Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A58810
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A sermon preached before the Honourable Military Company at St. Clements-Danes, July 25 by John Scott ...
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Scott, John, 1639-1695.
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1673
(1673)
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Wing S2064; ESTC R38223
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15,491
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32
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A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable Military Company at St. Clements-Danes July 25. BY JOHN SCOTT Minister of St. Thomas Southwark LONDON Printed for Tho. Taylor at the Hand and Bible in the New Buildings on London-Bridge 1673. To the Right Worshipful Sir ROBERT PEYTON President and one of the Stewards elect Captain JOHN PERRY Lieut. GEORGE CLERK Lieut. THOMAS LOW Lieut. WILLIAM PEPPER Ensign JOHN MERYDALE Serjeant RALPH HOLLAND Stewards of the Honourable the Military Company and to the Stewards elect Sir RICHARD COMBES JAMES LONG Esq. CHARLES HUMPHREVILE Esq. CHRIST OPHER VANE Esq. JOHN AYLOFFE Esq. and to Captain JOHN HOOKER Treasurer Worthy Gentlemen EVer since I consented to your desires to Print this rude Discourse I have been hardly put to it to make an Apology for it at first I resolved to go the way of all Authors and indite my Patrons for committing a rape upon my modesty and dragging this poor offering like an unwilling Sacrifice to the Altar but upon second thoughts I could not but disapprove such a kind address as too disingenious and unmannerly for to avouch your importunities for the publication of so mean a discourse I might reasonably think would be to libel your Judgments and to make the world believe I designed Revenge rather than Obedience and therfore in conclusion I rather resolved to take all the blame upon my self hoping that in the great crowd of silly things that come abroad into the world this little trifle may pass unobserved but if it should be so unhappy as to be taken notice of I hope the world will not be so unconscionable as to deny me the priviledge of playing the fool as well as others whatsoever imperfections there may be in the Sermon the subject of it is so great and excellent that 't is no shame for any man to lie prostrate under it for intreating of such high Arguments insufficiency is both Art and Rhetorick If therefore I have not given it a Character as great as it deserves I hope this will in some measure excuse me that I am a man and not an Angel but however I fare in the esteem of others this comfort I have that the weaker the Discourse is the greater Argument it will be of the gratitude and obedience of Your humble and affectionate Servant JOHN SCOTT ERRATA PAge 1. for aley read aloy line 5. for our bodies r. as for our bodies p. 5. and us p. 8. for menaceth r. meaneth and to be left out p. 9. for infer r. infere put in can p. 10. for understa understandings p. 12. for By r. A. p. 13. add all other p. for ride r. run p. 15. for clutering r. clattering p. 17. acknowledge Epes 6. 11. Put on therefore the whole Armour of God THat which giveth us the advantage of Brutes and ranketh us in a form of Beings above them is the Rational and Immortal Spirits we carry about with us for our Bodies they are but clods of earth steeped in phlegme and kneaded into Humane shapes and do derive their Pedegree from the same Principles with flies and scare-bees and the most contemptible Animals but our Souls are of a purer alley and by their nature are allied to Angels and do border upon God himself and it is by the Title of these Rational Natures that we are now superior to Beasts and hope hereafter to be equal with Angels and yet besotted Creatures that we are how do we prefer our Bodies before our Souls imploying all our cares in providing for and pampering of our flesh as if our Reason were given us for no other end but to be Cook and Taylor to our Bodies to study Sauses and fashions for them whilst our Immortal Spirits pine and famish and like forlorn things are wholly abandoned by us to wretchedness and misery that it is so is apparent by too many woful instances the poor Labourer that sweateth and toileth all day for his Body thinketh much at night to bestow upon his Soul a Prayer of a quarter of an hour long the Tradesman that thinks no Industry too much to make a fair and ample provision for his Body grudgeth to expend a few good thoughts and endeavours in the purchase of an eternal Inheritance for his Soul the Souldier that shuts up his Body in ribs of Iron and Coats of Male to secure it from the Sword and Bullets of his Enemies exposeth his Soul unarmed to all the fiery darts of the Devil and though his understanding hath as much need of Knowledge as his Head hath of an Helmet his Will as much need of Justice as his Breast of a Bucklen his Affections as much need of Fortitude and temperance as his Legs and hands have of Greaves and Gantlets yet he ventures them all naked amongst a thousand Enemies as if his little Toe or Finger were more dear and precious to him than his Immortal Soul But if we would be good Souldiers and good men too we must arm our selves with in as well as without and as we harness our Bodies in Iron so must we put on upon our Souls the whole Armor of God and this is the councel of the Apostle in the Text which I have chosen for the subject of my ensuing Discourse Put on therefore the whole armour of God By the whole Armor of God here we are to understand the Christian Religion that is the Doctrine and Duties of Christianity as you may see at large from the fourteenth to the eighteenth Verses of this Chapter where the Apostle instances in the particular parts of which this whole armour consisteth the first is the Girdle of Truth that is the Doctrine of the Gospel in opposition to all Heathen errors and heretical insinuations The second is the Breast-plate of Righteousness that is sincere and faithful obedience unto Christ the third is the preparation of the Gospel of Peace that is the practice of Christian Charity and Peaceableness the fourth is the Shield of Faith that is the belief of the Promises and threats of the Gospel the fifth is the Helmet that is the hope of Salvation the sixth is the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and the last is Prayer and Watchfulfulness These are the several parts of this Divine armour in which you see are reckoned both the Doctrines and Duties of Christianity by the putting on of these therefore nothing else can be meant but only our hearty belief of the Doctrines and our sincere Practice of the Duties of Christian Religion for to this sence the Phrase is frequently used in the New Testament thus when the Apostle exhorteth us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in Rom. 13. 14. it is plain he meaneth nothing else but believing in Christ and obeying him And so also when in Ephes. 4. 22 24. he exhorteth them to put off the old man and put on the new he meaneth nothing else but that they should forsake their Heathen Superstitions and Idolatrous uncleannesses and
against the pain and displeasures of it that hath so subdued her passions as to be alwayes present to her self and constant to her own Reason and having resigned up all to the Conduct of Divine Providence receiveth every accident as a token of love and giveth a hearty welcome to whatsoever befalleth her Such a Soul as this standeth firm as a Rock out-braving all the storms of Fortune making its envious waves retire in empty foam and insignificant Passion but wheresoever these brave Qualities are wanting it is impossible a man should be truly couragious for intemperance impatience and diffidence will let in every trouble that assaults us to spoil and ravage us at pleasuâ—e and expose all the peace and tranquillitity of our minds to the mercy of every trifle so that we shall not be able to abide the shock of any cross accident that encountereth us but like cowardly Poultrons shall lie down vanquished at the feet of every trouble that befalleth us and there is no greater signe of cowardize and weakness of spirit than an aptness to be discomposed with trifles for as sick persons are offended at the light of the Sun and the freshness of the air which administer pleasure and recreation to those that are in health even so persons of weak and pusillanimous spirits are easily offended their minds are so tender and effeminate that they cannot bear the least air of trouble without disturbance and what would be a diversion to a courageous Soul grieveth and incommodateth them But when we are once arrived to a due pitch of patience temperance and confidence in God all the troubles of the world will be but like flea-bites to a sleeping Lyon we shall no more be concernâ—d with these little crosses and mischances than the Moon is with the yelping of those whiffling Curs that bark at her from below For true Christian Courage is the most heroick of all other for Courage is meerly brutal consisting in heats and serments of the blood and spirits in which Game-cocks and Mastives out-vy the greatest Heroes in the world but the Courage of a Christian is truly Rational and manly founded in Religion and true Principles of Reason and so as a thousand times more manageable and useful than that which ariseth only out of temper and complexion for this sort of Courage is headstrong and unruly and like an hot metall'd Horse doth oftentimes ride away with the Rider and instead of securing us from carries us headlong into mischief but true Christian courage is gentle and obsequious to the Commands of Reason and upon that account is far more useful in our extremities and is more applicable to our necessities Since therefore Christianity inspireth us with such an excellent Courage as this is it cannot but render us invincible and effectually shield us against all the blows of Fortune Secondly It armeth ns against the miseries of the World by reconciling us unto God 't is impossible a man should be free from trouble and anxiety of mind whilst he is in a state of emnity with God for there is grafted within our very natures such a natural awe and dread of a Divine Power as doth necessarily alarum all that sear and horror that is within us whensoever we knowingly provoke that Power we so much dread and tremble at and our Consciences being thus in a tumult and uproar will give a sting to all our miseries and render all our dangers more terrible and amazing 't will represent every cross accident to us as a Messenger of God's vengeance and every little danger as an approaching storm from Heaven and then how must every danger affright and every misery oppress us that comes with a Commission from that Almighty Vengeance which we so naturally dread and tremble at How can we but sink even under our crosses when we think what a load of wrath there is in them How can we but quake at our dangers when we look upon them as so many thunderbolts which Omnipotent fury is hurling at our head the thought of this will imbitter all our miseries and make the most trifling dangers to look stern and terrible hence it is that of the Wiseman The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a Lyon For though no man pursueth them yet their own Consciences like restless furies haunt them whether ever they go and this makes them flee before a shadow and when none pursueth them they run away from themselves Thus whilst we are in hostility against God we lie open to all weathers and our own Consciences do betray us to the sury of all those troubles and dangers that surround us But the great end of Christian Religion is to reconcile us unto God in order to which it both proposeth a peace to us and the terms and Articles upon which it is to be obtained which terms when we have performed the Quarrel presently endeth in a mutual Confederacie and of enemies we become the friends and favourites of God upon which there followeth a Jubilee of joy and peace within the Conscience smileth and groweth calm as the Ocean when the wind is laid and now if troubles besal us if dangers encounter us 't is all but like the ratling of Hail upon the tiles of a Musick-house which with all their cluttering and noise will not be able to disturb the Harmony within For a quiet Conscience will be a Paradise in a wilderness a Haven in the midst of storms it will make a man fearless in danger joyful in tribulation and inable him to sing with a thorn at his breast and when troubles and crosses surround him on every side that will be a Sanctuary to him whereunto he may retire and be merry in spite of Fortune Thus by reconciling us unto God the Christian Religion armeth us against all the miseries in the world Thirdly It doth it also by assuring us of that special care and regard which the Divine Providence hath of us and our affairs Christianity assureth us that all things shall work together for the good of them that love God and keep his Commandments that even their afflictions shall prosper them and all the cross-winds conspire to blow them to the right Port and what greater security can a man desire then to have all his affairs managed by a Providence that is infiniteâ—y wise and knoweth what is best for us infinitely kâ—nd and willeth what he knoweth best and infinitely powerful and doth what it willeth this is the utmost that any modest or reasonable man can desire for his security and he that firmly believeth this most necessarily be happy whatsoever betalleth him for whatsoever happeneth he taketh as a favour because it cometh from the hand of that wise and merciful Providence which he is well assured doth both know and do that which is best for him and is it not a thousand times better that our affairs should be managed as God thinketh fit who is â—o much