Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A48444
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A funeral sernom [sic] delivered upon the sad occasion of the much lamented death of John Gould, late of Clapham, Esq; who put on immortality, Aug. 22, 1679 / by P. Lamb ...
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Lamb, Philip, d. 1689.
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1679
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Wing L207; ESTC R41395
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22,449
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89
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going thither for many times we step from the Womb into the Tomb or in the midst of our days drop into the Grave but 't is called our Long home because of our long stay there 3. Death is called the end of man because it puts an end to all the troubles temptations fears and pains of life it is the Out-let of all Misery and the In-let to all Happiness When Death cometh to put an end to the days of the Upright he then begins his Triumphs and may go away with Colours flying and Trumpets sounding O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory From the whole Observ I shall give you this Doctrinal point That He that is Perfect and Upright in his Life shall certainly have Peace in his Death When the Question is asked Who shall be admitted into the Mount Zion below or enter into the new Jerusalem above the Answer from Heaven is Psal 15.1 2. as you may see Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy Hill He that walketh Uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the Truth in his heart That great Gospel-promise Isa 26.2 3. Open ye the Gates that the Righteous Nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee It is also promised in Isa 57.1 2. The Righteous perisheth and no man laies it to heart and Merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their Beds each one walking in his Uprightness In opening and confirming this Doctrine I shall shew you three things First What is meant by these terms Perfect and Upright as they are understood sometimes in the same and sometimes in a different sense sometimes they are taken Conjunctim and as Synonymous signifying one and the same thing and sometimes divisim severally First As they are taken divisim so the word Perfect here seems to relate to the Upright mans Inside and to the pure frame of his heart especially and the regular motions of all the faculties of the soul In this sense it is taken chiefly in that command of God to Abraham Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect And in that holy Profession of David Psal 101.2 I will walk in the mid'st of my House with a perfect heart There are two other respects also in which men are said to be perfect First In respect of their Justification by the compleat Righteousness of Christ every true Believer in this respect may be said to be Perfect having all his imperfections covered and done away by him whose Name is the Lord our Righteousness As in Heb. 10.14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Secondly Men may be said to be Perfect with respect unto their Sanctification though the work it self be yet Imperfect First In respect of the Spirit of God the Author of that Glorious work who will certainly perfect what he hath begun according to that Prayer of the Apostle 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly In respect of the work it self which is a tendency unto perfection a direct tendency to the future perfect state of Saints in Glory Where ever it is begun the gracious heart is always breathing longing and working in continual motion towards that perfection and content with no state measures or degrees short of it As we may see in that Blessed Apostle Paul Phil. 3.13 14 15. Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be Perfect be thus minded Secondly When these terms are severally understood this word Upright seems more specially to relate to the regularity of a mans outward deportment in a just exact and holy Conversation according to the rules of Righteousness prescribed in that Royal Law the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ when he is holy in all manner of Conversation without Deceit and Guile in all his commerce and dealing with men both in Commutative and Distributive Justice in his private and publick capacity They that Defraud and Cheat and deal Unjustly with their Brother are strangers to Uprightness the Shame and Reproach of their Holy profession Thirdly Here in this place I conceive both Perfect and Upright signifie the same thing and are exegetical as if one Epithete had been too little to express the worth of such an excellent and incomparable Person That you may see the excellency of that perfect Man First we will hear what the Scripture saith of him not to say any thing of Noah Lot Job and others who were perfect and upright in their Generation who were the glory of the places and days in which they lived Gen. 25.27 there is a description of the Righteous and the Wicked the Perfect and the Profane as Learned Authors observe Esau was a cunning Hunter a Man of the Field and Jacob was a plain Man dwelling in Tents Esau was like Nimrod a mighty Hunter before the Lord like the Hectors of our times a man of a rugged ranting spirit But Jacob was Ish Tam a plain Man sine fuco fallaciâ without Welt or Guard as we are wont to say non acutus ad fallendum not cunning to deceive though once he did supplant his Brother which was more his Mothers contrivance than his own and another time which was more his Brothers folly than his own fraud There is so much excellency in a Perfect and Upright man that the Lord commands Moses Exod. 28.30 Thou shalt put on the Breast-plate of Judgment the Urim and the Thummim and they shall be upon Aarons heart when he goeth in before the Lord And Aaron shall bear the Judgment of the Children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually That the words Urim and Thummim were ingraven on the pretious Stones of the Breast-plate is agreed upon by the most and some are of opinion that they were done by the Finger of God himself Urim signifieth Lights Thummim which comes from the same root with that word by which Jacob was expressed is rendered Perfections both in the Plural number to imply that abundance of Knowledge and Holiness that should be in the Priests of the Lord. Uprightness i. e. upright towards God and upright towards Man and to teach the Spiritual Priests of God if they will enter into the Holy of Holies and ask Counsel of God they must have this Urim and Thummim this light of Knowledge and Perfection Uprightness is called Perfection because
the perfection of a Saint is his uprightness I shall now give you a few Lines or Characters of a Perfect and Upright man and you will easily observe how they suit both the Original and the Copy this worthy Friend and precious Saint for whose sake they were drawn First A Perfect and Upright man is one of a sound and single heart A single-hearted Christian his heart is never more divided in him than when he cannot keep his heart undivided from God he is inside and outside the same he professes the true God to be his God and is like the God whom he doth profess he owns the truth and is like the truth which he owns which is said to be Una semper sui similis his tongue is always the Index of his heart and his heart doth never give his tongue the lie As they that search into the Veins of the Earth for Silver and Gold the deeper they dig they say the purer is the Ore The more you know of his heart and the more you see him in his private Chamber and secret Closet the more pure and the more refined will you observe him to be he may indeed as a Man have some blemishes in his face but his heart in the mean time cries out with the Apostle Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. He dares not indeed come to be weighed in the Ballance with a God of infinite Holiness yet is content and humbly desires to be tried by the Touch-stone of the Spirit of the Holy God As in Psal 139.23 24. Search one O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Secondly He is One all whose motions are guided and directed by the will of God to which he is so fixed that nothing can make him warp from it As they said of Fabritius amongst the Heathens That he was so true to his principles that it was as easie to persuade the Sun from his Ecliptick Line as to hope that he should leave them So this Perfect and Upright Saint regards not Traditions and Opinions of Men without God but exactly observes his Sacred and Divine Precepts And when he sees how some men lose themselves by leaving the Word as a wise Pilot he Steers his course by Card and Compass having Oculos ad Coelum Manus ad Clavum his eye to the Star and his hand to the Helm and as the Pin of a well-set Dial casts shadow according to the Suns motion so he moves according to the conduct and direction of the Word and Spirit that he may be according to the Apostles exhortation 1 Phil. 27. Only let your Conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ Thirdly A Perfect and Upright man is one whose thoughts words and actions do all tend to and terminate in the Glory and Honour of God as in 1 Cor. 10.13 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all â—o the glory of God As in the well-disciplin'd Army of Israel â—he Ark of God was always carâ—ied in the midst of the Host So in all the well-order'd affairs of his life the Honour of God â—s still in the midst of all his â—houghts he knoweth that he â—s not his own as in 1 Cor. 6. â—0 But is bought with a price â—herefore must glorifie God in body and in spirit which are Gods Fourthly The Perfect and Upright man is One who is the same at all times in all companies and conditions First at all times In the time of the Gospels prosperity he leads the Van in all the duties of Religious Worship In the time of Religions Wane he is Religions Champion In days of the greatest Defection he keeps himself from the pollution of the times like Noah in Gen. 6.9 When all flesh had corrupted their way he had this testimony Noah was a just man anâ— perfect in his generation and Noah walked with God He is another Nehemiah Baruch Jeremiah oâ— Ebedmelech or one of those few names in Sardis Secondly In all Companieâ— he is the same He remembers he is one of Gods Witnesses and therefore out of a meal-mouth'd baseness will not betray the truth Thirdly He is the same in every condition Rich or Poor he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homo quadratus a square man cast him where you will what ever he lose he will not make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience Secondly I must shew you what Peace that is which is the end of a Perfect and Upright man First what it is not Secondly what it is First It is not meant that they shall have no pains in their Death for sometimes they that have the most inward purity and peace have the most outward pain and they that have no purity nor peace within have little or no pain without but they go off as they are wont to say like Lambs that were filthy Swine and cruel Lions in their Lives These things the Lord doth variously dispense as seems best in his own Wisdom and most for his own Glory Psal 73.4 It is said of the Wicked There are no bands in their death but their strength is firm and so sail smoothly to their Eternal torment Secondly Neither is this the Peace here meant which is mentioned in Luk. 11.21 When a strong man armed keepeth his Palace his good are in peace That is the peace of the Wicked arising from the Devils possession of their hearts or from their carnal security not that their case is good but they see not their own danger and think all is well either 1. From a blind Conscience that cannot see or 2. From a brib'd Conscience by some formal duties or good works which must not see or 3. From a sleepy Conscience that cannot foresee or 4. From a seared Conscience that will not see But by Peace here is meant all Good the highest Good Joy Rest and Glory as in that Prayer of the Apostle Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope the God that worketh hope in you the God who is the object of your hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing a peace that is founded in Faith perfected in Vision of which the Saints have some fore-tasts in this life the fulness in the life to come when they shall enter into peace a true spiritual internal and eternal peace a peace arising from satisfaction the Lord Jesus Christ having born the Wrath and satisfi'd the Justice of God that they may have full peace Therefore in Joh. 14.2 it is called his peace Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Secondly This Peace is the fruit of Victory the absolute Conquest of Jesus Christ over Principalities and Powers and triumph over the