A75287:2195
Media: the middle things, in reference to the first and last things: or, The…
Media: the middle things, in reference to the first and last things: or, The means, duties, ordinances, both secret, private and public, for continuance and increase of a godly life, once begun, till we come to Heaven. Wherein are discovered many blessed medium's or duties, in their right method, manner and proceedings; that so a Christian (the spirit of Christ assisting) may walk on in the holy path, which leads from his new birth to everlasting life. / Drawn, for the most part, out of the most eminently pious, and learned writings of our native practical divines: with additionals of his own, by Isaac Ambrose, minister of the Gospel at Preston in Amoundernes.Media: the middle things, in reference to the first and last things: or, The means, duties, ordinances, both secret, private and publike, for continuance and increase of a godly life, once begun, till we come to Heaven. Wherein are discovered many blessed medium's or duties, in their right method, manner and proceedings; that so a Christian (the spirit of Christ assisting) may walk on in the holy path, which leads from his new birth to everlasting life. / Drawn, for the most part, out of the most eminently pious, and learned writings of our native practical divines: with additionals of his own, by Isaac Ambrose, minister of the Gospel at Preston in Amoundernes.
London: printed by John Field for Nathanael Webb and William Grantham, 1649London: printed by John Field for Nathanaell Webb and William Grantham, 1649
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
12. By the help of the Spirit: It is the Spirit that helps our infirmities (saith Paul) 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; q.d. when we put forth the graces of the Spirit in us, then the Spirit comes and helps, and what comes from us now, it comes from the breathings of the Spirit. This helping of the Spirit] is very Emphatical in the Original; as a man taking up an heavy piece of timber by the one end, cannot alone get it up, till some other man takes it up at the other end, and so helps him: So the poor soul that is a pulling and tugging with his own heart, he finds it heavy and dull, like a log in a ditch, and he can do no good with it, till at last the Spirit of God comes at the other end, and takes the heaviest end of the burden, and so helps the soul to lift it up. In our prayers we should eye the Spirit of God, we should cast our souls upon the assistance of the Spirit, we should press the Lord with this Promise, Lord, thou hast said, that thy Spirit helps our infirmities, when we know not what we pray for, nor how to pray for any thing as we ought: Now make good this word of thine to my soul at this time, let me have the breathings of the Spirit of God in me; alas, the breathings of man, if it come from gifts and parts, thou wilt never regard, except there be the breathings of the holy Ghost in me.
12. By the help of the Spirit: It is the Spirit that helps our infirmities (saith Paul) 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; q.d. when we put forth the graces of the Spirit in us, then the Spirit comes and helps, and what comes from us now, it comes from the breathings of the Spirit. This helping of the Spirit] is very Emphatical in the Original; as a man taking up an heavy piece of timber by the one end, cannot alone get it up, till some other man takes it up at the other end, and so helps him: So the poor soul that is a pulling and tugging with his own heart, he findes it heavy and dull, like a log in a ditch, and he can do no good with it, till at last the Spirit of God comes at the other end, and takes the heaviest end of the burthen, and so helps the soul to lift it up. In our prayers we should eye the Spirit of God, we should cast our souls upon the assistance of the Spirit, we should press the Lord with this Promise, Lord, thou hast said, that thy Spirit helps our infirmities, when we know not what we pray for, nor how to pray for any thing as we ought: Now make good this word of thine to my soul at this time, let me have the breathings of the Spirit of God in me; alas, the breathings of man, if it come from gifts and parts, thou wilt never regard, except there be the breathings of the holy Ghost in me.