Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	aaron_n	apostle_n	gift_n	31	3	6.5811	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61501	Trias sacra, a second ternary of sermons preached being the last (and best) monuments that are likely to be made publique of that most learned, pious and eminent Dr. Richard Stuart ...	Steward, Richard, 1593?-1651.	1659 (1659)	Wing S5528; ESTC R34608	46,631	180

these may love our Nation perhaps they may build or endow Synagogues they may give gifts even beyond the lists of a free mind and become prodigal in their charity and yet when their goodly buildings fare now finished their large possessions firmly conveigh'd in stead o being the Serv●…ants of God become no better than the Slaves of their own ●…ain Glory with those founders of Babel Come let us build and get a name say they I they respect their name more than God and desire more to live in the peoples applause than with Gods approbation But can such a mans works do good to others and yet in themselves be evill may a man erect Temples to the honour of God houses for the education of his Prophets may he give his bread to the hungry and clothes to them who are naked and yet all these goodly deeds be counted reprobate not so much as to be termed good works Can a man in the same Act be both a Benefactour and a Sinner My Text decides it so for it expects in our good works that they be as well fruits as gifts as well the fruits of faith as the gifts of fortune If a man give Almes to the poor not so much to expresse his duty to God as to winne applause from spectatours this Action may possibly be termed a good gift but it is no good fruit T is a good Gift because it gave ease perhaps to his poverty who received it 'T is no good Fruit because the tree was evill it grew not upon a right stock it proceeded not from his faith but his vain Glory 'T is an old rule and allowed by him who is Truth it self the tree is known by his fruit but I must now invert the Maxim and tell you the fruit is known by the tree For here it is so Would ye find the difference between Cains offering and that of Abels look not so much upon their Sacrifices as upon themselves The elder brought the encrease of his ground the younger of his Cattell both alike perhaps in worth and estimation had they been to have been sold in the market And yet there was as great a difference in their works as in their persons as great a disproportion in their Religious offices as there was between Abel a Saint and Cain a murtherer My Apostle hath penn'd the difference in the 11th to the Hebrew●… at the 4th verse And as the example is there related it seems as happily suitable to this point as to his conclusion By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain See here the exact perfection of a true good work He offered Sacrifice a Gift there 's the matter whereof it consisted but he offered it by faith saith the Text and therefore it was fruit too and that 's the root from whence it took life His Cattel made the work a gift but his faith made it fruit In Cains Sacrifice the case was otherwise He came to the Altar like him in the Gospell unto the Kings Table who came in as a man onely not as a guest for his marriage-robe was wanting he had not on a wedding garment so Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and probably his Sheaves might be as well grown in their kinds as Abels Lambs how be it his Sacrifice proved a gift onely it was no fruit why because he who wants the root of faith can never offer the fruit of good works Cain a reprobate may seem perhaps liberal before men he cannot be fruitfull before God That of David at first hearing may seem harsh and improbable Thou desirest no Sacrifice else would ●… give it thee thou delightest not in burnt-offerings 't is in the 51 Psalm at the 16. verse What is God himself now become mutable is his mind changed doth his law so strickly enjoyn Sacrifices and yet in Davids time doth he not desire them was the priesthood of Aaron at an end before that of Christ began The sequel answers and Satisfieth the doubt The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit For now me thinks he speaks there in the Kingly Prophet neither more nor lesse than what he hath here intimated by his great Apostle I desire no Sacrifice that is I desire not a bare gift onely what make your Cattel at the door of my Sarctuary while your hears run on whoring after strange Gods Indeed I have commanded that beasts should beslain but whiles their bodies are ●…orn your hearts should be rent too I desire not those naked Gifts but I desire Fruit a broken and contrite Spirit I desire repentance the fruit of faith Adde this Salt unto your Sacrifice and then come offer as much sacrifice as you will make my Altars grow fat with offerings weary my Levites let my Priests faint through the multitude of your oblations offer up the fruit of your ground the encrease of your Cattel Tythe mint and cumins 'T is acknowledged these gifts ought to be done but withall remember Iustice and Iudgment remember to break and rent your hearts these fruits must not be left undone Will you see the Gospell exemplifie this truth attend our Saviour into the Temple and with him behold the Jews casting into the Treasury you may there fix your eye upon some long-rob'd Pharisee whose Phylacteries are so Spacious that they scarse leave any room for goodnesse and suddenly perceive his pride so super●…uously bountifull as if he came not to adore but to purchase a deity you may then descry a poor yet pious widdow whose bounty and living are of the same extent they both make but a farthing And then hear Christs censure of the oblations {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} This poor widdow here hath cast in more than they all How more than the Pharisee Can the truth it self be found at such a fault Can a farthing be more than thousands yes very well in account though not in quantity That which she did was a perfect good work her farthing was but a gift but the good intent the good mind wherewith she gave it was fruit That namely her farthing was the body onely but this to wit her true devotion was the soul of her Action This crown'd her good work Each of the rest gave a gift indeed perhaps rich and goodly but that was onely the carcase of a good work one to winne an opinion of Holinesse another of Magnificence but for fruit you can there expect none where there 's no Integrity And now Beloved judge ye whether is better living David then dead Goliah David is little but yet a perfect man Goliah is large and vast of bulk but yet no more than a Trunk So a Pharisees works may be goodly indeed and great in outward shew but yet dead in themselves because their hearts are uncircumcised Those of the widdow are lively and full of faith little but good works Didiciate Deus meus inter datum fructum discernere sayes S. Austin