Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	burn_a	zeal_n	zealous_a	30	3	8.7861	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56695	A sermon preached at St. Pavl Covent-Garden, on the late day of fasting & prayer, Novemb. 13 by Simon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1678 (1678)	Wing P840; ESTC R23234	28,516	39

faithfully admonished and not in the least bolstered up in our wickedness if when we see ruine just before our eyes we will not go out of our way to avoid it You cannot name any one of this Church that hath confidently prophesied of glorious times Nor above one impious Writer of any note and he not pretending to the Ministry that hath laid down Principles to incourage men in wickedness and irreligion And therefore if we will notwithstanding run on in our evil courses it is a sign we have no heart to any thing else but that this is our inclination nay our resolution and that we being unreformable must perish because we have no mind to be saved in Gods way but to hurry on to destruction in our own Never any Nation perhaps perished if we must be undone against so much Reason against such plain warnings against so many mercies to invite us to do better and so many judgments to deter us from our evil ways against so many convincing instructions clear and rational arguments solid confutations not only of all leud and atheistical Principles but of Popery and of all Fanatical Doctrines There can be nothing therefore pleaded in our behalf but we must be left as the man without a Wedding Garment perfectly speechless A sad and most wretched condition Sad because we shall be extremely miserable and sad because we shall not be able to say why we were so frantick as against so many restraints to cast our selves into such miseries Which I beseech you let every one of us for our parts endeavour to prevent by timely repentance never to be repented of For that 's the thing I have shewn you still wanting for our preservation And I must tell you further in the last place 6. That as the case now stands it is not an ordinary Repentance and Reformation that will serve the turn We are gone too far I doubt towards ruine to be delivered without some extraordinary endeavours to put a stop to it and therefore I must say to you for a conclusion of all as our Lord Christ doth to the luke warm Church of Laodicea Rev. III. 19. Be zealous therefore and repent Repentance is not sufficient for the recovery of a Church when there is a great Apostacy and defection in Faith and in Manners but we must join zeal with it which is a pious warmth in our affections for all that is good and vertuous and that will certainly do the business We need not fear then the most desperate Enemies no not our sins but look upon all the Judgments God hath sent upon us as tokens of his love to us if they awaken us to zealous repentance For so our Saviour there incourages us to hope in the words foregoing As many as I love I rebuke chasten be zealous therefore and repent There would be some hope of us if we could but see that indifferency that chilness nay deadness which is in too many spirits turn'd into a warm nay burning zeal both in the Service of God and for his Service I. Be zealous therefore first in your Devotions of which I have spoken something already But let me again beseech you to stir up your selves to make your supplications to God with more inflamed affection for the King for the Parliament for the Bishops and Pastors of the Flock of Christ for the Magistrates for one another that all and every of these in their several places may attend their duty and perform it faithfully and zealously Instead of finding fault as the manner is with this and the other person whose actions do not please us let us fall upon our Knees and with fervent prayers intreat the Divine Majesty that he will bend their hearts to study to do those things which are pleasing and acceptable in his sight and to do them with all their might remembring there is no work nor device in the Grave whither they are going We tell God every day in the Collect for our Soveraign Lord the King that we most heartily beseech him he may alway incline to Gods will and walk in his way O that there were indeed such a heart in us as Moses speaks and that we would constantly with more fervour than ever put up that Petition for his Majesty Beseeching him also by whom Kings reign to be his defender and keeper and not to suffer any of the Sons of violence to approach to do him hurt With the like ardent zeal should we daily say the following Prayer for the Queen his Royal Highness and all the Royal Family that he would endue them with his holy Spirit and enrich them with his heavenly grace Of which things did we make a greater conscience and were not careless and frozen in our Devotions we might hope to obtain that which we so much desire a clearer discovery of the snares our Enemies have laid for us For which I beseech you to pray with all the ardour that you are able to raise up in your hearts that God would bring to light still more and more the hidden works of darkness Be importunate with him who sees into the greatest secrets to lay bare to the very bottom all the wicked contrivances that are against us Call upon him likewise with the same fervour that he would endue his Ministers with righteousness and inspire them with such courage that they may behave themselves like men who have not received the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind Pray also that he would raise up the Spirits of those who are assembled in the High Court of Parliament to consult for our good unto the loftiest pitch of Christian resolution wisdom and integrity Beseech him to send among them a Spirit of might and power whereby they may act so resolutely and worthily that if any be false they may be daunted if any be faint-hearted they may be incouraged Finally pray that all the Lords people may Watch and stand fast in the faith quit themselves like men be strong and do all their things in charity loving one another with a pure heart fervently 1 Cor. XVI 13 14. 1 Pet. I. 22. II. But we must not content our selves meerly with this zeal in our devotions we must be zealous also of good works Tit. II. ult In order to this which is all the time will now give me leave to mention every soul of us must bestir himself to give a severe check to all vitious affections and actions and to root them out of himself and his family and wheresoever he hath any power looking upon these as the greatest Traitors in the Nation And since true zeal will always begin at home where we have most power to reform let every man search out with great care and cast out with great indignation whatsoever he finds in himself that is contrary to his Religion having a holy jealousie over himself lest any thing should escape his strictest examination For why should

we think that God will preserve our Religion and maintain it against those that seek to destroy it if we make no other use of it but only to fill us with vain confidences of his love and favour while we continue in our impurities If we have any love to it any value for it let it have its due effect upon us by purging us from those things which disparage it That we may be vessels of honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. II. 21. And in what work can they that have authority better imploy themselves than in setting themselves to chastise evil doers to reform all abuses in the places where they live to discover all workers of iniquity and to pursue them when they are discovered with a just indignation and bring them to condign punishment They are very useless if they neglect this and have little love to their Master and his Religion which had such power over mens hearts heretofore that even after they had left their first love and declined in their affection to Christianity they had so much zeal remaining as not to be able to bear them which were evil It is our Saviours Character of the Church of Ephesus Rev. II. 2 4. among whose works though short of what they did at first v. 5. he reckons this for one and commends them for trying them which said they were Apostles and were not and for finding them to be liars III. Which will lead me to the last thing I am to press upon you and that is to be zealous for the defence of our Religion Godly zeal I suppose you all know is nothing else but the affection of love to God raised to the pitch of fervency which will not let us endure any hurt or contempt should be offer'd to that which he loves if we can remedy it Now what doth he love more than true Religion which the purer it is the dearer without all doubt it is to him that hates all iniquity And where I beseech you can you find any Religion which in this regard may be compared with that which is by Law here established Which deserves therefore all the zeal you can express for its preservation and at this time calls for all the zeal that it deserves For it is lost in all likelihood without every mans zeal in his place to save it We are undone if we have not a heat activity and courage proportionable to theirs that seek to destroy it And is it not a shame that false Religion should make men more busie and active more bold and undaunted than true Religion doth those who have so long professed it and been instructed in the worth and excellency of it Or do we expect to have it preserved without so much ado Are we such Fools as to imagine that if we defend our selves weakly faintly and timorously when they assault us not only resolutely but boldly and furiously we shall get the Victory No the Magistrates must do all that is in their power to execute his Majesties Command for the finding out and expelling those that oppose it And they that are not Magistrates must give them their assistance and quicken those that are Call upon all your Acquaintance who have any power or interest to be honest and upright to preserve their integrity and not be tempted by any thing in this world to betray their Religion And tell them it is not enough to be upright but they must be diligent and zealous because now is the time for every man to shew himself and to do all that lawfully he may for the honour and safety of his Religion There are no other bounds that I know of which we are to set to our zeal for our Religion but only this that we do nothing contrary to it Whatsoever it allows it now requires that we may not lose it We must not suffer our zeal to be damped by politick considerations respect to our private interest and desire to please Men but waving all these take care only that others be not wronged by it while we suffer perhaps very much in our own concerns For he knows nothing of the nature of holy zeal who doth not feel it transport him to act beyond himself and to make him quite forget his own private concerns which he thinks of no further than as they are included in the publique good There can be no other meaning of that which the Apostles apply to our Saviour The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up Joh. II. 17. than this that he regarded not his own particular interest nor minded what he was likely to suffer but all thoughts of it were swallowed up in his zeal to serve God Who will not be served indeed by our private passions and evil affections but doth expect that we should not consult with the wisdom of this World which is for suffering nothing but avoiding all that may hurt and prejudice us though God may be thereby very much honoured And therefore his wisdom of which we ought to take counsel bids us forget the damage we may suffer and lay aside all thoughts of our selves so we may but promote his glory When we have any hope of that we must hearken to no other advice but that of the Apostle Rom. XII 11. Not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord. We would be glad perhaps to follow the other reading of the last part of that Verse serving the time but not in the right sense serving the time by serving the Lord faithfully in our several stations This he expects from us this our Religion and all good men expect from us that at this time when the Zealots of the Romish Church are so outragiously set to destroy us we should pluck up our spirits as the phrase is and imitate or rather excel them not in that cut-throat zeal God forbid which made the Jewish Nation as it doth them so infamous but in a just indignation against such barbarous persons and practises and in a zealous resolution always burning in our breasts to defend our Religion the best we can against their attempts I am bold to speak in this manner without any undue transport because I find God himself expressing his zealous affection for the defence of his Church in far higher terms than these Zach. VIII 2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts I was jealous for Zion with great jealousie and I was jealous for her with great fury Do not you then listen to any motion which may be made to you I will not say to leave your Religion but to be remiss and not so zealous for it Think what a dishonour it will be to you and how it will endanger it if when so many bend their tongues like their bow for lies you should not be valiant for the truth Which was the charge that Jeremy ch IX 3. brought against Jerusalem but I hope will never be your