Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A60344
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An earnest call to family-religion, or, A discourse concerning family-worship being the substance of eighteen sermons / preached by Samuel Slater.
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Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing S3961; ESTC R25152
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217,672
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342
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was his Will that all his Disciples should of him learn to be so Mat. 11.29 The highest Heaven is not so much above the Earth as the great and glorious God is above Angels and Men there is an infinite distance between him and us yet how low doth he stoop how wonderfully doth he condescend to his poor Creatures to Worms to Dust and Ashes to whom he looks with whom he dwells whom he gives leave to lay hold upon his strength to wrestle with him to come with boldness to his throne of Grace to whom he saith Ask me of things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me Isa. 45.11 Mind these things and be astonished that so great a Majesty should so greatly bow to such pitiful shreds of Being Psal. 8.4 What is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him Now certainly since the great God and our Saviour do thus stoop and humble themselves we cannot but conclude that Pride becomes no body but it is the shame and disgrace of all that are guilty of it and generally those Persons are highest in Pride who are lowest in Worth Pride and Frowardness turn Men and Women into Monsters yea into a kind of ugly Devils for as such they appear in the Eyes of those that have to do with them yea let their other accomplishments be never so great yet this one thing spoils all Such a Man is an Understanding Man a Learned Man a Wise Man an Active Man a very Useful Man this is an high Encomium but he is a Self-conceited Man a Proud Lofty Man it is a great blot in his Escutcheon Men do not like him and God will resist him whereas Humility is an Ornament wheresoever it is found but it sets them off most who are highest God delights to see such a Man he will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble Spirit Isa. 57.15 And that is an evident sign he likes and loves them well and as he will dwell with him so will be good and liberal to them he will revive his spirit and give him grace Jam. 4.6 He hath a special favour for them he will smile lovingly upon them he will give forth plentifully of his Spirit unto them they shall have fresh influences and blessed assistances grace for grace Thus an humble Spirit renders you pleasing to God in and through Jesus Christ and a kind affable courteous behaviour will commend you to Men to all those with whom you Converse But while I am commending humility to Family Governours I would not have them to do any thing unworthy of that place in which God hath set them Stoop but not basely not below your place shew your selves humble and kind but do not make your selves mean and cheap Remember you are Parents and Master and Mistress and carry as such and let not Inferiours forget themselves nor turn kindness into wantonness and neglect there are due bounds and limits unto which they may go and beyond which they cannot pass without being Transgressors It is not fit that Servants should be all tongue in the presence of their Master or their Mistress or boldly mingle them selves with their Discourses yet they may be permitted to speak before them so that they open their mouths with wisdom in a due season and in a right manner It is not fit that Servants should usurp Authority or take into their own hands the reins of Government as if they had a right to dictate and give order no no their business is to do the work and not to cut it out yet they may sometimes and in some cases modestly shew their Opinion Servants are to be obedient to their Masters pleasing them well in all things not answering again not quarelling and murmuring against their Orders or Corrections not thwarting and contradicting them and thereby provoking their anger and indignation against them yet when they are spoken to they must not be sullenly silent but give respective answers yet when they have received wrong and are unjustly charged they may seasonably with due submission and soft words which turn away wrath assert their own innocency and clear themselves of that blame which was laid upon them An instance hereof we have in David 1 Sam. 24.8 9 10 11. When Saul looked behind him David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself and David said to Saul wherefore hearest thou mens words saying behold David seeketh thy hurt Behold this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered thee to day into my hand in the Cave and some bid me kill thee but mine eye spared thee and I said I will not put forth my hand against my Lord for he is the Lords Anointed Moreover my Father see yea see the skirt of thy Robe in my hand for in that I cut off the skirt of thy Robe and killed thee not know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand and I havâ— not sinned against thee thus he did and so Servants may humbly clear and vindicate themselves when innocent And Saul himself as bad as he was did hearken to him and owned his integrity saying thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil Before I pass on and leave this particular I shall propound to your consideration the practice of Iob who was a Mirrour of Patience and a Non-such for Piety He tells us it was far from him to despise the cause of his Man-Servant or his Maid Servant when they contended with him If I had done so saith he what shall I do when God riseth up and what shall I answer when he visiteth Iob 31.13 14. We must needs speak something to that word contended when they contended with me May Servants contend with their Masters and Mistresses they do often too too often contend among themselves one with another more shame for them but would Iob allow them to contend with himself if he did indeed we may admire his Patience but have no reason to commend his Prudence What therefore are we to understand by this their contending let Holy and Reverend Mr. Caryl answer the question which he doth in these Particulars First We are not to understand this of a bold and saucy contending doubtless Iob was a Wiser Man than to endure such unmannerly Servants in his House such sacucie carriage deserves and calls for sower returns nor Secondly Are we to understand hereby contention in a way of gainsaying thwarting him in his Orders and contradicting his Commands a Master who knows his place will not bear with that he is not to have them for his Controulers nor Thirdly are we to understand it of any unreasonable murmuring and dislike upon every trivial and frivolous occasion these things saith he are not to be permitted in any well-govern'd Family such as Iob was If Servants will thus
too much with God nor do too much for him you cannot pray too much so that you have a prudent and cordial respect to all his Commands and to all the parts of your Duty not suffering one to justle out another as the Body is not all one Member so Religion is not all one Duty it doth not consist altogether in Prayer nor altogether in Hearing and as that is a lame Body which wants one Member so he is a lame Christian that is careless as to any one piece of Religion such a wilful defect is a great deformity Set your hand to all the work of God and in particular be much in Prayer David gave himself unto Prayer as a Man much set for it and devoted to it Daniel the Man greatly beloved of his God was at it three times in a day Dan. 6.10 His Windows being opened in his Chamber toward Ierusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times in a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore-time He loved Prayer so well that neither danger nor death no not a violent death being cast into a Den of Lyons could affright and deter him from it David the Man after Gods own heart was much more at it Psalm 119.164 Surely he had great encouragement so to do from his experience he sensibly felt that it very greatly tended to his advantage he saw begging was a good trade he did thrive upon it and therefore he follow'd it close the oftner he went to God the more he got from him and of him he never rose off his knees nor returned from the Throne of Grace without an Alms. The most Praying Christian is certainly the most growing Christian as he hath his expectations I will direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up so he hath his answers and sees something is coming but let the Morning and Evening of every day be your stated and set times for Prayer there is a great deal of reason for that viz. First The Divine Order and Appointment of this we did before take notice in Exod. 29. God required there should be two Lambs offered up every day in Sacrifice the one in the morning and the other in the Evening which was called the continual Burnt-Offering and shall we be exceeded and out-done by them shall the dispensation now be more glorious and shall we be more penurious that live under it shall God now more magnifie his grace and shall we grow poorer in our returns their Sacrifices were more costly and chargeable and shall ours be fewer surely since in the times of Messiah there is a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit there should at least be an equal abounding in the work of the Lord our Sacrifices of Prayer and Praise the Calves of the Lips and the lifting up of our Hearts and hands to God should be as frequent as those bloody Sacrifices Secondly This Practice is commended to us in the Scripture we are directed to think upon those things that are of good report Now this hath obtained a good report in the World and as it is with Men so it is with things to be well spoken of by the word is more than to have all the World speak well of one look then into the 92 d Psalm 1. v. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing Praises to thy Name O thou most High to bless God to exalt God to give him glory is good it is duty it is the employment of Angels the Work of Heaven and Eternity and those that have good hearts will delight in good work If you would know what are the fittest and most convenient times for the doing of this good work for that tends much to the adorning and setting off a work every thing being beautiful in its season He tells you in the next words to shew forth thy loving kindness in the Morning and thy faithfulness every night and when we do in the sincerity of our Souls thus begin and end our days we are like to find them good throughout Thirdly God visits us every Morning it is no less than Gods humbling himself to behold those things which are above the glorious Angels much more to look upon Man sorry dust what is it then for God to visit him the Prophet admired it Psal. 8 4. What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him Great Princes are not wont to go into a Beggars Hovil they reckon it below them but the Great God stoops much lower and Oh! how necessary is this for us Iob 10.12 Thy Visitation hath preserved my Spirit By this he meant a gracious Visitation a Friendly one this reviv'd him this preserv'd him his Spirit his Life his Courage his Comforts all were upheld and maintain'd by the gracious visitations of God Again how frequent are these with us how many gracious Visits doth God bestow upon his poor People Iob 7.18 Thou visitest him every morning there is never a Morning that we miss him as often as the Morning returns God comes to visit us yea he is with us before we are up and since Gods visits are so frequent shall ours be few shall he come to see us and see to us and shall not we wait upon him shall the strangeness be on our side let us visit God every Morning and pay him visit for visit and let us be sure to carry our Family with us for so we shall be the more welcome Fourthly The continuation and constant succession of Mercies doth oblige to this and call for it Gods Mercies are new every Morning upon us and shall not our returns shall we not follow hard after him and delight in our approaches to him when he draws us with the Cords of a Man yea with loving-kindness the very pouring out of his Name which is as a precious Oyntment should make us love and run after him Oh! let the pouring out of his Grace and Mercy do it Day unto Day utters speech and Night unto Night sheweth knowledge and one would think that when both Day and Night speak in the Language of Love we should answer them and not be silent God soweth his Seed in the Morning and in the Evening he witholdeth not his hand and surely that Heart and House is a very barren Soil and near unto a Curse that doth not twice a day pay its acknowledgments to him Lastly methinks there is not any one who hath the use of reason and believes a God but hath a Monitor in his own bosom to prompt him to this and not need a Minister in a Pulpit to press it upon him or a Friend at his elbow to jog him your own reason should and would direct you to it if you did but consult and hearken to it It is fit that we should make God the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last for so he is and therefore we ought to begin