Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ask_v	lord_n	zion_n	76	3	9.5661	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26702	The best of remedies for the worst of maladies, or, Spiritual receipts and antidotes for the preservation of a plague-sick, sinfull soul wherein is shown, sin is the cause and repentance the cure of the pestilence / seasonably published by a lover of peace and truth ..., R.A.	R. A. (Richard Alleine), 1611-1681.	1667 (1667)	Wing A983; ESTC R10719	150,980	258

and frame of spirit was David in when he could not perform the fervent desire he had to serve God among the faithful How bitterly does he bemoan his being deprived of the comfort of the publick worship of God during his exile and the blasphemies of his enemies which caused his spirit even to be overwhelmed As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Meaning in the House of the Lord the Tabernacle where the solemn worship of God was celebrated and the Ark of the Covenant was where God dwelled 2 Sam. 6.2 or where the Lord gave visible signs of his presence And mark what follows My tears saith he have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me Where is thy God His tears were as his bread he fed and fillid himself with tears as if they were his onely food and sustenance according to that in the 80. Psal 5. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure Meaning his own people oftentimes who are at his very foot praying and supplicating at the throne of grace And such a frame of spirit shall be found also in them as shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward They shall be going and weeping and in this spirit of mourning they shall go and seek the Lord their God All which doth evidently shews forth what will be the temper and spirit of all right-repenting souls and what a frame of spirit the Lord expects his people to be found in when his hand is lifted up even in this time when he sends the destroying Pestilence among us Now consider in what frame of spirit art thou before the Lord this day Hast thou found thy heart broken as it were into shivers for thy sins Has the sight of thy sins made thee to sigh for thy sins and to mourn kindly before the Lord for thine iniquities Hast thou ever shed a tear before the Lord for thy secret sins or thy more open and notorious abominations Surely if in such a day as this when the Arrows of the Lords Indignation are flying abroad if thou shalt be found in a Carnal Light Frothly Frolick Voluptuous vain-Vain-spirit a lover of thy pleasures more then a lover of God putting far away from thee the evil day and causing the seat of violence to come near like those the Prophet Amos complains of Who were at ease in Sion and trusted in the Mountain of Samaria That lay upon Beds of Ivory and stretcht themselves upon their Couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall That did chaunt to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of Musick like David That drank wine in bowls and anointed themselves with the chief oyntment but were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph I say if in such a day as this under such a severe and sore visitation as this thou shalt be found in such a spirit and temper as this sad and deplorable will thy condition be For mark what the Lord threatned those carnal fleshly sensual rejoycing ones Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed Amos 6.1 to the 8. vers So dangerous and highly provoking a sin when the present dispensations of God together with thine own personal evils do call for a mournful frame of spirit that then thou shouldst be found in a spirit of carnal merriment and rejoycing As the Lord complained by the Prophet Isa Chap. 22.12 In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye This they spake in a scoffing manner as if they had said our Prophet tells us that we shall soon be destroyed and slain or carried into captivity let us then be jovial and merry as long as we may But mark how hainously did the Lord take it at their hands And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord of Hosts Meaning that it should never be forgiven unto them unless they did cease from sinning For so the word till or untill in Scripture phrase does usually hold forth Gen. 28.15 2 Sam. 6.23 Matth. 1.25 I shall add hereunto that in the Prophet Joel Chap. 2d where the Prophet setting forth the terribleness of Gods approaching Judgements in the 12th vers he exhorteth them to this repenting and relenting frame of spirit as the only means to pacifie the Lords wrath and indignation from breaking out against them or for the removal of it Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gratious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil So in the 15. vers Blow the Trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctifie the Congregation c. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach And mark what follows Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people This was that spirit also that was found in the people of Nineveh when destruction was threatned upon Jonahs preaching Jonah 3.5 6 7 8. It is said they believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least yea the King himself arose from his throne and laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes and caused it to be proclaimed that man and beast should be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God and turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that was in their hands and saith he who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not See what signal demonstrations were there here of the inward sorrow and compunction of their hearts O how will this Example of Nineveh repenting and sorrowing for their sins rise up in judgement against the men of this generation Luk. 11 32. Where is the covering of sackcloth to be seen Any outward demonstrations of a relenting spirit to be discerned Where

heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psa 73.26 Then wilt thou not know nor desire nor love any creature but purely as subordinate to God If this were but setled in our hearts how would it ballast them and keep them steddy that they would not be tossed up and down with the various occurrences of this life neither lift up with Prosperity nor cast down with adversity for whether we have more of these things they make no considerable addition to us God is our happiness and not the creature or whether we have less of these things it is no diminution to our happiness we still have our portion We are but as a man that hath turned his estate into money though he hath not houses nor lands nor flocks nor herds yet he hath that which answers all things Eccles 10.19 So it is with one that hath God for his portion whose is the earth and the fulness thereof He can with Habakkuk rejoyce in God in the deprevation and absence of all other things Hab. 3.17 18. And say with Paul As sorrowful yet alway rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6.10 Give twenty pounds to a poor man and you make him take so much from him and you undoe him but it is nothing in a rich mans Purse that hath thousands coming in yearly Let an unbeleiver loose the World and he looseth all he complains with Laban that his gods are gone let him have these things in abundance and he is transported like Haman but these are small things with him whose portion is the Lord And therefore call nothing prosperity or pleasure but his love and nothing adversity or misery but his displeasure When any thing would seem lovely and desireable which is against him call it Dung And hear that man as Satan or the Serpent that would entise thee from him and count him but vanity a worm and dust that would affright thee from thy duty to him 3. Then mayst thou be said to dwell in God to have thy constant abode with him When thou shalt prize all opportunities of communion with God in his Ordinances as Prayer Reading and Hearing the Word of God So David As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God Psa 42.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Psa 63.1 2. and 84.1 2. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts my soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God So Psal 122.1 I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the House of the Lord. This to do is our Duty and our Priviledge 1. It is our Duty and part of that homage which we owe to God as our Lord and Lawgiver by prayer to acknowledge our dependance on him Psal 65.2 and our subjection to him by sitting down at his feet to receive the Law from his mouth to take our instructions from him Deut. 33.3 2. It is our Priviledge which cost two of the greatest gifts which heaven could afford Eph. 2.17 the Son of God that we might have acceptance The Spirit of God that we might have assistance What greater priviledge are we capable of then at any time to go and reveal our cause to God and to pour out our complaints before him Jer. 20.12 To have leave to beg any thing of him Luk. 11.13 To ask Counsel of him Psal 119.24 There being in our communion with God a transfusion of spirits the Lord communicating his Spirit or Divine Nature to us therein 2 Cor. 3.18 Besides our own pressing necessities which should daily provoke us hereto And the oftner we come to God the more welcome shall we be Cant. 2.14 and the more boldness and liberty of access we shall have dis-use and in-frequency breeding a strangness betwixt God and the Soul and deading the heart to communion with him 2. A Mans House is the place of his safety security and strength We use to say a mans House is his Castle then we make God our habitation when we make him our refuge and our strength So did David I will love thee O Lord my strength The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler the horn of my salvation and my high tower Psal 18.2 God was his strength his defender in all adversities God was his rock where he fled for refuge when hunted and pursued by his enemies his fortress or strong hold wherein he was safely kept and preserved his sheild to overshadow and defend him The horn of his salvation that is the strength of his deliverance and the high tower or strong tower of his protection wherein to his righteous soul did run and was safe Prov. 18.10 In the 61. Psal 2. and 3. David prayeth That God would lead him to the rock that was higher then he For thou hast been a shelter for me saith he and a strong tower from the enemy So in the Psal 71.3 Be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort Be thou to me for a rock of habitation where I may continually fly unto in all my difficulties and distresses See also Psal 31.2 With what confidence in God was the Chuch carried forth upon this account God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore will not we fear though the earth he removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof Psal 46.1 2 3. By the changing of the earth and removing of mountains are often meant the alteration of States and Polities Hagg. 2.21 22. Jerem. 51.25 Rev. 6.14 By which we are given to understand That in the time of the greatest mutations and revolutions in time of the greatest toffings and tumblings turnings and over-turnings the Church would not be dismayed but confidently expect deliverance from God Well then if thou wilt make God thy habitation thy place of security and strength thy rock and thy fortress Thou wilt make him thy only rock thy only stay and trust thou wilt seek help and deliverance in all thy streights and trouble from him and from him only He only saith the Psalmist is my rock and my salvation he is my defence I shall not be moved And from hence it is that he encourages his soul To waite only upon God telling us that his expectation was from him Psal 62.6 7. Nor would he trust in his Bow nor on his Sword to save him Psal 44.6 Now then dost thou make God thy only rock thy only

before the throne of God And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand Rev. 8.3 4. By this Angel we are to understand Christ our Mediator called the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant or the Angel of Gods presence Mal. 3.1 and Isa 63.9 who alone is the High Preist of Heaven and offereth and presenteth our prayars with the incense of his merits and intercession upon the golden Altar that is upon himself unto God for a sweet smelling savour as is testified Rom. 8.34 Eph. 5.2 Heb. 14.14 See also Rev. 5 8. 6. In God onely we ought to beleive therefore he onely is to be called upon He that commeth to God must beleive that he is c. Heb. 11.6 The same Lord who is ever all is rich unto all that call upon him For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10.12 13. Again we are to pray unto God in the name of Christ which is not rudely and customarily to say these words Through Jesus Christ our Lord c. but in confidence of the merits and intercession of Christ to call on God our heavenly Father For since the fall of man none are called to come to God or have promise to speed but in the name of a Mediator I am the way the truth and the life saith Christ no man commeth to the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 And there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.15 John calls him the Advocate he who pleads our cause with the Father 1 Joh. 2.1 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Heb. 7.25 In Christ alone we have access to the throne of grace Or as the Apostle expresseth it Through him we haue an access by one spirit unto the Father Ephes 2.18 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Eph. 3.12 And what saith Christ himself Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Joh. 16.23 So Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word and deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him Angels or Saints departed do not nor cannot present our prayers before God Abraham is ignorant of us Isa 63.16 Christ onely is our Mediator and High Priest who getteth an acceptatation of our prayers before God Heb. 4.14 Rev. 8.3 Again We are to pray in the name of Christ through the spirit Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Rom. 8.26 27. But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy ghost Jude ver 20. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit Ephes 6.18 No praying aright but in and by the Spirit God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Joh. 4.14 And prayer surely is a principal part of his spiritual worship Is it not sad then to consider how carnal and formal worshippers do deride and make a mock at the Spirit of God! O say they you cannot pray but by the spirit So for Faith that also is a necessary ingredient in prayer James speaks of the prayer of faith that shall save the sick Jam 5.15 So also 1 Tim. 2.8 and Matth. 21.22 And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer beleiving ye shall receive Now this faith will work to the purifying of the heart For if we regard iniquity in our hearts God will not hear us Psa 66.18 We haveing therefore gracious promises from God that he will grant our requests that he will be very gracious unto us at the voyce of our cry Isa 30.19 That when we call he will answer Isa 58.9 and deliver us out of all our afflictions Psal 34.19 We must come unto God beleiving his word for that he is true and faithful as Sarah who received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised Heb. 11.11 But if hope to speed does not accompany our prayers they are vain Let not the doubting and wavering man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord Jam. 1.6 7. Yet know withal that this hope sometimes is very weak and feeble and many times seems to be overwhelmed in the godly Ps 13.1 2.31.22 and 77.7 8 9. Again As it must be a prayer of Faith so it must be from the heart with fervency of spirit Prayer is not a lip labour nor a formal devotion but it is the sighs and groans of a broken and penitent heart Hanna spake in her heart when her voyce was not heard 1 Sam. 1.13 Moses is said to cry unto the Lord when we find not one word that he uttered with his mouth Exod. 14.15 Hence is the exhortation that we be fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 And it is said that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Jam. 5.16 As the things we beg are of more excellent use for us so must we be more eager and importunate with the Lord for the obtaining of them I cried unto the Lord with my voice with my voyce unto the Lord did I make my supplication I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble Psal 142.1 2. This shewed the earnestness and ferventness of his spirit in prayer So Ps 80.1 Give ear O shepherd of Israel thou that dwellest between the cherubims shine forth Before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us This ariseth from the consideration of the necessity and excellency of what we desire as also from a burning zeal of Gods glory and hearty love of our brethren in opposition to a spirit of hypocrisie formality sluggishness and vain-babling Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion For the time to favour her yea the set time is come And what then For Sions sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth Ps 102.13 com with Isa 62.1 Again when we pray we must pray with understanding 1 Cor. 14.15 Blind devotion is no way pleasing to God The soul without knowledge is not good Prov. 19.2 God will not be superstitiously and ignorantly worshipped Acts 17.22 23. The blind and the lame was not to come into the house of God If ye offer the blind for