Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A60354
|
A sermon preached before the Right Honourable Sir John Shorter, Knight, Lord Mayor of the city of London at Grocers-Hall by Samuel Slater ...
|
Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.
|
1688
(1688)
|
Wing S3975; ESTC R10144
|
44,686
|
50
|
of the weight and worth of the Subject 1. This anointing of Christ doth signify to us his being perfectly fitted and accomplished for the exercise of Regal Authority and Power for the Office and Work of a King. There is an excellent Spirit upon him many have been in high Places and of low spirits some have had a spirit of Cowardize and others a spirit of Cruelty a sanguinary spirit as well as a Purple-robe Antiochus nick-named Epiphanes was therefore by the Holy Ghost called a vile Person because he was a Prince of a vile base spirit but there is upon Christ a most excellent and glorious Spirit it is no other than the Spirit of the Lord God. He did at his Baptism descend upon him in the likeness of a Dove not of an Hawk or Harpy a Bird of Prey but a Dove Innocent Meek and Loving and this Spirit doth rest upon him hath an eternal abode in him yea and with this Spirit Christ is filled with all the gifts of this Spirit and with all his Graces You read therefore of the unsearchable riches of Christ such as have no bottom He hath enough for himself and for all those that are united to him and designed by the Father for him enough for thee O poor disconsolate Soul who thinkest thou hast none at all You read likewise of an all-fulness which it hath pleased the Father should dwell in him So that O Saint whensoever thou labourest under the most pressing and pinching Wants thou mayest know whither to go for a full supply That is an excellent passage to this purpose which you have in Psal. 47.5 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with oil of gladness above thy fellows If you ask who those be that are here called his Fellows Some say they are Kings and Priests or rather if you please understand it of the Saints true Believers all of them one and other all those who have received an Unction from the holy one who have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost in his sanctifying Influences and Operations These come to be Christs fellows through his most gracious Condescention for he by assuming their Nature into unity with his Person stooped so low as to become one of them Emanuel God with us He graciously descended to the state of their Mortality and Meanness that they through him might be advanced to a state of Immortality and Glory If it be asked what is that oyl of gladness with which he is anointed The answer is ready It is no other than the Divine Spirit the great and effectual Comforter who doth chear refresh revive and make glad the Heart of those in whom he dwells And of this all the Saints of God are made the blessed Partakers 1 Joh. 2.20 Ye have an Unction from the holy-one not only the gifts of the Spirit Wisdom and Grace but the Spirit himself which is if I may use the Expression diffused through the whole mystical Body so that every real living Member hath a share Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he doth not belong to Christ he is none of his genuine Disciple But now tho there be a joynt Participation the same Spirit is in Christ and Believers the same Soul in the Head and Members Yet there is a difference as to the Measure and Degree thereof All the holy Oyl was poured out upon the head of Aaron but only some part of it reached down to the Skirts of his Garments All the Saints have the Spirit something of his Light and Life of his Grace and Influence but Christ hath unspeakably more He is seated above them and therefore anointed above them He hath a greater fulness of Office than any of them and therefore a greater fulness of the Spirit He receiveth the Spirit not only for himself but for all and every one of them God the Father in pouring of it out upon him had an Eye and respect to all the Cases Imployments Necessities and Wants of all his chosen and beloved Ones and furnished Christ accordingly We find in one place that when he ascended on high he received Gifts for Men in another we read that he gave Gifts to Men. He received for this end that he might give His Work is to communicate and to influence his People He is to be an Head not only for Eminence but likewise for Influence and as this is his Work so blessed be his Name it is his Delight Never did tender Mother take more pleasure in giving her Breast to her Child than Christ doth take in his Communications to his People Upon these accounts as it was fit and necessary that he should be so he is most richly stored He hath not the Spirit in measure so you find Joh. 3.34 He whom God hath sent speaketh the word of God for God giveth not the Spirit by measure to him i. e. He whom God hath sent out of Heaven to Earth he whom God hath sent out of his own Bosom he speaketh the Word of God that and nothing else he speaks it in another manner than ever any did for he had not the Spirit given him by measure all men else that have received this Spirit have it in measure only so much every one and no more Tho we may know to our comfort that measure is meted out with a most wise judicious and gracious Hand in a just and full Proportion to that place which every one holds in the Body and to that Work and Service which every one hath to do in the World but the Spirit was given to Christ without measure God the Father did not stand upon measuring it out to him no no he poured it out abundantly he gave as much to him as his humane Nature was capable of receiving so that he hath not only enough for himself for the acting of his own part and the bearing his own burden but enough too for all his People in all Places and Ages of the World. He hath Wisdom enough to teach them all that is needful for them to know and to direct and lead them into all those ways in which they ought to walk He hath Grace enough to sanctify them and to fit them for a Communion with his Father and himself while they are upon Earth and to make them compleatly holy and so meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. He hath Power enough to support them under all their Burdens so that they shall break neither their Backs nor their Hearts but they shall bear them patiently and carry themselves under them becomingly Power enough to enable them for all their Duties so that they shall perform them to Acceptance and Praise Power enough to secure them in all their Temptations and to carry them through them and to make them more than Conquerors over them and so to carry them from sore Conflicts to glorious Triumphs
in the steps of the faith of Abraham to us who are Iews inwardly and have that Circumcision which is of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. And the Government is and shall be upon his shoulder though he be a child yet he hath strong shoulders humeros Oneri imperio aptos apt and fit for both burden and rule and since the iniquities of us all have been laid upon him the Rule and Government is laid there too He is made Head over all things they being under his power and he is made Head to the Church that being his Body which he doth by his care defend by his Ordinances feed and by his Spirit quicken animate influence and act Oh! my Friends let us seriously and frequently consider how excellent and glorious a body how blessed and noble a Society the true Church is which hath such an Head and withal how holily how exactly and how exemplarily all of us ought to demean our selves who profess our selves the members thereof that we may not be spots and blemishes in the Body nor shame and dishonour the Head. What should be our care how even our walking how clear our light In a word what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness 2 Pet. 3.11 Well then Christ is King he that was once Crucified is now Crown'd He that was once nailed to the Cross is now advanced to the Throne He is King in Sion he is set up there immediately by God the Father and as such his work is to rule both in the Heart and in the Church First It is the work of Christ to rule in the heart The Kingdom of God is within you Luk. 17.22 Non in urbibus habitat sed in animis hominum it hath not its being in Cities but in the minds and souls of men it is not enough to bow the knee to Christ but the soul must stoop to him that must be order'd and commanded by him It is excellent to see the Interest of Christ in a Nation commander in chief and all other contrary interests made to truckle under it but it nearly concerns every person in particular to look to this that the Throne of Christ be erected in his heart and that the Law of Christ be written there Not only our Understandings are to be irradiated and enlightned by him but our wills are to be commanded by him His will is to be voluntas regulans the ruling will ours are to be the ruled wills Our affections are to be order'd by him placed first upon his Father and himself and after that let out to such and such objects in such an order and in such a measure as is agreeable unto him It is he that saith my Son give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 This is not exclusive of other things according to the manner of some be but so and so in your hearts and then you may go where you will and do what you will but it must be a concomitant with other things whatever thou givest me give me thy heart with it that is unquestionably his due and we give him nothing to purpose nothing that he will accept unless we give him that this is a command too big for a creature the whole world doth not deserve the heart of man and therefore hath no right to demand it but such a requiry doth highly become him who bought man with a price gave for him more than he is worth and having purchased the whole it is fit he should possess it having redeemed it it is just that he should rule and reign in it He is said to dwell in the heart Eph. 3.17 and he must dwell there not as an underling but as a King. Our consciences also are subject to him he is the Lord of the Conscience and his Laws do immediately bind the Conscience Secondly It is the right and work of Christ to rule in the Church to give Laws to it to appoint Officers in it and to order as to all matters of Worship and then is the Church as it should be when it is governed by Christs Officers and according to Christs Laws Moses was but a servant and so have all Church-Officers been and still are Pastors to the Church Rulers in and of the Church but servants to Christ. Our work is Ministry though let the world know it is an honourable Ministry and we do magnifie our Office and as for them that cast contempt upon us let them see how they will answer for it to him who is our Master and their Judg. But Christ is the Son in his own house i. e. He is the Lord of it and all in it is to be order'd according to his will things ought not to be so or so because this or that man this or that party will have it so but all as Christ will have it and the great business is to inquire what is the good acceptable and perfect will of our God and Saviour for Isa. 9.6 He sits upon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and justice which no men have done that have gone about to order and establish without him no no as we have seen to our sorrow and smart and so have our Fathers before us they have acted without judgment and with great injustice He is the Lord of the Vineyard out of which every plant ought to be plucked which he hath not planted He is the Lord of all both persons and things the Lord of Persons he was Davids Lord and by consequence the Lord of Davids seed as such Thomas owned him when he cried out My Lord and my God. And he is the Lord of Things so of the Sabbath Mark 2.28 The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath Understand it not of every Son of man as if a man may chuse what day he will make his Sabbath or whether he will keep one or no or do what he please upon the Christian Sabbath but understand it of that Son of man who is the Son of God as well as the Son of man the ever blessed Iesus he is the Lord of the Sabbath he hath power to order and moderate concerning it to relax as to the severity and abate the strictness of the Legal observation to alter and change it as to the time from the last day of the week to the first which learned men conclude he did in the space of those forty days which he continued upon earth conversing with his Apostles and Disciples between his Resurrection out of the Grave and his Ascension into Heaven Speaking to them of those things which pertain to the Kingdom of God Act. 1.3 viz. the Church both Militant and Triumphant the state and affairs thereof He likewise is the Lord of Ordinances he hath power to appoint them and to continue them as long as he pleaseth