Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	acknowledge_v	lord_n	zion_n	19	3	8.5807	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27165	No treason to say, Kings are Gods subjects, or, The supremacy of God, opened, asserted, applyed in some sermons preached at Lugarshal in Sussex by N.B. then rector there, accused of treason by James Thompson, Vicar of Shalford in Surry, and the author ejected out of the said rectory for preaching them : with a preface apologetical, vindicating the author and sermons from that false accusation, relating the manner of his ejection, and fully answering the narrative of the said Vicar, now also parson of Lurgarshal / by Nehemiah Beaton ...	Beaton, Nehemiah, d. 1663.	1661 (1661)	Wing B1568; ESTC R17272	43,029	53

It is indeed a very stately and lofty expression of the greatness of God and vastness of his power that he hath gathered the wind in his fist Prov. 30. 4. And that is yet higher Isa 40. 12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out the heaven with a span But methinks this exceeds them all that he holds the hearts of Kings in his hand and turneth them c. 2. As this should raise our apprehensions and esteem of God so should it teach us not to think of men no not of Kings more highly than we ought to think How commonly doth the outward splendour Majesty and glory of Kings and earthly Po●entates so dazle the eyes of poor Mortals that they mistake them for Deities and seeing them so high conclude there is nothing above them If Herod arrayed in Royal apparel sit upon his Throne and make an Oration to the people they are ready presently to cry out It is the voice of a God and not of a man Acts 12. 21 22. Well but now this Text and Doctrine understood believed and seriously weighed by us will prevent such horrid blasphemies and convince us that beside desperate wickedness there is sottish ignorance and much childish folly bound up in the heart of such sins For if the hearts of Kings even at that time when their glory and greatness do most amaze us be in the hand of the Lord alas how weak and contemptible then are they in comparison of Him They are not Masters of their own hearts they know not what they shall purpose think resolve or do the next moment as shadows they have no motion of their own Compare them indeed with men how great are they Whom they will they can slay and whom they will they can keep alive whom they will they set up and whom they will they put down Dan. 5. 19. All under them must obey them and comply with them But now compare them with God and they that thus command others are commanded by another what he willeth and determines that must they do yea when they transgress His Precepts they do but fulfill His purposes what therefore the Prophet saith to shame men out of the bruitish sin of Idolatry may we apply to this purpose He tells them that the best of their Idolls after it is most curiously carved and when they have lavish'd never so much Silver and Gold upon them yet even then are they not able to stir themselves They must needs be born because they cannot go Jer. 10. 5. The very same I say may we affirm of the mightiest Monarch in the World when he seemeth most formidable even such an Idoll is he compared with God not able to stir or move hand or heart of himself but must needs be born which way God will carry him that way must he needs go though therefore we must honour fear and reverence Kings as they are Gods Delegates as they bear the Sword from him for him yet must we still remember they are but men and if they command that which crosseth the command of God or if the consideration or fear of their greatness be like to draw us from our allegiance and obedience to the great God let us then call to mind and meditate on this truth and what we have heard this day and if they or any other shall say are not your Lives Estates and all outward enjoyments in the Kings hand Then let us consider and say yet is not my heart in the Kings hand and so he cannot force me to sin unless I will but the Kings heart is in the Lords hand and therefore he cannot cause me to suffer unless the Lord will 3. Is the Kings heart in the Lords hand then learn hence to whom the glory and praise of all the good that is in the heart of any King and of all that good that his hand findeth to do to whom I say the glory of it is due and to whom to pay it even to that God that thus gives him both to will and to do of his own good pleasure For though we must not defraud or rob the King of the honour and praise of his Graces Virtues or virtuous Actions as they are his as a second inferiour yet true cause of them yet must we be sure to give God the whole glory as the principal and first moving cause He is that Sun and Father of Lights from whom these glorious Stars receive and borrow all that light and good which they communicate to us And this brings me to the Occasion of this daies meeting and to move you to the great duty of the day The Reasons declared by Parliament for setting this day apart as a day of solemn thanksgiving are these That it hath pleased the King graciously to declare his firm adherence to the Protestant Religion his tender love and regard to the Civill Liberties of these Nations his great esteem of and affection to Parliaments his gracious Pardon to all those that have in any kind offended him his declining Forraign assistance together with many other gracious and excellent expressions which his Majesties Declaration and Letter are full of Now as we must give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars have grateful dutiful and loyal apprehensions of his Princely goodness and have our affections raised and hearts engaged by it so must we be sure this day to give unto God the things that are Gods by looking farther and higher than the King even to the King of Kings that hath put this into his heart who could have so infatuated his understanding and hardened his heart that he should have been quite deaf to all moderate Councils and taken such rash and violent Courses as would have proved destructive to himself and these Nations O let us see and acknowledge the finger and hand of the Lord in all this and in the words and with the spirit of holy Ezra let us say Blessed be the Lord that hath put such things as these into the Kings heart Blessed be the Lord that hath so wonderfully exercised his dominion not only over his heart but on the hearts of Parliament Army and Navy to joyn as one man in bringing this about He that should this day twelvemonth have said that what we now behold should have been and that without the effusion of the least drop of bloud would not have gained credit in any place That an Army engaged by Oath and Interest against it an Army whose valour and success had quite dispirited the Nation should have their hearts so awed and their hands so held that either they will not or dare not interpose O this is the Lord 's doing and it should be marvellous in our eyes Well then let us not rob God of the glory of these mercies yea let him alone be exalted by us We should not defraud the King General Council or Parliament of that honour and praise they have severally deserved

people are loved by him but they are not all men so greatly beloved as Daniel God reckons up Noah Daniel and Job as three Favourites that could do far more with him than other ordinary Saints Ezek. 14. 14. Now my Text and Doctrine will resolve whether of these are the most honourable and happy as far as God is exalted above the King in my Text so far is the condition of the Favourites of heaven advanced above the condition of the Favourites of earthly Kings but alas the blind World judgeth otherwise What will men do nay what will they not do to procure the favour of Princes Which when at last they have obtained they bless themselves and think now they are arrived at the top of honour and happiness nor are they alone in this folly and madness the generality of men admiring and envying their condition enquire of them after such an one how he doth and you shall have this or such an answer Alas how can he do amiss he hath the Kings ear and is the only Favourite at Court but as for Gods favour that 's not counted worth the looking after Many say Who will shew us any good But it is David only and some few such as he that cry out Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us Well thus it is in the World but if you compare the conditions of these two sorts of Favourites together you will find that as far as the heaven is above the earth so far is the happiness of Gods Favourites above the happiness of those that are most highly in favour with earthly Kings I shall only present you with those advantages which the former have above the latter which naturally flow from my Doctrine 1. Then suppose a man as high as possible in a Kings favour let him have all the assurances the King can give him that he will never cast him off yet is this Favourites high place a slippery place because the King hath not his heart in his own hand but it is in Gods who can in a moment turn the stream and cause him to hate him more violently than ever he loved him and then all the advantage he hath by his former happiness is this that it hath made him capable of a greater fall Whereas Gods Favourites are sure that whilst they walk in his waies and choose the thing that pleaseth him neither Principalities or Powers shall be able to separate them from his love having loved his own he loveth them to the end 2. He that hath most of the Kings heart may at that very instant be the object of Gods hatred and what King can interpose and turn away the wrath of a jealous God from him whereas the Favourites of heaven because they are Gods Favourites shall certainly either enjoy the favour of Princes or be secured from any real hurt by their displeasure Rom. 8. 31. If God be for us who can be against us Oh then whilst others are greedily hunting after the favour of Princes let us seek after the favour of that God whose Creatures they are who is all and hath all and doth all in heaven and earth Quest But what must we be what must we do to be Favourites of the King of Kings Answ 1. You must get into Christ you cannot see the face or enjoy one drachme of the favour of God whilst you are out of Christ 't is only in the Beloved that we are or can be accepted Imbrace then Christ as tendred in the Gospel and be assured that the more cordially you close with him the more highly you prize him and the more sincerely you obey him the more shall you have of the heart and love of God Joh. 16. 26. The Father himself loveth you because you have loved me 2. You cannot be the Favourites of heaven till cured of the leprosie of sin we read indeed of a King in Scripture that had a Favourite Naaman a great man but a Leper 2 Kin. 5. 1. But the King of heaven hath no such Favourites whilst then you are in an unregenerate unconverted estate whilst you are under the raign and dominion of sin know assuredly 'tis utterly impossible thou shouldst enjoy the favour of God Rom. 8. 8. They that are in the flesh cannot please God nor is it enough that you are washed from your filthiness but you must be adorned with the graces of Gods Spirit these are the attractives of his love 3. Would you be men and women greatly beloved of God Do you desire not only reconciliation but a large share of Gods heart and love You must walk with God that is as men that have God in their eye whose whole conversation shews they believe him present with them Enoch walked with God and had this Testimony He pleased him Heb. 11. 5. And then what an high honour and special mark of favour did God put upon him in his translation Be then sincere and uniform in your obedience and have respect to all Gods Commandements for a man fulfilling all his wills is a man after Gods own heart Acts 13. 22. The upright in the way are his delight Prov. 11. 20. 4. If you desire to be high in Gods esteem you must be low in your own eyes the high and lofty one delights to dwell and converse with lowly and humble spirits Isa 57. 15. Princes Favourites usually wear something given them by their Lord as a mark of his favour whoever wears this livery whoever is cloathed with humility that man which God hath adorned with this grace he is the man whom this King delights to honour 5. They are most highly in Gods favour that are most zealous and active for him God himself is a pure act and the more active we are in good the more like are we to him and the better liked are we by him Kings love them most whom they see most busie to promote their Interest Solomon tells us Prov. 22. 29. That if we see a man deligent in his business 't is a sign that man shal stand before Kings 'T is most certain that if we are not sloathful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord we shall stand before and be in favour with the King of heaven 6. Those that stick close to God in prophane places or times of danger and general Apostacy these are alwaies his special Favourites you heard before how highly Noah Daniel and Job were in Gods favour and I pray observe this of them all three Job lives in the Land of Uzz amongst a most barbarous people and at a time when Satan boasts that God hath not any visibly to own him and yet Job in this place and at this time is a perfect man fearing God and eschewing evill Job 1. 1. Daniel keeps close to God in the Babylonish Court Noah when all flesh had corrupted his way he remains upright in his Generation Gen. 7. 1. If then when others turn aside from following the Lord we fulfill after him or follow him fully we shall certainly be most highly in his favour 7. The more strong we are in faith the more stedfast we are in believing the more shall we have of Gods heart the more we act faith on Gods Al sufficiency when we can leave our own Country and Kindred sacrifice our Isaacs and against hope believe in hope then do we highly honour God Abraham was most eminent for this grace and see what an high honour God puts upon him Isa 41. 8. Abraham my friend 8. Lastly This Doctrine is full of consolation to the people of God be their condition never so sad their sufferings never so great here is enough to support them yea to fill their hearts with joy and gladness that God who hath taken them into Covenant with himself who is not ashamed to be called their Friend and Father whose love to them passeth the love of women in a word who is as tender of them as the apple of his own eye 'T is that God who hath an absolute soveraignty dominion over all persons and things in the World there hath been nothing done to them but by his permission he hath the heads hearts and hands of their most potent Adversaries in his own hand In the greatest storms and tempests their Father sits at the Stern and can command a calm when he pleaseth If then they are assured of his love and know he will not hurt them they may be assured that others cannot for they cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord to do more or less here is that which in the midst of the thoughts of our hearts is sufficient to refresh our spirits When therefore we hear sad news when those that bring evill tidings like Jobs messengers overtake one another and the last alwaies brings the worst news then remember and retire to this Text and Doctrine which publish peace and bring good tidings of good which say unto Zion thy God raigneth FINIS a Convitia probra quibus Christianos toto hoc tempore Draconicolae obruebant Objicientes eis homicidia conjurationes in Principes M●de in loc b Isid Pel. l. 2. Epist 229. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. c Quasi apud lapsos profanos esse aliud possit nisi mens prava fallax lingua odi● venenata s●crilega mendacia Cypr. ad Flor. Pupian Epist 69. a Chrys Hom. 12. in Act. Ap. c 5. Tom. 3. d Vid. vitam Chrys per Pallad Dacon Script operibus ejus praefix p. mihi 9. Bishop Sanderson Serm. 1. ad populum on 3 King 21. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 15. e 2 Thes 3. 2. Vid. C. a Lap. Sclat in loc ☜ Observ Cordis nomerad voluntatem potius quam ad intellectum hoc loco pertinet Aquin Reasons Applicat * One that hath since sworn against me