Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	beget_v	patience_n	trouble_a	22	3	15.8838	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02744	A cordiall for the afflicted Touching the necessitie and utilitie of afflictions. Proving unto us the happinesse of those that thankfully receive them: and the misery of all that want them, or profit not by them. By A. Harsnet, B.D. and Minister of Gods word at Cranham in Essex.	Harsnett, Adam, 1579 or 80-1639.	1638 (1638)	STC 12874; ESTC S114895	154,371	676

violence to thy person in all these or any other wrong they can do unto thee they are but the Lords rods to whip thee withall Seeke not revenge against them but leave them to the Lord and hee will one day recompence them for their malice and cruelty against thee Implacable is the malice and rage of the wicked against the godly so furious that if the Lord should not curbe and restrain them as Jezebel vowed to take away the life of Eliah 1. King 19.2 So they would not suffer a soul to breath amongst them which feareth God and walketh not after the course of the World But blessed be our good God that giveth not up his children as a prey into their teeth Psalme 124.6 but avengeth the afflicted Psalme 140.12 And will recompence the wicked according to their deeds Psal 28.4 For it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you which are troubled rest 2. Thess 1.6 7. Object But is the Lord just in this is it equall that any should bee punished for that worke which the Lord hath set them about Answ Yes if they do it not to that end and in that manner which God would have them True it is they can do no other then God will have them to do but God wills them not to do his worke in that manner which they perform it The Lord commanded Jehu to root out the posterity of Ahab which Jehu according to the Word of the Lord fulfilled Yet the Lord by the Prophet Hoseah 1.4 saith I will visit the blood of Israel upon the house of Jehu For though Jehu was Gods instrument and servant and did that worke which the Lord imployed him about and the Lord was well pleased with the doing of it yet the manner and the end of his doing it caused God to be offended with him For Iehu did it not in conscience and obedience to the will of God hee did it not with an upright heart but with an ambitious and wicked mind Hee did it not in zeal of Gods glory as he boasted but hee did it to advance himselfe and to settle the crown more surely upon the head of his posterity Hee threw down Baal Ahabs Idoll to set up Jeroboams calfe Hee did it not in detestation of Ahabs sinne but in the hatred of his person and love unto himselfe and therefore the Lord threatned and afterward punished him So many that trouble and vexe the Lords people do that which the Lord would have them but not to that end or in that manner as the Lord speakes by the Prophet Zachariah I was angry but a little and they helped forward the affliction Zach. 1.15 Therefore when our enemies have done their worst spit out all their malice and spewed out all their venom against us which they can disgorge then will the Lord take them to taske then will hee recompence and reward them for their malice and mischiefe Behold thus saith the Lord unto the Ammonites because thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with thy feet and rejoyced in heart with all thy despight against the land of Israel Behold therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee c. Ezek. 25.6.7 This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Lords people Zepha 2.10 The more our enemies do insult over us and wee patient the sooner wil the Lord help and deliver us Jere. 30.17 If wee did but seriously consider of these things much matter of patience would be administred unto us Men would not swell with the desire of revenge if these truths could enter into them Did wee beleeve that whatsoever wrongs and injuries either by word or deed any of our enemies offer unto us the Lord sets them on worke the Lord wills them to do it for the exercising of our faith the triall of our patience and other ends would wee durst wee fret and fume and chafe as wee do at our enemies Were wee but perswaded of this truth That if wee patiently sat down by our wrongs seeke not revenge but commit and commend our causes and our enemies to our God hoping that the Lord wil do us good for that evill they have done unto us as David said It may bee the Lord will look upon mine affliction and do me good for his cursing 2. Sam. 16.12 Wee would be more patient and there would be lesse heart-burnings and fewer quarrells and suits at law amongst us then be Before I passe from this use of the doctrine in hand it will not be amisse to lay down some helps how a Christian may attaine to this gift of patience which is so needfull to the carrying of him on cheerfully and peaceably in his race for wee must runne with patience the race that is set before us Hebr. 12.1 How may wee come to bee furnished with patience First by our profitable and fruitfull entertaining and welcoming the Word of God for this being effectuall in us will still the heart in all stormes and cause us quietly to sit downe by all wrongs done unto us by all afflictions that befall us Hence it is that the Lord cals the Word The Word of his patience Revel 3.10 And so it is called either because it teacheth and instructeth us unto patience For whatsoever things are written aforetime are written for our learning that wee through patience and comfort of the Seriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 Or else because it is an instrument and means of working patience in us promising unto us peace with God through Christ and not only so but also a sanctified use of all our afflictions heere and salvation hereafter to all that keep this Word which doth much pacifie the heart and cause us to be patient in our afflictions Or else it may be called a word of patience because without patience the Word cannot be rightly professed nor wee hold out in a holy profession unto the end whence wee may safely conclude that it is either through ignorance of the Word or neglect of the Word or want of the power of the Word that wee are impatient A second meanes of furnishing the heart with patience is the exercising of our faith Knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth forth patience James 1.3 Object But doth not Saint Paul say Rom. 5.3 That tribulation bringeth forth patience Answ Yes and both speake the truth and meane one and the same thing Know that neither faith nor tribulation do beget procreate patience for patience is a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 Tribulation doth not naturally and of it selfe beget and bring forth patience but originally and by accident for to speak properly it is the work of the Spirit to still and pacifie the troubled mind of man but tribulation is a means and instrument by which patience is brought forth that is is exercised and manifested Neither doth faith bring forth patience as the mother bringeth

thought of them Then feare not they shall not be layd to thy charge Assure thy selfe those sighes and groans which proceed from thy perplexed soul shall find so much grace and favor with God as they shall be able to prevaile with him for that blessing thou hast begd and standst in need of And although thou canst not pray as thou wouldst yet sigh and groane as thou shouldst and hee which knowes the secrets of all hearts will be able to understand the meaning of thy sighs and groans of the spirit within thee which doth plead and speak to God for thee Object But I feare the Lord doth abominate my sacrifice and service as loathsome hee may cast it as dung in my face and lay some judgement upon mee for offering up such a strange sacrifice unto him Answ If God hath given thee a heart to mourne for sinne he hath made thee able to offer him such a sacrifice as hee is well pleased with and therefore he can not but accept of thy person whatsoever thy failings have been Thy grieved soul and sorrowfull spirit is a sacrifice which casts a sweet savor in the Lords nostrills Psalm 51.17 And would God accept of thy sacrifice if hee had rejected thee No no assure thy selfe that God hath accepted of thy person if hee accepts of thy sacrifice The Lord had 〈…〉 and to his offering G●●e 4.4 The melting of thy soul and the kindly mourning over him whom thou hast pierced with thy sinne is a most infallible evidence of Gods love towards thee and of the saving presence of his holy Spirit abiding in thee Therefore let thy spirit rejoyce in that thou art able to mourne for sinne Those teares which proceed from a grieved soul and wounded spirit may be compared unto Aprill showers which bring on May-flowers although these showers wet where they fall Yet through the heat of the Sunne working with them they produce a great deale of sweetnesse in those plants and hearbs which they fall upon There is abundance of joy in all godly sorrow As the harvest is potentially in the seed so the harvest of true and sound joy growes out of this seed of sorrow Psalm 126.5 They that sow in teares shall reap in joy Why is thy soul then so troubled within thee why art thou still so sad so heavie and dejected Object Howsoever I grieve and mourn yet I can not beleeve that there is any truth of grace in mee in that I am not so fruitfull and profitable in my place and calling as I should and faine would bee I am a barren fruitlesse tree one that cumbers the earth fit for nothing but the fire Answ But is it not with thee as it fareth with some covetous earthly gripple-minded persons which spend their time in scraping and raking together these outward things pinch their bodies and are ever and anon whining and complaining that they have nothing when as their chests are full of good linnen their houses stored and stuffed full of utensills and their purse full of money but being blinded with the love of the world think they have nothing because they have not so much as their covetous eye would look over and therefore do neither thankfully acknowledge what they have received nor profitably improve any thing they do enjoy either to Gods glory their own comfort or others good Even so many afflicted souls being overladen with anguish of mind and deluded by Satan oft times complaine of the want of grace in the midst of plentie not seeing as the saying is wood for trees and thus do bely both God and themselves And it is just with the Lord somtimes to hold his children down with feares and doubtings because they have not been sufficiently thankfull to God for that rich grace they have received from him Our unthankfulnesse is not only as a great fogg and mist which doth exceedingly obscure and darken the grace of God in his children but is also as a worme or canker which eats into the sap and heart of grace so as it thrives not nor fructifies as otherwise it would do But such as are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God Psalm 92.13 Doth not the Prophet Jeremiah also tell us that those that trust in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is shall be as a tree planted by the water which spreadeth out her roots shall not care for the yeere of drought neither shall cease from yeelding fruit Jere. 17.8 Answ And is not this good fruit to bemoane thy barrennesse Admit that for the present thou dost not increase thy spirituall stock as thou desirest thou dost not perceive grace to thrive and grow in thee as thou dost behold it in others must it needs follow that thou are therefore utterly destitute and void of grace A man whiles hee is asleep makes no use of many good things hee hath a hand benummed with cold feels not that which it holds fast It may so fall out that grace may be somthing chilled in thee doth it therefore follow that it is quite killed in thee Thou must learn to put a difference betwixt no grace and grace some way infeebled for the present It fares with grace in the hearts of many of Gods children as it doth with the Moon somtimes in the full and somtimes in the wain or as with the Sea which somtimes flowes and sometimes ebbs even so through Satans malice and our own frailtie grace may seem somtime to ebbe in us and then no wonder if the heart be deaded and out inward peace disturbed through feares and doubtings Assure thy selfe this off and on this up and down this heat and cold ariseth from those principles of grace and corruption abiding in all the Lords people Corruption somtimes prevailes and this royles and troubles these living waters within us and makes them thick and muddy so as little good appeares in us but anon when the wind of the spirit blowes againe with its holy blast it cleanseth and refineth these troubled waters whose cleernesse may again be seen and whose goodnesse may be tasted Object But my case is worse then ordinary for I have returned with the dogge to lick up my old vomit after repenting and cleansing yea covenanting with God for ever to renounce and abandon my former sinnes I have with the swine wallowed in the old mire of filthinesse and therefore I cannot think that ever grace was in truth begun in mee Answ If it be so thy case is the more lamentable and fearefull but yet it is not desperate For divers of the Lords people many worthie ones have relapsed have fallen back unto old sinnes and yet by the goodnesse and mercie of God have recovered themselves againe and gained the love and favor of God Did not Abraham sinne the matter of Sarah his wife hazarding her chastitie by a poore plot yea a sinfull pollicie exposing his wife to adultrey for his own outward peace