Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	bless_a	jesus_n	lord_n	6,161	5	3.6174	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07767	Meditations vpon Psal. 101. Written first in French, by Philip Mornai lord of Plessis, and by him dedicated to Henrie the fourth, the French king. And now translated into English, for the benefit of the christian reader, by T.W.; Meditations upon Psal. 101.	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; T. W. (Thomas Wilcox), 1549?-1608.	1599 (1599)	STC 18146; ESTC S106486	63,180	176

from others and sundrie such like by means whereof men are many times misseled and because also I am sure these things may nay will fall out in perusing and reading euen the best things I can not but againe and againe entreat you herein also to haue a good eye to your selues and your own soules Assuredly you shall find specially if you weigh things well as in deed you should that you haue great and good cause so to doe for besides that the points handled therin are not meane neither of any simple subiect and therefore would be regarded and receiued with care and conscience of them the very manner of handling of them according to the vsuall course and practise of the Author is profound and pithie and therefore also will require a diligent and vnderstanding heart The treatie was first written in French by a worthy Nobleman of that country and therfore doth most properly appertain to that state That which peculiarly belongeth therto vnderstand it of and referre it to the same The rest that is common and according to general truth make common but yet good vse withall of it also And this premonition I think very meet to giue as knowing before-hand how ready men are to snatch and catch at that which belongeth not vnto them their times and states a point arguing great curiositie and no small lightnesse of mind and lacke of iudgement as also carelesly to neglect yea securely to contemne that which importeth them much a matter bewraying carelesnes at the least if not sencelesnesse of heart from both which as all other extreames I wish the Christian reader as my selfe in this and in all other things of the like nature to be freed and purged and on the other side to be fulfilled with all sound iudgement and carefulnesse of spirit that so from this and other good things we may alwaies learne to know what that good holy and acceptable will of his is and may be enabled by the blessed spirit stedfastly to beleeue the same and carefully to walk in the obedience therof Now the very God of peace sanctifie you thorowout and I pray also that your whole spirit and soule and bodie may be kept blamelesse vntill the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom euery where but specially in the church be praise for euer euer Sobeit Yours euer in Christ T. W. Lord Iesus begin and make an end MEn who are desirous to frame their faces and to compound their countenances doe ordinarily go to glasses and indeuour to set them therby but Kings for the direction of their doings and affaires had much more need to looke thereinto as well because their callings are more high and heauie than other mens as also because they haue more lets from themselues and others that be about thē to hinder their sight And therefore they had need to haue if they could tell how more liuely and then you shall indeed surely raigne when you most soundly serue him Wherin if euen the best princes haue at sundry times ben not only admonished but threatened with the wrath and displeasure of God and all to preuent these euils in them that they might not fall away from their dutie or abuse his mercie patience and long suffering you Sir nor others must thinke much to be often called vpon yea prouoked and whetted on to these good things because none runneth so fast but hee had need to be incour aged 1. Cor. 9.24 So to runne that he may attaine neither standeth so sure but he had need to bee admonished and put in mind of the Apostles speech 1. Cor. 10.10 Let him that thinketh hee standeth take heed least he fall and withall to remember the saying of this very kingly Prophet Psal 30.6 7. I said in my prosperitie I shall neuer be moued but when thou diddest hide thy face I was sore troubled For this is a certaine and an assured point That men are in more danger to be ouerthrowne yea ouerwhelmed when they enioy abundance of graces from God than when they are vnder his chastisements and corrections For as for chastisements euen then when they beat downe men in themselues they lift them vp before God and make them by consequent capable and meet to receiue his mercies and that is it the Apostle meaneth when he saith They doe in the end bring with them the quiet fruit of righteousnes vnto them which are thereby exercised Hebr. 12.11 Whereas graces on the other side in Gods purpose indeed and their owne nature carrying men out of themselues vnto God cause them notwithstāding throgh Sathans malice and the corruption of their own hearts to despise almightie God himselfe and to say Who is the Lord Prou. 30.9 and so make them to become fit matter vpon whome to exercise and execute the seueritie of his rigour and wrath for the contempt or abuse of so singular graces Men much trouble themselues Sir now a daies to defend and maintain your calling and comming to the crowne But iwis it needeth not for your verie birth alone is sufficient to intitle you thereto But to come to it to come thorowly to it yea to come to the top of it and to carrie your selfe therein as is most meet there is indeed and there must bee indeed required a farre other thing and that is a great ascendent as men vse to say and a gracious aspect and direction thereof fauouring this birth of yours and being able to correct all contrarie cōstellations yea euerie thing that either directly or indirectly might annoy you with his influence That which I meane is not any starre or planet or anie whole zodiake as they vse to say no not heauen it selfe or the heauen of heauens but indeed the soueraigne God the only Lord maker and creatour of all things Iob. 38.31.32.33 who loseth as Iob saith the power of the starres and ordereth the gouernment of the heauens aboue the earth by whome as also saith Salomon Kings raigne Pr. 8.15.16 and Gouernors keepe their estate and by whom you Sir may say as this our King Dauid doth The Lord is with me I shal raign and rule against him there is neither counselnor strength wherefore nothing in the world can shake me or make me to be moued Wee that liue in the cleare light of Gods word wonder at the conceits that in the times of blindnesse and superstition men haue thrust one another into Astrologians made Princes in former time beleeue that such or such a planet bare rule ouer their birth They persuaded othersome that a certain spirit assisted them for the guidance line or leading of their life And it is as strange to consider what dotages these deceiued persons fell into and that not only the basest of the people but the best amongst men for euen the very Princes themselues honored these conceits and they did exactly obserue whatsoeuer they thought would please their instructers planets spirits and such

to make them such to himselfe and his seruants And from this second degree or step we come vnto the third that is that amongst these good people those whō God hath in●●ed with some speciall grace for the managing of some special affaires and for al other good purposes Iustice would that euen the verie mercy his owne father Here Mercie will restraine and that euen as if it were in the aire and before it come to strike the sword of Iustice which otherwise is very readie to execute that same seuere and hard decree He that killeth shall die the death In laws no more than in other formes of speech men are not so much to regard the words thereof as the meaning and end of the same because many times the words may bee much more hard than the meaning A certain yong woman of Roman goeth and with her own brest norisheth hir father in prison an yet the arrest and decree that was pronounced against him meant that he shuld die there by famine Mercie in this processe against law did right to nature and turned that rigor into grace that crime into vertue praise So that euen here the Apostles speech is true 〈◊〉 2.13 Mercie r●ioiceth agaist condemnation or iudgement Likewise by Gods law it was not permitted to any but to the priests to eat the shew bread And by the same law men are also straitly commanded to obserue and fanctifie the Sabboth But yet when the question is to nourish and feed one sore bitten with hunger as for example Dauid Gods annointed who was vniustly banished from Saules presence or else to comfort a mans neighbour in extremitie or to defend his countrey c. the case will quickely bee altered and the stare of the question soone changed And here once againe Mercie taketh vpon it the cause of charitie against the letter of the law Yea here the very authour of Mercie and Iustice telleth vs that the law must giue place to charitie which indeed is the true butt end of the law 1. Tim. 1.5 Roma 13.8 yea the very fulfilling of it as the Apostle saith yea that our neighbour in this case must be preferred before the verie Sabboth it selfe Which if it bee true in a priuat and particular person will much more bee strong in an extreame danger or necessitie of a publike state which ought to be so much the more regarded by how much maine yea all are to bee preferred before one or some But perhaps it will seeme to sundrie that wee doe not farre ynough inlarge the skirts and bounds of Mercie because wee make it the interpreter of Iustice and some would that wee should make it a part thereof Whervpon also it may bee they will say vnto vs what shall not the king shew fauours Othersome perhaps will say againe shall not the king lift vp and aduance or create as some vse to say such as hee shall like of But wee answere that wee are so farre off from disliking his bountie that if hee will follow our counsell he sall doe nothing but shew fauours yea true fauours indeed for they shall be ciuile and such as sauour of Iustice and Mercie together Howbeit vnder the colour or shaddow of Mercie and Iustice the king wee meane and speake of shall not commit iniustice For Mercie and Iustice to shall neuer serue him in steed of a maske or visar neither shall they euer lend him their glorious apparell to so bad a purpose and wicked end as to couer iniquitie If hee bee such a Prince as he ought to be he will not for some tendernesse of heart in himselfe or towards others much lesse at the importunitie of a courtier will he winke at a heinous crime and make it no offence as for example a desperate murther or a slaughter committed with thought of it beforehand or a rape c. but as hee will listen vnto the wife and friend of the offending partie so he will heare the crie of the fatherlesse hee will set before his eyes the teares of the widdow and in thinking vpon the particular sorrow of some hee will weigh the publike hurt and domage which no doubt of it cannot but bee increased by the letting of sinne go vnpunished and that that may insue thereupon The truth of this is confirmed by that worthie speech of the spirit Prou. 1● 15 He that iustifieth the wicked saith Salomon and he that condemneth the righteous they are both an abhomination to the Lord. And if a man would see it watranted let him regard but the sentence of God himselfe who is no respecter of persons and that pronounced and giuen against a king truly clothed with the purble or scarlet robe and then he shall heare a verie fearefull one 2. Kin. 20.42 Because thou hast saued him saith the eternall God whom I appointed to die they life shall be for his life and thy people for his people Wherefore where God striketh the Princes heart hand or e●e must not spare and as God appointeth so must he execute both for soundnesse of sentence vprightnesse of affection end of punishment and all or else it is not aright Princes parasites pretend many priuiledges for them as abolitions proceeding from fulnesse of power matters of merry motion and sundrie such like as wee call them reserued cases all which the soueraigne king holdeth in his owne hands neither transferreth them to any person whatsoeuer Howbeit here it were good for them to consider what they suppose heold or practise in such cases For though wee will not impaire no not in the least iot any part of kingly dignitie yet this we cannot dissemble that to vse them is to attempt against God to wound his Maiestie to violate his Iustice and to vsurpe vpon his Mercie Hee himselfe being incomprehensible mercie and infinite power when he purposed to abolish sinne hath not so vsed to speake Doe wee not see that it was his good pleasure and hee determined it with himselfe and in time accomplished it that in his onely begotten son a wonderfull secret of his grace his Iustice should bee satisfied That is to say to speake properly that his Mercie towards vs became Iustice Little or no fauour at all shall a Prince bestow nay rather he shall commit a great and greeuous euill when vnder the shaddow and colour of Mercie hee shall raise vp to one or sundrie dignities an vnworthie person and shall create for Magistrates such as are incapable and vnmeet for the same This word to create properly signifieth to raise vp or make of nothing And flatterers would make Princes beleeue that herein they draw nigh to the greatnesse and to goodnesse of Almightie God that they haue their creatures And that they might the more inforce it they say that the lesse a man hath in himselfe to bee placed in dignitie this shall be the more euident declaration and apparent act of their kingly power to set them very

and that hee mi●●●●●ee religiouslie and holilie serued 〈◊〉 his church For let men thinke and say what they list it is for the churches sake alone which God hath euerlastingly loued euen from before all worlds that he vpholdeth and maintaineth this world For the Churches sake hee preserueth Monarchies Commonweales and Kingdomes which are rather the Innes as I may so call them than the houses of the church that warfa●eth and trauaileth to and fro in the world which otherwise wee might account sauing that by their grossenesse and thieknesse they shelter and couer the precious fruits that God hath put into them not very profitable specially as in regard of godlinesse And yet notwithstanding this is the Church that is sustained and maintained by God for his onely sonnes sake who hath suffered death for it euen Christ our Lord and Sauiour and notwithstanding is the king of kings vnder whom of necessitie all the kings of the world must bow and for whom it is that they must raigne casting down at the very feet of his crosse because in that hee triumphed their crownes their diademes and their scepters specially if they desire to raigne in blessednesse ouer their subiects in the world and would one day raigne for all eternitie in the heauens without which they are more miserable than the meanest of men Because for mighty men there are mightie torments prepared and the Prophet Isaih in expresse tearmes sayth Tophet is prepared of old Isaiah 30.33 it is euen prepared for the king he hath made it deep large the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it In a word then as it were or short summe to shut vp all and to conclude with Dauid Our king will frame his soule to Mercie and to Iustice From his person they shall run and flow into his court into his counsell and frō thence they shall spread themselues ●●●r all the members of his state euen vnto the very borders vtmost bounds of his kingdome All his waies in a word 〈◊〉 according to Gods own example 〈…〉 10. shal be Iudgement and Mercie But because that the bodie is made for the Church he will with all his heart giue himselfe to the studie of truth and be very mindfull of and carefull for the seruice of God and will referre all that hee hath or may haue to the defence and maintainance to the restauration and reformation of his Church the rarest iewel that God hath vouchsafed to make shine in the world O God which hast from before all times appointed our king to bee borne in so troublesome a time and wicked age as wherein the state is rent by factions the Church is troubled with schismes and the most wise see nothing but darknesse and the same so thicke as no eye nay no discourse is able to pierce it much lesse to driue it away double in these double mischeefes and euils thy blessed annointing euen thy holy grace vpon him Poure vpon his head the spirit of thy seruant Dauid yea double and treble that blessed spirit of thine vpon him that vnder him we may once agai● see our State established and thy church gathered together that so vnder thee by his meanes wee may with one accord sing as thy holie Angels did and doe Glorie bee to God in the most high places and in earth peace Luke 2.14 and towards men good will and that I my selfe might then say though it were euen at this present houre Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace Luke 2.29 according to thy word seeing that mine eyes haue seene thy saluation So be it