Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	world_n	worship_n	worship_v	1,635	4	8.6836	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93740	The great, useful and blessed duty of a contentment, willingness and desire to die set forth upon true and assured grounds, in several discourses on these following scriptures. By Richard Stafford, A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Recommended as more proper and beneficial to be given at funerals than gloves or rings.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1700 (1700)	Wing S5119A; ESTC R223444	53,707	69

that perish go on blindly a●… ignorantly for twenty forty or sixty years yea throug●out all their life long in this deceit of being Worshi●…pers of God and yet not doing his will of hearing 〈◊〉 word and not obeying it nor yet doing thereafter whe●… as the Blessedness is to them that hear the word of God a●… keep it Saith David by the Spirit if I regard iniqui●… in my heart the Lord will not hear me Now iniqui●… signifies the thing that is not equal But too many outwa●… Worshippers do not only regard iniquity in their hea●… but also practice it with their hand Nevertheless li●… the Adulterous Woman Who eateth and wipeth her mou●… and saith I have done no wickedness they will not cea●…nor desist to offer up their many and customary Pray●…s unto God as aforetime and as if they had never ●…one any such thing Such may be found amongst the ●umber of those of whom it is written Not every one ●…at saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the king●…m of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which 〈◊〉 in Heaven Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord ●ave we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out ●evils And then will I profess unto them I never knew 〈◊〉 depart from me ye that work iniquity All will not be ●…ved that go to Church or Meetings and then where shall ●…e ungodly and sinner appear for of four sorts of hearers 〈◊〉 the word there is but one that bringeth forth fruit ●…to everlasting life Herein also God is glorified when ●…ey bring forth fruit but he is not glorified when they 〈◊〉 not bring forth fruit or when instead of Bringing ●…rth grapes they bring forth wild grapes ●o ye think that the Papists do glorifie God by their Mass 〈◊〉 Idolatrous Worship or by their ignorant mumbling ●…er their Beads when it is the revealed will of God that ●eople should pray with the Spirit and with the under●…nding also 1 Cor 14. 15. That whole Chapter is a●…inst praying in an unknown Tongue God is a ●…irit and they that worship him must worship him in Spi●…t and in truth This is opposite unto and shuts out all ●…eir pompous outside Worship and carnal ordinances ●…ter the institutions and Commandments of Men. For ●…eir Worship stands in divers Washings and Bowings ●…d carnal ordinances imposed on them who would wil●…gly always remain in their corruption and errour ●…d never let Reformation come among them although ●… Blessed be God many have reformed from their ●…ays Again May it be thought that the Mahometans by going ●…nstantly to their mosque and by their making a great ●…y and howling in their Prayers unto the God of Hea●…n although they are never so earnest in Prayer as they ●…em to be in tone and voice and also by their Wa●…ings before Prayer as the manner of them is where●… common reason would shew them that the inward ●…urifying and cleansing of the heart of the Worshippers is more required by God and more pleasing and acceptable in his sight then the outward washing of the●… Bodies with water And so with all their other rites an● ceremonies customs and manners do they glorifie God ●… when all the mean while they know not nor believ●… on Jesus Christ by whom there is access unto the Fathe● he being the alone mediator between God and Man And so we may run over and conceive in our min●… as to all the Religions Superstitions and ways of Wo●ship used in the World together with that manifo●… Errour and Absurdity that is joyn'd therewith Do tho●… Worshippers glorifie God It would be hard to say so●… For the Father seeketh such to worship him as worship him 〈◊〉 Spirit and in Truth And seeing that so much Errour a●… Folly Ignorance and Vanity is crept in and intermin●led with the several Worships of the World especial●… among those of the Roman-Church and that vast mult●tude of others who do not at all name the name of Chr●… it may be thought as to them that in God's Sight and 〈◊〉 to his Acceptation He that Sacrificeth a Lamb is as if ●…●ut off a Dogs neck He that offereth an Oblation as if he ●…fer'd Swines blood He that burneth Incense as if he bless●… an Idol Which last is the highest degree of provoki●… God that can be So that such Worshippers do rath●… displease than please God they do rather dishonour th●… glorifie him They make God more angry and furth●… off then bring him near or reconcile him unto the W●…shippers But to come home and nearer to our selves even 〈◊〉 us who are called Protestants of the pure Reform'd Chur●… who come yet nearer to the Pattern shew'd to us in 〈◊〉 Gospel than they aforementioned Altho' our Worship 〈◊〉 in some measure Spiritual and True Yet here agai●… a right Faith and a wrong Conversation a good Na●… but evil Doings will not save any of us Nor yet is G●… glorified by the work done or only in the outward co●…ing to the Places of Worship for if People do therein dr●…near to God with their Lips but their Hearts are far fr●… him if they bring only their Bodies to the place but the●… in their Souls do mind other Objects besides the Invisib●… ●od then as the Body without the Spirit is dead so such may be ●ore truly called carca●e Worship than Spiritual Wor●…ip for it is the Worship of a dead Body only or of a ●arcase without the Spirit Acting or being concern'd there●… Saith God Now let them put away their Whoredom ●nd the Carcases of their Kings from me and I will dwell in ●he midst of them for ever Ezek. 43. 9 Lip labour in Pray●r or Worship is properly Whordom for it takes away ●he heart from God the right beloved and places it ●n another wrong beloved and so it is a carkase of Wor●hip for the reason aforeassigned Both which God requires ●o be put away before he will dwell in the midst of us Having abundantly and at large discoursed by what kind of Worship God is not glorified it will easily ●ppear by what Worship he is indeed glorified For if ●…e is not glorified by meer outside Worship as indeed he ●s not it follows that he is glorified by such Worship as is spiritual which denotes inward Worship for if it is performed by the Spirit it must be inward because the Spirit is within and true God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him and consequently he is glorified thereby so that to Worship God in Spirit and in truth is a part of our glorifying God here on Earth Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God Pal 50. 23. Seeing that they who order their conversation aright will have the Salvation of God shewn unto them it follows hence also that

and the Devil Captive which before did lead and hold People in captivity who from their inslaving Nature are here expressed not to be only Captivating Men but they are Captivity it self in the Abstract Intimating thereby that these who are under the power of Satan For so the Scripture expresses it to turn from Darkness unto Light and from the power of Satan unto God they are in the utmost Captivity yea worse than that is of those that are bound with Chains and Fetters although these are seen but the others are to be understood and felt by such who are in the Bond of Iniquity Acts 9. 23. For Sin iniquity and lust are as a Chain or Bond which doth hold and hamper People therein that they know not yea they cannot without Christ that strengtheneth them get out and extricate themselves from it Now as Jesus doth save his People from their sins he doth in this sense Preach deliverance to the Captives and set at liberty them that are bound and Redeem them who for their Iniquities had sold themselves Isa 50. 1. Even unto the Devil and Hell the place of Damnation and eternal Punishment And having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them The Principalities and Powers here meant are the Principalities of the other World the Powers of Darkness and the Devil who is the Prince of the Power of the Air Here Jesus Christ is said to have spoiled the Principality and Power of the Devil which he hath done to such as are Christs for over such the Devil hath no Principality or Power and triumphed over them in himself so that since he hath Redeemed ransomed and preserved us from all the evil and terrible things of the future and invisible world which we immediatly enter into by Death And then we may be willing contended and desirous to dye when we are assured before hand that God hath by his Son Jesus Christ Redeemed us from all the Power of the Enemy and from all the evil things of the other World So that nothing there shall in the least hurt us much less torment and make us miserable And thus these two Expressions Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Into thine hand I commit my Spirit thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of truth do fall in and meet together near to same sense and meaning even according to the requiring and earnest desire of the reasonable Creature who would fain not be miserable hereafter The one signifies to be saved and the other to be Redeemed from the wrath to come which are one and the same thing The consequence again is certain if we are saved from the wrath to come then we shall enjoy the Blessedness come ye Blessed of my Father to come as the Scripture saith Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of fire So it may be reasoned on the other side whosoever shall not be cast into the Lake of fire shall enter into Life so that if we are saved and Redeemed from the Lake of fire we shall enter into life and everlasting happiness Now seeing that the decree of God standeth on this wise we may upon very good reasons not only say so contentedly but also really assent unto the same in our minds being contented willing and desirous from the ground of our heart that it should be so Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation into thine hand I ●ommit my Spirit thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of truth The third true and assured ground of a contentment willingness and desire to dye is when we have glorified God on the Earth and finished the work which he gave us 〈◊〉 do Even every one that is called by my name For I have created him for my Glory I have formed him yea I have made him this People have I formed for my self they shall ●hew forth my praise Isa 43. 7 21. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast Created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created Rev. 4. 11. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit John 15. 8. From all these Scriptures considered together it appears that the end and intent of God's creating People is for his own Glory and Praise and that he might have fruit from them or that they should bring forth fruit unto God For the Son of Man is as a Man ●aking a far journey who left his House and gave Authori●… to his Servants and to every Man his Work and commanded the Porter to watch Mark 13. 34. And so it may be conceived after the same similitude of things that Almighty God the great Creator who is now in Heaven the habitation of his Holiness which is afar off and many Millions of miles distance But the Earth his house or one ●art of the House of his Creation He hath left and ●ave to the Children of Men and gave Authority to his ●ervants as Rulers and Ministers have For none are so 〈◊〉 to have Authority as those who are indeed the Ser●nts of God And to every Man his work and commanded the Porter to watch so that every Man hath received his work from God for him to do and finish on this Earth And accordingly as he doth and finisheth this work here on Earth he can both surrender back his ●pirit and also give up his account with joy and not with grief which would be unprofitable for him Now what is it to glorifie God here on Earth I an●wer in General It is to observe to do the statutes and ●udgements of the Lord God of our Fathers in the Land ●hich he giveth us to possess it all the days we live upon Earth Deut. 12. 1. To fear God and keep his Commandments is to be our constant business and work all our life long but there being div●rsuies of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of Administrations but it is the same God that worketh all in all But the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withall 1 Cor. 12. 4. 5. 6 7 This spake he signifying by what Death he should Glorifie God John 21. 19. And so according as there are diversities of gifts and differences of operations in People and as one glorifies God by his Death one way and another another So there are divers ways and different manners of Glorifying God according to the several cases circumstances conditions or rather according to the several gifts and endowments in People By what Death he should Glorifie God Now in Death there is bitterness and hardship it being the hardest and most terrible thing in the world to dye from hence we gather that when we poor Creatures submit or subject our selves to hardship or difficulty either in obedience to

Spirit anointing which we have received of him abideth you and ye need not that any Man teach you But as same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him ●nd now little Children abide in him that when he shall ap●…r we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him 〈◊〉 his coming As the Apostle said I am determined know nothing among ye but Jesus Christ and him cruci●… So for my part I am determined and purposed 〈◊〉 pray God to enable me that herein I may turn my ●…poses into performances and to pay my vows to the most ●hest To turn ouer a new leaf and during the few 〈◊〉 evil days remaining of my Pilgrimage to serve God 〈◊〉 more diligently and earnestly and constantly in the ●…nistry than I have heretofore and to finish that part of 〈◊〉 Ministry which I have received and to testifie the ●…spel of the grace of God to the people of this Gene●…ion For I assuredly know that a dying hour will come ●…d I sensibly feeling within my self a fear of Death ●…ich doth hence arise either because I live in some re●ved or known sin or I leave some duty undone which ●ought to do So that the way to take off and remove ●s same fear and bitterness of Death in me is not to ●e in any manner of sin or appearance of evil as far ●…d as often as I apprehend such a thing to be the ●…mmand and will of God that I should do The same applicable to other people also to live in no sin of ●…ission or commission which if we observe accord●…gly and finish severally the work which God gave us 〈◊〉 do than at length we shall be ever with the Lord 〈◊〉 receive the reward of so doing Wherefore comfort ●…e marginal reading is exhort one another with these ●ords 1 Thes 4. 18. 〈◊〉 Christ did finish the work which God the Father gave ●…n to do as he took upon himself to be the Saviour and ●edeemer of Mankind and as he was the mediatour be●…een God and Man and as he executed that threefold ●…ffice of King Priest and Prophet Yet have I set my ●ing upon the Holy Hill of Zion Psal 2. 6. The Lord hath ●…orn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Psal 110. 4. For Moses truly sa● unto the Fathers a Prophet shall the Lord God raise up un●… you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all thin●… whatsoever he shall say unto you Acts 3. 22. This Peter did a 〈…〉 ply unto Christ and as Christ did perform and fini●… these three several Offices he did finish the work th●… God gave him to do Wherefore himself said on the Cro●… It is finished That is so much and that part of the wo●… which God had given him on this Earth for to do an● finish he did finish accordingly But as to his delive●… ing up the Kingdom to the Father and as to his sitting 〈◊〉 the right hand of God making intercession for us th●… is not finished as yet nor will be finished until the en● of the world when time shall be no longer What kind of work it was which Christ did finish we ma●… gather and understand from what himself aftervvards d●… clares I have manifested thy name unto the Men which th●… gavest me out of the world For I have given unto them 〈◊〉 words which thou gavest unto me and they have received the● John 17. 6 8. This Christ did as he was a Prophet 〈◊〉 Preacher From whence we may gather and observ● that to manifest the name of God to people out of th● World and to make known the words which Go● first gave unto us is the best and most excellent wo●… that one can be imployed in And however other peop●… are busied Martha Martha thou art careful and troubl● about many things but one thing is needful Yet that 〈◊〉 the best employment and the best business which ha● relation immediately to God himself and is about th● things partaining to endless Life And this is life etern●… that they might know thee the only true God and J●… sus Christ whom thou hast sent From hence again it a●… pears that to manifest or make God known or to Pu●… lish those words which contain the knowledge of Go● is the best of Works and Employments Verily th●… art a God that hidest thy self O God of Israel the Savio●… And many times we lose the sence of him No● what brings to the sight or rather apprehension of him or what reneweth the knowledge of him this is th● one thing needful for the Children of Men for in th● ●nowledge of God all their well being doth consist at ●resent and their Life eternal in the world to come ●ow much God himself doth require and is delighted herewith may be understood from what is written For 〈◊〉 desired mercy and not Sacrifice and the knowledge of God ●ore than burnt offerings The world make their Estimate accordingly and think ●hem happy whose Silver and Gold is multiplied or who ●ave fine and plentiful Estates But as the Psalmist ●ith Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than in ●…e Time that their Corn and their Wine increased So I ●ad rather than all those good things to have most of ●…e knowledge of God and the things pertaining to his ●ingdom to have the manifestations of himself other●ise then he manifests himself unto the World to have ●ore of his Heavenly truths Communicated and revealed ●nto me I will praise thee with the Psaltery even thy truth 〈◊〉 my God The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than ●ousands of Gold and Silver I rejoyce at thy word as one ●at findeth great spoil And seeing that the secret of the ●ord is with them that fear him and he revealeth his secret ●nto his Prophets I had therefore rather that his will ●nd secret be revealed unto me than all the mony or ●states of the Earth For these and such like are e●…dences of his favour and loving kindness which is ●…tter then life it self in that it reaches and extends Yet ●rther Those who know and apprehend God by Faith ●o as much desire and labour to have the favour of God ●s others do to get Riches and the favour of great Men. ●or the favour of God in this life is a seal and earnest ●f his Salvation in the World to come Who hath also ●aled us and given the Earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Cor. 1. 21. To get retain or recover when lost the favour of God 〈◊〉 a doing and finishing that work which God gave us ●o do For the work we have to do in this life is to ●erve and obey God and to do the things that are plea●…ng in his sight and thus to become reconciled unto ●…im Though God doth hide himself here on Earth from