Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A47367
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A sermon preach'd before the king the first Sunday of Advent, 1666 by Henry Killigrew ...
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Killigrew, Henry, 1613-1700.
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1666
(1666)
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Wing K446; ESTC R32441
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14,736
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38
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our Houses when they were in disorder and we have nothing Worthy to Entertain him And his Application of it is this Quicquid nonvis inveniri in domo tua quantum potes labora ut non inveniat Deus in anima tua What ye would not that Men should surprise in your Houses be much more careful that God when he comes surprise not in your Souls Let him not find a Sordedness there no nor yet an Emptiness let not his Reception be more Beggarly than that which he found in the Inn or more Unhandsome and Uncleanly than that in the Stable A Soul immers'd in Lust and Sensuality is fouler than the Stalls of Brute Beasts and a Heart void of Vertue and the Graces of the Spirit is yet poorer than his Cradle of a Manger The Religious Monks of old were wont when they heard these words read And Christ was born in Bethlehem Juda to fall flat on their Faces on the ground in adoration and astonishment at the great Mystery of the Incarnation and Gods Wonderful Condescension therein to Mankind But in these dayes we hear this Gospel read like an Unconcerning Story without astonishment without adoration without thanks without the least Reflection and the Feast of the Nativity comes and goes like the Day of a Lord Maiors entering on his Office it serves to compute our Years and to digest the Events of our Annals but few consider the Benefits of the Holy Season or the Duties belonging to it few put away their Sins and adorn their Minds with the Graces of the Gospel few are Regenerate or New-born at the Birth of Christ. Men prepare for a time of Excess and Debauch forecast to have Richer Apparel and Choicer Provisions Money to play c. and some will borrow or rob but they will have to supply these things And thus while the Flesh keeps Holy-day the Soul still drudges in the Work of sin while our Houses are trimmed and our Posts bound with Laurel in token of Triumph and Deliverance we continue Our Selves in the Slavery of Vice and the Thraldom of the Devil And the Sun of Righteousness rises and sets upon us as the Sun in the Firmament on Rocks and Buildings to parch and harden us not as on Hearbs and Trees to make us productive of Fruit. 'T is the saddest Prognostick of a Nation to be miserable when neither the Benefits nor Judgments of God work upon the hearts of the People but whether it be a Victory or a Loss a Plague or a Deliverance a Season of Temporal Blessings or a Season of Spiritual they receive all these Various Changes of Gods Favour and Displeasure with one Fix't and Unmov'd Affection to their Sins And though like the Deriders of Gods Judgments which Saint Peter speaks of in his second Epist. and third Chapt. they blasphemously cry not aloud Where is the Promise of the Lords Coming c. yet silently and secretly in their very holding fast of their Iniquities they try what will be the Issue of his Threats and Denunciations against sin and they Experiment as I may say their Destruction though they Invoke it not That this day may be the Advent to us not only of Spiritual Blessings but also of Temporal the drawing neer of Peace or Victory as well as of Redemption of the saving of our Nation as well as of the Salvation of our Soules let us make a fit Reception in our Hearts for the Lord of Righteousnesse who now approaches And God who at this Season bestowed on us his Son How shall he not as the Apostle says with him also freely give us all things We have heard Christ's Kingdom is Spiritual and his Throne Planted in the Hearts of Men and I may say his Nativity is now also Spiritual and his Cradle ought likewise to be planted in the Hearts of men that he is then only truly Born into the world when we become Regenerate and seen again in the Flesh when we shew forth the Works of Righteousnesse How little he regards the meer Outward Magnificence of his Feasts we may Collect from the Pomp which he affected when he was really born in Bethlehem Judah and when he made his present Triumphant Entrance into Jerusalem a Stable serv'd him for the one and a Despicable Asse for the other He that had an Angell to foretell his Conception and a whole Host of them to congratulate his Nativity had he so pleas'd he could have fix't his Cradle in Herods Bed-Chamber and have forc't the Proud Tyrant to have fled into Egypt in his stead Again he could have Excell'd Paulus Aemylius and all the Cesars in the Splendor of his Triumph But his Birth was the Birth of Meeknesse of Innocence and of Mercy and when he enter'd in Triumph Humility rode in State The Offices of the Church for this day best instruct us how to welcome our Lords Coming What in the Collect we pray let us set our selves to practice To cast away the Workes of Darknesse now in this Mortal Life in which Christ came to visit us in great Humility What the People here do in my Text let us transcribe and imitate use their Acclamations and also their Ingeminations Hosanna to the Son of David and again Hosanna Reiterating and repeating these Ave's and Good Wishes to Christ in our Soules a second third and fourth time Tautology is the Language of Joy a Hearty Affection is not satisfi'd with uttering Kind Words of Welcome unlesse it may utter the same often And as Princes accept of Acclamations from their Subjects as well as Panegyrihs continu'd and redoubl'd Shouts of Joy as well as Set-Orations nay esteem these Simple Expressions of a Loyal Heart before more Studied and Artificial Complements So God prefers many times the Eruptions and Ejaculations of a Faithfull Soul before a longer Prayer the lifting-up only of the Spirit before a Formal Psalme Holinesse and Righteousnesse make the Esclat or Splendor in Christ's Feasts when Mens Hearts are full of Grace then his Houses are hang'd and his Tables prest with rich Provisions 't was not the Curious and Busy Hous-wifry of Martha but the Pensive and Abstracted Faith of Mary that made the Entertainment at Bethany and if we will Treat our Lord acceptably it must not be from the Shambles or the Mercers with the Cooks or the Taylors skill but with the Sacrifices of Obedience and the Adornings of the Holy Spirit Our Feasts upon Earth must resemble these they typifie in Heaven where Righteousnesse is the Robe and the Contemplating and Glorifying of God the Cheer and the Rejoycing Glory be to God on high the Father Son and Holy Ghost from all Angels and all Men and all Creatures now and to all Eternity Amen FINIS â—â— PAge 1. line ult adde a. P. 5. l. 15. for private retir'd read private and retir'd P. 10. l. 22. for that should Surrender read that he should Surrender P. 19. l. 19. dele in P. 21. l. 18. for those read these P. 34. l. 18. for these read those