Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	brazen_a	look_v	serpent_n	839	5	9.9901	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86532	The saints guide, in three treatises; I. The mirror of mercie, on Gen. 6.13. II. The carnall mans condition, on Rom. 1.18. III. The plantation of the righteous, on Psa. l.3 / By Thomas Hooker minister in New-England.	Hooker, Thomas, 1586-1647.	1645 (1645)	Wing H2655; Thomason E1160_1; ESTC R11339	43,446	180

disputes He as it were enters a Law Case with the poore sinnefull sonnes of men and proceedes in a judiciall course to recover a poore sinner from the pathes of death wherein hee straied to his owne worship which the sinner wholly declined from as yee see men goe to Law one saith the Land is mine another saith hee hath best right to it and so their title comes legally to be tried Even so sinne and Satan say the soule are theirs and the sinner is content to goe with with them to Hell but the Lord enters lists and claimes by a higher title and saith that the soule is his by him it was created Redeamed made to honour his Creator to be happy in his Saviour And how God strives herein you shall see afterwards But I take this to be the value of the sence so that from the first part of the Text observe these foure Doctrines The Spirit of God doth ever undoubtedly and unseperably accompany the Ministry of the Word Gods Word and his Spirit alwayes goe together The Lord by the power of his Spirit in the Word in the course of his Providence strives with poore rebellious Sinners for their good and they oppose both his Spirit and their own good God striveth long with Sinners here with the old world one hundred and twentie yeares Though God strives long with Sinners and yet they returne not God will leave them to themselves and their sinnes to the power and curse of sinne and the judgements and plagues deserved Of the first Doctrine viz. That Gods Spirit doth ever accompany the Word and the Ministry thereof By the Spirit of God I meane the eternall Spirit the holy Ghost doth in speciall manner accompany the Word know that God is every where and knoweth all things but in a speciall manner he is with this if the Word commands hee commands and if the Word forbids he forbids Rom. 1.16 The Gospell is the power of God to the salvation of man But how doth this appeare to be so I Answer it appeareth in three things First God doth please to set this worke apart to wit the Ministry of the Word to save and sanctifie our soules which all the learning in the world cannot do Secondly the Lord by the power of his Spirit doth constantly and continually accompany this worke as hee thinks good to be a confutation to the wicked and a consolation to the godly 2 Cor. 2.16 17. To the one it is a favour of death to the other it is a favour of life it either kills the soule or saves the soule though it ever accompanies the word yet this work of the Spirit is a voluntary worke Thirdly it doth alwayes accompany the Word but doth not alwayes worke for some after twenty or thirtie yeares are converted so that it doth not alwayes worke Looke as the brazen Serpent was lift up in the wildernesse that whosoever looked on it that was stung with the fiery Serpents should be healed there was a healing vertue in it he set it apart for that purpose for that had no vertue of it selfe but because God would worke by it so that whosoever looked on it might be healed so it is with the Word of God for the Ministers thereof are no more able to convert then others but because God hath promised to accompany them in dispensation of it Reas Reason First taken from the fruit and effect of this Word that it is able to doe all things In the beginning it was able to doe that which men and Angells cannot doe Heb. 4.12 The Word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper then any two edged Sword piercing even to the deviding assunder of the soule and Spirit and a discoverie of the thoughts of the heart It is Gods faithfull word the reason why Carnall men fall out with the Ministers of the word and say you speake against mee I know you meane mee No no we know not your hearts but God doth and the word of God knows them and that findes you out John 5.25 The dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God the meaning is they that are dead in sins for by Nature everie man is dead in sinne It must be more then all men can doe as our Saviour said to Lazarus when men stood weeping by but Christ said Lazarus come forth Joh. 11.43 It must be Gods Word that must raise us from the death of sinne to the life of righteousnesse Vse First of Instruction to take heede of taking up of Armes against the Spirit of God we see the hainous sin of them that despise the Ministrie of the Gospell men may thinke it nothing but alas you know not what it is for the word of God and the Spirit of God goe together as the blessed Martyr Steven said to the Jewes Act. 7.51 Ye stiffenecked and uncercumsised in heart and eares yee doe alwayes resist the holy Ghost as did your Fathers so doe you therefore take heede you are neere to the sinne against the holy Ghost for it is not the Word of man but the Word of God it is the Spirit that thou shouldst be saved by that thou hast opposed you goe away with the contempt of the Gospell and make that nothing thou hast sinned against God and his Spirit that accompanies the Word O Counsell one another say doe you know what you do It is Gods Spirit that must comfort you that must save you It is that that you oppose when you oppose the word take heede for this is above incestuous sinnes Luke 3.19.20 Herod was an incestuous sinnner but above all his sins he added this that he put John in prison he was an incestuous Adulterer yet putting John in prison was above all Math. 11.21.22 It shall be easier for Sodome and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment then for you that oppresse the word of the Lord. So much for the first point And now I will fasten upon the second point which I conceive is the pith and substance even the maine life of the Text viz. That the Lord by the power of his Spirit in the word striveth with poore sinners for their good and they in the meane time oppose both his Spirit and their owne good The Parties are God and man God strives and the sinner strives The Lord invents wayes to work off the Soule from its sinnes and its destruction and the Sinner makes it his maine peece and care his cheife skill and cunning to hinder the good word of the Lord in the worke upon his soule for his salvation In common experience wee see it If God open the eies of a Drunkard or awaken the Adulterer what a deale of stirre there is One drinkes it off another plaies it out a third dambes up his Soule with untempered mortar Any thing or any way that the good Spirit of the Lord may not prevaile If the Lord turne the face of a child or a servant in the familie towards him then