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	authority_n	moses_n	128	3	7.6579	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56715	Two sermons : one against murmuring, the other against censuring preached at St. Paul's Covent-Garden / by S. Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.; Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. Sermon against murmuring.; Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. Sermon against censuring.	1689 (1689)	Wing P863; ESTC R5051	36,605	72

had taken less pains in his business which they thought to be unequal 2. Others we find murmuring because they seemed to be neglected while great care was taken of their Neighbours So we read in Act. VI. 1. That there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their Widows were neglected in the daily ministration 3. Others murmured at such Doctrines as they did not relish finding fault with them as the manner is before they understood them Joh. VI. 60 61. Many of his disciples when they heard that said This is an hard saying who can hear it And when Jesus knew that they murmured at it he said Doth this offend you that is Turn you away from me As much as to say there is no cause for it the fault is in your selves and not in me or my Doctrine 4. Another sort murmur because all do not consent to their little Opinions and comply with their Customs As the Pharisees did at the Disciples of Christ because they transgressed the tradition of the Elders and did not wash their hands before they sat down to eat Mat. XXV 2. And because they pluck'd the Ears of Corn and rubb'd them in their hands on the Sabbath-day Luke VI. 1. All which I pass over with the bare mention of them because that 's sufficient for my purpose Which is to shew that any thing we dislike because it is not according to our Fancy Opinion Humour Inclination or Interest may be the matter of murmuring and complaint Whereby we reflect very reproachfully upon God and his Providence and sometimes upon those who are God's Ministers or upon our innocent Brethren who may have good warrant for that which we condemn And now from what hath been said it will be easie to show from whence this murmuring humour proceeds which is the second thing I propounded and may soon be dispatch'd Secondly 1. For it is evident it proceeds from false Opinions and wrong Notions of things which must be examined and corrected or else there will be no cure for it Hence it was that the Scribes and Pharisees murmured because our Saviour and his Disciples did freely eat with publicans and sinners Luke V. 30. not considering that the whole needed not a physician but the sick And that he came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance The other Jews had done the same upon other occasions before-mentioned but very unreasonably and unjustly as they might have understood if instead of murmuring they would have pondered his Instructions They murmured at him saith St. John VI. 41. because he said I am the bread which came down from heaven But why did they not rather complain as Musculus glosses upon those words that they could not understand things of such weight and necessity Why did they not pray to be enlightned from above and desire him to instruct them more clearly in these matters This had become Men of sense But in this we see the Genius not only of Judaical but of all carnal Minds who sooner murmur against the Truth they do not understand than accuse the grossness of their own Hearts and pray to God for the Gift of right Understanding and of Faith. If they had understood in what sense he said he came down from Heaven they would not have murmured and therefore they ought to have desired to be instructed in the sense of his words and not have murmured at that which they did not understand But thus it fares as I said with the Doctrine of Christ that it sooner finds those that dislike it and condemn it before they know it than hearts that desire rightly to understand it and to embrace it when it is understood Thus he 2. It arises also from impatience of any Troubles or Inconveniences which commonly attend our Condition here in this World or which arise from our present Circumstances as we see in the History of the Hebrew Nation before-mentioned whose case this was upon several occasions 3. From Pride and Ambition Envy and Malignity of Spirit as in the case of Corah Dathan and Abiram who imagined themselves to be altogether as deserving as Moses and Aaron and to have as much right as they to that Authority which they pretended those great Ministers of God had usurped over the People 4. Sometimes from Luxury and Wantonness as when the Israelites murmured because they had not such dainty Food as they looked for though they were otherwise plentifully and miraculously fed with Manna from Heaven which they were cloyed withal and loathed Numb XI 5. Sometimes or rather always from unthankfulness for the great Mercies we enjoy which are in all Conditions so many that they might well silence all unmannerly Complaints did we but take the pains to lay those Blessings to heart Especially if we compared them with the bad Condition wherein we have sometimes been or deserve to be if we be not more grateful than to complain in a better This was also the case of the whole Hebrew Nation in the Wilderness who forgat the Works of God and remembred not the Wonders he had done for them nor the Evils from which he had delivered them and so fell into fits of discontent upon every occasion And it is the case of all other Men who are guilty of this sin at this day For as Oecumenius notes upon those words of the Apostle Do all things without murmurings and disputing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. II. 14. He that murmurs is unthankful unto God and he that is unthankful speaks hardly of him 6. Sometimes from vile Covetousness though covered under specious pretences as when Judas the Traitor murmured at the waste of the precious Ointment poured on our Saviour which he would have had sold that the Money might have come into his pocket Lastly From want of a lively faith in God and in his good Providence which was the sin of the old Israelites also who murmured saying Can God furnish a table in the wilderness Behold he clave the rock that the waters gushed out Can he give bread also Can he provide flesh for his people Psal LXXVIII 19 20. The former instances of his Power did not breed such a Confidence in him as they should have wrought in their Hearts but they still distrusted him whom they could not but acknowledge had done things as wonderful for them as those which they further desired And thus Origen observes upon Exod. XVI it is common among Men to murmur if the Weather be not seasonable if the Years be not so fruitful as they were wont to be nay if every thing do not fall out according to their Wishes and Expectations That is we would have no trials of our Faith and Patience and submission to God but a constant stream of prosperous successes just according to our own Contrivances or Hearts Desires Which is a very dangerous distemper of Mind which must be cured by removing these Causes from whence it proceeds There is

not the like danger it must be acknowledged in every one of them but none of them are safe and therefore we ought to seek after a speedy remedy It makes a considerable difference in this case who it is that murmurs against whom and for what cause If he be a Subject who hath received great Benefits if it be against him to whom he owes much and therefore ought to love and praise if it be for a trifling or a tolerable cause much more if Thanks ought rather to be rendred than Complaints made it is a most detestable sort of murmuring as the good Man before-named Musculus hath observed It is also much to be considered from whence this Vice arises whether from meer impatience of some Loss or Inconvenience or from Pride Contempt Indignation and Envy For though it be vicious in it self to murmur against a Superiour yet it is a less fault if it arise from some damage a Man hath received of which he is impatient than it would be if it proceed from Pride Contempt and a Spirit of Envy such as was in Corah Dathan and Abiram against Moses and Aaron and in the false Apostles and their Sectaries among the Corinthians who murmured and spake against St. Paul. The first Christians had some among them as you have heard who murmured because their Widows were neglected in the Provision which was daily made for the Poor but it was neither out of Pride nor Contempt nor Envy but from meer Impatience of the grievance it was to them to see those for whom they had a special concern not so much minded as others who had no more need than they that were neglected Every Eye can discern the difference between these murmurings which are not all of equal guilt yet none of them free from blame nor without danger if we do not apply our selves with all diligence to the proper means of curing our Minds of this distemper Unto which that I may awaken you I shall now proceed to consider the reason we have to obey this Apostolical Precept and no longer give way to a discontented humour which is the third thing I undertook in the beginning and may help to remove the Causes of this Disease if we well weigh the Mischiefs it doth Thirdly 1. And here let it be considered that this is a most uncomfortable condition and puts the Soul into such disorders that if it did no other hurt it ought on this account to be avoided For who is there that allows himself in this humour of discontented murmuring either at the publick state of things or his own private condition that truly enjoys any part of those Blessings which are fallen to his share in this World His Spirit is so fowred by it that he can relish nothing though in it self never so pleasant he is poor and miserable in the midst of abundance wanting not only that which he hath not but even that which he hath He takes no satisfaction in any thing though God's bounty hath bestowed perhaps variety of Blessings upon him for this humour will let him take no notice of them but only of that which is grievous to him By this means he possesses nothing no not himself his Soul being carried away in a hurry by things without him he knows not whither He is seldom at home and when he is he finds nothing there but disorders tumults and disquiets of Mind such a confusion of Thoughts as hurries him away again from himself and that many times into dangerous adventures Who would indulge then such a temper of Mind as spoils all our Comforts even that Satisfaction which we should find in our own serious thoughts 2. But it is not meerly an uncomfortable condition it is also very sinful For it proceeds as you have heard from several other sins and it is the cause also of many more both of sins of omission and sins of commission as we commonly distinguish them 1. First of innumerable sins of Omission in not recounting the multitude of God's Mercies bestowed upon us in not pondering the greatness of them and our own unworthiness to enjoy them in not giving perpetual thanks for them neither calling to Mind all the Evils from which we have been preserved or delivered nor so much as taking notice of all the Blessings we daily receive which call for our most grateful acknowledgments For they who are given to murmuring seldom reflect as we find by the Israelites upon the Obligations they have to God though never so great never so wonderful they forget how he hath saved them from the dreadful dangers which they feared or delivered them from the heavy burdens which oppressed them and mind only what they at present desire or dislike Which wrought the Israelites into such a very bad temper of Mind that they were never pleased No better pleased out of Egypt than when they were in it for they murmured as much or more after their Deliverance as they did before and I do not find they were better satisfied in Canaan than they had been either in Egypt or in the Wilderness for they carried their ungrateful Mind along with them thither And Men can be pleased no where in no condition unless they have a due Sense of God and of his Goodness and be truly affected with his benefits 2. As for the Sins of Commission they are no less numerous such as envious distractions evil surmisings rash censurings lying defamations and sometimes Injustice Oppression Extortion if not downright Robberies which are the common Effects of Mens discontented repining at their own private condition And when they are discontented with the publick State of Affairs thence proceed evil speakings clamor revilings variance strife contention quarreling and many times higher degrees of all these Sins such as speaking evil of dignities c. For by discontent Men exasperate their own Spirits and by Complaints and Murmurings they exasperate Others unto unruly Passions which increase into undutiful Practices which break out at last into publick Disturbances And how many mischiefs Men are wont to draw upon themselves by that means I shall not now say because my present business is to shew only the sinfulness of a Murmuring Spirit But the next particular will make you sensible of that also when I have added to this these two Considerations 1. First That a murmuring humour puts us into a temper of Mind directly contrary to the Christian Spirit which consists in such an happy frame of Mind as makes us rejoice in God always and administer all the Joy and Comfort we are able one to another For the kingdom of God saith St. Paul is Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. XIV 17. Where by Joy is not meant only the joy we feel in our own Hearts from a sence of God's love to us but that which we give to one another by our friendly agreement So St. Chrysostom and from him Oecumenius interprets the Words A Vertuous Life