Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	love_n	son_n	spirit_n	15,059	5	5.7830	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09981	A liveles life: or, Mans spirituall death in sinne Wherein is both learnedly and profitably handled these foure doctrines the spirituall death in sinne. The doctrine of humiliation. Mercy to be found in Christ. Continuance in sinne, dangerous. Being the substance of severall sermons upon Ephes. 2. 1,2,3. And you hath he quickned, who were dead in trespasses and sins, &c. Whereunto is annexed a profitable sermon at Lincolnes Inne, on Gen. XXII. XIV. Delivered by that late faithful preacher, and worthy instrument of Gods glory, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, master of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes-Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1633 (1633)	STC 20235; ESTC S122552	73,904	134

like iron which while it is hot in the fire you may fashion it which way you will but when it is once out it is presently stiffe againe So Pharaoh as long as Gods hand was on him hee would let the people goe but as soone as the fire of affliction was removed his heart was hardned so was Ahab and Saul But in true humiliation God takes away the iron heart gives an heart of flesh so that although it may be brawnie a little yet still it is flesh Hypocrites so long onely as they are under the judgement are soft but the heart of the godly is alwaies soft Thirdly by the signes of brokennesse of heart Now brokennesse of heart 1. Heales our sinnes First the beloved the master sinne and then all the rest other humiliation skinne over but cures not it stops the streame for a while but it breakes out againe it may cause you to make many purposes to leave the sinne yea and to leave it awhile but you will returne to them againe whereas if one bee truly humbled he is stronger against that beloved sin than against any other not but that hee hath strong inclinations to that sinne but hee is more shye of it and shunnes the occasions of that sinne because hee hath fully felt the smart of it and hath by his humiliation seene that sinne more than any other Now after the beloved sinne is once healed then the other sinnes will soone be healed as in a cloth by washing out a deeper staine the same labour doth wash out lesser staines 2. It causeth love of Christ So Mary Magdalen because she was humbled much and saw that Christ had forgiven her much therefore she loved much So Paul who was much humbled ever expressed a servent love to Christ as we may see Acts 21. 13. where hee saith having beene perswaded by his friends not to goe to Jerusalem I am ready not to bee bound but also to dye for the name of the Lord Iesus as who should say I feare nothing because I care for nothing but Christ So also 2 Cor. 5. 14. he saith The love of Christ constraineth mee and therefore when by humiliation we see what Christ hath done for us we thinke we can never doe enough for him Now you may know if you love Christ or not by these signes The first signe to know the love of Christ is obedience Hee that loveth Christ keepeth his Commandements and they are not grievous unto him The second signe is this If you love him you shall finde in your heart that you love him your heart will be carried towards him as I can tell if I love a man for then my heart is carried towards him The third signe to know the love of Christ is this It causeth me to esteeme of spirituall things to prize them at an high rate and other things little worth for when a man is soundly humbled aske him then what he desires most he will answer Christ and Grace and that his corruptions may cease in him as for outward things hee passeth not for them as a man that sees he must dye hee cares for no outward wealth take you that give him onely the pardon of his sinnes The fourth signe of the love of Christ is this It maketh him content with the meanest condition The prodigall Sonne when he was humbled so he might be in his fathers house he was content he liked the meanest condition even to be a servant I am unworthy to be thy sonne make mee as one of thy hired servants Luk. 15. 21. So Paul after hee was humbled thought himselfe unworthy for the Saints company and that not for a fit onely but even ever after he still cryes out I am unworthy to be an Apostle Thus Naomi returning home to her Countrey said she went out full and yet had nothing but her selfe sonnes and husband she accounted any thing too much for her If a man once come to be verily perswaded that he is worthy to be destroyed hee can with patience beare any losses and crosses for these are nothing to death which he knowes he hath deserved therefore what impatience soever thou hast so much art thou short of true humiliation The fifth signe to know we love Christ is this It makes us fearefull of offending God tendernesse of conscience is ever according to the measure of true humiliation for by how much the more we are humbled by so much doe wee feare to offend God and labour to walke obediently unto him Esay 66. 2. the Lord saith To him will I looke that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word If thou art of a contrite heart thou wilt tremble at his words that is at his Commandements such an one feares to breake any Commandement he is sensible of the least sinne Hence it is that Prov. 28. 14. feare is opposed to hardnesse of heart Happy is the man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischiefe Now the opposite to hardnesse is brokennesse of heart but feare is opposed to it because it is a signe of brokennesse of heart Now this fearfulnesse stands in two things 1. In a facility to be convicted of any sinne for he that is not thus broken in heart stands out with God and will not yeeld unto him 2. In a feare to offend God for when hee is once convinced he labours to doe according to his knowledge and then is afraid to displease God either 1 In committing the least sinne as Moses would not leave the least hoofe behinde him and as Iob feared lest his sonnes should have sinned in heart Iob 1. 4. He was so truly humbled that hee would not sacrifice for owne sinnes onely but even for his sonnes also and that the least the thoughts of their hearts 2 In omitting the least good duty or doing it formally which thing the hypocrite cannot doe because he hath not this tendernesse of conscience The sixth signe of the love of Christ is this It makes Gods Word sweet unto us as it was to David Sweeter than the honie and the home-combe Crummes are sweet to an hungry man so if a man hunger after the Gospell it will be sweet unto him Indeed if the Word be sweetened with humane Eloquence it may bee sweet to one that is carnall for so it is pleasing to nature but if the purer it is and the more it is seperated from those gaudy flowers if the more piercing it is the sweeter it is to us then it is a signe of a broken heart for it is a reproach to those that have not a broken heart and so it cannot be sweet as wee may see Ier 6 10. where the Lord saith Behold their eare is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the Word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they have no delight mit And againe the Prophet saith Ier. 15. 16.

godly sometimes cannot speake godlily and holily as a Fountaine sometimes is stopped up so that it cannot send forth pure streames yet take away the rubbish that stopped it and then it will runne cleare againe even so it is with the godly and therefore consider your ordinary speeches if they be not holy and good it is a signe that you are a dead man The second privitive signe is Coldnesse when a man is dead he growes cold so is it with men dead in sinne they may pray but it is coldly and so in all other holy duties they are very cold But some man will be ready to object and say You tell us of coldnesse but for any thing I can see there is as much coldnesse in the best men for your godliest men are sometimes cold in their prayers It is true but there is this difference betweene the coldnesse of a godly man and a dead man If the meanes be used to a godly man it doth bring life to him againe if he be rubbed and chafed with admonitions or hath the aquavitae of the Word he will recover his heat because the inward principle of heat still remaines within him But to a wicked man use never so many reproofes or admonitions hee will still remaine cold Let this therefore bee a certaine tryall if after all admonitions you still remaine cold you are dead The third privitive signe is Stiffenesse a dead man growes stiffe and in what position his body is in when it is dead in the same it will remaine you cannot bendit so is it with men spiritually dead what course they take what opinions they hold what company they keepe they will not bee changed from them Rev. 22. 11. He that is filthy let him be filthy still that is he will be filthy still they will not be changed If that they hold to be Gods will be Gods will so it is then they are right but it is not because it is Gods will but because his pleasure fell on what they held As a rustie hand of a clocke it turnes not with the day but stands still but if the time of the day chance to be such as it stands at it is true not because it moveth with the day as it should but because the day hath fell jumpe with it So these men if Gods will hit with theirs they will doe it if not they will crosse it This is a signe of a dead man The fourth privitive signe is Senslesnesse hee that is dead is senslesse so it is with the spirituall death there is no sense in it they can neither see heare nor taste I but some man will object and say that is not true alwayes for even the wicked sometimes know m●tters of faith nay and sometimes they rellish them too To this I answer As it is said of the dead Idoll so may it be said of them Mat. 13. 13. Eyes they have and see not eares and heare not First for seeing they see not aright Gods children see experimentally the wicked only by contemplation and there is a great difference betweene them for as wee see there is a great difference betwixt knowing fire to be hot and the feeling of it so betweene a meere notionall knowledge of Gods will and a knowledge that doth like and approve it Secondly for taste they finde no taste in Gods Word or if they finde any like a vitiated pallat they account that which is most sweet to bee very bitter Thirdly for smelling they smell no sweetnesse in Christs name whereas to his Saints it is a sweet oyntment poured out that perfumeth all the roome Fourthly for feeling they feele not whether the Law or Gospell be applied to them rub over their skarres and make them runne downe with blood they are notwithstanding all that senslesse still they may have a counterfeit feeling arising from a naturall conscience but to have such a feeling as may drive them to Christ they cannot and therefore still they are but dead men The fifth signe is this A living member if the body be in danger will have a sympathizing and feeling of the danger as the hand will lift it selfe up to save the head so now if we hearing the case of Gods Church in what danger it is if wee take it not to heart or be not affected with it especially now we are put in minde thereof it is a certaine signe we are dead men We should have the spirits that Moses and Paul had who even wished to be stroyed so they might save the Church Moses rather than that should perish would have his name raced out of the booke of life Paul for the Churches sake would bee anathema It is a true signe of a living member to bee touched with others miseries this was an extasie of love in which out of love to the Church they forgate themselves This here we must know that if the creature could destroy it selfe for God it could not but be well because the good of the creature is more contained in God than in it selfe as the beame of the Sunne is more contained in the Sun than in it selfe Now is the time of considering this now is the time of more than extraordinary fasting now if you have any feeling you will shew it if you are living men now you will shew your selves now the Church lyes in tents and wallowes in blood now the foundations thereof are shaken never was the face of Christendome in such danger as now it is Doe wee thinke to stand now others fall If the fire be at one end of the building shall we be safe which are at the other end for all Gods house is but one building Are not they our brethren and sonnes of the same father have they not the same spirit are they not of the same profession shall wee not then bee ready to helpe them wee cannot send armes over to them but wee may send up prayers unto God for them Christians are stronger than Politicians and their prayers are armies Let us therefore doe what wee can the storme is not yet quite over Now there are two things that may move us to this 1. The greatnesse of the Judgement 2. Our ability to helpe them First The greatnesse of the Judgement It will prove the extinguishing of Gods Church and the Gospell and when that is once gone what are all other things It was a good saying of that Saint That browne bread and the Gospell was good cheare what are all our houses lands c. if this Spirituall food be wanting Secondly Consider our ability to helpe them We may doe much by our prayers hee that knoweth not his strength useth it not Did not one Moses one Eliah stand in the gappe They did not these things as they were extraordinary men but as they were Gods children We may by our prayers doe as much though one childe may have better gifts than another