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

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95723	Two assize sermons preached at Bridgnorth for the county of Salop in the year 1657. The first, upon Psalm 58. verse 1. Doe you indeed speak righteousnesse, o congregation? Doe ye judge uprightly, o ye sonnes of men? The second, upon Psalm 37. verse 37. Marke the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace? / By Mich. Thomas; rector of Stockton in the same county.	Thomas, Michael, rector of Stockton.	1659 (1659)	Wing T970; Thomason E1790_1; ESTC R209682	31,232	144

to be slain And there was an end of Saul and Doeg his informer and their family The Lord by that army of the Philistines brake up the Congregation and made them know they were but the Sons of men and that they were not able to stand when he came to judge them Now the Lord help us to consider of these things and dispose our hearts to love the work of righteousnesse and in all our dealings with men to behave our selves justly and uprightly that when we shall come to dye like men we may finde the fruit of righteousnesse which is peace even Peace with God and peace with our owne consciences that we may commend our spirits into the hands of the God of our righteousness with joy and not with fear The Prayer after Sermon GReat and Glorious Lord God who art righteous in all thy wayes and holy in all thy works be good and gracious unto us thy poor Creatures who here stand guilt before thee of many acts of unrighteousnesse for having rejected and despised thy most pure and holy lawes and have chosen rather to walke after the lusts and imaginations of our owne hearts We have defaced that perfect Image of righteousnesse and Holynesse in which we were created we have defiled our selves with the pollutions of sinne so that all our righteousnesse is but as a filthy ragge and we cannot but loath and abhorre our selves for all our abhominations Blessed God we desire to return unto Thee and to seek thy face not only for thy mercy and pardon for the sins we have cōmitted but for thy Spirit and thy grace that we may be renewed restored to that state of holines whence we are faln And forasmuch as the Ministry of thy Word is the means which thou hast ordained promised to sanctifie to that end We humbly call upon thee for a blessing upon that portion of thy Word which hath bin dispensed unto us at this time Great God! our hearts are in thy hand we beseech Thee mould and fashion them according to thine own holy will Beget in us a constant purpose and resolution of giving to every one their owne and re-imprint in our hearts that excellent rule of righteousnesse Not to do any thing to our neighbour which we would not be content that he should doe to us We are met at this time O Lord about thine own worke The Execution of Justice and Judgement we beseech thee assist us in it As we begin this worke in thy Name give us grace to continue in it in thy Fear Touch the hearts of all those who are in any respects interested as parties in the administration of Justice that they may all speak righteousnesse and judge uprightly without respect to themselves or respect to their friends and without feare of the face of any man And give us all grace to consider that a congregation of men conspiring in an act of unrighteousnesse are but as a sheafe of straw not able to contest with thee who art a consuming fire Oh help us to consider that how great or mighty soever we be in this World we are yet but the sonnes of men fraile and mortall and know not how soon we may be called to thy Judgment Seat And let these meditations quicken us to an holy care to prepare our accounts and to behave ourselves so righteously toward all men here on earth as that we may cheerefully commend our Spirits to the God of Heaven Hear us O God and answer us according to thy wonted grace goodnesse supply all our defects out of the fullnesse of Christ Jesus who is the Lord our Righteousnesse to whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit we desire to ascribe all honour and power and prayse now and for evermore Amen Amen A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES Held at BRIDGNORTH For the County of Salop in the year 1657. On the Lord's Day By Mich Thomas Rector of Sockton in the same COUNTY LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moseley at the Prince's Armes in St. Paul's Church-yard 1659. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psalme 37. verse 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright For the end of that man is peace IT may perchance raise your attention to the Doctrine of this Text when you shall consider that it is a branch of that Psalme which hath alwayes bin in very high esteem both among the Antients and our Moderne Divines Origen calls it Humanae animae Medicinam It is Physick for the soul of man forasmuch as it reproves sinne and teaches us to live according to the lawes of God Athanasius recommends it to be readd by all those who are scandalized at the prosperity of the wicked and find themselves tempted to go along with them in their wayes and to think this world to be governed by chance or fortune that God is not a God of Judgment that he makes no difference between the righteous and the wicked Calvin and Mollerus meet both in this censure of it that it containes doctrinam apprimè utilem exceeding profitable doctrine and Lorinus tells us that Fulgentius that great light of the Church in Africa by reading St. Augustines commentary upon it was converted by it The tree then being so good you may fairely presume the Text which is a branch of it may yield you the like fruit I may not unfitly call the Text Totius Psalmi Epitomen The summary or abridgement of the whole Psalm The doctrine which is dispersed in the other verses of it is collected and united in this All the defect will lye on my part by reason of my weakenesse I shall not be able to shake this so full laden branch that all the fruit of it may fall amongst you So farre as the Lord hath enabled me to understand the doctrine of it I shall humbly present it to your religious consideration and shall hope that that sleight tast of it which you will receive at this time by my service will provoke your holy appetites to make a farther enquiry in your private meditations But not to waste more either of the time or your patience be pleased to take the Text divided into these three parts Here is an Act and an Object and they are both twofold The Act is to Mark and to Behold The Object of this Act is the Perfect and the Upright man And in the third place here is the reason of the Act which is very weighty and considerable For the end of that man is Peace But I must crave leave to invert the order of these parts and consider the Object first Who this perfect and upright man is And then passe to the Act what it is to Mark and to behold Him To which act we shall be the better disposed by the weight of the reason which enforces it Mark the perfect man and behold the upright For the end of that man is peace The first part The Object I confesse I find much variety in the severall Translations

to the humour or the Designes of Saul whose Counsellours and Officers they were but prudently and equally to consider both his Cause and his Conversation and to give sentence accordingly And allowing this to be the Argument or Occasion of the Psalm as truly it is grounded upon very fair probabilities you will easily perceive that the Text in the proper Application of it will have an influence upon this Congregation and prove a word in season in respect of the occasion of this solemn Convention We are met at this time in the Name and fear of God about the work of Justice the Persons and Causes of men are to be weighed and examined And as I cannot say that there are any Davids to be tryed at this Assizes men of such eminent Pietie and Integrity as He was So I hope there are none of Saul's Officers here neither Men of such prostitute and mercenary consciences as they were Omnia Dicta Domini omnibus posita sunt sayes Tertullian The words of God have a generall prospect and though they may seem a particular Admonition to some few men yet they intend a generall Instruction to all men who may be concerned in the like case This Psalm was written about a matter of Justice and Judgement and that is the businesse wee are all met upon And forasmuch as the Administration of Justice in this Nation is by the Prudence and Wisedome of our fore-fathers cast into that forme that in all judiciall proceedings there are many Parties The sentence upon any cause issues not from the bosome of any Judge alone seeing he is tyed up to Proofs and Allegations So that the miscarriage in the worke of Justice may proceed from the corruption of those parties which prepare a Cause for Sentence If the Counsellors shall be corrupt and Covetous and by their flourishing Eloquence shall guild over a rotten Cause If the Witnesses shall be false and malicious and seek rather their private revenge than Publick Justice If the Jury shall be pack'd and partiall or instructed to sweare according to the private interest of a Friend or a Landlord there may prove sad obstructions in the vvork of Justice this as the Prophet Amos speaks may turn judgement into gall and the fruit of righteousnesse into hemlock And therefore I shall not addresse my discourse to any particular Party or Officer in this great work of Justice but to all who are in any respect concerned in it and enforce Holy David's admonition in the Text That they would speak righteousnesse and judge uprightly in all causes and between all parties that so Wickednesse and Impiety may have its condign punishment and Innocence and Honesty their due protection and reward And this is the design and project of the ensuing discourse for which I humbly entreat your Christian patience and the Lord's assistance The Text you see is presented in the form of a Question but it appears by the Context that it is such a Question which as Divines observe hath vim Negationis it implyes a denyal like that of St. Paul Doe we provoke the Lord to Jealousie are we stronger then He No wee are not So here in the Text Doe yee speake righteousnesse doe ye Judge Uprightly No ye do not for their conviction followes in the second verse Yea in heart yee worke wickednesse and weigh the violence of your hands in the earth So that the Text becomes as Musculus hath it an invective or a reproofe of the iniquity and injustice of Saul's Officers and Counsellours that when according to that place and power which they had with Saul they should have defended and protected Him as an innocent person they on the contrary prosecuted and sentenc'd him as a seditious conspiratour And this reproofe is imbitter'd with terrible threatnings and imprecations as we find in the body of the Psalm And these David in the Spirit of prophesie breathes out and denounces against them as knowing that the Lord in his due time would plead his Cause and by the glorious effects of his Power and Justice would give men occasion to say Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous Doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth in the earth It well became the majesty of that Spirit by which David wrote to convey his admonition in that form by way of reproof or invective But it will become me to observe a greater distance And I humbly crave leave to present that instruction which I conceive due to this Auditory and Occasion by way of Exhortation Let me exhort you I say justitiam loqui recta judicare to speak righteousnesse and to judge uprightly And when I have opened the Duty to you and shewn you what it is and how it may be done we shall find in the other words of the Text weight enough to press it by way of motive or consideration And this I shall do by Gods assistance with all respect to your Patience and Imployment For the Duty it selfe to declare unto you what Righteousnesse and Upright Judgement is I shall not perplexe your attention with the variety of definitions and distinctions which might be offer'd out of the School-men and Casuists In this first part I intend onely the edification of the common sort of people who now are or hereafter may be concerned as parties in the Administration of Justice To them I say this Righteousnesse is a constant purpose and resolution of giving to every one their own And you may very easily perceive how this Definition agrees with the Case in the Text. David complaines of the Corruption and Iniquity of those that were Judges in his cause Doeg was a false witness and gave in a malicious information against him Saul was too apt of himselfe to believe it and yet he wanted not some flattering Courtiers some perchance of his privy Councell who blew the Fire and by their evill suggestions turn'd Sauls hatred and jealousie into a flame that David was a suspitious discontented person and the Crown would not sit fast upon his head while David lived and with this unrighteous dealing David charges them Now Had these men been endued with the grace of Justice and Righteousnesse had they had a constant purpose and resolution of giving to every one their owne that is their due then they had given David that Character and commendation which vvas due to him namely this That David was mis-represented to Saul that he had given large testimonyes of a peaceable and quiet Spirit that he had spared the Life of Saul when it was in his power twice to have slaine him Thus they should have spoken righteousnesse and defended an innocent person But they did not They wrought wickednesse in their hearts as David speaks here they complied with Saul's humour in his bloody intentions and persecutions against David and did not care though he perished so long as they might secure their owne persons and fortunes But this case this tryall of righteousnesse doth not often

what a slave is that man whose heart is challenged by so many masters Such an one cannot pretend to Jacob's title to be Homo Simplex a perfect single-hearted man He is rather Homo Multiplex St. James his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not reach Him He is more then a double-minded man He hath an heart for every lust a new God and a new Religion when soever the sway and humour of the times shall require it of him Upon those words of the Lord by his prophet Joel Turn unto me with all your heart devout Bernard hath noted thus Corporis conversio si sola fuerit nulla erit If the body only turn to God and not the heart there is no conversion It is but the form of Conversion there is nothing of truth in it when there are pretensions to godlynesse but no power He is a miserable man that contents himselfe in the outward formalities of religion and neither knows nor regards his heart Bernard applyed this Note to his monks upon a Fast-day and took occasion to reprove them for their hypocrisie Manet tonsura as he goes on yee continue your shavings yee change not your garment yee observe your rules for fasting and your hours for prayer and yet the Lord cryes from heaven Cor vestrum longè est à Me Your heart notwithstanding all this is far from me The best discovery we can make of the integrity and sincerity of our hearts is to observe the bent and sway of those foure chiefe affections Love Feare Joy and Griefe and see whether God or the World have most of these and accordingly we may judge our selves whether we are true Converts or Perfect men But because the nature of the root is best discerned by the fruit which appears on the branches be pleased that the discourse may passe from the first mark of perfection which I call'd perfection in the root the perfection of the heart to the second which is Integritas Oris the Integrity of the Mouth or words and no mark can be more proper then this or more naturally consequent Our blessed Saviour hath given us the rule Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh In the 32 d. Psalm David pronounces a blessednesse upon that man in whose Spirit there is no guile And there are good Expositours conceive this guile to consist in and about the duty of Repentance and especially in the covering of sinne as when men shall cover their extortions and oppressions by building an Hospitall and when they shall cover all the Week-sins with a Sabbaths solemnity Such is sometimes the folly of Hypocrisy that it will strive to cover sin though with a Net which every man sees thorow they will have such mean and pittifull pretences for their unjust actions whereas a perfect-hearted man is serious in the search of his conscience and he will take knowledge of his sins before they discover themselves he will acknowledge his riot and voluptuousnesse before he burn in a Feaver occasioned by his surfeits He will acknowledge his wantonnesse and licentiousnesse before he comes under the anguish and smart of corrosives He will acknowledge his pride and wastfullnesse before he lye in prison for debt The perfect man doth not seek his sins in his belly nor in his bones but in his conscience He unfolds that ripps up that and enters into the privatest and remotest corners thereof And he that doth not thus there is dolus in Spiritu There is guile in his Spirit and he hath no title to that blessednesse which David was pronouncing So that if there be Veritas in Corde Truth in the heart there will be also Veritas in Ore Truth in the mouth which being the second mark of a perfect man give me leave to lay it open to you The perfection of the Mouth hath a double prospect it looks towards God and towards man God shall have His glory in the Confession of his sinne and man shall have his right in speaking the truth Among those marks which David gives of that happy man who shall dwell in the holy hill of the Lord this is one He speaketh the truth in his heart And so in the 14 of the Revel v. 5. those blessed persons who are said to follow the Lamb are thus described In their mouth was found no guile Truth as it is a most excellent vertue so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saies Philo the most sacred possession pretious and necessary as the Sunne to the world When the question was put to Pythagoras What that was in the doing whereof men might be like unto God he answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they speak the truth It will be a good interpretation of that command of our blessed Saviour Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect when as He is truth so we be alwayes carefull to speak the truth from our hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the Heathen by the light of nature could conclude that it was a servile un-ingenuous humour to lye and to speak falsely And we have some impression of it still remaining in us of all reproaches we can least brook that Thou liest How many quarrells hath it occasion'd How much blood hath bin spilt about it But truly 't is sad and strange that men will not endure to be charged with lying and yet make no conscience of lying that they should take up that part of the Heathens morality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To speak the truth is an evidence of a noble constant well composed spirit and desert the other part of it by a deficiency in their practice in yielding themselves up to tell lies for advantage Some Divines have moved and debated these two Cases Whether if a man be examined before a Competent Judge he may not lye to preserve himselfe or his Friend from the penalty of the Law And 't is answer'd in the negative He may not lye There can no case be put in which it may be lawfull for any man to lye to any man not to a midnight not to a noon-thiefe that assaults his house or his person he may not lye And although many have put names of disguise upon such practises and call them Equivocations and Reservations yet they are all children of the same Father the Devill who is the father of lies The other Case is Whether if a man be examined before an incompetent Judge he may not equivocate and prevaricate with Him And 't is answer'd thus that if he do speak he must speak the truth They allow that to an incompetent Judge that hath no legall power to examine him he may be silent without sinne but to a competent Judge 't is an indefensible sinne either to be silent or to depose an untruth And upon this account since it is so clearly sinfull in a witnesse either to prevaricate or to depose an untruth I submit it to your grave Judgements whether it be not highly