Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A55106
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Popery and hypocrisy detected and opened from the Holy Scriptures as it respects magistrates, ministers, and people. In a sermon upon the occasion of a general fast, kept Decemb. 22. 1680. By the author of the Plotters doom, a true son of the Church of England.
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Palmer, Samuel, d. 1724.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing P252; ESTC R217473
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30,180
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38
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the Truth of Worship but about the Place Sir sayes she I perceive that thou art a Prophet our Fathers Worshipt in this Mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the Place where men ought to Worship v. 19.20 Now pray see how Christ nips this little external Quaere And Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem Worship the Father v. 21. and then goes on to shew her what true Worship was and who the true Worshipers are but sayes not one word of the Place In like manner many are mightily inquisitive about Places Times Gestures and Circumstances of Worship and have a great zeal for all these external parts of Religion and yet are totally ignorant both of the true Worship and true Worshippers wherefore you had need be very Moderate and Sober that you be not so transported with external Observations and run away with the Shadow instead of the Substance of Religion for Moderation tempers the mind and allayes those heats and excursions which otherwise it is apt to make And therefore it is called a being sober-minded in the 2 Titus v. 6. for without this ye are like Mad Distracted persons and will run upon a Neighbour or a Relation for dissenting from you in a Ceremony or some exterial Oblervation as if he were a Turk or an Insidel But this makes a man remember that in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature Gal. 6.15 And therefore this teacheth us to put no such mighty stress and value upon that which is of no avail but to imbrace Moderation as that which will ballance the mind and keep it in an even and sober posture at all times and in all cases 2. Be admonisht to Peaceableness and reckon not this admonition strange for the holy Scripture tells you of some that hate peace and the Psalmist saith he had long dwelt with such Psal 120.6 My Soul sayes he hath long dwelt with him that hateth Peace I am sayes he for Peace but when I speak they are for War And yet these Haters of Peace have alwayes the Impudence to complain first and to burthen others with their Guilt and if you search the Scriptures you will find none so deeply culpable of this Crime as those that were for external Observations for who so much oppose the Miracles and Doctrine of Christ and so bloodily pursued him to the very Death as those that were for the Traditions of the Elders And who raised the uproars the mutinies and tumults against the Apostles of Jesus Christ in every Country City Town and place where they came but the same Spirit And yet they had the foreheads to accuse the holy Apostles nay our blessed Lord and Saviour himself for Seditious and the Ringleaders of Sedition Be careful therefore that ye be not insnar'd to herd with this tumultuous and unpeaceable spirit for if ye do you 'l run clamouring with them to the Magistrate against your neighbours and against your friends to ruin and undo them for the non-observance of some external rites and customs You see how fierce and savage this spirit hath been in all ages and quite through the Scriptures that have been for renting the garments and exterial observations But pray look and see where you can find that they that were for renting the heart were ever tainted with this unpeaceable and turbulent temper And yet which is greatly to be lamented you generally find the Magistrate take in with that mutinous spirit against this and laying the imputations due to them upon these Hearest thou not says Pilate to Christ how many things they witness against thee Mat. 27.13 and yet they were all false Witnesses and he himself was unjust they were such for after the Witnesses had spoken he calls our Saviour a just person vers 24. and washeth his hands as innocent of his blood And yet Oh the wickedness of an unjust Judg'l for all this against the convictions of his own Conscience he falls in with that cursed impious and unpeaceable party against-Christ Have ye not need then to be admonisht to look well to your selves that your hearts do not engage you to this unpeaceable spirit There ever was and I am afraid still is too much Tory-Divinity in the world but you may easily know it for it is always on the Tantivy Away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him was ever their language And if you do but ask why what evil hath he done this does but whet their rage and make them urge the multitude to cry out the more Let him be crucified For they are acted by a wild kind of ungovernable zeal such as the Apostle St. Paul tells you he had before his Conversion Act. 22.3 I was zealous towards God says he as ye all are this day and that you may see what their zeal was that day pray look into Act. 21.27 you will find that some Jews which were of Asia where St. Paul had been preaching had spy'd him in the Temple at Jerusalem and they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him crying out Men of Israel help this is the man that teacheth all men every where against the people and the Laws and this place and further Brought Greeks also into the Temple and hath polluted this holy place And upon this out-cry all the City was mov'd and the people ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the Temple and the Text tells you They went about to kill him and had certainly done it had not a Captain of a band rescued him vers 31. So that you see what their zeal at that day was and is but the same which the same Apostle tells you in fewer words in Phil. 3.6 That he was as concerning zeal a persecutor of the Church So that this wild kind of vagabond zeal which is always conversant about exterial observations only and spends it self but about the bark and husk of Religion doth but make men the fiercer and the more inveâ—om'd in their minds against true Christianity and renting the heart for this zeal will transport you to such inquietudes and extravagancies that ye will prefer a Barrabas a Robber and Murtherer before Christ and a sincere Christian It will make you mutinous and sticklers for the worst men and the wickedest interest what need have ye then of this admonition to be of peaceable spirits that ye be not hurried away by a mistaken zeal into such strange and brutish exorbitances And thus much for Admonition come we now to the next and last improvement of this Point which is Examination And this shall be Threefold 1. To the Magistracy 2. To the Ministry 3. To the People 1. To the Magistracy For I am for the old Computation of reckoning Moses before Aaron and am for placing the Crown above the Miter though I am sure this is no way to a Bishoprick
care of Souls is on us and it behoves the Physician to look well to it that the remedy he prescribes be warrantable and proper against the distemper or else we shall prove our selves to be like Jobs friends Physicians of no value Job 13.4 Wherefore let us examine our selves and see whether we that are so abounding in our Prescriptions to cure others are sound our selves and let us be content to try our selves by this Text Whether we are more for renting the heart or for renting the garments for the life spirit and power of Religion or for some little jejune and starveling ceremonies and crotchetly observations Whether we are not more reconciled to and have a stronger affection for a lewd and wicked Conformist than for a virtuous and sober Nonconformist And pray God our own Consciences do not answer for us that this is true For 't is a strange venom of spirit that some of us are too apt to discover upon all occasions against such as differ but in the least from us in outward forms of Worship though they are never so exact and exemplary in their lives and every way are of a sound and Orthodox faith What invictives have we in our Pulpits out of our Pulpits in all Companies and at all seasons against Dissenters especially against their Ministers In Numb 11.27 you find a young Informer running to Moses and telling him that Eldad and Medad were Prophecying or Preaching in the Camp upon this information Joshua that then waited upon Moses was but a young man too and would have had Moses forbid them but he lived to be both older and wiser but see how that meek servant of the Lord answers them v. 29. Enviest thou for my sake would to God that all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them as iâ— he had said you tell me of Two that are Prophecying in the Camp and I would to God there were twice 200000 there Now do not we like this young man run to the Magistrates with our informations and cry out here 's a Conventicle and there 's a Conventicle and Eldad and Medad pray in this and preach in that place and then you pray and press the Magistrate that he would forbid them nay not forbid them only but that he would send to apprehend them and clap them up into Gaol and all this at a time too when wickedness covers the face of the whole land and grows up so rank under our Ministry that it is not able to top it Pray let us examine and see whether this spirit be agreeable to the spirit of Moses or to the spirit of this young informer St. Paul tells you of some that preached Christ even out of envy and strife as some preached him out of good-will Phil. 1.15 Now if any preachers were to be forbidden one would think these should be they and yet the Apostle professeth that he did rejoice that Christ was preached even every way whether in pretence or real sincerity so that admit they did preach out of no principle but envy only yet you see that a true Apostolical spirit can and will rejoice at their preaching though emulation or envy only prompts them to it let us reflect then what it is that acts us in this unchristian I had almost said inhumane rage against our dissenting brethren for it is not whatever we may pretend the Spirit of God for that you see is of another nature and temper and acts those that are under its conduct in as different a practice from this of ours as is light from darkness and pray God we come not nigher the character of those blind guides spoken of in Mat. 23.13 that shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men and neither go in our selves nor suffer them that are entring to go in and if we are of the number of these how unfit are we to teach others the mind of God and to guide their feet into the ways of peace that are not able to guide our selves Doth not our envy at them therefore rather arise from this consideration if envy can be considerate that we are afraid that people seeing the vileness of our conversation and the sobriety of theirs the laziness of our Ministry and the laboriousness of theirs will at last come to be more in love with them than with us For if the generality of professed Christians should come to that pitch in Religion as to be for renting the heart and not the garments I doubt we should be out of esteem for they would then be for a Ministry suitable to their profession whereas we are a Ministry mostly for renting the garments and exteriour observances so that whenever the people rise but one degree above that ignorance that we are obliged to keep them in we naturally go out as a stinking snuff and there is a Mene Tekel on our Ministration wherefore is it not from hence that we dunn the Magistrates continually to down with them for fear that the soundness of their doctrine and the uprightness of their lives will down with Rome and Renown and is it not from hence that we are every where laying out and engaging our selves and interest in getting the worst of Magistrates the worst Parliament-men the worst Justiees the worst Mayors c. that all the Countries and Cities can afford insomuch that it is almost become the surest indication of a Knave to have us Clergy men for him and of an honest man to have us against him that can be given for our breath blesses every man we are against and blasts every man we are for Examine the matter and see whether you do not find all this too true and can the world ever believe us a good Ministry while we are so engaging for a bad Magistracy or will they ever believe us to be true Protestants while they see us join Votes and Hands with profess'd Papists The Romanists contriv'd and are carrying on an Hellish Plot against the life of our King Government and Protestant Religion and when God in infinite mercy was pleased to discover it have not many of us shewed our selves peevishly backward to credit such discovery and no less forward to undervalue reproach or scandalize the discoverers The same Engineers of Hell since forged a false wicked sham-plot to be cast on the Presbyterians and thereby cut off the most active Protestants and divers of as good Church of England-men as any in the land and did not some of us nurse up that spurious Brat for them and make our Pulpits rattle and our hearears ears tingle with Railings against Presbyterians and all this without the least occasion and when it was impossible to serve any other than a Popish Interest by it Is stifling a Popish Plot and causelesly inraging as much as in us lies the Magistrate against Protestant-Dissenters and endeavouring to absolve Popish delinquents from deserved punishments the way to suppress Popery or crying