Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	year_n	yoke_n	youth_n	18	3	8.9934	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
a30211	A treatise of the fear of God shewing what it is, and how distinguished from that what is not so : also whence it comes, who has it, what are the effects, and what the priviledges of those that have it in their hearts / by John Bunyan.	Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.	1679 (1679)	Wing B5603; ESTC R32009	112,120	247

16. The method of God is to kill and make alive to smite and then heal when the Commandment came to Paul sin revived and he died and that Law which was ordained to life he found to be unto death That is it passed a sentence of death upon him for his sins and slew his conscience with that sentence Therefore from that time that he heard that word why dost thou persecute me which is all one as if he had said why dost thou commit murder he lay under the sentence of condemnation by the law and under this fear of that sentence in his conscience He lay I say under it untill that Ananias came to him to comfort him and to preach unto him the forgivness of sins Acts 9. The fear therefore that now I call godly it is that fear which is properly called the fear of eternal damnation for sin and this fear at first awakening is good and godly because it ariseth in the soul from a true sense of its very state It s state by nature is damnable because it is sinful and because he is not one that as yet believeth in Christ for remission of sins He that believeth not shall be damned He that believeth not is condemned already and the wrath of God abideth on him Mark 16 16. Joh. 3.18 36. The which when the sinner at first begins to see he justly fears it I say he fears it justly and therefore godly because by this fear he subscribes to the sentence that is gone out against him for sin Secondly By who or by what is this fear wrought in the heart To this I shall answer in brief It is wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God working there at first as a Spirit of bondage on purpose to put us in fear This Paul insinuateth in Rom. 8.15 Saying Ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear He doth not say ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage for that they had received and that to put them in fear which was at first conversion as by the instances made mention of before is manifest all that he saies is that they had not received it again that is after the spirit as a spirit of adoption is come for then as a spirit of bondage it cometh no more It is then the Spirit of God even the Holy Ghost that convinceth us of sin and so of our damnable state because of sin Joh. 16.8 9. For it cannot be that the Spirit of God should convince us of sin but it must also shew us our state to be damnable because of it especially if it so convinceth us before we believe and that is the intent of our Lord in that place of sin and so of their damnable state by sin because they believe not on me Therefore the Spirit of God when he worketh in the heart as a spirit of bondage he doth it by working in us by the Law for by the Law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 And he in this his working is properly called a spirit of bondage 1. Because by the Law he shews us that indeed we are in bondage to the Law the Devil and Death and damnation for this is our proper state by nature though we see it not until the Spirit of God shall come to reveal this our state of bondage unto our own senses by revealing to us our sins by the Law 2. He is called in this his working the spirit of bondage because he here also holds us to wit in this sight and sense of our bondage-state so long as is meet we should be so held which to some of the Saints is a longer and to some a shorter time Paul was held in it three daies and three nights but the Jaylor and the three thousand so far as can be gathered not above an hour but some in these later times are so held for daies and months if not years But I say let the time be longer or shorter it is the Spirit of God that holdeth him under this yoak and it is good that a man should be HIS time helden under it As is that saying of the lamentation It is good that a man bear the yoak in his youth That is at his first awakning Lamen 3.27 So long as seems good to this holy Spirit to work in this manner by the Law Now as I said the sinner at first is by the Spirit of God held in this bondage that is hath such a discovery of his sin and of his damnation for sin made to him and also is held so fast under the sense thereof that it is not in the power of any man nor yet of the very Angels in Heaven to release him or set him free until the Holy Spirit changeth his ministration and comes in the sweet and peaceable tidings of salvation by Christ in the Gospel to his poor dejected and afflicted conscience Thirdly I now come to shew you what this fear doth in the soul. Now although this godly fear is not to last alwaies with us as I shall further shew you anon yet it greatly differs from that which is wholly ungodly of it self both because of the Author and also of the effects of it Of the Author I have told you before I now shall tell you what it doth 1. This fear makes a man judge himself for sin and to fall down before God with a broken mind under this Judgment The which is pleasing to God because the sinner by so doing justifies God in his saying and clears him in his Judgment Psal. 5.1 2 3 4. 2. As this fear makes a man judge himself and cast himself down at Gods foot so it makes him condole and bewail his misery before him which is also well pleasing in his sight I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself saying thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoak c. Jer. 31 18 19. 3. This fear makes a man lie at Gods foot and puts his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope This also is well-pleasing to God because now is the sinner as nothing and in his own eyes less than nothing as to any good or desert He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath now this yoak upon him He putteth his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope Lamen 3.28 29. 4. This fear puts a man upon crying to God for mercy and that in most humble manner now he sensibly cries now he dejectedly cries now he feels and cries now he smarts and cries out God be merciful to me a sinner Luke 18.13 5. This fear makes a man that he cannot accept of that for support and succour which others that are destitute thereof will take up and be contented with This man must be washed by God himself and cleansed from his sin by God himself Psal. 51. 6. Therefore this fear goes not away until the Spirit of God doth change his