Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	church_n	holy_a	truth_n	6,992	5	5.6746	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B08579	A sermon preached at St. Bride's Church, Dublin, April 17. 1698. Upon occasion of a resolution taken in this city, of putting the laws in execution against vice and immoralities / by Pet. Browne.	Browne, Peter, ca. 1666-1735.	1698 (1698)	Wing B5137; ESTC R170843	15,624	46

opposition of those who had more of the substance but too little of the outward shew and profession of it This gave them such Success that they overcame all Difficulties till at last Hypocrisy assum'd the Throne ador'd by all its Votaries and reign'd till the Varnish came off the guilded Idol and discovered nothing but Clay and Rottenness all within And now if they had Ears to hear I wou'd speak somthing to those bold and resolute Sinners who are the occasion of all this Trouble and Charge But they are so far past feeling that none of the Terrors of God can touch them and therefore I must leave them to other methods I shall only mind them here if ever they are dispos'd to consider it that besides the proper guilt of their own sins they will in the day of Judgment be accountable for all those Evils upon their Country which have been the consequences of their sins in this life and that thô they may escape the hand of Justice here yet Damnation expects them and they are only Repriev'd till the Judgment of the Great Day V. The last thing I shall observe from hence is That as the Suppression of Scandalous Wickedness diverts the Judgments of God from a People in general so it brings down particular Blessings on the Heads of those which are the Instruments of it For this action of Phinehas Behold says GOD I give him my Covenant of Peace by which Interpreters understand Prosperity and all Temporal Blessings And besides it follows that GOD would give him the Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood i. e. confirm it in the same Line to him and his Posterity But Eli afterwards forfeited the Priesthood for the contrary reason because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not A tenderness to his own Children made him disregard the Publick Good and prefer the Ease and Quiet of his Private Family before the Publick Welfare of the Church Whereas Phinehas in all likelihood ran a great hazard of his Life since Zimri and Cosbi were considerable Persons One the Head of a Chief House and the Other a Prince's Daughter of Midian and therefore probably there wanted not People to endeavour a Revenge And the Success must have been very uncertain at a time when their general Lewdness as appears by this action of Zimri's out-brav'd the Laws and Magistrates and therefore as it is Psal 106. This was counted to him for Righteousness thrô all Generations for evermore This was a Rare and Admirable Instance of a truly generous Zeal and Publick Spirit than which nothing is more acceptable to Almighty God because it places Him and his Cause uppermost in our Minds and makes all things subservient to his Will this is the greatest indication of a sincere love of God and is truly the highest pitch of Virtue Even the Heathens had a mighty sence of the excellence of this concern for the common Good as appears from the many Brave and Generous Actions they did for their Superstition And the wise Athenian Lawgiver being ask'd Which was the most effectual means of preserving Justice and Equity in a City answered That those who receive no Injury by unlawful things be equally incens'd as those who suffer by them And gave this as the surest sign of the decay of any Community when every one is eagerly bent upon their own welfare without regard to any thing beyond themselves The Gospel improves and encourages this Excellent Temper and requires such a disposition of heart and mutual Concern for the good of one another in all its Members as if they were but one Family and teaches to prefer the glory of God above all that is near and dear to us The description of our Saviour's Temper in the 69 Psalm is That the Zeal of Gods House had eaten him up i. e. the Zeal and Concern he had for the glory of GOD and his Church even prey'd upon his Spirits It follows And the Reproaches of them that reproached thee is fallen upon me i. e. I have as quick and feeling a sense of any reproach or dishonour done to Thee as if it were done to my self Let therefore the same Spirit be in us and let us lay to heart the daily Profanations of GOD's holy Name among us the open Reproaches of his Divine Truths and the manifold Transgression of his Laws with a hardy Insolence and Publick Defiance And let us not be wanting to do all that in us lies for the Glory of GOD and the Dignity of his Laws at a time when we have so fair an Opportunity given us of shewing our Zeal for GOD our Indignation at the Vices and Immoralities of the Age and to promote a General Reformation of Life and Manners Why Men shou'd not be as Zealous in the Execution of Laws made against Vice as of those that are made in favour of their Temporal Interests is hard to tell unless it be that they love the World better than they do GOD. And why giving of Evidence in these Cases should be more condemn'd than in any Case of Injustice done to our selves I know not there can be no Reason given but because People are more Tender of their Worldly Concerns than they are of the Glory of GOD. What were these good Laws made for Nay what have we a Religion for Certainly not for meer shew and formality therefore all who had any hand in making these Pious Laws are bound to forward and promote the Execution of them as they will defend us all from the Imputation of a Solemn National Hypocrisie 'T is a shame to see with what Fierceness and great Expence of Time and Money Men will prosecute an Affront done to themselves and yet leave all those Excellent Laws that are made against the Publick Reproaches of GOD's holy Name and his Religion to lie neglected and trampled upon GOD be prais'd there is now a Spirit of Zeal and Fervour answerable to that of Phinehas stirr'd up among us with the true Qualifications and Temper of the Gospel in opposition to that growing Spirit of Irreligion and Infidelity which hath bid open Defiance to GOD and Goodness If we Cherish and Encourage it we may promise our selves the Victory in the End For true Vertue is then only in danger when 't is attack'd with Methods of Treachery and 't is never safer than when it hath declar'd open War with Vice The contest is now with Mens Vices and not with their Opinions 't is not the Interest of a Party but the common Cause of Christianity And 't is a Noble Enterprize for by removing these Immoralities we strike at the very Root of Socinianism which is now grown a many-Headed Monster and improv'd into a strange variety of Profane and Atheistical Principles all which look one way and agree to make a Body against all reveal'd Religion and the Mysteries of the Gospel 'T is a tedious way about to grapple with every one of them singly and by this means we find they multiply upon us But this is to cut them off all at once for make People but truly Moral Men and then 't is easy to make them Good and Believing Christians Let not therefore any of those who are the more immediate Undertakers of this Good Work be discourag'd with any Opposition they meet with they have but Two great Difficulties to struggle with and by the Blessing of God they will overcome them both The Jealousies of good People and the Fury of those that are prosecuted As for the Suspicions and Jealousies of good People they will all wear off by degrees when they consider what have been already the good Effects of your Zeal for GOD Goodness When they consider that face of Piety and Devotion which of late is visible in our Publick Worship in the Congregation the great increase in the number of Communicants in all our Churches the sensible Decrease of Publick and Scandalous Vice in this City c. Let them but lay these things which are a substantial present advantage to our Church and Nation against those groundless surmises of some ill Consequences they know not when nor how Let us but thorowly reform the Vices of this Age and that is the surest way of preventing ill Consequences in the next And indeed what Consequences can be more formidable then that of open Cursing and Swearing Adultery and Whoredom and all that Impudent and Bare-fac'd Impiety which with the Encouragement of the Magistrates and Contributions of good People they may be the happy means of suppressing As to the other Difficulty you are to grapple with you must expect the work will not be very easy for the Rage and Fury of Persons crost and disturb'd in their Vices is very well likened by Solomon to the fierceness of a Bear when she is rob'd of her Whelps But comfort your selves with this that they have no other Objection against you but what the Devils made to our Saviour That you come to torment them before their time Do you however appear as resolute for the Cause of God as they do for that of the Devil The World is come to that pass that it is impossible to be truly Good without Courage and Resolution Let us but remain Undaunted and this Impudent Impiety will loose Ground dayly till the Numbers of its Votaries grow so small that they will be asham'd of it The worst of Men have a secret Awe and Veneration for Vertue and Holiness there is so much of GOD in it that they can no more raze out all Veneration for it in their Minds then they can the Existence of a Deity And there is so much of the innate quality of the Devil in all Vice and Wickedness that if we do resist it manfully it will fly from us and we shall surely be Conquerors in the end FINIS