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
A39673	Navigation spiritualiz'd: or, A new compass for seamen consisting of XXXII points of pleasant observations, profitable applications, and serious reflections: all concluded with so many spiritual poems. Whereunto is now added, I. A sober consideration of the sin of drunkenness. II. The harlots face in the Scripture-glass. III. The art of preserving the fruit of the lips. IV. The resurrection of buried mercies and promises. V. The sea-mans catechism. Being an essay toward their much desir'd reformation from the horrible and destable [sic] sins of drunkenness, swearing, uncleanness, forgetfulness of mercies, violation of promises, and atheistical contempt of death. Fit to be seriously recommmended to their profane relations, whether sea-men or others, by all such as unfeignedly desire their eternal welfare. By John Flavel, minister of the Gospel.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1698 (1698)	Wing F1173; ESTC R216243	137,316	227

what will it profit you to have your misery hid from your eyes and kept from your eares a little while You must see this wrath and hear louder vollies of Woes from your own Consciences If you remain in this condition You cannot bear that from us which your Conscience will one of these days preach themselves to you and that in a more dreadful dialect than I have used here Fourthly I do not charge these sins indifferently upon all Sea-men No I know there are some choice and good men amongst your men that fear an Oath and hate even the garments spotted with the flesh who are I question not the credit and glory of our English Nation in the eyes of Strangers that converse with them Nor yet do I think that all that are wicked amongst them are equally guilty of all these evils for though all that are graceless be equally under the dominion of Original Corruption yet it follows not from thence that therefore actual sins must reign alike in them There is great difference even among ungodly men themselves in this respect which difference ariseth from their various Customs Constitutions Abilities Educations and the different Administrations of the Spirit in enlightning convincing and putting checks upon Conscience For though God be not the Author yet he is the Orderer of sin And this makes a great disparity even among wicked men themselves Some are persons of good Morals though not Gracious Principles which produce a civil and sober though not a holy and a religious Life And others though they live in some one of these Lusts yet are not guilty of some others of them For it is with Original Corruption just as it is with the sap of the Earth which though it be the matter of all kind of Fruits yet in some ground it sorts better with one grain than with another And so in Plants in one tree it becomes a Apple in another a Cherry even so it is with this Original Corruption In one man it runs most into Swearing in another into Uncleanness in a third into Drunkenness Lust is nothing else but the corrupt appetite of the Creature to some sinful object and therefore look as it is with the Appetite with respect to Food so it is with the vitiated Appetites of Souls to sin One man loves this Food best and another that there is endless variety in that and so in this Having spoken thus much to remove offence I shall now beg you to peruse the following Discourse Consider what evidence these things carry with them Search the alledged Scriptures see if they be truly recited and applied to the case in hand And if so Oh tremble at the truth you read bring forth your Lusts that they may die the death Will you not part with these abominable practices till Death and Hell make the seperation Ah how much better is it for you that Grace should do it And because many of you see not the danger and therefore prize not the Remedy I do here Request all those that have the Bowels of Pity in them for their poor Relations who are sinking drowning perishing to spread these following Cautions before the Lord for a Blessing and then put them into their hands And oh that all pious Masters would perswade those that are under their charge to buy this ensuing Treatise and diligently peruse it And the first Caution I shall give them is this I. CAUTION TAke heed and beware of the detestable Sin of Drunkenness which is a beastly sin a voluntary madness a sin that unmans thee and makes thee like the beast that perishes yea sets thee below the brute beasts which will not drink to to excess or if they do yet it 's not their sin One of the Ancients calls it A distemper of the Head a subversion of the senses a tempest in the tongue a storm of the body the shipwrack of vertue the loss of time a wilful madness a pleasant devil a sugar'd poyson a sweet sin which he that has has not himself and he that commits it doth not only commit Sin but he himself is altogether sin It is a Sin at which the most sober Heathens blushed The Spartans brought their Children to loath it by shewing them a Drunkard whom they gazed at as a-Monster even Epicurus himself who esteemed happiness to consist in Pleasure yet was temperate as Cicero observes Among the Heathens he was accounted the best man that spent more Oyl in the Lamp than Wine in the Bottle Christianity could once glory in its professors Tertullian saith of the Primitive Christians They sat not down before they prayed they eat no more than might suffice hunger they drank no more than was sufficient for temperate men they did so eat and drink as those that remembred they must pray afterward But now it may blush to behold such beastly sensualists adorning themselves with its name and sheltring themselves under its wings And amongst those that profess Christianity how ordinarily is this sin committed by Sea-men This insatiable Dropsie is a Disease that reigns especially among the inferiour and ruder sort of them Some of them have gone aboard drunk and laid the ●oundation of their Voyage in sin O what a preparation is this They know not whether ever they shall see the Land of their Nativity any more the next Storm may send them into Eternity yet this is the Farewe● they take this is their preparation to meet the Lord. And so in their returns notwithstanding the terrible and astonishing Works of the Lord which they have beheld with their eyes and their marvellous preservation iu so great and terrible extremities yet thus do they requite the Lord assoon as their dangers are over as if they had been deliver'd to commit all these abominations But a few hours or days since they were reeling to and fro upon a stormy Ocean and staggering like drunken men as it is Psal. 107. 27. and now you may see them reeling and staggering in the streets drowning the sense of all those precious Mercies and Deliverances in their drunken Cups Reader If thou be one that is guilty of this sin for the Lords sake bethink thy self speedily and weigh with the reason of a man what I shall now say in order to thy Conviction Humiliation and Reformation I need not spend many words to open the nature of this sin to you we all grant that there is a lawful use of Wine and strong Drink to support Nature not to clog it to cure Infirmities not to cause them Drink no longer water but use a little Wine for thy stomachs sake and thine often infirmities saith Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 5. 23. mark drink not water but wine sed modice i. e. medice pro remedio non pro delicius saith Ambrose that is use it modestly viz. Medicinally not for pleasure but for Remedy Yea God allows it not noly for bare necessity but for chearfulness and alacrity

one anothers mind nor aimed at one end much less the end that God brought about by them one acts out of Revenge another for gain a third out of Policy yet all meet together at last in that issue God had design'd to bring about by them even Ioseph's advancement Even so it is here Christian there be more instruments at work for thine eternal good than thou art aware of REFLECTION Chear up then O my Soul and lean upon this Pillar of Comfort in all distresses Here is a promise for me if I be a called one that like the Phillosophers Stone turns all into Gold it toucheth This promise is my security however things go in the world My God will do me no hurt Jer. 25. 6. Nay he will do me good by every dispensation O that I had but an heart to make all things work for his glory that thus causeth every thing to work for my good My God dost thou turn every thing to my advantage O let me return all to thy praise and if by every thing thou work my eternal good then let me in every thing give thanks But ah How foolish and ignorant have I been even as a beast before thee How hath my heart been disquieted and apt to repine at thy dispensations when they have crossed my Will not considering that my God faithfully pursues my good even in those things that cross as well as in that which pleases me Blessed Lord What a blessed condition are all thy people in who are within the Line of this promise All things friendly and beneficial to them Friends helpful Enemies helpful every thing conspiring and conducing to their happiness With others it is not so nothing works for their good nay every thing works against it Their very mercies are snares and their Prosperity destroys them Prov. 1. 32. Even the blessed Gospel it self is a savour of death to them When evil befals them it is an only evil Ezek. 7. 5. that is not turned into good to them and as their evils are not turned into good so all their good is turned into evil As this Promise hath an influence into all that concerns the people so the curse hath a influence into all the enjoyments of the wicked O my soul bless the Lord who hath cast thy lot into such a pleasant place and given thee such a glorious heritage as this promise is THE POEM When once the Dog star rises many say Corn ripens then apace both night and day Souls once in Christ that Morning-star le ts fall Such influences on them then that all Gods dispensations to them sweet or sowr Ripens their Souls for Glory every hour All their afflictions rightly understood Are blessings every Wind will blow some good Sure at their troubles Saints would never grudge Were Sense deposed and Faith made the Iudge Falls make them waryer amend their pace When gifts puff up their hearts and weaken Grace Could Satan see the issue and the event Of his temptations he would scarcely tempt Could Saints but see what fruits their troubles bring Amidst those troubles they would shout and sing O sacred Wisdom who can but admire To see how thou dost save from fire by fire No doubt but Saints in glory wondering stand As those strange Methods few now understand CHAP. XXVIII Storms make discovery of the Pilots skill Gods Wisdom in affliction triumphs still OBSERVATION IN fair Weather when there is Sea-room enough then every common person can guide the Ship the Pilot may then lie down and take his rest but in great storms and stress of weather or when neer the dangerous shore then the most skilful Pilot is put to it Then he shews the utmost of his Art and Skill and yet sometimes all is too little They are as the Scripture speaks at their wits end know not what to do more but are forced to commit all to the mercy of God and the Seas APPLICATION In the Storms and Tempests of Affliction and Trouble there are the most evident and full Discoveries of the Wisdom and Power of our God It is indeed continually active for his people in all conditions Isai. 27. 3. Lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Psal. 121. 4. He that keepeth Israel neither stumbereth nor sleepeth His peoples dangers are without intermission therefore his preservations are so too But now when they come into the Streight of Affliction and deadly dangers which threaten like Rocks on every side now the Wisdom of their God rides triumphantly and visibly upon the waves of that stormy Sea And this infinite Wisdom is then especially discovered in these particulars 1. In leaving them still somewhat in the lieu and room of those Comforts that they are deprived of so that they see God doth exchange their comforts and that for the better and this supports them So Iohn 14. 1 2 3. Christ's bodily presence is removed but the Spirit was sent in the room of it which was better 2. In doubling their strength as he doubles their burdens It is observed that the Saints have many times very strong and sweet Consolation a little before their greatest Trials And this is so ordinary that commonly when they have had extraordinary Consolations from God they have then looked for some eminent Trial. The Lord appeared to Abraham and sealed the Covenant to him and then put him upon that great trial of his Faith So the Disciples Luke 24. 49. It was commanded them that they should tarry in Ierusalem till they were endowed with power from on high The Lord knew what an hard providence they were like to have and what great oppositions and difficulties they must encounter in publishing the Everlasting Gospel to the World and therefore first prepares and endows them with power from on high viz. with eminent measures of the Gifts and Craces of the Spirit as Faith Patience Self-denial c. So Paul had first his Revelations then his Buffetings 3. In coming in so opportunely in the time of their great distress with relief and comfort 1 Pet. 4. 14. Then the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth on them As that Martyr cried out to his friend Austin at the very stake He is come he is come 4. In appointing and ordering the several kinds of afflictions to several Saints and allotting to every one that very Affliction and no other which is most suitable to his condition Which Afflictions like so many Portions of Physick are prepared for that very malignant humour that predominates most in them Peter's sin was self-confidence God permits him to fall by denying Christ which doubtless was sanctified to his good in that particular Hezekiah's sin was vain-glory therefore Spoilers are sent to take away his Treasures 5. In the duration of their Troubles they shall not lie always upon them Psal. 125. 3. Our God is a God of Judgment Isai. 30. 18. Knows the due time of removing it and is therein punctual to a day Rev. 2.

esteem'd ALthough Dedications are too often abused to a vain flattery yet is there an excellent use and advantage to be made of them Partly to encourage Persons of VVorth and Eminency to espouse the Interest of Religion themselves and partly to oblige those Readers for whom such Books are principally intended to a diligent perusal of them by interesting such Persons in them for whom they have great Respects o● on whom they have any dependance Vpon the first account a Dedication would be needless to you for I am perswaded you do not only in your Iudgment approve the Design I here manage viz. The Reformation of the prophane and looser sort of our Sea-men but are also heartily willing to improve your Interest to the uttermost for the promotion of it I cannot look upon you as Persons acted by that low and common spirit that the most of your Profession are acted by who little regard if they be good Servants to them whether God have any Service from them or no and if they pay them the Wages due for their work never think of the Wages they are to receive for their sin You are judged to be Persons of another spirit who do not only mind but advance Christ's Interest above your own and negotiate for his Glory as well as for your own gain And yet herein you consult your own Interest as well as God's Subordinata non pugnant Your Interest is never more prosperously managed or abundantly secured than when it is carried on in a due subordination to God's Their Reformation will apparently tend to your advantage Those sins of theirs against which I have here engaged are the Jonahs in your Ships 't is sin that sinks them and drives them against the Rocks One sinner destroys much good Eccles. 8. 11. How much more a leud Crew of them conspiring to provoke God! The death of their Lusts is the most probable means to give life to your Trade And as these Counsels prosper in their hearts so will your Business thrive in you hands Piety and Prosperity are married together in that Promise Psal. 1. 3. Onesimus was never so profitable a Servant to Philemon as when he became his Brother in a Spiritual as well as his Servant in a Civil Capacity Philem. vers 11. and 16. compared And yet if your Interest were forced to step back to give way to Christ's I hope you would notwithstanding rejoyce therein So that my present business is not so much to perswade you whose hearts I hope God ha●h already perswaded to so good a work as to make your Fames and Respects which are great among them an innocent Bait to tempt them to their Duty And if either your Name or Interest may be useful to such an end I presume I may use them freely and welcome for sure I am they can never be put to a better use Well then I will make bould to send this small Adventure in your Ships and if the Return of it be but tke Conversion of one Soul to God I shall reckon that I have made a better Voyage than you let your Returns be never so rich How these things will affect them I know not I do suppose it will produce different effects upon them according to the different tempers of their spirits and according as God shall command or suspend the Blessing Possibly some will storm at the close and cutting Rebukes of the Word for most mens Lusts are a great deal more sensible and tender than their Consciences and will fondly imagine that this necessary plainness tends to their reproach But if none but the guilty can be supposed to be angry at them they will thereby reproach themselves a great deal more than ever I intend to do I confess it is a bitter Pill and compounded of many ●perative and strong Ingredients which do acute it ●ut not a jot more than is necessary I shall beg the ●ssistance of your Prayers to God for them and of your ●rave Admonitions and Exhortations to them for God ●hich will much help its Operation and facilitate my Design to do their Souls a piece of everlasting Service ●ith which Design I can truly say I even travel in pain 〈◊〉 them Your assistance therefore in this good Work ●ill put the highest Obligation upon Your most affectionate Friend and Servant to be commanded IOHN FLAVEL A Sober Consideration Of the SIN of DRUNKENNESS IN the former Treatise I have endeavoured to Spiritualize earthly Objects and elevate your thoughts to more sublime and excellent Contemplations that earthly things may rather be ●● step than a stop to Heavenly You have therein my best advice to guide you in your Course to that Po●● of your Eternal Rest and Happiness In this I have given warning of some dangero●● Rocks and Quick-sands that lie upon your left hand● upon which millions of Souls have perished and ●●thers are wilfully running to their own preditio●● Such are the horrid Sins of Drunkenness Vncleanness profane Swearing Violation of Promises and Ingagements made to God and Atheistical slighting and co●tempt of Death and Eternity All which I have 〈◊〉 given warning of and held forth a Light to d●cover where your danger is If after this you ●●●stinately prosecute your Lusts and will not be ●●●claimed you perish without Apology I have fre●● mine own Soul Let none interpret this necessary plainness as●● reproach to Sea-men as if I represented them 〈◊〉 the world worse than they are If upon that●● count any of them be offended methinks these three or four Considerations should remove that offence First that if this close and plain dealing be necessary in order to your Cure and you will be offended thereat it 's better you should be offend●d than God Ministers are often put upon lamentable streights they sail betwixt Sylla and Charibdis the wrat● of God upon one side if we do not speak 〈◊〉 and home as the necessity of the Case ●equires and Man's wrath if we do What shall we do in this streight Either God or you it seems must be offended and if it cannot be avoided I shall rather hazard your anger than Gods and think it far more tolerable Secondly If you did but see the necessity and end of this manner of dealing with your Souls you would not be offended But put it into a more sensible case and you will see and acknowledge it presently If I should see an high-bult Wall giving way and ready to fall upon you would you be angry with me if by plucking you out of the danger I should pluck your arm out of joynt Certainly you would not Why this is the case here See Isa. 30. 13. Therefore this Iniquity shall be unto you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high Wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at as instant Thirdly What a madness is it to abide in a condition over which all Woes and Curses hang and yet not be able to endure to hear of it Why

enjoy it The business you have to do in it is of unspeakable weight and concernment this great work this Soul-work and Eternity-work lies upon your hands you are cast into streights of time about it And if so Oh what an evil is it in you to waste it away thus to no purpose Arg. 3. It 's a sin that few are sensible of as they are of other sins and therefore the more dangerous It 's commonly committed and that without checks of Conscience Other sins as Murther and Adultery though they be horrid sins yet are but seldom committed and when they are Conscience is startled at the horridness of them Few except they be prodigious wretches indeed dare make light of them But now for idle and vain words there are inumerable swarms of these every day and few regard them The intercourse betwixt the heart and tongue is quick they are quickly committed and as easily forgotten Arg. 4. And then 4thly They have mischievous effects upon others How long doth an idle word or foolish jest stick in mens minds and become an occasion of much sin to them The froath and vanity of thy Spirit which thy tongue so freely vents among thy vain Companions may be working in their minds when thou art in the dust and so be transmitted from one to another for unto that no more is requisite than an objective existence of those vain words in their memories And thus mayst thou be sinning in the persons of thy Companions when thou art turned into dust And this is one reason that Suarez gives for a general Judgment after men have past their particular judgment immediately after their death Because saith he after this multitudes of sins by their means will be committed in the world for which they must yet be judged to a fuller measure of wrath So that look as many of the precious Servants of God now in glory have left many weighty and holy Sayings behind them by which many thousands of souls have been benefitted and God glorified on Earth after they had left it So thou leavest that vanity upon the mind of others behind thee by which he may be dishonoured to many generations And then 2. For PROPHANE OATHES th● corrupt fruit of a graceless heart Oh how common are these among you yea the habit of swearing 〈◊〉 so strengthened in some that they have lost all Sens●●● and Conscience of the sin Now Oh that I migh● prevail with you to repent of this wickedness an● break the force of this customary evil among you Will you but give me the reading of a few page● more and weigh with the reason of men what yo● read If you will not hearken to counsel it is a fat● sign 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. and you shall mourn for th● obstinacy hereafter Prov. 5. 12 13. Desperate that evil that scorns the remedy And if you ha●● patience to read it the Lord give you an heart 〈◊〉 consider what you read and obey the Counsels of God or else it were better thine eyes had never ●een these lines Well then I beseech you consider Arg. 1. That prophane Oathes are an high abuse of the dreadful and sacred Name of God which should neither be spoken or thought of without the ●●eepest awe and reverence It is the taking of that ●acred Name in vain Exod. 20. 7. Now God is ●xceeding tender and jealous over his Name it is ●ear to him his Name is dreadful and glorious Malac. 1. 14. I am a great King and my Name is ●readful among the Heathens The Heathen would ●ot ordinarily mention the names of such as they ●everenced Suetonius saith that Augustus pro●ibited the common use of his name he thought it 〈◊〉 indignity to have his name tost up and down in ●very one's mouth Yea saies Dr. Willet on Exod. 〈◊〉 it was a use among them to keep secret such ●ames as they would have in reverence They durst ●ot mention the name of Demogorgon whom they ●eld to be the first God They thought when he ●as named the earth would tremble Also the ●●me of Murcurius Trismegistus was very sparingly ●ed because of that reverence the people had for 〈◊〉 Now consider shall poor worms be so tender 〈◊〉 preserving the reverence of their names Shall 〈◊〉 Heathens dare to use the names of their Idols 〈◊〉 shall the sacred and dreadful name of the true 〈◊〉 be thus bandied up and down by tongues of his 〈◊〉 Creatures Will not God be avenged for these ●ses of his Name Be confident it shall one day 〈◊〉 sanctified upon you in judgment because ye did 〈◊〉 sanctifie it according to your duty Arg. 2. Swearing is a part of the Worship of 〈◊〉 and therefore prophane swearing can be no less than the profanation of his worship and robbing●● him of all the glory he has thereby Deut. 6. 13. ● Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his Name So Jer. 4. 2. Thou shal● swear the Lord liveth in Truth in Iudgment and 〈◊〉 Righteousness If a man swear by God after thi● manner God is exceedingly glorified thereby Now that you may see what revenue of Glory Go●●● hath from this part of his worship and how it be●omes a part of Divine Worship you must know That an Oath is nothing else but The asking o● desiring a Divine Testimony for the confirmation of th● truth of our testimony Heb. 6. 16. For men veril● swear by the greater and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife The corruption o● humane nature by the fall has made man such a fals● and ●ickle creature that his single testimony canno● be sufficient Security for another especially i● weighty Cases to rest upon and therefore i● swearing he calleth ●od for a witness of the trut● of that he affirms or promiseth I say calleth Go● to be a witness of the truth of what he saith becau●● he is Truth it self and cannot lie Heb. 6. 18. No● this calling for or asking of a Testimony from Go● makes an Oath become a part of Gods Worshi● and gives him a great deal of Glory and Honour For hereby he that sweareth acknowledgeth 〈◊〉 Omnisciency and Infallible Truth and Righteousne●●● His Omnisciency is acknowledged for by this appe●● to Him we imply and acknowledge him to be 〈◊〉 Searcher of the hearts and reins that he knows 〈◊〉 secret intents and meaning of our spirits His 〈◊〉 preme and Infallible Truth is also acknowledged 〈◊〉 this is manifestly carried in an Oath That thoug● am a false and deceitful Creature and my affirmati●● cannot obtain universal and full credence yet that is greater than I by whose Name I swear cannot deceive And lastly his Righteousness is acknowledged in an Oath for he that sweareth doth either expresly or implicitly put himself under the curse and wrath of God if he swear falsely Every Oath hath ●n execration or imprecation in it Neh. 10. 29. They entered into a curse and an