1631)	STC 20231; ESTC S115069	220,964	434

in preaching the Gospell of Iesus Christ I doe it in my spirit that is I doe it not for by-ends for feare of men or the like but I doe it in my spirit that is plainly heartily and sincerely So that to worship GOD in spirit is to have a plainnesse and sincerity in our worshipping him that is to doe it heartily what we doe to him in our praying and worshipping him when it is not formally and customarily done but our spirit seconds it within this it is to worship him in spirit So that the scope of our exhortation is that you would worship GOD chiefly in your spirits As it is said of singing Psalmes Col. 3.16 Admonish one another in Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And the ground of it is because GOD is a spirit and therefore he beholdes at any such time when you come before him the inward behaviour of your spirits that is he observes when you come to preach or pray what squint-eyed ends what vaine glory what respect to men you have Yea he observes how farre naturall conscience leads you so that you do it as a task out of custome c. he observes what worldly-mindednes and carnall affections creep into the soule at that time that makes you either to post off the duty or else to doe it in a customary manner All this doth he behold he lookes to the inward carriage of the spirit and therefore doe you looke chiefly to the inward carriage to the inward frame of your minde Quest. But what is that more particularly Answ. I will shew it to you in these three things 1. See that thy spirit be as neare him as thy lippes are Isay 29.13 Hee complaines of a sort of people that draw nigh unto God with their mouth and with their lips doe honour him but have removed their heart farre from him and their feare towards him is taught by the precepts of men So Ier. 12.2 Thou oh Lord art neare in their mouth and farre from their reines Now if thou wouldest worship him in spirit see that thy spirit be as neare him as thy words are As for example in prayer thou confessest thy sinnes and professest that thou doest hate them thou prayest for mortification and grace for weanednes from the world herein thy words and Gods will doe agree they are consonant and when yet it may be the inward inclination of thy heart is farre enough off from this expression therefore bring thy spirit neare to God as thy lippes are and then thou worshippest him in spirit To shew you more plainly what this farrenesse off of the spirit is take a covetous man and put him upon the racke of any exigent where hee must part with all to save his life he will say as much as need to be in this case but his heart is set as close to his wealth as ever it was before so that he is loath to part with any thing And take a thiefe that comes before the Iudge hee confesseth his fault and begges pardon and saith that he will doe so no more but yet his heart sits as neere to his theft he is as farre from honesty as ever he was before So take a man when he comes into some exigent for that usually is the time as at the receiving of the Sacrament or at his day of death he comes and professeth to the Lord that hee will follow no more his wicked courses but he will become a new man here his words draw neare but looke to the bent and inclination of his heart to the radicall constitution of it and that is farre from holinesse there hee sits as close to his sinne as hee did before Therefore if thou wouldest worship God in spirit take care that thy spirit draw neare to him upon all such occasions as thy words doe A man in his ordinary course it may be prayes and his prayers are good but how farre his heart is from it that his life shewes It is a strange thing that at the Sacrament men come and make confession of their sins and yet their spirits are far from it and that their practise shewes Consider this you are the men that the Prophet doth speake too you draw nigh to GOD with your lips but your heart is farre from him And this is the first particuler When you worship God with all the might and strength and indevour of the minde and all the faculties of it this is to worship God in spirit 2 Sam. 6.14 It is said of David that hee danced before the Lord with all his might it was a worship of God a spirituall worship of God wherein David by his outward act of dancing did expresse his exultation and reioycing in the Lord. Now the text saith that he did this with all his might with all the might of his spirit for so you must understand it It is a Metaphore taken from the body when a man useth all his strength and might to doe any thing he vnites all the forces of his body to it so a man worshippeth God in spirit when all the faculties of the soule are concentred and united together in the performance of such a dutie And therefore it is called a wrastling with the Lord as Iacob did and it is called a striving with God as Paul saith that you strive together with me in prayer Rom. 15.30 that is when the soule and the minde are joyned all together when hee bends the whole soule to the worke this is to worship God in spirit Such an expression you haue Act. 20. where Paul went bound in the spirit to Ierusalem that is his spirit did not hang loose but it was girt up in a resolution to goe through with the worke whatsoever came of it his spirit was bound Now when thy spirit hangs loose upon the duty halfe on and halfe off when a man cares not whether hee doth it or no this is not to worship God with the spirit but when thy minde is girt up and thou dost it with all the intention of thy soule then thou dost it heartily as it is Col. 3.22 Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh not with eye-service as men pleasers but in singlenesse of heart fearing GOD where eye-service and heartily are opposed Eye-service is when a man doth it in the outward shew and appearance onely and what is the other to doe a thing heartily That is when a mans strength and his soule doth goe with the duty and the contrary to this is the loosenesse of the minde and the wandring of it about other things when the body and the words are well imployed but the minde doth not goe with them this is not to worship God in spirit when the spirit sits thus loose to God And this is the second thing wherein this worshipping of God in spirit doth consist The Third which

you know many yeares after for it was in the beginning of his reigne and yet because the will of GOD was revealed clearely to him he was bid by a cleare command Goe and kill all the Amalekites and leave not any of them alive Saul now had a heart contemning GOD in this commandement therefore also GOD came to a resolution and decree to cast him off though Saul lived many yeares after yet you could see no change in him there was no alteration in his outward condition But saith he and it is most fearefull God doth not repent it is not with him as it is with man for he may be intreated and may repent but the Lord is not as man that he should repent Consider this you that have cleare commandements from GOD you that have beene tolde that you ought to be conscionable in your calling that you ought to pray in your families if you will be still breaking the Lords will and live idly in your calling and rebelliously sinne against GOD living as if there were no GOD in the world take heede lest the Lord reject you and when hee hath done it consider that he is an unchangeable God and that all his decrees are immutable Consider that place Hee swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest It was not long after the children of Israel came out of Egypt yet ten times they provoked him before hee declared this resolution and many of them lived forty yeares after but because many of them did see clearely that it was the will of GOD they did see his miracles and his workes that hee had done amongst them and yet because they still rebelled he swore in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest It is a fearefull case when GOD shall doe this as he doth it Even all you that heare me this day there is a time I am perswaded when the Lord pronounceth such a decree upon such a man saying I have rejected him yet no man sees it no not he himselfe but he comes to Church and heares the word from day to day But yet remember that GOD is unchangeable for you see the Iewes in Ieremies time they lived under Ieremies Ministery almost twenty yeares but yet at the last hee rejected them and hee would not be intreated though Ieremy and the people did pray to him There are three places for it Ier. 7.16 Therefore pray not thou for this people neither lift thou up cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not heare thee But what if the Iewes were moved with the calamity when it came should cry and be importunate with the Lord would not their teares move him No saith he Ierem. 11.14 Therefore pray not thou for this people neither lift up a cry or prayer for them for I will not heare them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble But what if they fast and pray No if they doo that I will not heare them Ier. 14.11 12. Then GOD said unto me pray not for this people for their good when they fast I will not heare their cry when they offer burnt offering and an oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence When the day of death comes when the time of sickenesse and extremitie comes then you will cry and cry earnestly but God shall say to you then the time was when I cryed to you by the Ministers and you would not heare nay you slighted and mocked them and you would not heare them I will also mocke laugh at your destruction Prov 1.26 Doe not thinke this is a case that seldome comes it is done every day continually upon some There is a double time a time of preparing and trying before this unchangeable decree come forth Zeph. 2.1 2. Gather your selves together yea gather together O nation not desired before the decree come forth before the day passe as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you before the day of the Lords anger come upon you And there is a time when the decree is past and when this is not past there is a doore of hope opened but when the decree is come forth then you are past hope Object But how shall I doe to know this Answ. Beloved never an Angel nor I nor any creature can tell you you see that he tooke Saul at the beginning of the kingdome when hee was young and strong hee tooke the Iewes at the beginning of Ieremies preaching onely the use that you are to make of it is this Take heede of neglecting God or good admonitions take heede of contemning the word from day to day and saying that I will repent hereafter for the Lord perhaps will not give thee a heart to repent he will not heare you as he said before though you cry never so much to him as in time of extremity you are likest to doe Vse 2 The second use I take out of Rom. 11.28 29. As concerning the Gospell they are enemies for your sake but as touching the election they are beloved for the Fathers sake For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance The meaning of it is this saith the Lord I have cast away the Iewes and they are now enemies for the Gospels sake that is that the Gospell might come sooner to you they have rejected it that upon their refusall it might come to you Gentiles they are enemies and cast off yet they are beloved for their fathers sake that is in regard of the promise that I made to their father Abraham Isaac and Iacob and in regard of that covenant I will not alter not saith he to all the Iewes but those whom I have elected so farre as my covenant reacheth with whom I have made it Do not thinke that there is any change of the Lord toward them For the gifts and calling of the Lord that is the calling of them by the worke of the Spirit and the gifts of saving grace that he hath bestowed upon the elect Iewes they are without all repentance there is no change in them Then if ever thou art in covenant with God and hast this seale in thy soule that there is a change wrought in thee by the covenant then thy election is sure and be sure God will never alter it for he is unchangeable This thou must consider that thou maist have strong consolation Beloved our consolation if it be upon any thing but upon GOD that is unchangeable it is weake and twenty things may batter it and overthrow it but when it is grounded upon the immutability of his councell it is called in Heb. 6.18 strong consolation so that all the Divells in hell all temptations of the world and all the objections that our owne hearts can make cannot batter it for it is built upon the lowest foundation even upon the

river you will say it hath need though it be full it hath need of the fountaine to maintaine it so may I say of the creatures though they be full of perfection in their kinde yet they have need of that fountaine from whence their perfection commeth which if it be stopt they will come to nothing Thus God is infinitely perfect and immense having no limits For all limits are either from the matter or from the forme the forme is limited because it wants matter to carry it to a further extent and the matter is limited because it is bounded with such a forme but in God there is neither matter nor forme as there is nothing without him so there is nothing within him to bound that largenesse of being which he hath But now to apply this Vse 1 If God be thus full of being as the sea is full of water and a thousand times fuller then all that you can doe reacheth not to him Psal. 16.4 It extends not to him the sinnes that you commit hurt him not all the righteousnesse you performe doth not pleasure or benefit him and if it be so then consider what little cause you have to murmure against him at any time upon any occasion For all discontentment among the creatures comes from the hence that their expectation is not satisfied and what is the reason why it is not satisfied but because they thinke that there is some reason why they should bee respected Therefore examine your owne hearts whether there be not a secret popery in your hearts that you think that you can do somthing that reacheth to God that he should respect you for but if God be thus ful thou canst doe nothing that can reach to him But you shall see how prone men are to this are we not ready to say Why am I not in so great a place as another Why have not I more gifts Why have I not greater imployments Why have I such imperfections Why am I thus subject to diseases and crosses Whence comes this Because we expect something because we thinke we are not well dealt with and why doe we thinke so because men thinke that there is something in them why they should be lookt after they thinke that they have carried themselves so that they thinke there is something in justice due to them But if thou canst say with David and Iob and Christ when he saith to his disciples When you have done all that you can say that you are unprofitable servants What if God will not have David to build a Temple but his sonne must doe it Or Moses to lead the children of Israel into the Land of Canaan but Ioshua must have the glory of it They must be content yet they did more for God than ever thou canst doe therefore thou must labour to be content also The creature doth but take of him whatsoever it hath and therefore it can give nothing to him and shall the River bee beholding to him that drinkes of it because hee comes and quencheth his thirst Or shall the Sunne be beholding to him that hath the use of his light When thou hast done all that thou canst say thou art an unprofitable servant thou canst doe nothing that reacheth to God therefore labour to be vile and low in thine owne eyes and willing to be disposed of as it pleaseth him Againe if this be so then consider the freenesse of his grace in all the goodnesse which hee bestowes for to have done any thing for a man before-hand doth lessen the benefit bestowed Now consider that thou hast done nothing to the Lord therefore labour to magnifie the Lord that hath bestowed it upon thee For this cause the Lord will have justification by faith and not by workes that he might be magnified And so he will have sanctification not by the power of the free-will but by the infused grace of his Spirit that no flesh might boast It is the Lord that is full it is he that gives it to thee thou canst doe nothing to him Rom. 11.35 36. Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompenced him againe for of him and through him and to him are all things c. As if he should say the Lord out of his free grace had shewed mercy to the Iewes for of them he there speakes they were wet like Gideons fleece when all the world was drie Afterwards it pleased him to bedew the Gentiles when the Israelites were dry well he hath done this sayes Paul and what hast thou to say to him Did he any wrong Is he not free May not he doe what he will This is one use Another is that you should be content with his disposing he owes nothing to any for of him and through him and for him are all things to him be glory for ever Amen Vse 3 If hee be thus full that the creature doth nothing to promerit at his hand then thou mayest goe to God though thou hast no worth in thee though thou hast done little service to God yet goe to him and say Lord I have done nothing if I had done much yet it would not reach to thee thou art full of perfection and blessed for ever therefore a man may goe to him with great faith and aske great things of him though he be little worth and hath done little service for him For if thou didst God any good thou mightest goe to him and say I have done this and that for thee therefore recompence me But seeing it is not so therefore labour to goe to God in faith and when thou goest thinke with thy selfe why may I not have it aswell as another Doe not say I am not so holy and I cannot doe as Paul and Moses their workes did nothing to him Thinke with thy selfe that when he first chooseth a man he doth it freely and thinkest thou that he is not the same afterwards Therefore now thou mayest go to him on this ground with boldnesse because whatsoever thou doest it is nothing to him Vse 4 Moreover if the Lord be thus full in himselfe then he hath need of nothing He therefore saith to all the men in the world and to all things he saith to Princes I have no need of you to rich men I have no need of you or of your wealth he saith to Schollers that have excellent parts I have no need of you therefore say not I am undone or the Churches are undone because Princes are not for you because men helpe you not for God can helpe them alone he doth not need Princes When there was none saith the LORD I stirred up my selfe like a mightie Giant hee needs no helpe he is most perfect full of being able to doe whatsoever he pleaseth Vse 5 Againe consider with thy selfe that if thousand thousands perish it is nothing to him hee cares no more for the destruction of the whole world than thou

Christ Ioh 4.34 Iesus saith unto them my meate is to doe the will of my Father and to finish his worke that is I will be content to neglect my body to doe that which is the worke of my spirit the worke of my Father And such is his owne advice seeke not the loaves saith he nourish not your bodies labour not for the meate that perisheth but looke that thy soule get the better in all things Object But how shall I know this whether my soule doth rule or no Answ. When the bodily appetite and inclination shall arise so high as to rule the sterne of the soule and the actions of it then the body gets rule over the soule but when these shall bee subdued and ruled and guided by the soule when they shall bee brought to that square which the spirit within shall set downe then the spirit rules over the body Object But my inclinations are strong and I cannot rule them what must I doe then Answ. Thou must doe in this case as Saint Paul did who kept under his body by violence as men use to tame horses we should keepe it downe wee must take heed of carnall lusts they will keepe the body too high as a Horse may be too lustie for his rider yet so as on the other side it must not be kept too low for the body is the instrument of the soule but onely the soule must have dominion over it it should alwayes bee subject to the principall agent as it is said of a servant that he should not be Supra negotium nor infra negotium but par negotio not above nor below but fit for his businesse so ought the body to be the soules servant Beloved consider this doe but thinke what your soules are that you should suffer them to be thus in subjection Thinke what a shame it is that these bodily affections should so overrule the spirit that is made like to God the soule that shall live for ever the soule for which Christ dyed that is better then all the world beside thinke I say with your selves what a sencelesse and unreasonable thing it is that this soule should be kept under by the body and that the body should rule over it Are not men in this kinde like to beasts subject to sensualitie that eate that they may play and play that they may eate and the soule is not considered all this while how it is a spirit that is like to God himselfe who is a spirit Alas what is the body to it It is in it as in a prison such is the body to the soule not to be regarded in comparison of it Therefore adde this to the other that the soule may still be advanced and that it suffer not bodily actions to bring it into subjection lest you be as bruite beasts subject to sensuality made to be taken and to be destroyed FINIS THE ELEVENTH SERMON EXODVS 3.13 14. And Moses said unto God Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent mee unto you and shall say unto me what is his name what shall I say unto them And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM c. Vse 2 A Second use from this point is this If God be a spirit then his dominion government and providence is chiefly exercised on the spirits of men It is true his providence is over all things that belong to us but as he is in himselfe a Spirit so he puts forth and exerciseth this power of his principally in guiding the spirits of men and in that you are chiefly to observe his providence toward you And that you shall see in Rom. 14.17 The kingdome of God that is his rule and power is not in meate and drinke for they are outward things and hee that is a spirit regards them not but it is in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost that is in the things that belong to the spirit therein is his kingdome and dominion chiefly exercised So also Psal. 33.14 15. From the place of his habitation hee looketh downe upon all the inhabitants of the earth he fashioneth their hearts alike hee considereth all their workes Marke it when God lookes downe from heaven and beholdes the children of men the chiefest thing that he doth wherein his government is exercised is in that hee fashions their hearts and spirits and therefore those eternall subjects of his that live with him for ever and spirits as the Angels and the soules of men Therefore if thou wouldest observe the will of the Lord toward thee and wouldest see wherein his providence is chiefly exercised looke upon thy spirit upon all occasions that is what bents what inclinations what hopes and desires hee hath put into thy soule If you looke upon men in the world you shall see them divers in their spirits one man lusts after riches honour and preferment another after gaming sporting and drinking now looke upon this temper of spirit as the greatest judgement of all others Againe looke upon the spirits of other men they are fashioned a contrary way to deny themselves to seeke grace and avoid sinne to be content to have God alone to doe his worke and to leave their wages to God to live a painfull life serving God and men with their sweetnesse this is a quite contrary spirit and this is the greatest blessing Therefore you shall see that when the Lord is angry with a man so that his anger is wound up to the highest pegge then he gives him over to this judgement as it is Psal. 81.12 So I gave them over to their owne hearts lust and they walked in their owne counsells that is my judgement shall be executed upon their spirits to leave them to an unjudicious minde Againe on the other side when the Lord would doe a man the greatest kindnesse then he fashions his spirit another way Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord with all thine heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live as if he should say when I minde to doe you a kindnesse then I will thus fashion your hearts aright So Ezek 36.26 A new heart also will I give unto you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh The Scripture is plentifull in this Therefore if thou wouldest observe what the LORD is to thee looke how hee fashions thy spirit if thou findest that hee leaves thee to unruly affections and lusts and leaves thee to be glued to that from which thou shouldest be divorced or that he hath left thee in bondage to the feare of men as a snare to thee there is no greater judgement in the world than this as it is the greatest mercy on the