Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A46743
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A practical exposition of the historical prophesie of Jonah delivering sundry brief notes in a cursory way concerning the mind of the Holy Ghost in the several passages. Imprimatur. June 5. 1665.
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Jemmat, William, 1596?-1678.
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1666
(1666)
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Wing J550B; ESTC R217032
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159,232
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228
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escape Be wise then and never go about to cover sin in an undue Use 2 way and manner Mark two things Away to hide sin Esa 30.1 1. Wo to them that cover with a covering but not of my Spirit that they may adde sin to sin namely by denying what they have done by excusing defending or putting it off to others or by close conveyance so did Adam in the Thicket and with his Fig-leaves A detestable sin as Job 31.33 If I covered my transgression as Adam by hiding my iniquity in my bosome 2. Blessed is the man whose sin is covered Psal 32.1 namely by justification under the mantle of Christs Righteousness when a soul takes warning and flees unto him for shelter and so the evil passeth away So the godly is said to hide himself from the Plague he fore-sees namely under the wings of the Almighty not from God but with God Psal 91.1 and Prov. 22.3 Ver. 8.9 10. Then said they unto him Tell us we pray thee for whose cause this evil is upon us what is thine Occupation and whence comest thou what is thy Country and of what people art thou And he said unto them I am an Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of Heaven which hath made the Sea and the dry Land Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him Why hast thou done this for the men knew that he had fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them Parts In these three Verses we have three things to be considered and improved 1. The humanity of these Mariners toward guilty Jonah ver 8.2 The Confession of Jonah upon the examination of the Mariners ver 9.3 The Mariners reverent respect of God and chiding of Jonah ver 10. For the first of these though the Mariners saw Jonah was taken tardy by a token from God himself yet they do not rashly fall foul upon him to rail at him or throw him overboard as some now-a-days would do but first they question him in many things that they may find out the truth to the bottom and so proceed judiciously in what is to be done as the God of Heaven shall will and declare to be his mind Mot. Be gentle to all even offenders Hearken Christians and learn humanity of these Heathens Be not rash and head-long toward any whom ye conceive to be offenders Though ye think ye have reason on your side yet take heed and question the matter a little farther Conjectures and probabilities there be and it is very likely there is a fault made but conjectures are uncertain and sometimes deceive and though a thing be likely to be true yet it may prove otherwise If it be true it is well done to enquire and find out the whole truth If false we avoid he sin and danger of rash judgment namely to be judged of the Lord. However deliberation will do well Which serves greatly to reprove those that are rash in punishing Use Reproof to the rash or harsh or in passing their Verdict upon persons accused either through an hasty spirit which Salomon saith exalteth folly or through intemperate zeal which exceeds the bounds of discretion Zealous we ought to be and it is good to be alway zealously affected but first be sure it be in a good matter Gal. 4.18 And offenders ought to be reproved or punished according to the merit of their cause but first be sure both of the fact and of the manner of doing and in what degree of wickedness the offence standeth Jonah shall be punished sufficiently but first he shall be questioned in many things what who whence what occupation and of what Country And we all know how passion is apt to exceed the measure of Reason and Equity Fiâ— upon rash and harsh Christians Especially toward strangers who in their suspicions or upon odd informations shew no moderation to accused Brethren but break out suddainly both to condemn and execute all in a fury and not only Brethren but Strangers who should be more pitied In some there is an enmity to Forraigners and if they offend them never so little they use them Rigorously Unjustly Tyrannically Yet these Mariners used Jonah courteously and gently though unknown to every of them and now designed by God as guilty unto punishment A shame to violent and unreasonable Christians who profess acquaintance with God Mostly where the life is questioned But the greatest sin is to be rash and violent in the matter of Life and Death Judges Jury-men Witnesses Officers of every sort should be very tender in this case and not rush head-long toward a sentence Consider the matter consult and give sentence Judg. 19.30 consider of it take advice and speak your mind when God was going to destroy Sodom he told Abraham he would first go down and see whether they had done altogether according to the cry of their sins Now be followers of God as dear Children saith the Apostle as otherwise so in this For the second I observe a two-fold confession that Jonah makes Gâ—n 18.11 Eph 5.1 1. Of his Faith ver 9. I am an Hebrew and fear the Lord the God of heaven 2. Of his Fault ver 10. He told them how he had fled from the presence of the Lord. For the Confession of Faith which Jonah makes it is like that of Paul in the like danger of ship-wrack Act. 27.23 This night there stood by me the Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve The Note to be observed is this It is the property of a good heart to own God however Note Own God however things go 1. In the midst of all his guiltiness though he hath sinned greatly as here Jonah he had not carried himself as one that feared the God of Heaven but the contray and now he might well be ashamed to say he feared the Goâ— of heaven But a believing heart knows no sin breaks off the relation between him and his God Though it make a great gash yet the wound is not mortal and all the breach will shortly be made up again as between God and Jonah Renewing of Repentance makes all well again 2. In the visible tokens of Gods displeasure for sin which at this time lay heavy upon Jonah and upon Heman Psal 88.1 A Believer hath got his Lesson by heart Hab. 3.2 that in wrath the Lord remembers mercy and that his anger is but as the waters of Noah soon passing away Esa 54.7 8 9. And he concludes here is a dark hour but the Sun will break forth again Sorrow may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning why because of the Covenant and Promises made to Believers and will hold at the lowest 3. In grievous Scourges which the hand of God hath laid upon him as here this destroying Tempest upon Jonah whose stiff and disobedient spirit was hereby broken that now he began to relent and yield to his great
awakened A sleeping Lion troubles not But when this begins to wamble then the Sea waxeth turbulent and dangerous Esa 57.20 21. The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Sometime the trouble enters in a Plague year sometime in the loss of a Dear Friend sometime in the approach of Death and sometime in other amazing occasions When ever God begins to reckon with a sinner or any way hides comfort from him on which he presumed now begins the Tempest to be black indeed A wounded spirit who can bear Let none therefore trust to the hardness or bigness of his spirit but learn to fear in a right and holy manner Use In vain to be hardned against God There is a false valour wherewith some set up their sails and swell above all reason against God his word and works It may be it lasteth for a long time till Death or in Death through self-delusion But this is not the way to prosper as to God and for safety to the Soul At farthest Job 9.4 Jer. 20.3 in the day of judgment he shall be Magor-Missabib fear round about astonied and swallowed up of despair The only safe way is to turn all Natural and worldly fear into Spiritual that is to fear God whom by sin we offended To take sin off the score by getting into Jesus Christ To follow the doggings of a guilty Conscience far enough namely to get washed in the Fountains of Israel By temporal judgments to take warning concerning eternal and prevent that great mischief Otherwise it is not a little tempest that will serve the turn or Pestilence or Pleurisie or the like but in Hell there will be seven times more vengeance yea seventy times seven All present Evils are nothing to this when God shall cast both Body and Soul into Hell therefore say I Fear him Luke 12.4 5. And if it be the right fear of God it will teach to depart from evil as Job Joseph and the Midwives of Egypt Job 28.28 It will introduce a real holiness Psal 111.10 It is the beginning of wisdâ—m And it will lead the man along in an holy way toward Perfection 2 Cor. 7.1 To perfect holiness in the fear of God Doctr. 2 2. Note how in great distress great sinners will pray after their fashion The worst will pray in great danger as these Heathenish Idolaters they knew there is a God and that he is to be called upon but let him alone till they be brought into this extremity of danger Notions of God and Prayer and Duty lie asleep in a natural man till roused by some extraordinary trouble and amazement Hos 5.15 In their affliction they will seek me early And here we see that when they miss of the true God they will betake themselves to gods of their own making Every one to his god they will have many gods rather then no god when reduced into straights Reason Self-love can do all this Nature is willing to escape out of great dangers or get out of great troubles or obtain his own ends Fruits of the Earth Peace Liberty other good things of the world Hos 7.14 They have not cryed unto me with their heart when they howled upon their beds they assemble themselves for Corn and Wine and they rebell against me so that not God is sought for Gods sake but meerly to serve ones own turn which when it is done God shall be let alone till they have more need of him Use Not the right kind of prayer Yet this is usually esteemed Prayer in death or deadly troubles call upon God and it is abundant Devotion though neither before not afterward live a sinner and die a sinner yet with a few good words he is sure to go to heaven Though he learn not righteousness nor the Laws and conditions of prayer Esa 26.10 11. There be numbers that make not one good prayer all their long life Know not what it is to ask according to the will of God which they mind not Ordinarily quench and grieve the Spirit and so cannot pray in the Spirit Jude â—0 Never take care to get into Christ and so cannot pray in the Name of Christ Never mind the main matters of Prayer as about Holiness Temptation doing Duty holily and spiritually living profitably in their places advancing Gods glory and the good of souls All for a present shift and to get out of a storm as well as they can Object What would you not have us to call upon God in our trouble is it not commanded Answ 1. It is commanded and so are many other conditions too Psal 50.14 Call upon me in the day of trouble but it follows ver 16. Unto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes 2. There be many places of Scripture that discard the prayers of the wicked Prov. 15 8. John 9 31. they are abomination to the Lord God heareth not sinners Incense is abomination 3. There be many adjuncts of acceptable prayer v. c. to use the means of obtaining to use no indirect means to stand in a way of capacity for receiving such and such favours to use them well afterward and the like which numbers little think of and so their prayers are not accepted 4. There be many dayes of trouble beside these outward and worldly afflictions and if ye will pray ever when ye are in trouble ye must pray every day and several times in the day why a godly man every day finds himself troubled with Temptations and is never out of danger of the great Tempest nor of his own corrupt heart Paul besought the Lord thrice against the thorn of the flesh and approved himself on both sides by the armour of Rigteousness No part of our life is void of these dangers therefore every part of our life must be fenced with prayers And one condition of prayer is it must be constant Eph. 6.18 Col. 4.2 we must pray with all perseverance we must continue instant in prayer c. To the third point There be cases wherein a mans Doctr. 3 worldly wealth will be nothing set by as here in case of Shipwrack and Act. 27.19 They lightened the ship and with their own hands they cast out the tackling of it When the life comes into question let it all go or in times of war a man fares the worse because he hath something to lose Ezek. 7.19 They shall cast their Silver into the streets and their Gold shall be removed Or in a great fit of sickness all the wealth is lookt on with an heavy eye And in death what is all the wealth of the world to a man It is but the more vexation in parting Use 1 Yet this is the folly of many immoderately and inordinately to affect the wealth of the world They seek it and take pains for it though