Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	contrite_a	humble_a	revive_v	5,567	5	11.6295	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30676	The husbandmans companion containing one hundred occasional meditations reflections and ejaculations : especially suited to men of that employment : directing them how they may be heavenly-minded while about their ordinary calling / by Edward Bury.	Bury, Edward, 1616-1700.	1677 (1677)	Wing B6207; ESTC R23865	229,720	483

hast other work to do let thy greatest zeal be laid out on matters of greatest concernment maintain the vitalls of religion and that will maintain thee do not doat upon the brats of thy own brain neither censure those that differ from thee in cicumstantials love Christ whereever thou see him though in one of another judgement Lord make me upright in the main and to employ and improve all my strength for thee Upon a fair but fruitless tree 79. Med. WHen I saw a fair and large spreading tree that overtopt and overlookt all the rest that had a flourishing head and a promising shew and gave great hopes of fruit to all the beholders but drawing near as Christ did to the leavy fig-tree Mat. 21.19 expecting fruit I found none his whole strength was spent in bringing forth leaves when others that were less promising were richly laden with fruit so apt are we to mistake if we judge at a distance When I had seriously considered it I thought this tree did fitly resemble some high-flown professor that makes a great shew in the world and seems like Saul higher by the head then others are and haply disdains them as not fit for their society for oftentimes hypocrites do so by their poor brethren called weak Christians These you may frequently hear commending their own attainments and their own enjoyments their knowledge gifts and their communion with God and speaking of their holy raptures their assurance and such like and think they are not Christians that have not indubitable evidenee of their salvation when others ly under the hatches under fears and doubts complaining under the sence of their sin the hardness of their hearts under their wants and other spiritual distempers the load of corruption that lyes upon them their want of communion with God and fellowship with Jesus Christ the want of assurance and such like having the sun of righteousness often clouded and hid from their sight but when I have come a little nearer to them and more heedfully observed their course of life I saw that many of these great confidents bear little more then leaves and that where there was so much of the tongue there seemed to be but little of the heart and their religious duties especially in their family were cold enough and answered not to their confident braggs That those doubting Christians were more constant and spiritual in their performances That their lives and conversations were more holy towards God and more righteous towards men then the others were who bare more leaves but less fruit Upon this Observation I thought these fitly resembled the Pharisee and the Publican Luk. 18.9 c. the one brags of his worth the other is ashamed of his duties the one comes with confidence into Gods presence but the other with fear but Christ tells us that the Publican was the better man and better welcome all is not gold that glisters hypocrisy may lodge in a self-confident breast and sincerity under a thred-bare coat amidst many doubtings neither is it always safe to judge of a mans integrity by his tongue a confident bragger is not always to be believed the emptiest barrel makes the greatest sound and the worst spoak in the cart we say creaks first It is the aspiring ear of corn that is most like to be blasted when those that hang the head are usually most fruitful it is the humble self-denying Christian that bears most fruit to God and is likeliest to be most usefull in his generation God dwells in the high and holy heavens with him also that is of a contrite heart to revive the spirit of the humble A hypocrite holds himself to be the whole piece and all others but a remnant he takes his poor counter and sets it down for a thousand pound he prizeth himself above the market but he reckons without his host and therefore must reckon twice the seed of grace seldom prospers upon mountain tops and high-grounds but in low valleys upon the stalk of self-denyal The more fruit is upon any tree the more it inclines to the earth and the more upright and aspiring the more barren it is the valley and not the tops of mountains that bring forth the best corn and grass and other fruits The greatest braggers are not always the richest wisest or the most learned men many high flown professors are like the nighingale as one saith vox praeterea nihil and those that have least speak oftentimes loudest but it is not the best man that hath the best lungs but the best heart the strongest Christian is most sensible of his own wants and weaknesses as the wisest Philosopher could say I know nothing but that I know nothing but the bragadocia discovers his own ignorance where the river runs quietly the ford is deepest but where it makes most noise it is most shallow I dare not then prefer an over-confident bragger before an humble Christian I had rather judge by their life then by their language there are many that talk like Christians but I love to see men walk like Christians a parat may learn humane language but not humane action when the actions are so dissonant to the words I cannot think the heart and tongue agrees oh my soul rather be good then seem so rather bear fruit then leaves for it is fruit and not leaves substance and not a shadow thy Lord expects it is good works as well as good words intentions as well as pretences he requires let another praise thee and not thy own mouth a stranger and not thy own lips Pro. 27.2 let a man do worthyly in Ephrata and he will be famous in Bethelem he need not be his own trumpeter honour followeth vertue as the shadow doth the substance those that honour God God will honour but those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed set the crown upon Gods head and he will set the garland upon thine let thy own works but not thy own words praise thee Pro. 31.31 do well and thou needst not with Jehu proclaim thy own praises if thy conversation give light doubtless it will not be hid Oh my God let me stand approved in thy sight and I matter not what man saith of me give me truth in the inward parts make me sound at the heart give me sincerity and I shall then bear thee fruit Upon a great tree spoiling others under it 80. Med. WHen I considered the forementioned tree that made such a pompous and promising shew and was grown top-heavy and yet fruitless and worthless when many smaller shrubs yielded a plentiful encrease I considered it further and observed this was not all for I plainly saw that it was an enemy to all that grew near it and none prospered about it for in overshaddowing them or dropping upon them it rendred all that were within the reach of it either barren or at least not so fruitful as those that grew at a greater distance This Observation helpt me

hell these things are not lasting thou seest the flowers ripe at noon and withered by night like Jonah's gourd grow up in a night and wither in a night and have a worm breed in them which will eat out their heart they are like the bee they have honey in the mouth and a sting in the tail and not only vanity but vexation of spirit is writ upon them will a handful of flowers revive a dying man or comfort a languishing soul when the earth and all the works therein are burnt up where will be thy happiness then why then wilt thou moil and toil and cark and care for such vanities that never will make thee satisfaction why wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not if thou wilt take pains let it be in a more fruitful soil where thou maist expect a better crop spend not thy money for that which is not bread nor thy labour for that which satisfies not these cannot satisfy and if they did cannot last long these are but swallow-comforts they hide their heads in the winter the grass will soon wither the flowers will soon fade and thy own life is no more certain and what good will these do the soul some poor vanishing delights they yield for an hour or two and then it is over but there are more satisfying pleasures more durable delights to be had then these why are they then neglected these like swallow-friends forsake when winter comes when there is most need or like Physitians leave a man when he is dying or like the devil with the witch tempt a while and then forsake her when she is in the most danger If a small spot of earth seem so delightful what is heaven and those mansions of glory provided for glorified Saints if the creature be so glorious what is the Creator who infused such a beauty and vertue in it if a flower be so sweet what is the rose of sharon and the lilly of the valley these things delight us for a moment but one day will make us weary of them especially if there be not the addition of meat and drink and sleep and lodging of health and strength and other necessaries but in heaven is nothing wanting that is necessary delightful or desirable no creature-comforts there are needful but God is better a thousand times then all the comforts the whole earth affords oh my soul labour after the substance not the shadow after Christ and a title to glory there are reall pleasures to be had rivers of pleasure at his right hand for evermore scorn then to be put off with such poor things or to let out thy affections upon such vanities or to let them grovel upon the ground wilt thou suffer thy eyes to be dazled with a few flowers when thou maist behold the sun the moon and stars those glorious lamps and beauty-spots of heaven these are greater beauties those beautify only the porch how beautiful then is the palace the throne nay the king himself These flowers thou now admirest may for ought thou knowest be cropt and made use of for thy funeral for thy body is as fading and thy life as uncertain as they are a few days will ●●ther make them uncapable of pleasing thee or thee uncapable of praising them this use thou maist make of this pleasing object be as careful of thy soul as the gardiner is of this plot of ground let neither thorn nor thistle briar nor weed of sin thrive there supply what is wanting root out what is superfluous order what is disordered and then it is a happy time thou madest this Observation oh my God what a poor pitiful foolish wretch am I thus to doat upon vanities Lord wean my affections from the world and keep them close to thy self Upon an adder lurking in the grass 44. Med. WAlking in the garden I had like to have trod upon an adder lurking in the grass and so was in unexpected danger where I least dreaded it the apprehensions of it at present put me into amaze which when it was something abated it made me consider what daily need we have of divine protection and how dangerous it is to be from under the protecting hand of God It made me also to consider that thus it is in all our earthly enjoyments there is no security in any much danger in all anguis in herba latet there is a little honey and many stings a little pleasure and much pain there is no age no calling no condition of life free riches are held by many to be the greatest happiness and most men rather desire gold then grace and to be great rather then good yet these are not without their snares neither set men out of the reach of danger they are called deceitfull riches such as choak the word when it was sown Mat. 22.13 and well they may be so called for they promise that they never pay and always deceive those that trust them they promise content satisfaction and happiness when oftentimes like strong drink in a feaver they do but inrage the disease he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver Eccles. 5.10 a man may as soon fill a chest with grace an empty stomach with air as a covetous heart with grace pauperis est numerare pecus saith the coveteous man he had never enow cattle while they might be numbred a ship may sink under the burthen that is not half full and men may have riches enough to sink them when not half enough to satisfy them non plus satiatur cor auro quam corpus aura But this is not all their vanity neither for as they are unsatisfying so they are uncertain they take themselves wings and fly away Pro. 23.5 they are never true to those that trust them they are oft as transitory as a head-long torrent but this is not all they are golden fetters to chain the souls faster in the devils clutches and faster in his service and many times the devil buys mens souls yea their very profession out of their hands for money pleasures have honey in the mouth but a sting in the tail they oft perish in the budding in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heaviness favour is deceitful and beauty is vain Pro. 31.30 and those that trust to them shall be deceived favour will fail and beauty will wither and how will they deceive mens expectation some men marry saith one by the eye and some by their fingers ends viz. for money dos non Deus makes such matches Absolom and his sister found there was danger trusting to their beauty and many more besides them to whom it hath proved a temptation honour is the emptiest of all bubbles courted by many attained by few and there is but a little distance between the highest round of the ladder and the lowest step let Haman and Achitophel prove the point Beauty many times is like a