Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	custom_n	good_a	great_a	175	3	2.1563	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10152	The righteous mans way Wherein are given certaine directions, how men may profitably meditate upon the Commandements of God: that so through such manner of meditation, the Lordes Commandements may finde place in mens hearts, to serve in them as guides unto all their actions and thoughts. Directions most needfull for these times, seeing most men laying the commandements of God aside, doe leade their lives in disobedience to Gods commandements; and this, not onely to the scandall of Christian religion, but also to the extreame hazard of their own salvation.	Proctor, Thomas, fl. 1621.	1621 (1621)	STC 20411; ESTC S110512	50,262	77

Righteousness aswell in cōmunication as action the world is even inlightened For God who himself is light 1 Iohn 1. 3 sendeth from himself light into the world and therefore also even the Communication and good workes of the children of Light being the fruite of the Commandements come from God are a light shining there where ever the Gospel prevaileth This considered I cannot but mervaile that the very Obedience to this injunction concerning Gods Commandements beginne among the common people wel-neere of all Nations to receive a nick name of Puritanisme But let that be spoken against which truely and deservedly is to be spoken against even the laying upon men a restreint in things wherein God hath given no such Commandement of restreint as some for singularities sake would impose when yet that which truely is Obedience may receive praise But men beginne thorowe the sides of those over-abstenious ones to give a wound even unto true obedience its selfe accounting all restreint from wickedness which is customary in Communication Puritanisme If this be suffered to goe on looke then for an over spreading againe of wickedness little if any thing at all less then under Gentilisme But shall we of the reformed Churches who haue exceeded other Churches in receiving blessings and manifold testimonies from God suffer the darkness of wickedness to overspread againe yea and to prevaile also against the true light by suffering true obedience true restreinte to become nick-named or traduced Let not this be but rather let those Congregations where most true restreinte from things truely evill is founde be accoumpted as the speciall Lights of our Nations cherished of our Magistrates as for such To cōclude seing our Nations in the Churches reformed haue received by the Gospel so blessed a change as frō Darkness unto Light well might we be moved to the keeping of the Commandements by the bare Iniunction or Commandement received from them who minister unto us the Gospell For commonly they who receive good by any will be willing to doe some things at their bare Commandement or Injunction But the Lord hath not left us to the bare Iniunction onely but hath mercifully found out many powerfull Motiues or Inducements besides it that of them our passions and affections might so be moved in us as that a willing undergoing of the burden of the Commandements might be begotten in us Proceede we therefore now to consider also the other motiues or inducements learning withall to make such a manner use of them as whereby their working upon us their profitable effects may be furthered 3. Chap. THe next Motive then or Inducement which I will note unto you is The observation of the greate workes of God in signes and mervailous Acts done of him To this end Moses Deut. 4. 9. saith Take heed to thy selfe and keepe thy soule diligently that thou forget not the things which thine eyes have seene and that they departe not out of thine hearte all the dayes of thy life but teach them thy sonnes and thy sonnes sonnes Forget not the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb when the Lord sayd unto me Gather me the people together and I will cause them to heare my wordes that they may learne 〈◊〉 feare me all the daies that they shall live upon the earth and th●● they may teach their children Againe he saith Deut. 1● 〈◊〉 Consider this day the chastisement of the Lord your God his greatness his mighty hand and his streatched out arme and his signes his acts which he did And what he did unto you in the wilderness untill ye came unto this place For your eyes haue seene all the great Acts of the Lord which he did Therefore shall yee keepe all the Commandements Againe Ioshua 24 16 wee read thus Then the people answered and sayd God forbid that ●e should forsake the Lord to serve other Gods For the Lord our God he brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage and he did those great miracles in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people thorow whom we came And the Lord did cast out before us all the people even the Amorites which dwelt in the land● Therefore will we also serve the Lord. As here the great wonders which God did are set forth as the Inducement to serve the Lord in keeping his Commandements so let us for ever expect both that the ignorance yea or neglect onely of the great wonders which God heretofore hath done will occasion a negligent observation of the Commandements and also that the often recording them in our minde and respeaking of them to our children and family will occasion the more willing serving of God in keeping of his Cōmandements For the workes done are of themselves so wonderfull as that even the very thought of them joyned with a present advised considering of them will move the spirit of a man to fall into an admiration both of the thing done and of him that did it And Admiration being once stirred up then hardly can it be but that the soule will be the proaner thenceforth to be obedient to his Commandements who did such things as these Commonly we finde one thing to draw on another Power Admiration Admiration Awe Awe Attention and Attention Observation therefore needfull must it needs be to exercise the stirring up the Admiration of our Spirits by often recording re-speaking of re-marking and re-opening to our selves our children and family the great Acts of God each aparte as they are described unto us in the holy Scriptures Is it not the common experience of the world that a man receiving a Commandement yea though of a good thing from one in whom he knoweth no power no authority he will be very backward to obey to doe according to such Commandement when yet let the same man receive the like cōmandement from a King whose power and authority is manifest unto him we shall finde him to rejoice that he hath received even a commandement from such a one So is it with men in the Kingdome of heaven For whilst they onely heare of the Lawe the Lawe and of God named unto them a thousand times and a thousand they not apprehending well and distinctly the great Acts and mervailous wonders done of God receive the Commandements with such an unsubjected soule as that they can haue no hearte to apply themselves to the fulfilling of them For it is the apprehension of the mighty Power of God in his workes that subjects the spirit heart of a man to yeeld to obey him in his Commandements who was able to doe such things Therefore let men more frequently then in these times they usually doe each one in his family aparte exercise themselves to speake now of one two or three an other time of as many of the great Acts of God and of Christ accustoming also themselves and those

in common experience that men living under Governments doe usually informe themselues before every Act of Importance whether the Law permit it or no so that they will not so much as cut a tree break open a hedge or the like but they will informe themselues first saying May I lawfully doe this Why should we not be as carefull of the Law of God consulting with it also before any Act Speach or Thought informing our selues whether we may doe such or such a thing or no If men doe not thus consult with the Law of God before-hand unvailing by its help the sinns which they are about it is their fault and such a fault as giues advantage to sinne so that it is committed before a man is aware of what it is he is about But the child of God that looketh for the rich Gifts of God in Christ may not be so negligent of the Law of God but rather with the Prophet David to make it his studie to thinke on the Commandements meditating also on them some now some another time for thus doing not onely the sinnes will appeare to the soule in their own vilenesse but also the soule will be fore-possessed with a dislike and loathing of them and this to the abating of the force of all occassion which shall be offered to commit or fulfill them Thus if you would use your selfe to look every sinn a in the face umasked wistly that so you may be discouraged from committing the same then would the incouragements or exhortations unto Righteousnesse and Godlinesse given us by the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ the more prevaile over us to divert us from sinning And truely we ought never to be unmindefull of our deliverance from the bondage of sinne by the conversion of us unto Christianity we ought never to forget the blessed benefite we received by our fore-fathers conversion from Heathenisme to Christianity Wherfore that you may as a fresh be put in minde hereof and the exhortations of the Apostles hearkened unto by you I thinke fit in this place to set before you some of them that so they may work upon you to dispose you to a willing keeping of the commandements of God Ephesiaus 2. 1. the Apostle saith thus And you hath hee quickened that were dead in trespasses and sinnes wherein in time past yee walked according to the course of this world and after the Prince that ruleth in the aire even the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Among whom also we had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh in fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others But God who is rich in mercy through his great loue wherewith hee loved us even when we were dead by sins hath quickened us together in Christ by whose grace yee are saved And chap. 4. 1. I therefore being prisoner in the Lord pray you that you walke worthy of the vocation whereunto yee are called with humblenesse of minde and meekenesse with long suffering supporting one another through loue endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace And chap. 5. 8. Yee were ●nce darkenesse but are now light in the Lord walke as children of light approving that which is pleasing to the Lord. And having no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darkenesse but even reprooue them rather For it is a shame even to speake the things which are done of them in secret But all things when they are reproved of the light are manifest for it is light that maketh all things manifest Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall giue thee light Take heed therefore that yee walke circumspec●tly not as fooles but as wise Redeeming the season for the daies are evill Wherfore bee yee not unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is These exhortations are exhortations which ought ever to be sounding in the eares of them of those Nations which in antient time were heathens therefore remember still that you are Nations whose fore-fathers were carryed away after dumbe Images and false Gods yea devils and knew not the true Lord God of Israel Creatour of all things and the giver of life and all blessednesse Forget not therfore this Grace of your conversion shown unto you but rather apply your hearts to his Commandements who hath shown you this invaluable Mercy Put on a Resolution of heart that neither for pleasure not for profite nor for fellowship sake nor for Custome no nor for Displeasure o● Losse you will leaue the good waies of Gods Commandements to walke in the wickednesse which is contrary to the same and too too usuall in the world In which Resolution two things may strengthen you the one Good Education the other the Spirits Assistance Good or truely Christian education in children is truely a most needfull help unto righteousnesse therefore where Parents are negligent there the Magistracy should help to discerne what customes corrupt the youth leading it into things evill and then to suppresse and to allienate the youth 〈◊〉 these things for verily Magistrates are also Parents unto youth little lesse then they by whose generation they come into the world Therefore if the Parents care not what company their children keep or care not what evill they commit there in their jollity nor what wickednesse and prophanenesse their conversation or communication be corrupted with yet Magistrates owe to God a duty to take account of those houses or places where youth take liberty to be bold in such evill things Some fondly think that unlesse youth be suffered in evill conversation and evill actions they will never be bold and manly or valiant but we may see in the children of some Princes and Nobles that children become manly and valiant and yet without such liberty so that these evils doe but steale upon such to corrupt them and weaken them nothing furthering their Manliness or Valour I note this the rather because it is the errour of some mindes to thinke that a godly restraint of youth is the depression of the spirits and the cause of pusillanimity but whilst all exercises stirring the body and refreshing the mind and spirit may even by Gods lawes be practised the use of such things will increase the strength and magnanimity of youth and yet without admitting also the abuse And indeed the abuse of such exercises brings upon men first a mischieving and ruining one another and secondly a taking away the hearts of men by Gods not prospering the warres of such Though indeed sometimes as for punishments God lets out evill spirits giving way to their prevailing also so wicked Powers composed of wicked men are let loose of the Lord and suffered to prevaile in the world But the Kingdome of heaven even the victorious Church hath not its fortitude in wickednesse but in Righteousnesse and what

Power did ever so truely prevaile indure so long or was so glorious Therfore l●t us Christians vigilantly watch over our youthes abusing those exercises of fellowship and Activity by which the strength of a Land is nourished and ●he spirits refreshed maintayning the use but punishing the abuse of things Therefore if any youth grow prophane or wicked in its usuall communication or bold to doe this or that injury to men let Parents in their houses and Magistrates in their jurisdictions haue an eye betimes upon this and restraine wickednesse betimes in youth that so God be not moved to plague us for suffering our youth to practise nothing more nor nothing more to take pleasure in then in breaking continually the Commandements of God If we be carefull herein then let us nothing doubt of the Assistance also of the Spirit of God disposi●● our youth unto Godlinesse and Righteousness And truely Christians haue through the Spirit a kinde of inclination unto Righteousnesse so that not so much of a forced observation as of a minde and heart even disposed or inclyned of the Spirit they are keepers and observers of the commandements of the Lord. Yea the Apostle Ephes. 5. 9. saith For the fruits of the Spirit is in all goodnesse and righteousnesse and truth so accounting these things the fruits of the Spirit in us rather then our workes or our industry Wherefore Righteousnesse is not in the Saints or their children a bondage but rather they are inclyned by the Spirit of God thereunto Therfore so much the rather we ought to watch that wicked customes bring not us and our children into such a bondage as that to be righteous they must struggle against the common customes of the time for if this be suffered then indeed wickednesse brings our youth into a bondage yea and the Spirit of the Lord forsakes them Let us looke upon any Nation where the Church is or hath bene and see their condition what it was whilst they made conscience of the commandements of God obserue their prevailing against their enemies their multiplying their inriching and their matchlesse valour and magnanimity Again let us look upon them after they had suffered the breakings of Gods commandements to sway among them and obserue then their miseries and calamities Let us take them for our example for it is a sure Rule unto us Doe as they did and haue as they had Wickednesse growes more and more in time of prosperity and creeps upon a Nation under very faire and plausible pretexts but it is bitternesse in the end and the subversion of States and Thrones St●p it therfore betimes and be vigilant against its growing into Custome among your people and Officers as you d●sire the growing or stablishing of the welfare and glory of your Nations or Dominions Verily it is lamentable to obserue that if Gaine come in or the warres be managed by any such seeme as free to be godlesse and to breake frequently in their life and conversation the commandements of God They seeme as the wheeles whereon the prosperity of a Land runnes or as the cause therof or if not causes yet then as the pillars of the same and therfore they are suffered to liue disorderly without any requiring of them to liue as beseemeth Christians The Gifts which God hath given them by which they excell many and are very serviceable to a Nation seeme to beare th●● out in living in disobedience to the commandements of God Yea when a people being in some bondage hath in time of that bondage cryed unto God to be delivered and in the time of such cryi●g hath been diligent in resorting to Church reading Gods word as also in Prayer and in using religious duties in their families then God in his Goodnesse delivering them and granting them the blessings of Prosperity even within a few yeares after wickednesse abounds in that people and nothing is done less then that which was done before and some little time after the deliverance Then even sinne against God ●eemes as the evidence of Gods blessings upon the land for the most part of the people doe not otherwise expresse or shew th●ir liberty wealth and prosperity then by words or actions ●ont●ary to Christian Religion If prosperity increase evill houses increase withall where as ●n ●afe cast●ls men take libe●ty in all ungodlinesse But what will be the end of this What will be the issue of this forgetting the deliverances which God hath sent us Surely a new plunging us into adversities Were it not that God hath a more graeious eye upon the good Lawes of Nations and the intention and indeavour of Governours to rule the people according to them then he hath a revengefull hand to avenge upon Nations the frequent breach of his Commandements it were not possible that we should thus continue as hitherto we doe without great and fearefull Visitations But now if the wicked be accounted as the enemies of the Lands prosperity inas much as through th●m God is moved to anger against the land and as for such ey●d with some measure of indignation by Governours And if they that feare God and wa●k in the wayes of his commandements be accounted as the safety of the Land and as for such be eyed with f●uour by Governours and incouraged in their obedience th●n surely we shall both r●moue from us the judgements which hang over our heads and also bring upon ou● I and manifold blessings Therefore the Lord giue hearts to them that are in Authority that every Pastor in his Pa●ish every Officer in his allotted portion every King in his Kingdom may in this indeavour to serue God even in being a disliker and discourager of the wicked and a lik●r and incourager of them who walk in the wayes of Gods commandem●nts I grant that any gift given to 〈◊〉 wicked man wherby he may be serviceable to the Church and Common-wealth is not therfore not to be made use of because the party is wicked for this were to suppresse the gift of God but that ●or the wickednesse which such a one committeth he may perceiue that he hath some disgrace or dishonour which but for that he should not haue For this would surely turne many from ungodlinesse because most men seeking the favour and good liking of those that are in Authority in eve●y Land they will in the greater measure forbeare those things which they finde to disgrace th●m in their presence As for those places where the chiefest Officers of Rule are themselues vicious and to please them many become vicious they truely haue a fearefull judgement from God therein upon them and therfore by prayer to God Gods people there should seek of God his inclyning the hearts of those in Authority unto his Commandements Many are the shining and profitable vertues of many very vicious Princes neither may they be suppressed or the Princes disobeyed in the exercise of them for God hath given them these Gifts fitting them thereby