Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	age_n	year_n	young_a	352	4	5.7811	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77901	Poimēnopurgos. Pastorum propugnaculum. Or, The pulpits patronage against the force of un-ordained usurpation, and invasion. By Thomas Ball, sometimes Fellow of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, now minister of the Gospel in Northampton, at the request, and by the advice, of very many of his neighbour-ministers.	Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1656 (1656)	Wing B584; Thomason E863_10; ESTC R206670	204,465	356

was needful to their Office they did and could receive not for them only but also for their successors unto the worlds end for he closeth his Commission with this assertion and assurance that he would be with them unto the worlds end (a) Mat. 28. 20 It falls out often here in this world that many promise fair whilst they are in pursuit of some enjoyment and satisfaction that is in their eye but when they have atchieved and attained what they prosecuted forget their promises as Pharoahs Butler did his promise and engagement unto Joseph (b) Gen. 40. 23. but Christ forgets not what he promised his Servants but when he had attained what he aimed at was setled and possessed of his Kingdom ascended up on high was out of danger now himself had led captivity captive had all his enemies his foot-stoole as the Psalmist speaks (c) Psal 110. 1. yet he gives gifts to men some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints the work of the Ministry the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ (d) Eph. 4. 11 12 13. that is till we be come to Heaven and are past faith and hope all Acts and Ordinances that help us in the way and suppose infirmity and imperfection and this Authority Paul and the rest not only exercised and used themselves but give directions unto others also for to use as unto Titus (e) Tit. 2. 15. these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority let no man despise thee And because Timothy was but a young man and wanted that authority which age and gray hairs give he gives direction to make that up by conversation which course of years gave not (f) 1 Tim. 4. 12 let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity These graces he was sure would purchase and beget authority a little sooner then the ordinary time and course of years would bring it and it was not ordinary to admit of young men an Elder and a Minister being in the Scripture of the new Testament of great affinity because their very years procured some authority to what they said and it is as needful and as useful now as ever that a Minister should be a man of gravity and seniority that they may by that means have some authority annexed unto what they say which an ordinary person that hath never been abroad that was never from the place of his nativity can hardly have whereas those that have spent their younger years in study and have been out of sight have by their very absence and distance gotten some opinion and reputation nam major reverentia è longinquo they would not entertain our Saviours Doctrine because he was their Neighbour and bred among them (g) Mat. 13. 54 55 56 57. but when a man hath been abroad hath been in some great famous University annum jam audientem Cratippum idque Athenis and then is sifted and examined and afterwards admitted and made a Minister it carries reputation with it and more authority then another can have though of equal parts and gifts as the same words to a prisoner by one that is a Judge and hath Commission of Oyer and Terminer have more authority and influence then if spoken to him by one not in office Though the private person be the abler Orator and have more dexterity in expressing of himself Women can speak well many times and their affections make them eloquent and apt to speak yet the Apostle calls it usurpation to exercise this faculty of theirs in publick meetings of Gods people (h) 1 Tim. 2. 12. because they could not do it in the hearing and sight of men with that authority that was required 12. We say that all this ought to be in every setled well ordered Church beside the labours and endeavours of godly well-affected private Christians these are diversa but not opposita divers but not dissenting or opposing one another Church-work is for the most part slow and many hands may be imployed provided that they be subordinate to one another that the Master-builders be allowed to give directions as in an Army many hands may yea must be imployed but ranks and files must be observed the Officers must give out Orders and Commands and the common Souldiers execute as in the body there are many Members yet all subordinate unto the head in a Ship there are many Marriners and Souldiers yet all under one Generall and duly distributed into different distinct and several subordinations so in the Church good people may have use enough of all their parts and gifts of all their faculties and graces and yet need Ministers to guide and lead them to teach in publick and with more authority then they for the Church consisteth and is made up of many small societies and bodies and every little body hath ability to govern and direct it self yet in subordination to the whole In a Grammar-School the upper forms can order and direct the lower yet there is use of and need of Masters in a Town there be some that have good medicines for the stone and tooth-ach yet there must be Physitians in a Ship there be many that can steere and understand the Card and Compasse yet there is use of Pilots so in a setled and well-ordered Church there may be many that can speak of good things that can instruct and catechise their families that can admonish one another and exhort and comfort as there is occasion offered and afforded yet for all this in those very places some should be set apart to attend and act in holy things beside the labours and endeavours of these godly well-affected private Christians CHAP. VI. A praeludium to the Arguments HAving thus opened and expressed our sense and fixed what we purpose to assert we come in the next place to maintain and make it good having declared and discovered what we hold we come to shew the grounds and evidences by which we hold it having said what we think in this particular we come to settle and assure it Though we believe unto a willing minde we have already said what may suffice if we be not much mistaken in our explications all along we have been rather Doctors then Dictators Ministers then Masters of your apprehensions so that unto an impartial unbyassed and can did Reader more need not be added But we consider what an Iron age we live in how sparing men are of their faith and charity How many godly well-meaning Christians have in these late years bin robbed and rifled of their fastnesse and easinesse to entertain truths brought unto them by pretenders to integrity and ingenuity and

Scholars that he was faint and weary with fetching Rods they would beleeve he might if hee had pleased have spared his paines our people are herein become as very children (h) 1 Cor. 3. 1. I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ Discipline is now imagined a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bug-Bear and frighteth those that are not willing to be counted Children Tribunalls of the lowest and meanest rank are counted Tyrannies for men are apt to think that power cannot bee contained velle putant quodcunque potest that every body will do all the injury and villany they can and that it is not want of will but of ability that makes men honest and indeed it may bee said of most men as was of one nil boni quia non vult nil mali quia non audet the Jesuite that framed the answer unto that Book called Deus Rex sayes if the Writer had not intended really to be a Tyrant it was ill done of him to bee the Patron and Protector of such a Peece when Ecclesiastical Discipline and Government was but discoursed of by them that were in power before it was formed in the womb or had any lineaments or features bestowed on it it was traduced and opposed yea though as innocent as the child that is unborn yet was arraigned and condemned under the odious nick-name of Persecution wee have heard of some that have beene crowned in their Mothers belly but never of any that were Arraigned and Condemned as this was untill now We make no doubt but the Infants of Beleeving Parents may be admitted Members of the visible Church of Christ before they be able to give a rationall account of their Regeneration for Christ hath said (i) Mat. 19. 14. suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven that is the visible Church of Christ consists of them and such as they be and if any body shall imagine that these that are called here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were grown up unto some maturity and ripenesse because that word is used for a Maid that was about 12 years of Age (k) Mar. 5 42. yet Luke saies they brought unto him Infants that hee should touch them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is never used but for very little children (l) Luk 18. 15. and the Apostle doth assure us that they are holy (m) 1 Cor. 7. 14. that is within the Covenant and pale of Christs Church and this makes Government so hard and heavy to us when wee must look to all that are brought down to us in the streams of Baptism the Apostles in their times admitted none that could not give some probabilities of their beleeving as the Eunuch did (n) Act. 8. 37. and though their Families did crowd in with them and were accepted (o) Act. 16. 15. yet they were sure one of the Governours were good which was a very great advancement of their Work and eased them of much care if we admitted none but such as Timothy was who had learned the Holy Scripture from a Child (p) 2 Tim. 3. 15. what a deal of pains and labour would be saved and yet our Congregations governed with ease and honour facile est imperium in bonis an easie thing to mannage well-tutored and trained people quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem testa diu the liquor will have some relish of the Cask a long time but alas with us all is Fish that comes to the Net the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Net that was cast into the Sea and gathered of every kind (q) Mat. 13. ●7 we cannot pick and chuse but must own and receive both strong and weak untill they do discover and seclude themselves Our Brethren of the Congregationall way have herein much advantage of us that they take none but such as have some evidence of goodnesse in them can take an estimate of their opinions and dispositions and if they find them like to be untractable can sleight them and reject them but we with the Apostle think we are bound to receive those that are weak in the faith (r) Rom. 14. 1. we think with our Saviour that we may not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax (s) Mat. 12. 20. refuse no offers that are made us though little profit be like for to accrew for if they will come in and take the Yoke of Christ upon them we know not but they may be taught in time to draw for this we find to be the Shepeards duty in the Prophet (t) Isa 40. 11. he shall feed his Flock like a Shepheard and gather the Lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosome and shall gently lead those that are with young therefore wee cannot make such speed as those that have none but fat and lusty Weathers in their Flocks Esau was urgent that his Brother Jacob would mend his pace and they would go together but Jacob said My Lord knoweth that the children are tender and the Flocks and Heards with young are with me and if men should over-drive them one day all the flock would die (u) Gen. 33. 13 Hence is it that our Government goes on so flowly Geneva was a small but well compacted Common-wealth more independent and accomplisht than any other of her neighbour-hood yet what a while was it before she could be settled in a church way Scotland a poor remote neglected Northern Nation where Papacy and Prelacy did never flourish yet long before it could be settled in her Ecclesiastical and Church way Magnorum rerum tarda molimina great businesses move slowly when there are many wheels some will be alwayes out the Israelites when in the Wildernesse were so assured of Gods power and presence that the Government was Divini Juris of Gods own ordering and appointing and that in all particulars and circumstantials that nothing could be more apparent and conspicuous yet the mixed multitude that was among them so disordered all that Moses is discouraged and impatient (w) Num. 11. 1● 1● 13 14. and was not pacified untill assistance were allowed him We do beleeve and are perswaded that every Pastor by his place and calling is a Governour and Ruler as afterward we think we shall demonstrate but we do not think that every Minister is presently a Moses made up of governing and ruling parts all ages bring not forth such when one told the Duke of Parma that he had shot Sir Philip Sidney in stead of a reward he cursed him for that he had destroyed a man that England had not parallel'd in former ages A States man is not bred Extempore non omnis fert omnia tellus are all not made of one mould for to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by