Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	free_a	life_n	sin_n	5,436	5	4.6243	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62632	Several discourses viz. Of the great duties of natural religion. Instituted religion not intended to undermine natural. Christianity not destructive; but perfective of the law of Moses. The nature and necessity of regeneration. The danger of all known sin. Knowledge and practice necessary in religion. The sins of men not chargeable on God. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late lord arch-bishop of Canterbury. Being the fourth volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.; White, Robert, 1600-1690, engraver.	1697 (1697)	Wing T1261A; ESTC R221745	169,748	495

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that is whereas the Law left Sinners as to those Sins which stood most in need of pardon under a Curse having provided no expiation for them Christ hath redeemed them from that Curse by making a general expiation for Sin and in this sense it is that the Author to the Hebrews says Ch. 9. 15. that Christ died for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Covenant that is for those Sins for which the Covenant of the Law had provided no way of forgiveness and therefore St. John says emphatically 1 Joh. 1. 7. that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Thirdly The Law did not afford sufficiently plain and certain Rules and Directions for a good Life As the corruption and degeneracy of Mankind grew worse so the light of Nature waxed dimmer and dimmer and the Rule of Good and Evil was more doubtful and uncertain and that in very considerable instances of our Duty The Law of Moses was peculiar to the Jews and even to them who only had the benefit and advantage of it it did not give clear and perfect light and direction as to Moral Duties and those things which are of an Eternal and Immutable Reason and Goodness And therefore our Saviour in this Sermon explains it to a greater perfection than it was understood to have among the Jews or the letter of it seemed to intend and hath not only forbidden several things permitted by that Law as Divorce and Retaliation of Injuries but hath heightned our Duty in several instances of it requiring us to love our Enemies and to forgive the greatest injuries and provocations tho' never so often repeated and not only not to revenge them but to requite them with good turns which were not understood by Mankind to be Laws before but yet when duly consider'd are very agreeable to right Reason and the sense of the wisest and b●st Men. So that the Christian Religion ●ath not only fixt and determined our Duty and brought it to a greater certainty but hath raised it to a greater perfection and rendered it every way fit to bring the Minds of Men to a more Divine temper and a more reasonable and perfect way of serving God than ever the World was instructed in before Fourthly The Promises and Threatnings of the Law were only of temporal good and evil things which are in comparison of the endless Rewards and Punishments of another World but very languid and faint Motives to obedience Not but that the Jews under the Law had such apprehensions of their own Immortality and of a future state of Happiness and Misery after this Life as Natural Light suggested to them which was in most but a wavering and uncertain perswasion and consequently of small efficacy to engage Men to their Duty but the Law of Moses added little or nothing to the clearness of those Natural Notions concerning a future state and the strengthning of this perswasion in the Minds of Men it did rather suppose it than give any new force and life to it And for this Reason more particularly the Apostle tells us that the Law was but weak to make Men good because it did not work strongly enough upon the hopes and fears of Men by the weight of its Promises and the terrour of its Threatnings and that for this weakness and imperfection of it it was removed and a more powerful and awakening dispensation brought in in the place of it Heb. 7. 18 19. For there is verily a disannulling of the Commandment that was before that is of the Jewish Law for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did that is the Covenant of the Gospel which promiseth Eternal Life And Ch. 8. 6. for this Reason more especially the Apostle says that Christ had obtained a more excellent Ministry being the Mediator of a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises And Rom. 1. 16 18. St. Paul tell us that for this Reason the Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation because therein the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. The clear Revelation of a Future Judgment was that which made the Gospel so proper and so powerful an Instrument for the Salvation of Men. The great impiety of Mankind and their impenitency in it was not so much to be wondred at before while the World was in a great measure ignorant of the infinite danger of a wicked Life and therefore God is said in some sort to overlook it but now he commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. The clear discovery and perfect assurance of a future Judgment calls loudly upon all Men to leave their Sins and turn to God Fifthly The Covenant of the Law had no spiritual Promises contained in it of the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit for the mortifying of Sin and enabling Men to their Duty and supporting them under Sufferings but the Gospel is full of clear and express Promises to this purpose Our Saviour hath assured us that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. and this the Apostle tells us is actually confer'd upon all true Christians those who do sincerely embrace and believe the Gospel Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Hence the Gospel is call'd by the same Apostle the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus v. 2d of that Chap. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and in the next words he tells us that herein manifestly appeared the weakness of the Law that it left Men destitute of this mighty help and advantage at least as to any special promise of it What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by making him a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is that that Righteousness which the Law aimed at and signified but was too weak to effect might be really accomplisht in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who are acted and assisted by a higher and better Principle than Men either have in Nature or the carnal dispesnation of the Law did endow Men withall And because of this great defect the Law is said to be a state of Bondage and Servitude and on the contrary

and Rules to live by he cannot but be greatly displeased at the violation and transgression of them and certainly the displeasure of God is the most dreadful thing in the World and the effects of it the most insupportable The greatest fear is from the greatest danger and the greatest danger is from the greatest power offended and enraged and this is a Consideration exceeding full of terror that by a sinful Course we expose our selves to the utmost displeasure of the great and terrible God for who knows the power of his wrath and who may stand before him when once he is angry According to thy fear so is thy wrath saith the Psalmist There is no passion in the Mind of Man that is more boundless and infinite than our fear it is apt to make wild and frightful representations of Evils and to imagine them many times greater than really they are but in this Case our imagination must fall short of the truth and terrour of the thing for the wrath of God doth far exceed the utmost jealousie and suspicion of the most fearful and guilty Conscience and the greatest Sinner under his greatest anguish and despair cannot apprehend or fear it more than there is Reason for according to thy fear so is thy wrath If it were only the wrath and displeasure of Men that the Sinner were exposed to there might be reason enough for fear because they have many times power enough to crush an O●fender and cruelty enough to fret every vein of his Body and to torment him in every part but the wrath and vengeance of Men bears no Comparison with the wrath of God● Their passions are many times strong and blustering but their arm is but short and their power small they have not an arm like God nor can they thunder with a voice like him They may design considerable harm and mischief to us but it is not always in the power of their hand to wreak their Malice upon us and to execute all the mischief which their enraged Minds may prompt them to the very utmost they can design is to torment our Bodies and to take away our Lives and when they have designed this they may die first and return to their dust and then their thoughts perish with them and all their malicious Designs are at an end they are always under the Power and Government of a Superiour Being and can go no further than he gives them leave However if they do their worst and shoot all their Arrows at us we cannot stand at the Mark long their wrath will soon make an end of us and set us free from all their Cruelty and Oppression they can but kill the Body and after that they have no more that they can do their most refined Malice cannot reach our Spirits no Weapon that can be formed by the utmost art of Man can pierce and wound our Souls they can drive us out of this World but they cannot pursue us into the other so that at the worst the Grave will be a Sanctuary to us and Death a safe Retreat from all their Rage and Fury But the wrath of God is not confined by any of these limits Once hath God spoken saith David by an Elegant Hebrew Phrase to express the certainty of the thing once hath God spoken and twice I have heard this that power belongs to God Psal 62. 11. He hath a Mighty Arm and when he pleaseth to stretch it out none may stay it nor say unto him what dost thou he hath power enough to make good all his threatnings whatever he says he is able to effect and whatever he purposeth he can bring to pass for his Counsel shall stand and he will accomplish all his pleasure he need but speak the word and it is done for we can neither resist his Power nor flye from it if we flye to the utmost parts of the Earth his hand can reach us for in his hand are all the corners of the Earth if we take refuge in the Grave and we cannot do that without his leave thither his wrath can follow us and there it will overtake us for his power is not confined to this World nor limited to our Bodies after he hath kill'd he can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell And this is that wrath of God which is revealed from Heaven and which the Apostle chiefly intends viz. the Misery and Punishment of another World this God hath threatned Sinners withall to express which to us as fully as words can do he heaps up in the next Chapter so many weighty and terrible words indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil in opposition to that great and glorious Reward of immortality and eternal life which is promised to a patient continuance in well-doing So that the wrath of God which is here denounced against the impiety and unrighteousness of Men comprehends all the Evils and Miseries of this and the other World which every Sinner is in danger of whilst he continues impenitent for as according to the tenour of the Gospel Godliness hath the promise of this Life and of that which is to come so impenitency in Sin exposeth Men to the Evils of both Worlds to the Judgments of the Life that now is and to the endless and intolerable torments of that which is to come And what can be more dreadful than the displeasure of an Almighty and Eternal Being who can punish to the utmost and who lives for ever to execute his wrath and vengeance upon Sinners so that well might the Apostle say it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Consider this all ye that forget God that neglect him and live in continual disobedience to his Holy and Righteous Laws much more those who despise and affront him and live in a perpetual defiance of him Will ye provoke the Lord to jealousie are ye stronger than ●e Think of it seriously and forget him if you can despise him if you dare consider this lest he take you into consideration and rouze like a Lion out of sleep and tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver This is the first Observation the infinite danger that a wicked and sinful Course doth expose Men to the wrath of God which doth not only signifie more than all the Evils that we know but than all those which the wildest fears and suspicions of our Minds can imagine Secondly The next thing observable is the clear and undoubted Revelation which the Gospel hath made of this danger the wrath of God is revealed c. By which the Apostle intimates to us that this was but obscurely known to the World before at least in Comparison of that clear discovery which the Gospel hath now made of it so that I may allude to that expression in Job which he applies to Death and the Grave that Hell is naked before us and destruction hath no covering

and virtue is able to withstand But where Men are sincerely good and honestly resolv'd the Providence of God doth ward off these fierce blows and put by these violent thrusts and by a secret disposal of things keep them from being assaulted by these irresistible kinds of temptations The Consideration whereof as it is a great encouragement to Men to be sincerely good so likewise a great Argument for a continual dependance upon the Providence of God and to take us off from confidence in our selves and our own strength And this use the Apostle makes of it 1 Cor. 10. 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth that is confident that nothing shall be able to shake him or throw him down take heed lest he fall there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but what is humane nothing but what an humane strength assisted by an ordinary grace of God may be able to resist and Conquer But there are greater and more violent temptations than these which you have not yet been tried with and when those happen we must have recourse to God for an extraordinary assistance And this is the Second way I mention'd whereby the Providence of God does secure good Men in case of extraordinary temptations which no humane strength can probably resist And this the same Apostle assures us of in the very next words God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it That is in case of great and violent temptations such as the Christians in the height of their Persecutions were exposed to God will secretly minister strength and support equal to the force and power of the temptation And this God did in an extraordinary manner to the Christian Martyrs and that to such a degree as made them joyfully to embrace their Sufferings and with the greatest chearfulness in the world to endure those torments which no humane patience was able to bear And where God doth thus secure Men against temptations or support them under them it is no reflection at all upon the goodness or justice of his Providence to permit them to be thus tempted Secondly God permits others to be thus tempted by way of Judgment and Punishment for some former great Sins and Provocations which they have been guilty of And thus many times God punisheth great and notorious Offenders by permitting them to fall into great temptations which meeting with a vicious disposition are likely to be too hard for them especially considering how by a long habit of wickedness and wilful commission of great and notorious Sins they have made themselves an easie prey to every temptation and have driven the Spirit of God from them and deprived themselves of tho●e aids and restraints of his Grace which he ordinarily affords not only to good Men but likewise to those who are not very bad And thus God is said to have hardened Pharaoh by those Plagues and Judgments which he sent upon him and his Kingdom But if we carefully read the Story it is said that he first harden'd himself and then that God hardened him that is he being hardened under the first Judgments of God God sent more which meeting with his obstinacy had this unnatural effect upon him to harden him yet more not that God did infuse any wickedness or obstinacy into him but by his just Judgments sent more Plagues upon him which hardened him yet more and which were likely to have that effect upon him considering the ill temper of the Man And it was just by way of punishment that they should And so likewise Joshua 11. 19 20. it is said that the Cities of the Canaanites did not make peace with Joshua because it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in Battel that he might destroy them utterly that is for their former iniquities the measure whereof was now full the Providence of God did justly bring them into and leave them under those Circumstances which made them obstinate against all terms of Peace and this proved fatal to them And in the like sense we are to understand several other expressions in Scripture which likewise might seem very harsh As Isaiah 6. 10. Make the heart of this People fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed all which expressions signifie no more but that God for the former provocations and impenitency of that People did leave them to their own hardness and blindness so that they did not desire to understand and make use of the means of their recovery So likewise Rom. 1. 24. God is said to have given up the idolatrous Heathen to uncleanness to vile and unnatural lusts and Ver. 28. to a reprobate and injudicious Mind that is as a punishment of their Idolatry he left them to the power of those temptations which betrayed them to the vilest lusts And to mention but one Text more 2 Thes 2. 11. the Apostle threatens those that rejected the truth that for this cause God would send them strong delusions the efficacy of error that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness that is as a just punishment for their renouncing the truth God gave them over to the power of delusion their error had its full scope at them to tempt them with all its colours and pretences But it is observable that in all these places which I have mention'd God is said to give Men up to the power of temptation as a punishment of some former great Crimes and Provocations And it is not unjust with God thus to deal with Men to leave them to the power of temptation when they had first wilfully forsaken him and in this case God doth not tempt Men to Sin but leaves them to themselves to be tempted by their own hearts lusts and if they yield and are Conquered it is their own fault because they have neglected God's grace whereby they might have been able to have resisted those temptations and have forced his holy Spirit to withdraw himself from them and to leave them open and naked to those assaults of temptation against which they might otherwise have been sufficiently armed Thirdly The last end of temptation which I mentioned is to try Men with a direct purpose and intention to seduce Men to Sin Thus wicked Men tempt others and thus the Devil tempts Men. Thus he tempted our first Parents and seduced them from their Obedience and Allegiance to God Thus he tempted Job by bringing him into those Circumstances which were very likely to have forc'd him into impatience and discontent And thus he tempted our blessed Saviour but found

that our own Age did not afford us too many instances of this kind of such forward and expert Sinners as need no Tempter either to instruct or excite them to that which is evil Now in this Case the Devil betakes himself to other Persons and removes his Snares and Baits where he thinks there is more need and occasion for them So that we may reasonably conclude that there is a great deal of wickedness committed in the World which the Devil hath no immediate hand in tho' he always rejoyceth in it when it is done and that there is a great deal more reason to attribute all good to the Motions and Operations of the Spirit of God than to ascribe all Sin and wickedness in the World to the Devil because the Spirit of God is more powerful and is always every where and is more intent upon his design and as forward to promote it as the Devil can be to carry on his work nay I doubt not but he is more active to excite Men to good than the Devil can be to tempt them to Evil. And yet for all this I think there is no great reason to doubt but that good Men do many good actions of their own inclination without any special and immediate motion from the Spirit of God They are indeed at first regenerate and sanctified by the Holy Ghost and are continually afterwards under the conduct of the same Spirit but where there is a new Nature it is of it self inclinable to that which is good and will bring forth fruits and do actions answerable Much less do I think that the Devil tempts every Man to all the evil that he does or the greatest part When the Lusts of Men and the habits of Vice are grown strong and confirmed the Devil may spare his temptations in a great measure for after wicked Men are wound up to such a pitch of impiety they will go a great while of themselves I have done with the first Observation that as the Apostle acquits God from having any hand in tempting Men to Sin so neither does he ascribe the efficacy and prevalency of temptation to the Devil I proceed to the Second Observation That he ascribes the efficacy and success of temptation to the lusts and vicious inclinations of Men which seduce them to a consent and compliance with the temptations which are offered to them Every Man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed We have many powerful Enemies but we are much more in danger of treachery from within than of assaults from without All the power of our Enemies could not destroy us if we were but true to our selves so that the Apostle had great reason to ascribe the efficacy of temptation to the irregular desires and vicious inclinations of Men rather than to those temptations which the Providence of God permits them to be assaulted with and consequently to lay the blame of Mens Sins chiefly upon themselves And that chiefly upon these two accounts First Because the Lusts of Men are in a great measure voluntary Secondly God hath put it in our power to resist these temptations and overcome them Now so far as the Lusts of Men are voluntary it is their own fault that they are seduced by them and if God hath put it in our power to resist and overcome temptations we may blame our selves if we be overcome and foiled by them First The Lusts of Men are in a great measure voluntary By the Lusts of Men I mean their irregular desires and vicious inclinations I grant that the Nature of Man is very much corrupted and degenerated from its Primitive Integrity and Perfection● but we who are Christians have received that grace in Baptism whereby our Natures are so far healed as if we be not wanting to our selves and do not neglect the means which God hath appointed to us we may mortifie our Lusts and live a new Life so that if our Lusts remain unmortified we our selves are in fault much more if they gain new strength and proceed to habits for this could not be if we did not after we come to Age and are able to discern between and to chuse good and evil voluntarily consent to Iniquity and by wilful and deliberate Practice of known Sins improve the evil inclinations of our Nature into vicious habits but if instead of mortifying and subduing the evil propensions of our Nature which is no very difficult work to most persons if they begin it betimes we will cherish and give new Life and Power to them we forfeit the grace which we received in Baptism and bring our selves again under the Power and Dominion of Sin and no wonder then if our Lusts seduce us and make us ready to comply with the temptations of the World and the Devil Nay and after this it is still our own fault if we do not mortifie our Lusts for if we would hearken to the Counsel of God and obey his Calls to Repentance and sincerely beg his Grace and Holy Spirit to this purpose we might yet recover our selves and by the Spirit mortify the L●sts of the Flesh for tho' we have left God he hath not quite forsaken us but is ready to afford his Grace again to us tho' we have neglected and abused it and to give his Holy Spirit to those that ask him tho' they have forfeited it so that tho' our Lusts spring from something which is Natural yet that they live and have dom●●ion over us is voluntary because we ●ight Remedy it if we would and make use of those Means which God in the Gospel offers to us Secondly God hath put it in our power to resist these temptations and overcome them so that it is our own fault if we yield to them and be overcome by them It is naturally in our power to resist ma●y sorts of temptations and the grace of God if we do not neglect it and be not wanting to ou● selves puts it into our power to resist any temptation that may happen to us First It is naturally in our power to resist many sorts of temptations If we do but make use of our Natural Reason and those Considerations which are common and obvious to Men we may easily resist the temptations to a great many Sins Some Sins are so horrid in their Nature that when we have the strongest temptatio●s to them we cannot but have a natural aversion from them as deliberate Murder the danger and guilt whereof are both so great as make it easie for any considerate Man to resist the strongest temptation to it even that of revenge A plain act of injustice whether by great fraud or by down right oppression is so base and disgraceful so odious and abhorred by humane Nature that it is not difficult to a Man that hath but a common understanding and common inclination to be honest to overcome the greatest temptation of gain and advantage nay he must offer